Champion, please stay!

Chapter 187, page 185: The Great White Shark Came, the Great White Shark Left.

On the morning of the 25th, Yi Shui said goodbye to her parents at the airport and boarded her boss's plane to New York... When she landed in New York, it was still the 25th.

After arriving in New York, I was jet-lagged and had to stay awake during the day.

He wasn't idle either. On the very night he arrived, he had dinner and a meeting with his agent, Clark, Mark Jackson, and the team's logistics department to confirm the training plan for the next three months.

Yi Shui certainly still has business activities in the United States, but they won't be as frequent as they are in China.

Clark no longer needs to do odd jobs; he signed with the Knicks mid-month to become a consultant on the training staff.

Mark Jackson also has work with ESPN, so the schedule needs to be set in advance.

Yi Shui is now eager to become stronger—he is extremely envious when he sees the old blacksmith holding up two trophies.

When the season just ended, he and his teammates didn't want to touch the ball. After playing for more than seven months, being eliminated, and having no goals for the game in a short period of time, a sense of aversion arose.

However, by mid-month, after he started engaging in commercial activities and saw the excited fans celebrating because of him, that sense of rejection quickly subsided. During his commercial activities, he would lift weights and practice shooting whenever he had the opportunity, but not in large quantities, mainly due to time constraints.

He didn't sleep well that night, but he still got up early the next morning when Bartelstein brought Yad, Robinson, and AJ Price to his house.

The draft is in two days. None of the three brothers went into the green room. They were all predicted to be second-round picks. The league won't arrange for them to stay. Yi Shui let the brothers stay at his house for a few days. It's much closer to Madison Square Garden than the hotel that Bartelstein arranged for them to stay at outside the island.

As for Thabeet, he signed with another big-name agent and is a top draft prospect, so he doesn't need Yi Shui's help.

The three former teammates had very different reactions when they first visited Yi Shui's home.

Yad, who is considered a rich second-generation, and Robinson, who comes from a middle-class family and whose father is a doctor, are both unaffected. Price, who comes from the slums, is full of envy.

This actually reflects the different attitudes of the three towards basketball.

Yad is still unsure whether he wants to continue playing basketball, but he's about to graduate from college and it's time to run for the NBA draft.

Robinson only ran for office because Yad, Price, Thabeet, and others did.

Playing basketball is truly a hobby for both of them.

Price was arguably the hardest-working player on the team, hoping to break through his fate by entering the NBA.

Therefore, of the three, only Price received a draft commitment in advance. During his tryout with the Pacers, he demonstrated excellent tactical awareness, physical condition sufficient to cope with NBA-level competition, and solid fundamentals.

On the contrary, Yad, who has excellent athleticism, and Robinson, who has excellent static physical conditions with a height of 206 cm and a wingspan of 221 cm and outstanding shooting talent, did not receive such good feedback from the tryouts.

These guys have been flying all over the US for the past month, going to every team that invited them for tryouts, as long as they could spare the time. They're exhausted.

Yi Shui had originally planned a show and wanted to take the three of them out for some fun, but the three of them were lying on the sofa like useless people, so they didn't go. Instead, Yi Shui and Yad and Robinson were fighting over who could play the game controller.

In the afternoon, Yi Shui received a call from Walsh... the deal was done!
...

With the NBA draft approaching, the media and fans are all focused on the rookies, predicting who will be the number one pick, which team will select them, analyzing which player is a better fit for which team, and comparing players of similar types...

At 3 p.m. on June 26, 2009, the NBA officially announced a trade that had just been completed.

After the finals ended, the trading window opened, and some trades and rumors have occurred in the past few days, but none of them have caused a significant impact.

But this time is different!
Shaquille O'Neal has moved east again!
The Knicks traded Eddie Curry (who will earn $1060 million next season) and Quentin Richardson (who will earn $935 million) to the Suns in exchange for Shaquille O'Neal!

As soon as the news broke, the media and fans focused their attention on New York, and the Knicks were immediately caught in a media storm.

