When pride still matters

Chapter 532 The Longest Vacation
Due to the dispute between labor and management, the 2010 draft had many uncertainties from the beginning.

These young people who have dreams of playing professional basketball were told that some of them will have their dreams come true tonight and will be officially selected by the league and become NBA players.

But when they wake up tomorrow, their alliance will be suspended.

The shutdown is a test of endurance for both labor and management. It depends on who can endure more losses. The first one to lose will lose the battle.

Putting aside these grand narratives and focusing only on the small individuals, the lockout is like unemployment for the players. No salary, no professional training team, no training, no games, they are like vagrants. Due to the special nature of the work of NBA players, those who can play stably in the league for a few years are basically worth millions, so a period of unemployment will not have much impact on them.

But for those young people who gave up their college qualifications to choose the NBA, they haven't earned a penny yet, but many of them have maxed out their credit cards relying on their NBA prospects. The bank believes that they have enough salary to pay the money, but if the lockout affects the next season, the livelihood of these young people will be in trouble.

For this reason, those whose draft prospects are uncertain will choose to return to college, while those who are lottery favorites have no reason to give up the opportunity to become a lottery pick this year.

About 10 players with NBA draft prospects announced their intention to return to college on the eve of the draft, including Avery Bradley, who later proved that he had the potential to survive in the NBA for many years. This dealt a heavy blow to the depth of the draft.

This draft class itself was not very good, and those who withdrew from the competition further reduced the depth of the class.

The entire Sonics management was thankful that their favorite Quincy Pondexter remained in the draft.

But they didn't expect that the wave of withdrawals would indirectly increase Pondexter's draft stock.

He was originally a late first-round pick, but after those guys withdrew from the draft, he was ranked 19th or 20th in the latest mock draft predictions.

This worries Sam Presti.

He had a feeling that the talented players that he and his colleagues had been working overtime to select for the team since the end of the finals might not fall into their hands.

Then, draft day arrived.

6 April

Madison Square Garden

Before the draft officially began, David Stern sincerely thanked the Garden for its support for the NBA draft over the years amid boos from the audience. He left many good memories here.

This reminds people of Stern's "best" memories at the draft in the past years.

The best of all was the full-body hug Darius Miles gave him at the 2000 draft. It was the face-to-face, chest-to-chest, blood-continuing organ-to-blood-continuing organ hug. If Miles had inherited the useless black BBC gene, then it was certain that his BBC gave Stern an unprecedented experience that day.

Since then, NBA rookies have been told not to have close contact with the president before going on stage, just give him a symbolic hug and then leave.

It can be seen how much psychological shadow Myers left on Stern.

However, Stern's gratitude to the Garden on stage today was not without reason.

The 2010 NBA Draft will be the last one held at the Garden in the short term. Starting next year, the home venue of the draft will be moved and will eventually be located at the Barclays Center, which has not yet been officially put into use.

Due to the war between labor and management, the attention to the draft is not as high as in previous years.

The teams that have lottery picks this year are the Cavaliers, Wizards, 76ers, Bucks, Bobcats, Raptors, Nets, Grizzlies, Pistons, Kings, Warriors, Clippers and Trail Blazers.

Cleveland defeated DC in the misery competition, and the Wizards, who were in a state of depression due to the death of their boss, won the John Wall Cup with the heartbreak of a city.

Stern gave the Cavaliers five minutes to consider their choice for the No. 1 pick.

But it only took the Cavs a second to say that name.

Five minutes later, the Cavaliers unsurprisingly selected John Wall as the No. 1 pick.

Seeing a piece of history changing again, Yu Fei felt nothing in his heart.

For Wall, starting his career in Cleveland couldn't be better than in DC.

Yu Fei is now very curious about which team Irving will go to next year.

He had been a fan of Irving for a while in his previous life, but was later made to stop being a fan by this guy. But leaving aside his off-court affairs, Irving is undoubtedly the best developed point guard among the No. 1 draft picks in the new century.

When ESPN reporters asked Wall if he felt pressured because LeBron had just abandoned Cleveland, Wall replied casually: "He is him, I am me, I hope to be like Frye."

Ever since Derrick Rose said at the draft that he liked Jordan better than Yu Fei, he has been taught a lesson every time he faces Yu Fei during the season.

Then, Ross's successors learned their lesson.

Since the abbot is narrow-minded, say something that will make him happy.

