Jiang Dongbing doesn't care about Popovich's calculations. He cares about Elliott. That's because the Spurs really don't have a better candidate, and Jiang Dongbing can easily find a better candidate than Elliott.

Naturally, he doesn't care much about Elliot.

In addition, if Elliott is bought out, it will indeed save the Blazers a lot of money. First, it can save five million US dollars in salary space. Second, when buying out, Elliott does not need to be paid in full.

As for salary, if I don't play a game, I can only give him 1.5 million at most.

After finalizing the transaction intention with Popovich, the two just wait for the draft to end before officially signing the contract.

…

There are only a few days until the start of the draft. Jiang Dongbing is going to put the transaction aside and attend the draft before talking about it. After all, the off-season is long and he should leave some work for himself.

"Jiang, the draft picks we have now are very poor. Should we trade with other teams in exchange for some higher-ranked draft picks?" Whitsitt asked Jiang Dongbing.

Whitsitt, the general manager, may be influenced by Paul Allen. Once the team encounters difficulties, his first thought is to spend money on transactions.

Jiang Dongbing shook his head, "There's no need. This year's rookies are not of high quality and we can't make a mistake. What is the order of the draft picks we have now?"

"One team was selected with the 25th pick in the first round, and another team was picked with the 39th pick in the second round..." Whitsitt said awkwardly.

These two picks are indeed quite poor. Jiang Dongbing also said just now that the quality of this draft is not high. I am afraid it will be difficult to select any decent players with these two picks.

Jiang Dongbing smacked his lips. These two draft picks are really a headache. The 39th pick is a good choice for signing Reed, the deer king, because Reed's normal pick is the 43rd pick.

As for the 25th overall first-round pick, there really is no one left to sign it.

Even if it is a small draft year, there are definitely some players who are very cost-effective, but the twenty-fifth pick is still too low to sign.

"Bob, can you trade the twenty-fifth pick up? It doesn't have to be too high, just between the fifteenth and twentieth picks."

"Or you can acquire some more draft picks between the fifteenth and twentieth picks. As long as the price is not so expensive, try to control the price within two million US dollars." After Jiang Dongbing thought for a while, he turned to Whitsey.

Te said.

The corner of Whitsitt's mouth twitched. He had just told himself that he didn't need too many draft picks, but now he was asked to acquire the draft picks. He really couldn't understand what Jiang Dongbing was thinking.

But in Whitsett's opinion, the task "arranged" by Jiang Dongbing was a piece of cake.

From the 15th to the 20th pick? That is, the picks after the lottery picks are not particularly valuable? Some teams really don't have any favorite candidates and will directly sell the draft rights? And the draft picks can be

Sold directly for cash.

In fact, there is no saying that NBA teams are short of players. In fact, if there are not enough players, they can find a lot of players from affiliated leagues or free markets.

"Okay, then I'll do it now." Whitsitt lowered his stance even though he was nominally Jiang Dongbing's immediate boss.

…

I have to say that Whitsitt's trading ability is truly outstanding. In just two days, he brought good news to Jiang Dongbing.

"Jiang, the draft pick thing was successful." Whitsitt said with great joy. He originally thought that after Jiang Dongbing arrived, he would become a vase decoration, but he did not expect that he would still be useful.

"We added $1.5 million to our 25th overall pick, made a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, and got their 15th overall pick."

"Then they each spent three million US dollars to exchange their 16th and 18th picks from the Kings and Clippers." Whitsitt said with pride.

"Huh? Three million US dollars? Why is it so expensive?" Jiang Dongbing remembered that he had told Whitsett before? Try to keep it under two million US dollars.

"There was really nothing we could do about it. We negotiated with the Clippers at first, and their 18th pick was indeed worth two million dollars. Later, we talked with the Kings, and they refused to let go even for three million. When the boss found out, he directly ordered me

I agreed."

"In the end, the Clippers somehow got the news, so they quit the job. They had to ask for three million, and the boss nodded and agreed, so it became what it is now." Whitsitt said helplessly.

