NBA: Top 3D talents to start

Chapter 335 19 Draft Conference, Intercepting Hoople

After the finals, the Lakers launched a championship parade in Los Angeles.

The entire Los Angeles was empty, and countless fans took to the streets to celebrate the championship trophy after 9 years.

At the same time, the management of each team in the league has begun to prepare nervously for the opening of the free market.

A week after the finals, the NBA 2019 draft will officially begin.

Out of luck, the New Orleans Pelicans, who won the No. [-] pick with an ultra-low probability, chose forward Zion Williamson just like another time and space.

But different from another time and space, the Lakers entered the playoffs with the league record first, so even Aunt Jenny's favorite Kuzma Ou Huang possessed, failed to allow the Lakers to get the No. 4 pick in the first round.

Holding the No. 28 pick in the first round, the Lakers selected Jordan Poole, a shooting guard with a height of 1 meters.

This choice, of course, was suggested by Wang Feng.

General manager Magic Johnson himself wants to choose a center or point guard. After all, the current Lakers have no shortage of shooting guards. There are Butler, Jordan Clarkson, Seth Curry and others. There's no need to draft another shooting guard.

But under Wang Feng's strong request, he still chose Jordan Poole.

The Lakers have just won the championship under the leadership of Wang Feng. The two sides are in the honeymoon period, and several players suggested by Wang Feng last season also performed well during the regular season playoffs, even including the Lakers traded for Jimmy Butler. It was also achieved under Wang Feng's vigorous promotion.

Sometimes, after carefully reviewing Wang Feng's operations, Johnson has a feeling that Wang Feng should be the general manager.

After Brook Lopez's big contract with the Lakers expired, the team didn't intend to keep him, but under the protection of Wang Feng, they gave Lopez a four-year contract of 4 yuan.

This renewal contract was not uncommon at the time. Based on Lopez's performance in the previous few seasons, he was completely at the level of a low-paid player. Although the average contract of 2400 million is only 400 million a year, it is not too high. But it's not worth giving a veteran like Lopez a long-term contract.

However, this season, the tactical positioning has been changed, and Lopez, who appeared on the field as a space-type insider, has a second career. Although the average data is only about 12 points and 5 rebounds per game, he can provide stable scoring in the limited playing time. output.

In the regular season, Lopez can hit 2.3 three-pointers per game. As long as he is on the court, the opponent's center will have to follow up. The reason why Wang Feng's breakthrough attack efficiency is so high this season is that Lopez is indispensable.

Not only Lopez, but several others including Rondo, Rose, McGee and others are also important rotation role players for the Lakers this season.

Now Johnson regrets that he gave them a one-year short-term contract at the beginning. With the Lakers winning the championship, the value of these players will inevitably rise, and it is obviously necessary to pay a certain price to keep them.

Therefore, since Wang Feng valued Jordan Poole, who didn't seem to have any outstanding characteristics, Johnson simply fulfilled Wang Feng's wish and selected Poole with the 28th pick.

Wang Feng, who traveled from 22 years, of course knows the level of Jordan Poole. He can be regarded as the player with the strongest potential and strength at the end of the first round.

In the first year of being selected, Poole's performance was mediocre, and he was dubbed the crouching dragon and phoenix of the 19th rookie.

谁又能想到，两个赛季后，普尔会成为勇士队的主要得分点之一，21-22赛季常规赛场均出场30分钟的情况下可以得到18.5分3.4篮板4助攻的数据。

In fact, the current lineup of the Lakers does not particularly need Jordan Poole, but it just so happens that the Warriors' draft pick is ranked behind the Lakers, with the 29th overall pick.

In line with the idea of ​​not taking advantage of the bastard, Wang Feng decisively let the Lakers intercept the draw.

If you don't choose players with potential, but choose some crooked players who can't even be a substitute, then you have a problem with your brain.

As for whether Poole can play at a future level in the Lakers without the distribution of ball rights like the Warriors, that is not within the scope of Wang Feng's consideration.

To put it bluntly, even if Poole is crippled on the Lakers bench, it is more cost-effective than being selected by other teams to become an effective combatant.

If the opponent becomes weaker, don't I become stronger relatively speaking?
This is a very obvious truth.

Johnson chose Jordan Poole for his front foot, and within a few minutes, he received a call from the general manager of the Warriors.

What stunned him was that the Warriors actually wanted to exchange Poole from him, for which they were willing to pay a future first round plus two second round picks.

"Is there really something about this rookie who almost fell to the second round?"

Johnson was puzzled and declined politely on the phone.

……

The Lakers still have a draft pick in the second round. Originally in another time and space, they would use this pick to select the seed Horton Tucker.

As a second-round pick, Tucker's strength is actually very good, but the Lakers in the 21-22 season were forced to use him as an important rotation role player when no one was available, and then as a shooting guard. With a 26.9% three-point shooting percentage, Tucker almost made the Lakers fans have a cerebral hemorrhage.

And now, because Jordan Poole was selected in the first round, Johnson did not choose Horton Tucker, who was in the same position as Poole, but instead chose the 2-meter-tall big inside player Pol Ball.

Wang Feng doesn't even know what this guy does. From this, it can be seen that this is a player who is far inferior to Horton Tucker. After all, Tucker has returned to the pit and can play a rotation role in the NBA.

But he didn't continue to point fingers in this draft.

After all, there is not much difference between choosing Tucker or Ball. He can't play anyway, and he doesn't need to continue to dictate to the Lakers' management because of such trivial matters.

Even though the two sides are now in the honeymoon period, the work of introducing and signing players is the job of the general manager after all. He has not yet reached the level of LeBron James who is so big that even the team owner has to obey. It is good to explain and stick to one's point of view at the right time, otherwise, too much management may cause unnecessary conflicts, which will cause a gap between the two parties.

Right now, the Lakers are strong, and Wang Feng still wants to count on winning a few more championships with the Lakers.

……

Two days after the draft, the NBA Awards Ceremony was held in Los Angeles.

Wang Feng dressed up to attend, preparing to welcome the second regular season MVP trophy in his career. Although the award has not yet been announced, there is actually no suspense.

(End of this chapter)