Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 258 258. The Draft
After successfully recruiting D'Antoni, Lu pulled Bill Lambiel to treat Chris Paul and D'Antoni warmly.

The arrival of these two will become important figures in the new season of the Grizzlies.

During the meal, Luke and D'Antoni also had a very in-depth discussion on small ball play.

What surprised Luke was that D'Antoni's understanding of small ball play was so profound. Even if Luke had personally witnessed the advent of the small ball era, he had to admit that D'Antoni did have two brushes on the offensive end.

In addition, D'Antoni's tactical thinking also caused Luke to bow his head in thought.

Even though experts from all walks of life in later generations have already thoroughly analyzed D'Antoni's "magic ball theory", some things are said from the mouth of the person concerned, and the analysis from the outside world is completely different.

D'Antoni suggested that the Grizzlies can use Chris Paul as the core in the new season and carry out more large-scale transfers on the court.

Especially when both Gasols in the interior have the ability to support, the Grizzlies will move the ball very quickly. As long as the running-in is smooth, the Grizzlies can completely come up with a variety of offensive opportunities on the offensive end.

In the tough battle, Kevin Martin, who has rich offensive methods, can make up for Paul's lack of height.

Let Paul put more emphasis on connecting the team, and no longer need to be both a father and a mother like in the Hornets period, and he has to stand up and fight personally in many cases.

In addition, when a few people talked about the upcoming draft, Chris Paul also gave his opinion with a smile, "I think the team can choose an insider with better physical talent, so that in the pick-and-roll, his Downswing can be a threat, and I can also have a broader offensive environment."

Paul is a player who is very good at alley-oops with his teammates. As a traditional point guard, Paul's passing vision is definitely the top in the league.

At present, the Grizzlies already have Marc Gasol, who has excellent defensive ability and can shoot outside the three-point line on the offensive end.

From a functional point of view, the Grizzlies really need a blue-collar center with explosive physical fitness to form more offensive threats with Paul in the pick-and-roll.

However, Luke just smiled lightly at Chris Paul's proposal. In this regard, Luke already had a choice.

No matter which player Luke selects in this year's draft, Marc Gasol's starting center position is unshakable.

Although Marc Gasol moves slowly and is not a center with a particularly strong ability to attack the basket, Gasol Jr. has the support ability that most centers do not have, and the space ability to shoot outside the three-point line.

The most important thing is that Marc Gasol is definitely the center with the best penalty area defense in the active league. In terms of penalty area defense alone, even "Warcraft" Howard dare not say that he is above Marc Gasol.

Howard's strong defense is that he can quickly assist his teammates in defense. When facing some defenders in the league, he can briefly conduct large defenses and small defenses to ensure that dislocations are invalid.

But once he stands in the penalty area and defends the opponent's center player's low attack, Marc Gasol is definitely a father-level player.

Before the league completely set off a small ball storm, center players were definitely the most important existence.

Even if a center can only hand over 5 points and 4 rebounds per game, he dares to ask for an annual salary of more than 500 million to test the free market.

And if this kind of data is placed on a defender, no one will regret it even if he is eliminated by the league.

Although many of the Grizzlies' main players left the team during the offseason, the overall core framework has not changed. The three main players, Kevin Martin and Double Gasol, have stayed on the team.

The goal of the Grizzlies in the new season is definitely to attack and defend the title. With no center player on the bench, what the Grizzlies need more is an "instant combat" player with autonomous offensive capabilities.

After all, as the team's offensive arrow, Paul's playing time in each game will basically not be less than 30 minutes.

In more cases, Paul is a partner with Marc Gasol and Paul Gasol.

A blue-collar center with explosive physical fitness is not the primary reinforcement target of the Grizzlies in the new season. Relatively speaking, a center with independent offensive ability and excellent low-post skills is more valued by Luke.

While possessing the above characteristics, the player must also be an immediate force. The Grizzlies, who desperately need to defend their title, don't have much time to train a player from scratch.

