Chapter 772: 771.2004 Draft

On the afternoon of June 26th, before the start of the draft, Liu Mang was in a hotel in New York, and finally busy signing rookies, taking rookies to various training camps, recommending rookies with each team, and reaching or failing to achieve draft promises Schwartz met.

"Ace, the Blue Association informed us that the latest report time is July 11th, and we will go to BJ and the national team to gather. There are a total of 44 people in the big training camp list. The big training camp has already started on June 15th. At the beginning, there were more than 80 people. We are directly entering the second training camp." Schwartz was thinking about Liu Mang's planned summer national team arrangements.

"Oh." Liu Mang responded. With a roster of more than 80 people, Liu Mang felt a strong bureaucratic atmosphere... the atmosphere of someone who doesn't understand basketball commanding the national team.

Who the hell would come up with an 80-man roster with only two months left in the Olympics? The last ones selected were not just those few veteran players, they were all for the sake of face.

Schwartz continued: "After that, on July 19, a list of 21 players was decided to go to Evia Island in the Aegean Sea for training. On August 2, a list of 12 players and three waiting lists were decided..."

"...Aegean Sea... Are we going to play basketball, or to play ball?" Hearing this, Liu Mang felt that the public tour was coming again.

Schwartz didn't understand China's national conditions, and asked suspiciously: "What's the matter? The Aegean Sea is an island with the most characteristic climate in Greece. The United States, Argentina, Greece, and Spain, the champion favorites, all train there. .”

"Uh, I didn't mean that. By the way, I promised KING-James to take him to train." How could Liu Mang talk to foreigners about his own country's problems? It's normal for his own people to criticize his own country. But to the outside world, whoever said that his country is not good, the first one who is anxious is the Chinese, Liu Mang immediately changed the subject.

Schwartz checked the timetable before and after the national team's plan, and replied: "It is arranged, from July 3rd to July 6th, you have four cities in China to promote together, Nike wants to You helped introduce James to Chinese fans. I have communicated with James’ management team. From September 2nd to September 10th, I will train with James in Los Angeles. During the training camp, you are also on Evia Island. If you have the opportunity, you can also Let's train together."

After Schwartz read the general itinerary to Liu Mang, he gave the backup of the itinerary to Liu Mang. Liu Mang looked at it. Really, from the preparation for the draft at the end of the playoffs to the training camp next season , the itinerary is packed throughout the summer.

It’s all like this, what else can I do? These days, Liu Mang has no time to care about the teammates who left the team. The farewell party has long since ended. It was organized by Jason Terry and Muhammad. Liu Mang Did not go back to participate.

"Jeff, how's Matt's mood?" Liu Mang was most concerned about Barnes, who was in the middle and lower classes of the NBA.

"Oh, Matt cried all night that night, only to find out the next day that there was a three-year contract extension of 9 million yuan in advance, and he was so happy that he was about to jump up." Schwartz shrugged helplessly.

"..." Liu Mang was speechless, "Congratulations to him."

"Haha, Ace, you don't know, Matt's girlfriend said, Matt cried all night and kept saying, 'Boss doesn't want me anymore'." Schwartz couldn't stop laughing at the thought.

"...Tell him to go away quickly." Liu Mang thought of a big old man crying and talking like that, and his skin got goosebumps.

Co-authored, this guy thought that the Eagles traded him because the company didn't want him anymore, and thought he was going to lose his job. When he saw the big contract, he felt lost and sad.

Barnes’s three-year base salary back then was not guaranteed in the last year. Now he has renewed his contract for 3 years of 9 million yuan, that is, adding the previous year’s base salary of 850,000 yuan, a total of 4 years of 10.05 million yuan contract, which can The NBA stays for up to six years, and the average career lifespan of NBA second-round picks is less than two years. The average career lifespan of all rookies in the NBA is only 4.8 years. Barnes has the opportunity to play for six years and earn over 10 million , and there are more than six million US dollars in hand, which is already very rare, and the excitement is certain.

Ignoring his former bodyguard, this guy is really enough, Liu Mang asked: "By the way, how many rookies did our company sign today?"

"A total of 5 players have been signed who can be confirmed to enter the NBA, and there are more than 10 players who can be brought by others in the company to have the opportunity to enter the NBA." Schwartz replied directly without looking at it. As for the following "Ten A few possible", similar to the expectations for the future in the employee report, it is basically impossible to come true.

"5? Wow, this harvest is good. I remember I recommended Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala to get you ready to grab in advance. Did you get Howard? Or Okafor? " Liu Mang asked expectantly.

