(Recently, I worked overtime on New Year's Day, and yesterday was too late and tired, and I didn't want to turn on the computer, so I was sorry for the day.) NBA summer time flies, and as the dust settles on the draft, the smoke of the 1999-2000 season has long since dissipated into the waves and breezes.

But it's still a season to remember, especially for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers got their wish and won both the 2000 Finals and the regular season.

Their super-inside lineman Shaquille O'Neal ushered in a season of Grand Slam, championship, Finals MVP, regular season MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and even scoring title, and the super-monster finally landed on the West Coast and brought the Purple Lakers back to the top of the world.

By contrast, the Boston Celts, an arch-rival on the East Coast, still seem to be drowning in darkness.

What good could they do in the 2000 draft, where they got a guard who was supposed to be in the second round, a guard who didn't shoot consistently? It is said to be the opinion of their team's new scouts.

Pitino is still squatting in the position of president and head coach, and Auerbach has not been in the position for a long time, I don't know if he is giving Pitino the last chance.

Then the Celtics also got the outcast of the league, the source of trouble, Dennis Rodman, the conservative, old basketball city is going to welcome such a colorful guy, and many media ridiculed that Rodman's arrival will give Auerbach five years less life.

Of course, the Celtics' new scout was also intrigued, and although some media reports about him were only mentioned in passing, on July 1, a photo of Rodman and the scout named Fox Leon wrestling in a hotel gym in Sydney began circulating on the Internet, and was quickly printed in the print media.

Some believe that this is the key for this scout to be able to bring back Rodman for the Celtics, this guy will wrestle; And some people think it's not the right business, a scout runs to fight the player, and this player is Dennis Rodman.

It's fair to say that the Celtics have been quite buzzy this summer, with a mess inside, an unsatisfactory draft, two strange guys coming in, and nothing showing any signs of getting better, and it looks like they will continue to slide in the dark.

But Paul Pearce didn't care about that, and after the season he returned to his hometown of Los Angeles, where he turned a deaf ear to Boston news and focused on his summer training.

The kid who grew up in Inglewood was a die-hard Los Angeles Lakers fan from an early age, but in the 1998 draft he was drafted by the Lakers' arch-rival Celtics with the 10th pick, a team he never expected and a pick he never expected.

At that time, Paul Pierce didn't want to play basketball anymore, but the love of basketball, the insistence on professionalism in his head, and the hatred for the top nine teams that didn't choose him, Pierce still started his Celtics career with the green jersey he once hated.

Now that he has successfully spent two seasons, in the 1999-2000 season he climbed to 19.5 points per game, which is already a league star, Pitino treated him well, in order to develop him to trade Ron Moser who overlapped with him, gave him enough playing time and off-court guidance, and is grateful to Pitino Pierce, after all, he picked himself in 1998 and carefully cultivated himself for two years.

On the contrary, Pierce did not have much affection for Auerbach, after all, before being selected by the Celtics, Pierce Jr. hated this "no evil" green shirt old man, after coming to Boston, Auerbach gradually faded out of Celtic management until he resigned.

Now in Los Angeles, at UCLA, Pierce trains with his high school friend Kevin Garnett. Since high school, Kevin Garnett has traveled thousands of miles from South Carolina to Los Angeles, California, to network, compete, and train.

Pierce's Inglewood High School is where Garnett frequents, and in Garnett's words, they became good brothers on the court after they first met.

Now that they're in the NBA, they're still training together in the summer, and then after a sweaty workout, they're drinking ice soda and chatting on the sidelines.

Garnett mentioned Fox Leon, who recalled going to Leon's room to look for a field after the draft and was shocked. Garnett was not ashamed of this, on the contrary, he described the situation that day in great detail, even exaggerated, because in his words Leon was as cold and ruthless as Harris, the king of Hades, and it was intimidating.

"I don't believe anything you say, I've always believed in you, but now, isn't your brain frozen by the snowstorm in Mingzhou?" Pierce said with a look of disbelief that you would kill me, his voice not at all like a young man in his early 20s, but hoarse like a half-old man.

Garnett's eyes widened and explained to Pierce that he wasn't lying at all, Pierce just shook his head and drank a soda, then continued: "I've heard some gossip about this guy lately, a scout who came out of nowhere, it's not a big deal, we're not rookies anymore." By the way, I'm going to see you in Boston tomorrow, and I don't know when I'll see you next time, brother. ”

Hearing Pierce say this, Garnett was no longer obsessed with explaining, he gave Pierce a hug and said in his ear: "The next time I go to Boston, I'm going to beat you guys up, and I really want to beat that Fox Leon and knock his jaw off." ”

In this way, after saying goodbye to Garnett, Pierce had to say goodbye to Los Angeles again, and he spent a summer in the UCLA training gym to further improve his agility, and honed his offensive skills repeatedly, and in the one-on-one offensive and defensive training with Garnett, he continued to improve his pace, because Garnett has excellent defensive footwork, and if his footwork can fool Garnett, then he can fool all the defenders in the league.

At this time, the time has reached the end of September, the summer has slowly reached his tail, and with the autumn approaching, the training camps of the various teams will also reopen.

After the players have completed the improvement and exercise of their own quality, they will report to the team and run in with their teammates, which is extremely important for the new season.

Pierce took a noon flight and arrived at Boston's Logan International Airport, it was half past seven in the afternoon Eastern Time in Boston, and someone was already waiting for him in the parking lot at the airport, his good buddy on the team, Celtics center Tony Barty.

Batty was traded back by Pitino in a 1998 trade with the Lakers, with whom he was swapped for Chavez Nut, the first center Pitino signed - a big white man, a completely unknown signing, and finally realized his mistake Pitino traded Batty for Batty, who was a good player, and he quickly became a good friend of Paul Pierce.

After a good friend picks up the wind, a tired Pierce sleeps in Barty's apartment to recharge his strength, and when he wakes up, it is already early in the morning.

At this time, he saw Barty change his outfit and look hip-hop and playful, and he said to Pierce: "Hey buddy, get up, let's go out and have fun at night, and my brother Derek, you are not sleepy when you wake up anyway, and you are about to start training camp, and there will be no time to go out by then." ”

Pierce knew that Barty wanted to take him to a nightclub, but Pierce didn't like to go there, and he didn't like to go to that kind of place as soon as he returned to Boston, but the young man's momentary curiosity still moved him, anyway, he slept for four hours and was full of energy, and it would be good to go to that kind of bright place to vent properly. Training in Los Angeles for more than two months was a tough, tiring day.

Eventually, Pierce was moved, and he changed his clothes, got into Barty's car, and headed for Barty's bar.