Champions Creed

Chapter 24 024: Draft
The news that Michael Jordan might retire caused chaos throughout the NBA.

Everyone knows that if Jordan retires, the consequences will not just be the league losing a star.

This will cause a financial crisis in the basketball world.

Michael Jordan and all basketball-related industries are closely connected. If they are separated, they will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

From the media to sneaker manufacturers, to the NBA itself, everyone will suffer a huge impact.

Although retirement has not been completely confirmed, even Jordan himself does not know whether he will appear on the roster next season.

But everyone should prepare for the worst in advance.

Klaus is no exception.

Before the draft began, he called Eric Fleischer again and invited Roger to Chicago for a tryout.

And Krause said on the phone: "If the tryout results are good, we will try to trade up to a lottery pick."

Eric naturally also got wind of the news and knew that Jordan might retire.

He personally believes that a Chicago Bulls without Michael Jordan is undoubtedly very suitable for Roger's development.

First of all, even if Jordan retires, his remaining fame is enough to make the Bulls continue to be the most watched team in the league.

There are too many games broadcast live across the United States to count.

This is an advantage that the Timberwolves, Nuggets and Pistons cannot give you.

No matter how well you play, what’s the point if the fans can’t see it?
Secondly, once Jordan retires, his great commercial image will need a successor, and the league will certainly spend a lot of time and energy to promote this successor.

So, who is more qualified to be called "Jordan's successor" than a shooting guard playing for the Chicago Bulls?

The title of Jordan's successor itself brings traffic and exposure, which is very helpful in enhancing Roger's commercial value.

But to Eric's surprise, Roger himself had no interest in playing in Chicago.

He told Eric that even if the Bulls were able to trade for a high lottery pick, he didn't want to work out in Chicago.

The reason is: "What if Michael comes back again?"

In Eric's opinion, the possibility of this happening is extremely low. Jordan already has everything, no lack of money, no lack of honor, the only opponent is the media.

Is there any need for him to make a comeback?
But Roger knew that this was 100% certain to happen.

Being teammates with Jordan may mean you can win many championships, but you will never be the one in the spotlight.

Don’t even mention Bulls’ Jordan. Even if you play against Wizards’ Jordan, you can only be his accessory.

Moreover, Roger is the kind of player who needs shooting rights to perform well, but he wants to get a lot of shooting rights next to Jordan? Wake up, it's useless even if you give up your power by 8 points in the finals.

So, even though Krause was sincere, Roger still asked Eric to reject the Bulls' tryout invitation.

Roger just wanted to play for a more normal lottery team.

Even so, word spread that the Bulls might trade up to select Roger.

Krause deliberately released the news in order to attract teams interested in completing the deal to contact him.

Michael Jordan did not make any comment on this.

Because since winning the championship, Jordan has stayed away from the media and doesn't want to be disturbed anymore.

Exhausted, he was too lazy to talk to the media about the draft. He had never wanted to stay away from the basketball world so much.

So, for the first time, Scott Pippen felt like the protagonist.

All the Chicago media gathered around him, asking him to comment on what the Bulls were about to do in the draft.

Pippen, who already has three rings, is naturally full of hostility towards a high school player, who may squeeze his future salary:

"Klaus always likes to find new ways to draft. For example, in 90, he insisted on selecting an omnipotent European magician, but we still can't see him play in the NBA today. Now, he wants to select a high school student? This guy always likes to do something abstract."

"But Roger performed very well in the tryout, and he was not at all inferior to Anfernee Hardaway," a reporter reminded.

Pippen showed his white teeth: "Come on, it was just a tryout, what does it mean? If Roger really joins the Bulls, under our training intensity, he will go home crying within a week."

The Chicago Bulls are a very magical team, because Pippen and Jordan, the two top players, almost always went against General Manager Krause. Even so, they were still able to build a three-peat.

This time is no exception.

Even in the draft, Pippen and Jordan almost always sang against Krause.

The Bulls' plan to trade for Roger makes Roger's draft position even more confusing.

What makes the NBA draft so exciting is that many situations are simply unpredictable.

No one knows if the Sharks will faze the Magic.

No one knows what choice the Warriors will make between Hardaway and Roger.

No one knows whether the Timberwolves, with the fifth pick, will ignore Laettner's preferences and resolutely choose Roger.

No one knows what role the Chicago Bulls will play in this draft.

