In a hotel suite in Manhattan, New York, Trail Blazers general manager John Nash was giving a report to his boss.

John Nash's tone gradually turned into a complaint.

What happened was that he and Lakers general manager Kupchak spent a week on the phone.

From poetry and poetry to philosophy of life...

Anyway, Kupchak talked about everything, including the topic of trading, but never discussed the details.

By this morning, Kupchak told him that he was willing to take a premium contract, or even a junk contract to match O'Neal's highest salary in the league next season, but the core bargaining chip must be Warden, and others can do whatever the Trail Blazers do.

You can stuff people into any junk contract you don’t want, as long as it matches.

The main reason is that most of the Trail Blazers' premium contracts will expire in the summer of 2005.

What Kupchak said was the same as what John Nash said to Liu Xiu, except that the roles were reversed.

In the end, John Nash really went to jail and hung up the phone cursing.

Paul Allen patiently listened to John Nash's nearly complaining work report, shook his head, and said: "You are regarded as an alternative by him, so I won't reject you first. If there is really no better choice, good things will happen."

onto you.

Kupchak didn't learn much of West's skills. He learned 100% of the character's characteristics and wanted to take advantage of any deal.

I think the teams in the Western Conference, unless we give Jayce, the Rockets give Yao, the Timberwolves give Garnett, and the Spurs give Duncan, the big-nosed rat will not keep O'Neal in the West."

John Nash nodded repeatedly and called his boss awesome.

Paul Allen was very helpful.

However, although John Nash was flattering, he had to admit that this hobby-loving boss did have many advantages.

For example, very rich.

And he knows football.

The annual NBA draft will be held tonight, and Paul Allen happened to be in New York and got involved in the work.

After enjoying the joy of understanding a basketball player, Paul Allen said: "Tell me about tonight's draft. We have three draft picks?"

John Nash got into work mode: "Yes, we have the 24th pick in the first round from the Mavericks, our own 27th pick in the first round, and the 28th pick in the second round."

Paul Allen nodded and flipped through the draft report submitted by John Nash.

When he turned the page, Paul Allen stopped and asked: "This is... the recommended draft list given by Jayce?"

John Nash quickly said: "Before he returned to China, I met with him in New York. I took the initiative to ask him if he had any recommended rookies for the draft, and he gave me this list."

Paul Allen nodded in agreement, read it over and recited: "The recommended candidate for the second round, UCLA defensive small forward Trevor Ariza... Our small forward position is already full to overflowing.

The first-round recommended candidates are Oklahoma State University defensive shooting guard Tony Allen, Brazilian defensive center Anderson Varejao... They are all defensive players. Jayce's vision is really good, everyone is saying

We need to strengthen our offense next season. The era of defense has passed, but in fact the more so, the more important defense is. After everyone's offense becomes easier, defense is the key to distinguishing strength..."

Paul Allen thought of something and asked: "Can Milicic be traded back? Except for Jayce and Zach, they can choose anyone else."

John Nash responded: "I tried to offer Rasheed before and they rejected it."

Paul Allen can understand...

Jermaine O'Neal was so talented at the beginning, but there were Sabonis, Tianzun, Brian Grant on the team, and later came the more powerful Bunchy Wells, the veteran Schrempf...

During Jermaine O'Neal's three-year rookie contract, it was impossible to even guarantee that this high school student would play in every game.

But Paul Allen is still reluctant to trade him away. He can leave it there. What if he plays it out on his own?

Even after his rookie contract expired, he refused to let him go. He stayed on the four-year, $24 million contract for another year until the summer of 2000. He had been in bad hands for four years, and the Pacers were willing to use the 2000 draft pick.

All-Star Dale Davis came to replace Jermaine O'Neal, and Paul Allen reluctantly agreed.

But Paul Allen said at this moment: "The Pistons are really unethical and wasting this kid's talent..."

It doesn't matter what John Nash thinks in his heart. He should respond first, flatter him first...

…

…

On June 29th, BJ time, Silver Fox’s training today is scheduled for the afternoon and rest in the morning.

Players gathered in the cafeteria of the arena to watch the live broadcast of the NBA Draft.

As for why it is a cafeteria, the warden said that it feels more like watching NBA live broadcast. Although everyone doesn’t know what this feeling is, the warden is right!

The draft was a slight upset at the beginning.

UConn's No. 1 pick, Emeka Okafor, did not become the No. 1 pick, and the Magic selected high school student Dwight Howard.

"You guessed it, Jess! The Magic actually drafted that high school student!" Yao Ming shouted in surprise.

Liu Xiu's face looked three-quarters uninhibited, three-quarters proud, and four-quarters careless, as if to say that he knew it would be like this.

Others were genuinely surprised by the Magic's selection.

