Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 91 Draft lottery
After a tumultuous workout at the combine, almost all American fans' eyes are on the 5 NBA draft lottery in Secaucus Township, New Jersey, on May 20, local time, and which three teams are at stake Being able to get the top three picks and pick his favorite rookie in this draft year.As players participating in the draft, Ye Feng and others are also very concerned about this ceremony, after all, it is likely to be closely related to their future.For this reason, Ye Feng, Westbrook and Love decided to watch the lottery ceremony together at Westbrook's home, and they also brought along Mbah a Moute who had just returned from Cameroon.But the choice of Westbrook's family is not because he is the captain of the team, but his family has gone to Hawaii for vacation, and he is the only one in Los Angeles preparing to participate in various trial training.

At the scene of the lottery ceremony, representatives of 14 teams gathered together, and everyone greeted their acquaintances one after another.Simply put, this ceremony is a game of luck. There is no need for everyone to fight to the death, anyway, the final interpretation rests with the alliance.In this way, it is very necessary to have a good relationship with each other, unless it is those real enemies who will pretend not to see each other.There were many lucky ones in the lottery ceremony. In 1990, the Sonics, who were only one step away from the playoffs, won the second pick in one fell swoop, shocking everyone's jaws, and they got Gary Payton.In 1993, the Magic were even more outrageous. They had the best record among all the teams that did not enter the playoffs, but they won the No. Wei Lai assists the young O'Neill.

But everyone said hello, but the draft strategy of their own team would not reveal the slightest bit.Although there are some people who are very scheming to find out the tone, the people who are asked always talk about him, and the reason is very good: the draft pick has not yet been determined, and the ghost knows whether our goal will be won by then. Come down, wouldn't it be ridiculous to expose it now?So everyone looks very friendly on the surface, but in fact they are secretly wary of other people. This is also the intended meaning of the NBA, a business league. Everyone is talking about business, so don’t go too far in spying on business secrets. .Perhaps only giants with a long history and strong cohesion such as the Celtics and Lakers can get a little bit of news from the employees who have separated themselves.

According to the regular season records of the 14 teams in the 2007-08 season, the team with the worse record is more likely to win the No. 25 pick.The highest probability in this lottery ceremony is naturally the Miami Heat, which is at the bottom of the league. Their probability of winning the No. 19.9 lottery is 13.8%. After them, the probability of other teams winning the No. 13.7 lottery decreases in order: Supersonics 7.6%, Timberwolves 7.5% %, Grizzlies 4.3%, Knicks 2.8%, Clippers 1.7%, Bucks 1.1%, Hornets 0.8%, Bulls 0.7%, Nets 0.6%, Pacers 0.5%, Kings [-]%, Trail Blazers [-]%, Warriors [-]%.From this probability, it can be clearly seen that the worse the record, the better the advantage. Although it is not absolutely possible to beat other teams to get the No. [-] pick, the possibility of one-quarter is already very high.

In addition to Ye Feng, Westbrook and Love who participated in the draft, the 14 teams participating in the lottery ceremony also organized their fans to watch the whole process of the lottery through TV broadcast.From ESPN's broadcast signal, we can see that the places where fans of each team gather are full of excitement. They hold items with their respective team logos, wear uniforms of fan organizations, and shout loudly in front of the camera. , seems to want to transfer all his good luck to the team's lottery representative.Before the lottery, the overwhelming publicity of the major media made the fans have higher expectations for this year's rookies. What's more, many of them are fans of the NCAA teams themselves. Understanding may not be under team management.

After the representatives of each team were seated, the big screen began to show the personal information of the outstanding players participating in the draft this year. The UCLA troika was impressively listed, and the mega-vibrating NCAA talents like Rose and Beasley were also on the list.Regarding these things, the representatives off the field were yawning. After all, the scouts of each team had already collected quite a lot of information, and naturally they were not interested in the simplified version at this time.However, Ye Feng and the others are very interested in player comparisons. The NBA deliberately compared the technical characteristics of these players with their predecessors. After a little thought, some of them are really interesting, while some are pure nonsense.

Rose's comparison player is Deron Williams, who entered the NBA in 2005. Ye Feng really can't see the similarities between the two of them. One is an offensive point guard who focuses on breakthroughs, and the other pays more attention to the team's strength. The organization is connected in series, not to mention that the body shapes of the two people are completely different from each other!And Beasley's comparison player is the No. 1990 pick in 20, powerful power forward Derek Coleman, who averaged 10+90 per game at his peak, and he can be regarded as a well-known insider in the [-]s. Also suitable.After these two people, there are some highlights of other predicted players, including Ye Feng and the others.

