On June 22, the fifth day after the end of the Finals, the Charlotte Bobcats, who joined the NBA, won the right to expand the draft, and they will select 19 players who are not on the protected list from the other 29 teams from this day.

The league limits their salary cap to two-thirds of that of other teams in order to prevent them from using salary space to go directly to other teams for talent.

Because of the Bobcats, the NBA has a total of 30 teams, and the league divides all teams into six divisions, and divides the Bobcats from the West to the East.

The league also gave the Bobcats a top-three protected pick, and the Bobcats were lucky enough to pick up the second pick.

All the fans were eagerly awaiting, waiting for the draft to start in three days.

On June 25, the 2004 NBA Draft was held at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York, USA.

Lu Fei didn't go back, but just let Joe Smith take several of his players to the draft, and he watched the live broadcast of the draft on Harris's computer in the training hall.

The familiar image reappeared, with David Stern wearing glasses announcing the start of the draft.

The No. 1 pick was the Orlando Magic, and from the Magic's perspective, their selection was focused on two people, one is Howard and the other is Emeka Okafor of the University of Connecticut. After four years of college grinding, Okafor is clearly more mature, and more importantly, he has won NCAA championships. But the Magic value Howard's upside potential more than anything else, and they're impressed with the maturity of the big boy on the court.

David Stern opened the envelope and read, "The Orlando Magic have selected ...... from Atlanta Dwight Howard! ”

Another high school draft winner.

Howard became one of three high school draft picks in NBA history, joining Kwame Brown in 2001 and LeBron James in 2003.

Howard stood up, excited as a child.

Belch...... He was a kid by heart.

The Charlotte Bobcats followed suit with the No. 2 pick to select Emeka Okafor.

When Lu Fei saw Okafor, he thought of Yao Ming again, Okafor is also a player who was destroyed because of weight gain......

Lu Fei was a little nervous at this time, because he was getting closer and closer to the No. 4 pick, although he greeted the team, and Paul also performed well in the trial, but Lu Fei was not the general manager after all, and the draft was not something that he could interfere with as a player.

There is also a Bulls in front of the supersonic.

Lu Fei remembers that the Bulls drafted Ben Gordon.

David Stern took the Bulls' envelope, opened it, lifted his glasses, and read, "The Chicago Bulls have drafted ...... from the Huskies Chris Paul! ”

Lu Fei: "??? ”

Paul: "??? ”

Joe Smith: "??? ”

Rick Sander: "??? ”

Got cut off?

Lu Fei couldn't help but smile bitterly, people are not as good as heaven, I originally thought that with the fourth pick, plus Paul played as a substitute in this year's games, the SuperSonics should be able to pick up Paul, but I didn't expect to be cut off by the Bulls.

The Bulls originally wanted to choose a guard, Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor led Connecticut to the NCAA championship together this year, but Chris Paul was just a backup point guard for the Huskies, and Ben Gordon should be selected no matter how he chosen.

Bulls head coach Skels was originally going to choose Ben Gordon, who performed well in the trial, when choosing a guard, but suddenly thought of the supersonic Lu Fei, and couldn't help but take a look at the Eskimo Dogs' draft roster and found the names of Brandon Roy and Chris Paul.

After some comparison, he was ecstatic, the rookie named Chris Paul didn't even make the top 10 in the draft projections, but it was clear that it was a missing gem.

So he didn't hesitate to select Chris Paul with the No. 3 pick.

When Stern called out Chris Paul's name, there was an uproar at Madison Square Garden, apparently no one expected the Chicago Bulls to choose a backup guard for the Huskies at this position.

"Are the Bulls crazy?"

"Look at their drafts in the past two years, almost all of them are rotten operations."

"The one they picked last year was called Milicic, and it wasn't even as good as the supersonic Collison."

"Another parallel import!"

"Look, the chosen guy seems to be reluctant......"

Chris Paul was of course reluctant, his goal was to go to the SuperSonics to play Lu Fei as a substitute, Joe Smith gently patted him on the shoulder beside him, he understood that he was already a professional player at this time, and following the rules was the most basic principle.

He took the Bulls' hat on stage and hugged Bulls head coach Skels.

Facing the excited Skyles, Paul really couldn't understand why he didn't even go to the trial, and this guy fell in love with him in the vast sea of people?

Paul was greeted not by cheers, but by boos one after another, and Bulls fans gave their dissatisfaction with the team to the young player who had just stepped into the door of the NBA.

Lu Fei sighed: "Wang Jingze's law will only be absent, but it will never be late...... When you find out that Paul is a treasure, you will shout, 'What a fragrance!' 'Let's ......"

The worst thing is the supersonic team with the No. 4 pick in hand at this time.

The person they were going to pick was cut off, which annoyed Rick Sander, who had just won the General Manager of the Year, but it was clear that he didn't want to be annoyed, he had to be calm, because they were going to make a choice soon.

Rick Sander went out to make a phone call to his future boss and came back filling in the names of the players selected.

David Stern took the envelope and read, "The Seattle SuperSonics have drafted ...... Oh, another Huskies player, the Huskies have sent a lot of talent to our NBA in the past two years, and the SuperSonics selected ...... Brandon Roy! ”

Roy was stunned, he didn't expect to be selected by the SuperSonics.

Chris Paul looked at him enviously.

……

"The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Anthony Washington from the Huskies with the third pick in the second round!"

With the announcement of David Stern, Anthony Washington was also drafted by the Lakers.

The Lakers selected rookies at the center position, apparently in preparation for next season.

All three of the Huskies' draft players were home, but Wilconroy was not selected, which Wilconroy was mentally prepared for, and he knew during the tryout that he was not favored by any team.

Lu Fei closed the computer.

The choice of the Lakers is different from the Lakers in their memory, and it can be seen from the fact that they will choose Anthony Washington, and they seem to really have plans for Yao Ming.

O'Neill was afraid that he was really leaving.