"Big dream? NO."
Jerry Krause thought about it for only half a second before rejecting the deal.
What's the use of a super center who is almost retired? His salary is not small. Will it take up space if he is replaced? The Bulls need to rebuild and need potential rookies, not veterans who are about to retire. Is Dawson treating him as a fool?
"Mr. Klaus, we failed to make the playoffs this year. We traded Big Dream and will be even worse next year. The first round pick is good!"
Seeing that Krause refused too quickly, Dawson immediately added a bargaining chip, next year's unprotected first-round pick.
"Feel sorry."
But Klaus was still dissatisfied. Next year was not a big year, and it might not be as good as this year, so he still refused.
Dawson was disappointed. In order to get Yao Min, he had to continue to increase his chips and add blue-collar backup center Kevin Cato.
It's just that what the Bulls want is a team core. No matter how much blue-collar chips Cato has, it doesn't make any sense. Ten Catos can't exchange for a team core.
Even when he gritted his teeth and added Mobley, it only made Jerry Krause hesitate for a second more, and then was rejected again.
Looking at Dawson's back as he left, Jerry Krause smiled.
If he is not a very good trading chip, not enough to become the core of the team, how can he trade Yao Min?
He missed out on King of Iron Fist back then, so he wanted to take a gamble this time.
Of course, if Yao Min, like Elton Brand, cannot bring more victories to the team and only has personal data, he can only give up.
"Sorry, Rudy."
Dawson went back and told Tomjanovich the result. Tomjanovich was very disappointed not to get Yao Min.
At this time, the Grizzlies approached the Hawks and proposed a trade, using Sharif Rahim, the No. 1 overall pick in 1996, for Pau Gasol, who had just been selected by the Hawks. Although the Hawks' head coach was very fond of Gasol, he had no choice but to make the final decision. It was the general manager who agreed after thinking about it.
As the first round progressed further and further, there was a young man in the audience whose expression became increasingly worse.
This young man is called Arenas, a native of Los Angeles, studying at the University of Arizona. He is a very confident person and has great confidence in the draft. However, the first round is almost over and no team has selected him yet. Him, this made him very angry and disappointed.
"They will regret it, just like they didn't select the Iron Fist King in 1991." He murmured in his mouth.
"Bob, I have something to take the first step."
"Don't watch it?"
"Don't watch anymore."
When the 26th pick was reached, Zhou Quan received a call from Zeng Li, saying that his son missed him. He said something to Whithit and then stood up and left.
"Hey, Iron Fist King."
After walking a few steps, someone suddenly called him. He looked up and saw a young black man with a round head in the third row of the auditorium.
At first glance, this young man gave him a feeling. His eyes were firm but full of anger.
"Hey."
He nodded and continued walking because he was teasing his son.
"Iron Fist King, I am your fan, and I am also a rookie in this class. I am a guard, mainly a point guard, as tall as you. My name is Gilbert Arenas, from Los Angeles." The young man said loudly again.
Zhou Quan was startled and had to stop temporarily and greeted: "Hello, Gilbert. So have you been selected?"
"No. But I will make them regret it." Arenas said very confidently.
At this time, Zeng Li heard Zhou Quan talking to someone here and hung up the phone. Zhou Quan simply called the young man from Los Angeles down, found a seat and sat down to chat, but not about the draft. It's UCLA.
Because Arenas took the initiative to talk about UCLA, Arenas originally wanted to join UCLA the most. He hoped to wear the UCLA jersey like Zhou Quan. Unfortunately, what UCLA wanted most was Carlos Boozer. Zell chose Duke University, but UCLA also didn't choose him, and he ended up going to the University of Arizona.
"Not being able to get into UCLA is my biggest regret."
Having said this, Arenas looked at David Stern, who walked onto the stage again, with a look of anticipation in his eyes.
Subsequently, the Spurs selected Tony Parker with the 28th pick, followed by the SuperSonics' 29th and final first-round pick.
"Gilbert, do you think the Sonics will choose you?" Zhou Quan asked with interest.
Arenas looked ugly and said: "King of Iron Fist, I hope to follow your footsteps, but if the Sonics don't choose me, they will regret it in the future. I swear, I will make everyone who looks down on me regret it."
"Gilbert, you are a bit like Kobe. That kid has always been dissatisfied with his draft picks." Zhou Quan said with a smile.
