lakers championship

Chapter 52
On the night of winning the championship, the Sequoia team did not make any stopovers in Las Vegas. They took the flight that night and rushed back to San Francisco without stopping.

As soon as he got off the plane, Tianyang saw a funny scene.

Officials from the Stanford University Sports Management Association, wearing jerseys emblazoned with the letters 'Champion', lined up outside the plane to applaud.

Everyone looked very excited, but there was a hint of embarrassment on their faces.

Because on the surface it looks like they are welcoming the players back to glory, but they are actually apologizing to Coach Johnny.

At the beginning, these officials 'threatened' Johnny that he would be fired if he failed to get results this year.

They never expected that this year, the Sequoia team, as the champion of the Pac-[-] Conference Championship, automatically advanced to the NCAA National Championship, breaking many records in team history.

With this achievement, Coach Johnny deserves the greatest credit.

When Shelfield was injured, he withstood pressure from all sides and rejected those who wanted to be gilded with the Sequoia through special relationships.

Then he chose Tianyang without hesitation.

For this, he gambled all his future.

Fortunately, Tianyang did not live up to his expectations, and even exceeded his expectations.

Now, the officials are taking the initiative to back down, and he does not intend to show his tongue quickly.

He took the initiative to take the jersey, and signaled the players to change into it, and returned to school with a brand-new attitude, showing a brand-new men's basketball team to all Stanford people.

That once thought, as soon as they walked out of the airport, they were instantly surrounded by red waves.

Fans of the Sequoia team spontaneously came to pick up the airport. Judging from the decibel level of cheers and the number of police officers maintaining law and order, the entire airport was full of people from Stanford University.

The fans were so excited that they were automatically promoted to the National Championships, which is a rare event for established basketball schools such as Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and UCLA.

And judging from the Sequoia's excellent performance in this tournament, it is no problem to reach the Sweet 16.

If you are lucky, it is not impossible to go further to the elite eight.

Even a championship is not a luxury.

Because there is Tianyang, there is infinite hope.

As usual, Coach Johnny spoke first. He took the speakers that the fans had prepared, walked to the crowd, and shouted loudly, "Let's give the applause to Tianyang! To all the Sequoia players!"

With just that sentence, Johnny directly handed the trumpet to Tianyang and signaled him to greet the enthusiastic fans.

Tianyang thought for a while and did not refuse. He took the horn and shouted: "Thank you for coming to accompany me so late. We won the championship without your long-term support, but our journey is far from over. We The next target is..."

Speaking of this, Tianyang turned around and gestured to other teammates with his eyes. Everyone in the Sequoia team immediately understood, and they all moved to his side.

They all shouted into the loudspeaker: "National Champion!"

With just that shout, about 1000 Sequoia fans at the scene cheered in unison.

The police who maintained the law and order seemed to think that they were too crazy and excited, and immediately called the main station for support, for fear of accidents.

The picture of the live celebration was also broadcast live by Sequoia fans on twitch, YouTube and other platforms.

……

Colorado, at the Nuggets training facility, general manager Tim Connelly turned off the live broadcast and seemed to have taken a lot of courage to say: "To be honest, Jared originally sent back the report and suggested the top 10 When I gambled on the pick, I was so angry that I almost wanted to fire him outright."

Nuggets head coach Mike Malone, who was sitting across from him, smiled, "What about now?"

Tim shook his head, sighed and said, "Now I want to promote Jared. He has the ability to be the head of scouting."

Ma Long nodded, then adjusted his sitting posture, and said in a very formal tone: "Then I suggest that after the lottery, trade up to obtain a higher draft pick."

"Is it going to cost a lot to get him?" Tim also became serious.

"With him and Jokic, we will always remain competitive in the next five years. If it works smoothly, we can even compete against the Warriors and compete for the championship in advance."

"Hmm...then what number do you think is more suitable? Top 8, top 5, or top 3?"

"I suggest the number one lottery."

……

In New Orleans, in the Pelicans president's office, President Dennis sat on a swivel chair, casually watching the live broadcast of Sequoia fans welcoming Tianyang, while the player manager Booth, who was standing not far away, looked nervous.

The continuous awkward atmosphere in the room was finally broken by Kim Terry, "We express our intention now, maybe it's still too late."

Dennis sat the swivel chair upright, but he still felt uncomfortable, so he got up and said, "I didn't believe that tweet from WOJ, but I didn't expect that Jim Bass used to be stupid every time, but this time he was blind." By the way, what a shit luck."

Booth hurriedly said: "We still have a chance, the results of the lottery conference have not yet come out..."

"Why didn't you see his true level when you went to the scene yourself?" Dennis interrupted directly.

Booth subconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead, "At that time, the Sequoia's opponent was Washington State University, which was too weak, so I was a little conservative."

"Then it wouldn't be the 10-15 pick, right? Forget about the low forecast of the key pick, why did we announce the 15-20 pick to the public? Others have a negative impression of us all of a sudden."

When Dennis made an attack, Booth was at a loss for words for a while, and Kim Terry quickly smoothed things over, "Normal, no one expected him to improve so fast, and he averaged 26+10 per game."

Dennis wanted to continue to refute, but he seemed to change his words when he slipped to his mouth, "Forget it, it's useless to argue now, you tell me a list of non-tradable players other than Anthony Davis."

Kim-Terry shook his head, "No."

"Then I understand."

……

In Los Angeles, inside the office of the Lakers president, Jim Buss was full of excitement.

"The live broadcast just now reminded me of the 10 championship parade. It was even more lively than this. It's really nostalgic. Do you still remember that time..."

Kupchak on the side didn't listen carefully, but kept checking the news on his mobile phone.

Suddenly, he stood up and said a little nervously: "The big thing is not good."

Jim was taken aback, "What's wrong?".

"WOJ broke the news that the Nuggets reached an internal agreement to strive for the No. [-] lottery and use it to select Tianyang."

Jim smiled, "Hehe, it seems that someone agrees with me."

"WOJ broke the news that several NBA executives just received a call from the Pelicans president, unanimously expressing that the Pelicans president is willing to use any player other than Anthony Davis in exchange for this year's high draft pick."

Jim sighed, "It seems that they are crazier than me, but doesn't that mean I'm wiser? Haha"

"WOJ broke the news that Jenny Buss privately stated that even if the Lakers get the second place, they will use Russell and other potential players as chips to exchange for the No. [-] pick, and then use it to choose Tianyang. They are all very optimistic about Tianyang, and believe that Tianyang can become the cornerstone of the future of the Lakers."

Jim was stunned, "Why does WOJ know everything? And has Jenny finally sided with me?"

Kupchak shook his head, "She didn't side with you, but pushed you off the cliff."

Jim was dumbfounded, "She didn't support...", halfway through speaking, he finally realized, "It's too ruthless. In order to gain power, they don't even care about the future of the Lakers."

Jenny Buss deliberately broke the news to WOJ after the Nuggets and Pelicans, and also supported the selection of Tianyang on the surface, but in fact she used the strategy of driving tigers and wolfs away.

With the support of Kobe and Kareem, she has been unable to shake the Lakers' decision to choose Tianyang.

But in order to weaken the prestige of Jim Buss, she deliberately released the news that Kobe and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are optimistic about Tianyang, so that other teams are interested in choosing Tianyang.

Moreover, he also stated that he would use the players in the team as bargaining chips for transactions.

Internal and external troubles, attack at the same time!
That's why Kupchak felt that something was wrong.

(End of this chapter)