basketball kingdom

Chapter 11

Xu Tian was in a state of rapid heartbeat most of the time today, and this state became more obvious as the draft drew closer.

In the end, he finally couldn't sit still anymore, and started walking around in the hotel room, thinking about the possible scenes in his mind.

It wasn't until Xu Tian was sitting in the car heading to Barclays Center that his excitement subsided. After so many years of competition, he was more used to the moment when he was about to step onto a big scene.

……

There are 30 teams in the NBA, and each team can have 15 players on the roster. If you use ordinary arithmetic, there are 450 players who can play in the NBA.But every year around the NBA, there are far more than these players. In addition to the free agents signed with special injuries and able to play official games, summer league contracts, training camp contracts, two-way contracts, etc. are also involved. Therefore, Every year at least thousands of players will be associated with this top league.

Among all these ways, the easiest way to enter the NBA is the draft.

The NBA draft has added an age limit since 2006. Players must be at least 19 years old to be eligible to participate in the draft.As a result, many 18-year-old players who have completed high school must choose to stay in college for a year or play in overseas professional leagues. More players will choose the former. Emmanuel Mudiay and Xu Tian are two the latter.

If you can successfully participate in the draft, the first thing you need to deal with is naturally the issue of the draft.The order in which players are selected is called the pick. The earlier a player is selected in the draft, the higher the pick, and the higher his worth.

The first player selected in the draft is usually called the "No. 2015 pick" (first pick), and they are usually the best among all the players participating in the draft.The second player selected is called "No. 76", the third is called "Top Flower", and after that, it is called the No. [-] pick in order.Taking the situation of this year ([-]) as an example, being selected by the Timberwolves is the No. [-] pick, being selected by the Lakers is the No. [-] pick, and being selected by the [-]ers is the No. [-] pick.

Logically speaking, the No. [-] pick should be a very attractive draft pick, but this pick is a bit particular, which is often said to be the No. [-] curse.The general performance is that the No. [-] pick and the No. [-] pick in the same year cannot become stars together, and one of the two picks will always lose one. Among them, the No. [-] No. [-] pick has a higher chance of losing, so it is called the No. [-] curse.

The reason for the appearance of the second place curse is very troublesome to explain, but it has a long history.

The car parked in the parking lot outside the Barclays Center. Xu Tian got out of the car first, waiting for Alice and Li Lang to get out of the car.

This car was an ordinary car, and Xu Tian was not very comfortable sitting in it, so he was the first to get out of the car.

When I came to the entrance of the venue with Alice and Li Lang, there were already many media reporters who could not enter the venue waiting there.

Xu Tian, ​​who had never played basketball in the United States, was not well known by these reporters. They did not see that Xu Tian was a rookie candidate, and no one came towards him.This situation made Xu Tian a lot easier. He still doesn't understand English, so it is definitely a very difficult thing for him to face the media.

However, when entering the venue, Xu Tian was recognized, but luckily it was a reporter from China.

"Xu Tian, ​​can I have an impromptu interview with you?" A tall man in a standard suit asked Xu Tian.

When Xu Tian heard this voice, he felt very familiar. He turned around naturally and saw this reporter. It was Zhang Weiping who came to the United States on behalf of CCTV.He has a staff sign on his chest, and he can enter the venue, but he made a special trip to wait outside the venue in order to interview Xu Tian.

Zhang Weiping is one of the top basketball commentators in China, and the commentators in the industry call him Director Zhang.There is always a saying among the fans that he is Kobe (a fan of Kobe), so he got a nickname Weiping Bryant, but this is all ridiculed by netizens. His own explanation is that he is Zenmi ("Zen Master") Phil Jackson fan), liking Kobe is just a love house.

In terms of purely basketball experience, Director Zhang was born in the men's basketball national team before, and he is a person who really understands the game.In order to express his respect, Xu Tian trotted two steps and came to Director Zhang's side.

Director Zhang waited until Xu Tian stood beside him, and first said, "Wait a while, we will start the interview when the camera cuts over."

Xu Tian knew that his previous plan to come to the United States to run in the United States in a low-key manner was in vain. Through the spread of CCTV cameras, the interview with him can be seen all over the country, so it is no longer low-key.

After the director made an OK gesture, Director Zhang started the interview and asked first: "Xu Tian, ​​I heard that you came to the United States to participate in trial training a few days ago, which teams did you train? "

Xu Tian saw the CCTV logo on the microphone that Director Zhang stretched out, and said nervously, "I participated in the Lakers' trial training a few days ago."

