Among the seven main players, Thorpe is definitely not very strong due to his age, but the remaining six are all young people. With the addition of the system, Jiang Dongbing is confident that he can build a powerful Grizzlies team in the short term.

Two days later, Stewart brought good news to Jiang Dongbing. The deal with the Raptors was finalized. The Grizzlies took out Levis plus next year's first-round pick and second-round pick in exchange for the Raptors' Christie and Billups.

The Raptors completely feel that they have made a huge profit from this transaction. The Grizzlies have always had high first-round picks over the years since they established the team. They don't believe that the addition of Jiang Dongbing, a new melon egg, can do anything to the Grizzlies.

qualitative change.

In their view, even if the Grizzlies' first-round pick next year is only the tenth overall pick, the deal will be profitable.

Moreover, these two players are now dispensable in the Raptors. They originally planned to make fun of Lupus. As for Christie, at worst, McGrady will be promoted to the starting lineup in advance.

In addition to finalizing the deal with the Raptors, Stewart also traded with the Philadelphia 76ers, taking out the Grizzlies starting shooting guard Sam Mack and the chief backup small forward George Lynch from the 76ers.

The 37th overall pick in the second round.

It sounds like the names of starting shooting guard and chief backup are very bluffing, but in fact these two people are quite noobs, so they can only change to a second round pick.

Jiang Dongbing was overjoyed. Everything was going very smoothly. The next step was to watch the draft.

In fact, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Jiang Dongbing to enter the NBA this year, mainly because after the draft, he has an extremely long time to conduct special training for the players.

The draft is usually held in late June. After the draft is over, the preseason games will begin in October in just three months.

But this 1998 year is an exception. Because of the collapse of labor negotiations, the new season will not start until February of the following year, and there will be more than half a year between the draft and the draft!

Although the team cannot provide a training venue during the labor negotiations, Jiang Dongbing's special training does not require a professional training ground. Even if it is just a field court, special training can also be carried out.

Of course, the premise is that the players must cooperate. If the players don't want to participate in training, then Jiang Dongbing's special training will not be started.

Not counting Thorpe, the Grizzlies have six main players who can be used as binding targets. Jiang Dongbing doesn't believe that all six of them refused to train. At least Jackson will never miss training.

This lockout is the longest one in the NBA so far, and the reason is simply the greed of the owners and players.

It's not just the capitalist owners who are greedy, the players' performance in this negotiation is also enough to be called greedy.

In the 1997-98 season, 57% of all NBA-related revenue was used to pay player salaries, which resulted in more than half of the league's teams operating at a loss.

Nearly 60% of player wages are spent, not counting the wages of team management and some support staff. In addition, many teams rent competition venues, so it is surprising that this can make money.

The bosses can't always make money at a loss, and the players don't want to reduce their income, so the conflict between the two sides has become irreconcilable.

As a result, this led to negotiations that lasted for more than half a year. If Stern had not made harsh words at the end, saying that if negotiations could not be reached before January 7th, the season would be cancelled, then there is no telling how long this negotiation would have taken.

when.

Jiang Dongbing naturally does not take sides in this negotiation. He is not the team owner first, and he is not a player secondly. This negotiation has nothing to do with him. The only thing he has to do now is to seize this rare time to improve the new people's ability.

strength.

…

The finals began, and in the end the Bulls led by Jordan defeated the Jazz with a score of 4:2 for two consecutive years and won the second three-peat trophy in team history.

A week later, Jordan announced his second retirement, causing shock in the NBA.

Of course Jiang Dongbing already knew the news, but he still felt a little regretful that he could not compete with the basketball god at his peak, which made his journey through time dimmed a lot.

Jordan's passing caused a tsunami-like shock, but people in the NBA circle still have to eat what they deserve.

On June 26, the annual draft began, and the venue was Vancouver, home of the Grizzlies.

The home court for the 1995 draft was Toronto. Maybe NBA officials felt that they had treated the Grizzlies, who were also a Canadian team, a little shortchanged, so this time the home court was in Vancouver.

Jiang Dongbing and Stewart went to the draft venue. After all, they were the hosts, so they had to arrive early.

Not long after, representatives from the other 28 teams in the league arrived, and Stewart also took this opportunity to introduce many team executives and head coaches to Jiang Dongbing.

Bucks head coach Chris Ford, whom Jiang Dongbing met before, also came to the scene today, but now he has a different identity. Now he is the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.

"Jiang, long time no see, I haven't congratulated you on becoming the head coach of the Grizzlies." Ford greeted Jiang Dongbing warmly after seeing him.

"Thank you, Coach Ford." Jiang Dongbing replied with a smile.

The two started chatting. Normally when they meet at a draft meeting, they would ask each other sideways about their draft candidates, but Jiang Dongbing and Ford did not have such a need.

The Clippers are the No. 1 pick, so they can pick whoever they want, and they are extremely willful. But as for the Grizzlies, they can only look at the Clippers' faces. They pick the rest, and then it's the Grizzlies' turn.

After a short period of pleasantries, league vice president Xiao Hua came on the stage and announced that the 1998 draft had officially begun.

Seeing Xiao Hua with his sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, Jiang Dongbing naturally had a bad impression and began to wonder if there was any way to block Xiao Hua's path to the top.

After a while, Stern came on the stage and said a lot of clichés, nothing more than encouragement to this year's rookies.

Jiang Dongbing had already seen the Clippers representative hand his list to the staff on site, and the name written on it must be the number one pick they selected.

This can't help but make Jiang Dongbing curious, who will the Clippers choose? David or Jackson?

"I announce that the Los Angeles Clippers have selected center David Taillon from the University of Pittsburgh with the first pick of the first round!" As Stern's voice sounded, Jiang Dongbing's doubts were revealed.

This is not beyond Jiang Dongbing's expectation. For a team like the Clippers that does not have a single star in the team, it is undoubtedly the best choice to choose the top pick in the center.

If there is no strong center in this draft, or the Clippers already have an All-Star center, then the Clippers may choose players at other positions.

David slowly walked onto the court, wearing the suit customized for him by Jiang Dongbing. His expression was extremely unnatural. He didn't look like he was the top pick at all, but more like the expression that should appear when he was undrafted.

Jiang Dongbing sighed. David definitely wanted to continue playing with him. Now that he was selected by the Clippers, his wish was completely shattered.

David's eyes kept searching the audience. When he saw Jiang Dongbing sitting upright, his eyes showed a sad light.

But at this moment, Stephen Jackson, who was in the little green room, was smiling brighter than the flowers, with the corners of his mouth extending to the back of his head.
Chapter completed!