Chapter 28 We will be laughed at if we choose a high school student!
Zhang Hao was taken by the Lakers assistant coach for a physical test.
Silver Fox Harris and Kupchak were both puzzled as they watched Zhang Hao being taken away and the Logo man leaving with the young master.
Originally, this interview was supposed to be conducted by the two of them and the scout director Young Master, but Logo Man showed up.
Because generally speaking, after they have screened, they will let the general manager see the tryout performance of those rookies they like.
He came anyway and completely dominated the interview. None of the questions that should have been asked were asked. The Logo man decided the outcome of the interview alone and directly gave Zhang Hao the opportunity to conduct subsequent tryouts alone.
However, neither of them had any objections. In this team, except for the owner Jerry Buss, the other management staff, only Jeanie Buss, the most capable of the young ladies and gentlemen, could check and balance the power of the Logo man.
But Jeanie Buss just loves to fight for power, but will not affect the operation of Logo's players. Jeanie Buss is only responsible for business matters, and professional matters are left to professionals.
So in terms of the draft, if there is a candidate for Logo Man, even Jeanie Buss will not question it. So although they are puzzled, they did not interrupt. Even if they have doubts, they will wait until privately to ask.
Another thing is that Zhang Hao is very ambitious! This makes Silver Fox Harris quite appreciative.
Zhang Hao first had his height, weight, arm span measured, and then warmed up with the help of a trainer...an extremely complicated warm-up!
It took Zhang Hao a full hour to warm up!
He had never thought that warm-up needs could be so complicated and detailed. The warm-up instructions at the Adidas training camp seemed very professional to him, but the NBA team made him see what true professionalism was .
After adjusting the physical condition, the athletic ability test was conducted.
Kupchak came to the training ground when Zhang Hao's physical test was almost over and got Zhang Hao's physical test data as soon as possible.
Through the physical test data, Kupchak can see that Zhang Hao's physical fitness is very good. His speed is top among those of the same height, his jumping ability is top, his strength is weak but it doesn't matter at the age of 18, and his explosiveness is at the middle level. It's not bad, but it's not great either. His starting speed without confrontation is pretty good...
Except for running and jumping ability, in other aspects, Zhang Hao and Kupchak's impressions of Asian basketball players are not much different. Overall, they are also first-class compared with black basketball players.
Initially, Zhang Hao was spotted by coach Scott Collins because of his athletic talent. He participated in the dunk contest to show his talent to the NCAA team, but he didn't expect to be spotted by the Logo man first.
However, if it were just like this, Zhang Hao would not be so outstanding and would not be noticed by the Logo Man. The players participating in the draft are most lacking in men with physical fitness. Maybe Zhang Hao's excellent physical fitness is enough for him to be noticed by NBA teams, but in this era when high school rookies are regarded as unreliable, this is not enough.
Next was Zhang Hao’s technical test... which was mainly a mid-range shooting test, which attracted many people from the Lakers to watch.
How accurate is the mid-range shot of the legendary “high school mid-range shot king”?
Soon, they found out.
Among the five mid-range shots from the free throw line, Zhang Hao made all three of them, including 9 from the left baseline and 7 from the right baseline!
46 out of 50!
Zhang Hao made 42 shots in 5 groups of 10 shots each while catching the ball while running!
…
The tryout ended faster than Zhang Hao had expected. The other side did not test him as much as he thought. They just wanted to test his strengths.
There are many tests on athletic ability and mid-range shooting.
Three-pointers, layups, dribbling, passing... and other tests are relatively simple and are completed after one group.
Since the Lakers were not considered as the first choice, Zhang Hao was in a very relaxed state of mind during the tryout, and his shooting performance was more stable than expected.
Then, Zhang Hao was told that the trial training was over...
Zhang Hao found two friends in the rest area of the stadium who were watching the video of the 1987 Finals in which the Lakers defeated the Celtics. They did not expect that Zhang Hao would finish the tryout so quickly.
Pierce immediately asked, "Axel, what's the situation?"
Both Pierce and April Clark hope that Zhang Hao can be selected by the Lakers. Most California basketball fans like the Lakers.
"have no idea."
The tryout process was simpler than Zhang Hao had imagined, and he really didn't know whether the other party was interested in him.
