Coach: Coaching the Grizzlies at the beginning, playing the bantam

Chapter 169 Winning Parade; Draft!Let the geniuses of the past shine?

After the celebration party in Orlando, the Sonics flew back to Seattle to rest.

Two days later, the team held a grand championship parade in Seattle.

Seattle is located on the Pacific coast in the northwest of Washington State in the United States, with a total area of ​​369.2 square kilometers and a city population of about 470 million. Among them, Chinese people account for about 3.45% of the city's population. It is a city that is relatively friendly to Chinese people.

It only took Lu Yong two seasons to lead the team to win the championship. The Seattle fans regarded him as a god, and they had been waiting for everyone to come back to celebrate, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.

Supersonics owner Bennett spent a lot of money in the championship parade. He set off from the Seattle Arena, walked along the downtown street, and circled the main street of Seattle. It lasted from 1:6 p.m. to [-]:[-] p.m. .

All four main streets were surrounded by excited fans, gathered on both sides of the street to watch, more lively than Christmas.

The Seattle city government also attaches great importance to holding the championship parade. The police station, security company, military and other departments have dispatched personnel to assist and maintain the law and order on the scene.

Holding the championship trophy in his left hand and the FMVP trophy in his right, Durant stood on the top of the parade car and enjoyed the cheers of the Seattle fans. The championship hat he wore behind the duck tongue highlighted his dickish temperament to the extreme, and it is still like a dream.

Coach Lu Yong kept a low profile. Surrounded by the players, he waved to the surrounding fans, with a smile on his face the whole time, and he was in a good mood.

The mayor of Seattle also attended this grand parade, and delivered a major speech on a temporary stage when he set off, helping the basketball culture of the Seattle Supersonics to further spread in the city.

General Manager Presti also joined the staff to take part in the parade on a float today. He has won the title of "Best General Manager in the League" for two consecutive years, although anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is due to Lu Yong's team building ideas and luxurious record , but Presti is the beneficiary after all. The past two years have been booming, and his net worth has also begun to skyrocket.

After a parade around the city, the players, coaches and Sonics staff who participated in this event all talked about their feelings about winning the championship in front of the media.

Everyone was in a good mood and there were no accidents during the whole process.

On the night of the parade, the team booked the largest hotel in Seattle to hold a party. The scene of the celebration party this time was even worse than that in Orlando, and it was a night of carnival.

At the party, Szczerbiak took the initiative to find Lu Yong with a glass of wine, saying that he wanted to pursue a maximum salary in the summer, and he was sorry that he could not continue to play for him.

Lu Yong smiled and sent his blessings to him, did not pretend to stay, and supported his decision to pursue a big contract.Szczerbiak is now at the right time and place. At his age, this year is likely to be the last big contract of his career.

Szczerbiak is very grateful to Lu Yong. Even though he has already made preparations to leave the Sonics after discussing with his agent, he still does not want to disappoint Lu Yong, and he is concerned about Lu Yong's feelings after hearing the news.

After all, before he played for Lu Yong, he was no longer the flying star. His career began to decline, and he was about to get mixed up to the point of earning a living in the middle class.

Lu Yong's cultivation and reuse in the past two years has ushered in the second spring of Szczerbiak's career. Not only did he return to the All-Star after many years, but he also won the championship ring he dreamed of. Yu Xin, even if he leaves the Sonics, he still thinks that Lu Yong is the best coach in the league.

It is a reasonable decision for players to choose a more ideal way out after winning the championship. The NBA is essentially a commercial league, and both teams and players focus on making money.Lu Yong understood Szczerbiak's mood at this time, and told him to pay attention to his body in the future, and maintaining health is the greatest wealth in a player's career.

The two sat together and chatted for a long time, until the strong man Szczerbiak burst into tears, Lu Yong patted his shoulder helplessly, so it turns out that his charm is so great?
After two days of rest, the annual NBA Draft was held at Madison Square Garden in New York. Yong Lu and general manager Sam Presti arrived at the scene in person, sitting inside and waiting for the draft to start.

"Lu, according to what you mean, I contacted the Pistons management and traded the No. 30 pick in the first round to the No. 9 and No. 14 picks in the second round. We only have two second-round picks available this year. Not too far back?" Presti asked, pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Two second-round picks are enough. The overall quality of this year's draft is good. If it goes well, the team should be able to harvest two champions." Taking a sip of coffee, Lu Yong smiled.

The 09 NBA Draft is recognized by the media as a young draft year. The biggest No. 2 pick, Griffin, is 08 meters tall and has a wingspan of only 2 meters. The existence of "tyrannosaurus rex" can become the favorite of the top picks, which is enough to prove how unfavorable the quality of this draft is by the outside world.

