Zhang Hao was taken by the Lakers assistant coach for a physical test.

Watching Zhang Hao being taken away and watching the logo man leave with the little master, Silver Fox Harris and Kupchak were quite puzzled.

Originally, this interview was supposed to be conducted by the two of them with the scouting supervisor Xiao Xiaomaster, but the logo man actually came.

Because generally, after they have screened, they let the general manager look at the tryout performance of those rookies they like.

Come on, come on, and completely dominate the interview, the questions that should have been asked were not asked, the logo man alone decided the result of this interview, and directly gave Zhang Hao the opportunity to conduct a follow-up trial alone.

However, neither of them has any opinions, this team, except for Jerry Buss, the owner, the other management personnel, and Jeanie Buss, the most capable of the young masters, can check and balance the logo man in terms of power.

But Jeanie Buss just loves to fight for power, but will not affect the operation of the logo male players, Jeanie Buss is only responsible for business things, and professional things are left to professional people to complete.

So in terms of the draft, if there is a candidate for the logo man, even Jeanie Buss will not question it, so although they wondered, they did not interject, and even if they had doubts, they waited until they asked in private.

Also, Zhang Hao's heart is very strong! This made the silver fox Harris quite admirable.

Zhang Hao's side first measured his height, weight, arm span, etc., and then warmed up with the help of a trainer...... Extremely complex warm-up!

The warm-up took Zhang Hao a full hour!

He never thought that the warm-up needs could be so complex and detailed, and the warm-up guidance at Adidas training camp was already professional in his opinion, but the NBA team gave him a glimpse of what it means to be truly professional.

After adjusting the physical condition, the exercise ability test was carried out.

Kupchak came to the training ground when Zhang Hao's physical test was about to end, and got Zhang Hao's physical test data for the first time.

Through the physical test data, Kupchak can see that Zhang Hao's physical fitness is very good, the speed is at the top of the same height, the top bouncing, the strength is weak but it doesn't matter if he is only 18 years old, and the explosive midstream level is not bad, but it is not very good, and the starting speed without confrontation is not bad......

In addition to the ability to run and jump, in other aspects, Zhang Hao is not much different from the Asian basketball players in Kupchak's impression, and on the whole, they are also first-class compared with black basketball players.

Originally, Zhang Hao was favored by Coach Scott Collins by virtue of his athletic talent, and he participated in the slam dunk contest to show his talent to the NCAA team, but he didn't expect to be favored by the LOGO man first.

However, if that's it, Zhang Hao is not so prominent, not so much as to be favored by the logo man, the players who participate in the draft, the most important thing is the physical fitness man, maybe Zhang Hao's physical fitness is very good, so he is enough to rely on this to be favored by the NBA team, but in this era when high school rookies are regarded as unreliable, this is not enough.

Next, Zhang Hao's technical test ...... The main thing is the mid-range shooting test, which attracted many onlookers from the Lakers.

How accurate is the winning investment of the legendary "high school student king of high school students"?

Soon, they knew.

Five positions fixed-point free throw line distance shot, Zhang Hao has three points all in, the left baseline and the right baseline middle distance scored 9 and 7 respectively!

46 out of 50!

5 groups, each group of 10 in the run to catch the ball and shoot, Zhang Hao shot a total of 42!

……

The trial ended faster than Zhang Hao imagined, and the other party didn't want to examine him as much as he imagined, which was to test his strengths.

Athleticism and mid-range shooting, these two points are tested more often.

Three-pointers, layups, breakaways with the ball, passing...... and so on, all of which are relatively simple, and the end of one set is over.

Because he didn't regard the Lakers as his first choice, Zhang Hao's mentality was very relaxed during the trial, and his shooting performance was more stable than expected.

Then, Zhang Hao was told that the trial was over......

Zhang Hao found two friends in the rest area of the arena who were watching the video of the 1987 Lakers defeating the Celtics, and they didn't expect Zhang Hao to end the trial so quickly.

Pierce immediately asked, "How's the situation going, Ax?" ”

Both Pierce and Aprile Clark hope that Zhang Hao can be drafted by the Lakers, and California basketball fans, most of whom love the Lakers.

"I don't know."

