Legendary star

Chapter 9
On the evening of June 1999, 6, in their apartment in Windsor City, Meng Xu and He Hui were sitting in front of the TV, watching this year's draft, and the broadcast cameras swept across the teams over and over again. When seeing Brand, Francis, and other players, as well as the dozen or so players in the small green room, Meng Xu felt envious for a while. The players who could be invited into the small green room were all The best players in this draft are the players who will be selected 30% of the time.Although Popovich has reached an agreement with Meng Xu in private, he will definitely choose Meng Xu with this year's first round pick, but Meng Xu still can't control his nervousness.

Since that one-on-one match with Sean Elliott, Meng Xu has stayed in San Antonio to train with the Spurs' bench. Popovich even specially formulated a weight gain and body plan for Meng Xu Intensive training.It was at that time that Meng Xu and the Spurs reached an agreement. The Spurs would use their first-round pick to select Meng Xu, and at the same time sign a two-year fully guaranteed contract with Meng Xu. Meng Xu rejected the training camps of other teams, even the official NBA rookie training camp, on the grounds that he was unwell. Fortunately, for the entire NBA training camp, a small shrimp like Meng Xu is Belongs to dispensable roles.

Just when the two were chatting without saying a word, the NBA draft also officially started.Perhaps out of compensation for the Bulls who lost Jordan, the Bulls won this year's No. 16.2 pick, and the Bulls also undoubtedly chose this year's No. During his two years at Duke University, Brand averaged 8.9 points, 0.9 rebounds and 1998 assists per game. In the 99-17.7 season, Brand's averages reached 9.8 points and [-] rebounds per game. Was named the NCAA Player of the Year by the Associated Press and won the John Wooden Award.It can be said that Brand is well-deserved to be elected as the No. [-] pick this year.

Soon the Vancouver Grizzlies chose the combo guard Steve Francis from the University of Maryland. In the 98-99 season, Francis averaged 17 points, 5 assists, and 3.1 steals per game. The 95 total steals are the first in the ACC league, and the 45 three-pointers are also the first in the University of Maryland. In the 1998-1999 season, he led the University of Maryland to the top 16 in the United States.And was selected to the 2nd team in the United States and the 1st team in the ACC.

The third-placed New Orleans Hornets chose their long-awaited point guard Baron Davis as they wished. Byron and Davis averaged 15.9 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game during college and 2.5 steals.After signing up for this year's draft, many teams in the NBA have offered him an olive branch, including many lottery teams who are interested in him, including the New Orleans Hornets, but they were all picked by Davis. It was rejected, because Davis most wanted to stay in his hometown and play for his hometown team, which is Los Angeles.However, things backfired, and the Hornets chose Baron Davis without hesitation.

The Los Angeles Clippers, holding the No. 17.6 pick, chose power forward Lamar Odom from the University of Rhode Island. Odom averaged 9.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and [-] assists per game during college, and entered the "National League" Atlantic Division "first team, and became the year's NCAA Atlantic rookie of the year.Originally, the Los Angeles Clippers planned to select Baron Davis with the No. [-] pick, but they were cut off by the Hornets. Baylor had to choose Odom, who was originally just a spare tire, on the spot.

The Toronto Raptors next selected high schooler Jonathan Bender with the fifth pick
The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Miami University small forward Wally Szczerbiak with the sixth overall pick.

With the seventh overall pick, the Washington Wizards selected UConn shooting guard Richard Hamilton.

The Cleveland Cavaliers selected University of Utah point guard Andre Miller with the eighth pick.

With the ninth overall pick, the Phoenix Suns selected power forward Sean Marion from the University of Las Vegas.

With the [-]th overall pick, the Atlanta Hawks selected point guard Jason Terry from the University of Arizona.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Soon after the draft of the first 28 teams ended, David Stern took out a small note and read out the draft results of the No. 29 Spurs.

"The San Antonio Spurs chose small forward Meng Xu from Wake Forest with the No.20 ninth pick." David Stern was also surprised after reading the result, and has been promoting the NBA to The promotion of the Chinese market to the whole world is David Stern's tireless pursuit. Originally, David Stern was pleasantly surprised when he saw that there were two Chinese faces in this year's rookie list, but when he saw Meng Xu When he averaged 1 point, 1 rebound, 0.1 assists, 0.1 blocks, and 0.7 steals per game in his NCAA career, David Stern was disappointed again. Such a player simply cannot afford to push the NBA to the Chinese market. great cause.Now, when I saw that a team chose this player from China with the first round pick, and it was Popovich of the Spurs, I was also surprised. Maybe this kid is not as bad as the data shows. It seems that I still have to observe in secret to see if he can bear that burden.

"Sister Hui, I've been selected." When David Stern read out the Spurs' draft results on TV, Meng Xu immediately hugged He Hui in his arms. Although he knew that the Spurs would choose him, But when the result was announced, Meng Xu was still so excited that he couldn't contain himself. He hugged He Hui tightly and kept repeating in her ear, "I've been chosen, I've been chosen."

After experiencing a short period of being at a loss, He Hui kept stroking Meng Xu's back with his own hands, and said softly to Meng Xu, "Congratulations, you finally have the opportunity to realize your dream."

Unlike Meng Xu's ecstasy and Popovich's relief, the moment the Spurs chose Meng Xu, the draft scene exploded. The Spurs won the championship this year, although there are a lot of luck factors in it , but it only took Popovich two years to bring a declining Spurs to the top, and because of this, he became a famous coach in the NBA.Meng Xu's data at Wake Forest quickly spread to every manager, and no one could figure out how Popovich could select such a player with a first-round pick.

"Could it be that he is trying to please Stern? Could it be that they reached some agreement in private?" Looking at Popovich, who looked like he was winning, and David Stern, who was basking in the spring breeze, Paragon under the stands Trailly thought a little darkly that David Stern wants to promote the NBA to China, a market with a population of 12 billion. It is almost well-known among NBA managers. It is no wonder that Pat Riley would Think so.For Riley, this year can be said to be the darkest season in his coaching career. He won the third place in the league in the regular season and the first record in the Eastern Conference. , It simply made Pat Riley and his Heat feel ashamed.

(End of this chapter)