Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 851 851 532 The Longest Vacation

?Chapter 851: Chapter 532: The Longest Vacation Chapter 851: Chapter 532: The Longest Vacation Due to the disputes between labor and management, the 2010 draft had many uncertainties from the beginning.

These young individuals, who harbored dreams of professional basketball, were told that some of them would see their dreams come true tonight, being officially selected by the League and thus becoming NBA players.

However, by the time they awoke the next day, the League was to be shut down.

The shutdown was a test of endurance for both sides. It was a question of who could withstand more loss, the first to falter would lose the war.

Setting aside these grand narratives and focusing on the individuals, the shutdown meant unemployment for the players. No salary, no professional training team, no training, no games; they were like unemployed vagabonds. Given the unique nature of NBA players’ jobs, those who could play stably in the League for a few years were usually worth millions, so a period of unemployment wouldn’t affect them too heavily.

But for those young people who had given up college eligibility to choose the NBA, they hadn’t earned a dime yet, but many had maxed out their credit cards banking on their NBA prospects. Banks believed they had enough salary to pay off these debts, but if the shutdown affected the next season, then these young people might have problems.

With this in mind, those with uncertain draft prospects would choose to return to college. However, those lottery favorites had no reason to give up the chance to be a lottery pick this year.

About 10 players with NBA draft prospects announced their return to college on the eve of the draft, including Avery Bradley who later proved to have the capability to survive in the NBA for years. This was a major blow to the depth of the draft.

The draft was already top-heavy this year, and those who withdrew only further thinned the depth of the draft class.

The management of the Supersonics was relieved that Quincy Pondexter remained in the draft.

However, they did not anticipate that the wave of withdrawals would indirectly increase Pondexter’s draft stock.

He was originally seen as a late first-round prospect, but after the withdrawals, he moved up to the 19th and 20th spots in the latest mock draft predictions.

This worried Sam Presti greatly.

He had a feeling that the talents they had been working overtime to select for their team since the end of the finals might not end up in their hands.

Then, the draft day arrived.

June 25th
Madison Square Garden
Before the draft officially began, David Stern sincerely thanked the Garden amid boos for its years of support to the NBA draft, leaving him with many fond memories here.

This evoked memories of those years when Stern had his “most beautiful” memories at the draft.

The full-body hug Darius Miles gave him at the 2000 draft remains the best. It was the type where faces were against faces, chests against chests, organs meant to continue lineage pressed tightly against each other. If Miles had inherited that aesthetically pleasing yet not very functional BBC gene, then one could be sure Stern had an unprecedented experience that day.

Since then, NBA rookies were advised not to get physically close with Mr. Commissioner before taking the stage, simply hug symbolically and then get off.

It’s clear how much psychological impact Miles had left on Stern.

However, Stern’s gratitude to the Garden today was not without a reason.

The 2010 draft would be the last one hosted at the Garden for the short term, with the venue shifting next year to the yet to be officially used Barclays Center.

Because of the war between the labor and management, the draft did not receive as much attention as in previous years.

This year, the teams with lottery picks included the Cavaliers, Wizards, 76ers, Bucks, Bobcats, Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons, King, Golden State Warriors, Clippers, and Trail Blazers.

Cleveland had surpassed D.C. in the competition of misfortunes, with the heartbreak of a city winning over the bad luck of the owner’s death faced by the Wizards to clinch the John Wall Cup.

Stern gave the Cavaliers five minutes to consider their choice for the first pick.

But the Cavaliers only needed a second to name that person.

Five minutes later, Cavaliers predictably selected John Wall as the first pick.

As he witnessed another piece of history change, Yu Fei felt nothing.

For Wall, starting his career in Cleveland wouldn’t be any better than in D.C.

Yu Fei was now quite curious about which team Irving would go to next year.

He had been a fan of Irving for a while in his previous life, only to be disappointed by the guy’s off-the-court behavior. But leaving those things aside, Irving was undoubtedly the best-developing point guard among this century’s top picks.

When an ESPN reporter asked Wall if he felt pressured by LeBron having just left Cleveland, Wall breezily responded, “He is him, I am me, I’d rather be like Frye.”

Ever since Derrick Rose had declared at his draft that he preferred Jordan to Fei, he had been schooled quite harshly every season he faced Fei.

After that, Rose’s juniors learned their lesson.

Since the head of the monastery is sensitive, better say something that makes him happy.

You might say you like Big Fei, and he might not care, but if you voice any objection to Big Fei or prefer those who annoy him, then he might start marking down the days he plays against you during the season.

Rose had taught everyone a bloody lesson, and Wall had learned it.