The two stood not far from Whithit. Whithit had been paying attention to the two of them. He looked back at Arenas and then looked down at the letter in his hand.
The name hadn't been written on it yet, but it would be written soon, and he had two minutes to think about it.
Of course he knew about Arenas, and the Sonics had a draft profile of him, but it wasn't built from high school, it was built during his college years.
This means that Arenas's popularity is not too high, and his talent is not very good. Otherwise, scouts would have created a profile for him during his high school years.
The reason Arenas has not been selected yet is mainly because he suffered a serious knee injury in college.
This young man has strong upper body strength, and his explosive power, agility, and speed are among the best in the NBA. Of course, there are too many people with first-class qualities. This is not uncommon. There are countless people with first-class qualities who are not selected.
In terms of technology, he is very good at pull-up jump shots, his technical rhythm is very fast, and he is good at fast breaks and three-pointers.
In terms of these qualities and technical characteristics, he is actually quite suitable for the Sonics and should be able to play next to the Iron Fist King.
It's a pity that he is a little short and not tall enough to play shooting guard, so he can only play as a substitute at the first position.
Arenas's second weakness is that he is not very good at defense. He makes a lot of gambling steals and is easily out of position. He is willing to accept being singled out. This is not suitable for the Sonics.
Ewing and Chris Mullin are gone. His goal today is to choose a center or shooting guard. A swingman can also be used. Arenas plays the No. 1 position and is not among his considerations.
It turned out that he was going to choose a Turkish man named Memet Okur, who can play power forward or center. He is 211 centimeters tall and is currently playing in the Turkish Basketball League. However, he will not be able to join the NBA after being selected.
The second choice was a swingman named Bobby Simmons.
Corey Maggette is also a swingman, but he is a small forward. He has no three-pointers and his shooting is not very good. He plans to choose a shooting guard and use him to replace Corey Maggette if he has potential. , Maggette can be traded out.
"This kid has talked to the Iron Fist King, but if we choose him, there will be three point guards among the four people on our back line. In addition, Corey Maggette plays as a small forward, and there is no real shooting guard behind him. Not good. But..."
Finally, he made up his mind, unscrewed the pen cap, and wrote Gilbert Arenas' name on the letterhead.
Two minutes later, David Stern walked onto the stage for the last time, opened the envelope, glanced at the letterhead, and said with a smile: "The Seattle SuperSonics used the No. 29 pick in the first round to select Gil from the University of Arizona. Burt Arenas.”
From the time David Stern mentioned Arizona, Zhou Quan knew who Whitsitt chose, and he was a little surprised.
Arenas is a point guard, is the team short of a point guard? What the team lacks is a shooting guard. Bob, you are out of your mind. Why did you choose him?
"Congratulations, young man, you can play next to the Iron Fist King." At this time, a fan nearby said to Arenas.
"Oh, ah, yes, haha, thank you, I'm glad."
Arenas then reacted and quickly shook hands with the fan.
"Rookie, come on stage."
Zhou Quan reached out and shook Arenas' hand. Arenas hugged Zhou Quan excitedly and said, "Iron Fist King, although I am only the last pick, I am very happy to join the SuperSonics."
"To play in the SuperSonics, you have to work hard." Zhou Quan said.
"Tekken King, believe me, the most important thing for me is hard work. I will find a training ground to practice in a while." A determined look flashed across Arenas's face.
"..."
Zhou Quan was startled, then smiled and nodded.
Arenas let out a long breath as he walked toward the front desk.
Indeed, he was dissatisfied with the No. 29 pick, but he finally did not fall out of the first round. His mood at the moment was pretty good, not too bad, and much better than before.
And he feels a little lucky today. He was not able to join UCLA in college, but he joined the Iron Fist King's team in the NBA. This also made up for the regret of being too low in the draft, which is a great blessing among misfortunes.
…
Zhou Quan's business activities in New York did not end until the 30th. He returned to Seattle on July 1st, and then flew to Los Angeles with his family on the 2nd.
After meeting Zhou Jun and Zeng Yu, the nine members of the family boarded the flight to the capital. They arrived in the capital on the afternoon of the 3rd, and the Jazz headquarters sent six vehicles to pick them up.
The changes in the capital and the country as a whole are changing with each passing day. There is a huge construction site outside the second ring road. Just past June 9th, the fourth ring road was all opened to traffic, and everything outside the fourth ring road has become a large construction site.
