At Seaton University in New Jersey, an advertisement for a new basketball league draft is posted on a billboard in front of the school.

Eddie Sadowsky stood in front of the billboard, looking at this advertising poster with a thoughtful expression.

"Eddie, are you tempted, you want to go to that new league draft?" A buddy stabilized from the side.

Eddie Sadows nodded: "I'm graduating soon, and my father hopes I can get a job in a trading company." But I still want to play basketball. ”

"I've heard that in the NBL, there are already coaches who have expressed interest in you?" The companion asked again.

"It's just an interest, it's still far from a formal contract! And NBL players don't earn much, and many players have to rely on other part-time jobs to support themselves. I don't want to be like them, who can't even support myself to play. Eddie Sadows spoke.

The companion continued: "This advertisement says that if you participate in the draft, as long as you can sign a contract with the team, you will get a salary, and the first-round rookie will get a 2+2 contract, which means that at least for the first two years, you don't have to worry about the problem of jobs." I think with your strength, you will definitely be selected. ”

Eddie Sadows nodded: "yes, this is a better place in the new league than in the NBL, rookie players can get a guaranteed two-year contract, and the salary is not low, at least they don't have to look for a part-time job to support themselves." ”

Eddie Sadows is 6'5" tall and weighs 240 pounds, and as a center, he has the stature to be almost invincible on the inside in college basketball, and it is also true that he once led Seaton University to a one-season unbeaten record.

Such excellent results have made Eddie Sadows have long been favored by many professional team coaches, and some team coaches have come to watch Eddie Sadows' games in person.

Eddie Sadows is also a famous basketball star in the BAA period, and before George McCann came out, he should be regarded as the No. 1 center in the United States, and at his peak he averaged 19.4 points per game, ranking third in the BAA league scoring title.

"It says fill out an entry form and send it to New York, and you're done, and it's just going to take a little time and a few cents of stamps, so I think you should give it a try." The companion continued to persuade.

"Okay, I'll go back and sign up, but I'm not going to give up looking for a job. But if I can really be selected by this new league, I will definitely give two years of youth for my dream! Eddie Sadows said categorically.

……

Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, 19-year-old Ernnie Calfley is trying to persuade her parents.

"Dad, please let me give it a try, if I get selected, I'll become a professional basketball player, it's my dream!" Ernnie Calfley spoke.

His father, Calfley Sr., shook his head: "Ernnie, you finally got into the University of Rhode Island, I just hope you can graduate smoothly and then find a decent job, as for being a basketball player, that's what a rich kid should do!" ”

"Dad, you know, I didn't really want to go to the University of Rhode Island, I wanted to go to a better school. Even if I graduated from the University of Rhode Island, I wouldn't have a good future, and at best I would have found a job in a small place like ours, and I wouldn't have been able to get a foothold in a big city. After all, the University of Rhode Island is just an ordinary public university, not Harvard or Yale! I can't compete with the top students at the top universities. Ernie Calfley continued.

At the same level, American public universities are certainly inferior to private universities. Top public universities can't compete with top private universities, top public universities can't compete with top private universities, and second-rate public universities can't compete with second-rate private universities. It's just that there is an advantage to going to a public university, that is, the tuition is relatively cheap.

Ernie Calverley lives in Rhode Island, where his family is relatively modest and he cannot afford to attend an expensive private university, so he can only attend a local public university in Rhode Island.

However, Ernnie Calfley was not satisfied with this, and he wanted to go to the big city instead of being trapped in the small part of Rhode Island. It's just that it's hard for Rhode Island graduates to gain a foothold in big cities, and there are many graduates from prestigious universities in big cities, and compared with graduates from Harvard or Yale, Rhode Island graduates are not competitive at all.

That's when Ernnie Calverley saw the ad for the new league draft, and as the number one basketball star at the University of Rhode Island, Ernnie Calverley decided to give it a try.

Ernie Calfley was also a star point guard during the BAA period, and in the first two years of the BAA's existence, Ernnie Calfley ranked first in the number of assists. In addition to assists, Ernie Calfley is averaging 14 points per game, which was impressive at the time, and it's not an exaggeration to say that he was the first guard in the country.

Ernnie Calfley is remembered for what he called a "shot that the whole world can hear", and the reason why it was "heard" rather than "seen" was because sports broadcasts at the time relied on the radio.

In one game, Ernie Calfley made a last-second shot to complete a shootout 62 feet from the basket. 62 feet is roughly equivalent to the midfield position, and in the future, many stars have completed the shutout in the midfield position, and even further afield. But in the forties, the stunner in the midfield position was simply a God-possessed performance, enough to be remembered by a generation for a lifetime.

Eventually, after Ernnie Calfley's pleading, the elder Calfley finally agreed to let Ernnie Calfley participate in the draft, but if he didn't make the selection, he would immediately return to college.

……

Meanwhile, in Detroit, a young man named Stan Mosaic doesn't have the same troubles as Ernie Calfley. Because Stan Mosaic didn't get into college at all after graduating from high school, he naturally didn't have to choose between playing basketball and going to college.

At this time, Stan Mosaic had found a job as an apprentice, but he was not satisfied with the job, and he didn't want to live in obscurity for the rest of his life.

