First round pick 29: Sun Hao
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A 1.83-meter-tall point guard from China, he started his career in Spain. He is good at shooting, has a first-rate basketball IQ, and has a good first step in breaking through.
His playing style is somewhat similar to Damon Stoudemire, but his passing and defense are weaker, which may become his biggest challenge in adapting to the NBA.
Judging from the latest tryout results, the Mavericks, Lakers and Jazz have all expressed considerable interest in him.
It is worth mentioning that he is the youngest European Champions League and La Liga MVP, and is also the first yellow guard to participate in the NBA draft.
The reason the Lakers would choose him at this position: They need a stable shooter.
The evaluation of this list is very objective and accurate.
The 2000 NBA Draft was a typical weak year for the draft, but it was also known as the year with the most accurate predictions.
Aside from Reed's comeback, most of the players have performed as expected from their draft picks.
Judging from this evaluation list, we may be able to get some clues.
This is actually not difficult to understand. At that time, the trust between the media and the team was still quite high, and the quality of the rookies was average, which was the result of a dual effect.
After finishing the tryout, Sun Hao went to New York with Su Qun and Fu Paul.
They met Zhang Weiping again when they arrived in New York.
It was at this time that Sun Hao saw this draft prediction.
After seeing this, everyone's mood suddenly reached its peak.
Chinese guard, first round prediction, can you believe this?
But now the facts are before their eyes!
I can only say that Sun Hao’s trial performance over the past week was outstanding!
They are now really looking forward to the scene when Stern publicly announces that the Lakers have selected Sun Hao.
That was definitely a moment that would go down in history.
Although they couldn't hide their excitement, they still started to get busy with their own things after arriving in New York.
Zhang Weiping began to interact with the staff of the draft conference;
Su Qun was busy writing his new article. He had written many articles in the past few days and was waiting to select the best one to send to China.
Fu Baoluo took the contact started to make various calls;
In comparison, Sun Hao is the most comfortable.
The tryouts were over and the draft was approaching, but he didn’t train in the system.
He leaned on the sofa in the hotel, watching TV boredly.
This is a way for people to release stress.
Although he traveled through time, it was five years, and everything he did was for tomorrow.
Before that, it's unrealistic not to be nervous.
He kept changing programs, and finally switched to TNT.
TNT stands for Turner Television, which is one of the well-known sports television media in the United States.
He broadcasts a lot of sports events, the highlight of which is the NBA, which is basically broadcast live around the clock.
It is the off-season now and there are no events to broadcast, so some sports programs have become the highlights.
For example, the "NBA Insider" that is currently being broadcast.
And the host Sun Hao is also very familiar with it.
Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and newcomer Charles Barkley.
Barkley just announced his retirement this year, and joined TNT immediately after retirement.
His first job at TNT was to join this show, which was originally a stand-up show, with Kenny Smith.
Driven by him and Kenny Smith, the show's ratings have skyrocketed and it has now become one of TNT's main programs.
Now the three of them are discussing the draft.
"You know what Stromile Swift can do besides jump high?"
Barkley looked at Smith and asked.
"I have no idea."
Smith shook his head.
"Ernie, what about you?"
Johnson also shook his head.
"I don't know either."
Barkley's next words made Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson laugh.
"But I'm sure this guy has an incredible leaping ability. He can run and jump like a buck, and he'll be in the top three with that."
After making his partner laugh, Barkley continued speaking.
An outstanding entertainment program host certainly cannot memorize scripts, but relies heavily on improvisation.
But even these few short sentences show that he is able to control himself and he is really talented in this aspect.
The focus of the three people's discussion was on popular rookies.
In addition to Swift, who was teased by Barkley, the favorites for the No. 1 pick include Kenyon Martin and Darius Miles.
Martin played all four years at the University. In his fourth year, he averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game. He was selected to the All-American First Team, was named Player of the Year, and was named Defensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive year.
This performance is exactly the same as Duncan's before. Coupled with his physical talent, it is a foregone conclusion that he will be selected as the No. 1 pick in a weak draft year.
However, he sprained his leg shortly after the start of March Madness, which also left a lot of possibilities for Swift and Miles.
And these three people have one thing in common, they are all inside players.
After Jordan retired, O'Neal rose to prominence and inside players began to return to the stage.
The one-size-fits-all approach to selecting players in China at this time is also closely related to the NBA's emphasis on inside players.
After talking about the top picks, we talked about the lottery, and after talking about the lottery, we started talking about dark horses.
"How do you pronounce these two words?"
Naturally, Sun Hao, who was rising like a rocket, was mentioned.
However, just like when they pronounced Manu (Ginobili) as "Menu", they obviously did not recognize the word "Hao".
