Although the temperature in New York in December is not high, the weather is quite pleasant after the lack of the nasty cold wind compared to the "Windy City" Chicago.

In the basketball arena of the Harlem District Sports Club, there were bursts of cheers and cheers. The Gatorade High School Basketball Invitational is taking place here, which attracts a number of dedicated scouts from NBA teams. Because among the teams that have been invited, there are some rising stars who are about to participate in the summer draft.

The focus of their investigation was on Timothy High School senior, Glenn. Sampson. From all indications, this guy who ranks first in the United States as a small forward in high schools will definitely skip the college draft this year.

And the likes of Monta from Lane Nell High School in Mississippi. Ellis, who has averaged an astonishing 40 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals per game in games that have ended so far in his senior season. He shot 80 percent from the free-throw line and 48 percent from three-point range.

Andrew of Joseph High School in New Jersey. Bynum, averaging 22 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks per game. Although the stats are not very perverted, the big man at 2.10 meters is not yet 17 years old. It's just an unpolished piece of jade, and it's said that there are already NBA teams ready to take him in the summer of '05.

48-year-old Rick. Dennis, is the chief scout for the Chicago Bulls. After more than 20 years in this circle, he has just sat in this lucrative position.

Sitting in the audience, he looked at the game in progress and yawned a little boredly, but accidentally saw an acquaintance. "Hey! Harris, here. ”

Harris. Moore is 35 years old and a full-time scout for the Golden State Warriors. When he heard someone calling him, he turned his head to look and realized that he had met an old acquaintance. "Rick, what a coincidence." After greeting each other, Harris sat down beside him.

In fact, there are quite a few familiar faces in the audience at this stadium, but Dennis and Moore are more familiar.

Because the Bulls used the '05 draft pick, they traded for the No. 7 rookie in '04 from the Phoenix Suns. Deng. The Bulls, who don't have draft picks this year, just routinely sent Dennis to take a field trip to see young people who might be in the draft.

And the Warriors, who have had a bad record this season, went straight to the lottery zone as they currently are. They are in desperate need of an inside player, and it is estimated that Moore has come to see the big man from Joseph High School.

The two professional scouts did not record some details of what happened on the field as usual, but sat on the sidelines and chatted very happily. It's not that these two don't have a work ethic, it's that they have no interest in the kids on the field.

This Gatorade Invitational Tournament also invited some well-known strong teams. For example, with Greg. Lawrence North High School in Oden, Oak Hill High School, which is ranked No. 1 in the United States every year, etc.

After learning that Timothy High School had decided to participate, these schools withdrew from the competition. The organizing committee of the event was extremely embarrassed, and could only temporarily find a few teams that were not strong to make up the numbers.

The reason why the traditional powerhouses with the best of the best are refusing to participate is because the Timothy Trojans' record today is so terrifying.

Illinois's overall high school basketball level is definitely among the top three in the United States, especially in the Chicago area.

However, this year, the Trojans have won all of the thirteen games they have just completed, and to the horror of those basketball schools, the Trojans have averaged 100 points per game and an average of 40 points per game in these thirteen games. What is this concept? It means that after the first half of each game, it goes into garbage time.

Today's first match is similar to the pre-match before some major events.

"Hey! Isn't that Woning? The sharp-eyed Moore saw a middle-aged man not far away and said with a playful expression. Is it Isaiah. Thomas kicked out of the office and got back to his old job? ”

Rick. Dennis looked at the man in Moore's mouth with both disdain and envy in his eyes. "What, you're going to go over and say hello to him?"

"I'm not interested in saying hello to the deputy general manager who was kicked into the stadium."

Woning. Chapman used to be an ordinary scout for the New York Knicks and later got owner James Brown. Dolan's appreciation took the high position of deputy general manager of the team. These experiences have made many colleagues who are engaged in scouting both envious and jealous.

But in the 'smiling assassin' Isaiah. After Thomas took over as the general manager of the Knicks, Woning. Chapman was sidelined. His position in the team's management plummeted, which gave the jealous people an excuse to ridicule him.

Chapman took the order book in his hand and randomly found a seat and browsed it. He could feel a myriad of familiar eyes shooting at him.

Ignoring these frivolous trifles, he looked at today's schedule. The next one is the main event, Timothy High School VS Joseph High School. Pull out the pen in the jacket pocket and put it in Glenn. Sampson and Andrew. Bynum's name was marked under it.