Once the player growth cycle is too long, the Grizzlies' deal for Chris Paul will look stupid.

After all, they chose to trade for Chris Paul during the offseason. The Grizzlies' goal is to win the championship, and strive to take advantage of the momentum of the defending champion to win two more championships.

The type of center that Paul likes is not unavailable in this year's draft. His physical fitness is superb, but Jordan, who has never played with a brain, fits Paul's requirements very well.

And in his previous life, Chris Paul had worked with Jordan for many seasons, using alley-oops to directly send a blue-collar center like Jordan to the best team.

However, in the early stages of Jordan's career, apart from dunking, his other skills were simply confused. He couldn't even control fouls well in defense, and he was often taken off on the spot with a light touch.

Unless Luke selects Jordan and puts him directly in the starting lineup, allowing Chris Paul to drive his offense on the court.

Otherwise, Jordan's current competitive state is simply not suitable for the Grizzlies next season.

Luke didn't have much time, nor did he have the patience to develop Jordan's golf intelligence.

What's more, Jordan is a center that is overestimated by the outside world.

Without Chris Paul, Jordan would be an ordinary blue-collar among many players in the league.

At most, he has excellent physical fitness and dares to run and buckle to leave a little impression on people.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the Clippers led by Chris Paul back then, even if the center player was replaced by Capela, he could still be selected to the best team like Jordan, and even played better than Jordan.

The Grizzlies have two first-round picks in this year's draft, which were obtained from the Kings and Rockets through trades last season.

The picks of the two draft picks are the 12th pick in the first round and the 25th pick in the first round. For a team that just won the championship last season, this is simply a great benefit.

If the name of the head coach of this team is Luke, the value of these two draft picks is even more frightening.

Regarding the operation of this year's draft conference, Luke has long planned. Now he just waits for the arrival of the draft conference, and then enjoys the fear emanating from many teams in the league.

…………

On June 6, local time in the United States, under the expectations of outside fans, the NBA Draft 28 officially opened.

Compared with previous years, this year's draft is not predicted by the outside world to be a big draft year, but there are several top picks among them who have great potential and are unanimously favored.

As early as early June, before the finals were over, it was inspected by many teams.

Among these top picks, Derrick Rose is undoubtedly the most popular.

As early as in high school, Rose was selected to the All-American High School Team with high-energy data of 25.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 3.4 steals per game.

At the same time, he was also selected as the first best team in the United States jointly selected by "USA Today", "Parade" magazine and "EA Sports".

Entering college, Derrick Rose led the team to the finals in the first year, shocking the American basketball world in one fell swoop.

The University of Memphis, under the leadership of Rose, proved its strength with a 26-game opening season performance.

This also put them at the top of the list for the first time since the 80s, and the final record was fixed at 33 wins and 1 loss.

Unfortunately, in the final, Rose missed a free throw at the last moment and was dragged into overtime by the opponent's Mario Chalmers hit a key three-pointer. In the end, he regrettably lost in overtime.

However, the NCAA's failure to win the championship does not affect Rose's status in this year's draft. After all, Rose's sharp breakthrough and defensive counterattack shocked even NBA scouts.

The famous ESPN commentator Flake even wrote, "I have never seen Derek's explosive power in any point guard, and his speed of changing directions is very fast, and there is no need to use deceleration to adjust the rhythm."

"Derrick is different from the league's traditional point guards. He is fully capable of blazing a new path."

Compared with the traditional point guard who puts the series team first, Derrick Rose is more lethal in terms of personal offense.

The sharp breakthrough, coupled with the puzzling ability to stay in the air, allows Derrick Rose to easily tear apart the defense.

Derrick Rose's amazing explosive power has made many people compare this young man who has not yet entered the league with "bearded" Baron Davis, thinking that Derrick Rose is the faster Davis.

As we all know, Baron Davis before the injury was definitely the most explosive presence among the league's point guards.