Schwartz rolled his eyes: "How is it possible, those two guys have long been targeted by large brokerage companies, in addition to Iguodala and Josh Smith, the other three are Ben Gordon, Tony Allen and JR -Smith."

"Who did you call the last one?"

...

...

It’s a good risk, Schwartz actively recommended JR-Smith to the Hornets. After Jamal Mashburn retired, the Hornets were in urgent need of swingmen, small forwards and shooting guards, and JR -Smith is indeed strong enough. Although he is a rookie in high school, but with the successful examples of Kobe, McGrady and others before, he may become a key player in the NBA. It's just that he has a bad personality and dare not choose him in the lottery he.

And Liu Mang didn't dare to choose. He wanted to defend his title. If he made it to the finals, JR-Smith's head would show off...

Liu Mang thinks that he should recommend JR-Smith to James as a friend in the future, so that they can love each other.

Unknowingly, counting the five confirmed rookies who can enter the NBA, Liu Mang's company already has 12 NBA players, which can already be regarded as a good-scale brokerage company. At the beginning, it was mainly based on Liu Mang's vision. People, and then slowly, began to sign many players relying on Liu Mang's influence and Schwartz's own vision.

...

"Uncle, Uncle, tell Dinah who we are going to choose today, okay..."

Hearing Diao Chan's coquettish voice from the other end of the phone, Liu Mang replied decisively: "Dinah, watching the draft is to watch a suspense! Otherwise, it would be boring."

"Uncle..." Little Lolita continued acting coquettishly.

"Uh... No, otherwise your mother will beat me if she gets spoiled. Uncle can only tell you that we want to select a group of handsome guys to improve the team's appearance!" Liu Mang said sincerely.

"Liar! Uncle said to choose a group of handsome guys, hehe, it must be a group of guys like that Howard to set off myself." Little Lolita saw through Liu Mang's small thoughts at a glance.

What a witty little loli, she was actually seen through! How could Liu Mang admit such a thing? Just arrived at the place, and immediately said: "How is it possible, your uncle, am I that kind of person? Okay, okay, I'm at Madison Square Garden, I'll talk when I come back tomorrow."

Liu Mang hung up the phone, got out of the car and walked towards Madison Square Garden with Schwartz.

The NBA draft is just like a big show. Schwartz comes every year and is very used to it. It is the first time for Liu Mang to participate in it himself. The car is a red carpet, it looks like the red carpet at a film festival, it feels so special.

When Liu Mang and Schwartz walked on the red carpet, the reporters gathered on both sides of the red carpet, the flashes kept shooting, and they kept asking questions.

"Ace, look here, what do you think about the large-scale transaction of the team? Will it affect your choice of contract renewal this summer?"

"Ace, look this way, I heard that this large-scale transaction is due to the issue of the championship MVP, is this true?"

"Ace, which players are you going to pick this year? Can you tell me?"

"Ace, you have the title of God's Hand in the NBA draft world. You can play anyone you pick. What do you think of this title?"

"Mr. Schwartz, it is said that Ace's draft information is all obtained from you. Is it true?"

"Mr. Schwartz, you have signed a total of 5 rookies this year. Are you confident that they will all enter the NBA?"

"..."

"..."

Both Liu Mang and Schwartz were chased by the media for interviews. In people's eyes, Liu Mang's draft vision is inseparable from Schwartz. As an agent who entered the sports circle in the early 1990s, although he used to be a tennis agent, But there are many contacts in the sports circle.

This year Schwartz signed 5 rookies, including two lottery favorites and a quasi-lottery favorite. Although such a result is not as good as the agency that got Howard or Okafor, it can definitely rank The top five of the major brokerage companies this summer.

Liu Mang had been instructed by Schwartz a long time ago, just smile, and whoever told him to look at the camera and smile, and leave a photo. The management of other teams even stared at him at the last moment before the draft Based on the intelligence of the teams with strong draft picks, if you reveal a little bit, you may be intercepted.

After Liu Mang and Schwartz entered the Madison Square Garden arena, they separated. Liu Mang went to the Eagles draft office to meet with the management team, and Schwartz went to the place where the rookies stayed. Cheer up.

This is a draft that changed the fate of a basketball boy who came out of a slum. Even the No. 1 pick is very nervous, and the difference between the first and second picks is still quite large.

...

After the completion of the big deal, the Eagles have been quiet and have not done much operations. Wait until the draft is over to see if there is any chance for reinforcement.

The Eagles did not continue to trade immediately. Anyway, there are only 10 people left in the team, Kevin Willis and Calderon. They are not worried about being picked by the Bobcats at all. There are only 14 contracts left in total, and it is impossible to fill the lineup with players who are currently outside the eight-man protection list of other teams, so the Eagles are not worried at all.