Last summer, the Knicks made a massive fire sale, trading away top scorer Jamal Crawford and top power forward Zach Randolph without expecting anything in return, and waiving Stephon Marbury, which drew a lot of criticism at the time.

After achieving 55 wins and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, Walsh, who had been criticized for half a year last year, was finally exonerated, and his moves were now seen as excellent.

Even if Randolph earned a hundred million dollars with the Pacers, and Walsh was praised to the skies after the season, if Randolph stays with the team, it will inevitably affect Yi Shui's performance, and they may not be able to play their run-and-gun offense.

But now that this trade has come out, people are angrily criticizing Walsh for being easily flattered. After finally having a good season, he started making mistakes again, just like the previous general manager.

If we only consider the teams' strengths, the Knicks absolutely made a huge profit from this trade.

Although he was 37 years old, he was still Shaquille O'Neal. In the recently concluded 08-09 season, although the Suns' performance did not meet expectations, O'Neal was undoubtedly the third-best center in the league. If Duncan is not considered a center, apart from Howard and Yao Ming, no other center performed better than O'Neal.

The Knicks also saved money. Eddie Curry's contract is $1060 million next season and $1150 million the season after that. Big Q's contract expires next season, totaling about $3000 million in expenses. O'Neal's annual salary expires next season, which is exactly $2000 million.

A two-for-one trade would also give the Knicks more signing opportunities during the offseason.

but!

Shaquille O'Neal couldn't run the fast-paced offense! Mike D'Antoni was dragged down by O'Neal once during the 07-08 season!
The Suns were shopping Shaquille O'Neal during the All-Star Weekend held at their home arena.

Shaquille O'Neal would actually be a good fit for teams that rely on half-court offense, such as the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, and Mavericks. However, these teams either couldn't offer him a matching contract unless they added their existing stars to the deal, or they had a strained relationship with O'Neal and rejected the Suns' trade offers.

People thought Nash's prime was coming to an end with the Suns, but the Knicks unexpectedly took him on!
The media flocked to New York, eager to see how D'Antoni would react.

However, Dolan refused to give any interviews to the team and did not allow management, coaching staff, or players to comment on the trade.

Dolan does this all the time. He gave a similar order when Thomas was accused of assault, so no one found it strange.

The Phoenix Suns are also caught in a media storm.

Although O'Neal didn't fit the team's system, dragged down the team's record, and wasted Nash's valuable championship window, that was O'Neal, the O'Neal who had just been selected as an All-Star reserve, won the All-Star MVP, and made the All-NBA Third Team.

Compared to Dolan, who is used to being criticized, Steve Kerr is not as resilient and responded to the matter in an interview that evening.

"Amare told me that he did not want to continue playing with Shaq. He felt that Shaq was taking up his space in the paint, so he refused to extend his contract early. Our team needs to think about the future, and Amare is our future. Our top priority right now is to extend his contract."

Alvin (Gentry) also wants to give DeAndre (Jordan) more playing time, and Shaq staying with the team is not conducive to our development of a new center.

We have submitted an application to the league to waive Eddie Curry's remaining two years on his contract. This would give us more flexibility in terms of salary terms for the next two years to make signings or trades, and would also satisfy the owner's requirements to avoid paying the luxury tax for the next two years.

Alvin suggested a direct pardon for Shaq, but I refused. We can't do that. We have to respect Shaq; he's the greatest center of all time.

That night, after staying up all day and preparing to go to sleep, Yi Shui came across this interview video and felt incredibly shocked.

Is this really beneficial for the Suns to re-sign Stoudemire? Will it really make O'Neal feel respected?
If Yi Shui were to put herself in the shoes of Little Tyrant, she would feel as if a pot had fallen from the sky, making her even less willing to renew her contract.

From O'Neal's perspective, it's pure humiliation.

From Gentry's perspective, it's also a pot flying in.

Putting yourself in the shoes of the Suns' owner, it's absolutely infuriating...

In a few minutes of interview, he offended everyone he mentioned. What is Steve Kerr thinking?