Fans can see Baron Davis dunking the opponent's big center in almost every game.

However, when compared with outside fans, the person involved, Baron Davis, seemed very humble, "No! No! No! This guy will definitely not become the second me. He has shown stronger strength than when I entered the league. "

Among the rookies of the same class, I am afraid that only Michael Beasley can compete with Rose in terms of honor.

Beasley has almost won all the gold content awards in high school and college, and still maintains NCAA scoring records of 30+ and 40+, and is considered to be a scoring machine comparable to Carmelo Anthony.

However, since the team holding the No. [-] pick this year is the Chicago Bulls, and Rose is a native of Chicago, if nothing else happens, the Bulls will definitely use this No. [-] pick to select Derrick Rose.

Even if it is a very painful thing to give up Michael Beasley, you must know that before participating in the draft, Beasley was identified by NBA scouts as an immediate rookie who can quickly integrate into the team, but Rose has shown The potential is even more fascinating.

In the end, the Chicago Bulls' choice was as expected, and they selected Derrick Rose from the University of Memphis with the first pick in the first round.

Knowing that he was selected by his hometown team, Rose had a heartfelt smile on his face. At the same time, many teams were full of mourning for Derrick Rose in front of them.

But apart from Luke, no one knows what kind of performance Rose will play next, let alone how bumpy Rose's career will be.

With the second pick in the first round, the Heat did not hesitate to pick Michael Beasley, a basketball genius who can stand shoulder to shoulder with Derrick Rose.

In addition to his personal style of play, Beasley's terrifying scoring ability is definitely a player that all teams want to pick off.

Seeing that the Heat selected Michael Beasley with the second pick, Chris Wallace in the room couldn't help but licked his lips, "It seems that the Heat will rise again next season, Dwyane Wade plus Michael Beas Li, coupled with the reinforcements this summer, the Heat were able to turn around in just one year, and Pat's methods are really powerful enough."

"It's hard to say. Michael Beasley's defensive choices are very bad. Except for his explosive scoring ability, he is almost full of shortcomings."

"And the old Pat Riley is a well-known training madman. With Michael's uninhibited personality, it is very likely to cause conflicts, just like the one between Shaq and Pat back then."

"And there are also hidden dangers in the running-in problem between Michael and Dwyane. Whether the new season can turn around or not depends on whether the head coach has the ability to control the team."

Compared with Chris Wallace's optimism, D'Antoni, who has rich coaching experience, thinks more long-term, and points out the key in one sentence.

"I think so, players are not machines after all, I'm really superficial." Chris Wallace smiled sarcastically, and also valued the chief assistant coach who had just joined the team.

Not to mention that D'Antoni's willingness to come to the Grizzlies as an assistant coach is based on Luke's face. Just say that D'Antoni is an assistant coach recruited by Luke himself this summer. D'Antoni posed in front of him.

It's okay for a team's general manager to surround the head coach for Ma Shizhan, but now it depends on the face of the assistant coach.

But Wallace is enjoying everything at the moment. From the moment Wallace made up his mind to follow in Luke's footsteps, these problems are not a problem at all now.

With the third overall pick in the first round, the Bobcats, holding the No. [-] pick, chose OJ Mayo, a rookie who also has great potential. He has been competing with Rose, Beasley and others for the top pick before.

Many media regard Mayo as the next Kobe, and believe that Mayo has a chance to reach Kobe's height.

After all, Mayo is very confident on the offensive end, and his offensive methods are very comprehensive. In addition, he is willing to share the ball during the game. These characteristics are enough for Mayo to be trained as the core of the team.

Only in the NCAA64 to enter the top 32, the University of Southern California led by Mayo was eliminated by Kansas State University led by Michael Beasley, which greatly reduced Mayo's qualifications for the No. [-] pick.

It can only be regretted that Rose and Michael Beasley were picked off by the Bobcats.

It is worth mentioning that OJ Mayo is still a well-known "CBA star", who once formed a terrifying backcourt double gun with local player Guo Ailun in the CBA Liaoning team.