You say you like Dafei, but he may not care at all. But if you have any opinions about Dafei, or even like those who make things difficult for Dafei more than Dafei, then he may start to write down the days when he will play against you in his memo during the season.

Rose taught everyone a bloody lesson, and Wall learned it.

Then it was DC's turn.

Although they were not as miserable as Cleveland and lost the fateful encounter with Wall, the second pick is still considered good this year.

The options facing DC right now are the safe card (Evan Turner), high risk high reward (Cousins) and not knowing who to choose and just pick him (Favors).

I don't know if it was intentional, but before DC made their selection, ESPN revisited their performance in the draft nine years ago that could have rewritten the team's history.

They selected Kwame Brown with the No. 2001 pick in , and then traded for Yu Fei's signing rights from the Cavaliers.

This flashback not only vividly reveals what DC missed, but also explains why even if they sacrificed their boss, they could not beat Cleveland in the misery competition.

Give you a team like this, they sent away the future GOAT that they had already selected for Courtney Alexander in 2001, and then pampered a sanctimonious talent as if he were the GOAT. As a result, this GOAT did not contribute more to the team than the Cavaliers in history. At several critical moments that impacted history, he disappointed all Cleveland people, and finally gave the Cavaliers a good guy card with a decision that shocked the world. 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. The New York fans, who have always been of low quality, forgot to mock at the scene. Looking at what happened to Cleveland and DC, they actually thought Dolan was okay.

At least Dolan didn't treat the fans to such shit.

Five minutes later, DC made his choice.

Like a normal rebuilding team, they don't intend to make a decision that makes them feel at ease. If they have to choose, they will choose the one with the highest ceiling.

Thus, another person's fate was changed.

DeMarcus Cousins ​​was the No. 2010 pick in the NBA Draft.

Major TV stations began to review DC's failure in the 2001 draft, and they believed that Cousins ​​might lead them to another abyss.

In terms of talent and fighting power, Cousins ​​is the only player in this draft who can make professionals bet their own fortunes that "he will definitely become a star averaging 20+10 per game in the future."

But as the most talented and powerful player in this class, his playing style in high school began to be compared by scouts to Rasheed Wallace during his time in Portland Prison. At the same time, his work ethic was compared to Derrick Coleman, and finally, his mental state was compared to Michael Beasley.

The NBA has been heartbroken by these talented but mentally challenged talents.

That's why DC'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 is also OK."

It is known that Arenas pulled out guns 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 make a joke about Arenas pulling out a gun, but later he realized that the joke was not suitable for all ages.

Subsequently, Derrick Favors was selected by Philadelphia.

Coming to the fourth pick, the Bucks are a rare guest in the lottery area.

Although they had received lottery picks even in the Yu Fei era, those were mostly big prizes obtained through trades. This time, they fell into the lottery zone due to their own poor performance. Last season, Kevin Martin and Danny Granger were both out for the season, and then Aldridge also suffered an injury. Pau Gasol was unable to carry the team alone. The Bucks seemed to have run out of luck, and they lost all the way and finally came to this position.

This may not be a bad thing for them.

Aldridge's rookie contract bonus will end this summer, and adding a fourth pick will be beneficial to their competition in the new season.

They looked around and finally chose Evan Turner, the safe pick among the top five favorites.

Then, the Bobcats took advantage of the situation and took Greg Monroe.

The Raptors selected Ekpe Udoh.

The Nets landed Gordon Hayward.

The Grizzlies selected Al-Farouq Aminu.

The Pistons take 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 transaction was that the Kings looked down on the remaining players, while the Spurs wanted to send away Luol Derrick, who could provide limited help to the team. The motivation for this transaction was mainly to reduce the team's salary pressure and add a potential newcomer.

The Spurs chose George just by chance.

But this coincidence inadvertently allowed George to replace Kawhi Leonard next year and become the answer for the Spurs for the next decade.

Not to mention how this will change Leonard's fate, Yu Fei, who received the news from the front, vaguely felt that George would develop better than in his previous life.

Although the Spurs had some restrictions on their core players 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 almost obsessively strict about details, and Duncan, the perfect leader who gets better with age.

This was 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 has been decided.

Afterwards, Eric Bledsoe was selected by the Heat.

The Sonics' favorite Quincy Pondexter 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 have only a mid-second-round prospect, was selected by the Warriors with the 26th pick in the first round.

The Sonics' top pick and backup were picked before their turns.