The trial process was simpler than Zhang Hao imagined, and he really didn't know if the other party had taken a fancy to him.

Zhang Hao was confused at first about this situation, but after a while, he figured it out, how could it be so easy to get a team's draft promise?

Arrived at the stadium at 8 o'clock in the morning, and the trial ended at 11 o'clock, and a few young people couldn't analyze what was famous, mainly Pierce and April-Clark, and asked them to help do the manual work of checking information, they were fine, and if they wanted to analyze things, they were useless.

Zhang Hao hasn't experienced it either, so he can only guess casually.

However, although the trial process was different from what was expected, and it was not as comprehensive as the test in Adidas training camp, this had no impact on Zhang Hao, and he felt that the Lakers did not pay attention to him and just went through the motions.

By the next day, the Clippers tried out, and this time neither Pierce nor Aprile Clarke went......

Yesterday, Zhang Hao felt that the Lakers' trial was more "perfunctory", so when it came to the Clippers' trial, Zhang Hao really understood what perfunctory is.

Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor, Zhang Hao wanted to see the most unlucky superstar in NBA history with his own eyes, but didn't see anyone.

The interview was very casual, and in terms of tryouts, he was also arranged to play 3 against 3 with 5 players who came to the trial this morning, but the two old blacks who were assigned to the same team as him kept playing with the ball, and he didn't touch the ball twice.

After the 3-on-3 match, no one cared about Zhang Hao, he walked around the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and saw a lot of people watching a player's training at another training ground, Zhang Hao knows, 20-year-old North Carolina talent and top favorite Jerry Starkerhouse.

The Clippers have two draft picks this year, one with the second pick in the first round and the other with the 53rd pick in the second round.

For the second-round pick at that position, the Clippers, who are full of talented rookies, don't care at all, let alone second-round picks, and the rookies in the lottery region don't necessarily pay attention to it, because they have lottery rookies every year.

That is, the list of eyes can make the Clippers seriously selected, and the second-round draft picks can be selected casually, and the trial is not taken seriously.

……

The heat always comes and goes quickly, and with O'Neal and Olajuwon meeting in the finals, the fans' attention has been focused on them, and the popularity of rookies like Zhang Hao has begun to decrease.

If each team has a target to choose and finds a player who performed average in college but is actually very talented, it will not be okay to talk about it everywhere, and maybe there will be a team in front of them.

Zhang Hao's side, after the trial of the two teams in Los Angeles, from June 1st to 3rd, they were all training at the school, and on June 4, they came to Texas, and on June 5 and June 7, they participated in the trials of the Mavericks and Spurs.

Originally, Zhang Hao thought that the trial with the Lakers was a normal trial, and the trial with the Clippers was a strange situation, but when he participated in the trial of the Mavericks and the Spurs, Zhang Hao knew that the trial like the Clippers was the norm, and it was a special case to have the opportunity to test alone like the Lakers.

After one trial after another, Zhang Hao finally really felt the confusion and hesitation of the rookies.

can only endure the uneasiness, participate in the trial one after another, and on June 8, Zhang Hao came to Philadelphia, and participated in the 76ers trial on the 9th and 10th.

Finally, there was another opportunity to try out alone, and after the first day of tryout, the next day was called in for an almost identical test.

Just when Zhang Hao thought that the other party had taken a fancy to him, the other party informed him that the trial was over......

Zhang Hao was a little numb next, and on June 13, he participated in a trial for the Pistons in Detroit, a tryout for the SuperSonics in Seattle on June 17, and a trial for the Suns in Phoenix on June 22......

During this period, Zhang Hao saw many geniuses, some ran faster than him, some had a wider shooting range than him, and some jumped higher than him...... When he tried out, most of the teams didn't give him any special treatment, and he was just one of the ordinary tryouts.

Even, he is not even as good as many ordinary players, like when he went to the Pistons for a tryout, he didn't even see the other team's assistant coach.

Most of the reason is because he ran straight out of high school.

In this year, high school students will always be questioned when they participate in the draft, because they have never even played against college students, and next year's O'Neal Jr. averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks per game in more than 100 games in high school, and almost missed the first round.

At this time, Zhang Hao did regret a little, if he entered college, he would definitely be the school's man of the year through his previous performance in the McDonald's Slam Dunk Contest and Adidas training camp.