"Hey! Nabs. "A tall man about Chapman's age, sitting next to him.

"Oh, Joey. What winds blow you from the sunny West Coast to this chilly New York City. "When I saw Chapman, who was an acquaintance, I was in a good mood for a while.

"As long as I can drink two drinks at night, it doesn't matter how cold it is." After the tall man finished speaking, he smiled and shook the other party's hand.

"No problem, as long as you tell me what you Lakers think about this year's draft, everything is easy to say." Chapman, who spread his hands, smiled and continued, "You know, I have a lot of good wine in my house. ”

Hearing that there was good wine to be treated, the tall man pursed his lips as if he was hungry for wine. "Haha! I don't care about things, how can I know what the management thinks. ”

The other party snorted and bypassed some sensitive questions. Although Chapman knew that this sentence was insincere, he didn't care, and some things could only be kept silent, no matter how good the relationship was.

Joey. Adam, the chief scout for the Los Angeles Lakers, is also a well-known figure in the entire NBA scouting community. It was he who gave a unique insight to Jerry, who was the general manager of the Lakers at the time. West suggested using the team's starting center Vlad. Divac was swapped for Kobe. Bryant's draft pick. This incident has been widely praised in the entire NBA scouting community.

"Is that him?" Woning. Chapman pointed to the name of the center under the age of 17 in the order book. Bynum.

"Haha, you're such an old fox."

Hearing that the other party did not deny it, he continued: "First of all, I am only 48 years old this year, and I have not yet reached the time when my old eyes are dizzy. Second, I think we have a better chance of getting this kid on the Knicks. ”

Adam listened to the other man's words and nodded in agreement. Looking at this good friend with a worried face, I couldn't help but feel sad that his nostalgic talent was missing. "What about Glenn. Sampson not interested? He's a piece of fat that all the teams are staring at. ”

"I guess this kid doesn't even think about it if he doesn't have a top-five pick. Besides, Kurt. Thomas did a good job. "Chapman's Cotter. Thomas is the starting small forward for the Knicks, averaging a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds per game.

"Well, I'll be honest too. Kupchak is very bullish on the lad from the Trojans and ...... if he gets the chance. The two old friends, who were fighting wits and courage, looked at each other for a moment, and laughed in unison.

"Is that a matter settled?" Joey. Adam asked with a mysterious look on his face.

"What's decided?" Chapman, who looked dazed, didn't quite understand what the other party meant.

"The matter of the draft." The league's decision to halt high school students from participating directly in the draft is in the interest of many people.

"It should be eight or nine without ten. It is estimated that it will be announced this summer. Chapman is the team's vice president after all, and he still has some news from within the league, but he doesn't think it's a secret. Looking at his friend's somewhat embarrassed expression, he quipped, "Didn't Mickey tell you?" ”

Since Mickey. After Kupchak replaced West as manager of the Lakers, Joey. Adam is no longer the big part of the Lakers. He didn't have much personal contact with his new manager, just a working relationship.

In the eyes of their peers, they are poor worms who share the same disease. This feeling of not meeting talents did not affect the professional quality of the two. After chatting for a while, they each prepared the materials of the key objects to be investigated in the next game.

Joey. Adam flipped through the file with the Lakers logo, which contained the profiles of two players. At the bottom of the player's profile, the blank comment column is Adam's task for this live observation.

One of the files is the two big men with unlimited potential just mentioned - Andrew. Bynum.

On the name column of the other player file, Sun Yi's name is impressively written. At the Nike Invitational in Los Angeles at the end of last year, not only many college coaches went to the scene. Even the Lakers manager Mitch. Kupchak also took the time to watch the children's games.

After watching the first game between Timothy High School and Rose Hill Christ High School, I was very appreciative of the excellent performance of that Chinese boy from the Trojans. Especially for Sun Yi's rebound, I was particularly impressed.

Kupchak, who has been engaged in basketball for decades, even brought himself back to that 77-78 season finals when he still thinks of the basketball wisdom and never-give-up spirit shown by that kid. Game 7 was on the home court of the SuperSonics, and in the final moments of the game, the Bullets relied on Kupchak's rebound to kill the opponent...... At that time, I was only 24 years old, and more than 20 years have passed.

After watching Sun Yi's match, Kupchak immediately sent someone to collect all the information about the Chinese boy. And commissioned some senior scouts to follow the child for a long time.

The well-informed manager of the Lakers always felt that there was a trait in this Chinese boy from the East that deeply attracted him!