But Westbrook was upset. He snorted and said, "Why did Rose and Beasley be released without our few players for comparison? How can we say that they are also defeated by us!" Ye Feng Smiling and comforting: "Let them show off, the real chapter will be revealed when the team submits the envelope during the draft. Even if they are drafted above us, so what? We can beat them in the NCAA, and we can also win in the NBA. Beat them!"

Soon the lottery ceremony officially began, and the lottery representatives of the 14 teams took their seats on the stage one after another.There is no regulation on the identity of each team’s lottery representative. It can be a team member, a team player, or even a team owner or a fan representative. Anyway, as long as the team agrees to draw lots on behalf of them. no problem.Among these representatives, there are many former NBA celebrities. For example, the representative of the Warriors is Mitch Richmond, a former NBA star and nicknamed "The Rock", who is also the director of player personnel of the Warriors; the Pacers come for their team affairs. President and former Celtics superstar "Big Bird" Bird.In addition, like the famous coach Mike Dunleavy (Los Angeles Clippers), "running and bombing master" D'Antoni (New York Knicks), singer Jay-Z (New Jersey Nets), the team's starting small forward Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies) and others also appeared on the scene as representatives of their respective teams in the lottery.

Of course, the most striking thing among them is the tall and thin young man sitting in the supersonic position. He is wearing a gray suit with a white shirt and no tie. It is quite different from his usual image on the field, but he is a little shy. You can tell by his smile that he is still a child.That's right, that is the talented forward Kevin Durant, who was selected by the Supersonics with the second pick in the first round last year. He will participate in the 2008 draft lottery as a representative of the Supersonics. A young man can bring another future superstar to the team and bring back an excellent partner for himself.

And sitting next to him is the representative of the Heat team who was at the bottom of the league in the 2007-08 season due to various factors, and is also the number one star of their team, Wade.Unlike Durant, who was still young, Wade, the No. 2003 pick in 2006, has truly possessed the atmosphere of a top star in the league after five seasons of polishing, not to mention the 0 Finals. He fought back under the unfavorable situation of being behind 2 to 34.7, and finally led the Heat to win the championship in four consecutive rounds. Even if he was standing beside O'Neal, who was not yet old, he could not hide his spirit of averaging 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 15 steals per game. level data.This time he appeared at the lottery on behalf of the Heat, and he also expressed his determination to regain his honor. After all, the poor record of 67 wins and [-] losses this season is really embarrassing.

This time, NBA Vice President Adam Silver presided over the lottery draw. Ye Feng couldn't help laughing out loud in front of the TV with his shiny bald head.The result of the lottery was announced directly by Xiao Hua, and it was announced from the 14th overall pick forward.Every time he picked up an envelope in front of him and pulled out a piece of paper with the team logo on it, the rest of the stage couldn't help but shudder.The 14th overall Golden State Warriors, the 13th overall Portland Trail Blazers, the 12th overall Sacramento Kings, the 11th overall Indiana Pacers, the 10th overall New Jersey Nets. When it came to the low rankings, everyone didn't say anything. After all, the teams with the lowest probability really had a hard time getting the top three picks.But something went wrong at the 9th pick. It was supposed to be the Bulls' turn in the order, but the name Xiao Hua reported was the Charlotte Bobcats.

For a moment, everyone's eyes were on the Bulls' lottery representative, Steve Schward, the team's vice president of marketing. This middle-aged man who had always been calm could no longer calm down. He opened his mouth wide. , As if a light bulb could be plugged in, the representatives of several other teams looked at him with green eyes.Xiao Hua ignored it and continued to report the team name step by step. The 8th pick was the Milwaukee Bucks, the 7th pick was the Los Angeles Clippers, the 6th pick was the New York Knicks, the 5th pick was the Memphis Grizzlies, and the 4th pick The Seattle Supersonics, this is another big upset, after all, the Supersonics are the team with the second worst record, but they only got the fourth pick.

With the remaining three teams, fans of the Heat, Timberwolves and Bulls began to cheer and celebrate in front of the TV, which means that they can at least get a No. 1.7 pick.After talking nonsense, Xiao Hua invited the representatives of these three teams to stand beside him, and then opened the remaining three envelopes.These three envelopes are read in the forward order instead of the reverse order.Finally, in this year's draft, the Bulls won the No. [-] pick with an ultra-low probability of [-]%, while the Heat and Timberwolves won the No. [-] pick and No. [-] pick respectively. Then it's time for the teams to try out and play games with each other.

(End of this chapter)