Roger felt that the days that followed passed very slowly. The time he spent waiting for the NBA draft to begin could be described as a year.

Finally, on June 6, the world stopped discussing whether Michael Jordan would retire. Everyone's attention was focused on the draft held at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit.

When Roger entered the venue, the scene was full of lights. As the only high school rookie invited to the green room, Roger's popularity was no less than that of Webber, Penny and others.

After entering the scene, Roger Hardaway was staring at him, which was not friendly.

On the surface, Hardaway seems like a very nice guy.

But everyone has different sides, and so does Hardaway.

He is indeed kind at ordinary times, but once his personal interests are involved, he becomes cold and ruthless.

In the original history, when Hardaway asked the Magic for a big contract just after his rookie season, the media criticized him and O'Neal was the only one who supported him.

But when O'Neal sought a big contract, Hardaway told management: "This is my team. Today's league is dominated by guards."

That’s why the Magic management said, “Sorry Shaq, we don’t want Penny to be unhappy.”

Now, Roger has become the one who touches Hardaway's interests. Penny doesn't want to be squeezed out of the top three because of a high school student.

Therefore, Hardaway, the popular man, has a different attitude towards Roger than before.

He seemed to be telling Roger with his eyes: "I played college basketball for two years before someone was willing to select me in the top three. Why would you, a high school student, choose me?"

Roger ignored Hardaway. He didn't care much about the draft pick, as long as it was the lottery.

Because countless facts have proved that draft pick has nothing to do with a player's ultimate achievements.

Take the 93 draft that is about to begin as an example. The "alien" Cassell who was selected 24th and Bruce Bowen who was not selected, their final career achievements will definitely rank in the top five in the 93 class.

What's more, in this era, the salary of rookie contracts is not linked to the draft ranking.

Therefore, Roger did not quite understand Hardaway's hostile behavior.

Roger just calmly sat down in his seat. As soon as he sat down, Eric's phone rang. After hanging up, he looked at Roger and patted the high school rookie on the shoulder: "Don't worry, the Pistons and I just confirmed again that they will use the tenth pick to select you. At least today, we won't be embarrassed to be the players who are invited to the green room but fail to get into the lottery."

Just as he finished speaking, Eric's phone rang again.

This phone call made Eric smile even more clearly: "At least ninth, Roger. The Nuggets also called to confirm that their ninth pick is waiting for you."

Roger nodded. He now just wanted to skip over the others and fast forward to the moment when he was chosen.

But obviously this is impossible. Life is not like an art film where you cannot jump directly to the most exciting part.

Roger waited until 7:50, when David Stern walked onto the stage and gave an opening speech.

Every kid in the world who loves playing basketball has fantasized about having his or her name called by David Stern.

Roger had, of course, had had similar fantasies before.

He took a deep breath. His fantasy would soon become reality!

After a brief opening speech, the draft officially began.

The first name David Stern called out during his NBA draft career was Hakeem Olajuwon. Since then, the first lucky player to be called out every year has been highly anticipated.

Before that, NBC host Bob Costa was introducing how magical the Magic's No. 1 pick was.

As a team just one step away from entering the playoffs, the Magic have an extremely low probability of getting the No. 1.5 pick at %, which makes it hard not to generate all kinds of conspiracy theories.

In fact, conspiracy theories about the NBA draft have never stopped since the first lottery draw in 85 allowed the Knicks to select Ewing.

But fans' suspicion is justified because too many coincidences have happened in the NBA draft.

In 2003, when Cleveland's local GOAT became a draft favorite, why did the Cavaliers happen to get the No. pick?

In 2008, when Chicago native Derrick Rose announced his candidacy, why did the Bulls get the top pick?
In 2011, the Cavaliers had just lost James, and then they happened to get the No. pick.

In 2012, the New Orleans Hornets, who had just been taken over by the league, also happened to be favored by the goddess of luck.

Now, even a blind person can see that O'Neal is in the limelight and destined to become the face of the league. He is completely popular and just needs a helper.

Then, the Magic got the No. 1 pick with incredible odds.

The whole world wants to know how the Magic will use their second consecutive No. 1 pick.

Five minutes later, the answer was revealed. David Stern announced that the Magic used their first overall pick to draft the talented Chris Webber.

All the Magic fans in the audience stood up and cheered. They had been worried that the Magic management had really lost their minds and chosen Roger.