What could have been a "better late than never" deal turned into online harassment.

Yi Shui noticed that there were fewer posts on the forum criticizing Walsh and Dolan, since they had at least made a profit from the trading value.

...

The next day, Yi Shui woke up at 7 a.m., feeling energetic and full of vitality, having adjusted to the time difference.

At noon, Yi Shui, along with his three college friends, Curry, Chalmers, and Da Q, arranged to have lunch together.

Big Q is in a good mood. He's upset about being traded, but he's going to the Suns and playing with Nash, who he's close to, so it's not unacceptable.

It's better than being traded to a desolate place like the Nets or Timberwolves.

Compared to the departure of the Slam Dunk King, Yi Shui was truly reluctant to see Da Q traded away.

However, the Suns are demanding that the player whose contract they want to match is either Q, Jeffries or Jerome James, but they would have to include draft picks in the deal.

Big Q seemed to be in a good mood, but Curry and Chalmers, who weren't traded, were actually in a worse mood.

After saying goodbye to Da Q, the two brothers arrived at Yi Shui's house in the afternoon.

Curry said with a headache, "O'Neal is here, how are we supposed to play? Follow him and play a half-court game? He can't set screens and he can't shoot."

Chalmers added a couple of complaints.

Even the three players who participated in the draft thought this trade was outrageous.

Yi Shui replied, "Don't worry, it's fine. At worst, we'll just lay off some people."

Curry was shocked: "Cut him? Didn't we use our amnesty roster on Jerome Williams? We won't save money, and the management will get scolded! Kerr just said he had thought about amnesty O'Neal, and he got scolded so badly."

Yi Shui asked curiously, "It's not like you're the one being scolded, so why are you worried? It's okay, our boss has a strong mentality and can handle it."

Both current and former teammates felt their worldviews were shattered when they heard this.

But there's nothing wrong with it. Indeed, what does it have to do with players who never played with historical superstars being cut?

After getting the answer, Curry and Chalmers stopped talking about it and changed the subject to a dinner party in a few days.

Curry's complaints were intentional; he and Chalmers knew that management wouldn't interfere with such a trade, but they would definitely inform Yi Shui.

Curry hosted the dinner party and invited the three guys from the Husky team.

We've competed against each other in college, so we know each other. If the three of us are selected, it'll be a celebration; if we're not selected, it'll be a consolation.

After all, he was Yi Shui's old teammate. He stayed at Yi Shui's house during the talent show, so their relationship must have been very good.

...

On June 28th, New York City welcomed the 2009 NBA Draft amidst a cacophony of excitement.

Yi Shui received an invitation from Thabeet to attend the talent show as part of his friends and family.

He guessed it was Thabeet's hype-savvy agent who suggested it, since Thabeet, being a man of few words, was unlikely to have invited him on his own initiative.

With the talent show approaching, they still want to "hype it up"... Yi Shui didn't refuse. He also really wanted to go to the talent show in person, which would definitely give him a more involved feeling than watching the live broadcast at home or in the talent show office.

And what if Thabeet performs well on a different team? Even if he doesn't, it's still not a loss.

In the evening, Yi Shui arrived at Madison Square Garden and met up with Thabeet and his relatives and friends.

Upon making a public appearance, Yi Shui was surrounded by reporters, overshadowing many of the other contestants.

When asked about the deal, he remained tight-lipped, saying he didn't know, management had their own ideas, and he had been too busy to pay attention to it lately.

When asked about the number one draft pick, he showered his former teammates with praise...

After the interviews, group photos, and live interactive sessions, Yi Shui followed Thabeet and his group to the talent show venue.

The members of the Green House all gathered around, including Hansbrough, who had lost to the Huskies twice in college.

After exchanging greetings and pleasantries with the rookies, Yi Shui looked at the stage setup, which was almost identical to last year, and the same host on the secondary stage... He felt that same surge of excitement he had when he participated in the talent show last year.

He glanced at Griffin, Harden, Evans, Rubio, DeRozan, and others who had just finished greeting him... The 09 draft class, another great draft year!

