Chapter 532 The Longest Holiday
Due to labor disputes, the 2010 draft had a lot of uncertainty from the beginning.
These young people with dreams of professional basketball are told that some of them will realize their dreams tonight and be officially selected by the league to become NBA players.
But when they wake up tomorrow, their alliance will be shut down.
The shutdown is a test of endurance for both labor and management. See who can endure more losses, the first to lose this war.
Putting aside these grand narratives and focusing only on small individuals, the lockout means unemployment for players. No salary, no professional training team, no training, no games, they are like homeless people. Due to the special nature of NBA players' jobs, those who can play stably in the league for several years are basically worth millions, so a period of unemployment will not have a big impact on them.
But for those young people who gave up their college qualifications and chose the NBA, many of them have already maxed out their credit cards based on their NBA prospects before they have earned a penny. The bank believes they have enough salary to pay the money, but if the lockout affects next season, the livelihood of these young people will be in question.
For this reason, those with uncertain draft prospects will choose to return to college. And lottery favorites have no reason to pass up the chance to be a lottery pick this year.
About 10 players with NBA draft prospects announced their return to college on the eve of the draft, including Avery Bradley, who would later prove that he has the ability to survive in the NBA for many years. This is a huge blow to the depth of the draft.
This draft itself is characterized by big heads and small bodies, and those who withdrew from the draft further make the draft class thinner.
Everyone in the SuperSonics front office is thankful that Quincy Pondexter, their favorite, remains in the draft.
But they didn't expect that the wave of withdrawals would indirectly increase Pondexter's draft market.
He was originally a late first-round pick, but after those players withdrew, he was ranked 19th and 20th in the latest mock draft predictions.
That worries Sam Presti.
He had a hunch that the talents he and his colleagues had worked overtime to select for the team since the finals were likely to fall into their hands.
Then, draft day came.
June 25
Madison Square Garden
Before the draft officially started, David Stern, amid boos from the audience, sincerely thanked the Garden for its support of the NBA draft over the years, where he has left many good memories.
This reminds people of Stern's "best" memories in the draft in the past few years.
The best hug from Darius Miles in the 2000 draft was the one he gave him. It's the kind of close embrace where face to face, chest to chest, the organs that continue the bloodline are next to the organs that continue the bloodline. If Miles inherited the black BBC gene, then it is absolutely certain that his BBC definitely gave Stern an unprecedented experience that day.
Since then, NBA rookies have been told not to have close contact with the president before taking the stage, to give him a symbolic hug and then get out.
It can be seen how much psychological shadow Miles left on Stern.
However, it was not without reason that Stern thanked the Garden on stage today.
The 2010 NBA Draft will be the last NBA draft held in the Garden in the short term. Starting next year, the home venue of the NBA Draft will change locations and will eventually be located at the Barclays Center, which has not yet been officially put into use.
Due to the labor-management war, the draft didn't get as much attention as in previous years.
The teams with lottery picks this year are the Cavaliers, Wizards, 76ers, Bucks, Bobcats, Raptors, Nets, Grizzlies, Pistons, Kings, Warriors, Clippers and Trail Blazers.
Cleveland defeated D.C. in a tragic conference, and with the heartbreak of a city, it overcame the Wizards who were in decline after the death of their owner to win the John Wall Trophy.
Stern gave the Cavaliers five minutes to consider the No. 1 pick.
But it only took the Cavaliers a second to say that name.
Five minutes later, the Cavaliers unsurprisingly selected John Wall as the No. 1 pick.
Seeing a period of history change again, Yu Fei felt nothing in his heart.
For Wall, there is no better place to start his career in Cleveland than in D.C.
Yu Fei is now very curious about which team Irving will go to next year.
He was a fan of Irving for a period of time in his previous life, and was later turned off by this old man. But regardless of his off-court matters, Irving is undoubtedly the most developed among the number one point guards in the new century. of.
When an ESPN reporter asked Wall if he would feel pressure because LeBron had just abandoned Cleveland, Wall responded calmly: "He is him, I am me, and I prefer to be like Frye."
Ever since Derrick Rose said in the draft that he liked Jordan more than Yu Fei, he was taught miserably every time he faced Yu Fei during the season.
Then, Rose's juniors learned their lesson.
Since the abbot is petty, then say something to make him happy.
If you say you like Da Fei, people may not care at all, but if you have any opinions about Da Fei, or even prefer those who give Da Fei troubles than Da Fei, then he may start making notes on his memo to compete with you during the season. days.
Rose taught everyone a bloody lesson, and Wall learned it.
Then it was D.C.'s turn.
Although it was not worse than Cleveland and lost the fateful meeting with Wall, the No. 2 pick this year is not bad.
The choices before D.C. right now are safety (Evan Turner), high risk and high reward (Cousins), or just pick him if you don't know who to pick (Favors).
I don't know if it was intentional, but before D.C. made its selection, ESPN relived their performance in the draft nine years ago that could have rewritten team history.