Zhang Hao was confused at first, but he figured it out after a while. How could it be so easy to get a draft commitment from a team?
They arrived at the gym at 8 o'clock in the morning and the tryout ended at 11 o'clock. The young guys couldn't analyze anything clearly, mainly Pierce and April Clark. They had no problem helping with physical work such as looking up information, but they were useless when it came to analyzing things.
Zhang Hao had never experienced this before, so he could only make a random guess.
However, although the tryout process this time was different from what was expected and not as comprehensive as the test at the Adidas training camp, it had little impact on Zhang Hao. He felt that the Lakers probably did not value him and were just going through the motions.
The next day, the Clippers had a tryout, but neither Pierce nor April Clark went...
Yesterday, Zhang Hao felt that the Lakers' tryout was rather "perfunctory", so when he went to the Clippers' tryout, Zhang Hao truly understood what perfunctory meant.
Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor, Zhang Hao originally wanted to see in person the most unlucky superstar in NBA history, but he didn't see him.
The interview was very casual, and as for the tryout, he was arranged to play 3-on-3 with 5 players who came for the tryout this morning. As a result, the two black guys who were assigned to the same team with him just kept shooting the ball by themselves, and he didn't even touch the ball twice.
After the 3-on-3 game, no one paid attention to Zhang Hao. He wandered around the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and saw a lot of people watching a player's training at another training ground. Zhang Hao knew this player, the 20-year-old North Carolina genius and top pick favorite Jerry Stackhouse.
The Clippers have two draft picks this year, the second pick in the first round and the 53rd pick in the second round.
The Clippers, who are full of talented rookies, don't care about the second-round pick at that position at all. Their team may not even pay attention to the rookies selected in the lottery, let alone the second-round pick, because they have lottery rookies every year.
Only the second pick can make the Clippers take the selection seriously. The second-round pick can be chosen at random, and the tryouts are not taken seriously.
…
The popularity always comes and goes quickly. With O'Neal and Olajuwon meeting in the finals, fans' attention has been focused on them, and the popularity of rookies like Zhang Hao has begun to decline.
It is true that tryouts are nothing special. If teams have a target to choose from or discover a player who performed averagely in college but is actually very talented, they will not talk about it everywhere for no reason, as there might be a team ahead of them that snatches him away.
As for Zhang Hao, after the tryouts with the two teams in Los Angeles ended, he trained at school from June 1st to 3rd. On June 4th, he came to Texas, and on June 5th and June 7th respectively, he participated in the tryouts with the Mavericks and Spurs.
Originally, Zhang Hao thought that the tryout with the Lakers was a normal tryout and the tryout with the Clippers was rather odd. However, when he participated in the tryouts with the Mavericks and Spurs, Zhang Hao realized that tryouts like those with the Clippers were the norm, and having the opportunity to be tested individually like with the Lakers was an exception.
After one tryout after another, Zhang Hao finally felt the confusion and hesitation of being a rookie.
He could only endure the anxiety and participate in one tryout after another. On June 8, Zhang Hao came to Philadelphia and participated in the 76ers' tryout on the 9th and 10th.
Finally, I got another chance for an individual tryout, and after the first day of the tryout, I was called back for an almost identical test the next day.
Just when Zhang Hao thought the other party had taken a fancy to him, the other party informed him that the trial training was over...
Zhang Hao then became a little numb. On June 13, he participated in the Detroit Pistons' tryout. On June 17, he participated in the Seattle SuperSonics' tryout. On June 22, he participated in the Phoenix Suns' tryout...
During this period, Zhang Hao saw many talents, some who could run faster than him, some who had a wider shooting range than him, and some who could jump higher than him... When he was trying out, most teams did not give him any special treatment. He was just one of the ordinary tryout team.
In fact, he was treated worse than many ordinary players. For example, when he went to the Pistons for a tryout, he didn't even see the team's assistant coach.
Most of this is because he ran straight out of high school.
These days, high school students participating in the draft are always questioned because they haven't even played against college students. Next year's O'Neal averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks in more than 100 games throughout high school, and he almost didn't make it to the first round.
At this time, Zhang Hao did feel a little regretful. If he had entered university, he would definitely be a celebrity in the school based on his previous performances in the McDonald's Slam Dunk Contest and the Adidas training camp.
