After saying goodbye to Coach Philip Saunders, Takedo left for Minnesota, and before leaving, Takedo also made a special phone call to his team to report to Coach Smith about going to the Timberwolves for a tryout.

Going to the Timberwolves for a tryout, in Philip Saunders' words, needs to be kept secret, and from Philip Saunders' point of view, he doesn't want a player as talented as martial arts to be seen by too many people.

Just in case there are too many people competing with him when martial arts land in the NBA in the future.

Yes, after a brief encounter with Martial Arts for almost half a month, Coach Philip Sanders was convinced that as long as Martial Arts continued on his current path, he would one day break into the NBA.

And from Philip Saunders' point of view, even if a player like Martial Arts participated in the draft when he was in high school, the rank would definitely not be too low.

It's absolutely no problem to mix up a lotto show.

But from the standpoint of martial arts, how can such a good thing as going to the Timberwolves for a tryout be known only to yourself?

Of course, the more people who know, the better!

Only when more teams pay attention to him can his popularity be completely opened, which is a good thing for him.

Yes, Philip Saunders released an obvious good impression of martial arts when he communicated with martial arts, and what he revealed in and out of his words was the importance of martial arts.

Inviting martial arts, a sophomore, to visit the Timberwolves' target center for a trial is also an emphasis on martial arts.

But so what?

Now it's not the Timberwolves who have given him a contract.

It's nothing more than all sorts of verbal promises.

And what's the use of verbal promises?

Besides, Philip Saunders is just the team manager, not the team owner, in case the results of the martial arts trial do not satisfy the "boss" and the other players.

Or the existence of martial arts makes the Timberwolves "star in charge" feel unhappy, and it is still unknown whether the boss will listen to the manager or the star in charge.

It's not uncommon for veteran players to suppress young newcomers in the NBA. After so many years, something like this has happened I don't know how much.

The higher the draft pick in the future, the higher his status as a rookie when he enters the team.

The NBA is a commercial league, and it's really hard to say how many of the "old men" who play here are still struggling for their dreams.

Most people, all they think about is to guarantee their playing time, play a beautiful, flashy stats, and then get a big contract.

Rookies in the same position, veterans will definitely be squeezed out!

If Wudao really hides his edge as Philip Saunders expected, and honestly waits for the Timberwolves to choose him without knowing how to use the pick, he is really a fool.

Rank is the "life" of the rookie!

Rookies with high picks are only eligible to talk about playing time on the team, and low-picks? If the coach is in a good mood today, the garbage time will let you go shopping and do a few switchbacks. If you meet a coach who doesn't like to use newcomers, or even has a little discrimination, I am afraid that if you enter the team with a low order, you will be laid off directly after a few years of water cooler.

Only with a high pick, the team will put more patience into you.

No matter how bad it is, the team will let you play a few games, see how well you are doing, and then decide whether to spend any effort on you.

Of course, there are cases in the NBA where a player with a high pick is selected to trade directly, but even then, after being traded, the team will spend "a little bit" of patience on you.

The Timberwolves' trial invitation, Wu Dao revealed to Coach Smith, and he also needs to use his coach's mouth to help spread it.

Don't underestimate the influence of the coaches of the country's top Oak Hill Academy!

At the end of June, the 1995 NBA Draft was held as scheduled.

After arriving in Minnesota, Wu Dao also stayed in the hotel for a while, paying attention to the situation of this year's draft.

It was the Golden State Warriors who drew the top pick, and the player they chose was Joe Smith, the name Smith is in the United States, just like the colorful clouds and green flowers in the 90s in China.

Joe Smith was born in '75 and attended the University of Maryland and is a standard collegiate player. He is 208cm tall, weighed 100kg when he first entered the league, and played as a center forward.

From this set of data comparison, you can know how explosive the martial arts physical talent of the sophomore is really explosive, as a yellow race, his height is only about to reach 205cm, but his weight is already 102kg.

According to the size of the martial arts, he is actually completely capable of playing as a center in high school competitions.

This is one of the reasons why Philip Saunders always urges Wu Dao Shen to play in the low post during training. Takemichi is one size larger than a "normal" high and small forward, and Takemichi has flexible feet, terrifying ability to combine man and ball, and can shoot from any position on the court.