But participating in the NBA draft, he doesn't seem to be so special, and he can clearly see that although some teams are curious to invite him to training camp, they actually don't pay attention to him, and even look down on him because he is a high school student in the draft......

This situation is very different from what Zhang Hao imagined after preparing to participate in the draft, and there was a huge sense of gap......

After he participated in the draft, he came up with the idea that he was the "chosen one", thinking that he would definitely shock the world by going to the tryout.

Indeed, his mid-range shooting ability is the best among the same group of trial players, no matter which team he tries out with.

But he clearly feels that most teams, at best, just use the criteria of selecting a second-round pick to see if they want to select a mid-range pitcher role player like him who plays without the ball.

He also thought about who had nothing to provoke, and then he slapped him in the face...... But in fact, he found that most of the rookies who tried out everywhere were just like him, and they were numb to the point of tryout, completely unaware of their fate, completely unaware of whether they would be selected in the draft.

Compared with those lotto favorites, top 10 picks, and top picks, they are indeed inconspicuous.

Compared with the high spirits when he went out to participate in the trial, to the dazed hesitation when he returned to the apartment in Inglewood City, Zhang Hao didn't know what else to do, returned to the apartment and sat for a while, Pierce had already gone to San Diego in early June, his brother was there, and April-Clark also went to the art exam camp, and it was impossible to find someone to talk to.

At this time, Zhang Hao felt inconvenient again......

In recent years, there are not many mobile phones, and landlines are not available anytime and anywhere, let alone convenient communication tools like WeChat.

So, Zhang Hao came to the stadium and wanted to talk to Coach Scott Collins.

Well, that's when he learned that Coach Scott Collins had left......

"I'm a! Fooled me into going to the draft, and now no one can find me? ”

Zhang Hao slandered for a while, and smiled again, it is still himself who makes the decision, since he has bravely taken this step, whether it is a cliff or a road to success, it is his own way, can he blame others?

However, the coach ran away, the arena was still the same arena, Zhang Hao began to practice shooting at the free throw line, no matter what the result was, the technique could not be left behind.

In the past, when he was at a loss, the only thing he could talk about was training.

Originally, after the effect of the growth card was over, he felt the boredom of training, but after this wave of trials, he also got a benefit, that is, he got used to boring, boring, at least there was a goal, and the dazed hesitation during a few trials really felt helpless......

When Zhang Hao, who felt dazed and helpless, relied on training to divert his attention, the management of two teams had a small internal dispute because of him.

……

The finals ended on June 14, when Zhang Hao was flying around the United States to participate in trials, and he didn't have the heart to pay attention to this matter.

This year is different from the future,To understand one thing now,You have to take the initiative to understand,Unlike the future,Whether you want to know a thing or not,Even if it's just that you have entered this word in the input method,The major APPs are pushing to you。

Olajuwon swept O'Neal to win the championship, Zhang Hao really didn't have the heart to pay attention, he was stunned at the trial, but after the finals, the new NBA season began, and it really entered the preparatory stage of the new season, so Zhang Hao felt that the rhythm of the next few trial teams was speeding up during the trial.

By June 23rd, the trial phase of each team has ended, and there are ...... who to choose and who to choose after being cut off And so on, most of the teams have already decided.

Since it is a decision, there will naturally be disagreements.

Spectrum Arena in Philadelphia, the old arena that is quite famous in NBA history, is nearing the end of its status as the home arena of NBA teams, and the 76ers are already under construction of a new arena, and the 76ers are expected to move to the Wachovia Center in the summer of 1996.

In the boss's office, the 76ers are meeting to discuss their third-overall pick.

"John, what do you say? Instead of Starhouse and McDyce, which high school student? You didn't take the wrong medicine! 76ers owner Joel Snyder thought he had misheard.

The boss spewed expletives directly, and the rest of the 76ers coaching staff looked at head coach John Lucas and was helpless! When they discussed it with these coaches before, they had already advised John Lucas not to give such advice to the owner.

"Joel, he's really talented, he's like Reggie Miller, no, he's taller than Reggie Miller and he's very athletic and most importantly his shooting, I've never seen a player shoot as well as he did at his age, he's probably better than Reggie Miller......"

