Bishop of the Devil

The night before the draft started, Richard met with the three Purdue players who were participating in this year's draft.

This year's Purdue trio is incredible, including Anthony Davis, Lillard and Fournier.

Fournier's strength is slightly inferior. He is at the level of a C-level star. He generally has All-Star statistics, but he cannot enter the All-Star level.

However, both Nongmei and Li will become first-line stars in the league in the future.

In this year's draft, Thick Eyebrow has already booked the No. 1 pick, and there are no competitors at all.

And Lillard is also a favorite among the top five picks...

Fournier is a bit off, but he certainly won't fall to the bottom of the first round.

Richard had wanted to make a deal with the Pelicans before, get their 17th overall pick, and then choose Fournier. Now it seems that there is definitely no chance.

"Coach, it's a pity that all three of us will definitely not be able to play for you this time." Lillard sighed.

"What a pity. The ball is not the same. After you three enter the league, you can all become star-level figures, especially you Davis. You will definitely be selected with the No. 1 pick this time. What do I hope you will do in the future? When things happen, you must think twice.”

"Don't think about forming a team all day long. The real valuable championship is actually the one who leads the team to win the championship with a single core." Richard said to the three of them.

It won't be long before giants teaming up will become a popular thing in the league.

A more reasonable view is that the Big Three of Green Kai have kicked off the trend of team-building, while the Big Three of Heat have truly made team-building a trend.

In the future, the salary space of each team will increase significantly, which will provide convenient conditions for teaming up...

In the days to come, the team would be embarrassed to compete for the championship without a Big Three.

"I understand, coach, if possible, we will try our best to lead the team to compete for the championship alone. Of course, if there is really no other way, then I am afraid we can only stay together..." Davis, with thick eyebrows, said with a smile on his face. said with a smile.

Even though Davis's eyebrows looked like Daxian'er's, his face actually looked really tender. It was quite funny that he was pretending to be mature when talking to Richard.

Richard nodded, and then brought the West Lafayette gold medal to the three of them.

Speaking of which, Richard really has lost count of how many West Lafayette players are playing in the league...

In the evening of the next day, this time Richard brought Cole to the draft.

"What's in your bottle?" Richard curiously asked Cole next to him.

Cole held a bottle of Gatorade in his hand and took a few sips into his mouth from time to time.

If it were really Gatorade, Richard wouldn't ask such a question. The color of the liquid in the bottle was quite strange. Anyway, Richard didn't remember that Gatorade had ever released a drink of this color.

"Ahem..." Cole touched his mouth awkwardly when Richard asked him.

"Beer? No, no foam, whiskey?!" Richard asked with a frown.

Cole nodded awkwardly.

"Man, this is not what a coach should do. It's really unreasonable to drink alcohol on such an occasion." Richard was very dissatisfied.

Cole is completely an alcoholic. Although Popovich is also a good drinker, Popovich has never done such an outrageous thing. Put red wine in a Gatorade bottle and take a sip from time to time?

"Don't worry, BOSS, I know the rules and I will definitely not drink in front of the players." Cole said for sure.

Richard smiled bitterly and shook his head. I believe you, it's weird that this guy doesn't drink. Even when the game is being played, he can sit on the sidelines and take a few sips...

But even if he was a little dissatisfied with Cole, Richard certainly couldn't drive Cole away directly.

It is true that Richard is now in a labor shortage again.

Mark Jackson went to coach the Warriors last season. Richard did not add new assistants this season that just ended, and McHale was also poached by the Rockets two days ago...

This is not the most fatal thing. Thibodeau also accepted the Bulls' invitation a few days ago and took up the position of head coach of the Bulls.

As a result, Richard now only has Cole as an assistant coach. If Cole is driven away, Richard will be alone.

The assistant coaches left Richard one after another to serve as head coaches of various teams. Richard was naturally very reluctant to leave. These assistant coaches were all talented people and could share a lot of work for him.

But Richard is happy to see this kind of scene where students are everywhere, and his assistant coach is flourishing in the league...

There are currently many head coaches of teams in the league who have a relationship with Richard.

For example, Pistons head coach Raheem, 76ers head coach Frank, Bulls head coach Thibodeau, Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, Rockets head coach McHale, Mavericks head coach Carlisle, Celtics head coach Stevens...

The head coaches of seven teams all rose to the top as Richard's assistant, which makes Richard proud.

…

"It's an honor to host another draft."

Stern appeared and rambled on as usual again, the same speech that had not changed for thousands of years.

Being Stern's assistant is really a good job...

"This time I want to take this opportunity to announce something."

"After this draft, I will step down as NBA president. After discussion by the board of directors, Mr. Adam Silver, the league's vice president, will take over my position."

As soon as this statement came out, the venue fell silent, and everyone looked at Stern blankly.

Is this old guy leaving? Why suddenly there was a feeling of reluctance in my heart.

From 1984 to present, Stern has coached the league for 26 years!

In 2026, most of the people present were still young people, especially Richard, who was only a teenager 26 years ago.

In the past 26 years, although Stern has done a lot of things that have been criticized, his merits outweighed his faults. Those who can sit here today are senior leaders of the league. In fact, they also know very well that without Stern, they would be where they are today. There is no such thing as a good life.