But he didn't seem that special when he participated in the NBA draft, and he could clearly see that some teams, although curious about inviting him to training camps, actually didn't take him seriously, and even looked down on him because he was a high school student participating in the draft...
This situation was very different from what Zhang Hao had imagined when he was preparing to participate in the draft, and he felt a huge sense of disappointment...
After he participated in the draft, he thought he was the "chosen one" and believed that he would be able to shock the world by going to the tryout.
Indeed, his mid-range shooting ability is the best among the same group of players no matter which team he tries out for.
But he clearly felt that most teams, at most, were just looking at him as a second-round pick to see if they wanted to pick a mid-range shooter role player who played without the ball.
He also thought that if someone came to provoke him for no reason, he would slap them in the face... But in fact, he found that most of the rookies who were trying out were just like him. They were numb from the tryouts and had no idea what their fate would be, and had no idea whether they would be selected in the draft.
Compared with those lottery favorites, top ten picks, and No. 1 pick favorites, they are indeed not conspicuous.
Contrasting the high spirits when he went out for the tryout, to the confusion and hesitancy when he returned to his apartment in Inglewood, Zhang Hao didn't know what else to do. He returned to the apartment and sat for a while. Pierce had gone to San Diego in early June, and his brother was there too. April Clark had also gone to participate in training for the art exam. It was impossible for him to find anyone to talk to.
At this time, Zhang Hao felt inconvenient again...
Not many people have mobile phones these days, and landlines cannot be used anytime and anywhere, let alone convenient communication tools like WeChat.
So Zhang Hao came to the gym and wanted to talk to coach Scott Collins.
Well, it was only then that he realized that Coach Scott Collins had resigned...
"Fuck you! You tricked me into participating in a talent show, and now I can't find the person?"
Zhang Hao complained in his heart, then smiled. He was the one who made the decision. Since he had bravely taken this step, no matter it was a cliff or a road to success, it was his own road. Could he blame others?
However, the coach ran away, and the stadium remained the same. Zhang Hao began to practice shooting from the free throw line. No matter what the result was, his skills must not fall behind.
During the period of confusion and loss he felt over the past few years, the only thing that comforted him was training.
Originally, after the effect of the growth card ended, he felt the boredom of training, but after this round of trials, he did get a benefit, which was getting used to the boredom. Boring, at least there was a goal. The confusion and hesitation during the trials really made him feel helpless...
While Zhang Hao , feeling lost, confused and helpless was relying on training to divert his attention, the management of two teams had a small internal dispute because of him.
…
The finals ended on June 14th. At that time, Zhang Hao was flying all over the United States to participate in tryouts and had no time to pay attention to this matter.
These days are different from the future. If you want to understand something now, you have to take the initiative to understand it. Unlike in the future, no matter whether you want to know something or not, even if you have just entered the word in the input method, major apps will push it to you.
Zhang Hao really didn't care about Olajuwon sweeping O'Neal to win the championship. He was confused during the tryout. But after the finals, the new NBA season began and the preparations for the new season really began. So during the tryout, Zhang Hao felt that the pace of the teams that were trying out later had accelerated.
By June 23, the tryout phase for each team had ended, and most teams had already decided who to select, the backup options after being intercepted, and so on.
Since we are making decisions, there will naturally be differences of opinion.
The Philadelphia Spectrum, a very famous old arena in NBA history, is about to end its status as the home arena of the NBA team. The new arena of the 76ers is already under construction, and it is expected that the 76ers will move to the Wachovia Center in the summer of 1996.
In the owner's office, the 76ers were holding a meeting to discuss their third overall draft pick.
"John, what did you say? Instead of choosing Stackhouse and McDyess, choose that high school student? Are you sure you're not taking the right medicine?" 76ers owner Joel Snyder thought he had heard it wrong.
The boss cursed directly, and the other members of the 76ers coaching staff looked at head coach John Lucas, feeling helpless! When these coaches discussed it before, they had already advised John Lucas not to make such a suggestion to the boss.
"Joel, he's really talented. He's like Reggie Miller. No, he's taller than Reggie Miller and has great athletic ability. The most important thing is his shooting. I've never seen a player who can shoot as well as he does at his age. He may be better than Reggie Miller..."
