Carrying an old science teacher with him

Chapter 21 Simple Choices

"That idiot John Nash is trying to rob us. We asked them for a deal with us, and that greedy devil found out our intentions."

Warriors head coach Mike Montgomery angrily said to general manager Chris Mullin.

Although Mike Montgomery was hired after Chris Mullin became general manager, Montgomery was somewhat dissatisfied with Mullin's constant involvement in the management of the team's roster.

Montgomery is a relatively pure academic coach. His coaching experience at Stanford University enabled him to coach the Warriors. He has always believed that teams should not select high school players, as high school players are half-finished products, and only those players who have undergone college education are qualified products.

"He wants Michael, right? Then give him to him and let him figure out how to balance the trade himself. We disagree with everything else."

With less than fifteen minutes to go before the Warriors' draft announcement, Chris Mullin agreed to John Nash's steal after a moment's thought.

John Nash is the general manager of the Trail Blazers. His target from the beginning was not Wang Kai. The Trail Blazers are currently performing poorly, with fierce competition in the paint and no good wing players. This attempt to steal Wang Kai was a carefully planned scheme by John Nash.

John Nash learned that Wang Kai had gone to Oakland for a tryout, and shortly afterward the Warriors made a trade request, hoping to trade veteran Calport Chaney and the ninth pick to the Trail Blazers for the sixth pick. At this point, John Nash felt that the Warriors would definitely choose Wang Kai, a Chinese player.

Oakland is close to San Francisco, which has the largest Chinese community in the United States. The Warriors will definitely rely on Wang Kai to attract Chinese fans. Moreover, the Warriors have always had the idea of ​​moving to San Francisco, which has a larger population and a better economy.

After making an accurate assessment, John Nash did not agree to the trade. He demanded that the Warriors include Michael Pietrus before he would agree to the trade.

The Warriors were naturally unwilling to accept this. Although Pietrus's scoring was average, he was the Warriors' best wing defender, with excellent individual defense and playmaking abilities.

After failing to complete the trade, the Warriors sought opportunities with other teams, but to no avail.

When it came to the draft, John Nash directly "robbed" Wang Kai and then requested a trade from Chris Mullin.

It's fair to say that John Nash's behavior was very unsportsmanlike, but it certainly made Chris Mullin and the Warriors lose face.

Despite head coach Montgomery's displeasure, the Warriors ultimately opted to make a trade with the Trail Blazers.

So when the Warriors had their ninth pick, they selected swingman Martel Webster, as requested by the Trail Blazers.

Wang Kai was still wearing the Trail Blazers hat and sitting on the sidelines. He was indeed a little confused after being selected by the Trail Blazers, because he had never been to Portland for a tryout and had not communicated with anyone from the Trail Blazers.

After taking the stage, Wang Kai thanked his parents, Coach Kevin Boyle, and the fans, and also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Kobe Bryant.

Not long after sitting in the audience, Wang Kai received the news that he had been traded to the Warriors.

"Wow, it seems Chris really values ​​you. Hmm, the Warriors are a good choice, but Portland is a no-go, it's in chaos right now."

Kobe is quite satisfied with Wang Kai joining the Golden State Warriors; it's better than him going to Los Angeles where he'd be "in jail" every day.

The draft continues, and no other teams have caused any trouble. Andrew Bynum, who seems rather simple-minded, still went to the Lakers, who are indeed lacking in frontcourt players.

Monta Ellis, also a high school player, was not selected by the Warriors until the 40th pick in the second round. His shooting performance in the Combine was too poor and could not be compared with Wang Kai at all.

As soon as the draft ended, Wang Kai was taken to the conference room by Warriors staff.

The Warriors hope Wang Kai can play in the Summer League and prove himself with his performance.

However, Wang Kai's subsequent phone call with Yao Ming disrupted the Warriors' and Wang Kai's plans.

Wang Kai only began to receive attention from domestic media after winning four consecutive Florida high school championships. Before that, many people in the industry only knew that there was a kid playing basketball in an American high school.

What truly brought Wang Kai into the domestic spotlight was the news that a Houston team had Yao Ming call Wang Kai to invite him for a tryout.

During this period, a certain team in Houston was truly the home team of Chinese fans. Yao Ming's performance and Tracy McGrady's joining the team made it very popular among domestic fans.

This team wanted to invite Wang Kai for a trial, but he refused, which attracted the attention of fans and people in the industry.

Through Yao Ming's introduction, some so-called "leaders" only then superficially realized how great Wang Kai's achievement of four consecutive championships was.

Therefore, some leaders of the Basketball Association believed that Wang Kai could be recalled to participate in the 2005 Asian Championship.

Yao Ming took the initiative to accept the task. He knew that the people in the Basketball Association were ignorant and only cared about their own positions, and did not care about the thoughts and opinions of young players.

Therefore, in order to avoid conflict between Wang Kai and the Basketball Association, Yao Ming took the initiative to invite Wang Kai to join the men's basketball training camp and participate in the Asian Championships.

After being selected by the Warriors, Yao Ming immediately called Wang Kai.

"Xiao Kai, to be honest, you could win this Asian Championship whether you go or not, but I think you should go at least once. Even if you never go again, it will at least give us an explanation."

"Brother Yao, you don't need to be so careful. I've seen the news about what happened to you back then. Don't worry, I don't have that much of a temper, and I'm not that easily agitated."

"Hey, let's not talk about what happened back then. You can go to the Summer League if you want, I'll arrange it for you back home. But I don't think you need to participate in the Summer League. Now that you've been selected, a bunch of businesses back home are waiting for you. You'd better be careful and don't do just any endorsement. Some endorsements are really bad."

Yao Ming values ​​Wang Kai highly. Although the national team's system is based on the inside, the performance of the outside players is really unreliable. Apart from a few veterans, the others are still far from good enough.

After finishing his NBA season, Yao Ming had to return to China to play in the Asian Championships, which was very tiring and exhausting for him.

Wang Kai's emergence made Yao Ming feel that he had found the answer to the national team's outside shooting.

"Yes, I know, Brother Yao. Don't worry, I'm not fighting alone."