He was thrilled to see another group of talented players enter the league.

He was also very curious about who the Bulls would choose.

Thabeet led his team to two consecutive championships in his junior year, earning him a National First Team selection, National Defensive Player of the Year award, Wooden Award, and Final Four Most Outstanding Player award; Griffin led his team to the Elite Eight in his sophomore year, earning him a National First Team selection, Naismith Award, and National Player of the Year award.

Normally, the number one draft pick would be one of these two, and in the 08-09 NCAA season, the two of them almost swept all the individual awards.

But it's hard to say about the Bulls.

We have Luol Deng at the forward position; he's been nurtured for five years, and his talent has been realized!
He is good at offense, capable of driving, shooting, and fast breaks, with a balanced and excellent ability and a stable average of 15+ points per game; he is also good at defense, with excellent fundamentals, fast enough to defend the small forward position and strong enough to defend the power forward position.

Moreover, at just 24 years old, with the potential to be an All-Star, it's impossible for him to give up so many years of hard work.

After two years of development, Noah's defensive talent has begun to materialize, and he has also shown playmaking ability that is rare among defensive centers.

On the backcourt, there's also Eric Gordon, a top talent who almost won the Sixth Man of the Year award in his rookie season. It's rumored that the Bulls are preparing to trade Ben Gordon, offering only a qualifying offer and seeking a sign-and-trade.

If it were the 80s or 90s, if you got the top pick, choosing the best one would be a sure thing. You could just make that the core player and focus on achieving good results.

However, judging from the draft situation in recent years, the players selected with the number one pick are not necessarily better than these three.

05年的博古特、06年的巴尼亚尼、07年的奥登，这都过去2-4年了，都没有达到预期。

It is rumored that the Bulls are indeed struggling to decide who to draft. The two biggest favorites for the number one pick have both had multiple individual workouts. Almost all other lottery picks have also had individual workouts, and even DeRozan, whose mid-range shot is like Jordan's, was invited to participate in two individual workouts with the Bulls.

According to what Yi Shui knew, Thabeet had the best chance, because he was his teammate, and the two of them had led their teams to win the university championship one after another...

...

After sitting for a while, around 8 o'clock, the draft began, and Stern walked onto the stage amid boos from the fans in the stands.

Hearing the boos from the New York fans, the Jewish man felt this was more like it! He hadn't gotten used to it last year. But glancing at Yi Shui, who had appeared at the round table, Stern thought that sometimes it wasn't necessary to be so used to it. It was unnecessary to have one every year, but it was acceptable to have a Chinese player like Yao Ming or Yi Shui every few years.

Stern gave his usual opening remarks, timed perfectly, finishing at 7:57 and announcing the start of the draft.

Two minutes later, the staff delivered the envelope to the stage.

Stern opened the envelope, and upon seeing the name, he was visibly surprised, glancing at the right side...

Yi Shui noticed this detail, inwardly exclaiming "Oh wow," and followed Stern's gaze... Evans? Harden? Rubio? It couldn't possibly be Jordan Hill or Hansbrough, could it?

Those are the five people over there.

At that moment, Stern's voice came, and Yi Shui's gaze returned to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls selected with the first overall pick... James Harden from the Arizona State Sun Devils!"

The moment the name was mentioned, the crowd erupted in uproar, and all eyes turned to Griffin and Thabeet.

Yi Shui patted Thabit on the shoulder, offering some words of comfort to his old teammate.

He had to admit, the Bulls had an incredibly sharp eye for draft picks! And they dared to make those picks!
When I voted for Jordan, I think I was criticized all summer.

On the big screen at the back of the stage, Harden, who was shown in close-up, also looked shocked. Then he jumped up and rushed forward with a smile, but then he seemed to remember something and turned around to hug and kiss his mother and brothers.

DeRozan, who was sitting a bit far from Harden at the table, ran over and gave him a big hug, looking even happier than Harden... It was a heartwarming scene.

