Chapter 1583 1582. IQ Testing Player
The draft is getting closer and closer, and the Eagles are conducting team activities and draft trials at the same time.
Compared with the Suns, who only had the 21st pick in the first round this year, the Hawks, who also finished the finals but had the 10th and 17th picks as well as the 13th pick in the second round, had a much harder time.
After the championship parade, the Eagles can finally focus all their attention on draft workouts.
Among the 31 rookies on the invitation list on the first day, except for Rose and Westbrook, all the top 15 were invited to the second trial. The main reason was that the Hawks had no chance to select those two players.
Liu Mang was also brought into the "coaching staff" to conduct trial training for the rookie candidates.
Every year in the draft, some people's dreams come true and some people's dreams are shattered. Up to 60 rookies are selected to shine in the spotlight. However, there are hundreds of people who participate in the draft every year, and most of them are not invited by the teams. All the rookie candidates have to travel from city to city like this, looking forward to the arrival of the goddess of luck.
While the Eagles are taking the time to hold workouts, for many teams, the season has been over for a long, long time...
Something has already been going on in the dark, and the undercurrents ahead of the offseason storm have already boiled over.
By June 23, the draft on the 27th is just around the corner, but at this time some teams can no longer hold back...
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Price looked at the draft lists provided by Coach Kruger and Liu Mang respectively, and found a name that was very popular recently but was so popular that the person involved might want to cry, and asked: "This guy? Oh, Ace, I got it News, no team wants to draft him in the first round, does he have any merit? If we had known you wanted to draft him, we would have kept him for another round of trials."
"Yes, it's too unsafe to bet on him in the first round, but we can try it in the second round..." Liu Mang responded.
Liu Mang is also looking at the draft list submitted by Coach Kruger, and Coach Kruger is also looking at the draft list submitted by Liu Mang.
Liu Mang found that Coach Kruger's draft direction was very different from his own, which Liu Mang had expected.
However, Coach Kruger's suggestion to trade the No. 10 pick to get rid of some of the team's contracts coincided with Liu Mang's. Liu Mang wanted to split the No. 10 pick and also trade Brad Rice. Le gave away the last year of his 8 million contract...
With the No. 17 pick, Liu Mang wants a man with the legendary height of 28 centimeters, and Coach Kruger wants twin brothers...
As for the predicted No. 10 pick, people thought the Eagles would pick the twin brother. Neither Liu Mang nor Coach Kruger wanted this pick. The cornerstone insider was not needed at all with Kwame Brown.
Over the past seven years, Liu Mang's vision for drafting has basically remained unchanged. He relies on foresight and the understanding of lineups and tactics brought by his golf business to draft according to the system he wants.
And Coach Kruger is getting better every year!
Looking at the names provided by Coach Kruger, Liu Mang felt that they would not be much worse than his foresighted choices. The character types were all the same, but Coach Kruger's goals were half as weak. A grade.
The lists given by coaches Liu Mang and Kruger are similar in style, so it's easy to handle. You only need to think about the players' character, potential, etc. to rank which rookie is the priority.
Just as the coaching staff, Liu Mang and Price were having a lively discussion, the phone in the boss's office rang.
When Price got on the phone, he didn't want to be weird and make the seven or eight people around him curious.
"A team has made a trade, a big deal." Price turned on the computer, searched, and turned the screen towards the other people in the office.
"... Are you crazy?" This was Liu Mang's first reaction when he saw this deal...
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On June 23, 2008, in the midst of some inconsequential and trivial transactions regarding draft picks before the draft, a shocking bomb suddenly came to light!
The Cavaliers sent away Tyson Chandler and Larry Hughes' junk contracts, and traded for O'Neal, Raja Bell, and Boris Diaw from the Suns.
This deal... came suddenly!
Liu Mang didn't know how to describe this transaction when he saw it.
And then there was the news that the Suns used the Houston clause to waive Larry Hughes.
"Josh's big contract is about to take effect, and the Suns are looking for ways to reduce his salary..." Liu Mang guessed at the Suns' intention to trade and felt that this was a high possibility.
Although the core lineup of the very successful season that just ended has been dismantled, it is not too difficult for the fans to accept. After all, it has been proved that the Suns' lineup cannot beat the Hawks. The Suns have already reached the final step. , their goal is not just to reach the last step, but has changed a lot from their previous dream of reaching the finals.
And using O'Neal, who has aged for another year, plus two role players, we got Tyson Chandler, a top defensive center! By the way, they also got rid of Diaw's big contract. Although the Suns' perimeter defense plummeted after sending out Raja Bell, after losing O'Neal, the Suns basically stopped thinking about defense and got Larry Hughes. The two-year contract can be amnesty, and only one year's money will be used to reduce the huge luxury tax brought by O'Neal's two years left on the contract. The Suns will definitely not lose money.
But what is the mentality of the Cavaliers?
Liu Mang looked at the current lineup of the Cavaliers, O'Neal, Peja...
Not to mention the compatibility between Billups and O'Neal, the feud between O'Neal and Peja alone is enough to make the Cavaliers management and coaching staff drink. O'Neal will not be mentioned, and Peja's gentle style of play will not be mentioned. He shoots freely, but he is a violent Eastern European from the former Yugoslavia, and he has never been kind to O'Neal.
Then a giant center who may have been good in pick-and-rolls at his peak but now basically has no pick-and-roll ability is stuck in the paint...
Liu Mang held a moment of silence for little James, but Liu Mang really couldn't figure out what the Cavaliers were thinking. They had to test their IQ?
Liu Mang felt that O'Neal was like a 750ti or 1050ti graphics card...
The Heat were able to use him well because O'Neal was still at the tail end of his peak and worth 100 million at that time. The Suns were able to use him well because they just got a traditional point guard suitable for O'Neal from the Hawks.
What are the Cavaliers planning?
Liu Mang felt that one should never guess the thinking of a gambler who is constantly losing and losing.
…
Liu Mang couldn't understand what the Cavaliers were trying to do, and few in the media, fans, or players from each team could.
LeBron James, who lost his most solid pick-and-roll center, made headlines when he declined all interview invitations after the trade.
However, some people are optimistic about this deal. After all, the Cavaliers got O'Neal. The Cavaliers have never played a traditional positional battle style. What if they change the style of play and they play better?
The Cavaliers are making a lot of noise, but it will not affect the progress of time. Soon, June 26 will come, and tomorrow will be the draft.
Liu Mang came to New York with the coaching staff and the boss. In the past few days, the Eagles are negotiating with some teams about the No. 10 pick in the first round.
Liu Mang feels that the management of these teams have learned a lot and do not directly ask for draft picks. Instead, they want the Eagles to draft good players before trading them.
This makes Liu Mang and the Eagles management very distressed. What if the other party regrets after they choose a good person? The person selected may not be bad, but if the needs of his own team are different, it will be very troublesome, and the future of other rookies cannot be delayed.
But the Eagles are not in a hurry. If it doesn't work... just make an upset and select the person they want with a high pick. Anyway, Liu Mang knows which low picks will rise in the future. There are a lot of talents in 2008.
When he arrived at the hotel in Manhattan Island and got on the elevator, Liu Mang was still talking with Coach Kruger about which teams might not make it to the playoffs next season and which teams he could trade next year's draft picks with without losing money. .
After everyone put their things away, everyone from the Eagles who came to New York gathered in owner Price's suite. The draft will be held tomorrow, and the use of the No. 10 pick must be decided in less than 30 hours.
At around 10 o'clock in the evening, almost 11 o'clock, the boss asked the employees to go to rest first and continue the discussion tomorrow morning.
At this time, Price received an unexpected call from the north...