A player like him goes into the low post, and the opponent can't defend it at all.

With the bare foot height of nearly 205cm in martial arts, and the 221cm arm span, the turn-over jump shot after the low-post body confrontation is a no-kill weapon. And once his projection ability is feared by his opponent, the breakthrough of martial arts will become extremely smooth!

When the results of the draft broke out, Wu Dao deliberately bought a newspaper and paid attention to this year's draft.

When he saw the physical fitness of Joe Smith, a college player, in the hotel room, he couldn't help but touch his chin and commented, "So-so, not as good as me." ”

The '95 star show was named Antonio McDyce, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers. This guy is 206cm, weighs 106kg, attends the University of Alabama, center, power forward, and like the champion, he is an interior player.

This guy was then packaged and traded to the tunnel~

Tanhua is Jerry Stackhouse, who studied at Vanderbilt University and was selected by the 76ers, this guy is 198cm, 97kg, and plays small forward and position.

In the first season after entering the 76ers, he played in 72 games and contributed an average of 19.2 points per game.

Although his last game record is 14 wins and 58 losses.

But although the 76ers lost, Jerry Stackhouse did not.

It is worth mentioning that the Minnesota Timberwolves selected a high school player with the fifth pick this year - Kevin Garnett!

The wolf king, who fought for the Timberwolves until 07 years, finally went to the Timberwolves.

Wu Dao roughly browsed the draft situation this year, and found that after looking at it in one round, he found that he didn't know many players, and the more recognizable ones might be "Little Shark" and Garnett.

The other players, he really doesn't know very well.

Judging from this year's draft, Wu Dao also realizes how much importance NBA teams place on interior players today.

After the draft, the Timberwolves returned to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the rising star they had in mind.

And Wu Dao, after talking to Manager Philip Saunders on the phone, went to the target center.

This year's NBA regular season kicks off in early November, and before that, the Timberwolves will begin their in-house training in preparation for the new season.

The current star of the Timberwolves is Tom Gugliotta, who plays as a forward, although the brother only played 31 games in the '94-95 season due to injury.

But in the new season, he had the highest salary on the team, reaching $4.5 million, and even appeared in the All-Star Game in '97.

Oh, by the way, this buddy's unique job is "iron and blood".

And the team's "second leader" is barely Kristen Leitner, a 211cm, 107kg white center with a salary of $3.91 million.

Of course, a team like the Timberwolves does not have a so-called big leader and a second leader in a fundamental sense, because the Timberwolves are a team that has no way to make the playoffs, and the only role of these rankings is to compare the salary level of everyone.

Kristen Leitner's biggest characteristic is that he has no characteristics, and as an interior player, he can be said to be a representative of "unpretentious".

No characteristics means no strengths, by the way, compared to O'Neal, Kristen Leitner free throws are no problem~

The team's defender, Isiah Ryder with a salary of $3.01 million, is a heavy defender with a height of 196cm and a weight of 98kg, and is also a member of the "300+ club".

As a guard, Isaiah Ryder averages 20.3 points per game and is a strong ball-handling "cut" guard, and in the eyes of Takemichi, he can be regarded as one of the strong points of the Timberwolves.

But this guy has a big problem, as a black player, this guy and the team's interior "core", white player Kristen Leitner is not very good.

And he is not very "obedient to discipline", he has a lot of problems, he is late for training, hides contraband, and insults and spits on the staff.

It can be said that he is a bad player, but no matter what his character is, there is no big problem with the level of this buddy.

After him, Mitchell Williams has $2.38 million and Doug West has $1.9 million.

After that, there is Kevin Garnett, who had $1.62 million in his rookie year.

When Martial Arts came to the Target Center, it was the 5th of July, which happened to be a Wednesday.

Knowing that Martial Arts would come to the tryout today, the Timberwolves' target center had players coming in relatively well, and courtside coach Bill Blair and team manager Philip Sanders were watching the players' training.

With Garnett on board, Bill Blair is putting his players through an intra-squad practice match to see if there is any chemistry between the players.

Garnett and Kristen Leitner were in two different groups, with Tom Gugliotta, the team's "big man", sitting on the sidelines and not attending today's practice game.

Garnett's support players are striker Sam Mitchell, defender Terry Porter, centre Andrew Lang and the dismal Isiah Ryder.

