Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 2 The Worst Draft in History
Those who knew Jim quickly noticed the change in him.

He threw away his Dodgers cap and cotton shirt and jeans, and washed his long, greasy hair.Changing from the unruly image of the past, even the modern girl fashion magazines piled up on the table have become a printed form, with a lot of data and names printed on it. It is said that someone found Stephen, the son of Raptors veteran Dell Curry, and Klay, the son of Mitchell Thompson, who had played for the team, was also on it.

The championship celebration is over, the players have gone on vacation, but the new season of the uniform team has already started.In the conference room, the boss Dr. Buss, vice president West, team coach Phil Jackson, and Jim are discussing plans for the new season.

"Shaq is undoubtedly the core of the team. He is currently the best player in the league. We should ensure that he can play for the team for a longer period of time. He currently has three years left on his contract. Renew his contract." As the head coach, Jackson commented on the players in the team.

"Kobe's contract is still very long. In the future, he will be a good helper for Shaq. They will be the most powerful duo in the league. As for Glen Rice, although he has good scoring ability, But he can't provide wing defense, we should trade him and fill the power forward position. I think Horace Grant is a good guy, he knows the triangle offense, and he was a teammate with Shaq."

Regarding this point, West expressed his disapproval. Although Glenn Rice did not perform well in the finals, his outside firepower can still play a good role in containing the team, just because Jackson is in the triangle offensive system. His tactical status is too low, resulting in the lack of strengths on the offensive end, and the shortcomings of the defensive end are exposed in front of Jaylen Rose.

At this time, the relationship between West and Jackson has become fierce, and both of them want to have absolute control over the team.

"Jim? Let's talk about the results of your work during this time." Dr. Bass suddenly interrupted.

Jim knows that according to the current trend, Jackson will squeeze West away, and the Lakers will rely on the strength of the OK combination to win two championship trophies, but then they will fall apart... This is not the point, the point is that he will continue to In charge of scouting until Jackson lost the championship and the Lakers went into rebuilding.

This is not what Jim wants to see, so he needs to seize the opportunity to complete some of his own ideas, while strengthening the team, it also paves the way for his future work.

"I think Coach Jackson's words are right. Glenn really can't continue to help us. We should take advantage of his trading value to get benefits. But I also think that instead of relying on the basic salary to sign veterans, it is better to discover some rookies. , This can not only maintain the vitality of the team, but also play a role in the long-term development in the future, because our goal is not one or two championships, we want to build a dynasty."

West took a deep look at Jim and left the conference room.

The next day, Jerry West, known as the godfather of the Lakers, announced his resignation as the team's vice president.The general manager of the Lakers was replaced by Mitch Kupchak.

After President Ku took office, the Lakers immediately completed a deal, sending veteran Glenn Rice to the New York Knicks, and New York sent meritorious center Patrick Ewing to the Seattle SuperSonics. Power forward Horace Grant and a second-round pick from the New York Knicks.

All transactions were carried out according to Zen Master's design. The unplanned point was a second-round pick proposed by Jim. In order to send Ewing away, New York did not spend much time negotiating this condition.

In the past few days, the Staples Center has been very lively, and the defending champion Lakers have tried out a large number of rookies who are preparing to participate in the draft, setting a record for the number of trial players in history.

Many staff members don't understand that the Lakers have a good record in recent years, and all the draft picks they got were low picks. Jacobson and Toby Bailey who were selected had no chance to play at all. ·George is only at the end of the rotation, why did he go to war this year.

Time soon came to the draft. The Lakers held the No. 29 pick in the first round and the No. 10 pick in the second round from the Knicks.

Jim put the prepared materials of several key rookies in the war room. The core members of the Lakers knew that this large-scale trial training was just a smoke bomb, and these key rookies did leave a lot to the uniform team during the trial training. Impressed.

The draft began, and the New Jersey Nets used the No. [-] pick to select Kenyon Martin, a power forward with strong physical fitness and wilder style of play.

The Vancouver Grizzlies used the second pick to select power forward Stromile Swift, who is also physically strong.

The Los Angeles Clippers took another athletic forward, Darius Miles, with the No. [-] pick.

Jim listened to the names in the war room, thinking back to his past life. This is known as the worst draft in history. There were only 3 All-Stars in total, and a large number of rookies left the league before finishing their rookie contracts. .

It is said that if you rank behind the Trail Blazers in the draft, the probability of selecting a star will be greatly improved.The Portland Trail Blazers selected Eric Barkley, a player with a famous surname, with the 28th pick.

Michael Reid from Ohio State University, as a junior player, has good scoring ability and physical fitness, but because of poor shooting aim, the pick fell again and again. From the expected top 20 pick, he will soon Fall out of the first round.

Just when Reed was feeling extremely frustrated and even began to doubt his life, David Stern's voice sounded:
"With the 2000th overall pick in the 29 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Michael Redd from Ohio State University."

Reed took the Lakers cap from the staff and took a photo with Stern on stage.In the blink of an eye, he went from almost no one caring about him to joining the championship team. This change was so sudden that he was a little dazed for a while.

"We lost Glenn Rice, and while we had Rick at small forward, the wing defense was stronger, but outside of Shaq and Kobe, no one had the ball-handling ability, and as far as I'm concerned With the test of time, I think Michael can play the role of a bench scorer, and his potential is enough to grow into the next Glenn Rice. In short, with Michael selected, we are successful in this draft."

Everyone applauded Jim's speech, but Jim didn't care about everyone's thoughts.Who makes this rookie so ineffective? The only treasure that can be found is Reid. Jim doesn't want the Lakers to finally sign Isaiah Ryder, a famous cancer, to fill the vacancy of the bench scorer. precious space.

The draft is still going on, and Eddie House and Najera, who were circled by Jim, were both selected. The Lakers used the draft rights traded from the Knicks to select Mark Madsen.

Jim was a little helpless about the result. Madsen finally put on the purple and gold jersey. Originally, in Jim's plan, the 29th in the first round chose Najera, and the 10th in the second round chose Reed, because in the original trajectory, Reid would fall to 14 in the second round.But in the secret trial training, Reed showed that he conquered the uniform group. Mr. Ku was worried about being intercepted, so he safely chose to sign Reed with the first round pick.

Anyway, Jim's whole plan is in motion, and now it's just time to tell.

(End of this chapter)