Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 631 The Draft Begins! What? Jordan actually listened to advice?

This S+ gift pack contains only these three items and 20,000 experience points. Lin Tian recalled the last time he opened an S+ gift pack, he got a rune and a health preservation chamber. This time it's an aura, a Ramadan gift, and a disease prevention card.

Hmm...they're evenly matched!

However, is this strange item only available in the S+ gift pack?

Thinking of this, Lin Tian decided that he would definitely try to get another S+ gift pack next season!

I just enjoy this kind of quirky sense of humor!

……

In the following days, Lin Tian and his Knicks teammates indulged in a series of wild celebrations, followed by the team's championship parade. The entire Knicks team toured New York City, and wherever they went, they were met with huge crowds of fans expressing their support and love.

The frenzy of the New York fans far exceeded Lin Tian's expectations!

This is truly New York! Lots of people, lots of money, and lots of streets!

So much so that the victory parade took much longer than his previous ones.

But... I was still very happy.

After relaxing for a while, Lin Tian started paying attention to the talent show again.

After all, he was just sitting at home with nothing to do, and the Knicks didn't have any particularly noteworthy draft picks, just a first-round pick number 30 and a second-round pick number 30. Walsh did obediently ask Lin Tian who he would prefer to play with.

Lin Tian simply gave him a few names and told Walsh to handle them.

After all, although Lin Tian was too lazy to get involved in the team's operations and didn't like to keep using his "Heavenly Eyes," such a thick roster of rookies was quite tiring to look at!

His motto is basically, if you ask me, I'll tell you; if you don't ask, I won't bother to care.

The main theme is laziness!

As time went on, the draft officially began!

Lin Tian turned on the TV, completely relaxing while listening to the sounds on the screen intermittently.

"The Toronto Raptors select... Andre Bargnani with the first overall pick!"

Stern's familiar voice rang out, and the Raptors, as in history, chose the infamous Italian softie Bargnani.

There's not much to say about this choice; like the Raptors' history, it's unremarkable.

"The Charlotte Bobcats selected the second pick in the first round..."

This time, Lin Tian pricked up his ears. He wanted to hear who Jordan would choose this time, and whether this guy would listen to him.

"LaMarcus Aldridge!" Stern's voice rang out again!

Jordan actually listened to advice this time!

Is the Bobcats really about to rise to prominence?

Lin Tian scratched his head. If Jordan had always listened to advice... well, not necessarily always. If he had listened to advice two or three times, the Bobcats might have been able to rebuild.

No, they didn't rebuild; they never actually built it. It should be called a successful initial construction.

Then the Rockets selected Tyrus Thomas with the third pick, and the Trail Blazers selected Sheldon Williams with the fourth pick.

Well, these choices are not worth mentioning. The quality of this year's rookies is indeed mediocre, and the success rate is surprisingly low. If Lin Tian remembers correctly, among the top ten picks, only Aldridge, who was ranked 2nd, and Roy, who was ranked 6th, ultimately succeeded.

Roy also retired early before reaching his peak due to injuries.

Apart from that, only Guy has made a name for himself; the other seven are just even less successful, none of them are the least successful!

Then, Brandon Roy, the most promising rookie in this draft, was selected by the Hawks with the sixth pick.

Another team worth mentioning is the Pacers, who were selected eighth overall.

Bird had begged and pleaded with everyone he knew for months, only to receive Lin Tian's suggestion that he would draft Aldridge as the number one pick, without any further hints.

He looked left and right at the eighth pick, and finally, with tears in his eyes, selected Adam Morrison, the king of the NCAA, who was known as "Little Bird".

The reason I'm specifically mentioning Morrison is because this guy was someone Jordan had his eye on.

Jordan believed that this champion of the NCAA could definitely become the champion of the NBA.

If Lin Tian hadn't recommended Aldridge to him, and if Lin Tian's previous recommendations hadn't been so accurate, Jordan would have gotten Morrison with the second pick no matter what.

He thought this kid was amazing!

Well, it's possible that the only player in the entire league who thinks Morrison has the potential to become a star is Jordan. Otherwise, this guy wouldn't have dropped from third to eighth simply because Jordan didn't draft him.

As for the other reason, it's because this guy's nickname is "Little Bird".

As we all know, when a player is called DeAndre Jordan, he must possess at least two of the following qualities: explosive athleticism, powerful drives, accurate mid-range shooting, and unparalleled mental fortitude.

If someone is called a "little magician," then he must have top-notch vision, a tall stature, and excellent passing skills.

If someone is called a little shark, then he must have a huge weight and a huge physique.

If someone is called Xiao Lintian, then he is definitely very handsome, a heartthrob, and loved by everyone...

cough cough.

