Leon hung up not to anger Auerbach, but because he didn't have time to talk to Auerbach at the Minnesoe Target Drafting Center, because until now, the Celtics still haven't finalized their draft strategy.

Although Auerbach was not wrong about the news that Leon had convinced the Celtic team to pick his preferred candidate, of course, Michael Reed, the scouting team was divided on how to take Reed.

According to Pitino's thoughts, since Reed's draft prediction pick is in the second round, and Reed's prediction pick has not risen with the Celtics' optimism so far, the Celtics, who have the No. 11 pick, directly take Reed, which is obviously not a profit-maximizing choice.

Because the Celtics didn't have a second-round pick in this year's draft.

So, Pitino tried to trade down from the No. 11 pick to get a lower first-round pick and a second-round pick, so they could use a first-round pick to get the interior they wanted, and then use the second-round pick to get Michael Reed.

Pitino's line of thought was supported by the rest of the scouting team, with the exception of Leon.

"With less than two hours to go until the draft starts, I think Pitino is on the right track, and now the Clippers have expressed their interest in a trade, and their pick is the right fit for us." Sitting in the team area at the center of the target, Chris Wallace was persuading Leon.

Leon was joined by Chris Wallace tonight, along with Michael Carr, the team's director of development, for the draft in Minnesota. But until now, Wallace is arguing with Leon about the draft order.

It stands to reason that Wallace, as the general manager of the team, has the right to decide on the selection of players, and he does not have to pay attention to the opinion of a scout, after all, the scouts can only provide reference opinions, not decisions.

But Leon is different.

It's been almost a month since he joined Celtic as a scout, and Leon has earned the respect of others with his performances.

In the rookie training camp, he combined his own data collection and video observation to submit the first scouting report of his scouting career, which included detailed and unique data analysis, meticulous action observation, and the collection of players' personal experience and diligence, which can be said to have delivered a beautiful answer.

The report ultimately impressed Rick Pitino, not only because of the professional and meticulous data analysis that opened Pitino's eyes, but also because of the unique perspective of the entire scouting report. As a newcomer to the scouting world, Leon did not fall into the "herd effect" at all, did not lose his assertiveness by the surging scout information around him, and did not use his memory to follow the trend as Pitino expected.

Instead, he continued to learn and summarize, with Vogel learning a lot about video analysis, Jim O'Brien learning a lot about the basics of basketball, and Chris Wallace learning a lot about the NBA and the rules of how trade runs.

Eventually, Pitino had to accept the nail sent by Auerbach, and sometimes he thought that maybe the nail would nail him more firmly to the ground.

In the period following training camp, Pitino sent Leon and Wallace to California, Minnesota and Ohio to scout their target players individually, but neither Moiso nor Samaki stood up to scrutiny and were dismissed for their disappointing overall performances.

Purzbilla was also ruled out because of the Rockets' hijacking, and in Ohio's contact with Michael Reed, the humble and silent young man made a good impression on the Celtics scouting team, and Reed also performed extremely well in a training game, which finally led the Celtics team to decide to choose only the best regardless of the specific needs of the team.

Now, there is a disagreement over how to pick Reed.

In the face of Wallace's persuasion, Leon insisted that he must take Reed in the first round, rather than wait until the second round to get Reed, even though the Clippers offered the chips of the 18th in the first round and the first pick in the second round.

If the current market is followed, it is more than enough to get Reid with the first pick in the second round.

"We have to get Reid in the first round, not just because of respect for him, but also because if we take him in the second round, under the current rookie contract rules, if he performs well, then in two years he could be taken by other teams with a higher offer. Although it is a little early to consider such a problem, it is necessary to prevent such things from happening. After much of the debate, Leon finally threw out a very strong argument.

Because under the latest collective bargaining clause in 1999, a second-round rookie would only be eligible for an early Bird clause after being drafted, which means that the parent team could renew the player's contract at the higher of 175% of his final year's salary and the league-wide average player salary (i.e., the middle class) after he became a free agent.

"Now that we've given Reid a huge assessment of his potential, it's up to be ready for him to play well and get coveted by other teams, and if we just take him in the second round and then he becomes a restricted free agent two years later, and then can't give him a contract beyond the mid-level deal because of the salary cap, and he is signed by other teams, what's the point of what we're doing in the draft today, and all the work we're doing in the lead-up to the draft?"

