On the afternoon of June 26, before the start of the draft, Liu Mang finally met with Schwartz, who was busy signing rookies, taking rookies to various training camps, recommending rookies to various teams, and meeting or failing to meet draft commitments in a hotel in New York.

"Ace, the Blue Association informed us that the latest reporting time is July 11th, go to Beijing and the national team to gather, a total of 44 people training camp list, the big training camp has begun on June 15th, the first list of more than 80 people, we are directly into the second phase of the training camp." Schwartz thought about the planned national team arrangements for Liu Mang's summer.

"Oh." Liu Mang responded, and in the list of more than 80 people, Liu Mang felt a strong bureaucratic wind...... People who don't understand basketball command the breath of the national team.

Who would have come up with an 80-man squad with only two months to go to the Olympics? The last ones to be selected are not only those old qualified players, but all of them are face projects.

Schwartz continued: "On July 19, it was decided to send a 21-man squad to the Aegean island for training, and on August 2, a 12-man squad was decided, and three waitlists were ......."

“…… Aegean Sea...... Are we going to play basketball or playing ball? Hearing this, Liu Mang felt that publicly-funded tourism was coming again.

Schwartz didn't understand China's national conditions, and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?" The Aegean Sea is the island with the most characteristic climate in Greece, and the United States, Argentina, Greece and Spain are the favorites who train there. ”

"Well, I didn't mean that, by the way, I promised KING James to take him to training." How can Liu Mang talk to foreigners about the problems of his own country, it is normal for his own people and his own people to scold his own country, but externally, who says that his country is not good, the first one who is anxious is still Chinese, Liu Mang immediately changed the topic.

Schwartz flipped through the timetable before and after the national team plan, and replied: "It's arranged, from July 3rd to July 6th, you have four cities in China to promote together, Nike wants you to help introduce James to Chinese fans, I have communicated with James's agent team, from September 2nd to September 10th, train with James in Los Angeles, and you are also on Evia Island during the training camp, and you can also train together if you have the opportunity." ”

After Schwartz read the general itinerary to Liu Mang, he gave the backup of the itinerary to Liu Mang, and Liu Mang looked at it, really, from the preparation of the draft conference at the end of the playoffs to the training camp next season, the itinerary was full all summer.

It's all like this, what else can I do, Liu Mang doesn't have time to care about the teammates who have left the team these days, the farewell party has long ended, organized by Jason Terry and Muhammad, Liu Mang didn't go back to participate.

"Jeff, how's Matt's mood over there?" Liu Mang is most concerned about Barnes, who is mixed in the middle and lower echelons of the NBA.

"Oh, Matt cried all night that night, and the next day he learned that there was a 3-year, 9 million early renewal contract, and he was so happy that he was about to jump." Schwartz shrugged helplessly.

"......" Liu Mang was speechless, "That's really congratulations to him." ”

"Haha, Ace, you don't know, Matt's girlfriend said that Matt cried all night and kept saying 'Boss doesn't want me anymore'." Schwartz couldn't stop laughing at the thought of it.

“…… Let him hurry up and get out. Liu Mang thought of a big man crying and talking like that, and goosebumps rose.

Co-authored, this product thought that the Eagles traded him because the company didn't want him anymore, thought he was going to lose his job, and when he saw the big contract, he was lost and sad.

Barnes's three-year salary that year, the last year is insecure, and now the contract has been renewed for 3 years and 9 million, that is, plus the base salary of 850,000 in the previous year, a total of 4 years and 10.05 million contracts, that is, you can stay in the NBA for up to six years, and the average career life of the NBA second-round picks is less than two years, and the average career life of all rookies in the entire NBA is only 4.8 years.

Ignoring his former bodyguard, this guy is really enough, Liu Mang asked, "By the way, how many rookies did our company sign today?" ”

"There are five players signed that can be confirmed to be in the NBA, and there are more than 10 players who are brought by the rest of the company to have a chance to enter the NBA." Schwartz replied directly without looking at this.

"Five? Wow, this time it was a good harvest, I remember I recommended Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala for you to get ready to grab in advance, did you get Howard? Or Okafor? Liu Mang asked expectantly.

Schwartz rolled his eyes: "How is it possible, those two guys have long been targeted by big agencies, in addition to Iguodala and Josh Smith, the other three are Ben Gordon, Tony Allen and J.R. Smith." ”

"Who do you say in the end?"