John Lucas tried very hard to promote Zhang Hao, giving people the feeling that he had received an agency fee from Zhang Hao.
If Zhang Hao saw this scene, he would definitely be confused - when he was trying out, this dumb guy was frowning the whole time.
Joel Snyder interrupted John Lucas's pitch impatiently: "OK, John, I understand that you think he's talented, and I trust your judgment.
But, we use the No. 3 pick to select a Chinese player... There's nothing wrong with Chinese players, I don't have any other intentions, Asians, Africans, Europeans, as long as they have talent, I can select them.
But he is a high school student. We will be laughed at if we use the No. 3 pick to select a high school student. We can think of a way to trade a second-round pick and select him. "
A team is not a monolithic entity. Regarding John Lucas's experience, those who attended the meeting were more of a joke. In their opinion, John Lucas's desire to select a high school student was really a joke.
Not to mention Chinese high school students, even Kevin Garnett, the top high school student in the United States, would not be chosen by their bosses.
John Lucas was also helpless. He was just a head coach, and only the head coach of the 76ers during their bad phase. He had no rights in either trading or selecting players.
Zhang Hao felt confused and hesitant during the tryout because he was not taken seriously at all.
Of the eight tryout teams, six allowed him to participate in multi-person tryouts right from the start. Of course, for a player predicted to be selected in the second round, this treatment is normal.
Then Zhang Hao couldn't show anything in the team training because he was a catcher and shooter, and the others didn't pass the ball!
However, John Lucas, the head coach of the 76ers who gave Zhang Hao a chance to try out individually, saw at a glance Zhang Hao's extraordinary ability in shooting.
Reggie Miller, Mark Price, Hornacek, Mullin, Alan Houston...
When John Lucas saw Zhang Hao’s mid-range shooting training, these people’s names came to his mind first.
This made John Lucas decide to observe Zhang Hao's shooting again the next day.
For players like Zhang Hao, his abilities cannot be seen unless others cooperate with him in team training. Only through individual tryouts can we understand his shooting strength.
Then, John Lucas determined that the shooting of Zhang Hao at the age of 18 was not as good as that of Zhang Hao, who is only 18 years old now, when the top mid-range shooters in his mind entered the NBA! And Zhang Hao is 3-5 years younger than them when they entered the NBA!
Although there is no actual combat comparison, it does not prevent John Lucas from making such a judgment.
As for talent... If he can shoot so well at the age of 18, how can he not have talent? And Zhang Hao is also an athletic striker.
If Reggie Miller is the three-point king, John Lucas believes that Zhang Hao has the talent to become the mid-range shooting king!
He frowned because he had anticipated that his boss would most likely ignore his suggestion.
As for the chance to trade for a second-round pick, John Lucas knew it was just talk...
…
Compared with the tragic experience of John Lucas, a coach who specializes in tanking, at the Time Warner Sports Center near the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, the real base of the Lakers, the Logo man basically has the final say in the draft.
But what he wanted to do this time was something that even Kupchak, who regarded him as his idol, couldn't understand.
A player who participates in a tryout may have a very different opinion from the team that is trying him out.
Zhang Hao got two opportunities for individual tryouts, but the content of the tryouts was very simple. Even for the 76ers who got the second opportunity for individual tryouts, the content of the tryouts was always very simple, which made Zhang Hao feel as if he was not taken seriously.
But from the perspective of the team that is trying him out, this is perfectly normal. Even if they take it more seriously, they cannot conduct more tests because Zhang Hao only has two strengths: physical fitness and mid-range shooting, that's it!
Now that we have seen that Zhang Hao is indeed good at what he is good at, that is enough.
The Lakers management already knows that Logo Man wants to select Zhang Hao, but the problem is that they may not be able to select Zhang Hao with the 37th pick.
According to the information they received, the Pistons have a high probability of using the first pick in the second round or around the 20th pick in the first round to select Zhang Hao. Their new head coach Doug Collins expressed .
Although it may just be a courtesy, many teams are being polite, and only the Pistons have made it clear that they may choose Zhang Hao.