From a talented player who was unanimously optimistic by the NBA to having to play in the CBA to make a living, Mayo was once called a typical case of wasting talent by the outside world, which caused many fans to regret.

With the fourth pick in the first round, the Thunder chose Russell Westbrook, a slugger who averaged a triple-double for three consecutive seasons.

Even though Westbrook's career has been questioned as a "brush" by the outside world, Westbrook's strength is definitely worthy of recognition for being able to average a triple-double for three consecutive seasons.

Although Westbrook's offensive choices at critical moments are always confusing, it gives people a feeling of simple mind and well-developed limbs.

There are many star teammates around him, Durant, George, Anthony, Harden, and Bill.

It's a pity that no one can lead Westbrook to win the championship, which also made Westbrook once called a cancer by the outside world.

It is believed that Westbrook's style of grabbing the center's backcourt rebounds seriously hurt the team. Apart from brushing statistics, he basically did not contribute to the team's championship.

Especially the feature of IQ dropping as soon as he entered the playoffs made Westbrook deeply troubled by public opinion.

But in any case, Westbrook's selection into the Hall of Fame is a certainty, and his behavior of publicly supporting China many times has been loved by many fans.

The Thunder's selection of Westbrook with the fourth overall pick in the first round is definitely bloody.

With the fifth overall pick in the first round, the Warriors selected Kevin Love, who is also an inside player with outstanding abilities. He once teamed up with LeBron James and Irving to win a championship ring.

As a handsome guy who can play, Love is a player that even Luke is envious of. He has both shooting ability and basketball IQ. Love is definitely an insider that every team likes in the small ball era.

With the sixth pick in the first round, the Knicks chose Gallinelli, and with the seventh pick in the first round, the Clippers chose Eric Gordon. These two are players with good strength and worthy of their draft picks.

As of now, the players selected by each team with the top seven picks have played well in later generations, which made Luke unable to bear the sarcasm, "The young draft year judged by the experts really did not disappoint."

Hearing Luke's mocking tone, Wallace and D'Antoni glanced at each other, then staggered their eyes tacitly, pretending not to hear.

Next, with the ninth overall pick in the first round, the Bobcats selected Augustin, who is the best point guard in this draft except Derrick Rose and Westbrook.

If it hadn't been for the team led by Derrick Rose to hang up and beat him in March Madness, and was brutally blown up in the matchup with Derrick Rose, Augustin's draft price would not have fallen so badly.

There is a high probability that he will be selected at the 5th to 7th pick.

It's a pity that the opponent Augustine met was called Derrick Rose, and the strength between the two was indeed not at the same level.

With the tenth pick in the first round, the Nets chose Brook Lopez, a center player with excellent offensive ability.

In terms of offensive ability alone, Lopez is definitely the best center in this draft.

With the 11th overall pick in the first round, the Pacers chose Bayliss, but regrettably missed the surprise.

The next 12th pick in the first round is the pick of the defending champion Grizzlies.

When it was the Grizzlies' turn to draft, the entire draft scene fell silent instantly. Everyone turned their attention to the Grizzlies' room, wanting to see which talent Luke would pick in this year's draft.

After all, Luke's selection vision is unique in the entire history. Up to now, none of the players selected by Luke has been lost. There are even many players who have performed at the All-Star level. This also made Luke dubbed the "hand of God" in the draft world by fans.

As the scene fell into silence for several minutes, league president David Stern finally whetted his appetite and announced the choice of the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies selected Roy Hibbert from Georgetown University with the 12th pick in the first round.

The choice of the Grizzlies attracted discussions among many people on the scene. Although some people were puzzled, most of them lowered their heads and sighed, "Another talented center in the league is about to rise."

Even Hibbert himself couldn't believe that he was named and selected by the "Hand of God" Luke. Doesn't this mean that his career has been affirmed in advance? !