Yi Shui suddenly perked up. Who will the Clippers pick?

It's unlikely that Griffin will get it; Love is just as talented.

If the Clippers don't draft Griffin, what about the Thunder? The Thunder drafted Ibaka last year, and there were rumors recently that they'd be signing him soon.

The future landscape of the NBA is vastly different from what I remember, and Yi Shui's expectations are at their peak!
Just as much anticipation Yi Shui felt at this moment, so too did the management of those teams with high draft picks, hoping to snag a bargain!

Three minutes passed quickly. After the big screen played a highlight reel of Harden's explosive offense during his college years, reminiscent of Dwyane Wade, Stern returned to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Clippers selected with the second overall pick... Hasheem Thabeet from the University of Connecticut Huskies!"

Yi Shui clapped his hands, stood up, and hugged Thabite, who rarely showed such excitement.

The top three picks are all acceptable to Thabeet and his agent.

Yi Shui felt that Thabeet was better off going to the Clippers than the Bulls. Although the Clippers also had Kaman, the Clippers' management was much more decisive than the Bulls' management, and they were willing to let go of veteran players.

The Bulls' management dragged their feet and kept getting bogged down in various issues. For example, last season, they were actively trying to sell off their veteran players, but after half a season of trying to sell them off, they didn't manage to sell a single player.

Even if the Clippers don't intend to develop Thabeet, they will trade him as soon as possible. Thabeet was just drafted and had a great junior season, which is when his trade value is at its highest. Other teams that acquire Thabeet will also focus on developing him because they have paid a high price.

Even though they weren't close friends, Yi Shui hoped that Thabeet, his former teammate who won the championship with him, would not falter and would have a bright future.

Three minutes later, Stern returned to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen... the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Blake Griffin from the University of Oklahoma City with the third overall pick."

Yi Shui continued to applaud.

Sure enough, as long as Griffin falls into the Thunder's draft position, the Thunder will definitely pick him, just like the Grizzlies will definitely pick Rose last year.

Westbrook, Durant, Jeff Green, Ibaka, Griffin... their talent is overflowing!

There might be opportunities to rob in the future...

However, if Turtle, Backpack, and Tyrannosaurus can gel together, and if Griffin doesn't recklessly switch to small forward and ruin his knees, this trio could be quite formidable!
Yi Di: Why am I even more excited?
...

At the fourth pick, no one could have predicted two years ago that the Wizards' unprotected first-round pick would become the team with the highest probability of getting the number one pick...

The Timberwolves, who acquired the draft pick, selected Tyreke Evans from the University of Memphis.

This was also within Yi Shui's expectations. Unless the three top picks fall out of the draft, Evans will definitely be fourth. This big point guard almost broke all of his senior Rose's freshman season records. Moreover, with Rose paving the way last year, Evans has been receiving a lot of attention since the beginning of his freshman season.

The Timberwolves also need a big guard of sufficient size. They will definitely continue to develop Mayo, who averaged 19 points per game in his rookie year. However, Mayo is too weak to defend shooting guards. He can only defend shooting guards, but his ability to organize the offense is not good. Evans, who can defend shooting guards on the defensive end and play point guard on the offensive end, complements Mayo perfectly.

With the fifth pick, the Sacramento Kings selected Johnny Flynn, a talented point guard from Syracuse University and a junior of Carmelo Anthony.

As a sophomore, Flynn led his team to the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost to Griffin's Oklahoma University. He was hailed by the Associated Press as the best pure point guard in the 08-09 NCAA season.

With the 6th pick, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Jordan Hill of the Arizona Wildcats.

Following Griffin, Thabeet, and Hansbrough, he is the fourth-best performing big man in the NCAA this season, and his athleticism is considered very suitable for the increasingly fast-paced NBA.

With the 7th pick, the Warriors selected Spanish golden boy Ricky Rubio.

Yi Shui had seen news that Rubio only accepted tryouts from two teams, the Bulls and the Warriors. Perhaps the mad scientist made some kind of promise.
With the 8th pick, the Raptors selected DeMar DeRozan from USC.

