A few days later, the Devils arrived in Denver.
Excluding the qualifiers for the No. 16 and No. 17 seeds in each region, the tournament will have a total of 6 rounds from the top 64 to the final champion.
These 6 rounds of competition will be subdivided into three stages, from the top 64 to the sweet 16, from the top 16 to the final top 4, and from the top 4 to the final championship.
What separates these stages is the playing field.
In the later stages, the competition venue will continue to become larger and the attention it will attract will be higher.
The initial stage for the Southern District teams is the Pepsi Center in Denver, the home of the Denver Nuggets.
When they arrived at the hotel that day, Xu Yong and Harden entered the room and closed the door. Then they went to the computer and opened the search engine.
According to the practice of previous years, at this time point, the first draft prediction is almost out.
Different from the entertainment nature of the previous "Sports Illustrated", this time it will be NBADraft, the most famous draft website in the United States.
After opening it, the two of them saw that the prediction list had come out.
There are some differences between this list and the 2008 draft that Xu Yong knows.
The first pick is Michael Beasley of Kansas State University. He averaged 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game during the regular season. His total points set a Division I record and he made 39.8% of three-pointers. The shooting percentage is even more explosive than Anthony's back then.
Speaking of which, they played against Kansas State University in the invitational tournament. Although they won that game, Beasley scored 39 points.
Second on the list is Rose. Rose's regular season data is mediocre, averaging 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. In the eyes of Excel fans, this data cannot even enter the lottery. However, in the prediction analysis, Rose's athletic ability is described as "astonishing". To describe him, he is a "natural leader".
The third pick is Gallinari, an overseas player with excellent athletic ability, accurate three-pointers, an all-around striker who can organize and play in the low post.
As for the favorites in the Pac10 league, Brook Lopez is 6th, Love is 7th, Westbrook is 11th, and Bayless is 13th.
Well, the Pac10 league is indeed the strongest league in the NCAA, and it is almost dominating the rankings in such a big draft year.
However, these discrepancies made Xu Yong confirm one thing. The stage of the championship is really important.
There is another example in his mind. Donte DiVincenzo, a white guard with mediocre talent, was considered to be an undrafted player before the championship, but he relied on his crazy performance in the championship, especially his 31 points as a substitute in the final. , abruptly pushed himself to the 17th pick in the first round.
While such instances are rare, they show that performing well on the tournament stage can improve your draft stock, even significantly.
They then looked down.
Then soon, Harden's name also appeared.
Harden is predicted to be selected by the Warriors with the 15th overall pick.
In the draft analysis, Harden's strengths and weaknesses are clearly written.
Advantages: Comprehensive offense, excellent passing vision, excellent confrontation, very good at breaking through and making fouls, the game rhythm is very good, showing the desire to win the game.
Disadvantages: Unstable scoring, high fluctuations in both three-pointers and mid-range, defensive loopholes, short height as a shooting guard, average athletic ability, many mistakes, and little upside potential. 【Note 5】
To be honest, this is the first time Xu Yong has seen Harden's 2008 draft prediction, which is lower than he expected.
However, the analysis content of professional talent show websites is still very professional.
Especially when it comes to turnovers, Harden averaged 4 assists per game this season but nearly 3 turnovers. This is a very low ranking.
Harden's expression was a little complicated at this time, as if he was thinking about something.
Xu Yong continued down and saw himself in the 21st pick.
Advantages: Amazing athletic ability, excellent body flexibility, tough confrontation, excellent performance in off-ball offense, excellent game temperament.
Disadvantages: Insufficient height as a power forward and lack of offensive skills as a small forward. He looks more like a high-quality role player.
"Do you have a draft plan?" At this moment, Harden, who had finished thinking, asked Xu Yong.
Xu Yong glanced at Harden and nodded.
As a reborn person, in addition to training in the past few years, he has naturally also planned the draft.
Especially in the past year, he refined his original "four-year college plan".
"Can you tell me?" Harden looked a little confused at this time.
Xu Yong nodded, Harden was his friend now, and he had nothing to hide.
"Go as far as possible in the championship, improve your ranking, and enter the lottery." Xu Yong's current plan is simple and clear.
The so-called lottery picks are the top 14 picks. The reason why they are called so is because of the existence of the "lottery ping pong ball" in the lottery. As long as you have the chance to draw, you have a probability of getting the top three picks.
The 14 teams that can participate in this draw are actually all non-playoff teams last season.
If you are selected by a non-playoff team, you have a certain chance of being trained as the core of the team.
Of course, the further forward, the greater the chance.
On the contrary, after the lottery, what those playoff teams need more are high-quality role players. This is why Xu Yong appears in this pick despite his excellent dynamic talent.
In other words, this is a watershed, and this is why Xu Yong said this. He wants to be trained as a core player after entering the NBA.
There are several reasons for this.
The first is that he has this confidence.
He was trained by core players in the CBA back then, and he got better and better as he played.
The CBA is played in rounds. In his second season, he averaged almost 15+5+2 in the first round, improved to 18+6+3 in the second round, and even went straight to 26+7+6 in the third round. .
Although the strength of the CBA cannot be compared with the NBA, his improvement over the years and the foreseeable improvement in the future show that he has potential in this area and is not blindly confident.
The second is development.
There is a popular saying in the draft, "The lottery is based on potential, the mid-to-late first round is based on immediate combat ability, and the second round is scratch-off."
Although this is not always the case, in general it is impossible to escape.
If you are not selected in the lottery, you will most likely start as a role player. As a role player, you will be required to do what you are good at on the court, and you must do it well, because of the competition between role players. Much bigger than the core players.
Many role players may only have one chance to prove themselves in their lifetime, but those who are cultivated as core players have a large error tolerance rate.
To take the closest example, Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue, who were both selected in 2007, are very intuitive.
And after becoming a role player, he will gradually become able to only do those few things, and other abilities will gradually disappear.
Because it’s useless even if you practice, the coach won’t allow you to do those things on the court.
I can't say there are many such examples in the NBA, I can only say that most of them are, because those who can enter the NBA are the Jordans in their stories before the draft.
As for those who can grow from role players to core players, there are very few.
A lot of it in terms of perception is just the result of survivor bias.
The last thing he just thought of was opportunity.
Being in the same district as the University of Memphis is both a bad thing and a good thing. If they can really upset, they have a good chance of doing so.
Harden was thoughtful after hearing this, and then nodded.
To him, it was the best plan at the moment.
