Chapter 476 Draft + Pippen and McGrady swap

   Next, the Knicks informed Alan Houston that he was traded to the Bulls, and also informed John Starks that the team would sign and trade with him.

  The two were mentally prepared, but they were still very uncomfortable when they heard the news.

  Especially Alan Houston, who defected from Detroit to New York, was given up after only one season, and felt very uncomfortable.

   But neither he nor John Starks could do anything but accept this ending.

   secured the Houston duo and needed to trade in two first-round picks, which were unprotected, and the management immediately began looking for a trade team.

This year’s picks have been determined, they contacted all the teams with the right picks one by one, and finally used John Starks from the Heat to exchange their first-round 25th pick this year, and then used their own 1997 first-round pick. + Chris Childs for the Sonics’ ’97 first-round pick.

  The Heat and the SuperSonics have good regular season records. These two picks are very low, but they also meet the requirements of the Bulls, which can be regarded as the chips needed to trade Jordan.

   Now the Knicks need to clear a batch of contracts, buy them out directly, or trade them out to make room for Jordan’s virtual space.

  Phil Jackson has come to New York, signed the head coach contract with the Knicks, and then, together with Jordan, began to discuss the lineup with the management.

   Basically, according to Jordan’s vision, the main lineup has been roughly determined, center O’Neal, power forward Oakley, small forward undecided, shooting guard Jordan, and point guard undecided.

  Phil Jackson agreed with Jordan’s suggestion and brought Kidd in, but now Alan Houston is gone, and he doesn’t have any good chips to trade with the Suns, which is a bit embarrassing.

General Manager Layden tried to contact Colangelo Jr. After the phone call, he exchanged a few words, and then said: “Mr. Colangelo, I am willing to use the unprotected first-round pick of the Knicks in 1999 + the first round of 1996. 19th overall pick Walter McCarty traded for Kidd, what do you think?”

   Little Colangelo heard that the Knicks wanted to trade Kidd, which made him disgusting. Do you take me for a fool, let’s not talk about the chips, how could I send Kidd to New York?

   “NO, Mr. Layden, you should be aware of the competitive relationship between our two teams.” He immediately rejected the deal firmly.

   “I’m afraid there is no way to get Kidd. We can either use Charlie Ward or find another point guard.”

   Hearing Colangelo Jr. hung up the phone, Layden said helplessly to Jordan and Phil Jackson.

   There is no way for the two of them. Indeed, the Suns are not stupid. How could they send Kidd to the Knicks?

  27th, Los Angeles, Pharaoh shot an advertisement all morning, and had lunch with Da Meng at noon.

   “Old K, I won’t be polite when I meet you next season, you have to be careful, it’s not that easy to defend the title, our Lakers will be strong.” Da Meng said proudly.

   “Don’t say that, if you dare to threaten me, I will come to the Lakers and replace you with the Suns.” Pharaoh joked.

   “Go away!” Da Meng said angrily.

   In the afternoon, Pharaoh went to the studio to shoot a commercial for a long time. In the evening, he came to the premiere theater of “Face Change”.

  Hawksman arranged for him a silver hooded Rolls-Royce. His physique was not very good at arranging cars.

As the newly released NBA champion and FMVP winner, Pharaoh is also one of the hottest sports superstars in the United States. His appearance immediately attracted the attention of the media. became a piece.

   “Hey, old K.”

  Nicholas Cage saw Pharaoh appear and hurried up to meet him.

   “Hey, Nicholas, I wish you the best of luck in your movie, it will be the box office champion last week, and it won’t last for a month…”

  Pharaoh’s meeting was a series of nice words, which made Cage’s face rotten with laughter.

   “Old K, I’m glad you can come.”

   “Mr. Allan Birds, this is as it should be.”

The film was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures, and President Frank Allanboz also attended the premiere. He is also a VIP customer of the K martial arts hall and often attends the parties of the martial arts hall. Hug a little, the attitude is very warm.

   Then Alan Birds introduced other people to Pharaoh, such as another starring John Travolta, director Wu Yusen and so on.

  Travolta is also a VIP customer of the martial arts hall. Pharaoh greeted him very familiarly, and then specially chatted with John Woo.

Wu Yusen started his career in Hollywood in 1993 and has been around for a few years. The first film he directed was the ultimate target, with a box office of 30 million US dollars. This film opened the way for him in Hollywood. Last year, he made Broken Arrow. With a box office of 70 million yuan, the development is very smooth. This year, the investment of this face-changing project is hundreds of millions. It is a typical big production. He has high expectations for this movie.

