On June 14, Kobe led the Lakers to a 4-1 victory over the Magic and won his fourth championship trophy in his career, which was also the first after O'Neal left.

If his title as the best player in the league was controversial before, then with the acquisition of this championship, Kobe, who was called the "number one loser" after last year's defeat and led the American Dream Team 8 to return to the top of the Olympics, has truly lived up to the title.

The era of Kobe and this Lakers team has begun.

A week later, Xu Yong packed his luggage and set off for New York again.

In a few days, the 2009 NBA Draft will be held at Madison Square Garden, the home of the Knicks.

There is a little cheese here. The number of people who sign up for the NBA draft every year is actually not that many.

Take this year for example, only 103 people signed up, and by the withdrawal deadline (you can withdraw before a specific date and continue to run next year), 55 people withdrew, leaving only 48 people left.

Of course, this does not mean that the 30 teams can only select these 48 people, because the NBA draft has a rule that players who are 22 years old can automatically participate in the draft.

So if you happen to be 22 years old this year, then congratulations, you have a chance to be like Wang Zhelin and find that you have been selected by the NBA after waking up!

However, this number further proves that this year is a weak year for the draft. After all, compared with those who automatically participate, those who actively sign up will naturally be stronger.

After arriving in New York, Xu Yong soon met Schwartz again.

Schwartz is a well-known agent with many NBA stars under his management. He signed more than just Xu Yong for this year's draft, so naturally he could not accompany Xu Yong throughout the whole process.

However, Xu Yong is the player with the best prospects among the rookies he signed this year, so he also devotes the most time to Xu Yong.

"You need to prepare a suit, preferably something formal. That will be your first impression on the fans. Of course, you can also do some gimmicks and try to leave a deep impression on the fans." Schwartz patiently reminded.

"Like kissing a beautiful girlfriend?" Xu Yong asked with a smile.

Schwartz was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded: "That's a very good suggestion."

Xu Yong also smiled.

Kissing his beautiful girlfriend was the thing that impressed him most about the NBA draft.

In 2011, Jan Vesely, nicknamed "Czech Yi Jianlian", kissed his girlfriend after being selected.jpg.

He doesn't mind, but who gives him a beautiful girlfriend first?

Of course, Schwartz could also tell that Xu Yong was joking.

After all, he had been in contact with Xu Yong for such a long time, but Xu Yong didn't even have a woman, let alone a beautiful girlfriend.

However, such jokes show that Xu Yong is in a relaxed state of mind, which is a good thing.

He has been a professional agent for so many years and has seen too many rookies who became unbalanced mentally because their draft picks were not as good as expected and ended up being mediocre.

A talent show is just like the college entrance examination. It is very important in life, but in a sense it is just a starting point.

"By the way, you can also pick something that can bring you good luck," Schwartz reminded with a smile.

Hearing this, Xu Yong patted his suitcase and said with a smile, "I'm ready."

Although it was his first time participating in a draft, he had seen too many drafts as a commentator before his rebirth.

As the saying goes, "Even if you haven't eaten pork, you have seen many pigs running." He also made careful preparations for that special night.

Schwartz smiled and nodded upon seeing this, then started chatting with Xu Yong about the latest draft trends.

Xu Yong's most optimistic situation now is that the fourth pick is selected by the Kings, followed by the fifth pick by the Suns, and then the eighth pick by the Knicks.

But now Schwartz has some new information, such as the Timberwolves are also trying to trade for the fifth pick, and their target is James Harden.

There is also news about the tryouts. Both Rubio and Thabeet did not perform well in the tryouts, which may affect their draft stock.

Especially the Grizzlies, the Grizzlies may not necessarily pick Thabeet now, and both Rubio and Harden refused to go to them for a tryout.

Speaking of the Grizzlies, because of their small market, they are not very popular among rookies in both Vancouver and Memphis.

Xu Yong nodded repeatedly, but as a reborn person, he knew that the Grizzlies would eventually pick Thabeet. As for the Timberwolves, they would end up with nothing, not only failing to select Harden, but also missing out on Curry.

You know what, listening to Schwartz analyze these things and then having my third eye opened, this feeling is still very subtle.

Shortly after Schwartz left, Xu Yong went to the airport to pick up Harden and others.

After more than a month, they finally met again.

Harden's beard looks much thicker.

"James, you'd better trim your beard before the draft. You don't want fans to have the first impression of you being unkempt, do you?" Xu Yong learned on the spot.

"Yeah, I'll fix them and curl them." Harden nodded. This was the advice his mother gave him.