As I said before, Isiah Ryder and white center Kristen Leitner don't deal with each other, he wants to team up with Garnett, the little brother who carries his shoes, to beat Kristen Leitner and them!

When Takemichi entered the arena, the practice match in the stadium was in full swing.

The coaches and assistant coaches on the sidelines heard the movement and looked towards the door.

When Philip Saunders saw that the person entering the arena was Martial Dao, he immediately smiled and beckoned to Martial Dao, signaling Martial Arts to come to him.

Takeshi glanced at the game on the court, and his eyes quickly locked on Garnett, who was now wearing the No. 21 jersey.

As I walked towards the rest area on the sidelines, I watched the game on the field.

At this time, it was the offensive round of Garnett's team, and Isaiah Ryder, who got the basketball, did not play the ball for a long time, and it seemed that he was going to play by himself.

With Garnett's block, Isiah Ryder quickly dropped the ball and cut in, and then forced a layup against the defense of big center Kristen Leitner.

However, in order to avoid the opponent's block, Ryder was too high in the parabola when he made a layup, and he couldn't control the force well, and the basketball hit the rebound, and when he rebounded, he smashed directly on the rim of the frame and popped out.

And Garnett, who lifted the position to block and pick-and-roll, also entered the interior with Ryder's cut, jumped up when the basketball fell out of the basket, and dunked the ball into the basket.

"Hey! Rookie, good job! ”

"But can you be faster when you idiot gets up to the pick-and-roll? Don't see my instructions? ”

"Rookie, you have to learn to play with your brain!"

Rydell's mouth was broken, and in the face of Garnett, a rookie, he reprimanded mercilessly. The newcomer high school player Garnett didn't say much, nodded to Ryder and then lowered his head and began to defend himself.

Philip Saunders, the team manager on the sidelines, frowned slightly when he saw this scene, and his face showed some dissatisfaction.

But at this time, it happened that Wu Dao came to greet him, and Philip Saunders also quickly restrained his emotions and smiled at Wu Dao:

"Martial Dao, you're here."

"Well, this is our Timberwolves head coach, Bill Blair."

"Coach Bill Blair, this kid is what I told you, the star player of Oak Hill High School, martial arts."

Philip Saunders introduced the Timberwolves coach to Wudao. However, Coach Bill Blair just raised his head, glanced at Martial Arts faintly, nodded, and then ignored Martial Arts and turned his gaze to the court.

Long before Martial Arts came to the Target Center, Philip Sanders had already mentioned Martial Arts to Coach Bill Blair, saying that Martial Arts was a talented player for high school students.

However, for the yellow player of Wudo, Coach Bill Blair does not care at all.

Anyway, it's just a high school student, and it's still a sophomore in high school.

At this time, Garnett in the court is still a senior in high school and a serious high school graduate, but in the practice games of the past few days, Garnett's ability to show is so-so, which did not make Coach Bill Blair very satisfied.

Maybe it's because of the relationship that I'm not comfortable with yet, maybe it's because Garnett is still a little "shy" when he first arrives, in short, Coach Bill Blair is uncomfortable with the high school student selected by the team this year.

This is the attitude towards Garnett, who is the No. 5 pick, and Bill Blair is about martial arts? That's not to mention.

Feeling Coach Bill Blair's indifference, Martial Arts just smiled. In order to alleviate the embarrassment of Wudao, Philip Saunders patted Wudao's back affectionately, signaling Wudao to sit down and watch the Timberwolves' team practice game.

When Wu Dao came, the training match was only the first half, and under the leadership of the "big senior" Ryder, Garnett and his team were in a good situation, and in the first half of 7 minutes, the team was 6 points ahead of the opponent.

Merely.

Garnett played a little stiff, without his teammates to pass the ball to him, Garnett could only work on defense, Garnett defense is very good, he is 211cm tall and can fight against Kristen Leitner.

It's just that Garnett, who has a good defense, obviously did not meet the psychological expectations of the Timberwolves management.

Wu Dao sat on the sidelines and watched for a long time, seeing Garnett's embarrassment.

"It's not a good match, this defender has a strong ability to score with the ball but is not so explosive, this style of play is not suitable for Garnett."

(End of chapter)