   He is now considered a cutting-edge director in Hollywood. In terms of development, he is even better than Cheng Long. In the film industry, he should be the one with the best development in Hollywood among the Chinese.

   However, although he has developed well, he is not arrogant in front of Pharaoh. Not to mention any superstars in the NBA, just the contacts of K Martial Arts Hall in Hollywood make him intimidated.

   So when greeting, all smiles on the face, very kind.

   After chatting outside for a while, some stars came to join in one after another. Pharaoh is basically familiar with it. Eight of the ten are VIP customers of the martial arts hall. Everyone entered the venue together and walked into the theater.

   When it was almost eight o’clock, Nicolas Cage and the creators who changed face also came in.

  Pharaoh’s right is Wu Yusen, Paramount arranged for two Chinese people to sit together, and then there is Cage.

  Cage didn’t take a seat after coming in, but walked up to Pharaoh and said with a serious face, “Old K, you lied to me last time.”

   “What did I lie to you for?” Old Wang asked in confusion.

Cage said: “You said I was a dragon. I went to Chinatown to get a dragon tattoo, but the tattoo artist told me that I was a rabbit. He suggested that I get a Bugs Bunny tattoo. I found it difficult to accept a Bugs Bunny tattoo on my body, so I refused. already.”

“Ha ha…”

   Old Wang burst into laughter, and the people around looked sideways, and Wu Yusen next to him also fell down laughing.

   On the evening of June 28, the 1997 NBA draft was held as scheduled at Madison Square Garden in New York.

  Pharaoh did not go to New York, but watched the talent show in a hotel in Los Angeles.

   At 8:00, the draft officially started. After Stern delivered a speech, the Lakers general manager Jerry West, who was holding the No. 1 pick, handed the Lakers an envelope.

   took the envelope from the staff. Stern took out the letter and glanced at it, then smiled and said, “The Los Angeles Lakers selected Tim Duncan from Wake Forest at the No. 1 position in the first round.”

   “No accident, no suspense!”

Pharaoh said something, and then thought about the Lakers’ lineup. Center Da Meng is 34 years old, power forward Tim Duncan is 21 years old, shooting guard Eddie Jones is 26 years old, and point guard Nick Van Exel is 26 years old. The average age of the main players is less than 27 years old. This is a fairly mature lineup, and it is full of fighting power. Everyone’s scoring ability is not weak.

   And both Jones and Van Exel are still in their rookie contracts, plus Duncan, the salary is not high, this lineup is also very stable, there will be no major changes for at least three years, very stable.

   “If Duncan plays top-notch offense and defense, the Lakers will be very strong next season and will be very troublesome.”

   He feels that this Lakers team should be much stronger than the Jazz. If Duncan and Big Dream both play at a first-class level, they will definitely be a super-strong team at the championship level. His Suns have little confidence in taking over this Lakers.

   Especially now that so many people have left the team, and even Kidd has to leave, it’s really troublesome!

   But fortunately, Chris Mullin has been dealt with. Finally, there is an extra helper, plus Kobe, trolls, and then using Kidd to trade a good point guard to come in, it should not be weaker than the Lakers.

  The second place pick is the Spurs.

  Popovich has been wanting to die for a while. David Robinson has been refusing to contact him. He had to contact his agent Austin, hoping to keep Robinson, but the other party always refused, and gradually let him die.

   Now with the second pick in his hand, he can only choose an insider to replace David Robinson.

   He chose Van Horn. Although he is a bamboo pole, his skills are not bad, and this young year is also a good choice.

   Then it was the Celtics’ turn, and the general manager was Danny Ainge, who had just been in the job for a few days.

   David West, the main point guard who has played in the green team for three years, has refused to renew his contract and entered the free market. He wants to choose a point guard, but he chose Billups.

The draft continued, and the Raptors selected McGrady with the ninth pick.

   In the end, the Suns selected a forward named Stewart at the end of the first round.

   The first round ends and the second round begins.

   Dazhi was the ninth place in the second round and was selected by the king.

Pharaoh then made a phone call, and although he was happy, he was worried that he would not be able to get the king’s contract, so he comforted: “Don’t worry, if David Frank doesn’t have this ability, I won’t let you sign him. ”

   When he said this, he was at ease.

