Chapter 178: The Day of the Draft (First Update)

When it comes to the Australian men's basketball team, this is undoubtedly a powerhouse in world basketball.

Not to mention the many NBA star players in the Australian team, such as Andrew Bogut, Joe Ingles, Matthew Dellavedova, Patrick Mills and so on.

Not to mention the proud results of the Australian team in international competitions in recent years.

It is said that among the new generation of Australian players, Ben Simmons has emerged as a future NBA quasi-champion, which can be the envy of many countries.

The match between the national youth team and the Australian team is undoubtedly an all-round battle between Ben Simmons and Roy. Prior to this game, Roy's NBA mock draft rankings had soared to No. 20, which was very close to the lottery zone, while Ben Simmons had been at the top of the list for twelve consecutive weeks.

After the first two games, Roy's status in the minds of the audience has skyrocketed, he is no longer in the eyes of others such a position as the 20th, everyone is looking forward to this battle, they have to find an answer in the game, who is the strongest rookie in this year's draft.

The course of this game needs no elaboration, according to Roy, it was both intense and twisty.

Both teams have a problem: star players are very capable and role players are mediocre.

The core of the national youth team is Roy and Zhou Qi, while the Australian team has Ben Simmons and Dante Exum.

And the offense of the two teams almost revolves around these four people, Zhou Qi is inside, Exum is outside, Roy and Ben Simmons are in the opposite position one by one, both inside and outside, and the two sides can be described as evenly matched, each not giving in.

Roy had an inexplicable step-back jumper, while Ben Simmons relied on his strong physicality to crush the national youth team's defense, just as it was when Roy played Lonzo Ball, and neither side could stop the other.

The score is so staggered, alternating upwards.

It's hard to say who has the absolute upper hand, and neither side can hit any small climax.

The national youth team and the Australian team fought fiercely for 40 minutes, the two sides tied at 100 in regulation time, and in overtime, with Ben Simmons' key jumper, the Australian team won the game, and the final score was 108:106.

Roy played 42 minutes and scored 40 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, and Ben Simmons played 41 minutes and scored a triple-double of 37 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

The same is true of the media's evaluation, with Ben Simmons as a perfect reference, Roy has also gained a place in the foreign media, and many European and Australian media have known Roy through this invitational tournament.

The domestic media is even more terrible, they are already frantically touting Roy, and with Roy's outstanding performance in this invitational tournament, the pursuit of him is almost to the extent of no return.

The media is already impatient to push Roy into the senior national team, they believe that Roy is not only the future of the Chinese men's basketball team, but also may be the strongest first person in the current country, Roy can not only be selected for the national youth team, but also should enter the national team to participate in the upcoming Rio Olympics.

Of course, all this is the media's own YY, the national team is still a little far away from Roy at this stage, as mentioned earlier, it is very important to rank seniority in the domestic basketball world, Roy has to wait, Roy has to stay, fortunately, Roy is not in a hurry, he is still young.

Roy has only stayed in China for a short day, and he has no time to meet up with his old classmates for dinner, he is going back to the United States, he has to finish his high school, and the end of May is the graduation season, because he has chosen to participate in the NBA draft, so there is no need to worry about getting into college.

Compared to his peers, Roy's life is much simpler, and basketball is his only goal at this stage......

After returning to the United States, Roy received another bunch of good news, according to Bill Duffy, Roy was invited to participate in the 2016 NBA Draft joint training camp, known as the "talent training camp", from May 12 to May 16, at the Attack Athletics training base in Chicago.

Speaking of this NBA draft joint training camp, it is the NBA's largest official rookie training camp, the players invited to this training camp are selected by the general managers of the NBA's 30 teams, and are considered to have the opportunity to enter the NBA's star players, so the folk jokingly call it "talent training camp".

Being invited to participate in the NBA draft joint training camp means that Roy has been recognized by most NBA teams and is fully capable of establishing himself in the NBA.

It's clear that with his previous outstanding performances at the Four Nations Invitational, Roy has been truly recognized by the American basketball community.

In addition to Roy, his teammate Zhou Qi and his American opponents who had previously played in the invitational tournament were also invited, while other foreign players who played in the European league were unable to attend because of the game.

Combined training camp is a place where every rookie wants to get in, but there are also people who don't buy it much.

One of the top picks, Ben Simmons, announced that he would not participate in the joint training camp because his agent, Rich Paul, believes that participating in the training camp will only have a negative impact on Simmons. As the biggest and possibly only favorite for the top pick in this year's draft, it may be wise for Ben Simmons not to participate in an open tryout.

It is for this reason that Roy and Ingram have naturally become the biggest focus of this training camp.

Bill Duffy also took Roy's joint trial very seriously, and he made a point of meeting with Roy after returning to the United States and explained the precautions of the training camp.

The first thing is naturally to try to show yourself in the physical test, according to Bill Duffy's previous physical test results on Roy, Roy's physical test data can definitely enter the top three in this joint tryout, because Roy has not received any team's first-round draft guarantee, so he has no reason to save his strength.

The second thing is that Bill Duffy didn't recommend Roy to play in the 5-on-5 training tournament that resumed last year. Today's NBA is different from the past, even if a player refuses to participate in the matchup, it will not affect his draft ranking, especially those rookies who are sure to enter the lottery area, that is absolutely not going to risk participating in this game that may lower their ranking, so last year's five-on-five training game was actually only played by some second-round rookies and fringe rookies.

The third thing is to perform well in front of the media, don't underestimate the media, a good interview, a good attitude can often improve your draft ranking. You must know that in the increasingly commercial NBA league, the team selects players not only based on his strength and potential, but also on his commercial value, external image and other hidden factors, and the media is undoubtedly the biggest driver of the player's image.

Regarding Duffy's suggestion, Roy said that there was no doubt about it, he believed in Duffy's ability and his judgment, and left foreign affairs to Duffy and Su Dong, and he only needed to focus on strengthening training.

While Roy was actively preparing for the draft, the 2015-2016 NBA regular season was all played on April 13, and the Golden State Warriors won the regular season championship with a record 73-9, while the Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference championship with a record 77-25.

The San Antonio Spurs (67-15), Oklahoma City Thunder (55-27), Los Angeles Clippers (53-29), Portland Trail Blazers (44-38), Dallas Mavericks (42-40), Memphis Grizzlies (42-40) and Houston Rockets (41-41) in the West, Toronto Raptors (56-26), Miami Heat (48-34), Boston Celtics (48-34), The Charlotte Hornets (48-34), Indiana Pacers (45-37) and Detroit Pistons (44-38) all joined forces to make the playoffs.

Stephen Curry averaged 30.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game to win the regular season MVP trophy without any suspense.

The best coach went to Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the best rookie went to Karl-Anthony Towns, the best defensive player Kawhi Leonard, the best sixth man Jamal Crawford, and the most improved C.J. McClum.

The best teams are Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and DeAndre Jordan.

The best defensive team is Chris Paul, Avery Bradley, Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green and DeAndre Jordan.

The Rookie of the Year team goes to Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Devin Booker, Nikola Jokic and Jahir Okafor.

The dust has settled on the regular season, and the playoffs will begin.

For those teams that can't make the playoffs, their new season starts at this time......