……

……

It's dangerous, Schwartz actively recommended JR Smith to the Hornets, the Hornets are in dire need of swing guards after Jamal Mashburn retired, small forwards and scoring guards are short of manpower, and JR-Smith is indeed strong enough, although he is a high school rookie, but with the previous successful examples of Kobe Bryant, Maddy and others, it is possible to become a starter in the NBA to focus on training, but his personality is very poor, and the lottery area does not dare to choose him.

And Liu Mang didn't dare to choose, he wanted to defend his title, and if he reached the finals, JR-Smith's head show was funny......

Liu Mang felt that in the future, he should recommend JR-Smith to James as a friend, so that they could fall in love with each other.

Unconsciously, Liu Mang's company already has 12 NBA players, which can already be regarded as a good-scale brokerage company, at first it mainly relied on Liu Mang's vision to sign people, and then slowly, began to rely on Liu Mang's influence and Schwartz's own vision to sign many players.

……

"Uncle, uncle, tell Dinah who we are going to choose today, okay......"

Hearing the sable cicada-like coquettish voice on the other end of the phone, Liu Mang replied decisively: "Dinah, watching the draft is to watch a suspense!" How boring it is. ”

"Uncle......" Little Lori continues to be coquettish.

"Uh...... No, otherwise your mother will beat me up if she is spoiled, and my uncle can only tell you that we have to choose a group of handsome guys to improve the team's appearance! Liu Mang said very sincerely.

"Liar! Uncle said to choose a group of handsome guys, hum, it must be a group of guys like that Howard to set off themselves. Little Lori saw through Liu Mang's careful thinking at a glance.

What a witty little Lori, she was actually seen through! How could Liu Mang admit such a thing? Just arrived at the location, and immediately said: "How is it possible, is your uncle and I that kind of person?" Okay, okay, I'm at Madison Square Garden, and we'll talk back tomorrow. ”

Liu Mang hung up the phone, got out of the car and walked with Schwartz to the Madison Square Garden Arena.

The NBA draft is like a big show, Schwartz comes every year, he is very used to it, if Liu Mang participates in person, it is the first time, when he gets off the bus, he gets off on the side of the road under traffic control, and when he gets off the bus, it is a red carpet, which looks like the red carpet of the film festival, which feels so special.

When Liu Mang and Schwartz walked on the red carpet, the reporters gathered on both sides of the red carpet, and the flash kept shooting, constantly asking questions.

"Ace, look here, what do you think about the big deal taking place in the team? Will it influence your renewal options this summer? ”

"Ace, look here, I heard that this large-scale trade is because of the championship MVP problem, is this true?"

"Ace, who are you going to pick this year? Can you reveal that? ”

"Ace, you have the title of Hand of God in the NBA draft, and anyone can play it, what do you think of this title?"

"Mr. Schwartz, it is said that Ace's draft information was all obtained from you, is it true?"

"Mr. Schwartz, you've signed a total of five rookies this year, are you confident that they're all in the NBA?"

“……”

“……”

Liu Mang and Schwartz were both interviewed by the media, Liu Mang's draft vision is inseparable from Schwartz in people's eyes, as an agent who entered the sports circle in the early 90s, although he was a tennis agent before, but there are many contacts in the sports circle.

Schwartz has signed five rookies this year, including two lottery favorites and one quasi-lottery favorite, which is not as good as the agency that won Howard or Okafor, but it will definitely rank in the top five of the major agencies this summer.

Liu Mang has already received Schwartz's guidance, just laugh, whoever tells him to look at whose camera and smile, just leave a photo, even at the last moment before the draft, the management of other teams will stare at the intelligence of the team with a strong draft pick, and if you reveal something a little, you may be cut off.

After Liu Mang and Schwartz entered the Madison Square Garden arena, they separated, Liu Mang went to the Eagles' draft office to meet with management, and Schwartz went to the rookies to stay and cheer up the nervous rookies.

This is a draft that changed the fate of a basketball boy from the slums, even the top picks are very nervous, and the difference between the first and second picks is still quite big.

……

Since the completion of the big deal, the Hawks' side has been silent, without much operation, and wait until the draft is over to see if there is a chance to make reinforcements.

The Hawks didn't immediately continue to trade, anyway, there are only 10 people left on the team, Kevin Willis and Calderon, they are not worried about being drafted by the Bobcats, the Bobcats have 1 first-round pick, there are only 14 contract spots left, and it is impossible to rely on the current players who are outside the eight-man protection list of other teams to fill the lineup, so the Hawks are not worried at all.

