Chapter 105 1995 Draft

While Su Feng and McGrady were happily playing, on the afternoon of June 28th, the 1995 NBA Draft officially began in Toronto.

This was a draft that would have a profound impact on the future. At the same time, it was also the first time that two new NBA teams, the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies, participated in the draft.

Joe Smith from the University of Maryland was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the first overall pick.

Smith was technically sound. During his rookie season with the Warriors, his performance was completely worthy of the title of top pick.

The turning point in Smith's fate came when his rookie contract was about to expire.

Because he disliked the Warriors for being too bad, Smith, under the sway of the famous agent Fagan, insisted on entering the free agent market after the season to test the waters, rejecting the 4-year, 36 million offer made by the Warriors at the time.

In order to avoid losing everything, after failing to renew his contract in advance, the Warriors had no choice but to trade Smith to the Philadelphia 76ers.

But when Smith arrived in Philadelphia, he discovered that even if you were the top pick, you still had to kneel under Larry Brown.

Then, due to the NBA lockout, Smith was dumbfounded after the NBA reopened the free agent market in February of the following year...

So, his agent Fagan came up with a plan to pretend to advance in one direction while secretly preparing for another.

First, he had Smith sign with the Timberwolves for 2 years and 1.75 million US dollars, which was lower than the market price, and then secretly signed a large contract with the Timberwolves for 7 years and 86 million US dollars.

The direct result of this famous yin-yang contract was that the Timberwolves, who were originally true Timberwolves, instantly became Huskies.

Because before the lockout, the Timberwolves had already completed a sky-high agreement with Garnett for 6 years and 126 million.

So, after the league discovered Smith's contract, Stern, who was furious, directly stripped the Timberwolves of their first-round picks for the next 5 seasons and faced a huge fine.

At the same time, Smith was also ordered by the league to become a free agent.

Because during the lockout, the labor and management reached a number of agreements, and the NBA's salary cap system became more and more perfect.

Therefore, this yin-yang contract and Garnett's sky-high contract also directly led to the Timberwolves losing most of their team's operational space without draft picks.

And Smith, who was once the top pick, became an ordinary NBA player from then on.

In the future, after he retired, he could only run to TV shows to seek help because of bankruptcy.

So, people like this, aren't they just asking for it?

People offered you a big contract, but you didn't want it, you had to take the risk.

In the end, brains really are a good thing.

After Smith was selected by the Warriors, Antonio McDyess was selected by the Clippers with the second overall pick in the first round.

Next, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Jerry Stackhouse, a supporting role for the NBA protagonist, with the third overall pick in the first round.

Speaking of which, Stackhouse is simply born with a 100% chance of being slapped in the face.

He trash-talked Jordan and got hammered by Jordan; he wanted to teach Kobe, but was beaten by Kobe; he wanted to grab unlimited firing rights with AI, but was directly sent away by the team; in addition, before participating in the 2000 slam dunk contest, he confidently told the media that he was no worse than his junior Carter...

Then there was no then. After helping these NBA "protagonists" build confidence, Stackhouse didn't even bother being an all-star player.

In order to avoid being slapped in the face, Stackhouse simply became a role player.

After the top three picks of '95 were selected, the king-level players of this draft were also ready.

With the fourth overall pick in the first round, Rasheed Wallace was selected by the Washington Bullets.

With the fifth overall pick in the first round, the Timberwolves selected high school prodigy Kevin Garnett.

It is worth mentioning that when the Timberwolves selected Garnett, the CEO of "fight and retreat" (Ce Zhan Ce Tui Zong), Celtics vice president Jennings said like a sour lemon: "Kevin is the best high school student in the NBA since Moses Malone, but if he went to college, he would be more successful in the NBA."

It is said that when Garnett saw this comment, he felt that Mr. Jennings' logic was very strange.

Because...

If he could get into college, would he need to come to the NBA to start a sect?

Before even entering the NBA, Garnett felt the world's malice towards him!

This is definitely mockery, this is definitely trash talk, this is definitely deliberately disrupting my mentality!

Garnett vowed that he must become a trash-talking expert. In the future, only he can trash talk others in the NBA, and he must not let others trash talk him!

Ahem, back to the main topic.

Next, a more well-known player in this draft, nicknamed "Mighty Mouse", Damon Stoudamire was selected by the Raptors with the seventh pick in the first round.

Brent Barry, who "White Men Can Jump," was selected by the Nuggets with the fifteenth pick in the first round, Michael Finley was selected by the Suns with the 21st pick in the first round...

As for the others, like Bob Sura, Donyell Marshall, and Eric Snow, they were all taken home by the teams that fancied them, just like in Su Feng's previous life, to be trained.

…

The scene returns to Orlando.