However, only Lu Yong knows that the 09 NBA draft is absolutely star-studded, except for Curry and Harden, who are firmly in the Hall of Fame, DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, Rubio and Jeff Teague, etc. People are equally powerful.

It's a pity that Harden and Curry's draft picks are too high, and the Sonics must pay a huge price if they want to operate the lottery pick.In addition, Curry was too weak in the first few years of his career and needed a lot of ball training. From the perspective of defending and winning the championship, it is not cost-effective to break up the team.

Of course, the most important thing is that Lu Yong does not intend to stay with the Sonics team. He is an ambitious person. If the Sonics are still a luxury battleship until the day he leaves, he should be the one who will have a headache.

The Sonics aim to defend their title next season, and what they need most at the moment are rookies with immediate combat capabilities. Older rookies who can play a role with simple training are given priority.In Lu Yong's opinion, there are quite a few qualified players in this draft. He already has a goal in mind, and he just waits for the draft to start.

With President David Stern speaking on stage, the draft began quickly. The Clippers, holding the No. 2 pick, chose "T-Rex" Blake Griffin without hesitation. A 08kg violent power forward.

Griffin is a representative of the new generation of brutalist power forwards. He has been selected to the All-Star 6 times in his career and was selected to the All-NBA Team 5 times. Although he is not a superstar, he was also the best among the All-Star players at his peak. Nicknamed "Gilifen".

In terms of talent, Griffin is not the most outstanding player in this draft. The Clippers management is interested in him because Griffin demonstrated the technique of dribbling three balls at the same time during the Clippers trial training.

This kind of action that only outside players can do surprised the Clippers management, and finally decided to take him off with the No. [-] pick.

首轮第二顺位，山猫队选择了09届选秀大会天赋最出众的新人哈希姆-塔比特，身高2米21、体重119公斤，臂展超过了2米3的年轻中锋。

In the last year of college, Thabeet played 36 games on behalf of UConn, averaging 31.8 minutes per game, scoring 13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.2 blocks. Double honor for the best defensive player.

This kind of talent can be said to be visible to the naked eye, and it is very attractive to rebuilding teams with high draft picks.

It's a pity that Thabeet seems to have unlimited potential, but his offensive skills are horribly rough, with amazing athletic ability, but a serious lack of basic skills.It's like the space bar on a keyboard, it looks longer than other keys, but in the end, what you press is just a blank.

The pinnacle of Thabeet's career dates back to the CBA League. He signed with the Sichuan team in 2022. In the match against the strong enemy Zhejiang Guangsha, Thabeet, who played for 30 minutes in the first game, showed "perfect form". He made 9 shots, scored 6 points, 15 rebounds, 13 blocks and 9 steals, and his offensive and defensive presence was completely full.

It's a pity that Thabeet's talent was not only not shown in the NBA, but he also became the second-best player in NBA history. The highest score in a single season was 3.1 points in his rookie season, and his performance was really hip.The butterfly effect instigated by Lu Yong saved the Grizzlies and prompted Thabeet to join the younger Charlotte Bobcats.

However, Lu Yong is still not optimistic about his career prospects, because the head coach of the Bobcats is Larry Brown, and even Milicic has been depressed by this old man, and Thabeet, whose psychological quality is even worse, can only ask for blessings.

James Harden was taken away by the Timberwolves, who held the No. [-] pick, and joined a leaderless reconstruction team like the Wolves. Harden is expected to usher in a breakthrough in his rookie season, and he must be more comfortable than in his previous life.

The Kings with the fourth pick in the first round chose Tyreke Evans, the Warriors with the seventh pick still chose Curry, the Raptors with the ninth pick selected DeRozan, and the tenth pick The Bucks chose Jennings, a top scoring explosive rookie.

Most fans know Jennings because he scored 55 points in his rookie season. Among them, he scored 29 points in the third quarter to break multiple historical records.

但其实詹宁斯早在高中时就已经展现了自己的篮球天赋，高中时期的詹宁斯曾轰下单场63分、投中13个三分球的纪录。场均得到33.5分5篮板8助攻，以1312分的总得分刷新校史得分纪录。

However, this guy is a complete scumbag in terms of learning. Due to his poor homework, he couldn't meet the basic line of entering college, so he had to choose to go to Europe to hone his skills. He became the first person not to attend college after the implementation of the NBA age restriction American players who directly join the Euroleague.

This experience in the European League has seriously affected Jennings' draft prospects, otherwise he would at least be in the top five.

