After bidding farewell to Coach Phillip Sanders, Budao left for Minnesota. Before leaving, Budao made a special call to his team and reported to Coach Smith about the trial with the Timberwolves.
Going to the Timberwolves for a tryout, in Flip Saunders' words, needs to be kept secret. From Flip Saunders' point of view, he doesn't want a talented player like Wu Dao to be seen by too many people.
In case there are too many people competing with him when Wu Dao lands in the NBA in the future.
Yes, after having a brief contact with Martial Arts for more than half a month, coach Philip Sanders is convinced that as long as Martial Arts continues on the current path, he will one day be able to break into the NBA.
And from Flip Saunders' perspective, even if a player like Budo participated in the draft in high school, his pick would never be too low.
There is absolutely no problem with mixing up a lottery pick.
But from a martial arts perspective, how can only you know about such a good thing as going to the Timberwolves for a tryout?
Of course, the more people who know, the better!
Only if more teams pay attention to him can his popularity be completely opened up, which is a good thing for him.
Yes, Phillip Saunders showed an obvious fondness for martial arts when communicating with martial arts, and his emphasis on martial arts was revealed both in and out of his words.
Inviting Wu Dao, who is a sophomore in high school, to visit the Timberwolves' target center for trial training is also an emphasis on Wu Dao.
But so what?
It's not like the Timberwolves have given him a contract now.
It's nothing more than various verbal promises.
And what's the use of verbal promises?
Besides, Phillip Saunders is just the team manager, not the team owner. In case the results of Budo's trial training do not satisfy the "boss" and other players.
Or maybe the existence of martial arts makes the Timberwolves' "star" unhappy. It is still unknown whether the boss will listen to the manager or the star.
It is not uncommon for older players to suppress young new players in the NBA. Over the years, similar things have happened countless times.
The higher Wu Dao's draft pick is in the future, the higher his status will be when a newcomer enters the team.
The NBA is a business league. It's really hard to say how many "old people" playing here are still fighting for their dreams.
Most people think about ensuring their playing time, producing beautiful and gorgeous statistics, and then getting a big contract.
Rookies in the same position and veteran players will definitely be squeezed out!
If Wu Dao really hides his edge as Flip Saunders expected and waits for the Timberwolves to choose him without knowing which pick he will use, he will really be a fool.
The draft position is the "fate" of the rookie!
Only high-ranking rookies are eligible to talk about playing time on the team, but low-ranking rookies? If the coach is in a good mood today, he will let you go shopping and do a few return runs during the garbage time. If you encounter a coach who doesn't like to use new players and is even a bit discriminatory, he may be cut off directly after joining the team with a low pick for a few years.
Only with high picks will teams invest more patience in you.
No matter how bad it is, the team will let you play a few games to see how good you are before deciding whether to spend any time on you.
Of course, there are situations in the NBA where high-ranking players are selected and traded directly, but even in this case, after being traded, the subsequent teams will also spend "a little bit" of patience on you.
When Wu Dao revealed the Timberwolves' trial invitation to Coach Smith, he also needed to use his coach's mouth to help him spread the word.
Don’t underestimate the influence of the coach of the top team in the country, Oak Hill College!
At the end of June, the 1995 NBA Draft was held as scheduled.
After arriving in Minnesota, Wu Dao also stayed in a hotel temporarily and paid attention to the situation of this year's draft.
The Golden State Warriors won the No. 1 pick, and the player they selected was Joe Smith. In the United States, the name Smith is like the colorful clouds and green flowers in the 1990s, which are all bad in the streets.
Joe Smith was born in 1975 and studied at the University of Maryland. He is a standard college player. He is 208cm tall and weighed 100kg when he first entered the league. He plays the position of center.
From the comparison of this set of data, we can know how explosive the martial arts talent of the sophomore in high school is. As a yellow man, his current height is only about 205cm, but his weight is already 102kg.
According to martial arts physical conditions, he is actually quite capable of playing center in high school games.
This is one of the reasons why Phillip Saunders always urges martial arts to play low and low during training. Wu Dao's body shape is one size larger than a "normal" high school small forward, and Wu Dao's feet are flexible, his ability to combine man and ball is terrifying, and he can shoot from any position on the court.
When a player like him gets into the low post, opponents can't guard him at all.
