On the evening of June 25, after the NBA rookie reception, Stephen Curry, his father, girlfriend, agent team, and Clippers team boarded a plane to Los Angeles.
Curry felt disappointed, excited, and a little nervous.
The experience of this draft will definitely be something he will never forget, and he has a premonition that his future destiny has been changed.
The plane took off on the runway of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, flying higher and higher. Looking at the bustling New York night view under the clouds, Curry sighed.
Before the draft began, he always thought he would stay in New York and become a member of the Nisk team.
When Stern read his name with the first pick, the New York fans at the scene booed. The Clippers actually used the No. 1 pick to snatch away the guard they wanted.
Although in terms of badness, the current Knicks and Clippers are about the same. In the eight years since 2001, the Knicks have made the playoffs once.
But in terms of team history, the Knicks are much more glorious than the Clippers. They are one of the 11 original teams in the NBA. They have been a strong team in the Eastern Conference for a long time. They have won two NBA championships. The team is star-studded and is the most profitable in the league. team.
New York is the first city in the United States and the birthplace of professional basketball. It is located in the center of the stage. Madison Garden Square is the Mecca of basketball. Superstars are proud to score high scores here.
In comparison, the Clippers' history is much shabby, and they are a bad team.
Although the base is in Los Angeles, the most dazzling metropolis in the West, the real masters are in Los Angeles.
The Clippers are just outsiders taking advantage of the Los Angeles market.
The gap between before and after made Curry feel a little depressed. Before the draft, he imagined countless times that he would hit three-pointers one after another in Madison, leading Nisk out of the predicament and returning to the top, becoming the true king of New York.
Little did he know that the Clippers didn't draft Griffin and picked him instead. He neither knew nor had any interest in the Clippers team.
The only advantage is that I can work in the same city as my girlfriend Ayesha.
Therefore, Ayesha is the only one in Curry's draft team who is in a happy mood.
The remaining agents, as well as dad Dell Curry, are all frowning. It is natural to be happy that their son has become the number one pick.
But the higher the pick, the greater the pressure, the more attention you receive, and the less room you tolerate failure.
Greg Oden is an example. In addition to his fragile knees, what weighed him down was the mountain of heavy attention and expectations from the media and fans.
There are players who are lost in the draft every year, but only the number one pick will be mentioned again and again and written in the history books as negative teaching materials.
Dell Curry still has confidence in his son, but he has no confidence in the Clippers.
Not only are the Clippers bad, but the two No. 1 picks in history were not very good.
In 1988, they selected Danny Manning, who later became an All-Star forward. He was a talented player, but he obviously did not meet the expectations of the No. 1 pick.
Ten years later, in 1998, the Clippers held the No. 1 pick and selected one of the famous parallel imports in the league's history - "Sugar Man" Olowokandi.
For this "Olajuwon Second", the Clippers missed Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, and MVP-level Dirk Nowitzki (produced by Nelson).
The level of this draft is so great that even a dog would shake his head just looking at it.
The two No. 1 picks are just the tip of the iceberg. The Clippers' 40-year history of draft selection is not only useless, but also a mess. Otherwise, they wouldn't always be so bad.
Now that the Clippers have selected his son, Dell Curry is a little worried. Is my son a parallel import?
It can make the No. 1 pick doubt that he is not good enough. It shows how bad the Clippers' draft history is. The whole thing is a tool to eliminate wrong answers.
Old Curry sighed sadly and looked at Gary Sachs, the Clippers' director of player personnel who was sitting diagonally opposite. Sachs happened to be looking at him as well. Their eyes met awkwardly because they were not very familiar with each other.
Before the draft, the Clippers management had not considered any players other than Griffin at all, and naturally would not contact other rookie teams.
From the time the Clippers took Curry to the present, the Clippers have not communicated well with the Curry team, and Sachs is also beating drums in his heart.
He knew Curry wanted to play in New York, and he was worried that Curry's team would do what Francis did back then, refusing to report to the team.
Francis was drafted by the Grizzlies in 1999. Because he felt that the Grizzlies were too bad and Vancouver was too far away (the Grizzlies were still in Canada at the time), he refused to report to the team and claimed that if the Grizzlies did not trade him, he would rather retire directly.
The Grizzlies chickened out at the time, not wanting to waste a second pick, so they traded him to the Rockets, which led to the later collaboration between Francis and Yao Ming.
If Curry also makes such a move, then the Clippers really have no choice but to trade Curry or waste the No. 1 pick. No matter what, they will lose money.
Fortunately, Curry's team did not raise any objections after the draft and boarded the plane to Los Angeles with Sacks.
It can be seen from this that Curry is not particularly resistant to playing for the Clippers, and the two sides can negotiate.
Sacks took the initiative to switch seats and sit with Dell Curry. He knew that the former NBA top shooter had important suggestions for his son's career development.
Sacks went straight to the point and revealed the real reason why the Clippers chose Curry.
"We...we have a new general manager, his name is...his name is Smart, and he asked for Curry to be selected."
"Smart? Keith Smart, he is the manager of your team? No wonder..."
"No, no, no, it's not Keith Smart. I don't know his full name. He was airborne. It is said that he is Chinese."
"What? Chinese? You don't even know his name?"
Dell Curry was confused. He thought this Smart was Warriors assistant coach Keith Smart.
If it is him, it is indeed possible to win Curry, because it is rumored that the Warriors have always been interested in Curry.
The result is a Chinese who doesn't even know his full name. The only Chinese in the league that Curry knows is Yao Ming.
Where did this Smart come from?
"Sachs, your joke is a little too big." Dell Curry said in disbelief.
"I think so too. He called at the last minute and said, get Stephen Curry, and then hung up the phone without explaining a word."
"When did this person become the general manager of your team? Why didn't I hear any news about him?"
"Uh...yesterday, I got the news only today. Boss Sterling has given him full responsibility for all the team's affairs..."
Hearing what Sachs said, Curry, who was sitting next door, also became interested.
He came over and asked, "Has he ever worked in the NBA before?"
"I don't know, probably not. There are very few Chinese working in the NBA."
"Has he seen me play?"
"I don't know, probably not. I haven't even seen it."
"..."
"Then do you know the reason why he chose me?"
"I don't know, I don't even know what he looks like."
Sachs didn't know anything about it. It wasn't that he was unprofessional, it was just too sudden and he really didn't know anything.
With a lot of questions, Curry and his team arrived in Los Angeles in the early morning and stayed at a hotel arranged by the Clippers - originally reserved for the Griffin team.
When I woke up early the next morning, I was originally scheduled to meet with the team management at ten o'clock, attend a press conference, and officially announce Curry's joining to the media. Then in the afternoon, I would discuss the details of the contract and sign the rookie contract.
As a result, Sachs called me early in the morning and said, "I'm sorry, the general manager said that the time of the press conference will be adjusted to two o'clock in the afternoon. He said that you have come a long way and should have a good sleep to replenish your physical fitness... I'm really sorry."
Curry and his son really couldn't laugh or cry when they heard the news. They couldn't even communicate well about the press conference time. The Clippers' management is indeed well-deserved for its bad reputation.
Dell Curry is a little shaken in his heart as to whether he should let his son play for the Clippers. After all, a good growing environment is very important for rookies.
The Clippers' reputation as a rookie is really not very good.
Curry comforted him: "It's okay. At least it shows that this general manager is still very concerned about the players' sleep health. He is a gentle person."