灰熊首轮第12顺位选中了身高1米96、体重98公斤的摇摆人杰拉德-亨德森。亨德森巅峰赛季能贡献15分3篮板3助攻1抢断的数据，实力还算可以，是一位合格的轮换球员。

Of course, the most interesting thing about this product is that it has the same name as his father Henderson, and his father is also a former NBA player, which causes fans to hesitate when they hear this name, and analyze whether it is the old man or the young man.

The old Henderson is not a star in his career, but his reputation is much higher than that of his son. The battle of fame is the winning steal against James Worthy in the 1984 NBA Finals. A perfect defense comparable to "Havlicek Steal".

The Philadelphia 17ers selected Jrue Holiday with the 76th overall pick, Ty Lawson with the 18th overall pick by the Timberwolves, and Jeff Teague with the 19th overall pick by the Eagles.

With the 23rd pick, the Kings picked Omi Casspi, a European star who claimed to be invincible in European leagues, but only averaged 7.9 points per game in the NBA.

It's hard to say whether Casspi's career is successful. If it weren't for the high expectations of him before the draft, in fact, Casspi has already handed in a perfect answer. After all, his draft pick is in the second half of the first round.

The Bulls selected power forward Taj Gibson with the 26th overall pick in the first round, Carroll was selected by the Grizzlies with the 27th overall pick, and Wayne Ellington was selected by the Timberwolves with the 28th overall pick.

With the Pistons picking Congolese swingman Christian Eyanga with the No. 30 pick in the first round, the first round of the draft came to an end.

At the beginning of the second round, the Kings used the first pick in the second round to select striker Jeff Ayers, a role player who could only score 3 points and 3 rebounds in his peak season.

The Trail Blazers selected Cunningham with the third pick in the second round, and the Spurs selected DeJuan Blair with the seventh pick in the second round.

Until the ninth pick in the second round, everyone's eyes were on the Sonics room, wondering which player the Sonics would pick.

With the announcement of President David Stern, the Sonics used the ninth overall pick in the second round to select Patrick Beverley, nicknamed "Mad Dog", a guard who was selected to the All-Defensive Team three times in his career.

Beverly is only 1 meters tall and weighs 85 kilograms. He is not considered strong, but his defense is always biting his opponent like a mad dog. He is always full of passion on the court and has won the best fighting award issued by the league.

In Lu Yong's previous life, the picture of Beverly defending Curry alone in the playoffs left a deep impression on the fans. When he defended Curry, he once made Curry very annoyed, because his tight-fitting defensive style made the attacker very uncomfortable. do not adapt.

Many super guards in the league often perform abnormally when facing Beverly's defense. The most explosive one is "God Lord" who once defended Durant, who is close to 2 meters tall, in the playoffs.

He really can't limit Durant's scoring, but it has played a role in Adu's physical exertion. The occasional trash talk and dishonest tricks are very annoying.

The joining of Beverly can improve the Sonics' perimeter defense and has advantages that Dragic and Neal do not have.

On top of that, Beverley is a career 38 percent shooter from 40-point range, with multiple seasons hitting 3 percent.Therefore, Beverly is strictly a [-]D player. He can shoot three-pointers and defend. He is very suitable for the Supersonic tactical system.

The 14th overall pick in the second round is still the Supersonics' draft pick. Under the gaze of many eyes on the scene, Lu Yong did not choose Danny Green, who was in a good mood, but picked the 2-meter-tall, 01-weight Kilogram swingman Chase - Budinger.

In high school, Budinger was as famous as Durant. In 2006, he was co-elected the MVP of the McDonald's National Competition with Durant.

Chase Budinger has excellent physical fitness, explosive dunk performance, and precise three-point shooting. His career three-point shooting percentage is 35.2%, and he has shot 40.2% in the highest season.

The reason why Lu Yong gave up Danny Green and chose Budinger was that Green was too weak in the early stage of his career and needed to be cultivated, and he mainly took a fancy to Budinger's college resume.

Unlike other players who use college as a springboard, Budinger played for three full years before participating in the draft. In his final year of college, he averaged 18 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He has rich game experience and belongs to the type of immediate combat power. Older rookie.

Although Budinger in his peak season could only score 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, the main reason why he failed to perform was due to injuries.

What Lu Yong valued was Budinger's talent and maturity. He firmly believed that this genius who used to be on par with Durant would be able to shine when he played under him. At least he was much braver than when he played for the Rockets in his previous life.

The draft conference picked two newcomers with immediate combat power, and the draft conference belonging to the Supersonics also officially came to an end.

Lu Yong left the field in a good mood and began to study the reinforcement list after the free market opened in July.It is not easy for the Sonics to defend their title in the new season. In addition to foreign enemies and civil strife, free market signings are the top priority.

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(End of this chapter)