There is no way out of this situation. The Lakers do not have a higher draft pick. As for the draft, every year there are teams that watch their favorite players being picked up by other teams, so the Lakers management did not take this matter to heart in the past period of time.
But today, in the Lakers management meeting, Logo Man made a decision that made others feel incredible.
"I'm going to trade Cedric for a first-round pick. I'm talking to some teams and asking them to help us draft Zhang, and then we'll complete the deal with them."
Hearing Logo Man's plan, Kupchak couldn't remain calm and said quickly: "Jerry, are you kidding? Cedric is our top scorer!"
Cedric Ceballos was a second-round pick by the Suns in 1990. He didn't play very well in the early stages of his career, with the only highlight being winning the Slam Dunk Contest in his sophomore year.
But in his junior year, Ceballos seized an opportunity. That year, the Suns used their star player Jeff Hornacek as the core bargaining chip to trade for Charles Barkley. The Suns lacked an outside scorer that season, and Ceballos averaged 12.8 points per game. After the All-Star Weekend, he secured the starting position. In the 93-94 season, Ceballos averaged 19.1 points per game and became a top scorer. Last summer, the Lakers signed Ceballos with a high salary of US$9.01 million for four years.
What does this contract mean... For comparison, Pippen of the Bulls, who was just eliminated in the second round, has a salary of 2.29 million US dollars this season, and Jordan will have a salary of 3.85 million US dollars next season.
However, Ceballos did not live up to the contract. He was selected to the All-Star team and led the team into the playoffs with Van Exel, Eddie Jones and Divac. In the first round, he defeated the SuperSonics and almost swept the team.
Although they failed to go further and were beaten by David Robinson in the second round, their performance this year has been very good.
Ceballos has definitely played an important role in their success this season. Would they trade such a player for a draft pick to select a high school student?
Kupchak thought the teacher was crazy!
"Mitch, we can't limit our vision to this one season. Cedric played well, but this is his limit. We have no chance to compete for a championship with this roster. We are the Lakers, and a season like this is a failure for us.
What's more important is Cedric's playing style. His scoring area is too close to the inside, but he is not his absolute strong point. When he meets a center like David Robinson, he plays very badly. He cannot score in farther areas, and he also causes his teammates to play 4 against 5 on the offensive end.
Cedric also influenced the growth of Nick and Eddie."
The Logo man pointed out Ceballos' flaws without mercy.
Kupchak actually understands all these, but these are two different things. Ceballos just made the All-Star team, and at the age of 27, he is at his peak. Why would he use his draft pick to trade for a high school student?
This is exactly why Kupchak opposes it. It is obviously more cost-effective to wait until the trade deadline next season to exchange the draft picks of teams with poor records than to exchange them now for more expensive draft picks with a confirmed ranking.
"Can't we use other chips? Like future draft picks?" Kupchak offered another suggestion.
"Mitch, we have to make choices in the lineup. Nick and Eddie both need more ball possession, and Cedric has already influenced their growth. Our original purpose in signing Cedric last summer was to create a good bargaining chip, right? It's just that he performed better than I expected, allowing us to get a lottery pick.
We need a forward pitcher in our future plans. I originally planned to wait a few years for Zhang to graduate from college before considering selecting him, but he skipped college. We should seize the opportunity and get this link done..."
Hearing this, Kupchak knew that his teacher had made up his mind, but he still had a question: "Jerry, when did you consider Zhang as a part of your future plan?"
"I went to watch the Adidas Camp Elite Tournament."
"..." Kupchak didn't know what to say when he found out that the general manager was more talented and worked harder than him.
"Besides Zhang, I also discovered another very interesting high school genius... By the way, Mickey, how is the news spreading in Orlando?"
"It went very smoothly. If nothing unexpected happens, it will definitely be effective next season..."
Logo and Kupchak discussed and made a decision that could affect a player's career. The executives of the Buss family did not interfere with Logo's ideas on team building. Judging from past examples, they were very confident in Logo's vision.
Even if he makes mistakes occasionally, even if the mistake is the decision he made this time, the Bass family will still trust him next time.
But everyone present was very curious, who was the other interesting genius that Logo man mentioned?
Garnett? Or Odom?
The outside line is already bloated and they need to give up an All-Star small forward, so they naturally think of the inside line.