When the draft came to the Sonics, Presti reluctantly selected Marquette University junior forward Lazar Hayward SF.

The Sonics' draft this year ended abruptly amid the labor-management conflict.

Presti doesn't believe that Hayward can help the team in a short period of time. If the Supersonics want to strengthen their team, they must go through the free market.

But he is really not sure now whether they still have a free market, and he is not even sure whether next season can start as scheduled.

Among the remaining people in the draft, Yu Fei only remembered two people.

One is Nemanja Bjelica, who is a member of the 22 Warriors.

The other is Lance Stephenson. Due to his age, Yu Fei has not seen Stephenson's peak period in the NBA, but he knows that he came to the CBA as a foreign aid in the later period, and he played for Liaoning, a domestic traffic team.

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 both were versatile.

This prompted a hilarious comment from Jeff Van Gundy on ESPN.

"The Pacers need to trade him. This young man had a bad record in school, and now he is comparing himself to Brandon Roy?"

There were no surprises in the draft, and the draft-day trades didn't seem to be anything special.

The only thing that changed the future was the Spurs trading Luol Deng for Paul George.

Due to many people withdrawing from the draft, the 2010 draft, which was originally between average and a weak draft year, has now completely become a weak draft year.

However, geniuses like John Wall will still attract experts to continue tracking them.

Then there are the events on draft day.

The rookies are about to experience the irony of reality.

On the day of the draft, they were still the darlings of the team. The general manager told them on the phone that the team regarded them as the future, and some even the owner came out.

Then the next day, the rookies were told that the team could not sign them, they could not participate in the team's training, and they could not use 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 bargaining.

Before the negotiations began, the two sides put pressure on each other in front of the media. "The differences between us are still very, very large," said union president Derek Fisher, adding that the main obstacle to reaching an agreement is still the revenue share of both parties in the next collective bargaining agreement.

David Stern said expressionlessly in front of the media: "I am not optimistic about whether the players are willing to participate seriously." Stern used his own words to blame the impending failure of the negotiations on the players' "unwillingness to participate seriously."

As the leader of the players' camp, Yu Fei showed up at the negotiation site. Although he was not the main negotiator, the fact that he, who had close ties with the management, stood on the side of the players without reservation gave the players' camp the confidence to win.

"The owners claim they are committed to keeping the league as it is, but that's not the case," Yu Fei told a New York Times reporter.

San Antonio owner Peter Holt and board chairman Glen Taylor, owner of Minnesota, also joined the ranks of 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 TV broadcast contract dividends, believing that since labor and management are partners, the dividends should be shared equally.

Veteran Kevin Garnett saw that Taylor, a treacherous villain, was now trying to take the players' cake, so he took out his veteran responsibility and confronted him: "If you think this is reasonable, then I think the home ticket revenue and the rental fees of the shops around the arena should be included in the dividends. If you agree with this, we can make concessions."

"You greedy bastard!" Taylor broke down on the spot, "Don't even think about putting your hand in my bowl!"

Garnett yelled, "You've already put your fucking hand in 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 he had a completely broken relationship, he had the confidence to do so.

Surprisingly, Yu Fei didn't mind Clay Bennett's feelings at all. He said many times that he made some people a lot of money, but now he stands with those poorly managed teams and supports their proposal to reduce player dividends.

"You can't make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits and then cry poor with those idiots who can't manage a team." This is what Yu Fei said to the Associated Press reporter.

"Frye is entitled to his own conclusions," Bennett said. "This incident will not affect our relationship."

The negotiations that day were more like a quarrel between two groups of people representing different interests than a negotiation. Everyone vented their daily dissatisfaction, and naturally nothing was achieved.

Fisher said the lockout has not officially begun and the two sides will try to hold at least two or three more meetings before August.

Stern said there were always reasons for the meetings, but he also made it clear that the bosses felt that things were going nowhere, and if the status quo could not be changed, they would take the step they least wanted to take.

That being said, the lockout has actually begun. Summer leagues have been suspended, and all team managements have been on holiday. Rookies can't sign contracts, free agents don't know where to go, and agents want to contact GMs, but the answer they get is that now is not the time.

Although the two sides will have several negotiations before August, the lockout has already begun. The two sides did not officially announce a lockout, but just maintained a superficial decency, so that at least those TV stations that have signed broadcasting contracts with the league will not put pressure before the lockout officially begins.

Yu Fei had a hunch that he was about to have the longest vacation in his career.

(End of this chapter)