After Richard heard the news, he couldn't help but sigh. He was really sad that the old guy left like this.

It has been 14 years since I entered the league. During these 14 years, I and Stern have fallen in love and killed each other...

Well, it seems that there is less love involved and more about killing each other.

Now that Stern was about to leave, Richard suddenly felt lonely.

Does this alliance have any rivals of its own?

For a long time, in Richard's eyes, the only person in this league who could truly be called his opponent was Stern.

Only Stern has the qualifications to be his opponent.

Now that Stern is gone, Richard will naturally have a feeling of being cold at the top.

…

Ignoring the shocked expressions of everyone present, Stern announced the official start of the draft.

After a while, Stern reappeared and announced the candidate for the No. 1 pick.

"I announce that the New Orleans Pelicans have selected Anthony Davis from Purdue University with the first overall pick."

Unsurprisingly, Thick Eyebrow became the top pick in the 2012 draft.

If you want to be the top pick in parallel imports, even if you rank it a hundred times, there will definitely not be a name with thick eyebrows among them.

In fact, there is a standard dividing line between whether you are a parallel import champion or not.

That dividing line is Kenyon Martin...

Kenyon Martin was the No. 1 pick in 2000. Look at this number, it's pretty standard.

Anyone who is weaker than Martin is the number one parallel importer, and anyone who is stronger than Martin cannot be considered a parallel importer...

This is the standard used by fans and experts to determine whether the No. 1 pick is a parallel import.

I am afraid that when Martin entered the league, he would not have thought that one day he would become the number one pick.

I don’t know how much better Thick Eyebrow is than Kenyon Martin, so it definitely can’t be considered a parallel import.

The No. 1 pick and the No. 2 pick must have something special. Needless to say, the No. 2 pick this year is a parallel import.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a player with a very long name. Domestic fans usually call him Mikey...

If there is nothing good to sell, you have to sell this.

In the end, this parallel import was selected second overall by the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies were definitely wealthy in the draft. Selecting a parallel import, signing a cancer player, and sending a star player were all commonplace for them.

Next, with the third overall pick, the Wizards selected Bradley Beal, a very good shooting guard.

However, Bill can actually play as a combo guard. In Richard's view, letting Bill play as a combo guard is a better choice.

Because his height of 196cm really has no advantage in the second position, but in the first position, he definitely has an advantage when facing point guards who are generally 191cm tall.

Richard will definitely not interfere with how the Wizards will use Bill. This is not his own business.

Next, Dion Waiters was selected by the Cavaliers with the fourth overall pick. The Cavaliers have also been a super wealthy player in the draft in recent years. The draft picks are quite precious, and their selection vision is not much better than that of the Grizzlies.

The Kings, who held the fifth pick next, selected Damian Lillard from Purdue University.

Under normal circumstances, Lillard is selected by the Trail Blazers with the sixth overall pick, but now that the Trail Blazers are on the rise, naturally there is no such high pick to select Lillard.

…

Two of Purdue's top three picks this year have already been selected in the top five, and then it's up to Fournier.

It wasn't until the 20th pick in the first round that Fournier was picked by the Magic, which made Fournier a little uncomfortable. After all, his teammates were all top five picks, but he fell to the 20th pick. What's the psychological gap? Maybe it's acceptable.

Under normal circumstances, the Magic's several operations this summer were quite classic. Even though they sent out core insider Howard, their gains were quite good.

The first was to get Vucevic in a four-party deal.

The second was to sign Fournier with the 20th pick in the first round of the draft.

Again, he traded with the Bucks to acquire Tobias Harris.

These three are all star-level players, and the result was that the Magic captured them all in one summer.

Of course, the Magic failed to make good use of these three people and failed to rely on these three people to achieve decent results.

…

Soon it was the 26th pick that Richard had on hand.

After thinking about it for a while, Richard decided to take Chase Green first. In terms of reputation, Chase Green is older than Middleton. After all, he is the seventh man in NBA history to hit a triple-double in the NBA. Richard feels If I don't take the 26th overall pick, something may happen.

"I announce that the Los Angeles Clippers selected Draymond Green from Michigan State University with the 26th overall pick in the first round."

Green, who was sitting at the scene, was stunned. In fact, he had been in a daze since Stern announced the lottery picks.

After waiting and waiting, I finally heard Stern calling my name. Fortunately, I was still in the first round and did not fall to the second round.

However, Green never expected that the team that selected him would be very likely to be selected by the Spurs who were interested in defense after falling out of the lottery. He never expected that the team that selected him would It turned out to be Richard.

There is naturally a reason why Chasing Egg Green was so surprised that Richard chose him.

He comes from Michigan State University. This university and Purdue University are life-or-death rivals. The two teams fight each other as soon as they meet. Even if they don't play a game, as long as the other team loses, they will be ridiculed by the other team.

But in the past ten years, because Purdue University is too strong, Michigan State University has been suppressed miserably...

Richard, as a figure like a totem of Purdue University, actually selected a player from Michigan State University. Not only did Chaidan Green himself not expect it, but also the three young men from Purdue who participated in the selection did not expect it at all.

During this NCAA season, Chasing Green has been quarreling with Purdue University a lot. His triple-double was achieved by Purdue University. Of course, Michigan State University lost miserably in that game.