"Paul, this is Bill Duffy. Congratulations. Nash should be fine this time. The Suns just called me and said they gave up on Nash. Do you think it's strange or not? Now your Magic is the only buyer.
."
"I already know."
"You know? Could it be that you convinced them and they refused to do it? How could you do it!" Bill Duffy was very surprised by this.
"Pay attention to the news in the next few days. Well Bill, now we can sign a contract with Steve as soon as possible."
"Okay, although Steve is very disappointed at this time, there is nothing we can do about it. I have already communicated with him, and we will go to Orlando to sign the contract tomorrow."
"That's really good news. See you tomorrow."
On June 7, 2004, the NBA Finals kicked off. The Los Angeles Lakers faced the Detroit Pistons at home. With everyone optimistic about the Lakers, they ended up being upset 75-87 in the first game at Staples Arena.
Losing to the Pistons. The Lakers' upset became the biggest news in the NBA that day, but it was not the only big news.
"Sports Illustrated" news "Magic signs Nash, Canadian cowboy turns into magician".
"Today's Sports" "The Mavericks gave up on renewing Nash's contract, and Orlando took advantage of it and won the All-Star guard for 66 million in 6 years."
Nash's signing with Orlando became the first shocking signing of the year. Although it has not yet officially reached the league's prescribed trade signing period, the photo of old Pat shaking hands with Nash wearing a Magic uniform has been published in the newspaper. The news itself did not
Too many comments, because the public only needs to know who went to which team and how much they were paid.
But of course the experts couldn't just give up. Soon commentators and experts from many well-known media analyzed the league's first important signing of the summer.
ESPN experts spoke highly of the Magic's signing: "As we all know, Nash is an All-Star defender. The Mavericks made a big mistake by giving up on renewing his contract. Although he will be 30 years old, Nash is extremely self-disciplined.
He avoids sugar, processed foods and fried foods and eats six meals a day on training days. Oatmeal is gluten-free, sliced almonds, raw nuts, fruits, vegetables, brown rice, raw carrots and celery.
.His healthy diet can well ensure his competitive status. Even at the age of 36, in the last year of his contract, I believe he can maintain around 10+ or 8+ data. And the Magic's Tracy McGrady is leaving.
It is no longer news, so whether the Magic choose Okafor or someone else, Nash will be a good mentor, and his experience can very well help the young head coach of the Magic."
Some people praised it, while others said it was bad. NBA commentators from TNT believed that the Magic had been taken advantage of.
"Nash is indeed a good player. He has been selected to the All-Stars many times and made the third team this year. But this contract from the Magic is too good. Six years and 66 million. Six years later, Nash is already 36 years old. Congratulations to Nash for signing a contract.
You can enjoy a lifetime contract after retirement. But people are inert. Once you sign such a contract, it is difficult to guarantee that he will still be so dedicated. And no one can guarantee that once a player reaches 30 years old, their injuries will increase.
, the recovery will be slower, and physical strength will also be a problem. Signing Nash is very
Okay, but he is not worth the price, 60 million in 6 years is already considered generous."
Although the outside world was very excited about this signing, Edison turned a deaf ear to it.
"Steve, it's great that you can sign with us. You don't know how important you are to me and how much I long for you." Edison came up and shook Nash's hand excitedly, filled with emotion.
Listening to Edison's words, Nash's back felt cold and his anus tightened. He thought carefully that Edison was not married even in his 30s, and I heard he didn't have a girlfriend. Could it be that... for this reason, Nash suddenly had the idea that he might have made a mistake in coming to Orlando.
.….
Soon this idea became stronger and stronger. Edison took his hand and went directly into the office, then locked the door, then turned his head and smiled strangely at Nash.
"Steve, do you know why the sun gave up on you?"
"Is Colangelo a good gay friend of yours?" Nash thought for a moment but didn't dare to say it. Instead, he said, "I'm not sure."
"In order to sign you, we paid a big price. We traded Tracy McGrady to the Suns at a cheap price, and the condition was that they give up on you." Edison said quietly.
"But I don't feel any loss, because you are worth our efforts."
After hearing this, Nash, although he did not bow his head and bowed, but his heart was warm. Then he listened to Edison repeating the "V-shaped tactical arrangement" he had mentioned once before at his home, and at the same time took the opportunity to observe Edison's office.
Edison's office was very messy, with messy tactical boards and various books everywhere, as well as a TV and VCR.
