"What do you say not to invite Antetokounmpo to come to the tryout"

In a hotel room not far from the United Center arena in Chicago, Vogel expressed shock at Henson's plan.

By this time, Henson, Vogel, and Silas had finished their joint tryout and returned to their hotel. The rookies in this year's joint tryout still made Henson's eyes shine. A few high-pick rookies on the prediction rankings may not be very impressive, but the low-pick has a lot of treasure waiting for teams to find.

But no one among them could replace Antetokounmpo's place in Henson's heart.

So, he was determined to win Antetokounmpo in the June 27 draft. But because of this, the Pacers did not invite Antetokounmpo to come to the tryout.

"That's right, I didn't invite him to try out. As far as I know, Antetokounmpo has not received any team tryouts until now. And his manager, Salathis, kept his promise to us and did not unsolicit Antetokounmpo to other teams. Now, Antetokounmpo is a little transparent to the general managers of other teams, and no one could have guessed that we would pick him. Naturally, no one will intercept Huatetokounmpo in advance to blackmail us. ”

"But if we don't try out, how do we know if he's the kind of player we need?"

'I know very well that he is the player we need. When we saw him in Spain last year, he was only 2.06m tall. And now, he's 2.08 meters! This means that this guy's height and arm span are still growing! Antetokounmpo's scouting report calls him an athletic interior who can't shoot and weighs too little. But in reality, Antetokounmpo's style of play has never been that of an interior player. Saying that Antetokounmpo is an inside line is like someone telling you that Kevin. Durant should be as funny as playing center. ”

Henson is very confident, and he's always confident when it comes to the draft. And it turns out that Henson never misses a draft meeting!

Paul. George, Leonard, Stephenson, Jimmy. Butler, Danny. Green and Zhu, who has already made a name for himself with the Hornets and the Trail Blazers. Holiday and Wesley. Matthews...... This successful example gives Henson great power in the draft! Even Larry. Bird, the chairman of basketball operations, also has to listen to Henson.

So listening to Henson, Vogel has nothing to refute. Even if the draft does fail, it won't be fatal for a championship-caliber team.

"I'm genuinely curious, Henson. Why, you can always find this kind of player who is not favored by everyone, but has outstanding strength"

"If I say realization, do you believe it" Henson smiled slightly, prevaricating the question.

His secret weapon, naturally, will not be shared with anyone!

Antetokounmpo almost wanted to give up.

There were no team trials, no head coaches and no general managers to talk to him. In the joint tryout, only one reporter who seemed to have made a fortune interviewed him, but the questions he asked had nothing to do with basketball.

"How do you think you're going to die in the end?" the reporter seemed to tease the unpopular rookie.

And now, he can only live in an extremely cheap hotel. The bed in the hotel, Antetokounmpo couldn't sleep at all. He felt like he might hit the ceiling as long as he straightened his waist.

He was penniless and couldn't get out and explore the beauty of the city of Chicago. He misses his family, because as a "black household", his family has no way to apply for a visa to the United States.

U.S. law states that if you don't get a visa three times, you'll never get a U.S. visa. And Antetokounmpo's family, who have already failed twice, can't afford to risk it again.

So this big boy can only be alone in this strange country, a strange city. He once applied to live directly in the arena, so that he could practice at any time, and second, the time spent playing basketball could dilute his loneliness. Moreover, Antetokounmpo did not want to continue spending his manager's money.

In fact, that's why Antetokounmpo stayed in a small hotel. Saratisis had originally planned to take Antetokounmpo to stay in the hotel, but Antetokounmpo resolutely refused. Agreeing to stay in a hotel instead of staying in a stadium, it took a lot of effort for Saratisis to make sense of Antetokounmpo.

Standing by the window of a small room, seeing the bustling crowd and busy streets outside, Antetokounmpo had no envy or yearning in his heart. He just wants to go home now, to his family.

He didn't know if his family was doing well at this time, whether his parents didn't eat on time because they were saving money, and whether his two older brothers and two younger brothers were causing trouble for the family

Home, this stunned blue brain can only pretend to be home.

"Janis!" Just then, a shout came from the door of the small room of the hotel, followed by a knock on the door.

Antetokounmpo opened the door without even looking at the cat's eye, because he heard that it was his number one manager and fellow Greek man who was shouting. Saratis. At the same time, this gentleman is also the Warriors' leading guard Stephen. Curry's manager.