After Liu Mang arrived at the draft office, the management and coaching staff greeted him, then ignored him, nervously waiting for the draft to start.

Calling Liu Mang here is purely for special emergencies. The No. 6 pick is okay, and the No. 13 pick is also okay. If there is a huge gap between the draft picks in hand, a new candidate must be decided in a few minutes. Some drafts that seem completely unreasonable appear at this time, and they are very common. ,

At 7:00 p.m. New York time, after more than an hour of various activities before the draft, the draft finally began.

Liu Mang dozed off for a while, and was woken up by Coach Kruger at this time, and immediately patted his face, concentrating on watching the talent show on the super large LED screen in the office with direct communication.

With the first pick, the Magic did not choose the mature center Emeka Okafor, who is known as the second Tim Duncan, but chose Dwight Howard. Howard became the second high school student center No. 1 pick.

Due to the performance of Kwame Brown, he is now likely to become the starting center of the Eagles. Howard is now more optimistic than before. When the Magic did not choose "Second Duncan" Okafor, the scene Magic fans booed for a long time, but this time, the cheers were the majority.

Although there are still fans who are dissatisfied with Okafor's performance comparable to Duncan's performance in college, but Howard does play out, maybe he will be the next David Robinson, at least the second Kwame Brown. would be too bad...

Teammate Magic chose Howard, Liu Mang was really surprised by the vision of the Magic in this regard, this choice is great, too bold!

After more and more draft news in the past few months, Okafor has dominated the draft news section almost since March. Okafor entered the NBA after the third grade, not because he wanted to make money early, he Since it is recorded among NBA players, when he graduated from high school, he had the best SAT score. Before he finished his sophomore year, he had already completed enough credits, and he could graduate after four years. The credits of the bachelor's degree, he entered the NBA not to make money earlier, but the NCAA has no challenge for him. In March Madness this year, the University of Connecticut he led crushed all the way in the top 64, six games They won the championship with an average of 15 points. They usually won the championship. They averaged 19 points, 16 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game. In the finals, they scored 24 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Faced with a Duncan-level player who was not selected in college, he chose Howard, a high school student with a unique vision. Liu Mang was really convinced. If he didn't open his eyes, Liu Mang would choose Okafor. After all, Duncan was too successful.

The magic team chose Howard with a sharp eye. The happiest person is of course Mr. Joe. The second pick, Mr. Joe, couldn't wait to choose "the next Duncan".

With the third overall pick, the Bulls selected Ben Gordon, which was also expected, because he was Okafor's college teammate, and together they created the most brilliant year in the history of the University of Connecticut. It is worth mentioning that he is also British.

With the fourth pick, the first three players with potential and combat power were selected. The Clippers also gambled on their potential and selected the contemporary magician Sean Livingston. The Wizards with the fifth pick selected Devin- Harris.

Seeing that Harris was selected, Liu Mang felt helpless. In fact, this was his first backup candidate, but since it was almost impossible for Harris to fall out of the top five picks, there was no other way.

Before the finals ended, Liu Mang never thought that his team would have the No. 6 pick. He never thought that the team would be in the current situation. They had been fighting for the championship throughout the season and had no time to plan these things in advance.

However, it's not bad, choose a swingman.

Seeing that Price couldn't wait to put the prepared letter paper with his name on it into the envelope and hand it over to the alliance staff, Liu Mang snapped his fingers... Half of the universe is not dead, but the No. 1 bodyguard came.

The Hawks selected Andre Iguodala with the sixth overall pick.

This is a small upset. The sixth pick is Duke University's Luol Deng and Stanford University's Josh Childress. Iguodala's performance is mediocre and he played for two years. He never played March Madness in college, and if it wasn't for the poor resources in 2004, it would have been difficult for him to enter the lottery.

However, the Eagles are currently extremely short of forwards and guards. It is no problem to choose Iguodala. Luol Deng and Childress are also small forwards. Iguodala has more experience in competitions, but Iguodala doesn't have it.

The Eagles did not select Luol Deng or Childress, and the teams behind were happy. The Bulls selected Jordan Luol Deng of the United Kingdom with the seventh pick, and the 76ers selected Josh Childress, the Raptors selected Rafael Aruyo, who Liu Mang had no impression of at all, with the ninth overall pick.

With the 10th pick, the Warriors selected Andris Biedrins, and with the 11th pick, the Cavaliers selected Ohio's local star, Luke Jackson.