With the 9th pick, the Bucks selected Brandon Jennings, the top-ranked high school player in the nation in the class of 08.

After graduating from high school, Jennings wanted to enter the draft directly because his academic performance was comparable to Wade's. He might not even get to play in his freshman season, so he gave up on college and went to Europe to play for a year... His performance did not meet expectations, and his draft stock was not good either, bordering on the lottery. The Bucks took a gamble.

With the 10th pick, the Nets selected Terrence Williams of the Louisville Cardinals.

Yi Shui and Thabeet both stood up and hugged their former rivals. They had indeed been thoroughly exhausted by their several encounters in college.

With the 11th pick, the Bobcats selected Gerald Henderson from Duke... Hansbrough cried on the spot.

With the 12th pick, the Pacers, who held the Grizzlies' draft pick, selected Hansbrough from North Carolina.

With the 13th pick, the Pistons selected Austin Daye, a junior of Adam Morrison from Gonzaga University.

This is a huge upset! Yi Shui saw Daye's draft prediction, which put him in the mid-to-late first round.

技术只能打内线，但211公分的身高只有90公斤，大二赛季场均12分6板2.1盖帽表现倒是不错，但在16进8的比赛中输给北卡，就是因为他这一点被汉斯布鲁拿了33分。

With the 14th pick, the Suns selected 'Lamar Odom', Earl Clark of the Louisville Cardinals.

Yi Shui and Thabeet got up again...

...

After the lottery draft, Yi Shui's attention was diverted. There were still some hot picks in the draft, such as Lawson from North Carolina, Darren Collison from UCLA, and Jrue Holiday, who have not yet been selected.

However, after the first 7 picks, it was already quite different from what he remembered.

There are only a handful of exceptionally talented rookies that are in high demand, and teams will inevitably choose the rookies they deem more needed.

And there is...

"James, why aren't you sitting with your brother and mother? What are you doing next to me?"

Harden, still grinning, said, "Emperor, my mom told me to get closer to you, build a good relationship, and ask you for advice on how to be a top draft pick! Because you're the greatest rookie in history."

Yi Shui smacked her lips a few times. All mothers are the same, huh!

His mother said something similar the night before the Olympics last year, telling him to ask Yao Ming for advice on how to be a good number one draft pick.

After thinking for a moment, Yi Shui replied, "Alright, then I'll teach you how to be a good first overall pick rookie. First, you need to score 50 points in the opening game and break my record."

Harden's smile froze, his eyes widened, his neck stretched forward, and his expression screamed: Are you kidding me?

Yi Shui continued, "50 points is too many, it should be at least 40. As for the record, 55... okay, 50 wins, let's lower the target a bit..."

Harden couldn't take it anymore and growled, "Where is this low!"

Thabeet, who was watching from the sidelines, chimed in, "James, this should be the bottom line for Embiid."

Harden: "..."

He recalled the news he had seen about Yishui last season: surpassing Chamberlain in the opening game, two Player of the Month awards, two 50+ point games tying Chamberlain's rookie season scoring record, 55 wins, dominating LeBron James to reach the Eastern Conference Finals...

Harden initially thought Yi Shui was toying with him, but considering Yi Shui's terrifying performance in his rookie year, he probably thought that scoring 40 points in the opening game and winning 50 games was a very "low" goal.

Harden tried to pick up his chair and leave, but as soon as he got off, he sat back down.

Why not just keep quiet and sit next to the greatest champion in history!

...

Soon, the first round came to an end.

With the 25th pick, the Mavericks traded their 19th pick to the Hawks for that pick plus other players, and selected Rodrigo Boubey, the MVP of the French ProA League.

He was drafted 26th overall and went to the Knicks.

After the highlights of Boubois' European matches were shown, Stern returned to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the 2009 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks selected... Taj Gibson from the USC Trojans!"

As Gibson emerged from the tunnel, Yi Shui was about to get up to give his new teammate a hug.