Next, the Suns used the previously traded Cavaliers to sign in the second round, and selected a high school student named Stephen Jackson (the future Wu Sheng did not receive a guaranteed contract from the Suns), and finally used their own second round to sign at the end. A center named Mark Blunt.

   But whether these players can stay in the team, Pharaoh doesn’t know, even the first-round pick who can get a guaranteed contract, maybe it will be traded out as a leader.

  The draft was over, and at this moment, a news was suddenly announced. The Bulls traded Pippen and the Raptors for Tracy McGrady, the ninth pick in the first round.

  “…”

  Chicago, when the draft saw this, Pippen was about to change the channel. He was shocked by this news and was completely stunned.

   He is also looking forward to renewing his contract with the Bulls in advance, at least signing a large contract worth tens of millions. He didn’t expect to become a bargaining chip and was thrown to Canada. How could he feel it?

   “Klaus, the dog, why didn’t Michael Jordan kill you and leave you to harm me?” After reacting, he roared in grief and indignation.

   “The Raptors trade Pi Er, is this asking him to help sell tickets? Haha!” Pharaoh laughed.

   After the draft is over, the NBA’s trade window is officially opened, but there is still a one-month freeze period until the league calculates the operating income and expenditure of last season clearly and announces the salary cap for next season.

   However, during the freeze period, each team can negotiate trades and contact players.

  Pharaoh is still in Los Angeles, business activities have not been completed, and he has to wait for his two sisters to return to China together. The time to return home has been arranged, and I will leave on the second day.

  Starting on the 29th, the free market opened, and many players were put on the shelves at the same time, and many related trading news also broke out one after another.

  For example, Kidd was put on the shelf, which led to media speculation, is the Suns going to collapse because of a new owner? So is it possible for the old K to be traded? So Pharaoh’s phone was blown up by reporters and general managers of some teams.

   And at 9 o’clock this morning, a revelation shocked the league that David Robinson would switch teams with Olajuwon.

   This news is very certain, because it was revealed to the media by Spurs general manager and head coach Popovich himself. He publicly accused David Robinson’s agent Austin for helping the Lakers dig the Spurs’ corner, but did not attack David Robinson.

   This made David Robinson and the Lakers very passive. They sent a trade offer to the Spurs after the draft last night. I didn’t expect Popovich to make such a move today.

“what?”

  Da Meng just got up from the bed when the phone rang. It was the agent Dan Fagan who told him a shocking news, he couldn’t believe it.

   “I confirmed to the Lakers that it was David Robinson who offered to trade to the Lakers. He wants to take your place in the Lakers. Hakim, he’s so bad!”

   “David Robinson, you, you, you…” Da Meng’s lungs were about to explode with anger, his face was flushed with blood, and he almost had a brain infarction.

   He was still dreaming of winning the championship with Duncan last night. As long as he holds the championship again, his historical status will definitely enter the top ten, but now?

   “Admiral, I curse you for not winning the championship in your life.” After recovering, he roared in grief and indignation.

   “Hakim, I’m sorry, I can’t help you. The Lakers think that David Robinson is two years younger than you, and the contract is smaller, which is more beneficial to the Lakers.” Dan Fagan said.

   “Forget it, Dan, I want to be quiet.” After Da Meng finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

   But the phone just hung up when it rang again.

   “Who?”

   He raised the microphone and roared very stiffly.

   “Hakim, you are angry, so you already know the news about your transaction?” Old Wang’s voice sounded in the microphone.

   “I see.”

  Dameng was so depressed that this **** Laker made him spend a bad season in the Lakers. As a result, as soon as Tim Duncan was selected, he was going to be traded. Do you think he is inferior to David Robinson?

   “Hakim, who initiated this transaction?” Pharaoh asked.

   “Just now Dan Fagan told me that it was initiated by David Robinson, and the Lakers agreed. This bastard, he wanted to come to the Lakers to win the championship, but he actually used me as a bargaining chip.” Da Meng said dissatisfied.

   “Then what are you going to do?” Pharaoh asked.

   “What can I do? Retire? I finally got this big contract, I can’t retire.” Da Meng said very depressed.

   “Well, I wish you a happy time at the Spurs.” Pharaoh said.

   After finishing the call, he couldn’t help but sigh: “Swap big dreams for David Robinson, who is two years younger, NBA, what a business! No one can’t be traded.”