John Lucas worked very hard to promote Zhang Hao, giving people the feeling that he had received Zhang Hao's agency fee.

If Zhang Hao saw this picture, he would be absolutely confused - when he tried out, this boiled egg brother frowned all the time.

Joel Snyder impatiently interrupted John Lucas's pitch: "OKOK, John, I understand, you think he's talented, and I trust your judgment.

However, we used the No. 3 pick to select a Chinese player...... Chinese players are nothing, I don't mean anything else, Asians, Africans, Europeans, as long as there is talent, I can choose.

But he's a high school kid, and if we pick a high school kid with the No. 3 pick, we'll be laughed at, and we can figure out a way to trade a second-round pick back and pick him out. ”

A team is not monolithic, and for what happened to John Lucas, the people in the meeting were more of a joke mentality, and, in their opinion, John Lucas wanted to pick a high school student, which was really like a joke.

Not to mention Chinese high school students, Kevin Garnett, the No. 1 high school student in the United States, their boss will not choose.

John Lucas is also helpless, he is just a head coach, and he is only the head coach of the 76ers' swing stage, whether it is a trade or a selection, he has no rights.

Zhang Hao's trial was dazed because he didn't get much attention at all.

Six of the eight trial teams let him go to a multi-person trial as soon as he came up, and of course this is normal for a player who is predicted to be selected in the second round.

Then Zhang Hao couldn't show anything in team training, because he was a catch-and-shoot pitcher, and others didn't pass the ball!

However, 76ers coach John Lucas, who gave Zhang Hao a chance to try out alone, saw at a glance that Zhang Hao's extraordinary strength in shooting was unusual.

Reggie Miller, Mark Price, Hornacek, Mullin, Alan Houston......

John Lucas immediately popped up the names of these people when he saw Zhang Hao's mid-range shooting training.

This made John Lucas decide to observe Zhang Hao's shooting again the next day.

Zhang Hao is a player of this type, unless others cooperate with him in team training, he can't see his ability, and only a separate trial can understand his shooting strength.

Then, John Lucas determined that the shooting of the 18-year-old Zhang Hao, the top mid-range shooter of the current generation in his mind, was not as strong as the 18-year-old Zhang Hao's mid-range shot! And Zhang Hao is 3-5 years younger than when they entered the NBA!

Although there is no actual combat comparison, it does not prevent John Lucas from making such a judgment.

As for talent...... The 18-year-old shoots so strongly, will he have no talent? And Zhang Hao is still a sporty striker.

If Reggie Miller is the three-point king, John Lucas believes that Zhang Hao has the talent to become the king of mid-pitching!

And he frowned because he had expected that the boss would most likely not pay attention to his suggestion.

As for the talk of a chance to trade back a second-round pick, John Lucas knows it's just talking......

……

Compared with the tragic experience of John Lucas, a rotten coach, the Time Warner Sports Training Complex near the Great Western Forum Arena in Los Angeles, the Lakers' real home base, and the logo man in the draft, it is basically a word.

It's just that what he wants to do this time can't even be understood by Kupchak, who sees him as an idol.

The player who participates in the trial may have a very different opinion from the team that tried him out.

Zhang Hao had two opportunities to try out alone, but the content of the trial was very simple, even if it was the 76ers who got the second chance to try out alone, the content of the trial was always very simple, which made Zhang Hao feel as if he was not taken seriously.

But in terms of trying out his team, this is normal, no matter how much attention is paid to it, there is no way to conduct more tests, because Zhang Hao's strengths are just the same, physical fitness, mid-range shooting, gone!

Now that they have seen that Zhang Hao is really good at it, it is enough.

The Lakers' management already knew that the logo man wanted to pick Zhang Hao, but the problem was that their 37th pick might not be able to pick Zhang Hao.

According to the information they received, the Pistons have a high probability of selecting Zhang Hao with the first pick in the second round or the draft pick of about 20 in the first round, and their new head coach Doug Collins expressed interest in Zhang Hao in an interview with Chinese media.

Although it may be just a polite set, several teams are in a courtesy, and only the Pistons have made it clear that they may choose Zhang Hao.

