"John, don't worry, I'm not going back to play, I'm going to stay in Chicago this summer and I'm not going anywhere."

"By the way, I still need your help to find me a middle school basketball hall as soon as possible.

The law and order must be good, not too broken, and it is better to have a cheaper rent.

In the summer I will take our rookie and play there.

As soon as the shutdown is over, I'll renew my contract with the team and I'll come back with the rookies. ”

With the shutdown coming, Bulls general manager John Paxson couldn't hold back and took the initiative to come to the door to discuss a contract extension with Doane.

For the salary and conditions of the next contract, the Bulls must be fully filled.

The starting salary is 19.2 million, with an annual average of 23 million, and a 5-year maximum salary contract of 117 million.

Chong Doon brought four championships to the Bulls, and it is not an exaggeration to have an annual salary of more than 20 million.

Besides, when Doon's next contract comes into effect, it will still not be the league's highest salary! The Bulls have plenty of salary space again, so why not give it?

During the Bulls' rebuilding period in the previous two seasons, Doon was able to lead a group of rookies to the Eastern Conference Finals, and there was no one else who could lead the team.

Seeing that the Bulls are about to attack the championship again under the leadership of Doon.

At this time, John Paxson, as the general manager of the Bulls, can put anything else on hold, but the matter of renewing Doon's contract cannot be sloppy and must be properly resolved first.

I have to say that the current situation belongs to John Paxson begging Doon to renew his contract.

As for Doon, he quickly agreed.

In fact, as an international player, Doon can return to China to play this summer, and even bring back the Bulls' rookies.

The domestic CBA league and domestic fans must also be looking forward to it.

But Doon didn't choose to do that.

This is mainly because of two aspects, on the one hand, he is afraid of trouble, and Doon feels that it is better to be a player.

On the other hand, it is also worried that some fans are too crazy, and black players are easy to control their emotions.

Maybe it's good news for the men's basketball team 20 years later, but Doon brought people back to China to play, and the negative impact caused by it, will Doon not be blamed in the end?

Doon feels that there is no need to think so far for the men's basketball team if he is not in his position.

Therefore, it is better not to be the initiator, the culprit.

With these considerations in mind, Doon decided not to return home this summer, but to stay in Chicago instead.

Originally, Doon was going to discuss with Nike to see if Nike could sponsor a summer league.

Now it just so happened that John Paxson came to the door and asked him for help, so Doon asked him to do a little favor and find a suitable stadium in Chicago.

This summer, the NBA is destined to shut down, and the league has previously said that it will cancel the summer league.

In order to be able to achieve satisfactory results in the next season, in order to maintain the form of the Bulls youth army.

At the same time, it is also a place for rookies who are at a loss and have no time to adapt to the NBA, to develop normally and level up.

Doon decided to run his own summer league.

Chicago is a big black city, the community basketball atmosphere is strong, and fans are happy to go to the stadium to watch the game.

With Nike at his back, coupled with his considerable commercial value, with Doon's current energy, he can pull up an amateur league in Chicago and attract a large number of sponsors.

Originally, considering the links and facilities of the stadium, it was definitely better to borrow the university stadium.

However, the NCAA advertises purity and blood, only allowing state officials to set fires and not allowing ordinary people to light lamps, and will not arbitrarily let outsiders pull sponsors into universities.

With this in mind, Doon had to settle for the next best thing, finding an indoor arena in Chicago that could accommodate three or four thousand people, and that would be pretty much it.

It's not about making money, it's not really about doing any new NBA, new summer league.

It's not even going to be bigger and stronger, it's just to serve as a temporary training and field for wild ball, laying a solid foundation for winning the championship in the new season.

"Don't worry, I'll leave it to me.

Is there anything else you would like to explain?

In the summer, we can go and contact it privately. ”

John Paxson curry favor with Doon.

Hearing this, Doon shook his head: "Shutdown will make everything changeable.

Some players who lack discipline will become uncompetitive base salary players in the summer.

I think we're not going to do anything wrong this summer, at least not wrong.

Even if we need to do something, we should supervise our new talents and help them grow faster.

By the time the new season starts, we'll have plenty of time and chips to make adjustments.

If you trust me, you can exchange our second-round picks for first-round picks and continue to trade first-round picks upwards.

We've got too many picks, we're going to be back in contention for the championship in the next few years, so it's better to cash in as soon as possible than to waste it. ”

"You're right." John Paxson nodded and paused, then looked at Doon with some confusion.

"Isn't this a super year?

Many potential rookies have learned of a possible NBA shutdown and decided to stay in the NCAA for an extra year.

