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Chapter 919 - 387.

Chapter 919: 387.

The evening of June 27, 2008, 7:30 PM, Madison Square Garden, the NBA Draft is about to begin.

Zhang Yang sat next to a small table in front of the stage, known as the green room. He had attended the draft ceremony before, but it was his first time in this area, though he was in the role of a family and friends group.

Today, Jack and Harden showed off several times about being in the green room, even DeRozan was arrogantly thrilled; he was upset but couldn’t fight back, he lost this time.

Moreover, he was about to lose another one, Harden was definitely going to be picked earlier than Zhang San, and Jack also had a high probability of being picked earlier.

Initially, management wanted Zhang Yang to go to the draft office, but he didn’t go. He believed that Carlisle had his own team-building ideas. He mentioned Jordan’s name because he thought Jordan’s characteristics matched Carlisle’s needs—he could run, jump, and join fast breaks, and nobody expected Jordan wouldn’t even make it into the first round.

In high school, Jordan looked similar to Kwame Brown, a five-star high school player with a rating as high as 96 upon graduation. Media evaluations at the time stated that if the NBA hadn’t banned high school students from entering the draft, Jordan could have been a top 5 pick.

Even though he performed terribly in his freshman year and poorly in workouts when he declared early for the draft, the media still ranked him 11th in draft predictions, and he was invited to the green room by team general managers.

Jordan, Bickerstaff, Carlisle, and others might have noticed Jordan during his workouts due to his reputation, but they certainly wouldn’t include him in their drafting plans, possibly not even considering whether he fits them. That’s why Zhang Yang brought it up.

Actually, Carlisle had mentioned a target they might select or acquire through trading, a player with particular skills, but Zhang Yang guessed they wouldn’t attain a high enough draft pick.

For other draft participants, Zhang Yang might know a lot about their futures, but he truly didn’t have a deep impression of what their rookie year would be like. Picking a rookie involves cultivation input, overall playing time adjustment, etc., so he decided not to interfere.

The team is rising, direction clear, prospects bright. In terms of team building, his role seems like a rich kid? He could create or mess things up, and if he wanted, forming cliques to suppress teammates would likely not hinder the team’s growth, but getting too involved in player operations might truly affect the team’s progression, even its ceiling, even with good intentions.

Of course, if the day comes when it’s time to rebuild, it would be different; he could bombard them with suggestions to let management and coaches pick suitable ones.

As other prospective draft picks and their families entered the green room, Zhang Yang felt a scorching gaze. Sneaking a peek, it was indeed Mayo...

Harden also noticed Mayo, saying to Zhang Yang, "Jack, Mayo must hate you to death. Not only did you beat him away that day, but he also didn’t attend the elite game the next day, getting ridiculed harshly by journalists."

Zhang Yang: "What do you mean, I beat him away? He couldn’t handle the loss and ran off. If he wanted, I could publicly admit I didn’t win that day. We didn’t finish 10 shots. He might come back and hit 10 shots in a row."

Harden: "...If you publicly say that, he’d fight you to the death."

Zhang Yang: "Makes sense, then I won’t say it."

Harden: "You don’t seem to care that he hates you?"

Zhang Yang: "Why care about him? We’re not close. Even if he makes it to the NBA, I’d only see him three or four times a year, maybe just twice. We wouldn’t have interactions in private. This kind of meeting frequency isn’t even as much as strangers in the same city. There are lots of players in the NBA who hate me like him. If I care about each one, how exhausted would I be? You’ll definitely encounter many who are hostile or even hateful towards you in the future. Better to get used to it early. Look, he seems to be staring at you now."

Harden: Another day of learning new tricks.

Soon, the time reached 7:50 PM, the draft began.

Stern walked through the pre-draft ceremony amidst boos, then the staff submitted the Miami Heat’s draft envelope.

Zhang Yang saw Harden clenching his fists, although inclined to join a more suitable team, deep down, he still wanted to be the number one pick.

But the name Stern announced was, as media, experts, and most fans predicted, Michael Beasley.

At the Jordan training camp, Zhang Yang learned that Pat Riley was down to two options at the time, one was Beasley, the other was Mayo.

As of now, Mayo had even more immediate value than Beasley. He could score and pass, while Beasley was purely a scorer in college, and it was hard to say whose scoring ability was better.

Zhang Yang remembered Mayo’s rookie year having the highest average points in the 2008 class, around 18+ per game, while Rose averaged 16+, and Westbrook averaged 15+.

The ’Super Jordan’ title was ridiculous, but if he didn’t mess around, or at least maintained a proper attitude in playing, Mayo still had all-star potential. After all, having an average 18+ points at age 20 showed enormous growth potential.

So when he accepted the challenge that day, Zhang Yang’s psychological expectation for the score was around 10 to 5.

From his team’s management, Zhang Yang learned that for those holding high draft picks, management’s reduced expectations for Mayo differed from the media and fans.

The outside world thought Mayo’s draft status was slipping because he got hammered 7 to 0 by Zhang San that day.