This situation can't be helped, their Lakers don't have a higher draft pick, and the draft is such a thing, every year there are teams that watch their favorite players being selected by other teams, so the Lakers management has not taken this matter to heart in the past time.

But today, at the Lakers' management meeting, the logo man made a decision that made others feel incredible.

"I'm going to trade Cedric for a first-round pick, and I'm talking to some teams to let them pick him for us and we'll make a deal with them."

Hearing the logo man's plan, Kupchak couldn't calm down, and quickly said, "Jerry, you're not joking, are you?" Cedric is our top scorer! ”

Cedric Ceballos, a rookie from the Suns at the end of the second round in 1990, didn't play well in the early part of his career, and the highlight was winning the dunk title in the sophomore slam dunk contest.

But in the third year, Ceballos seized an opportunity, that year the Suns used the star Jeff Hornacek as the core chip, in exchange for Charles Barkley, that season the Suns lacked an outside scorer, Ceballos averaged 12.8 points per game, and sat in the starting position after the All-Star weekend, in the 93-94 season, Ceballos averaged 19.1 points per game, becoming a first-class scorer, last summer, the Lakers signed Ceballos with a high salary of 4 years and 9.01 million US dollars.

What is the concept of this contract...... For comparison, Pippen of the Bulls, who was just eliminated in the second round, has a salary of 2.29 million US dollars this season, and Jordan will be 3.85 million US dollars next season.

However, Ceballos did not live up to this contract, was selected as an All-Star, led the team to the playoffs with Van Exel, Eddie Jones, and Divac, and almost swept the SuperSonics in the first round against the SuperSonics.

Although they couldn't go further and were beaten by David Robinson in the second round, they have performed well this year.

They've been able to play this season, and Ceballos has definitely played a big part in selecting a high school student in exchange for draft picks?

Kupchak feels like the teacher is crazy!

"Mitch, we can't limit our vision to this season, Cedric is playing well, but that's his limit, we don't have a chance to compete for a championship with this squad at the moment, we're the Lakers, and this kind of season is a failure for us.

What's more important is Cedric's style of play, his scoring area is too close to the inside, but he is not an absolute strong point, and when it comes to a center like David Robinson, he plays very badly, he can't score in a farther area, and he also has to play 4 and 5 on the offensive end of his teammates.

At the same time, Cedric also influenced the growth of Nick and Eddie. ”

The Logo Man mercilessly pointed out Ceballos' flaws.

These, in fact, Kupchak understands, but these are two different things, Ceballos just made the All-Star, and the age of 27 is in his prime, and he is used to trade draft picks to pick a high school student?

That's why Kupchak is against it, and it's obviously more cost-effective to wait until next season's trade deadline to trade for a draft pick from a team with a bad record than to trade for a more expensive pick right now.

"Can't we use other chips? Like future draft picks? Kupchak made another suggestion.

"Mitch, we're going to have to make trade-offs in the lineup, Nick and Eddie need to have more ball-handling, Cedric has affected their development, and when we signed Cedric last summer, we started out to create a good trade chip, didn't we, but he was a little bit better than I expected so we could get a lottery pick.

We need a forward pitcher in our future plans, and I was going to wait a few years for Zhang to come out of college before considering him, but he skipped college, so we should take the opportunity and get that done......"

Hearing this, Kupchak knew that the teacher had made up his mind, but he still had a question: "Jerry, when did you consider Zhang as a member of the future plan?" ”

"Adidas Training Camp Classic, I went to see it."

"......" people are more talented and harder than you as general managers, and Kupchak doesn't know what to say.

"In addition to Zhang, I also found another very interesting high school genius...... By the way, Mickey, how's the news going out of Orlando? ”

"It's going well, no surprises, and next season will definitely have an effect......"

Logo Man and Kupchak discussed and made a decision that could affect a player's career, and the executives of the Bass family did not interfere with Logo Man's idea of building a team, and judging from past examples, they were very relieved by Logo Man's vision.

Even if there is an occasional miss, even if it is the decision made this time, the Bass family will still trust him next time.

It's just that everyone present is very curious, who is the other very interesting genius that the logo man said?

Garnett? Or Odom?

Already bloated on the outside and needing to give up an All-Star small forward, they naturally thought of the inside.