Ultimately, this Atlantic Ocean " World Series " came to a close in Athens.
After a hard-fought three-game series, the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Jordan and O'Neal, narrowly defeated Panathinaikos 2-1. The Lakers preserved their NBA championship title, but Panathinaikos, with their impenetrable defense under FIBA rules and precise tactical execution, completely won the respect of fans worldwide.
Once EBA gains a reputation, its influence will increase significantly.
This was exactly the result Lin Qi wanted.
Let's turn our attention back to the United States.
In late June, the 2003 NBA Draft was about to begin at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Major sports media outlets across the United States launched a massive pre-draft campaign. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Chris Kaman... this group of exceptionally talented young players drove the entire league into a frenzy. Scout reports unanimously concluded that this was another truly exceptional draft year in NBA history, following 1984 and 1996.
But a week before the draft officially began, an eerie atmosphere began to spread in the general manager offices of NBA teams.
In his latest column, ESPN draft expert Chad Ford dubbed this atmosphere " Europe panic."
In recent years, with the success of Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Paul Gasol in the NBA, drafting Europe players had become a popular trend. Many teams were even willing to gamble with their lottery picks on a Europe big man who didn't even speak fluent English.
But this year, the wind has changed.
The rise of the EBA has changed the career plans of Europe talents. Panathinaikos' fierce battle with the Lakers in the World Series not only boosted the commercial broadcasting contracts of the EBA, but also made those young Europe players who originally regarded the NBA as their only ultimate goal realize that staying in Europe to play can also bring them extremely high exposure and generous salaries.
This sentiment was directly reflected in the mock draft lists of various media outlets. Among those most affected was Darko Miličić, the Serbia center prodigy.
This 2.13-meter tall, soft-touch, and athletic 17-year-old has consistently ranked in the top three of the draft projections in scouting reports over the past six months. The Detroit Pistons' management, holding the second overall pick, had been eyeing him highly, and then- Pistons president Joe Dumars even flew to Europe multiple times to scout him, believing that Miličić was the perfect the Answer for Detroit's future frontcourt.
But in the final 48 hours before the draft, Miličić's projected draft position began to plummet, dropping from a solid top-three pick to an awkward 8th to 13th place.
The reason for his dramatic drop was not his poor performance in the joint trial, but a long-planned official announcement from the Europe sports world.
In fact, Panathinaikos had already privately secured the contracts with these two Europe talents, but the club's general manager deliberately kept it extremely secret until June 24th, Athens time, just two days before the NBA draft, when they suddenly held a press conference and officially revealed the two multi-year guaranteed contracts to the outside world under the spotlight.
The main signings are Darko Miličić and Michael Pietrus, another France forward who has garnered significant attention in this year's draft.
This bombshell announcement, released at the perfect time, caused a sensation among NBA executives across the Atlantic Ocean.
General managers who were initially hesitant about whether to draft Europe players in the top ten immediately picked up red pens and crossed out Miličić and Pietrus's names from their respective draft lists.
If a team drafts a player with a high pick but can't bring him back to the United States, then that high draft pick is essentially wasted. Modern EBA clubs can offer salaries comparable to NBA rookie standards, and provide tactical roles that don't require adapting to a foreign culture. Few teams dare to gamble their future on someone who has already signed a long-term contract with Europe powerhouse.
" The Detroit Pistons have been forced to change their draft strategy." On TNT's draft special, a well-informed reporter confidently stated to the camera, "Joe Dumars called a meeting with the scouting team last night, and they've completely given up on Miličić. If all goes as expected, they will select Carmelo Anthony from Syracuse University with the second overall pick."
Meanwhile, at Lin Qi's residence in the suburbs of Boston.
Lin Qi was watching the breaking news on TV about Miličić signing with a Greece team.
This year, the Celtics originally held an extremely rich draft asset: a first-round pick from the Miami Heat, a first-round pick from the Chicago Bulls, a first-round pick from the Phoenix Suns, a first-round pick from the Seattle SuperSonics, and a second-round pick from the Golden State Warriors.
In Lin Qi's memory, in the original timeline, both the Heat and the Chicago Bulls were utterly terrible teams, and their first-round picks should have been the 5th and 7th, respectively. But because of Lin Qi's butterfly effect, the landscape of the Eastern Conference changed dramatically. The Heat made it to the playoffs this season as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Chicago Bulls hovered on the edge of the playoffs until the second half of the regular season when they finally fell behind.
This resulted in the two originally high first-round picks becoming mid-round picks. Combined with the Suns and Seattle SuperSonics picks, the Celtics now hold four mid-to-late first-round draft picks.
During Lin Qi's suspension, the team's draft operations were handled by assistant Margaret and head coach Rick Carlisle. From their perspective, holding four mid-tier picks was quite awkward. Boston was a championship contender who had just reached Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and their roster depth was already quite substantial. If they drafted four first-round picks in one go, Rick Carlisle simply wouldn't have enough playing time to develop them. Drafting all of them would most likely result in them ending up on the bench.
So, on the eve of the draft, Boston made a decisive move.
Margaret and Rick Carlisle packaged their four first-round picks with the Warriors ' second-round pick and traded them up in the free agent market, ultimately acquiring the 8th and 13th lottery picks this year.
Trading quantity for quality is the most logical approach for teams vying for the championship.
During March Madness this year, Lin Qi, who was serving a suspension, made a special trip to New Orleans to watch the NCAA NBA Finals between Syracuse University and University of Kansas.
That night, scouts across the country were focused on Carmelo Anthony, the seemingly invincible freshman at Syracuse University. But Lin Qi's gaze was fixed on the losing University of Kansas. He had his eye on Kansas's two core players: Kirk Hinrich, a tough and defensively excellent point guard, and Nique Collison, a power forward with solid fundamentals and a knack for screens and rebounding.
These two don't have Anthony's incredible athleticism, but they are the perfect pieces of the team puzzle, the kind of players who can seamlessly integrate into Rick Carlisle's system in their rookie season.
Because of the league's suspension, Lin Qi cannot directly issue specific draft instructions to the management.
Lin Qi held a sliver of hope that his two trusted associates, who had worked with him for a long time, could discern his true intentions from his decision to go to the game in person.
In retrospect, they not only guessed correctly, but also executed their plan perfectly.
In pre-draft projections, Hinrich was expected to be in the mid-to-high lottery, while Collison was projected to be on the edge of the lottery. The original four mid-to-late first-round picks were simply out of the question for acquiring these two Kansas players.
The 8th and 13th picks that Margaret and Rick Carlisle painstakingly traded up were exactly where the two players had predicted their picks would be.
"Well done," Lin Qi muttered to himself, leaning back in his chair.
In the original draft, the Chicago Bulls, with the 7th pick, and the Seattle SuperSonics, with the 12th pick, selected these two players.
But now, with the top seven teams facing a completely shuffled draft pool, no one can predict what choices they will make.
Lin Qi picked up the coffee on the table and took a sip.
He could only sit quietly in his study in Boston, waiting for David Stern to read out those names in Madison Square Garden...
The show is about to begin.