The Whip of the God of Basketball

As in the morning workout, dinner Chris Anderson was long overdue again.

This isn't the first time Chris Anderson has dined with scouts. Since 1999, he's had contact with all kinds of basketball professionals, from this team to that team, from Texas to New Mexico. , even from the United States to China. He grew up in an orphanage and his father ran away, and he hated this kind of drinking and lying more and more. He received promises again and again but finally left again and again. For example, today he is still playing for the University of Texas in Austin and participated in a trial training, but he knows that he will probably be kicked out by the University of Texas in two days, because the IBA league is coming to an end.

He is just a temporary mercenary, and only on the far side of the Pacific Ocean, in China, in Jiangsu, he has felt some warmth. The bald coach named Xu Qiang once taught him the inside footsteps carefully and patiently. Let him benefit a lot. But China is not his destination. He still hopes to realize his basketball dream in the United States and be able to play in the NBA. This is both a dream and a life. He has always wanted to make a lot of money to buy a big house for his mother.

I heard that the scouts from real NBA teams who came to watch his trial training this time - I don't know how many times I heard this, so Anderson didn't take it seriously, he was late in the morning and late for dinner at night. But it was the first time he had seen a scout like Leon. He looked like an Argentine football player with long hair, and he had Central American blood at first glance. At the same time, he is physically strong, not like a scout, but like a player. When he sat there and asked Anderson to sit down, Anderson sat down almost without thinking. This guy seems to have a kind of momentum.

After introducing himself, Anderson knew that this man named Fox Leon was indeed a senior scout for the Celtics, and that Presti, who was with him, was a video editor for the Spurs, and there was another man with a long name. The unstoppable person is a reporter from New Jersey. The common identity of the three is members of the NBA Development League preparation team scouting team. This time Anderson knows why they came to try out himself. It seems that they are preparing for the Development League.

"How is life in China?" Leon suddenly asked Anderson after chatting about some old-fashioned personal life and basketball experience.

Anderson thought for a while and replied: "It's not bad. The fans there are very enthusiastic. Although they are a bit outdated in basketball, I mean the arenas, facilities and concepts look old, but the people are nice. And the people there Everything is delicious, some I don’t like very much, and some are too good.” When it comes to China, Anderson is still very excited and full of praise.

"Speak a few words in Chinese to listen?" Leon asked again.

Anderson didn't know why Leon was so interested in China, but he still said in Chinese: "Hu Weidong, Jiangsu, Nanjing." This is the best Chinese he can speak, with a Nanjing flavor, authentic and standard.

Hearing Anderson say these three words, Leon felt a warm current in his heart. It has been less than a year since he came to this body. He also met Chinese people in Boston. He often went to Chinese restaurants to eat and heard many people speak Chinese. , but it just didn't hit his heart like these three words. He could feel a place in the memory area of ​​his brain was about to move. He picked up the wine glass on the table and took a big sip of gin, letting the strength of the drink suppress the feeling that was about to come out.

The dinner was over soon, and Leon returned to the hotel. Anderson gave him a good impression. Although this kid's tone often reveals a frivolity, he is very sincere. It can be seen that he is a sweetheart. A good guy who is very infectious. If he is not well disciplined, he may be a bad boy who destroys the atmosphere of the team. Leon wondered why Presti didn't recommend such a person to Popovich, and he didn't have much confidence in Popovich to manage good and bad boys.

The trip to Austin ended like this. Leon left Anderson's phone number and took the initiative to introduce him to an agent, Jeff Schultz-he is also Paul Pierce's agent, hoping that he can get some guidance.

Presti can be considered to have completed his task, and Leon verbally promised not to rob Tony Parker. In the current situation where the league generally has not realized the treasure of overseas players, the Celtics and Spurs are representatives of foresight. Chris Wallace has long begun to develop the European free agent market, especially French players. In the 2000 draft, his favorite Moiso was a Frenchman. Fortunately, his draft proposal was rejected. Moiso was selected by the Nuggets after that, and his performance this season can be described as horrible.

In April of this year, before the start of the playoffs, Leon and Wallace went to France again. As early as in the 2000 Indianapolis International Challenge, Wallace paid attention to a man named Tony Parker. Boy, he competed with those talented American high school students in the game and scored 20 points. Later, he rejected the invitation of UCLA and other prestigious schools to return to France to play. This year he is likely to participate in the NBA, so Wallace and Leon stayed in Paris for a week and watched Parker's two games.

Leon's opinion is that Parker has great potential. He has amazing speed, has an excellent sense of dribbling rhythm and finishing ability at the basket. The type of point guard the Celtics need. But soon Leon got the news from Wojnarowski that the Spurs wanted Tony Parker very much. The Spurs' draft pick will certainly not be high.

And Boston held three draft picks in 2001, two of which were obtained from deals with the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz, and the Jazz's pick was also obtained from a deal with the Denver Nuggets. One of the two 2001 picks that the Nuggets traded to the Celtics was from the Phoenix Suns. Judging from the record of this season, neither the Nuggets nor the Suns are as good as the Spurs, and the Nuggets have not even made the playoffs. Therefore, each of the three draft picks is higher than the Spurs' draft pick. If they intend to grab Tony Parker, the Spurs can say that they have no chance at all, and the Celtics can also get the players they want.

Undoubtedly, the Spurs are very worried about the Celtics' robbery. After all, the two teams almost broke their faces because of Duncan in 1997. It is hard to say that the Celtics do not want to take revenge here. If the Walters don't have a very favorite candidate, Parker will be a good choice.

Because of the geographic location, Chris Anderson has long been included in the Spurs' field of vision, but considering Anderson's personality and team needs, Popovich decided to dedicate Anderson to the Celtics without hesitation. In order to get the promise of the Celtics, although Leon is only a scout now, he is already an authoritative figure for the Celtics in terms of the draft.

Of course, the current promises are all empty, the draft lottery has not yet started, everything will wait until the situation becomes clearer, Leon and Celtic will decide how to make good use of these three draft picks and the Achilles heel of the Spurs, here Before that he would wait and go to Washington to discuss with Auerbach.

…………………

On May 5th, Leon boarded a flight to Washington, the second flight within three days. Leon felt that in a few years he could write down the appearance of most flight attendants in the United States.

It was night again when we arrived in Washington, and Auerbach made an appointment to meet him at the Woodmont Club. When we arrived in Washington, it started to rain, and the rain in May was still biting. Leon called a taxi and went directly to that country club.

It was raining harder and harder outside, and the Woodmont Club was located in the Bethesda area of ​​Washington, DC, near 187th Street. When the taxi drove near Washington International University, it was suddenly stopped by two people. They knocked on the driver's window and asked for a ride, because the rain was too heavy.

"Where are you going?" the driver asked, usually not allowed, but the rain was indeed too heavy.

"We're going to the Bethesda area, Woodmont Country Club!" one of them responded with a briefcase on his head.

"Sir, they are going to the same place as you, can you let them come up?" the driver asked Leon.

Leon nodded, since they are all going to Woodmont, it might as well be a favor.