Well, but if someone is called Bird Jr., then he is 100% a tall, slow, soft white man who is said to have excellent basketball IQ and accurate shooting.

The probability of a player like this being a flop is over 90%!

It's fair to say that if a player is called "Little Bird," his NBA career is probably over.

Furthermore, if a rookie player was favored by Jordan, his NBA career was likely over.

Morrison is now facing two major NBA debuffs. Unless he can turn them into a positive, his career is basically over.

Yes, that's exactly what happened afterward.

He only played in the NBA for 5 years, one of which was a season-ending injury. Apart from his first year, he only played a total of 71 games in the remaining 3 years before leaving the league.

Although his early departure from the league was partly due to his recurring injuries, he ultimately proved that even without injuries, he was completely unable to adapt to the high-intensity competition of the NBA.

Then, during the draft, the Warriors traded their seventh overall pick, Randy Foye, and their protected top-ten pick for next year to the Rockets in exchange for the Rockets' explosive third overall pick, Tyrus Thomas!

After this trade, the Warriors acquired a quartet of Chris Paul, Jason Richardson, Steve Jackson, and Thomas.

With Paul's passing, vision, and playmaking abilities, coupled with two physically explosive jumpers, and Jackson's versatile forward presence, the Warriors will be able to play a very exciting game next season, regardless of their record!

Aside from this one trade, there weren't any other major trades that happened on the day of the draft.

As for the Knicks, they selected Marty Collins with the 30th pick in the first round, and then quickly packaged him with their second-round pick and sent him to Minnesota in exchange for Shannon Brown, whom they selected with the 24th pick!

He's another backcourt player with explosive athleticism, capable of flying and dunking, but currently quite immature.

It has to be said that Walsh is now really relying on habitual thinking and inertia when it comes to selecting players.

For several years in a row, he selected players for the team who were physically gifted, capable of flying, dunking, and seemingly omnipotent.

Although the facts have proven that such a player is indeed a good fit for the Knicks and for Don Nelson's system.

But it also proves that this guy is really quite lazy and his abilities are quite mediocre.

To reiterate: Walsh was able to become the Knicks' general manager not because he was exceptionally brilliant, but because he had a good understanding of his own limitations.

When a team has two top players like Lin Tian and Don Nelson, his best option is really to stay put and maintain the status quo as much as possible.

Let's talk about it when things get really bad!

Walsh's task this year is actually quite simple: among the team's key players, only Anthony needs to extend his contract early, while the rest of the players do not have contract issues.

Walsh once again demonstrated New York's unique characteristics: if he thinks you're worth it, he'll give you the money without caring about anything else!

As a result, Anthony and the Knicks reached a four-year, $62 million maximum contract extension agreement on July 1, the first day of free agency!

Although Anthony entered the league a year later than Stoudemire, he still had a slight advantage. Both had a four-year maximum contract, but Anthony's annual salary was $1 million more than Stoudemire's.

His maximum salary contract will officially take effect at the start of the 2007-2008 season.

At that point, the Knicks will face a huge challenge in terms of salary cap space.

Or rather, their challenges actually began at the start of the new season!

Stoudemire's 4-year, $5800 million contract is about to take effect!

By the start of the new season, Lin Tian's super contract had reached an astonishing 3900 million! According to the league's prediction, the luxury tax threshold for each team next season will be 6000 million!

Lin Tian alone occupies 64% of the salary space!

With Stoudemire's $1400 million, these two players have basically taken up all the space!

Also, don't forget Okur's $800 million, Houston and Wallace will each take $400 million, Anthony's rookie contract has $600 million in the final year, and Ward's contract has $300 million in the final year.

These seven players alone will take home $78 million next season.

Although the remaining players are mostly on minimum salaries or rookie contracts of less than $200 million, the remaining 8 players will still take away about $1300 million.

This means that if the Knicks don't make any trades to cut costs, their total payroll next season will reach $9100 million!

Although it didn't break 100 million, and although it seems like only 30 million in luxury tax, don't forget that they signed Lin Tian with a "God's Clause," which means they have to pay double the luxury tax.

Next season, the Knicks' luxury tax alone will reach $6000 million! That's more than the total salary expenditure of more than half of the teams in the league!

This money will be distributed equally among the league's teams whose salaries have not exceeded the cap at the end of next season.

This is why all the teams agreed to Stern's proposal for the "God Clause".

And when the following year, the fourth year, comes, when Anthony's new contract takes effect, and other people's salaries increase, this number could very well reach 1 million!

Those teams without a super cap have already racked up eight figures in luxury tax just from the Knicks over the past two years!

This is wealth falling from the sky! So why don't they agree to this clause?

Since Lin Tian isn't coming to their team anyway, they might as well let those rich teams fight tooth and nail for him!