Jiang Dongbing was speechless. Paul Allen was really stupid and had a lot of money. He would give him as much as he wanted without any bargaining. Fortunately, the official upper limit for cash transactions was three million US dollars. If the upper limit was higher, Paul would probably

Allen will definitely take it out without blinking an eye.

"Hey, our boss is really willing to spend money." Jiang Dongbing sighed.

Whitsitt sneered on the sidelines. He spent 70 to 80 million last season, why do he still care about these millions? And all fools know that if Jiang Dongbing wants a draft pick, he must have a favorite rookie candidate. Once he can be selected, then

Even if there is no need to sell it by then, it will definitely be a bloody profit.

"But it's not bad. This way we have four draft picks in our hands, and we should be able to select a lot of good players." Jiang Dongbing said with a smile.

It is indeed a pleasant thing to be in a wealthy team like the Trail Blazers. If it were in the Grizzlies, the boss would not be willing to spend so much money anyway...

On June 29, Jiang Dongbing and Whitsitt appeared at Madison Garden Stadium. Tonight is the start time of the 2000 draft.

"Bob, congratulations to you. You have invited Jiang Dongbing. The Trail Blazers have a bright future!"

"Yes, you Blazers have really made a fortune this time. Can you tell me what magic you used to get Jiang Dongbing to join your team?"

"Jiang, long time no see. You bought so many draft picks this time. Are you planning to make a big splash in this draft?"

"The first draft in the 21st century, I think the quality will definitely be good, and maybe a few cross-generational figures will emerge."

As soon as they entered the venue, Jiang Dongbing and Whitsett were surrounded by many executives from other teams, shouting and shouting.

Because the Trail Blazers have not announced the details of Jiang Dongbing's contract, the outside world still doesn't know how much salary the Trail Blazers paid Jiang Dongbing. They only know that it is definitely indispensable, otherwise Jiang Dongbing would have no reason to join the Trail Blazers.

The best place for a coach like Jiang Dongbing to prove his ability again is undoubtedly those weak teams, and the Trail Blazers obviously do not belong to the weak team.

There are also some team executives who have seen the Blazers collect so many draft picks and have determined that this draft will definitely be a big year. They are looking forward to whether the players they select will become superstars across the ages.

The reason why the New Year is called the New Year is because of the high quality and quantity of the stars produced. Even if many teams do not have such good draft vision, if it comes to the New Year, a blind cat can still pick one.

Decent player.

Whitsitt greeted many executives smoothly. He has a unique talent in building alliance connections. It is no wonder that he can be successful in transactions.

Jiang Dongbing found the Blazers' seat and sat down quietly, waiting for the draft to begin.

Now he has three first-round picks between the 15th and 20th picks, and a second-round pick used to select Reed.

The two best players in this class are undoubtedly Reed. Now that Reed is almost certain to be obtained by him, Jiang Dongbing has to start thinking about how to choose the remaining three first-round picks.

The fifteenth pick came from the Bucks' first-round pick. After Jiang Dongbing thought for a moment, he decided to use it to select Hedo Turkoglu, who would normally be selected with the sixteenth pick.

Turkoglu, known as the Turkish Magician or the Turkish LeBron, is actually quite cost-effective. He plays the small forward position with a height of 208 centimeters. He has excellent three-point ability and organizational skills. He is the Magic team that broke into the finals in later generations.

The team's absolute core player, and even in terms of tactical status, Warcraft Howard is not as good as Turkoglu.

But Turkoglu's flaw is also very obvious, that is, his defense is not very good. Because his speed is too slow, it is difficult for him to defend those small forward players with strong athletic ability. If he plays power forward,

His thin body will definitely be crushed to pieces when faced with players like Duncan or Malone.

If the draft had been held a few years ago, even though Turkoglu was very attractive, Jiang Dongbing would definitely have no interest in him because of his poor defensive ability.

But now there is really no good choice. Jiang Dongbing can only choose the bigger one from the shortest and choose Turkoglu.

The main reason is that Jiang Dongbing plans to train the rookies selected this time. Except for Reid, everyone else will probably be sold.

