Arenas couldn't calm down for a long time after watching Iverson's crazy night performance, he sat in the private room of the café, constantly reminiscing about the plot of the game, Iverson's pull-up jumper, crossover dribbling, fast-break layups, facing O'Neal's breakthroughs again and again, and the moment when he stepped over Tyronn Lue, his figure was deeply engraved in Arenas's mind. A fire began to burn inside him, and he imagined what it would be like to enter the NBA, invincible on the court, penetrating, shooting, fast breaking, three-pointers, and destroying opponents with scoring like Iverson.

Then, Fox Leon and Darryl Morey arrived, and they had already made an appointment to meet tonight, but Leon's first words poured cold water on Arenas. This made Arenas very uncomfortable, this boy who was raised by his father from a single-parent family, has an angry face and a stubborn temper. His basketball career has been full of being underrated and then coming back because he always fights with anger.

His father had created an amateur basketball team, but Arenas was always a substitute on his father's team, and in anger he left the team to join another team, and then played well against his father's team.

When his coach told him in high school that your ceiling was here, Arenas got angry again, he practiced from morning to night, and transferred to another high school, where he became a starter and became the best player in the league.

When he arrived at university, Arenas, who was born in Los Angeles, hoped to join the prestigious UCLA, but in the end, UCLA decided that the opponent Arenas had faced was too weak and gave up on him. Arenas left Los Angeles in anger and went to Arizona.

He was also not a starter in college, with the likes of Richard Jefferson and Luke Wharton on the team, and Arenas used the opportunity of the summer informality to crush his starting rivals and get the starting spot.

At this moment, when Fox Leon told him that not many teams were optimistic about him, Arenas was angry again, he stared at Leon and Morey with big round eyes, and then said in a deep voice: "If you don't like me, then don't choose me, and then you can slowly regret it." ”

Unfazed by Arenas' anger, Leon has always been blunt in his style of conversation, quickly getting to the heart rather than making boring pleasantries. Leon pulled out a stack of papers from his briefcase and handed it to Arenas, then said, "This is the scouting report I gave you a week ago, when you were supposed to be in a little training camp in Los Angeles, with Tyson Chandler, Eddie Curry, Randolph and others. Until my scouting report comes out, your draft prediction pick is ...... Probably in the middle and late part of the first round. Let's take a look at what a scouting report says about you, 'Height is watered, defense is average, and as a shooting guard with his strength and height will be difficult to face his opponents.' And here, 'has a great pull-up jump shot, but the shooting options are average, and he won't be a good team player. ’”

Leon took out a stack of papers from his briefcase and flipped through them, this is the scouting report of Arenas by other scouts, the scouting report is not a secret in the scouting circle, of course, there will be some differences in details between the report handed over to the team and the public one, but the overall evaluation of the player will not be too different.

After reading these sentences, Leon could feel the anger in Arenas, and he clenched his fist with one hand and his coffee cup with the other. But he quickly calmed down, took a sip of his coffee and said, "Tell me about what you think of me, and how my ranking has changed since you scouted for me?" ”

This time Leon didn't speak, it was Morey's turn to speak, because Leon's scouting report was compiled by him, and after Leon conducted on-site observation and writing, Morey collected and processed Arenas' game data from high school to college, and commissioned Vogel to conduct video analysis, and finally released the Celtics version of Arenas's scouting report.

"Our evaluation of you is actually not too different from that of other scouts, after all, we are all earthlings. But there are two things they say about you that we don't agree with, the first is your height. NBA rookies often misrepresent their height in order to increase their draft picks. Leon also thought that you had misrepresented your height after watching your game on the spot, and he visually measured that your height was 6'3" and 1/2, while your reported height was 6'5, which is indeed a bit short for a shooting guard...... However, we don't think you should be at the point guard position. We think you're better suited to a point guard. ”

In most scouting reports against Arenas, they agree that Arenas is a good fit to be a shooting guard, and his striking skills are truly impressive, but only if he actually has 6-foot-5. Leon's visual height ability is also a must in the NBA, and he can see at a glance that Arenas is not 6-foot-5 at all, but his evaluation of Arenas has not decreased but increased, because he thinks that the height of about 6-foot-3 is too short for a shooting guard, but it is tall for a point guard. Since Arenas' height can't be changed, it's better to change his position.

Arenas shrugged his shoulders at Morey's words and said, "Point guard isn't a problem for me either. ”

Morey continued: "The second question, which is about sharing the ball, a lot of people think you're playing a bit of a solo game, but we don't think it's a big deal, if you can score points, then it's no different to score two points with your teammates. The only question is whether you want to be a great player who can make your teammates better, and if so, I think you're going to change. That's all I said. ”

Morey's words are full of provocations and challenges, and for Arenas, there will never be a shortage of these things in his life, which is why he chose the number 0.

The conversation was not pleasant, but it was efficient and productive, and Arenas, a kid growing up in Los Angeles, had already begun to take an interest in Boston. There may be some teams interested in him, promising and perk, but nothing appeals to him more than anger, especially at the end of the conversation, when Arenas asks Leon, "You have three first-round picks, which one will you use to select me?" ”

Leon didn't even think about replying, "Of course, it's the one at the back." ”

……………………

Time flies, and after meeting with Arenas in private, Leon and Morey travel to several more cities, contacting some other super newcomers or agents, some of whom have already set their picks, thinking that those guys who are in the top ten in the draft should be ready to go to a certain city if nothing else.

Of course, the NBA is always full of surprises, and the draft is no exception. Just as the Philadelphia 76ers broke the Lakers' undefeated gold in Los Angeles, anything could happen before Stern walked up to the stage and read the result of his shot.

So, the San Antonio Spurs were heartbroken by their 28th pick, and everything went smoothly until it was found out that Fox Leon and the Celtics were interested in Tony Parker. While international players are coming to the NBA, and some are performing at a very high level, they are all big men like Divac, Kukoc, Schramf or Nowitzki, but none of the smaller men from Europe, especially point guards, have really proven themselves in the NBA. The general managers of the NBA are convinced that Europe cannot produce a point guard suitable for the NBA.

Spurs' assistant general manager Buford thought so at first, but he began to change his mindset during the 2000 Nike Challenge and a field trip to France, and he also convinced Popovich with video and scouting reports, and the discerning Popovich also saw it as a rare talent, a worthwhile option for the Spurs point guard position, and although it was a gamble, Popovich was willing to gamble.

They received a slap in the face from the Celtics when they tried to win favor with Chris Anderson and pay a price for further engagement — such as a future second-round pick to get the Celtics a promise not to rob Parker early. New York's big-mouthed king Pete Wixie broke the news that Auerbach was interested in Tony Parker and thought he was a very good point guard. Auerbach's eyes are known to everyone in the United States, and as a result, Tony Parker suddenly became popular, news reports and scouting reports about him began to increase, and his projected draft pick soared.

Popovich is almost going to have his hair stripped to deal with such a complicated situation, and from now on, it will be not only the Celtics who could rob Parker, but almost every team in the league. Popovich had to use all of his connections to communicate with managers in the league who could potentially take Parker, hoping that they wouldn't take Parker early.

From the beginning of wanting to make a fortune in silence, to now having to make a big move, they have paid the price for a wrong overture. And Leon and the Celtics are in no hurry to make arrangements, quietly waiting for the big gamble of the draft to come.