To be precise, they might not even recognize Sun.
"Okay, I give up. I believe none of us know this. I just asked the production team and they only told me that the first word is spelled as Sun."
Barkley began to get into his role again.
"sun?"
Kenny Smith quickly read out the English dubbing of the letters.
"That's Chinese phonetic notation, bullshit sun."
Barkley immediately retorted.
He is a famous player of the Suns and is too sensitive to this word.
"Well, do you know what he reads?"
"It... let's just call it the sun."
Barkley made Sun Hao laugh this time.
However, Sun Hao may not know that another nickname of his was created after this episode.
"He's Chinese? Bruce Lee?"
Barkley gestured to the camera several times while saying this.
"I'm sure he will. How the hell did he get to the first round in a week?"
Kenny Smith took over the conversation.
"I know this, guys."
At this time, Ernie Johnson, who had no sense of presence, finally found a breakthrough point.
"I heard he beat Steve Nash in Dallas. I have an article from China called 'He beat Nash'. It's very interesting."
Johnson definitely understands Chinese, and he can also see that what Barkley and Smith said before was purely for show effect.
Every year's draft predictions and even comments are boring, but the first yellow guard predicted to be in the first round is definitely a big selling point worthy of the program team's careful compilation.
"Nash? Come On! Man, I can beat him in my suit. Can that guy defend?"
Barkley has already started to complain about Nash.
Nash had played for the Suns for two years before. As a Suns legend, he felt that it was quite eye-catching, especially the defense.
"I'm not done yet man, he went one-on-one with Kobe in Los Angeles for ten innings."
"He won?"
This time Barkley put away his contempt.
"No, he lost ten games in a row."
When Ernie Johnson said this, Barkley burst out laughing.
"Ernie, I find you to be the funniest guy."
Johnson wanted to say something, but Barkley completely blocked his mouth.
"Whoever wrote this draft prediction, I really want to kick his ass. The Lakers must be crazy to pick a guy like this."
Barkley was already laughing so hard that he slammed the table.
"He had a great tryout, beating out Reed, Eddie House, Stevenson..."
After Barkley finished laughing, Kenny Smith spoke up.
"What the hell are they? None of them can make it to the first round, and it's even a question whether they can be selected. What are you talking about with these..."
But before he could finish, Barkley blocked his mouth again.
"Charles, Charles, he has a good overall view of the game, and I got news from other teams, not just the Lakers, the Mavericks... "
The show started to get a little confusing.
Johnson and Smith tried to tell Barkley more information about Sun Hao, but Barkley didn't want to listen at all and interrupted them all the time.
"OK, I bet, I bet this guy can't be selected in the first round!"
Finally, Barkley slammed the table.
"One thousand dollars, who will come?"
Barkley had an expression that said, "I'm rich and I can do whatever I want."
Although his career salary is not high among the top 50 superstars, it is at least more than 40 million US dollars.
Especially now that he has just retired, he is not short of money.
Johnson spread his hands and shut up. He was just an ordinary show host, and one thousand dollars was not a small amount of money for him.
"I'll do it, don't default on your debt."
Kenny Smith on the side spoke up.
He is also a Houston legend with a career salary of over 10 million.
After Smith finished speaking, Barkley suddenly stopped talking.
"You regret it?"
Smith asked.
"No, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do with this thousand dollars. I'm going to win, man."
Barkley made Johnson and Smith laugh, and once again livened up the atmosphere in the live broadcast room.
…
After watching the show, Sun Hao felt quite emotional because it was related to himself.
However, as a time traveler, he had no urge to slap Barkley in the face.
Barkley is a masochist, the type who gets more excited the more he is tortured.
He just wants the draft to start earlier, and he can't wait to have another one-on-one match with Kobe.
Early the next morning, Sun Hao went to New York's Kennedy Airport.
Many people will be present to accompany him at this talent show.
Because there were so many people coming, he asked Su Qun, who was writing a manuscript, to come and help.
My parents arrived first. If Sun Hao hadn't had to fly around for tryouts, they would have come earlier.
"It's you?"
As soon as she got off the plane and saw Su Qun, my mother showed a look of surprise in her eyes.
Isn’t this the neurotic person who was standing at the door of my house that night?
"Mom, this is Su Qun, he's a reporter for Sports Weekly."
When Su Qun first met Sun Hao, he told him about what happened before, which could be considered a formal introduction.
My mother looked as if she saw it.
Dad let out a long sigh.
"Hello Uncle Sun, hello Aunt Tian."
Su Qun is quite worldly-wise, and his way of addressing her was very cordial.
Yi Jianlian and Lasso's flight was a little later, so Sun Hao asked Su Qun to accompany his parents back to the hotel first.