Although the market for high school rookies has increased due to James' performance, Howard is a center and is greatly influenced by Kwame Brown.

Howard is also a popular rookie, a top-five favorite, with a high probability of being selected in the top three picks, but few people thought he could be selected with the first overall pick.

No, the young owner of the Bobcats who went to watch the scene was grinning from ear to ear.

Beast went on the court with a bright smile and put on a Magic hat, and the happy time of playing ball began.

During the 3 minutes of waiting, as people expected, it cut to the sub-stage, and the transaction came!

People are very curious, which player from which team did the Bobcats select for the Clippers today?

But the content of the transaction did not include players.

The Bobcats used the No. 4 pick in the first round and the No. 4 pick in the second round to acquire the Clippers' second pick in the first round.

Even the host on the sub-stage had his pupils dilated when he read about the deal.

What kind of magical operation is this from the Clippers?

The Bulls wanted to exchange the third pick + a future lottery-protected first-round pick for the Clippers' second pick, but the Clippers refused.

But now they actually agreed to this, and the TV commentators were shocked - is the Clippers doing charity?

…

Watching Emeka Okafor put on a Bobcats hat and looking at the camera showing the Bobcats young owner with a bright smile, Liu Xiu suddenly thought of something.

After recalling it, I figured it out!

The Bobcats selected more than a dozen players from various teams today. The Trail Blazers have contracts and are outside the eight-man protection list. The Bobcats cannot afford to use them.

Almost all the players selected by the Bobcats have a salary of less than $2 million.

For example, Melvin Eli was selected by the Clippers with the 12th overall pick in the first round of 2002, Primoz Brezek was selected by the Pacers with the 27th overall pick in the first round of 2000 but did not enter the NBA until 2001, and the Kings

Gerald Wallace was selected with the 25th overall pick in the first round of 2001, and Kareem Rush was selected by the Lakers with the 20th overall pick in the first round of 2002...

But the Bobcats still selected a player with a high salary, accounting for nearly one-third of their current players' salary-Jahidi White, who was selected from the Clippers.

This is an expiring contract that the Clippers traded back in the middle of last season when they were freeing up salary. It expired in the summer of 2005, and the salary for the 2004-05 season was US$6.17 million.

It turns out that the condition for the Clippers to agree to trade the second pick was not who the Bobcats helped the Clippers select, but who the Bobcats drafted with the Clippers!

This operation made Liu Xiu feel awesome!

The teammates of the national team turned their attention to Liu Xiu again. Liu Xiu analyzed it casually, and his teammates were all exclaiming.

We are all players, and many people are paying attention to NBA affairs. Some people really know about this, but I didn't think too much about it before. The people selected by the Bobcats must be unwanted by each team, except maybe for that team.

A fan, the kind that no other basketball fan can even name.

I just didn't expect that there was such a thing.

There were also those who said "f*ck" because they were amazed at the warden's analytical ability, it was amazing!

Immediately afterwards, the Bulls selected Ben Gordon with the third overall pick.

With the fourth pick, another high school student entered the NBA. The Clippers selected Shaun Livingston, which surprised people again.

Shaun Livingston was ranked in the top ten picks in the draft, but he actually jumped to the fourth pick.

The 2004 draft was pretty good. Except for the minor upsets of Beast and Karen Mok, the picks at the back of the lottery were not much different from what the media predicted. The commentators predicted who would be selected based on their original thoughts, and most of them were accurate.

Already.

After the lottery, after a group of players with the most talent or immediate fighting ability in people's eyes were selected, the probability of selection speculated by commentators began to decrease.

Soon, at the end of the first round, Liu Xiu concentrated.

They're almost there!

With the 23rd pick in the first round, the Kings selected Kevin Martin, a bamboo pole-shaped shooting guard who is two meters tall and weighs 85 kilograms. He is so thin that you worry about being blown away by the wind.

It was about to be the 24th pick of the Trail Blazers' first round, and the live broadcast cut to the sub-stage.

trade!

Liu Xiu stared at the TV.

The Trail Blazers sent the 24th pick in the first round and the 28th pick in the second round to Al Harrington, and acquired Kwame Brown, the 2001 No. 1 pick, from the Wizards!

At the same time, the Wizards selected Devin Harris with the 5th pick, the 24th pick of the first round they just acquired from the Trail Blazers, Jerry Stackhouse, and Jason, who was previously traded with the Hawks.

-Terry was packaged and sent to the Mavericks. The Mavericks acquired two forwards in Antawn Jamison and Danny Fortson.

Immediately afterwards, the Mavericks selected Russian small forward Sergei Monya with the 24th pick, the Celtics selected Tony Allen with the 25th pick, and the Spurs selected Slovenian guard Benno Yu with the 26th pick.

Delhi.
Chapter completed!