"How's the result of the trial training? Or have you shown what you want to show?" Director Zhang immediately asked after seeing that Xu Tian didn't continue.

"The trial training may not be the same as I imagined, but I think the whole trial training process is okay, basically showing what I want to show." Facing the camera of CCTV, Xu Tian was too nervous. Can say what comes to mind.

"What do you think of the draft, and what kind of pick do you think your pick is?" Director Zhang didn't mention the turmoil of the physical test data. No matter how crazy it is on the Internet, the mainstream media still can't mention it.

"The overall draft process is quite a test. It's like a big test of the previous basketball career. I think it's possible. It's just to show the team what I learned before. As for the draft, I don't have too much It doesn’t matter which team you play for.”

"It's good to say that it's like a big exam. If you can enter the NBA, you can actually pass it. There is another question, have you consulted Dayao and Ah Lian before coming to the United States? Both of them have draft experience." Asked after Tian finished speaking.

"I've talked to Brother Yao Ming and Brother Lian. They all gave me good advice, and Sun Yue also gave me a lot of advice. After all, I am a guard, and the draft route for inside players is still a bit different, so I also Ask Sun Yue for advice."

"Since you have made such sufficient preparations, I hope you can enter the NBA smoothly with this blessing." Director Zhang said a word of blessing and ended the interview.

Many reporters noticed the movement here, and when they saw Xu Tian being interviewed, they all realized something.The two-meter tall man was interviewed outside the Barclays Center. Anyone with a little common sense could guess that he was a candidate for the election.

Xu Tian also noticed the movements of the surrounding media reporters, chatted with Director Zhang, and hurried to join Alice and Li Lang, and escaped from the interview area outside the venue.He didn't bring a translator with him, and if he was stopped by foreign media reporters, he couldn't even understand the other party's questions, and he would be embarrassed at that time.

When entering the venue, Li Lang negotiated with the venue staff, and a special person brought Xu Tian and the others into the venue.

The media reporter's interview will be after the draft, and Xu Tian will not be disturbed by the media reporter for the time being.

Xu Tian sat quietly in a daze in his seat. Originally, he thought that he could avoid the attention of the domestic media and come to the draft secretly.But now that I think about it, I'm still too young, I was invited into the little green house, how could no one know about it.

Domestic fans don't know what happened to them in the United States, so what will happen to them?Xu Tian didn't know these things.

Alice sat beside Xu Tian. He saw that Xu Tian was a little silent and didn't bother him.

Li Lang was also sitting beside Xu Tian, ​​he was very nervous now.

All the work they can do is over, and what they have to wait for is NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to announce the results of the draft.

As time went by, the rookies who were invited to the small green room gradually arrived, the media and fans were also in place, and the draft officially began.

At the same time as the draft began, WOJ posted a message on his personal Twitter, "The Minnesota Timberwolves will select Karl-Anthony Towns with the first pick."

Not long after the news was released, the current NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, walked up to the stage, before the microphone was placed, and uttered the classic line that has been said since the David Stern era: "2015 The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Karl-Anthony Towns from the University of Kentucky with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft."

In many star collections, the selected scene will be used as the beginning, which is a very classic scene.

Towns entered the University of Kentucky last year. Throughout the 14-15 season, he averaged 21.1 minutes per game, with data of 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.In this draft, the 6-foot-11 (2.11 meters) center/power forward became the No. [-] pick.

Xu Guangcai and Meng Jing were sitting in front of the TV together. They had just watched Xu Tian's interview, and they watched this draft with a little pride in their hearts.

Boss Jin was also looking at the computer screen. Now that Xu Tian was his "son-in-law", he was also very concerned about Xu Tian's future.

The scene that is being broadcast now is the celebration of Towns and his family, and then the elder from Kentucky walked to the stage, took the peaked cap with the Timberwolves icon that Silver handed him, and put it on his head.

What followed was the two shaking hands, smiling at the camera, and freezing the moment.This is also a repertoire of the draft conference. As long as you look at the draft pictures of the stars, you will definitely see such a picture, but David Stern is standing next to the stars in the early years.

After Xiao Hua retreated backstage, the interview with Downs followed, Xu Tian couldn't understand what they were talking about at all.

After the interview with Towns, the Los Angeles Lakers will announce the second pick. Although Xu Tian knows that Bass prefers Russell, he still has expectations unconsciously.

(End of this chapter)