I just want to play healthy basketball

Chapter 11 Welcome to the NBA! (for collection)
"Why the Hornets?" He Li couldn't accept the news that he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 16th overall pick.

Jeff Austin took He Li to the Charlotte Hornets to participate in trial training, but the Hornets' attitude towards He Li was very perfunctory at the beginning, and they had no idea of ​​further understanding.

If Hornets general manager Bob Bass is playing hard to get, it can only be said that he has vision!
However, Charlotte is a small city, and the Charlotte Hornets are also a small ball market.

It's not that He Li despises the small ball market, but if he also goes to the small ball market and the Charlotte Hornets whose future is uncertain, it's better to go to a team like the Memphis Grizzlies whose owner personally made a promise and allowed him to pay attention.

"He Li, don't worry.

According to my many years of work experience, there are two situations if there is no accident. One is that the Hornets want to use you to rob other teams, and the other is that the Hornets have completed transactions with other teams.

In either case, it's none of your business, these are my jobs as an agent and I will follow up on the situation.

And what you need to do now is to put on your hat and go on stage to shake hands with the president to celebrate, and then accept interviews from the media.

You know, you were selected No.16 in the first round of this draft, and you should be happy now.

Remember, don't show any unhappiness, and don't get carried away and say things you shouldn't say.

For interview questions, if you cannot answer, you have the right to remain silent!
Go up, next is your stage! "

Jeff Austin, as He Li's agent, was really competent. Before the NBA staff came over, he dispelled He Li's concerns, so that He Li could happily go on stage to accept the congratulations from President Stern.

Next, He Li didn't think about it. After putting on the Charlotte Hornets hat presented by the staff, he quickly passed through the small green room from the auditorium and walked to the rostrum where Stern was.

To mention a little bit, the small green house in the draft is not actually a real house, but an area surrounded by a fence and covered with green carpets.

Every lottery show has a table in the small green room, and can invite family members, agents, and friends to enter the small green room, but the activity space is limited to one table.

In front of the small green house is the area where media reporters set up live broadcast equipment, and further ahead is the rostrum of the talent show.

Behind the small green house is the auditorium. The first two rows of the audience are usually the area for other non-small green house draft players, and the more than ten rows behind are the fans who actually come to watch the ceremony.

When He Li passed by the small green room, almost all the eyes in the small green room were focused on He Li, which made He Li faintly feel the pleasure of being the newcomer.

When He Li walked from the small green room covered with green carpets to the rostrum covered with red carpets, He Li seemed to understand that this was a process for a player to go from youthful to mature.

NBA President David Stern saw He Li coming to the stage, looked at He Li with a smile, and when He Li approached, he immediately stretched out his hand to hold He Li's hand, and continued to smile and encourage him: "Congratulations, He Li! Welcome to the NBA!"

"Uh...thank you." He Li was obviously taken aback when he heard this, and then thought to himself, "Isn't welcome to the NBA trash talk?"

But there is no time to think about it now, He Li quickly showed a professional smile, and faced the camera in the front row with Stern, taking a group photo.

After the group photo was over, He Li stepped down from the other side of the passage leading to the reporter's interview area and accepted the interview.

He Li accepted three waves of interviews, and the last wave was the duo of Yang Yi. In fact, it was nothing, just saying something like "award acceptance speech".

Since Chinese reporters generally do not interview other draft players, He Li chatted more with Yang Yi and the others.

To be honest, He Li was very excited to be selected with the 16th overall pick. He Li thought he would be selected at the end of the first round before coming here!
When He Li said goodbye to Yang Yi and returned to the auditorium, the first round of the draft was almost over.

Every year at the draft, there are some players who can’t come to the scene. In this case, Stern basically reports his name and goes through the process. Except for the team manager’s selection will delay a little time, Stern needs to step down to get the envelope, other times the draft is very fast.

Soon, Tony Parker was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 28th pick in the first round. After taking a group photo on stage, this year's first-round draft is over.

Because the Minnesota Timberwolves have engaged in a wave of yin and yang contracts in the past two years, the first-round picks have been deprived in the past five years, so the second-round draft will begin next.

With the first pick in the second round, the Chicago Bulls selected Trenton Hassel, but Hassel did not come to the draft.

With the second pick in the second round, Gilbert Arenas was selected by the Golden State Warriors. The No. [-] agent who will amaze the entire league in the next few years also did not come.

Arenas can compete with Kobe for 60 points in the future, but who would have thought that he was only a second-round pick when he entered the league?
As the draft entered the second round, many spectators who came to support certain stars began to leave.

He Li had already completed the draft, had already been interviewed, and was not well-known, so after Jeff Austin came back from inquiring about the situation, he also left early and left Madison Square Garden.

After returning to the hotel, Jeff Austin told He Li a little bit about how he was selected by the Hornets.

As Jeff Austin expected, the Hornets chose He Li with the 16th overall pick in the first round, not because they wanted to cultivate He Li, but because He Li's physical measurement data alarmed Hornets general manager Bob Bass, and the wily Bob Bass gave birth to the idea of ​​fishing with a straight hook and taking advantage of the fire.

This is not the first time that Bob Bass has done this kind of thing. As early as 96, Bob Bass, who had a vicious vision, selected Kobe Bryant, a high school player who was not favored by most people, in the draft that year.

Bob Buss robbed the Lakers with Kobe Bryant and traded the No. 13 rookie single for the Lakers' quasi-All-Star center Vlade Divac.

Just when Bob Bass thought he was making blood, the logo man showed with his actual actions that the trade of Vlad Divac was to clear up the salary space and prepare for the Sharks to come to Los Angeles, and the trade of Kobe was to complete another championship map, so I will never lose money!