When it came to the twelfth pick, an accident happened and broke the plan of the Eagles!

The Celtics used the twelfth pick in the first round to select high school rookie Al Jefferson!

Originally, Liu Mang wanted to select Al Jefferson with the 13th overall pick, to see what the Celtics would use as the main bargaining chip to trade Garnett in the future, but he forgot that although the Celtics are the No. Nine, but the record is only 34 wins, which is not as good as the third-last Sonics in the Western Conference with 35 wins...

If the Celtics make it to the playoffs, it's best to be the 15th pick, which means the team with the highest pick in the playoffs, but if they don't make the playoffs, they will drop several picks directly!

In a few days, he made a hasty decision on the candidates for the draft, and Liu Mang also made a mistake!

The Eagles already lacked a strong point inside, especially after Raheem and Boozer left. Al Jefferson’s traditional inside characteristics can just make up for this problem of the Eagles. However, the Celtics Cut off!

There was no choice but to choose an alternative. The Eagles used the 13th pick in the first round to select another high school student, Josh Smith.

Three high school seniors have already been drafted in the lottery this year, another record.

Then the willful Jazz, seeing that the legendary contemporary white center "Hope" Robert Swift was not selected, decisively took the last pick in the lottery and took Robert Swift...

The Jazz have three first rounds this year. The No. 6 pick is given to the Eagles. There is also a No. 14 pick from the Trail Blazers and a No. 16 pick from the Grizzlies. This year's pick goes to the Eagles, but the Eagles already have too many picks, so they chose future picks.

After the lottery is selected, many fans are not interested in the next draft. Those who seem to have talent and potential have basically been selected. The only thing left is JR-Smith, which team will be the thorn The team took away this one suspense.

However, for the Eagles, there is not much suspense about the lottery pick, except that Al Jefferson was robbed, and the most vicious bodyguard Liu Mang was missing, which is a bit surprising, but Josh Smith is not bad. Where to go, really, Josh Smith is far more talented than Al Jefferson.

The focus is on the back!

Finally, after waiting for a long time, the Eagles drafted again. Tony Allen and Delonte West were the two candidates given by Liu Mang. Wei can be used as a substitute.

In the end, the Eagles selected Tony Allen from the University of Oklahoma with the 23rd overall pick in the first round, but did not select Delonte West, mainly because of Liu Mang's later hints about his character.

The Eagles didn't draft Delonte West, and the Celtics immediately took advantage of the trend...

After the first round of selection, the second round is not only the fans, but also the teams are not very interested.

Since Al Jefferson was not selected, the draft plan behind the Eagles has actually been broken. It is necessary to find an opportunity to select a backup center with immediate combat power. Without Al Jefferson, others People are not worth cultivating either.

Originally, Liu Mang wanted to choose Chris Duhon as the first pick in the second round as his substitute, but without Al Jefferson, he had to choose Anderson Varejao as the first pick in the second round. Liu Mang was very upset about this, how could black people be like bodyguards among white people...

With the 41st pick in the second round, the Eagles selected Trevor Ariza from UCLA. The Lakers have already bought the No. 42 pick in the second round. They also wanted local players, but they were preempted by the Eagles. , and then the Lakers have no candidates, mainly because the rookies this year are too good. The Lakers management reached the second half of the second round and couldn't even remember their names. After being snatched away by the Eagles, they panicked all of a sudden. , After searching for a long time, I didn’t find any one that I thought I could choose. It was a waste to choose not to sign a contract. I felt distressed after signing. I hesitated for several minutes. I didn’t write my name on it.

Originally, the Lakers bought the No. 56 pick, but Ariza was robbed by the Knicks at the 43rd pick. I couldn't react, because there was really no one to choose.

So, the Lakers spent $600,000 to buy the draft right, and Stu Jackson announced that the 42nd overall pick in this draft... was passed over...

Liu Mang saw that the Lakers were actually drafted! And it's a draft pick that I just bought, so I can't pass it on with laughter.

But here, the draft is basically over, and the remaining dozen or so picks, except for the Mavericks who selected the ill-fated Spanish Vulture at the bottom, the only thing to watch is another Asian player entering the NBA, the Trail Blazers In the second round, he selected center Ho Seung-jin of baseball country with the 46th overall pick.

For this man who claims to blow up Yao Ming, Liu Mang thinks it's better to let Yao Ming play by himself, don't deprive him of the fun.

Liu Mang can't wait to go back to Atlanta to pick a new bodyguard... no, to get in touch with his new teammates!

As for the possibility of a follow-up transaction with a high probability, this kind of thing will be discussed later.

...

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