Among them, what really interests Nash is a tactical board. This tactical board is not full of lines like other tactical boards. It is very clean. There are only 5 magnets representing players, but this magnet has labels on it.
Got 5 names.
Edison saw that Nash was interested in this tactical board and simply picked it up. "This is the blueprint for the future of the team in my eyes. This is the starting lineup."
"Well, but I have never heard of these two people. Who are they?" Nash frowned and asked in surprise.
"It's normal that you don't know. These two are both rookies this year. You may not care much about this year's draft."
"Yes, I didn't care much about the NCAA this year because of the signing. I just heard from my teammates in the Mavericks that it would be good to have Okafor, but you don't have him here either."
"Yes, he is indeed very good, but we only have one No. 1 pick and have already decided to choose someone else. Besides, even if there is, I will not choose him. He has no potential, but these people are different. They will become
Your good helpers. You are the magician here, and they are your props. My plan is to give this city the first O'Brien Cup, and more than one."
The two people stayed in Edison's office for a long time, and no one knew what they talked about until much later, after Nash retired, he wrote about this meeting in his autobiography. "In that meeting, first of all, let me confirm one thing.
, Paul is a madman. He told me a lot at the time, but I didn’t believe it at all. But when the first season started, I gradually realized that he was right. Everything, whether it was the team or the league
All kinds of things are developing according to what he said. And
After the season ended, I discovered that he was a prophet. He accurately predicted all of this, and he actually realized all of his crazy ideas one by one.
From then on, I truly became his believer and had complete trust in him, and he lived up to our trust and led us to achieve amazing results. Even though some unpleasant things happened between us later, but later
All prove that he is right."
Although the draft will only be held on June 24, all rookies have already received invitations from each team to participate in training camps to demonstrate their abilities most intuitively to teams that are interested in them.
The Magic is the winner of the No. 1 pick, so basically all the popular players in the draft hope to get an invitation from the Magic, and then see if they can leap over the dragon gate and become the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. Sure enough, as soon as the invitation from the Magic arrives, all the popular players in the draft will
They're all here.
In fact, this is a very rare situation. Generally speaking, even a team with the No. 1 pick can only attract three or four popular rookies. The reason for this year's situation is very simple, there are no popular players...
From the perspective of current public opinion, Okafor is the biggest favorite because he just led UConn to defeat Georgia Tech 82-73 to win the second NCAA championship trophy in UConn history. He also personally handed over 24 points and 15 rebounds.
He has an excellent and comprehensive transcript with 2 blocked shots. But he is too old. He has played in the NCAA for 3 years. Nowadays, generally talented players only play college basketball for one year and then directly participate in the draft. Those who are more confident are
He participated in the draft directly as a high school student and did not play in the NCAA. Therefore, Okafor's potential is very small and there is no room for improvement. But this is not the most important thing. More importantly, he has a back injury.
History. As mentioned before, injuries have always been what teams fear most, and for basketball players there are three types of injuries that are the most troublesome: knee injuries, ankle injuries and back injuries. The first two are related to athletic abilities such as jumping speed.
The impression is serious. Many players simply disappeared from stardom due to a knee or ankle injury. For this reason, after Bowen, the most famous black-footed player in the league, retired, many young players stayed up all night to celebrate, because Bowen's life was ruined.
Countless people's knees and ankles. Back injuries are not as intuitive and have as big an impact as the first two, but back injuries have a worse characteristic, that is, they are easy to recur, not easy to heal, and difficult to cure.
If a knee injury or ankle injury is not particularly serious, it can be solved through an operation, and then a long period of training can completely solve the problem, and you can play as if nothing is wrong. But back injuries are not good, as long as a person moves, it will affect the muscles of the back, so
It's hard to get a thorough training. You can't lie down all the time. Even if you turn over while lying on your stomach, you have to exert force on your back. Therefore, if an average player has a back injury, the player will soon be defined as a long-term illness.
.
Therefore, although Okafor's performance in the NCAA is very eye-catching, he has a history of back injuries at a young age, which makes his draft prospects not very optimistic.
In addition to Okafor, DeWalt Howard is also a high school student with great potential. Of course, Okafor's UConn teammates Ben Gordon and Shaun Livingston are also popular candidates.
Orlando's training facility has opened its arms to these potential stars of the future.
Aaron Nelson led the rookies who came to try out and conducted physical tests. Edison and Thibodeau used to observe each player on the training field.