After Liu Mang arrived at the draft office, the management and coaching staff greeted him, ignored him, and waited nervously for the draft to start.

Calling Liu Mang to come, just to deal with a particularly unexpected situation, the No. 6 pick is okay, the No. 13 pick is also okay, if the main selection and the alternative of the later pick are selected, but the next one to be selected is very far from the pick in hand, then you have to decide on a new candidate immediately in a few minutes, some drafts that seem completely unreasonable, this is what happened, and it is very common. 、

At seven o'clock in the evening New York time, after a long and more than an hour of various activities before the draft, the draft meeting finally began.

Liu Mang dozed off for a while, and was woken up by Coach Kruger, who immediately patted his face and concentrated on the draft meeting with direct communication on the large LED screen in the office.

With the first pick, the Magic didn't pick Emeka Okafor, a mature center known as the second Tim Duncan, but instead chose Dwight Howard, who became the second high school center to be the top pick.

Due to Kwame Browntree's performance, it is now possible to become the starting center of the Hawks, Howard is now more favored than originally, when the Magic team did not choose the "second Duncan" Okafor, the Magic fans on the scene booed for a long time, but this time, the cheers were the majority.

Although there are still fans who are dissatisfied with Duncan's performance in Okafor's college days, Howard does indeed play out, maybe the next David Robinson, or at least the second Kwame Brown, so it won't be too much of a loss......

Teammate Magic team selected Howard, Liu Mang was really surprised by the vision of the Magic team in this regard, this choice is fantastic, too bold!

After more and more news about the draft in the past few months, almost since March, Okafor has dominated the screen in the draft news section, Okafor entered the NBA after playing in the third year, not that he wants to make money early, he is a player with the best SAT score since the NBA player has been recorded, when he graduated from high school, he has already completed enough credits before finishing his sophomore year, and he can graduate in four years, and he has taken enough credits to get a bachelor's degree in finance, he entered the NBA not to make money early, But the NCAA is no longer challenging for him, in March Crazy this year, he led the University of Connecticut to crush all the way in the round of 64, winning an average of 15 points per game in six games, winning the championship in general, averaging 19 points, 16 boards and 4.5 blocks per game, and 24 points, 15 boards and 2 blocks in the finals, and won the MOP in the Final Four without any suspense.

In the face of a college Duncan-level player not to choose, choose Howard, a high school student, with a unique vision, Liu Mang is really convinced, if he doesn't open his eyes, Liu Mang will choose Okafor, after all, Duncan is too successful.

The Magic team's sharp eyes chose Howard, and the happiest, of course, was Old Man Joe, and the second pick, Old Man Joe, couldn't wait to choose the "next Duncan".

The third pick, the Bulls drafted Ben Gordon, which was also expected, as he was Okafor's college teammate and together created the most glorious year in the history of the University of Connecticut, which is also worth mentioning, he is also British.

With the fourth pick, the first three potential, i.e., power players were drafted, and the Clippers also bet on potential, selecting contemporary Magic Shaun Livingston, and the fifth pick The Wizards selected Devin Harris.

Seeing Harris being selected, Liu Mang was helpless, in fact, this was his first substitute, but because it was almost impossible for Harris to fall out of the top five, there was no way.

Before the end of the finals, Liu Mang didn't expect that his team would have a No. 6 pick, and he didn't expect the team to be in the current situation, fighting for the championship all season, and he didn't have time to plan these things in advance.

However, it's not bad, choose a swing man.

Seeing that Price couldn't wait to put the prepared letter with his name into the envelope and hand it to the alliance staff, Liu Mang snapped his fingers...... There are no half dead people in the universe, but Bodyguard Number one is here.

The Eagles selected Andre Iguodala with the sixth pick.

This is a small upset, the sixth pick is the favorites of Duke University's Roel Deng and Stanford-University's Josh Childis, Iguodala University is average, he has not played March Madness in college for two years, and if it weren't for the poor resources in '04, it would have been difficult for him to get into the lottery.

However, the Hawks are now extremely short of forwards, and there is no problem in choosing Iguodala, and Roel Deng and Childis are also small forwards, and who these three chooses is actually about the same, but those two people have more experience in the tournament, and Iguodala does not.

The Hawks didn't pick Roel Deng or Childis, and the teams behind were happy, with the Bulls picking up Jordan Deng with the seventh pick, Josh Childis, the 76ers picking up Josh Childis, and the Raptors picking up Rafael Aruyu, who Liu Mang didn't remember at all, with the ninth pick.