Therefore, Turkoglu’s shortcomings of poor defense can be ignored. Isn’t it normal for rookie players to have poor defense? Other teams will definitely be greedy when they see Turkoglu’s outstanding three-pointers and organizational skills.

So drooling, who cares about his poor defensive strength.

For the next 16 picks, Jiang Dongbing decided to choose Big Q Quentin Richardson.

This player is not well-known in China, and probably only very experienced fans know him.

Throughout Richardson's career, what is worth mentioning is that he once won the All-Star Three-Point Contest. In addition, he was traded four times in one month, setting an NBA transaction record.

At his peak, he averaged 17 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game, of which 2.2 of those 6.4 rebounds were offensive rebounds. His performance was still outstanding.

He is only 198 centimeters tall, but Richardson can indeed play three positions: guard, small forward and even power forward. His rebounding level is quite top-notch for his height. In addition, his three-point level is also good. After all, he can win all three positions.

The three-point contest champion.

The most pity is that the defense is not very good and he has no organizational ability. However, if Jiang Dongbing selected him with the 16th pick, it must be very cost-effective.

Normally, he would have been selected by the Clippers with the 18th overall pick, but now the Clippers are obviously not very interested in him because they have two forwards and defenders, Ricky Davis and Uncle Bao.

In the end, the 18th pick in Jiang Dongbing's hands left him confused, not knowing whether to choose Desmond Mason or Morris Peterson.

These two players are both small forwards, but their styles are very different. Mason has excellent physical fitness, has won the dunk contest championship, and is a well-known dunker, while Peterson is better at shooting and has above-average three-pointers. ball.

Logically speaking, Mason's defense should be better because of his strong physical fitness, but in fact Peterson's defense is significantly better than Mason's, so Jiang Dongbing thought about it and decided to choose Peterson, Turkoglu and Li Keqiang. Chadson's defense is bad enough, and Reid is not much better. If he chooses Mason, who is a garbage defender, how can this game be played?

Of course, in addition to defensive considerations, Jiang Dongbing's dislike of Mason is also the main reason.

This Mason once hugged and threw Yao Ming in a game. This was the most unbearable conflict that Yao Ming had encountered in his entire career. As a Chinese fan, Jiang Dongbing naturally had no good impression of this Mason.

"Jiang, Stern has already taken the stage. Have you decided on our draft candidates?" After Whitsitt greeted the other executives, he sat next to Jiang Dongbing.

"Well, I've probably thought about it. I hope there won't be any accidents." Jiang Dongbing nodded and said.

It is common for accidents to happen in the draft. The player you are optimistic about may also be favored by other teams, and then because your draft pick is not as high as others, they will cut it off.

However, because Jiang Dongbing knows the draft picks of these players under normal circumstances, the chance of being intercepted is not very high.

Soon Stern came on the stage and directly announced the New Jersey Nets' candidates for the No. 1 pick.

Without any surprise, Kenyon Martin was successfully elected as the No. 1 pick and became the first No. 1 pick in the 21st century. When Jiang Dongbing saw the happy expressions of the New Jersey Nets executives, he couldn't help but pity them for finally getting the No. 1 pick. As a result, it was a small year!

But New Jersey is pretty good. At least it drafted the second-best player in this young year. If it had drafted Swift, the situation would have been even worse.

Next, the Bulls selected Swift with the second pick, and the Clippers selected Darius Miles with the third pick.

The Clippers have been quite lucky this year, and their regular season record is actually pretty good. However, during the lottery, they directly got the third overall pick and successfully counterattacked. Unfortunately, this third overall pick could not improve their Clippers' game in any way. force.

Darius Miles is actually a talent. After joining the Trail Blazers in the future, he directly called his head coach Cheeks a nigger, and then made such nonsense that he didn't care if the team lost the next twenty games. He was the key I am a black man...

The Orlando Magic selected Mike Miller with the fifth pick. This is a good space-oriented fourth position player with good three-point ability. In fact, he is Jiang Dongbing's favorite player. Unfortunately, the pick is too high, and Jiang Dongbing also I can only watch.
Chapter completed!