After waiting for a while, Yi Jianlian came.
When he got off the plane, he looked around, trying to find someone to ask for directions, but found that he couldn't communicate in language and felt at a loss.
Fortunately, Sun Hao found him quickly, otherwise he might have really lost himself at the airport.
"You will go abroad sooner or later, so you should spend more time learning English."
Sun Hao remembered and said.
In addition to personality, language is also very important in communication.
This is not just the exam-oriented education of "how are you? i am fine, thank you."
There are many tactical terms in basketball, even including abbreviations that your teammates use to joke with you in the locker room.
Because Sun Hao was an assistant coach in the NCAA in his previous life, he skipped all these processes.
But Yi Jianlian is different.
He remembered reading a report before that said when Yi Jianlian was communicating with his teammates, he could only smile because he couldn't understand what they were saying. Coupled with the inherent impression Americans have of Chinese people, he was labeled as shy over time.
If communication is really poor, you can find a translator or an assistant, but if you have to ask others to convey even a joke, then it will be impossible to have a good relationship.
Don't underestimate this point. The competition in NBA is fierce. If you are lucky and make it to the first round, you can learn slowly. If you are unlucky, you may be eliminated before you even learn the language.
This is also a big challenge that overseas players will face.
Yi Jianlian nodded seriously.
Apart from his parents, Sun Hao is the person he trusts most.
Because Lazo's flight was not far away, Sun Hao did not leave immediately after picking up Yi Jianlian, but waited inside the airport.
Although they hadn't seen each other for just a few days, Sun Hao had a rich experience during his trial training in the United States, and the two had no shortage of topics to talk about.
After chatting for a while, the plane was delayed and had not arrived yet, so Sun Hao went to buy some food.
Luckily for them, grilled Thuringian sausages were on sale at the airport.
Sun Hao had eaten a lot of this German-style grilled sausage when he was in Spain. It was added with the unique marjoram spice, which was not only delicious but also very fragrant.
Sun Hao and Yi Jianlian each ate two and continued to wait for the plane.
"By the way, what happened to the class beauty who confessed to you in junior high school?"
Sun Hao was so bored that he even started gossiping about past events.
"Huh? I don't even know her name."
As Yi Jianlian spoke, his face turned slightly red and he scratched his head.
This seems a bit embarrassing to say.
Sun Hao burst into laughter after hearing this.
He originally thought that he was miserable enough when it came to women, but it seemed that Yi Jianlian was even worse off than him.
But as he laughed, he suddenly became sad.
If he remembered correctly, Yi Jianlian's wife in history was a beautiful model, and she was five years younger than Yi Jianlian.
I don’t know why, the sausage in my mouth...it suddenly doesn’t smell good anymore.
By the time they finished eating the sausages, the delayed flight finally arrived.
Lazo did not come alone. In addition to his wife, he also brought his daughter.
Sun Hao didn’t know that Lazo had a daughter before!
But this is completely normal. He has only become the core of the team in the past year.
Although Lasso is his mentor, their relationship is not as close as that of a family member.
"Benita, this is Sun, my favorite student. He is three years older than you."
"My daughter, Benita."
Russo introduced the two to each other.
Only then did Sun Hao take a closer look at Benita.
The fifteen-year-old girl is about to reach adulthood, and her figure is beginning to develop and mature, exuding the scent of a flower bud about to bloom.
But it's just this face... it's very elegant.
European girls generally prefer good figures when they are young, but not all of them have good-looking faces.
When Benita looked at Sun Hao, her face turned slightly red and she seemed a little shy.
After picking up the cable, they took a taxi back to the hotel.
It was at this time that Lasso noticed Yi Jianlian standing beside him.
After discovering this, he quickly asked Sun Hao about Yi Jianlian.
Yi Jianlian's talent is even more overflowing than it was three years ago, and any coach would be excited when seeing him.
"I want to take this kid to the stadium later, is that okay?"
The more Lazo looked, the more he admired it, and finally he asked Sun Hao.
Yi Jianlian looked very shy. He was brought here by Sun Hao, so he treated Sun Hao as Yi Jianlian's parent.
"completely fine."
Of course Sun Hao would not refuse.
This is also an opportunity for Yi Jianlian.
As for Yi Jianlian, if Sun Hao says there is no problem, then there will be no problem with him.
It was almost noon when we returned to the hotel. Zhang Weiping had gone to Madison Square Garden early to work, and Fu Paul was nowhere to be seen.
Sun Hao and Su Qun took the rest of the people out to have a Western meal.
My parents are both very talkative and their fluent English shows their living standard. They had no problem communicating with Lazo and the others throughout the whole process.