"How was your tryout?" Xu Yong asked as soon as he got into the taxi.

Although he was reborn and has the third eye, the addition of this butterfly will still change a lot of things.

Especially since his draft stock is so high right now.

"If everything goes well, I should go to Toronto." DeRozan was very honest, and judging from his tone, the Raptors should have made him a draft commitment.

Xu Yong nodded. He didn't perform well in the tryout with the Raptors, and he was unlikely to drop to that spot now. It was very likely that DeRozan would go to the Raptors as he knew.

He then turned his gaze to Harden.

"The Timberwolves gave me a draft commitment, and they don't rule out trading up the draft pick." Harden's answer confirmed what Schwartz said before.

"Didn't the Thunder make a draft commitment to you?" Xu Yong asked.

Harden shook his head.

This reaction surprised Xu Yong a little, as he had the impression that the Thunder had always wanted to select Harden.

However, this is just his impression. After all, even before his rebirth, he couldn't know too many details about the draft.

"I should go to Cleveland." Ayers took the initiative to speak.

To assist James?

This is a little different from what was recorded in history. He had the impression that Ayers went to the Spurs. [Note 9]

But that's not bad either. The current Cavaliers team has a pretty strong roster, at least they started in the Eastern Conference Finals, so they can experience high-level competition in advance.

…

Two days passed quickly, and that day there was a crowd of people outside Madison Square Garden.

On this day, in addition to the rookies, each team will have fans present at the draft.

The scene may not be grand, but it will definitely be very lively.

Xu Yong took the elevator from the underground garage to the audition site, and he was accompanied by his parents and Cai Xiao.

In addition to Ayers, he, Harden and DeRozan were all invited into the green room.

The so-called green room is a separate area isolated in front of the main stage of the talent show.

Each member of the Green Room has a small table where they can invite friends and family to wait for the draft results together.

After entering the small green room, Xu Yong saw that his table was on the far right side of the first row of the stage.

Apart from anything else, it is the most convenient place to go on stage.

And next to him is Harden's desk.

Harden had his back to him, so he walked over and patted the other person on the shoulder.

"What..." Harden turned around and his eyes widened when he saw what Xu Yong was wearing.

Everyone else was wearing formal suits tonight, but Xu Yong was the only one wearing a red Tang suit with a golden dragon embroidered on the left side.

This is just so cool!

But he immediately laughed, stood up and gave Xu Yong a big hug, which was something Xu Yong would do.

"Chinese style." Willis on the side also noticed him, stood up and greeted him with a smile.

Xu Yong rolled up his sleeves at this time and showed Willis the watch on his hand: "Lucky watch."

It was the same sports watch Willis had given him a year ago.

Willis was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect Xu Yong to wear it on such an important occasion. She said excitedly, "I hope it can really bring you good luck."

"It will definitely happen." Xu Yong affirmed.

After greeting Harden and the others, Xu Yong went to DeRozan's side.

DeRozan's father and mother were both present, and this was the first time Xu Yong met them.

DeRozan's mother looked okay, but his father looked very pale.

However, when DeRozan introduced Xu Yong to them, they all stood up and greeted Xu Yong enthusiastically.

Especially his mother, who kept saying thank you.

As a mother, how could I not feel my son's daily emotions?

However, what she could do was really limited. Not telling DeRozan when she got sick, like she did before, was the limit of what she could do.

But she could feel the changes in DeRozan this year, especially after helping the school win the championship. She felt that her son was no longer pretending to be happy, but was really much more sunny.

Of course, at this time, Xu Yong was not the only one moving in the small green house, many people were greeting each other.

Many of those who can enter the Little Green House know and are familiar with each other.

Just at this moment, Xu Yong was bumped on the shoulder.

When I looked up, I saw another familiar face, Tabit.

When Tabit saw that it was Xu Yong, he frowned. The collision just now was an accident, but he said nothing and walked away with his head held high.

He was extremely depressed by the previous divisional finals between the two teams. Naturally, he was unhappy with Xu Yong, so it was impossible for him to apologize.

And he has basically secured the second place this year. To put it in a very realistic way: I am the second place, who are you?

Xu Yong didn't care too much about it. As the worst second pick in history, Thabeet only played for a few minutes in the NBA.

It's a waste of life to haggle with such people.

After greeting DeRozan and returning to his seat, he started chatting with Cai Xiao about NCAA matters.

Cai Xiao just arrived in the morning. The two hadn't seen each other for such a long time that they had so much to talk about.

At this time, there was less than an hour left before the draft officially began.

The management of each team has also arrived at their draft room on the second floor, and an invisible war has already begun.