During the offseason, Ji Liang kept a low profile, during which he participated in the Nuggets' season summary meeting.

The Nuggets owner is a businessman, and even if he wants to sell the team, after the meeting, for the sake of the team's stability, he still truthfully transferred the playoff bonus to the player's account.

In the shortened season, the Nuggets' results far exceeded their goals, not only successfully reaching the playoffs, but also successfully 'Black Seven', Sir Rick and the Trail Blazers, and finally reached the Western Conference Finals.

It's a miracle for a rebuilding team, and even if you look through the history of the league, you can't find a few similar teams, and naturally the prize money is quite generous.

Of course, the Nuggets have more gains, and the arena and viewership gains alone far outweigh the bonuses, not to mention some additional benefits and impact.

In the past few days, perhaps it was the defeat of the Spurs, which made Chi Liang's will a little depressed, and he couldn't help but be haunted by negative emotions such as loss, helplessness, self-blame, and regret.

However, after all, he is a strong-willed player, and he is not easily affected by negative emotions.

In just a few days, not only did I return to normal, but my fighting spirit became more vigorous, and I want to achieve better results next year.

After losing the Western Conference Finals, Nuggets fans didn't blame the Nuggets players much, even the erring Fortson was no exception, but instead focused on encouragement.

This Nuggets team is very young, and there are no players over the age of 30 who can't be found, a real youth army.

Including Ji Liang, many Nuggets players are participating in the playoffs for the first time. But in the first year after the rebuild, he had already reached the Western Conference finals, and the reason why he lost the game was mainly a matter of experience and squad structure, as long as he strengthened the interior line next season, he might be able to achieve better results.

Because of this, Nuggets fans are looking forward to next season.

At the same time, Ji Liang also began to look forward to next season. It's just that when I think of the Lakers' Ao Fat, I don't have confidence in my heart.

According to the historical trend, in the next three years, the Lakers will build a purple and gold dynasty, O'Neal has shown unspoken dominance, and the 'blacksmith' is also on the way to the top, and it is extremely difficult to win the O'Brien Cup from the OK combination.

Of course, the more difficult it is, the more combative Chi Liang is.

During this period, Chi Liang has been 'at home' and watched the finals on time.

On the evening of June 16, the finals between the Spurs and the Knicks finally began.

On the home court of the Spurs, the Knicks stood out in the first quarter and had a slight upper hand.

It's a pity that Popovich was cunning and quickly found a way to deal with the Knicks, limiting the opponent's outside play, and Duncan began to explode, resulting in the Knicks scoring only 10 points in the second quarter!

Under the defense of the Spurs, the Knicks did not feel good on the outside, and the inside was completely restricted, and the Spurs gradually widened the point difference, and finally won easily.

In this game, Duncan slashed 33 points and 16 rebounds, while Robinson showed all-round means, using a wide field of vision, and got 13 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

Two days later, in the second Finals, the Knicks still lost the game without resistance.

In the league president's office, Stern was holding the ratings report, and his face was very unsightly.

These two Finals games between the Spurs and the Knicks set a new low in the league's Finals ratings in the past decade and almost broke history.

No way, whether it is the Spurs or the Knicks, they are mainly defensive, and almost all the games are collisions between muscles, and the viewing is naturally not good-looking.

On the evening of June 21, in the third game of the finals, the Knicks sat on the home court advantage and barely pulled back a game.

Unlike the previous two games, in this game, Alan Houston and Sprewell, the 'mid-range shooting king', broke out and combined to score 58 points.

Most importantly, the Knicks protected the rebounding ball and didn't fall behind in the slightest.

But this is just a lingering breath for the Knicks, and when it comes to the fourth Finals, even if Sprewell, Houston and Marcus Camby all combined for 66 points, they still haven't won the victory.

In fact, the key is rebounding, unlike the last game, this time the Knicks did not protect the rebounds, taking 15 fewer rebounds than the opponent, coupled with Duncan and Robinson's blockade of the restricted area, which is also the main reason why the Knicks lost the game.

In Ewing's absence, the Spurs' twin towers are too strong, and unless the Knicks are on fire, it will be difficult to win.

Unexpectedly, after the overall score of 3-1, the Knicks did not give up the game, but showed amazing resilience and almost got pulled back by another game.

Unfortunately, the Knicks were unlucky and missed the final shot, unfortunately losing the game by one point, and finally the Spurs won the championship with a total score of 4:1.

It was also the first NBA championship in Spurs history, in which Tim Duncan was named Finals MVP with 27.4 points, 14 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.

That night, perhaps the 'senior' was too busy, Chi Liang didn't get in touch with Duncan, so he could only send a text message to congratulate him on winning the championship and the MVP of the finals!

After the Finals, the management of all the teams was busy, participating in the NBA lottery and making plans for offseason reinforcements, scouting players, and so on.

The day after the Finals, June 26, tonight is also the draw for the NBA Draft.

At the end of each season, the NBA conducts a lottery drawn by 14 teams that failed to make the playoffs. The specific rules of the lotto system are that the 14 balls are labeled with the numbers 1~14 and put into the rolling vessel. If you roll out 4 random number balls, regardless of the order in which they are drawn, there will be 1001 different situations.

Depending on the quality of the record, these teams will receive a corresponding number of combinations. Whichever team has the first combination to be drawn will be the first team to be drawn. When the top three picks are decided, the entire lottery process ends.

According to the rules, the entire lottery process will be attended by NBA officials, representatives of the 14 teams, and accountants who oversee the lottery.

At the end of the draw, the accountant will place the cards with each team's logo in three envelopes marked 1 to 3 and seal them. Neither NBA Vice President Grannick nor the team's representatives knew in advance what the outcome would be inside the envelope.

Then the NBA will officially announce the results of the lottery, the 4th to 13th picks will be announced in descending order, and then the envelope will be opened to announce the teams with the top three draft picks in order, and the team noted in the last open envelope will be the top pick in the draft.

In this lottery, the Bulls won the first pick, and the Grizzlies and Hornets won the top and the flowers, respectively.

As for the Nuggets, due to their record, they naturally differed from history and finally got the No. 26 pick.