After completing the physical tests for Su Feng and McGrady, the test data completely shocked the three trainers.

Although Su Feng's current potential value has been walled off by the 7.0 Iron-Making System, don't forget, he is only 17 years old.

As for McGrady, needless to say. After reading McGrady's physical test data, Mancias directly sighed: "The sky is his limit."

Of course, while testing McGrady, Mancias also noticed that McGrady's spine was different from that of ordinary people.

Therefore, Mancias suggested to McGrady: "I suggest that you don't gain weight too quickly in the future. Also, be sure to reduce the number of breakthroughs to avoid collisions."

In Su Feng's previous life, when McGrady won the scoring title with the Magic, he mainly used pull-up jumpers. At that time, McGrady's average playing time was close to 40 minutes, and he didn't suffer any major injuries except for occasional minor ones.

Later, after going to the Rockets, McGrady's weight also increased due to the cancellation of the HC rule.

Mancias's suggestion for McGrady to control his weight was correct, but in Su Feng's opinion, if McGrady really wanted to avoid major injuries, simply controlling his weight and reducing breakthroughs was far from enough.

In fact, the most suitable way to play for McGrady is health-preserving basketball.

Showing his talent as much as possible within a limited time is the only way to make McGrady's career longer.

But there was no way. In the 90s, as the team's star player, if you didn't play for about 40 minutes, you were seen as a coward in the eyes of others.

Hardcore reliance on the main players was a tradition of this era.

It is worth mentioning that after a day of training, Su Feng also specifically approached Frazier.

Because through the one-on-one with McGrady, Su Feng found that he was difficult to defend against players who were taller and faster than him.

You know, McGrady's pull-up shooting skills haven't been fully developed yet. If McGrady was more accurate, Su Feng would not be able to defeat McGrady before the end of this holiday.

Although the Iron-Making value is important, improving one's own strength is the key.

If he can't even handle a high school sophomore McGrady, what is Su Feng going to use to play in the NBA?

Su Feng knew that his "dribbling talent deficiency" would be difficult to develop in a short period of time, so he planned to start with his best skill: defense.

In his previous life, Frazier was Nash's coach. In addition to guiding Nash's shooting, he also guided Nash's defense.

Um...

Although guiding Nash's defense was useless in Su Feng's opinion, Su Feng believed that Frazier had his own merits.

"You mean you're having a hard time defending Tracy right now?" Frazier asked curiously.

"Yes, and before that, facing Kobe, they had too many offensive moves, and it was difficult for me to judge their offensive intentions," Su Feng replied.

"Then why not try taking the initiative?" Frazier said to Su Feng.

"Take the initiative?" Su Feng asked.

"Yes." Under Frazier's guidance, Su Feng quickly understood what it meant to take the initiative.

If Su Feng had only learned the basics of "suffocating defense" and "mad dog-style defense" before, then what Frazier was about to teach him was an elite course.

For example, Frazier told Su Feng how to reasonably use the HC rule when defending players who are good at breaking through, and how to use his hands.

For example, Frazier also told Su Feng how to maintain a safe defensive distance.

Combining his previous defensive experience, under Frazier's guidance, Su Feng quickly realized a new defensive style.

Su Feng called this defensive style "magnetic defense," or "backup tire defense."

To give a simple example, your goddess treats you as a backup tire, and doesn't take the initiative to talk to you usually, but once she feels that you are indifferent to her, she will come over and let you continue to care for her.

This kind of ambiguous relationship is between 30 and 50 centimeters, because Frazier simply drew a defensive radius for Su Feng based on Su Feng's wingspan and Su Feng's lateral movement speed.

Within this range, if McGrady breaks through, Su Feng retreats, and once McGrady wants to shoot, Su Feng can lean up and use his wingspan to interfere with his face.

"There's no need to be too fierce or aggressive in defense, because you can't defend perfectly every time.

In my opinion, as long as you can force the opponent to consume energy, even if it's physical energy, this defense is successful," Frazier said to Su Feng.

In the following days, Su Feng also began to use this new defensive style to deal with McGrady when playing one-on-one with McGrady.

The result...

It actually worked.

Because Su Feng won his first victory in his one-on-one career.

After countless losses, Su Feng, he won!

21 to 18, looking at McGrady who was already exhausted and collapsed, Su Feng only regretted that he didn't have a camera at this moment.

Otherwise, he would definitely record this moment.

See, I beat McGrady, I beat McGrady!

Um...

Although beating a guy who is a year younger than him doesn't seem to be something to be proud of...

But anyway, Su Feng gained a lot of experience on the defensive end, didn't he?

Just as Su Feng excitedly put his hands on his hips and complained about McGrady, suddenly, in his mind...