Relatively speaking, it is relatively quiet within the Second Ring Road. There are not many high-rise buildings. The closer to the Forbidden City, the lower the buildings. The intact old buildings are not allowed to be moved, and even the decoration must be approved, including Zhou Quan's large courtyard with four entrances.
He bought seven or eight courtyards in the past few years. When he bought this four-in-one courtyard, he told Zhang Lili that he would invest in a courtyard house. It was cheap anyway, so it didn't cost much.
His yards are all in the second and third rings, with three entrances and two entrances. Including this four-entry yard, Jazz Company has come forward to hire professionals for maintenance and daily cleaning once a week.
A large family moved into the four-in courtyard. Zhou Jianguo and Lin Yufen stayed for a few days before returning to Changsha. After a few days of rest, Zhou Quan would go to Moscow with the Olympic bid team to participate in the Olympic bid.
Zeng Li has not been back for more than half a year. Zeng Li will definitely go to the Jazz headquarters to work for a while. Zhou Jun and others will also go to help. They also have part-time jobs at Jazz, which is a benefit to the family and they can get a salary.
Entering the front yard from the Guangliang gate in the southeast corner, the yard is very clean. Jazz Company had it cleaned before they came back.
There was a lot of luggage, but luckily there were six drivers to help.
"Sister, it's so big here!"
Zhou Ling followed Zhou Ye around and around. She couldn't figure out what was the hanging flower gate or what was the handwriting arcade. She was already lost.
"Lingling, this is your room, I live next to it."
Zhou Ye took Zhou Ling into a room and said: "This compound has four entrances in total, the front and back yards plus the two middle courtyards. I remember that including the wing rooms, there are seventy-two rooms. Ours is the west wing of the third entrance. , your uncle and the others live in the main house.
By the way, behind this is the fourth entrance. Like the first entrance, the fourth entrance has no side rooms in the front yard, only the reverse side room and the back cover room. Outside the back door is an alley, and beyond the alley is the Forbidden City. "
"Really? Sister, I haven't been to the Forbidden City yet. Let's go and see it later?" Zhou Ling said excitedly.
"Okay." Zhou Ye smiled.
Just as he was talking, Zhou Jianguo and Lin Yufen, who was holding little Zhou Yuan, came over, followed by several drivers carrying suitcases.
After a busy time and settling down, it was already time for dinner. Zhou Jianguo led a few people along the Chaoshou corridor from the walkway next to the east wing of the second entrance to the second entrance. Zhou Quan and Zhou Jun and others were entering the main room of the second entrance. Mingtang speaks.
"Brother, is this a real antique?"
As soon as Zhou Ling entered the main room, she saw several vases and other things, and asked very curiously.
Zhou Ye said with a smile: "Your eldest brother likes to buy these things the most. He doesn't know whether they are real or fake, and he has never asked anyone to identify them.
I remember that when my eldest brother returned to China in 1992, he bought a lot of them in Xiangcheng and brought them back. They are still in Changsha. "
Zhou Jianguo said helplessly: "How many pieces are these? Your elder brother has brought thousands of these things back from the United States over the years. They were all shipped back by sea in containers. They are all piled up in the warehouse now. They cost who knows how much, and they don't know how much they cost." I know a few of them are true.”
Zhou Quan smiled and said: "Dad, I have read some related books over the years, and I have some discerning ability. Anyway, it is cheaper to buy these things in the United States, and they don't understand the value of these things at all. But the things in this house None of it is real, it’s basically art.”
Zhou Jianguo nodded and said: "There is no one at home, and people usually come in and out for maintenance. It cannot be true."
Zhou Quan looked at the room and said, "When I retire and settle down, I will find some old objects to enrich this place and make some tables and cabinets made of red sandalwood."
Zeng Li said: "Husband, there are several places to play these things in the capital. Have you been to Panjiayuan, Liulichang, and Shilihe?"
"I haven't been to Liulichang much. I've been to Liulichang twice. Most of them are works of art and fakes. The people selling things there are all experts. I'm not interested." Zhou Quan said.
After chatting for a while, the family went out to eat.
Jazz's drivers had already left in one car, leaving them with five spare cars, all parked in the South Alley outside the gate.
We booked a big table in Donglaishun and chatted while eating, all about topics related to the changes in the capital.
(End of chapter)