They selected Kwame Brown with the No. 1 pick in 2001, and then traded Yu Fei's signing rights from the Cavaliers.
This flashback not only vividly reveals what D.C. missed, but also explains why they couldn't beat Cleveland in the conference even if they sacrificed their boss.
Give you a team that gave away their future GOAT for Courtney Alexander in 2001, and then doted on a sanctimonious talent monster as if he were a GOAT. As a result, the GOAT's contribution to the team was no more than that of the Cavaliers in history. He disappointed all Clevelanders at several critical moments in history, and finally sent a good guy to the Cavaliers with a decision that shocked the world. Card. He would rather cry in a luxury car in Los Angeles than be a little emperor in a palace in Cleveland.
This is undoubtedly a heartbreaking moment, and New York fans, who have always been of low quality, forgot to jeer at the scene. Looking at what happened to Cleveland and D.C., they actually think Dolan is okay.
At least Dolan didn't treat fans to such turds.
Five minutes later, D.C made its choice.
Just like a normal rebuilding team, they are not going to make a comfortable decision and choose the one with the highest ceiling.
Thus, another person's fate was changed.
DeMarcus Cousins became the second overall pick in 2010.
Major television stations began to review D.C.'s failure in the 2001 draft, and they believed that Cousins might lead them to another abyss.
In terms of talent and combat power, Cousins is the only player in this draft that allows professionals to use their own wealth to bet that "he will definitely become a star averaging 20+10 per game in the future."
But as the player with the highest talent and combat effectiveness in this class, his court style in high school began to be compared by scouts to Rasheed Wallace during his time in Portland prison. At the same time, his professional attitude was also criticized by the players. Scouts drew comparisons to Derrick Coleman, and finally, his mental state was compared to Michael Beasley.
The NBA has been heartbroken by these talented but mentally disturbed talents.
That's why D.C's choice seems so shocking.
Even more shocking was Cousins’ interview.
The reporter asked him what other hobbies he had besides playing basketball.
"I like challenging things. I can play some cards, of course, poker."
It is known that Arenas pulled a gun on his teammates in the locker room because of gambling debts, so when Cousins said this, you can imagine how devastated those who care about the Wizards were.
Later, Cousins admitted that he just wanted to use Arenas's gun-drawing incident to make a joke that was suitable for both young and old. Later, he realized that the joke was not suitable for both young and old.
Subsequently, Derrick Favors was drafted by Philadelphia.
Coming to the fourth pick, the Bucks are a rare visitor to the lottery.
Although they had received lottery picks even in Yu Fei's era, most of them were big prizes obtained through transactions. This time, they fell into the lottery because of their poor record. Last season, Kevin Martin and Danny Granger were both reimbursed for the season, and then Aldridge also suffered injuries. Pau Gasol was unable to survive alone. The Bucks seemed to have run out of energy, losing streak all the way, and finally... Got to this location.
This is not a bad thing for them.
Aldridge's rookie contract bonus will end this summer, adding a fourth pick will be beneficial to their competition in the new season.
They looked around and finally selected safety Evan Turner, who was among the top five favorites.
Then, the Bobcats took advantage of Greg Monroe.
The Raptors select Aipai Udu.
The Nets acquire Gordon Hayward.
Grizzlies draft Al-Farouq Aminu.
The Pistons acquire Cole Aldridge.
The Kings selected Paul George and then sent his signing rights to San Antonio in exchange for Luol Deng.
The reason for the trade was that the Kings looked down on the remaining players, and the Spurs wanted to send away Luol Deng, who had limited help to the team. The main motivation for this trade was to reduce the team's salary pressure and add a potential newcomer. .
The Spurs chose George by accident.
But this accident inadvertently allowed George to replace next year's Kawhi Leonard and become the Spurs' answer for the next ten years.
Not to mention how this will change Leonard's fate, after receiving the news from the front, Yu Fei vaguely felt that George would develop better than in his previous life.
Although the Spurs had some restrictions on their core during the Duncan era, their ability to develop players' potential was top-notch.
They have the best shooting coach in the league, a head coach who is so strict on details that he is almost perverted, and Duncan, the perfect leader who gets better and better as he gets older.
This is the perfect place for George.
After that, Patrick Patterson went to the Warriors, Larry Sanders went to the Clippers, and Xavier Henry went to the Trail Blazers.
The lottery pick is settled.
After that, Eric Bledsoe was selected by the Heat.
Quincy Pondexter, the Sonics' favorite, was intercepted by Houston with the 20th pick in the first round.
What's even more exaggerated is that Jeremy Lin, who was previously expected to be only a mid-second-round prospect, was selected by the Warriors with the 26th overall pick in the first round.
Seattle's top picks and backups were picked before their turns.
When the draft round came to Seattle, Presti reluctantly selected Marquette University junior forward Lazar Hayward (SF).