You guys win the championship, and we small teams are happy to just get the money!

At the same time, when Anthony signed a four-year maximum contract extension, he was not like Stoudemire in 2002, who was all alone and received an early maximum contract extension.

Carmelo Anthony's classmates were all exceptionally talented!

Wade, Milicic, and James all received the same four-year, $62 million contract as Anthony on July 1st, the first day of free agency.

Of the top rookies from the 03 draft class, only Chris Bosh has yet to earn the money he wants.

Popovich and Buford are still talking to him, hoping that Bosh can give up some money so that the team can maintain its current roster.

They hoped Bosh would make a sacrifice.

"Why should I be the one to make the sacrifice? Why don't you guys persuade LeBron and Tracy to make the same sacrifice?"

"Chris, you need to calm down. Of course, we don't want you to make any sacrifices, but the pressure on the team is really immense!"

"You don't even need to pay a penny in luxury tax now. Even with a matching contract, you'd only have to pay around $500 million in luxury tax," Bosh shook his head. "The Knicks would have to pay $6000 million in luxury tax alone!"

"Chris, we can't compare to the Knicks. We really hope we can have a proper talk." Popovich still wanted to try to persuade Bosh to stay.

"Four years, $62 million, not a penny less," Bosh said firmly. "I'm no worse than anyone else. I want a max contract. If we can't reach an agreement, then there's no point in talking anymore. I can try my luck in free agency next year."

"That would be a lose-lose situation for both of us. You should know that those teams don't have your Bird rights, and they can't offer you such a high contract! Stay with your team. Only by staying with your team can you maximize your benefits!" Buford continued earnestly.

"If maximizing profits means sacrificing my own interests first, then I can't accept that! Or you could try to persuade LeBron to take a pay cut for the sake of winning a championship and maintaining roster depth, and give me his share of the money."

Bosh was furious; all the guys in his cohort had gotten big contracts, but he hadn't.

On what grounds?

Am I really that bad?

I disagree!

If there's no top salary, I'm leaving!

While Bosh and the Spurs were in a somewhat tense situation, the Lakers released several big news stories.

One of the things that was announced at the end of the Finals in June was that both general manager Jerry West and head coach Phil Jackson had resigned and left the team.

Jackson wasn't in a hurry to find a new team; he clearly wanted to take a break. West, on the other hand, joined the Golden State Warriors almost the day after he resigned.

The trade that saw the Warriors acquire Thomas in exchange for Foye during the draft was the first trade he spearheaded!

Another piece of news for the Lakers is that their newly appointed general manager, Kupchak, has officially put O'Neal on the trading block!

Team owner Bass maintained his usual demeanor and magnanimity, as well as his image as a good boss.

"Go talk to Shaq. Talk to Shaq first, and if he agrees, then come back to us. We won't send Shaq anywhere he doesn't want to go!"

This statement truly gave O'Neal a lot of credit.

When O'Neal arrived, he was met with great anticipation and a warm welcome from all sides.

He's leaving now, and the Lakers have given him the utmost respect and dignity. It's an amicable parting, and this time, there's no falling out between the two sides.

"Shaq, you can choose whichever team you want to go to. As long as their offer isn't outrageous and they show sincerity, even if it means taking a loss, I'll send you wherever you want to go!" That's what Bass said publicly, and he meant it in private as well!

"Even if you want to go to the Celtics, I'll send you!"

"I just want to tell you that I don't want to send you away, and I really appreciate everything you've done for the team over the past 10 years. You are the greatest free agent I've signed since I bought the team, and I will always be grateful for your contributions."

"But it really is time for us to make a change, isn't it?"

Bass's words were deeply moving, and O'Neal, being a man of strong emotions, was also deeply touched, saying that he would definitely consider them carefully.

A trade for O'Neal is certain to happen this summer, but when it will happen and where he will go remains a mystery.

"Larry, do you have time to come to Boston?" Also in early July, Bird received a call from his mentor Auerbach.

"What's up, old man? Got some good wine to buy me?" Bird maintained his usual scoundrel attitude: "Don't even think about getting me to Boston with just any old wine."

"You can have all my wine; I won't be able to drink anymore." Auerbach's voice was filled with exhaustion and weakness: "I might not live to see the start of the new season; I guess this is the end for me."

"I hope I can see you again and have a good talk with you."

"I'm leaving right now!" Upon hearing his mentor's voice sounding like he was about to die, Bird quickly dropped all his teasing and joking, hung up the phone immediately, and bought a plane ticket to Boston.

He dared not delay.

Auerbach's tone just now was full of the imminent end of his life.

He didn't want his delay to prevent him from seeing his mentor one last time.

He'll regret it for the rest of his life! (End of Chapter)