With his barefoot height of nearly 205cm and his wingspan of 221cm, his turnaround jump shot after physical confrontation in the low post is a killer. And once his shooting ability is feared by his opponents, his martial arts breakthrough will become extremely smooth!
When the draft results came out, Wu Dao bought a newspaper and paid attention to this year's draft.
When he saw the physical fitness of Joe Smith, a college player, in the hotel room, he couldn't help but touch his chin and commented, "It's so-so, not as good as me."
The second overall pick in 1995 was Antonio McDyess, who was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers. This guy is 206cm tall and weighs 106kg. He studies at the University of Alabama. He is a center and power forward. Like the No. 1 pick, he is an inside player.
This guy was later packaged and traded to Tunnel~
The third pick was Jerry Stackhouse, who studied at Vanderbilt University and was selected by the 76ers. This guy is 198cm, 97kg, and plays small forward and point position.
In the season after joining the 76ers, he played in 72 games and averaged 19.2 points per game.
Although his record in the games he played was 14 wins and 58 losses.
But although the 76ers lost, Jerry Stackhouse did not lose.
It is worth mentioning that the Minnesota Timberwolves selected a high school player with the fifth overall pick this year-Kevin Garnett!
The Wolf King, who fought for the Timberwolves until 2007, finally went to the Timberwolves.
Wu Dao took a rough look at this year's draft situation and found that after one round, he found that he didn't know many players. The ones that were more recognizable were probably "Baby Shark" and Garnett.
He really wasn't very familiar with the other players.
Judging from this year's draft situation, Budao also realizes how much today's NBA teams value inside players.
At the end of the draft, the Timberwolves returned to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the star they longed for tomorrow.
After Budo had a phone call with manager Phillip Saunders, he went to the Target Center.
This year's NBA regular season will officially start in early November. Before that, the Timberwolves will start their team training to prepare for the new season.
The current star of the Timberwolves is Tom Gugliotta, who plays forward, although this brother only played 31 games due to injury in the 1994-95 season.
But in the new season, his salary is the highest on the team, reaching 4.5 million US dollars, and he even attended the All-Star Game in 1997.
Oh, by the way, this guy's unique skill is "iron-blooded mid-range shooting".
The team's "second boss" is barely Christian Laettner, a 211cm, 107kg white center with a salary of US$3.91 million.
Of course, in a fundamental sense, a team like the Timberwolves does not have a so-called top boss or second boss, because the Timberwolves are not a team that can make it to the playoffs. The purpose is to compare everyone’s salary levels.
The biggest characteristic of Christian Laettner is that he has no characteristics. As an inside player, he can be said to be the representative term of "unpretentious".
No characteristics means no strengths. By the way, compared to O'Neal, Christian Laettner has no problem with free throws~
The team's defender, Isiah Leder, has a salary of US$3.01 million. He is a heavy defender with a height of 196cm and a weight of 98kg. He is also a member of the "300+ Club".
As a defender, Isiah Leder averages 20.3 points per game. He is a "cutting" defender who holds the ball strongly. According to Budo, he can be regarded as one of the strengths of the Timberwolves.
But this guy has a big problem. As a black player, this guy has trouble dealing with the team's "core" white player Christian Laettner.
Moreover, he was not very "obedient to discipline" and had many problems. He was late for training, hid contraband, and insulted and spat at the staff.
It can be said that he is a player with a lot of bad records, but no matter what his character is, there is no big problem with this guy's level.
After him, Mitchell Williams has $2.38 million and Doug West has $1.9 million.
After that, there is Kevin Garnett who had $1.62 million in his rookie year.
When Martial Arts came to the target center, it was July 5th, which happened to be Wednesday.
Knowing that Wu Dao would come to try out today, the Timberwolves' Target Center players were quite uniform. On the sidelines, coach Bill Blair and team manager Phillip Saunders were watching the players' training.
With the addition of Garnett, Bill Blair is having the players conduct an intra-squad practice match, just to see if there will be any chemical reaction when these players work together.
Garnett and Christian Laettner were in two different groups. The team's "big boss" Tom Gugliotta sat on the sidelines and did not participate in today's practice match.
The players who assisted Garnett were forward Sam Mitchell, guard Terry Porter, center Andrew Long, and the notorious Isiah Lederer.
