The world's best combo guard

Chapter 25 24 [Portland with innocent guns lying down]

On June 6th, under the operation of Yao Zhijun, Li Hao confirmed to the NBA that he would not withdraw his decision for this year's draft, which means that Li Hao officially participated in this year's NBA draft.

Also on this day, ESPN updated the last mock draft list before the draft. On this list, Li Hao's pick has been improved again. He has moved from the 33rd overall pick in the previous round to the 23rd in the first round. bit.

No matter whether it is at home or abroad, it is impossible for no one to notice Li Hao's change in pick.

For some draft experts and news media in the United States, when Li Hao's draft picks continued to soar, they finally began to pay attention to and discuss this guard from China.

It is the opinion of most Americans that people of yellow race can gain a foothold in the NBA, but after a year, when Yao Ming slapped them hard, it cannot be said that this kind of doubt has completely disappeared, but at least it is less a little.

Therefore, when looking at Li Hao's prospects in the draft, many people choose a conservative view with room for room.

For example, Jonathan Kiniwo, a well-known draft expert, said, "As the most valuable player in the Greek World Youth Championship, it is obvious that we did not pay much attention to this Chinese defender before. He was naturally selected in the first round, but it was only So, in this recognized draft year, no team is willing to give him a higher pick, because compared to Yao, Li Hao is not only a backcourt player with a higher draft prospect, but also I think Li is too anxious , he is only 19 years old this year, if he can practice for another two or three years and participate in the draft at the age of 22 like Yao Ming, perhaps his prospects for the draft will be much better.”

Of course, extremists always exist at any time. For example, ESPN columnist Bill Pelton believes that "Although Li Hao is the most valuable player in the Greek World Youth Championship, please don't forget that this World Youth Championship In fact, many young talents who participated in this year's draft did not participate. Just to give a simple example, if LeBron James also participated in the World Youth Championship in Greece, would you still think that Li would be the best player? Besides, Yao Ming It’s just a special case, his height gives him too many advantages, but Lee obviously doesn’t have such an advantage as an outside line.”

At least one thing can be confirmed from Bill Pelton's words, that is, he is opposing his club's point of view, because the latest draft mock list is produced by ESPN, and he, as an ESPN columnist, actually said such a thing.

A lot of people don't know what this guy thinks.

Of course, compared with the conservatism and doubts abroad, the domestic media and fans have completely different attitudes.

They think that Li Hao's draft pick should be even higher. The 19-year-old World Youth Championship's Most Valuable Player, this achievement has never been achieved by even Yao Ming. Everyone thinks that Li Hao is at least the top 10 pick in the first round, even if this year is A recognized draft year.

For a while, all kinds of insults against Americans and people like Bill Pelton and others who were not optimistic about Li Hao were endless.

The 2003 NBA draft was held on the morning of June 6, BJ time, at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA.

Therefore, Li Hao and the others arrived in New York on the afternoon of the 20th, and then found a hotel that took away the gym and stayed.

While waiting for the draft, Li Hao plans to devote all his time to the gym. Physical fitness is like studying, and if you don't exercise for a day, it will decline.

For Li Hao during this period, the only big thing is waiting for the draft. He has already got a promise from the Magic. If no other team chooses Li Hao before, they will choose Li Hao with the 15th pick in the first round. Therefore, in addition to keeping fit by exercising, Li Hao also decided to use this period to have a quiet time and think about the future, such as what to do after the draft, how to adapt to the rhythm of the NBA, etc.

However, this quietness may be destined to be interrupted, because Yao Zhijun brought him several draft information.

First of all, the Spurs and Nets, the first two teams interested in Li Hao, both said that if Li Hao fell to the second round, they would choose him.

In addition, the Portland Trail Blazers stated that they will use the 23rd pick in the first round to select Li Hao.

Obviously, the Blazers made this determination through ESPN's latest mock draft list. Maybe they have paid attention to Li Hao before, but they should be the same as the Spurs teams, only willing to give Li Hao a second-round guarantee. Decided to raise the stakes.

"If the Portland Trail Blazers are willing to choose you with a pick higher than 15th, I'm happy for them, because they got a superstar, and they can make up for the regrets they missed Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. , but obviously, they probably don't have that much courage, otherwise they wouldn't have missed these two at the beginning," Yao Zhijun said with a smile.

"Haha, Brother Jun, you're so optimistic about me? Superstar? I don't even dare to think about it." Li Hao was amused by Yao Zhijun's teasing of the Blazers.

"Come on, if others don't understand you, how can I not understand you? You have big ambitions." Yao Zhijun gave Li Hao a deep look.

Although the time spent together with Li Hao is less than a month, Yao Zhijun can clearly feel from Li Hao's every move that Li Hao is not the kind of guy who is willing to be ordinary, he is the kind of player with huge ambitions in his heart , for which he seemed willing to give anything.Including being very cruel to himself, Yao Zhijun once noticed that when Li Hao was training in the gym, he was the kind of guy who pursued the limit.Originally, it is enough to do a set of movements 100 times, but he is the kind of person who would rather add 50 times.

From this, Yao Zhijun feels that Li Hao's achievements in the NBA in the future will not be too low.

"Forget it, we still keep the Blazers at arm's length. It's best not to let them choose you. The team doctor of this team is frightening. Just look at Bill Walton and Sam Bowie." Yao Zhijun obviously knew the Blazers before.

"Haha, brother Jun, you are not a top student in finance, but more like an expert in ridicule. I guarantee that if the Blazers management hears your words, they will vomit blood in anger." Li Hao gave Yao Zhijun a big thumb.

"Ah Hao, what do you think about Li Ning's willingness to renew the contract? Lao Gu has been back for two or three days, and he probably will be here soon. It's best for us to reach an agreement now." Yao Zhijun returned to the topic and raised a topic.

Li Ning Sports now knows that Li Hao will be selected by the Orlando Magic without any accidents. Although this is not their ideal big city, it is also very good. There is still one year left in the sneaker contract between Hao and them, but obviously, Li Ning wants to start early, and the near water will be the first to win.

(End of this chapter)