From the point of view of the year when Kobe exchanged Divac for Divac, it was indeed Bob Bass who made the money, but from now on, Bob Bass can only cry and faint in the toilet.

It was also after this incident that Bob Bass, who was used to robbery, dared not make a deal with the logo man no matter what he did.

Bob Bass can think of the fifth layer, but the logo man can fly into the atmosphere.

This time Bob Bass used He Li to rob other teams, and he was a little more cautious, so until now, Bob Bass has not called He Li.

Players selected by the team in the draft will inevitably receive a call from the general manager of the team on the night of the draft. Regardless of whether they are traded or not, they will receive a call. Of course, this will have to wait for the results of the trade.

The sooner the player received the call, the more the general manager of the team paid attention to it. If the call was received late, it does not mean that the player is not favored, but it is very likely that the transaction is still being negotiated, and it will take a certain amount of time to deal with the player transaction.

This is the case with He Li right now.

Jeff Austin told He Li not to worry too much. There are many teams competing for him. It is better for him to be traded by the Hornets than to be kept by the Hornets. Then he just needs to wait for the good news.

Originally, the general manager of the Nets, Rod Thorn, was going to use the 18th pick in the first round from the Rockets to select He Li, but he did not expect to be picked up by the Hornets.

Similarly, Knicks general manager Scott Layden traded the Cavaliers' 20th overall pick to sign He Li. After learning that the Hornets cut his beard, he immediately asked the Hornets for a price, and is now in the process of bargaining.

In the end, the Grizzlies general manager Billy Knight is also dealing with Bob Bass. If Bob Bass is not asking for too much, Billy Knight also wants to take He Li under his command.

The time gradually came to ten o'clock in the evening, and He Li finally received the damn phone call.

Bob Bass on the other end of the phone didn't keep a secret, and said bluntly: "Maybe you already know, yes, I'm going to tell you a sad news now.

Your talent astounds me, and I may regret this trade in many years, but now we have made the decision to send you to Milwaukee! "

"What? Milwaukee? Bucks? Didn't we agree on the Nets, Knicks, and Grizzlies? Why did they suddenly become Bucks?" He Li was shocked after receiving the call.

Standing behind He Li, Jeff Austin scratched his head embarrassingly: "No, Rod Thorne really wants He Li. Why did the Bucks make a deal with the Hornets in the end?"

In fact, Bob Bass also wanted to know why it was the Bucks who finally made a deal with him!
"The general managers of other teams should all get out of class. He Li has such good physical test data, but no one bids for it at a high price. They are all beggars!"

He Li's physical test data is indeed excellent, but He Li's identity as an Asian player and a high school player discourages most teams.

It's embarrassing when a robber wants to rob and all the beggars come.

At the beginning, the Nets, New York, and Grizzlies all had a lot of willingness to compete for He Li.

But the Nets are all rotten fish except for Stephen Marbury, Keith Van Horn, and Kenyon Martin, but the salary of role players is very high. The Nets' trading plan is to use junk contracts and future draft picks to trade with the Hornets. Naturally, the Hornets have no interest.

The Knicks are exactly the same as the Nets. The Hornets can't get what they want, and the Hornets don't want to take the "shit-stained" chips given by the Knicks.

The Grizzlies are different from the previous two, but because in this draft, they have traded away all the players that could be traded before, and there is nothing left to be traded except rookies.

灰熊提出的方案还是很有诚意的，愿意用98年被火箭用第14顺位选中，去年场均有16.3分3.3篮板3.3助攻的得分后卫迈克尔·迪克森跟黄蜂做交易。

You must know that the second scoring point in the Hornets, David Wesley, who is also a point, averaged 16.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

The Hornets made it to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs this year, but unfortunately lost to the more powerful Bucks. If they add a stable scoring point, they might be able to go further.

The Hornets really need immediate combat power right now, but the problem is that Michael Dixon was seriously injured last year, and the Hornets don't know whether Michael Dixon can still play at his original level.

So, in the end, the Hornets accepted the Bucks' offer.

The Bucks gave Lindsay Hunter, the sixth man in the team, who averaged 24.4 minutes per game and was able to score 10.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists, plus a second-round pick.

In the Bucks, Lindsay Hunter is the player who made the most three-pointers except Ray Allen.

However, Lindsay Hunter is not a point guard, but a point guard.In the Bucks, Lindsay Hunter served as a substitute for the alien Cassell. Although the Hornets did not lack point guards, the main point guard, Baron Davis, was too young and not stable enough.

In the playoffs against the Bucks not long ago, Baron Davis scored 29 points supernaturally, Super Ghost scored 16 points on 3-of-10 shooting, and scored 6 points on 0-of-4 free throws, becoming the team's biggest undercover agent.

The Hornets and the Bucks complete this deal, and the loss is definitely not a loss.The two championship teams need immediate combat power.

The Hornets had no idea of ​​​​cultivating He Li. Now that the Bucks want it so much, they will cause some trouble for their competitors.

The Hornets have weakened the strength of the Bucks' bench and added George Karl's favorite jumping man to the already crowded Bucks' front and back line.

Love doesn't disappear, it just shifts.

He Li, who can run and jump with a tough style, is George Karl's favorite type. If George Karl focuses on cultivating He Li, a high school rookie because of his personal preference, there may be civil strife in the Bucks.

Judging from the past one or two years, the two strongest teams in the Eastern Conference are the 76ers and the Bucks.

If the Hornets want to enter the Eastern Conference finals, they have to get rid of one of the enemies first. If the Bucks can disintegrate from the inside, that is naturally the best.

Having said that, not long after Bob Bass called, Bucks general manager Ernie Grunfeld also called He Li.

"George and I both love you and look forward to seeing you again in Milwaukee soon!"

(End of this chapter)