basketball hero

Chapter 798
The day after the championship parade, the 2 NBA Draft will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

This draft is still very important to the Raptors, because they have two first-round picks (one No. 9 and one No. 27).Among them, the No. 9 pick in the first round is used as a lottery pick, which was obtained in the trade of Andrea Bargnani in 2013.

For a super dynasty team that has won the championship for 4 consecutive seasons, it still has a lottery pick, which really makes those teams that don't have a first-round pick for immediate combat power feel envious and jealous.

As early as May 5, after the lottery results of the NBA draft lottery came out, Raptors general manager Ujiri said in an interview with reporters that the No. 18 pick can be used for drafts or trades.In other words, the team's management is open to this signing deal, and it doesn't have to be used for their own draft to train new players.

For the Raptors, they have won 4 consecutive championships, but the overall structure of this team is very young, and the core players are all under 30 years old, so their desire for young blood is not so high.What's more, they will not start accumulating talented men for reconstruction.

Of course, this year is not a big draft year in the traditional sense. It is still unrealistic for the No. 9 pick to select a rookie who can be the cornerstone of the team.Being able to select a player who can be used as a normal rotation and has All-Star potential is considered to be earned.

And the 27th pick is almost a lottery ticket. If you get it, you will make a lot of money;

Because it is not a draft year, although the Raptors have two first-round picks, the transaction value is actually not as great as imagined.For them, if there is no good offer, they would rather go to the draft than trade at a loss.

Another purpose of the Raptors in the draft is to optimize the team's salary structure.At present, the total salary of the team is infinitely close to the threshold of the luxury tax. If two first-round picks are exchanged for the immediate combat power of a multi-year contract, the total salary of the team is bound to explode. At that time, the pressure of the luxury tax It will make this non-rich team feel difficult.

Raptors general manager Ujiri has long invited Ying Xiong to participate in the draft as a special representative of the team.

Ying Xiong readily agreed. Since he was drafted in 08, he has never appeared in the draft for 8 years.This time, not only the home team has the task of drafting, but his two compatriots Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin from China will also participate in this draft.

Although the offseason free agent trading market will officially start on July 7, in fact many transactions have already been launched before then, but there is no official announcement.There are also a lot of transactions on the day of the draft, so it is not uncommon for some rookies to be selected by one team and put on the cap of another team as soon as they turn around.

On the night of the draft day, the exciting draft conference is about to begin.

Ying Xiong and Li Jianwu attended the draft together with the draft representatives of the Raptors.Li Jianwu liked this kind of occasion very much, so after learning that Ying Xiong was going to the scene, he pestered the other party to take him with him.

NBA referee Adam Silver is responsible for announcing the list of first-round rookies.

The Philadelphia 76ers with the No. [-] pick selected Ben Simmons, who has "a combination of LeBron James and Magic Johnson";

The Los Angeles Lakers with a play sign selected Brandon Ingram of "Kevin Durant No. 2";
Jaylen Brown was selected by the Boston Celtics with the No. [-] pick;
The Phoenix Suns with the No. 4 pick selected Dragan Bender;

The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Kris Dunn with the No. 5 pick;
The New Orleans Pelicans with the No. 6 pick selected Buddy Hilton;

The Denver Nuggets with the No. 7 pick selected Jamal Murray;
The Sacramento Kings with the No. 8 pick selected Marquese Chriss;

The key is here, the Toronto Raptors selected Austrian center Jakob Poeltl from the University of Utah with the No. 9 pick!
Ying Xiong knew why the team chose a center with this lottery pick.Although the team currently has two centers, Valanciunas and Biyombo, the reality is that Biyombo has already announced on June 6 that he has jumped out of the contract.

Biyombo signed a two-year contract with the Raptors in the offseason last year with a total value of $600 million. The second year of the contract has player options.The reason why he chose to sign such a "2+1" contract is naturally to hope that he can sign a big contract after showing his worth.

Therefore, when the Raptors' salary space is so tight, it is naturally impossible to provide Biyombo with a large contract that is satisfactory.Therefore, his departure from the team is almost a certainty.

In this case, it is understandable for the Raptors to choose a potential center in the draft.

In fact, as early as last year, Poeltl, who had just finished his rookie season, was considered to have the potential to break into the lottery zone, especially in the game against Duke University in the championship, he successfully restricted the No. [-] pick. Lil Okafor, let those doubts about him disappear.

However, what is surprising is that Poeltl did not participate in the draft in the end, but somewhat unexpectedly chose to return to the University of Utah to play in the NCAA for another year.Since then, many draft experts have included him in the list of the top 10 seeds in this draft.

Poeltl is considered to be the No. 5 player with the most potential among all rookies this year, and he is also a rare pure center forward. The template is Andrew Bogut.Among all the players participating in the joint trial training, his height of 216cm is second only to China's potential center Zhou Qi, ranking second.In addition, he also has good athletic ability, coupled with good skills, still allows Poeltl to attract the interest of many clubs, including the Raptors.

The Raptors chose Poeltl to find a suitable substitute for Valanciunas.As small ball lineups become more and more popular in the league, the team routinely prepares 3 centers, which is completely enough.

In addition to Poeltl, the Raptors selected Cameroon power forward Pascal Siakam, who graduated from New Mexico State University, with the 27th overall pick in the first round.

Siakam is slender and has outstanding physical fitness. He is a striker with great potential and is very suitable for the 4th position of the current small ball lineup.

The Raptors' selection of Siakam is also looking for an inside player for the team with a small ball lineup.You must know that apart from Patterson, there is no player who can top the 4th or even the 5th position of the small ball lineup.In addition, the contracts of James Johnson and Scola expire, and the team naturally needs to prepare for their possible non-renewal.

(End of this chapter)