As with the morning tryout, dinner Chris Anderson was late again.

This isn't the first time Chris Anderson has eaten with scouts, as he's been in contact with all sorts of basketball professionals since 1999, from this team to that team, from Texas to New Mexico, and even from the United States to China. Growing up in an orphanage and his father ran away, he hated this kind of staggering and hypocrisy more and more, and he received promises again and again, but finally left again and again. For example, today he was playing for the University of Texas in Austin and had a tryout, but he knew that in two days he would probably be swept away by the University of Texas because the IBA league was almost over.

He was just a temporary mercenary, and only on the other side of the distant Pacific Ocean, in China, in Jiangsu, he had also felt some warmth, and the coach named Xu Qiang, who was a little bald, had carefully and patiently taught him inside steps, which benefited him a lot. But China is not his home, and he still hopes to realize his basketball dream in the United States and play in the NBA. This is both a dream and a life, and he has always wanted to make a lot of money to buy a big house for his mother.

I heard that this time he came to watch him try out with a real NBA team scout - I don't know how many times I had heard of this, so Anderson didn't take it to heart, being late in the morning and late for dinner in the evening. But it was the first time he had seen a scout like Leon, who had long hair like an Argentine footballer and had Central American ancestry. At the same time, he was athletic, not like a scout but like a player, and when he sat there for Anderson to sit down, Anderson sat down almost without thinking about it, and this guy seemed to have a kind of air that was not angry and arrogant.

After introducing himself, Anderson learned that this person named Fox Leon was indeed a senior scout for the Celtics, and Presti was a video editor for the Spurs with him, and a person whose name I can't remember for a long time was a reporter from New Jersey.

"What's life like in China?" After chatting about some clichés about his personal life and basketball experience, Leon suddenly asked Anderson.

Anderson thought for a moment and replied, "It's not bad, the fans there are very welcoming, even though they're a little bit behind in basketball, I mean, the arenas, the facilities, the concept look shabby, but the people are good." And the food there is very delicious, some of which I don't really like, and some of which are so good. When it comes to China, Anderson is still very excited, and there is no shortage of praise.

"Speak a few words of Chinese?" Leon asked again.

Anderson didn't know why Leon was so interested in China, but he said in Chinese: "Hu Weidong, Jiangsu, Nanjing." This is the best Chinese he can speak, with a Nanjing flavor, authentic, and standard.

Hearing Anderson say these three words, Leon actually had a warm current in his heart, less than a year after coming to this body, he also met Chinese people in Boston, often went to Chinese restaurants to eat, and heard many people speak Chinese, but it just didn't hit his heart like these three words. He could feel a spot in his brain's memory zone stirring, and he picked up the glass on the table and took a long sip of gin, letting the strength of the wine suppress the feeling of wanting to come out.

Dinner was over quickly, Leon returned to the hotel, Anderson gave him a good impression, although this kid's tone often revealed a sense of frivolity, but he was very sincere, it can be seen that he is a temperamental person, good discipline will be a very infectious good guy, bad discipline may be a bad boy who spoils the atmosphere of the team. Leon thought to himself that it was no wonder that Presti didn't recommend such a person to Popovich, and he didn't have much confidence in Popovich's good or bad boys.

That was the end of the Austin trip, with Leon leaving Anderson's phone number and offering to introduce him to an agent, Jeff Schultz – who is also Paul Pearce's agent, in the hope that he could get some guidance.

Presti also completed his mission, and Leon verbally promised not to rob Tony Parker. At a time when the league is generally not aware of the treasure of overseas players, the Celtics and Spurs are representatives of foresight, and Chris Wallace has long begun to develop the European free agent market, especially French players. In the '00 draft, his favorite Moiso was a Frenchman, but fortunately his draft proposal was rejected, and Moiso was later drafted by the Nuggets, and his performance this season can be described as miserable.

In April, before the playoffs, Leon and Wallace went to France again, and as early as the 2000 Indianapolis International Challenge, Wallace paid attention to a kid named Tony Parker, who scored 20 points against those talented American high school students. He then turned down offers from prestigious universities such as UCLA to play in France, and this year he is likely to run for the NBA, so Wallace and Leon stayed in Paris for a week to watch Parker's two games.

Leon's opinion is that Parker has a lot of potential, he has incredible speed, great dribble rhythm and finishing ability under the basket, the shortcomings are that he doesn't shoot well and doesn't show any excellence defensively, which is not the type of point guard that the Celtics need right now. But soon Leon got the news from Voynarowski that the Spurs really wanted to get Tony Parker, and their observation of Tony Parker had been kept secret, for fear of being discovered, because in the 2001 draft, the Spurs would certainly not have a high draft pick.

Boston had three draft picks in 2001, two of which were from a trade with the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz, with the Jazz also coming from a trade with the Denver Nuggets. One of the two '01 draft picks the Nuggets traded to the Celtics was from the Phoenix Suns. Judging from the record this season, the Nuggets and Suns are not as good as the Spurs, and the Nuggets have not even made the playoffs. So each of the three draft picks is higher than the Spurs' draft pick, and if they want to grab Tony Parker, the Spurs can say that they don't have a chance at all, and the Celtics can get the players they want.

There is no doubt that the Spurs are very worried about the Celtics' robbery, after all, the two teams almost tore their faces for Duncan in 1997, it is difficult to say that the Celtics do not want to take revenge here, not to mention that Parker is indeed a good seedling, if the Celtics do not have a very favorite candidate, Parker will be a good choice.

Because of the geographical location, Chris Anderson has long been included in the Spurs' field of vision, but considering Anderson's personality and team needs, Popovich did not hesitate to decide to dedicate Anderson to the Celtics, in order to get the Celtics' promise, and now Leon is only a scout, but he is already an authority on the Celtics in terms of drafts.

Of course, the promises are all empty now, the draft draw hasn't started yet, and it will be until the situation becomes clearer that Leon and the Celtics will decide how to make the most of those three picks and the Spurs' dead end, and before that he will wait and go to Washington to discuss it with Auerbach.

……………………

On May 5, Leon boarded a flight to Washington, D.C., and on his second flight in three days, Leon felt that in a few years he could write down the looks of most of the flight attendants in the United States.

It was evening when he arrived in Washington, D.C., and Auerbach had made an appointment to meet him at the Woodmont Club, where it was raining and the rain was still biting in May, so Leon hailed a taxi straight to the country club.

Outside, the rain is getting heavier, and the Woodmont Club is located in the Bethesda district of Washington, D.C., near 187th Street. As the taxi approached Washington International University, it was suddenly stopped by two men who knocked on the driver's window and asked for a ride because the rain was so heavy.

"Where are you going?" The driver asked, "It's not allowed under normal circumstances, but it's raining too much."

"We're going to Bethesda, Woodmont Country Club!" One of them replied with a briefcase against his head.

"Sir, they are going to the same place as you, can you let them come up?" The driver asked Leon.

Leon nodded, since they were all going to Woodmont, it might as well do a favor.