"What's wrong with you, you look depressed, I'll take you around the city center," Salatisis said, carrying a bag of food in his hand.

Antetokounmpo shook his head embarrassedly, "No, I don't have any money. ”

Saratisis smiled, Antetokounmpo was really tough sometimes. Although he has not played in the NBA, Antetokounmpo has also played in the professional leagues in Greece and Spain for several years. How much, I still made a little money. Although the wages of these teams are an order of magnitude compared to NBA teams, they are not so much that a player can't even afford to eat.

But Antetokounmpo had a habit of sending all the money to his family after receiving his salary. So a lot of the time, Antetokounmpo was in a penniless state.

"Don't say that, you'll have money soon. If all goes well, you'll make at least $8 million this summer! ”

"$8 million...... Is it a lot" Antetokounmpo looked at Salatisis innocently, this guy really didn't have any idea about money, "Besides, no team has invited me to a trial yet." If I hadn't been chosen, I'm afraid it would have been difficult for me to repay the money I owe you, Mr. Saratis. ”

"No, no, no, you can't lose the election. Do you know whose call I just received?"

"Who! I was invited to a tryout! Antetokounmpo's eyes lit up instantly, and he immediately came to his senses.

"No, the caller told me not to take you to a tryout."

Hearing Saratisis say this, Antetokounmpo hung his head in disappointment.

"Hey, I'm not done yet! They told me not to take you to a tryout, but I would definitely pick you up, and I got their promise! ”

"I'm definitely going to pick which team I'm going to take, don't comfort me with the first pick, Mr. Salatisis. I'm not a kid anymore, and I'm ready to fail. ”

"The 15th pick in the first round, defending champion Indiana Pacers, Henson. Coach Joe has been following you since very early on. In fact, I would be your manager also because of Henson. Coach Joe's recommendation. You can't fail, Antetokounmpo, and you won't fail either! If all goes well, you'll be wearing a corn-yellow jersey at the start of next season! ”

"In that case, why didn't the Pacers invite me to a tryout"

"Well," Salatisis smiled, "you have to get used to it, this is Henson. Coach Joe's way of doing things. ”

June 27, Barclays Center, New York. Although it was a small year of the draft, this draft still attracted many fans to watch it live.

The championship and the finals are a matter of two teams. The draft, on the other hand, is related to all 30 teams in the league. So today, the Barclays Center is home to fans from all over the United States.

This year's draft is so special that it is impossible to predict who the top picks will be until the conference begins. The Cavaliers' pick was very embarrassing because there were no particularly outstanding rookies this year, and there were no players they wanted. With this champion sign, the knights don't know what to do.

And at this time, the other teams basically have their favorite objects, and the Cavaliers don't want to tear down the hatred of other people's Tyra. So the Cavaliers slapped their thighs, and since the brothers didn't know how to choose, then I would just pick one.

So the first pick in the first round of the draft, the third or fourth swingman who is predicted to be selected at the 6th-10th pick, Anthony Brown. Bennett, so inexplicably became the top show.

There was an uproar in the outside world, and the unpopularity of the champion show this time even surpassed the draft when Yao Ming was elected champion in 2002.

Many years later, as we all know, Anthony . Bennett has become the "spokesperson" of a new generation of parallel imports. At this time, the real "champion" in the 2013 draft was sitting alone in the audience, without the company of his family, silently waiting for the arrival of the 15th pick.

There were no tryouts, no reports, and the only news was that Rockets general manager Morey had said four months ago that a player who somewhat resembled Maddie had been found in Greece.

But no one will take this kind of remark to heart, after all, there are too many "second Jordan", "second James", "second Kobe" in this world every year, and of course, the second Maddie is indispensable.

It's such a transparent person, no one even knows the name, and his family can't even get a visa. After experiencing the smiling faces of 14 people, I finally heard my name.

"The 15th pick in the first round of the 2013 draft, the Indiana Pacers drafted the Indiana Pacers. Antetokounmpo, from Greece! ”

David. Stern's voice resounded throughout the room, Henson smiled with satisfaction in the private room, and Bucks general manager John Brown. Hammond was the one who took the stage with David. Stern shakes hands with the guy attracted.

Is it for him that Henson has been preparing so long in advance?

Years later, ESPN spoke about it in an interview with Hammond. Facing the camera, Hammond smiled helplessly,

"At the time, no one could have imagined that a deal that only involved draft picks and an average player would change the landscape of the entire league."