O'Neal was still staring at the TV nervously, not knowing whether there would be any follow-up transactions.

The Philadelphia 76ers happily took Shawn Bradley with the second pick. They all believed that this 229-centimeter giant would make the dark era after Barkley's departure completely pass.

Well, although the 76ers found out during the tryout that this guy weighed 13 kilograms less than what was written in the file, and even if he ate 7000 calories a day, his weight did not increase.

But even so, the whole of Philadelphia felt that Bradley was the right choice.

But what the Philadelphians don't know is that in NBA history, there are only two giants over 221 cm tall who can average more than 20 points per game in a single season as of 2024: Ralph Sampson and Yao Ming.

There are only three people who have averaged 10 rebounds per game in a single season: Sampson, Yao Ming and Sabonis.

Perhaps these two statistics will add a name called Victor Wenbanyama in the future, but even so it cannot change one fact - the success rate of giant players over 221 cm is actually very low!
So, Bradley was actually Philadelphia's biggest flop in the 20s.

By the third pick, Hardaway got nervous.

For the next five minutes, every breath he took was so heavy that his palms were completely soaked with sweat.

In fact, Don Nelson was equally nervous.

Just now, he hung up the phone.

Because the Magic rejected his request to trade up.

In the original history, if O'Neal had not strongly requested it, the Magic would not have traded the No. 1 pick Webber for Hardaway.

In this history, O'Neal strongly requested that the Magic change the pick from Hardaway to Roger. But the Magic management has already determined that they will not trade the No. 1 pick for a high school student.

So the Magic in this history did not intend to let Webber go. They wanted to create an invincible twin tower lineup in their minds.

After being rejected, old Nelson was a little frustrated, but now he had no choice but to implement plan B.

He knew very well that Hardaway and Roger were the two most talented guards in this draft.

Although the Warriors already have a lot of guards, a mad scientist who aims to dominate the league with a fast-paced offense won't think he has too many guards.

After struggling for a few minutes, he wrote the final result on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope.

I hope I won't regret this choice.

David Stern walked back onto the stage and opened the envelope belonging to the Warriors.

"In the first round of the 1993 NBA draft, with the third pick, the Golden State Warriors selected Anfernee Hardaway from the University of Memphis!"

Hardaway pursed his lips and happily high-fived his family and agent. Then he looked back at Roger, as if declaring victory.

Don Nelson was not blind to Roger's talent, but a guard like Hardaway who could pass the ball was obviously more in line with Nelson's system that everyone should be able to pass the ball. Why did he like Webber? Because Webber, as an inside player, had the passing skills of an outside player.

He likes players who can pass the ball to the inside players, so the guards must be even better at passing the ball.

That's why he ultimately chose Hardaway.

Hardaway put on the Warriors' cap and the Warriors fans at the scene cheered.

And when Jerry Krause saw Hardaway being selected with the third pick, he was happier than Hardaway himself.

He immediately called the Mavericks and said, "Just do as we agreed beforehand!"

On the side, his assistant whispered: "Really, Jerry? Scott will definitely be unhappy if you make this deal."

Jerry Krause showed an expression of disbelief when he heard this. It's okay for Jordan to suppress me, but Pippen?
He smiled and replied to his assistant: "Fuck Scott! This is my draft, I have the final say!"

At this time, NBC is reviewing some classic trades at the draft because they heard that there were trade rumors between the Magic and the Warriors.

The Sharks also stared at the TV, but in the end, nothing happened until Hardaway stepped down. The Magic did not trade Webber as in the original history.

Anfernee Hardaway walked down from the stage. When he passed Roger's table, he regained his friendly face and said, "Good luck to you, man."

He felt that he had already won, so he could show some appropriate grace.

Before Roger could respond to Penny, Eric's phone rang again.

Roger thought it was the Timberwolves calling to confirm that they would pick him fifth, but Eric turned his head and looked at Roger: "In a few minutes, you will be selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the fourth pick!"

"Huh?" Roger was a little surprised. As far as he knew, the Mavericks, who already had Jim Jackson, had never been interested in shooting guards, so they didn't even invite him to a tryout.

Why do you suddenly choose me again?

Eric paused, as if he was still digesting the news he had just received.

Then, he said word by word: "Then, you will be traded to the Chicago Bulls. It seems that we have to go to Chicago after all."

(End of this chapter)