As the draft entered its second round, the lights at Madison Square Garden seemed to dim slightly, and a sense of weariness filled the air, but the nerves of the team management remained taut.
A young defender, dressed in a slightly oversized suit and with a hint of arrogance and defiance in his eyes, sat upright.
In the Boston VIP box, Lin Qi handed the card with Gilbert Arenas' name on it to the staff member next to him without hesitation.
Three minutes later, David Stern returned to the stage and took the envelope.
" The Boston Celtics selected the 31st pick..."
Stern paused, then read the name aloud.
" Gilbert Arenas Gilbert Arenas from the University of Arizona!"
When David Stern announced Gilbert Arenas Gilbert Arenas ' name from the stage, the young defender looked very grim.
He didn't hear his name called until the second round. For a top scorer who averaged 20 points per game at the University of Arizona and led his team to the NCAA finals, this was a public humiliation.
But in the eyes of the entire NBA scouting circle at the time, Gilbert Arenas's fall to this position was actually foreseeable.
During the pre-draft combine and individual interviews with each team, this flamboyant young man stepped on almost every landmine. Traditional scouts were extremely confused about his role: his height was neither high nor low, he was too short to play shooting guard, and he lacked the steady playmaking vision of a traditional point guard to play point guard.
Even more damaging were his unbridled tongue and disastrous interview performances. During the Chicago Combine, he complained that the cardiac stress test affected his Converse sneakers and threw a tantrum in the testing room. At an official closed-door seminar, when asked "What would you like to be if you weren't a basketball player?" or similar long-term goals, he answered that he wanted to be a "pimp" (a pimp). When the host asked him to change his answer, he added "international pimp." The room erupted in uproar, and league officials severely criticized him on the spot.
Team general managers who have always valued discipline, stability, and old-fashioned locker room culture wrote in bold letters in the remarks column of the scouting report, "Arrogant, extremely difficult to manage... Immature."
In 2001, a year obsessed with static talent, high school monsters, and traditional big men, no team was willing to gamble on a troublemaker who could potentially tear the locker room apart at any moment in the first round.
Only Lin Qi, looking at the young man on the big screen whose entire being was filled with resentment and anger, understood perfectly.
Does he/she have personality flaws? Is he/she difficult to manage?
In Lin Qi's eyes, this was not a flaw at all.
Besides, it's not me who's having a headache.
Lin Qi then traded Gilbert Arenas to the Orlando Magic.
A few minutes later, David Stern read the trade again on stage: Boston sent the 31st pick ( Gilbert Arenas Gilbert Arenas ) to the Orlando Magic in exchange for the 32nd pick and a cash settlement.
Boston then calmly handed over their next draft pick, the 32nd.
" The Boston Celtics selected the 32nd pick..."
" Brian Scalabrine from the University of Southern California!"
A sparse round of applause broke out in the arena. The red-haired, stocky white center, who looked more like a college professor or the boy next door, put on the Celtics ' hat.
Lin Qi picked up the warm water on the table, took a sip, and calmly looked at the smiling red-haired figure on the big screen, a playful smile appearing on his lips.
To be fair, this tall white man's athletic talent is only mediocre in the NBA, where tall players abound.
But he was not selected simply to make up the numbers; Lin Qi saw his irreplaceable and unique value in building team culture and creating a locker room atmosphere.
He knew all too well what this red-haired guy would become in the years to come.
Even if he didn't get a single minute of playing time during the long playoffs, he would still wave a towel wildly on the sidelines and, after the game, solemnly utter that self-deprecating remark that made everyone chuckle, "Now you can say I didn't play a minute, but in 5 years you'll forget (the specific details). In 10 years I'll still be a champion (a member of the team). In 20 years I'll tell my kids I might be a starter (vaguely misleading their children)..."
This ability to completely conceal personal emotions within the collective and to maintain a harmonious atmosphere in the locker room through self-deprecation and humor is an invaluable asset for building a dynasty.
Perhaps in the future, he will be ridiculed for his mediocre on-court statistics, and may even be called onto the court by the entire Boston crowd during garbage time when the outcome is already decided, becoming a unique " Human Victory Cigar ".
Superstars may determine a team's ceiling, but such players define a team's culture.
Thus, the long audition night finally came to an end, and here are the takeaways.
Third pick: Tyson Chandler Chandler.
23rd pick: Gerald Wallace.
29th pick: Mehmet Okur.
32nd pick: Brian Scalabrine.
[Future draft pick assets]
2002 first-round draft pick (from the Phoenix Suns, traded for Michael Redd, unprotected).
2002 first-round draft pick (from the Sacramento Kings, Eddie Jones trade, unprotected).
2002 first-round draft pick (from the Portland Trail Blazers, traded for Rasheed Wallace, unprotected).
2003 first-round draft pick (from the Miami Heat, traded for Sean Battier, top-three protected).
2003 second-round draft pick (from the Golden State Warriors, traded for Troy Murphy, unprotected).
2002 first-round pick (from the Philadelphia 76ers, acquired in a trade to the Pistons, unprotected)
2003 first-round pick (from the Chicago Bulls, acquired in the Tracy McGrady trade, unprotected)
2004 first-round pick (from the Philadelphia 76ers, acquired in a trade to the Pistons, unprotected)
2005 first-round draft pick (from the Chicago Bulls, traded for Tracy McGrady, unprotected).
2005 first-round draft pick (from the Miami Heat, traded for Sean Battier, unprotected).