Hibbert is not the strongest center in this draft, nor is he the best insider in his career. After all, there is Ibaka who has won the championship behind Hibbert.

But Hibbert, who is [-] meters tall, is definitely the strongest "instant power" center in this draft except Lopez.

Hibbert is 128 meters tall and weighs [-] kilograms. He was once nicknamed "Black Yao Ming" by fans. He was selected to the All-Star team twice in his career and was selected to the All-NBA team once.

Looking at personal honors alone, Hibbert is just a guy who barely reached the All-Star level, and he is not at the same level as the slugger Ibaka behind him, but the reason why Luke still chooses Hibbert is because Hibbert is A player who can plug and play.

Compared with Ibaka, who needs a long training period to reach the peak, Hibbert, who is both offensive and defensive, is definitely a player that the Grizzlies need more next season.

During college, Hibbert averaged 13.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.2 blocks per game. His performance was quite satisfactory, but Hibbert's shooting percentage was as high as 60%. His height of [-] meters brought him many advantages.

Before the advent of the small ball era, Hibbert was definitely one of the best center players in the league at that time. The most classic battle in his career was to lead the Pacers to fight against the Big Three Heat with James, Wade and "Dragon King" Bosh. It's a pity to lose.

当年那场东决，希伯特场均能够砍下22.1分10.4篮板1助攻以及1.2次封盖，高达55.7%的投篮命中率差一点就带领步行者掀翻热火

And it was those two years of outstanding playoff performance that established Hibbert's position in the league in one fell swoop.

Because of his outburst, people once had such an illusion: Is it true that the Big Three of the Heat, who are in full swing, are really going to be blocked by the Indian City Five Tigers in the East?
During James' long, absolute dominance of the East, just asking that question is an achievement worth bragging about.

Although since then, Hibbert's state has declined seriously, and he has to announce his retirement at the age of only 31, but Hibbert's strength at the peak is definitely above Ibaka, at least in the first few years of his career. Much better than Ibaka.

In fact, it was never an injury that destroyed Hibbert, but the revision of the NBA's rules and the small ball trend throughout the league.

In the years of savage growth, Hibbert stood under the basket, took off vertically, and stretched his arms, and he was able to block most of the intruders. In his peak season, Hibbert averaged 2.6 blocks per game.

In addition to the statistical blocks, Hibbert's shot interference standing under the basket is also crucial.

The height of [-] meters has too many advantages in the penalty area.

It is precisely because of this that the "victims" represented by LeBron James protested against the relevant rules. At that time, people even called it "Hibert's vertical law."

James' proposal also caused major authoritative media in the United States to start discussing whether the existence of such a defensive bug as Hibbert should make the league consider revising the vertical cylinder rule.

In March 2014, the NBA really revised the defensive rules for inside players, restricting the rotation and attack range after the vertical jump.

After the rules were revised, Hibbert's average fouls per game skyrocketed, and his defensive effect at the basket became worse day by day.

Although the league did not make rule changes aimed at Hibbert alone, the rule changes represent the league's admiration for the small ball trend.

More and more three-pointers, pick-and-rolls and off-ball screens are getting more and more complicated, moving the ball faster and faster...

The protection of breakers has greatly improved the viewing experience of the game.

The league is not targeting Hibbert and other centers, but the side effect that followed is the fall of big centers.

Especially those centers who can't switch out of the basket after the pick-and-roll and have slow lateral footsteps.

On the offensive end, big men who cannot be pulled out to shoot long distances have gradually become a burden to the team.

Unfortunately, Hibbert, known as "Black Yao Ming", was on the "blacklist" of the small ball era.

Yao Ming's ridicule about the renewal of the NBA is still in my ears, and Hibbert has become a victim of the changing times.

Luke still remembers the words Hibbert said in an interview, "It's not me who is wrong, but the world."

If you have to find out the reason for the rapid decline from Hibbert, then it can only be that in the face of the rolling trend of the times, Hibbert does not have the talent to deal with it easily, nor does he have the choice to make a desperate resistance.

