No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 108 - 84. Post-Draft Conference Part_2

The number of people inside the No. 15 compared to the No. 14 in the lottery zone. Bynum, Vazquez, and Korolev were not members of the Green Room. Now, there are only two draft picks left in the lottery zone, and there are still six people in the Green Room who haven’t been picked. Anyone not selected would feel disgraced.

Three minutes passed quickly, and Stern returned to the stage. Everyone in the Green Room who had not been selected was staring eagerly at the Jewish old man as he opened the envelope. Then, they saw Stern’s expression change, from a smile to a wild laugh, while he tried to suppress it. That chrysanthemum face looked positively terrifying!

...

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the 2005 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Bobcats select...from Compton High School in California, the Chinese exchange student, Jack Zhang, Zhang Yang!"

Upon hearing Stern mention "from California," Jerry’s eyes widened.

The Bobcats, huh? They didn’t pick a North Carolina player despite having a promising player from the state in the lottery?

Who else could they pick? Jerry remembered the teams that Zhang Yang tried out for—their team, the Lakers, and one more, precisely, the Bobcats!

Sure enough, Compton High School was mentioned next, followed by the name Zhang Yang.

Seeing Zhang Yang walk up on stage to accept the Bobcats cap from a terrifyingly smiling Stern left Jerry stunned for a moment, then he started banging the table, laughing hysterically.

He remembered, Zhang Yang’s post moves resembled those of that man!

Chris Wallace watched as his general manager laughed almost to the point of convulsing, wanted to say something but didn’t dare—was Jerry so upset because the player he coveted was snatched away?

After laughing enough, Jerry said to his conflicted assistant, "Don’t worry, I’m fine, just thought of something interesting."

Chris Wallace, still uneasy, asked, "What is it?"

Jerry: "It’s not important. If we didn’t get him, we didn’t get him. Although it’s a pity, training a player like Jack is very difficult. Hubie has already left, and I don’t think our current coaching staff has the ability, and I won’t be staying with the team for much longer. Leaving you with such a big problem would be too hard on you."

Chris Wallace’s attention was diverted: "Jerry, are you resigning?"

Jerry: "Yes, although I’m not satisfied, the challenge of leading a small market team to create a championship lineup has failed. I’ve only managed to turn the team into a 50-win team. If we had picked Jack, I would have wanted to try for a few more years, but that’s a pity."

Chris Wallace: "..."

In just two years, he turned the Grizzlies, the worst team in the league, which had been in the top six draft positions for five years, into a 50-win team, and he considers this a...failed challenge?

Indeed, the world of big shots is hard to understand, huh.

Jerry was originally very frustrated with the failure of this challenge, but now he had come to terms with it. Failure this time just means starting the next one—no need to wallow in the last failure.

Now it was just fun to watch those siblings get laughed at.

His trade was not yet completed, so just apologizing and owing a small favor would do; he could find an opportunity later to return the favor, which would make his relationship with Joe even closer.

And those two siblings had already thrown their chips in!

The trade was completed just before the No. 7 pick, and Jerry guessed that the Lakers weren’t prepared with a backup plan and must be frantically busy now...

At the Lakers’ draft office, it was indeed all hands on deck.

Jim Buss was on the phone with his father and sister, urgently discussing who to pick at No. 16—a range for which they were utterly unprepared—as their only target with the lottery pick had been Bynum.

After learning that the Knicks Team was planning to snag their pick, they decided to trade up instead of finding a backup.

Just two days before the draft, they made a last-minute decision to secure a slightly higher pick than the Grizzlies, and had not worked out any players projected for the mid-first round.

Kupchak, on the other hand, was calling Jordan.

Combine a No. 16 draft pick with something else and try to see if they could trade back for the player picked at No. 13.

Kupchak was much more composed about the high school guard with potential than Jim Buss was; he had simply thought of taking a chance in the second round, and if it didn’t work out, so be it.

After a brief chat, Kupchak hung up the phone on Jordan and began flipping through the workout reports.

Working for the Lakers is no easy task; he was already used to being tossed around by those siblings and quickly slipped back into work mode...

At the draft venue, Zhang Yang, donning the Bobcats cap and taking a photo with Stern, still seemed a bit dazed. How did he end up in the lottery?

This eminent iron forger, this giant anchor—just like that, gone? freewebnσvel.cøm

Chosen by Jordan, Zhang Yang felt his future was full of hardships.

Zhang Yang walked off the stage to shake hands and greet the Bobcats’ general manager and coach, Bickerstaff, planning to leave the draft venue to celebrate a bit with Bynum.

Both of their draft positions were three spots higher than expected before their names were called, worth a good extra twenty thousand US dollars per year. Surely that called for a new hairstyle or something.

Just then, he heard someone call his name.

"Jack, come over here..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yang looked over and saw North Carolina’s little Fatty—Jalek!

After hesitating for a second, Zhang Yang walked over to Felton.

Felton stepped forward, embraced Zhang Yang, and said, "Hey, Jack, we’re going to be teammates... Jalek, move it!"

Zhang Yang declined politely, "No need, I’m fine standing. My legs went numb from sitting so long in the meeting room."

Jalek Felton was about to stand up when he heard Zhang Yang’s words and sat back down, and then his uncle promptly picked him up and tossed him aside.

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