The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 34 The Draft Begins

At 3 p.m. on the 24th, after a five-and-a-half-hour flight, Tang Bei and his group arrived in Portland, Oregon.

Besides Eric Fleischer, John Liu and Xu Jicheng were also with him.

After a short rest at the hotel and dinner, Tang Bei changed into a custom-made men's suit by Eric Fleischer.

Classic black represents pure power, perfectly matching Tang Bei's absolute strength.

Fleischer spent over two thousand dollars on this outfit alone. With the shoes and other accessories, plus over two hundred dollars for the haircut, the total came to over three thousand dollars, which was quite a hefty sum.

"How about it?"

Tang Bei, who had never worn a suit before, asked somewhat uncertainly.

“Don, you have a great figure, it looks fantastic,” Eric Fleischer said happily.

"good."

John Liu immediately echoed.

Xu Jicheng also smiled and said, "Very handsome. No, very handsome and cool."

He picked up his camera and snapped a few pictures.

“Come on, Mr. Xu, take a picture of Tang and me together,” Fleischer said hurriedly.

"Crack, click, click..."

So Xu Jicheng took a bunch of random shots, not caring at all about the film.

"GO! GO! GO!"

Fleischer excitedly flung open the door and shouted, "Today is our lucky day! God will bless us!"

At seven o'clock, Tang Bei arrived at the memorial stadium.

The arena is old; the Trail Blazers just lost the Finals here. Team owner Paul Allen has decided to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new arena, and he's already thought of a name for it: Rose Garden.

Many fans have already arrived at the stadium, which is full of seats. At the very front is a special area called the Green Room.

The league will invite a dozen or so rookies with the best chance of being selected in the lottery, along with their agents and family members, to the small green layer.

Tang Bei also received an invitation from the alliance, and his seat was in the small green room.

"Crack, click, click..."

His arrival attracted some media attention.

Upon arriving at the Green Room, I saw that several highly competitive rookies, including O'Neal and Mourning, were already there, along with Christine Laettner.

When O'Neal saw Tang Bei, his expression became somewhat unnatural.

Leitner's eyes were filled with murderous intent as he looked at Tang Bei. During the previous team trials, whenever Tang Bei was matched up against him, he would brutally beat him, almost breaking his bones and suffering a huge loss.

He couldn't avoid it even if he wanted to, because the teams that invited them to try out wanted to see a direct clash between them in order to decide who to choose in the end.

Fortunately, many media outlets and NBA team general managers are still supporting him, believing that he is stronger than Tang Bei and has a better draft prospect.

"Tang, let's sit here."

Eric Fleischer pulled Tang Bei to sit away from O'Neal and Laettner.

"Hey, Eric."

A familiar voice sounded from behind. Eric Fleischer turned around and saw his younger brother, Mark Fleischer.

"Mark, you're here."

He wasn't surprised, because Mark also had a European player going into the draft, a guard, but his draft prospects were far inferior to Tang Bei's, at most a second-round pick.

"Let me introduce you, Mark Fleischer, Eric's brother." Mark Fleischer extended his right hand to Tang Bei with a broad smile.

"Hello, Tang Bei."

Tang Bei said in English.

“You know what, Tang? I’m about to head to China to pan for gold,” Mark Fleischer said with anticipation.

"Gold panning?"

John Liu was taken aback.

Mark Fleischer immediately explained, "It's about finding the next Don." "Oh."

John Liu immediately understood and was about to translate when he was interrupted by Eric Fleischer.

Eric Fleischer said to Mark Fleischer, "Alright, Mark, go find a seat and don't get in our way."

Mark Fleischer glared at his brother and left, somewhat exasperated.

“I just heard him mention ‘China’,” Tang Bei said.

After John Liu translated, Eric Fleischer quickly said, "Mark is my brother, and he's planning to travel to China."

John Liu was speechless and could only translate it this way.

At this moment, the Orlando Arena, where the Magic's headquarters are also located, is where a group of management members are having their final discussions.

“I still want to choose O’Neal; he’s the best big man,” said PR director Alex Martins.

But someone immediately said, "But everyone knows that O'Neal doesn't like playing in Orlando. He wants to go to the Lakers. If we force him to play, it won't be a good thing for either side."

Another person said, "I think either Mourning or Tang is good. We have to choose someone who is willing to play for us, right? Otherwise, we won't be able to retain them after their rookie contracts expire."

"I think Mourning is better."

"However, his ability to dominate in low positions is not as good as Tang's, as has been proven during the trial."

The draft is about to begin, and nothing has been decided yet. General Manager Pat Williams, somewhat agitated, loosened his tie, picked up his water glass, and gulped it down in one go.

"Pat, what do you mean?" someone asked.

Williams took two deep breaths to calm himself down, and then said, "Tang is good, but his future is still somewhat uncertain."

"That's right," someone immediately echoed.

Williams added, "Mourning is also very good, but with O'Neal and Tang on the team, his height will be a weakness that cannot be ignored."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and someone said, "If Mo Ning were a few centimeters taller, we wouldn't have to consider Tang."

Williams took a deep breath and said, "So O'Neal is still the best one, and I don't think we should give up on him for reasons that haven't happened yet."

As the general manager, he has the authority to make decisions, and by saying this, he has essentially unified the management's opinion.

The talent show begins at 8 o'clock.

After David Stern gave an opening speech, he announced the start of the draft.

The magician has five minutes to choose. If no choice is made within five minutes, the player will lose the first pick and be passed on to the second pick.

In other words, the Hornets will get the first pick.

Of course, this situation has never occurred before.

The Magic official sat there somewhat nervously, a landline in front of him, waiting for a call from Orlando.

"What happened?"

But after waiting for two minutes, the phone in front of me did not ring.

Making a phone call only takes a few seconds, which puzzled him. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he began to feel uneasy.

The league officials waiting nearby were also somewhat puzzled. Had the Magic not made a decision yet?

At this moment, in the Orlando arena, Pat Williams and his management team were going crazy because the arena's phone lines had experienced a technical malfunction, and calls couldn't be made.

Two engineers were frantically checking the line, but two minutes passed, three minutes passed, and they still couldn't fix it.

Williams tried to make the call with his Motorola phone, but the signal inside the stadium was too weak to get through.

"There's no time..."

PR Director Alex Martins grabbed his bulky Nokia mobile phone and strode outside, saying, "I'll make the call outside."

"Okay, Alex, hurry up!" Williams shouted as he reached the door.

"OK."

Martins started running at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.

(End of this chapter)