This became the reason why the fans complained that Hibbert's mud could not support the wall, thinking that Hibbert played well for two years, and then he started to fish in troubled waters after he got a big contract.

But in fact, Hibbert, who is [-] meters tall, doesn't have much resistance in the face of the rolling small ball era.

You must know that no matter how flexible the height is close to [-] meters, it is difficult to change defenses. Facing the oppression of the small ball era, standing in Hibbert's position at that time, I am afraid that most people can do is to gradually step down from the altar.

As for the fans questioning why Hibbert didn't use his height advantage to do more damage in the penalty area, thus breaking the change of the small ball era.

Lu Kequan took this kind of remarks as a joke, and the arrival of the small ball era was completely driven by the league behind it. Not to mention a mere Hibbert, even the "big shark" O'Neal could hardly go against the will of the league.

Many fans in later generations are discussing whether the rise of the small ball era can be destroyed if the "big shark" O'Neal is placed in the small ball era.

From the perspective of the court, O'Neal can indeed destroy the small ball era, pressing Green, who was playing center in the Warriors' five small lineups, to the ground and frantically rubbing.

But judging from the general environment the league was in at the time, no one could change the league's determination to reform. After all, the advent of the small ball era has greatly increased the league's revenue.

The faster and faster offensive rhythm makes the NBA more popular with "young fans", and it is no longer called "the arena of chimpanzees" by fans.

Hibbert's fall was very rapid, but in this era, Hibbert, who is [-] meters tall, is definitely a low-post killer.

Moreover, Hibbert is still an instant player. Luke does not need to spend too much time to focus on training. He only needs to follow the normal training of the team to contribute a good offensive and defensive performance. This makes it difficult for Luke to find a good player. Reasons to choose Hibbert.

In the new season, Hibbert will serve as Marc Gasol's substitute to support the Grizzlies' inside rotation. As long as the Grizzlies do not suffer from extensive injuries, the Grizzlies' chances of winning the championship will be improved again.

"Roy is a bit bulky, and it will become a burden to the team's overall acceleration." Seeing that Luke firmly chose Roy Hibbert, D'Antoni shook his head helplessly, "But he was chosen by you. Player, I believe he definitely has potential."

D'Antoni's offensive philosophy is to play as fast as he can. Center players like to use speed-type insiders, rather than cumbersome low-post killers like Hibbert.

In contrast, D'Antoni prefers Ibaka and Jordan Jr., but Luke is very firm in choosing Hibbert, which makes D'Antoni, who advocates small ball tactics, a little helpless.

"Mike, small ball play will certainly become the mainstream rhythm in the future, but sometimes don't trap yourself in the circle."

"Blindly pursuing the limit will only put the cart before the horse. You must know that what we pursue on the court is never to score, but to win the game."

"Your coaching ideas are too rigid. In a sense, this is a good thing, which can reduce the team's mistakes and hesitation on the court."

"But nothing is set in stone on the road to a championship, whether it's you or your opponent."

"Blindly insisting will only be eliminated by the times. Just like Phil, who was fired by the Lakers not long ago, insisting on using the triangle offense can make the Lakers play very strong in the regular season, but once entering the playoffs, Phil's set is basically Can't make a move." After a pause, Luke added, "Unless the lineup in his hands can be crushed in terms of strength, then no matter what tactics they use, the team can push and win the championship."

"I know that you are willing to join the Grizzlies as an assistant coach just to seek a change, or to find a shortcut to success."

"But there is no way to be doomed to success from the very beginning. All we can do is undoubtedly to see the tricks and break the tricks, and our thinking will always jump ahead of the opponent."

Hearing these words, D'Antoni didn't take it seriously at first, but as every word Luke said pierced his heart, D'Antoni gradually fell into contemplation, as if he was thinking and digesting.

Compared with the hustle and bustle outside the room, Grizzly's small room fell into silence at this time.

(End of this chapter)