As I said before, Isiah Leder and the white center Christian Laettner are not going to deal with each other. He wants to team up with Garnett, the little brother who carries his shoes, to defeat Christian Laettner and the others!
When Wu Dao walked into the gym, the practice match was in full swing.
The coaches and assistant coaches on the sidelines heard the noise and looked toward the door.
When Phillip Sanders saw that the person entering the arena was Wu Dao, he immediately smiled and waved to Wu Dao, motioning Wu Dao to come to him.
Wu Dao took a look at the game in the court, and his eyes quickly locked on Garnett, who was now wearing the No. 21 jersey.
While walking towards the rest area on the sidelines, he watched the game on the court.
At this time, it was the offensive round of Garnett and his team. Isiah Leder, who had got the basketball, did not release the ball. It seemed that he was planning to play by himself. After a few seconds, Garnett blocked his opponent's position. , seeing his teammates not passing the ball, he immediately lifted up and set a pick-and-roll for Isiah Leder.
With Garnett's pick-and-roll, Isiah Leder quickly dropped the ball and cut in, and then forced a layup against the defense of big center Christian Laettner.
However, in order to avoid the opponent's block, Leder's parabola was too high when he went for a layup, and he failed to control the force. The basketball hit the backboard, and when it rebounded, it hit the edge of the frame and bounced outward.
Garnett, who was setting up the pick-and-roll, had also entered the inside with Leder's cut. When the basketball fell out of the basket, he jumped up and dunked the ball into the basket.
"Hey! Good job, rookie!"
"But you idiot, can you be faster when you go into the pick-and-roll? Didn't you see my signal?"
"Rookie, you have to learn to play with your brain!"
Leder's mouth was very rude. Facing Garnett, a rookie, he scolded him mercilessly. Garnett, a new high school player who had just arrived, didn't say much. He nodded towards Leder and then lowered his head and started to defend.
When the team manager Philip Sanders saw this scene on the side of the court, he frowned slightly and showed some dissatisfaction on his face.
But at this time, Wu Dao happened to come to greet him. Philip Sanders quickly calmed down his emotions and smiled at Wu Dao:
"Martial Arts, you are here."
"Here, this is our head coach of the Timberwolves, Bill Blair."
"Coach Bill Blair, this kid is what I told you, the star player of Oak Hill High School, martial arts."
Flip Saunders introduced Martial Arts to the Timberwolves coach. However, Coach Bill Blair just raised his head, glanced at Wu Dao lightly, nodded, and then ignored Wu Dao and turned his attention to the court.
Long before Budo came to Target Center, Phillip Sanders had mentioned Budo to Coach Bill Blair about what a talented high school student he was.
However, Coach Bill Blair didn't care at all about Budo, a yellow player.
After all, he is just a high school student, a sophomore in high school.
Garnett on the court at this time is still a senior in high school and a serious high school graduate. However, in the past few days of practice games, Garnett's abilities have been so-so, which did not satisfy coach Bill Blair.
Maybe it's because he's not used to it yet, maybe it's because Garnett is a bit "shy" when he first arrived. In short, coach Bill Blair feels uncomfortable with the high school student selected by this year's team.
This is the attitude towards Garnett who was the No. 5 pick. How does Bill Blair treat martial arts? Not to mention that.
Feeling the indifference of coach Bill Blair, Budo just smiled. In order to ease Wu Dao's embarrassment, Philip Sanders patted Wu Dao's back affectionately and motioned Wu Dao to sit down and watch the Timberwolves' team practice match.
When Budo came, the training match was only the first half. Under the leadership of "senior" Ryder, Garnett and his team were in pretty good shape. Seven minutes into the first half, the team took the lead. 6 points.
only.
Garnett played a little stiffly. Without teammates to pass the ball to him, Garnett could only work on defense. Garnett defended very well. He was 211cm tall and could compete with Christian Laettner.
It's just that Garnett, who plays good defense, obviously did not meet the psychological expectations of the Timberwolves management.
Wu Dao sat on the sidelines and watched for a long time, seeing Garnett's embarrassment.
"It's not suitable. This guard has the ability to hold the ball and score but is not so explosive. This style of play is not suitable for Garnett."
(End of chapter)
