Chapter 726 - 651: The Unforgettable Livingston

Chapter 726: Chapter 651: The Unforgettable Livingston

The Phoenix Suns have both their first and second-round picks this year.

The draft lottery is over, and the Phoenix Suns’ first-round pick isn’t bad—the 25th overall pick. It’s not completely useless.

Chen Yu took a swig of his drink and said, "What, no scheming for the number one pick this year?"

Ever since they unexpectedly landed the number one pick and traded for O’Neal, Brian has fantasized about getting the top pick every single draft.

And this year’s number one pick was pretty much already decided.

The international player from Australia, Bogut.

Chen Yu had read quite a few scouting reports on him. He had the height, good athletic talent, and a well-rounded game. He had a post-up game and a mid-range shot, and his one-on-one and help defense were both solid. Apparently, his college nickname was Bai Duncan.

The league was still short on centers.

And the success of Yao Ming and Milicic had only increased the hype surrounding these international players.

So as long as the Bucks didn’t have a brain fart, they would definitely pick him.

This season, Gazulic was promoted to starter. His defense was decent, but his offense wasn’t great.

An interior duo of Gazulic and Bogut was something to look forward to.

Who knows, maybe they could even replicate the Spurs’ twin towers miracle.

Fellow number one pick Joe Smith had already proven he couldn’t take the Bucks any further.

Besides him, the other hot prospects were the North Carolina Four Young Masters, and a couple of point guard prodigies.

Chris Paul and Deron Williams.

But all of those players were lottery picks, or even higher. Given the Phoenix Suns’ situation, it wouldn’t be easy to get a pick that high.

The corner of Brian’s eye twitched. "I never said I wanted the number one pick."

After a pause, Brian said, "Chen, I want to draft a guard."

The draft isn’t just about who has the most talent; it’s more about finding the right fit.

Of course, if a player’s talent is incredible enough, you can change the team’s lineup for him.

Chen Yu nodded.

Brian wanting a guard was the right call.

As soon as this season ended, Payton was the first to consider retirement.

He wasn’t young anymore—thirty-seven years old.

He’d finally won the championship he’d been dreaming of.

And his contract was up.

The Phoenix Suns, who were looking to cut costs, weren’t too keen on re-signing him with the mid-level exception for 5 million a year.

This year’s mid-level exception was pretty important.

He joined midway through, so he was more like the icing on the cake. If he had been a crucial contributor who saved the team, the Phoenix Suns might have given him a legacy contract to retire on.

He wanted to return to where his dream began, the Supersonic.

But the Supersonic didn’t necessarily want him.

If they didn’t want him, he might just choose to retire directly.

Of course, if he felt restless, still wanted to play, and was willing to accept a veteran’s minimum contract, some team would probably still take him.

Chen Yu had talked to him about this. Payton had no more mountains to climb, so he was fine with retiring or not. If he did retire, he could spend more time raising his four sons.

He had always said he wanted to send his ten-year-old son, Gary Payton II, to train with Chen Yu, just like Little Curry.

If that worked out, he would stay in Phoenix instead of going back to Oakland and join Chen Yu’s company as a Trainer.

For Chen Yu, this was a great outcome.

A nine-time All-Defensive First Team defensive beast—the company was in dire need of such an experienced defensive Trainer.

Then there was Miller.

He was even older than Payton, a full forty years old.

Although he still had one year left on his contract, he had already told the management that he was too old and couldn’t play anymore.

His dream had also been fulfilled.

He wasn’t thinking about getting traded back to the Pacer to retire there either. He was afraid it would be too much trouble for the Phoenix Suns to arrange another trade, and it would take up the Pacer’s salary cap space.

It was better to just make a clean break.

He had already come to terms with everything when he left the Pacer back then, so he cared even less about these things now.

He was willing to reach a buyout agreement with the Phoenix Suns to free up a roster spot, and then transition into a career as a commentator or something.

Oh, right, there was also Kendall Gill.

He had come to fulfill his dream of a championship, but who knew the Phoenix Suns were already starting to dismantle the team.

At thirty-seven, he didn’t want to go through the hassle anymore and had already announced he would be ending his professional career.

With all that, who was left in the Phoenix Suns’ backcourt? Only the two starters, Hardaway and Ben Gordon.

It even made Brian, who had originally planned to cut Quinton Ross, decide to keep him and give him another chance.

So they absolutely had to strengthen the backcourt.

But they also needed to lower their salary cap, so they couldn’t bring in a big-name star. The only option was to take a gamble in the draft.

In the backcourt, what the Phoenix Suns really needed was a point guard.

They still had Poseidon on the wing, who could occasionally fill in at shooting guard to hold the line.

The main issue was Hardaway. His age was catching up to him, and they really needed to use him sparingly.

But thinking back on the rookie players ESPN projected for the first round, Chen Yu couldn’t immediately think of anyone suitable.

The main problem was that at this draft position, you couldn’t get a talented, high-quality point guard.

Point guards are a special case.

A true, talented point guard with good court vision, a strong ability to read the game, and excellent playmaking skills—if they show even a hint of that, their draft stock soars.

Point guards picked after the 20th pick usually can’t be considered true point guards; they are mostly score-first combo guards.

Their only ability as a point guard is bringing the ball past half-court.

Expecting them to orchestrate the offense and connect the team like Nash or J Kidd was basically impossible.

Conversely, you often see a bunch of physically gifted but technically raw forwards drop past the 20th pick.

But the Phoenix Suns didn’t need forwards.

And using a pick in this range on a second-round-caliber point guard would be a terrible deal.

So finding a suitable point guard at this spot was truly difficult.

For example, the two point guards the draft sites predicted would be chosen around the 20th pick were Nate Robinson and Jarrett Jack.

Could you even call them real point guards?

They were still primarily focused on shooting and offense, with limited playmaking ability.

But as he thought about it, a name suddenly popped into Chen Yu’s mind.

Shaun Livingston!

The first high school point guard in NBA draft history. Chen Yu had his eye on him last year, wanting him to be Hardaway’s successor.

Both were tall point guards, both full of flair.

Unfortunately, the Bulls played it safe last year and chose Ben Gordon instead.

If they had picked Livingston back then, he would be on the Phoenix Suns right now.

He went to the Fast Ship.

In his rookie season, the Fast Ship did give him some opportunities, and his performance was decent.

He even had a personal best of 11 assists in one game.

Unfortunately, a player with his kind of flair was completely stifled in the Fast Ship’s slow-paced, half-court offense, losing all of his characteristic spark.

"Brian, I don’t think there are any good options in the draft. How about we use this first-round pick as a bargaining chip and see if we can somehow trade for Livingston from the Fast Ship?" Chen Yu suggested.

Brian froze for a moment before he realized who Livingston was.

"Chen, you still haven’t forgotten about him?"

Brian was a little surprised.

He was last year’s rookie, after all.