But this is not the point. The point is that Sun Hao can feel that Lazo is trying to make Benita come into contact with him.
Although he had no experience in love, he had experienced a lot of blind dates being forced by his parents in his previous life.
He was too familiar with this rhythm.
And this is completely understandable.
Sun Hao played very well in Europe, and his tryouts in the United States also went smoothly. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that he had a bright future.
His own daughter and his own disciples.
Just like Yue Linshan and Linghu Chong in "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", they are a perfect match in the eyes of their elders.
But Sun Hao felt a little embarrassed.
Just like when he first arrived in Italy and the salesperson handed him a note, he turned around and threw it away, he didn't have much feeling for Benita.
Feeling is very important!
"Coach, I'll go to the court with you guys later!"
Before they finished their meal, Sun Hao took the initiative to speak up and make a proposal.
He knew that the next step of the blind date would definitely be to let the two of them go out for a walk alone, so as to strike first and gain the upper hand.
Sure enough, Lazo turned his head and looked at Benita, then looked at Sun Hao's parents.
"Son, why don't you accompany me..."
"Go ahead, relax before the draft."
As soon as Dad opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Mom.
Sun Hao looked at his mother as if he was a fairy in the sky.
It turns out that the mother understands her son.
After dinner, my parents took Mrs. Russo and Benita to Macy's, while Sun Hao, Yi Jianlian and Russo went to a nearby stadium.
As for Su Qun, this guy was busy with his article again.
When they got to the court, Lazo asked Yi Jianlian to complete various technical moves according to his requirements.
This is actually also a small tryout site.
Sun Hao bought some melon seeds from somewhere and joined the crowd eating them beside the court.
You know what, the feeling of trying out yourself and watching others try out on the sidelines is really different.
If he could choose, he would still prefer to be the latter, which would bring more joy to the spectators.
A few minutes later, Lazo had completely forgotten that Sun Hao had not dated Benita, and he looked at Yi Jianlian as if he was looking at a lover.
"Sun, I'm taking him to Spain!"
Yi Jianlian's talent is so tempting that he feels that if he polishes himself, he will have a chance to hit the NBA lottery in the future!
But if Sun Hao knew what he was thinking, he would definitely tell him to be bold!
"You have to ask him about this."
Sun Hao did not make the decision for Yi Jianlian this time.
Yi Jianlian scratched his head, he didn't know how to choose for a moment.
"How about this, after the audition is over I'll take you to Spain and you can make a decision after you get there."
Lasso still has experience.
Yi Jianlian looked at Sun Hao.
"Go ahead. Just go and see what the place where your brother Hao played basketball for three years is like."
Sun Hao said with a smile.
Just as he thought before, where Yi Jianlian plays depends on himself.
Once you make up your mind, there will be a way to solve it even if it is a system problem.
After all, compared with Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian's situation is still very shallow.
Yi Jianlian nodded.
He is now like a frog that has just jumped out of the well and really needs to see what the outside world looks like.
…
The day passed quickly, and around five in the afternoon, after a simple dinner, the group headed to Madison Square Garden.
Madison Square Garden was built in 1874 and has been renovated several times since then. It is now in its fourth generation.
But even so, this stadium still has a history of more than 30 years and is a typical "living fossil" stadium.
It is also known as the "Basketball Mecca". It is the world's basketball mecca and the venue for the annual NBA draft.
There are still nearly two hours before the draft begins, and many fans have already gathered in the stadium, most of them are from New York.
This is also the home of the New York Knicks.
Today's Knicks have a number of stars including "Gorilla" Ewing, "Mid-range Shooting King" Alan Houston, "Madman" Sprewell, Marcus Camby, "Auntie" Larry Johnson, etc., and are outstanding in the Eastern Conference.
They only have two picks this year, the 22nd in the first round and the 39th in the second round, so the draft is just a formality.
However, this does not hinder the enthusiasm of New York fans. Joining in the fun and making noise are their favorite things to do.
When Sun Hao stepped into the stadium, the first thing he saw was the "little green house" in the center of the stadium.
The so-called green room is where rookies who are predicted to enter the lottery (top fourteen picks) sit.
Each rookie has a table where their friends and family can sit.
Sun Hao...of course not.
However, entering the little green house may not be a good thing.
Because the number of people who enter the green room every year is basically more than 14, which means that someone will definitely fall out of the lottery.
It would be the most embarrassing if he was selected in the first round and finally fell to the second round, like Lewis.
Behind the small green house is the media area.
TNT and ESPN are in the front and most prominent positions.
Sun Hao saw Barkley's shiny head at a glance, as well as his partners Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.
But besides them, Sun Hao also saw an unexpected figure.
"Magic" Johnson actually came as a special guest.