Leon asked the others, he had repeatedly read the CBA clause that had just been introduced in 1999 in the past few days, because it had only been around for a year, and there must have been many loopholes, and it was precisely because of the concern about this problem that Leon insisted that Pitino take Reed in the first round.

Leon's thoughts were undoubtedly prescient, and his words were particularly calm in the noisy atmosphere of the target center.

His idea finally struck Wallace, and as the Celtics' draft representative tonight, he was going to tell Stern about the team's draft results in a little more than an hour.

So, Wallace picked up the telephone in front of him and dialed the Celtic headquarters.

………………………

At seven o'clock in the evening, the 2000 draft officially began, ** TV broadcast the whole draft conference, they have two live broadcast stations at the target center venue, one in front of the draft table, one on the left side of the draft table, respectively, the comment area and the player interview area.

Between the comment section and the draft table is a seating area for rookie families, friends, agents and NBA staff, and now these young people, along with their families and friends, are waiting for the NBA team to throw an olive branch to them.

This will be a fateful moment for many players, and once they enter the league, money and fame will come with a high draft.

Especially for those black players who were abandoned by their fathers and raised by their single mothers, entering the NBA not only means the continuation of the basketball dream, but also means a break with the poverty and poor life in the past.

Leon sat in the stands of the team area, looking at the nervous young men on their faces, thinking about his own video of the drafts of the past few years, and some of the selected players were even excited with tears in his eyes, and he had to feel how much the sport has changed people's lives.

"Isn't my fate changed because of this?" Leon thought of himself, of the hard work of a comeback over the past month or so — 120,000 words of scouting reports, 135 hours of video editing, 600,000 words of professional book reading, 10,000 miles of travel, and memorizing a copy of a CBA collective bargaining agreement.

He has evolved from a gifted scout who relies solely on calculations, instincts, and memory to having both intuition and expertise, and just lacks enough

An experienced scout with incredible speed.

Now, the results of his month-long work will be visible here.

At this time, NBA commissioner David Stern slowly walked to the microphone in the center of the draft table, and he gave the opening speech with a smile amid the cheers of the fans.

"Good evening and welcome to the 2000 NBA Draft, thank you to the Minnesota fans in attendance, thank you to the viewers who watched the show on ** TV in the United States and YTV in Canada, thank you for joining us, thank you for your great support. The first pick in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft went to the New Jersey Nets, who will have five minutes to make their selection. ”

Stern walked off the draft bench with a powerful opening remarks, leaving time for the New Jersey Nets, who will have five minutes to make their selections and inform Stern, who will announce their selections on the draft table five minutes later.

Five minutes is a short and long time, and for those who are anxiously waiting for the results of the draft, Stern will be eager to take the stage and tell them who the Nets have drafted.

Finally, Stern stood on the stage and announced in his steady and gentle tone: "In the first round of the first draft, the New Jersey Nets selected Kenyon Martin from the University of Cincinnati!" ”

The Nets chose Kenyon Martin, an outcome that didn't have much suspense, Leon sat in the stands and watched Martin and his family hug and celebrate, but he was a little anxious in his heart, because he didn't know if Wallace's phone call just now had an effect, whether Pitino would listen to him, or if there would be something else.

……………………

The draft continued, with the Grizzlies selecting Strom Swift, a very physical forward, at the second pick, and the Clippers making a similar choice, where they took Darius Myers.

It's a good idea to make a good deal for some teams to get a high pick, because they don't seem to have anything but luck.

As the Celtics got closer and closer, it seemed that there was no intention of trading draft picks at the Boston headquarters, and Wallace and Leon kept the phone until the Orlando Magic, who were in 10th place, finished drafting, and the phone finally rang.

Wallace answered the phone, he didn't have a chance to speak, just hung up the phone with a few "um" sounds, and then he said to Leon, "Things have changed. He left his seat as he went down to inform the Stern Celtics of their choice.

Rao is Leon, who has excellent psychological quality, also became nervous all of a sudden, and he could feel his heartbeat speed by thirty-three percent, which is a very rare situation.

"Damn, what the hell is going on." Leon couldn't help but mutter.

Finally, Stern walked onto the draft table and loudly announced to the audience: "With the 11th pick in the first round, the Boston Celtics chose ...... From Syracuse University, Etan Thomas! ”