With the 10th pick, the Warriors selected Andris Biedrins, and with the 11th pick, the Cavaliers selected Ohio's homegrown star, Luke Jackson.

When it came to the twelfth pick, an accident appeared, breaking the plan on the Eagles' side!

The Celtics used the 12th pick in the first round to pick up high school rookie Al Jefferson!

Originally, Liu Mang wanted to pick Al Jefferson with the 13th pick, to see what the Celtics would use as the main bargaining chip in the future to trade Garnett, but forgot that although the Celtics are ninth in the East, they only have a record of 34 wins, and they are not as good as the third-to-last supersonic record in the West with 35 wins......

If the Celtics make the playoffs, it would be best to be the fifteenth pick, that is, the highest picks in the playoffs, but if they don't make the playoffs, they will directly drop several picks!

In a few days, he hastily decided on the draft candidates, and Liu Mang also made a mistake!

The Eagles' interior line was already a key point, even more so after Raheem and Boozer left, Al Jefferson's traditional interior characteristics could just make up for the Hawks' problem, but it was cut off by the Celtics!

There was no choice but to choose an alternative, and the Hawks used the thirteenth pick in the first round to select another high school student, Josh Smith.

This year, three high school students have already been selected in the lotto area, setting another record.

Then the right-to-head Jazz, seeing that Robert Swift, the legendary "hopeful" of the contemporary white center, had no choice, decisively took Robert Swift with the last pick in the lottery......

This year, the Jazz have a total of three first-rounders, the No. 6 pick to the Hawks, and the remaining No. 14 pick from the Trail Blazers and one No. 16 pick from the Grizzlies.

After the lottery is selected, many fans in the back pick have little interest in the next draft, and those who seem to have talent and potential have basically been selected, and all that remains is the suspense of which team will take away the thorn of JR Smith.

However, for the Eagles, there is not much suspense in the lottery selection, except for Al Jefferson being snatched away, and the lack of one of the most vicious bodyguards Liu Mang is a bit of a surprise, but the selection of Josh Smith is not far off, to really say it, Josh Smith is much more talented than Al Jefferson.

The point is in the back!

Finally, after waiting for a long time, I waited for the Hawks to choose people, Tony Allen and Delonti West, they are the two candidates given by Liu Mang, one is a physical male with a good defensive attitude, and the other is a high-quality point guard who can be used as a substitute.

In the end, the Hawks selected Tony Allen from the University of Oklahoma with the 23rd pick in the first round, and did not choose Delonte West, mainly because Liu Mang had a problem with the personality prompted later.

The Hawks didn't pick Delonte West, and the Celtics immediately took the ......

The first round is over, and in the second round, not only the fans, but also the teams are not much interested.

Since Al Jefferson was not selected, the Hawks' draft plan for the rest of the game has actually been broken, and they must find an opportunity to select a backup center, and they must have the kind of immediate combat power, without Al Jefferson, others are not worth developing.

Originally, Liu Mang wanted to choose Chris Dujon as his substitute with the first pick in the second round, but without Al Jefferson, he could only choose Anderson Vallejo with the first pick in the second round......

The 41st pick in the second round, the Hawks selected Trevor Ariza from UCLA, the Lakers have already bought the No. 42 pick in the second round, local players, they also want, but they were preempted by the Hawks, and then the Lakers have no alternatives, mainly because this rookie is too vegetable, the Lakers management reached the second half of the second round, and they couldn't even remember the name, and after being snatched away by the Hawks, they panicked all of a sudden, and they didn't find anything that they thought could be chosen for a long time. After hesitating for several minutes, he didn't write his name down, and it was past the time to hand over the envelope.

As a result, the Lakers spent $600,000 to buy a draft pick, and Stu Jackson announced that he was the 42nd overall pick in this draft...... Elected......

Liu Mang saw that the Lakers were actually selected! And it's a draft pick that I just bought, and I can't pass on the laughter.

But at this point, the draft is basically over, and the remaining dozen picks, except for the Mavericks who selected the ill-fated man of the Spanish vultures at the bottom, the only thing to watch is that another Asian player entered the NBA, and the Trail Blazers selected the center of the baseball country He Shengzhen with the 46th pick in the second round.

For this man who claimed to be going to beat Yao Ming, Liu Mang felt that it was better to leave it to Yao Ming to play by himself, don't deprive others of the fun.

Liu Mang is now interested in returning to Atlanta to pick up a new bodyguard...... No, it's a new teammate, I can't wait!