Harden, who was standing next to him, jumped up and waved his hand, shouting Gibson's name loudly.

USC... Oh, right, he was DeRozan's college teammate. Los Angeles and Phoenix aren't far apart, so they must have a good personal relationship.

Yi Shui felt a little embarrassed, thinking that she should have chased away this guy who hadn't grown a beard yet, and shouldn't have teased him.

After Gibson and Stern shook hands and took a photo together, Yi Shui went up and hugged Gibson as he came off the stage, saying, "Tai, welcome back to play in New York."

Gibson looked excited and replied in a loud voice, "I'll try my best to keep up with you!"

"..."

Yi: Very good, very passionate.

After seeing Gibson off, Yi Shui returned to sit between Thabeet and Harden.

Gibson was his first choice after discussing with Walsh, D'Antoni, and Cheeks.

Although he's not tall enough, only 206 cm and 102 kg, his athleticism is good enough. He can run and jump. Although he didn't show any shooting talent in college, he was good at defense, both in one-on-one and help defense... It's pretty good to have drafted a player like this with the 26th pick.

If Austin Daye hadn't unexpectedly made the lottery, they might not have been able to pick Gibson.

If you can't get the right player, there are backup options: Dante Cunningham, DeJuan Blair, Sam Young... In short, choose a forward who can defend and run, or who can defend and shoot, and pursue functionality.

After the Lakers selected Tony Douglas from Florida State University with the 30th pick in the first round, Yi Shui bid farewell to Harden and Thabeet and went to the Knicks' draft office.

He originally intended to say hello and then go to the candidate meeting room to cheer on the three guys, accompany Yad and Robinson during the draft, and also keep Price company, but Walsh stopped him and made him stay.

After a brief chat with Gibson, the management and coaching staff had Walsh take Gibson to the hotel through his secretary.

After the newbie was sent away, Yi Shui asked, "Donnie, why did you keep me here? Is another deal about to happen?"

Walsh chuckled, "You're still as sharp as ever in this area... That's right, a team has contacted us, wanting O'Neal. Guess who it is?"

Yi Shui: "Gilbert, the Cavaliers."

Walsh's eyes widened, and he clapped his hands, saying, "Brook, you're a true basketball genius! You guessed it right!"

Yi Shui opened her mouth, then closed it and let out a muffled groan.

Forget it, get used to it.

Walsh continued, "They made two offers, wanting to use Ben Wallace as the core asset, plus draft picks or Hickson. Mike and I wanted Varejao, but they weren't willing. They wanted to give Zydrunas Ilgauskas."

Yi Shui also wanted Varejao. Although the Brazilian center's speed was average, he was aggressive on fast breaks, fought hard to get to the basket, and his 124-kilogram weight made him quite good at receiving passes.

But upon hearing the last name, Yi Shui immediately replied, "Forget about Big Z, he's even less suitable for us than O'Neal. We don't need Hickson either. We've chosen Ty, he's more passionate and energetic than Hickson, he's a perfect fit for us."

Regardless of whether it's a good fit or not, since Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been traded, he'll probably demand a buyout and return to play for the Cavaliers.

Walsh nodded: "Mike thinks so too, and the owner has agreed to take the draft picks."

Yi Shui clicked his tongue: "You just wanted to let me know?"
He wasn't wrong; Walsh kept him to talk about these things just to show how much the team valued him.

Walsh dialed the Cavaliers' number, sat down in a bossy manner, and chatted idly.

After listening to their conversation, D'Antoni finally breathed a sigh of relief... Although it was agreed beforehand that O'Neal would be used as a commodity, he didn't know what to do if Yi Shui wanted to team up with O'Neal.

Yi Shui said goodbye and headed to the talent show meeting room. After chatting with the three brothers who had been waiting for a long time, his phone rang.

Team email... Trade completed!
The Knicks traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Cavaliers in exchange for Ben Wallace, a contract-matching Pavlovic, a 2011 first-round draft pick, this year's 44th overall second-round pick, and a 2010 second-round pick!
(End of this chapter)