Originally, Stan Mosaic was already planning to join the army, but the ad for the new basketball league draft attracted Stan Mosaic.

Once selected, there is a 2+2 contract, and the salary offered by the team is very good, and the team also provides dormitories and food, which can also save a lot of money. Stan Mosaic, of course, was tempted by such treatment.

"I'm going to go to this new basketball league draft, and if I don't get selected, I'm going to join the army!" Stan Mosaic didn't hesitate to sign up for the draft.

Stan Mosaic is 6 feet 5 inches, weighs 21 pounds, can play center, power forward, and can also top up the small forward position, and he was a basketball star in high school, but he didn't make it to college. Historically, Stan Mosaic was also one of the stars of the BAA League, averaging 10.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in his career, which is a qualified role player even in the future, and in the forties, it was already an All-Star level.

……

In front of the bulletin board at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, New York, Max Zaslowski, the school's best athlete, is looking at two advertisements on the bulletin board and hesitating.

These two advertisements, one is an advertisement for the US military recruitment, and the other is an advertisement for the draft of the new basketball league.

Max Zaslowski was hesitating to join the military or try his hand at the draft of a new basketball league.

Max Zaslowski is a master of many sports, not only on the school basketball team, but also on the baseball team, and although he is still in his third year of high school, he is also a well-known high school athlete in New York City.

This year, he is about to graduate, and if there is no war, he will choose to go to St. John's University in New York, where he will study law, which is the most famous law school.

However, the outbreak of war gave Max Zaslowski a plan to join the army. Because Max Zaslowski was a Russian immigrant of Jewish descent, he lived in an area that was also a Jewish ghetto in New York City. As a Jewish Russian immigrant in Europe, where Jews were suffering and the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, Max Zaslowski felt obligated to join the American army and go to Europe to defeat the Germans and save his fellow Jews.

Max Zaslowski's enlistment application was all written when he saw an ad for a new league draft.

Max Zaslowski was a lover of basketball, basketball was his dream, and he aspired to become a professional basketball player, so when he saw the ad for the New League draft, his determination to join the military was shaken.

"Now, I have an opportunity to realize my dream, should I seize it?"

"But in Europe, countless Jews are being persecuted, and I, as a Jew, should take up a gun and save them! Maybe I should go to the army first and come back when the war is over to fulfill my basketball dream! ”

"Bullets don't have eyes, and if I get injured on the battlefield and get a physical disability, I'll never have the chance to become a professional athlete, and I'll never be able to achieve my dream!"

Max Zaslowski's heart was full of contradictions, and he realized that this was perhaps the most important choice of his life.

At this time in history, the BAA League had not yet been formed, so Max Zaslowski chose to join the Army, and served in the United States Navy until the end of the war, and then he entered St. John's University in New York, and a year later the BAA League was formed, he joined the BAA League, and in his first season he was only 21 years old, and he was also the youngest player to enter the First Team, and he maintained this honor for nearly 60 years, until 2006, The age of the youngest first team was only broken by LeBron James.

As previously introduced, Joe Fox, who can shoot with one hand, is the first scoring champion in the BAA league, and Max Zaslowski is the second scoring champion in the BAA league. Prior to the 1968 season, the scoring champion was not judged by points per game, but by total points. The season when Max Zaslowski won the scoring title, although he didn't average as much points per game as Joe Fox, he surpassed Joe Fox in the regular season, so he won the scoring title that season.

If the future is still judged by this rule, the scoring champion in 2018 will not be Harden, but LeBron James. Of course, judging by the total score standard, Harden could have won the honor of scoring champion as early as 2015.

……

Registration forms were sent like snowflakes to the new Alliance headquarters in New York.

The draft of the sports league is not new for athletes and teams, but the new league is the first to be able to offer such good benefits to rookie players.

The treatment of professional athletes in this era is obviously not as good as that of later generations, and athletes of the level of Babe Ruth are even rarer. Rugby's NFL, although it has been drafted a few years ago, is not well paid to rookie players, and many rookie players with high picks can only get a temporary contract. It is precisely because the treatment is so poor that athletes feel that they are not guaranteed at all, so there are a large number of young people who are selected but do not join NFL teams.

The new league pioneered a 2+2 contract for rookie players, which is equivalent to giving rookie players a life guarantee of at least two years, don't look at only two years, but for those young people who pursue basketball dreams, they don't have to worry about life problems for two years, and they can chase their dreams wholeheartedly, which is really what they dream of.

And the salary of the rookie contract is not low either. The first contract given to a rookie player in the new league is based on the league's average salary as a whole. Maybe this salary is not enough to make a person rich, but it can definitely impress those young people.

You know, most of these young athletes who come to the draft are students who have not yet entered society, and if they look for other jobs, this kind of fledgling rookie will get an intern salary, like Stan Lee worked as an assistant in a comic book club, at $8 a week, which is much lower than the average American salary. And the rookie salary given by the new league is much stronger than the intern salary.

The ability to chase dreams and the money to get are fatal temptations for young people with dreams, so after the advertisement for the new league draft was published, many young athletes signed up.

At this time, Chen Qiang was not idle, he released another big move, that is, among the athletes who signed up for the draft, selected some of the better ones to come to New York to participate in the open trial.

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