This year's SuperSonics draft ended hastily against the backdrop of labor conflicts.
Presti does not believe that Hayward can help the team in a short period of time. If the Sonics want to strengthen, they must go through the free market.
But he's really not sure now whether they still have free agency, and he's not even sure whether next season can start as scheduled.
Among the remaining people in the draft, Yu Fei only had an impression of two people.
One is Nemanja Bjelica, a member of 22 Warriors.
The other one is Lance Stephenson. Due to his age, Yu Fei never saw Stephenson at his peak in the NBA, but he knew that he later came to the domestic CBA as a foreign aid, and he played for the domestic traffic team Liaoning.
Interestingly, after Stephenson was selected by the Pacers, he compared himself to Roy in an interview. He believed that Roy was his template. Their styles were similar and they were both versatile.
This prompted a hilarious comment from Jeff Van Gundy on ESPN.
"The Pacers have to trade him. This young man was notorious in school, and now he actually compares himself to Brandon Roy?"
There were no surprises in the draft after that, and the trades on draft day didn't look like anything special.
The only thing that changed the future pattern was the Spurs' swap of Luol Deng for Paul George.
Because many people withdrew from the draft, the quality of the 2010 draft was between average and a poor draft year, and it has now completely become a poor draft year.
However, a talent like John Wall still attracts experts to continue to track him.
Then there are the activities on draft day.
Rookies are about to see the irony of reality.
On draft day, they were still the team's darlings. The general manager told them on the phone that the team regarded them as the future, and some even the boss came forward.
Then the next day, the rookies were told that the team could not sign with them, they could not participate in the team's training camp, and they could not borrow the team's facilities to maintain their condition.
Because the league is about to shut down.
The day after the draft, labor and management held collective negotiations.
Before the negotiations began, the two sides put pressure on each other in front of the media. "We're still very, very far apart," said union president Derek Fisher, adding that the main obstacle to a deal remains the parties' revenue share in the next collective bargaining agreement.
David Stern said expressionlessly in front of the media: "I'm not optimistic about whether the players are willing to seriously participate in it." Stern used his own words to blame the players for the impending failure of negotiations. I am willing to participate seriously."
As the leader of the player camp, Yu Fei appeared at the negotiation site. Although he is not the main negotiator, as a person with close relations with the management, he stands on the side of the players without reservation, which itself provides the players' camp with the belief that they must win.
"The owners claim they are committed to keeping the league as it is, but that is not the case." This is what Yu Fei told a reporter from the New York Times.
San Antonio owner Peter Holt and board of governors chairman Minnesota owner Glenn Taylor also joined in reducing players' share of dividends. They are as radical as Jordan, demanding an end to the history of players enjoying more than 50% of the dividends from television broadcast contracts. They believe that since labor and management are partners, the dividends should be a fair split of 50% and 50%.
Veteran Kevin Garnett saw that Taylor, a treacherous villain, was still trying to touch the players' cakes, so he took on the responsibility of a veteran and said to his face: "If you think this is reasonable, then I think it's like home court." Ticket revenue and rental fees for stores around the arena should all be added to the dividends. If you agree to this, we can make concessions.”
"You greedy bastard!" Taylor broke the defense on the spot, "Don't even think about putting your hand into my bowl!"
Garnett yelled angrily: "You've already put your fucking hand into our bowl!"
Garnett was the main force in confronting the boss that day.
Few people would do this, but considering that Garnett was facing Taylor, with whom his relationship had completely broken down, he had the confidence to do so.
Surprisingly, Yu Fei doesn't mind Clay Bennett's feelings at all and has repeatedly stated that he has made some people make a lot of money, but now he stands with those poorly run teams and supports them to reduce their losses. Player dividend proposition.
"You can't make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits while crying about poverty with a bunch of idiots who don't know how to manage a team." This is what Yu Fei said to a reporter from the Associated Press.
"Fry is entitled to draw his own conclusions," Bennett said. "This matter will not affect our relationship."
The negotiation that day was not so much a negotiation as it was a quarrel between two groups of people representing different interests. Everyone vented their usual dissatisfaction, and naturally nothing could be discussed.
Fisher said the shutdown has not officially begun and the two sides will try to hold at least two or three more meetings before August.
Stern said there was always a reason for the meeting, but he also made it clear that bosses believed things were going nowhere and would take the step they least wanted to take if the status quo couldn't be changed.
Having said that, the reality is that the shutdown has already begun. The summer league has been suspended, and all team managers are on vacation. Rookies can't sign contracts, free agents don't know their next destination, and agents want to contact GM, but the answer they get is that now is not the time.
Although there will be several more negotiations between the two sides before August, the shutdown has already begun. The two sides did not officially announce the work stoppage, but just maintained a semblance of respectability. In this way, at least those TV stations that signed broadcast contracts with the league will not exert pressure before the stoppage officially begins.
Yu Fei had a premonition that he was about to usher in the longest vacation of his career.
(End of chapter)