As far as I know, there aren't even T1-level rookies this year, with the highest-rated Kyrie Irving scoring just 97. ”

John Paxson suspects that Doane is addicted to the draft, and it is clear that this year is another draft year, and due to the impact of the NBA shutdown, it is an unprecedented draft year.

After all, after the rookie participates in the draft, he will have to wait until the summer to sign with the team, and then he will get the money.

However, if there is no summer league, no place to practice, rookies who have no money and can't find a suitable place to play, it is easy to fall out of the water due to the lack of training in the summer and the inability to adapt to the NBA.

When the shutdown ends and the new season begins, the team needs to accept the rookie and consider whether to officially sign it, but when it is found that the state and standard of the rookie do not meet the team's expectations, and even if the rookie signs a contract, he will take less money.

It is with this in mind that talented rookies are not in such a hurry to participate in the draft.

Only rookies who are easy to lose in the past, or who want to enter the lotto area at the end of the first round, and want to hit the top three picks in the first round, will take advantage of the low competitive pressure to participate in this draft.

On a sideline, the rookie classification was made by draft expert Chad Ford.

A T1-level rookie is a super rookie with a lower potential All-Star. A T2 rookie is a regular lotto show with a chance to reach an All-Star level.

Usually the number of T1-level rookies is the standard for measuring the size of the draft, and the recognized 14-year draft year has Embiid, Wiggins, and Parker.

And even in a draft year like '09, there was such a T1-level rookie as Griffin.

Now, 11 years later, there is not even one.

A guard like Irving, who has a draft report rating of 97 points, is determined to participate in this year's draft, and he is locked in advance as the top pick.

In previous years, if a guard wanted to be the top pick, he had to have a draft rating of more than 100 points.

"It's because it's a small year in the draft, so the lottery is cheaper, but the value of the second-round lottery has become more valuable.

There's also no need to trade too high in the first round, and the ones on the edge of the lottery are pretty much the same.

I will continue to participate in the next draft, rest assured, I will not participate in the next few years. ”

Doon made up an improvised excuse to trick John Paxson into taking another gamble on this year's rookie talent and then quit.

John Paxson knows that the more competitive people are, the more they like to gamble, and Jordan did.

Jordan has cultivated Pippen by hand, and it's not surprising that Doon wants to find a few rookies to develop.

Besides, the rookies selected by Doane in the past two years have also been cultivated, and next season, Evans and Curry have a chance to become All-Star players.

"Okay, I'll take care of that." John Paxson didn't bother too much, agreeing to Doon's idea of swapping the first round for a second round and continuing to trade upwards.

In fact, the Bulls have four first-round picks this year, but none of them are high, 16, 19, 23, 27.

Unable to satisfy Doon's idea of taking Jr., Thompson, Vucevic, and Butler all down.

Butler is an older rookie, as far as I look at now, there is only a second-round prospect, and it was the Bulls who won Butler at the end of the first round, so it was easiest to get Butler.

However, Thompson, Jr., and Vucevic all have draft prospects on the fringes of the lottery zone.

If the bulls don't trade upwards, they may not be able to take any of them.

Fortunately, John Paxson is still quite efficient.

Relying on the fact that the Bulls have been sending talent and accumulating some popularity over the years, and this year is a super draft year, and the first-round pick is really worthless.

Just like in 13 years, after the Cavaliers got the top pick, they found a lot of teams to trade down, but no one took over, and finally the top pick was bad, and a very polite Bennett was selected......

This year's first-round lottery is basically for the lottery.

In the lotto area, except for Owen, Derek Williams, Enes Kante, and Valranjonas, these are open cards, and there is nothing to see in the rest.

And those who are behind in the lotto, instead of rotting in their own hands, it is better to exchange one for two and have one more chance to draw the first round.

In the same way, the second-round pick is shorter, and the vast majority of NBA general managers will not refuse a chance to draw a lottery.

It is precisely because this year is special that the Bulls' work of trading draft picks upwards has been relatively smooth.

The Bulls traded 19+23 to get the 13th draft pick in the first round, while at the same time consuming a second-round pick and some cash to upgrade the No. 16 pick to the No. 14 pick.

and used three second-round picks for a first-round No. 28 pick.

The Bulls are still four first-round picks, but in the upcoming draft, they have more initiative.

It's just that the chips in the Bulls' hands are still a little less.

On June 24, after the draft began, the Warriors still grabbed Thompson ahead of the Bulls.

Fortunately, the Bulls successfully used the No. 13 pick to win Leonard, the most promising player in this draft, and then used the No. 14 pick to win Vucevic.

There are two draft picks left, 27 and 28, which are Butler and Bojan Bogdanovic, respectively.

In this way, the team of the super forward group of the Bulls Youth Army 2.0 has also been completely built. (End of chapter)