Chapter 736 - 661: The Draft

Chapter 736: Chapter 661: The Draft

The buzzing of his phone woke Chen Yu up.

He felt a weight on his chest.

Groggy, he opened his eyes to find a hairy leg pressing down on him.

It was Tracy McGrady’s. He was sprawled out on the floor, and if it weren’t for the rise and fall of his chest, Chen Yu would have thought he was dead.

Annoyed, Chen Yu shoved the leg off and pulled his phone from his pocket.

It was a call from Brian.

"Hello."

Chen Yu answered the call and sat up, struggling to piece together his memories of last night.

It had been a wild party, that much was certain.

Alcohol, women, music, shouting—it was all a chaotic blur.

Chen Yu spotted Hill in a corner.

He was curled up on the sofa, still clutching the Finals MVP Trophy.

He wouldn’t even let it go in his sleep.

"Chen, there’s progress on the Sean trade," Brian said over the phone.

The mention of Sean—that is, Livingston—made Chen Yu a little more alert, but his head was still splitting.

Carefully stepping over discarded underwear, empty bottles, and the legs of a few women, Chen Yu made his way to the bar. He poured himself a glass of water and felt a little better after a couple of sips.

If a reporter managed to get a picture of this scene, it would be the story of the year.

But that wasn’t a huge concern.

NBA players had their own entertainment circles, and the women they partied with knew the score. Plenty of women were dying to get into this world, and the first rule was discretion.

"Did the Fast Ship finally budge?" Chen Yu asked.

They had been negotiating the Livingston trade for a while.

The Fast Ship had been adamant at first, calling him untouchable and not for sale.

But that was just talk, the kind of thing you tell children.

The fact that they were even talking meant they were open to it.

’It was all just a matter of the trade package.’

After a lot of back-and-forth, they had finally made some headway.

"That’s right," Brian said. "They’ll take David, but they want two first-round picks: this year’s and the ’08 pick. What do you think? I think they’re asking for too much. We give them one at most, or maybe a second-rounder instead."

As for the Livingston trade, after all the haggling, Brian had eventually settled on offering David West.

Initially, Chen Yu had been high on David West. He thought that while West wasn’t the most gifted athlete, he was smart enough to have a solid career.

Most importantly, the Phoenix Suns had paid a steep price to acquire him in the first place.

Especially their ’06 first-round pick.

But with the league implementing a new rule restricting high schoolers from entering the draft, the ’06 first-round pick wasn’t as valuable as it once was.

With the sunk cost lowered, trading him away became more palatable.

There was another important reason as well.

The original plan had been to trade McDyess and focus on developing West this season. But then came the unexpected acquisition of Nowitzki.

And West certainly wasn’t going to take the starting spot from Nowitzki.

Nowitzki was young himself and consistently played nearly forty minutes a game, which meant West still wasn’t getting much playing time.

Besides, they had also brought in Kwame Brown, who was serviceable enough at the power forward spot.

West had a decent mid-range jumper, but his defense was nothing special.

The Phoenix Suns had a greater need for a defensive-minded power forward to cover for Nowitzki’s own defensive deficiencies.

So, when all these factors were considered, the Phoenix Suns decided to trade him.

In his rookie season, he averaged 6.4 points and 3.7 rebounds, with some impressive highlights in the playoffs.

This season, Nowitzki’s arrival had affected his usage, but his efficiency improved, and his stats actually went up.

He averaged 6.8 points and 4.1 rebounds on 51 percent shooting.

This was only his second season, so his future was definitely promising.

The Fast Ship were willing to take him, their goal being, of course, to find a reliable backup for Brand.

The Fast Ship’s backcourt was stacked. They had Andre Miller, Marko Jarić, and Rick Brunson, so Livingston’s development opportunities were actually limited.

The Fast Ship probably had higher hopes for Andre Miller than for Livingston anyway.

Getting a big man with a solid mid-range game plus two first-round picks wasn’t a bad deal for them at all.

Chen Yu swirled the water in his glass, thinking for a moment. "My take is this: the draft is still a few days away, so let’s keep negotiating. If they absolutely insist on two first-rounders, fine, we’ll concede and give them two. But not the ’08 pick. We can offer the ’09 pick instead."

’The NBA changed the draft rules, and I happened to have done a show on it, so I know all about the prospects born between ’88 and ’90. That makes the ’07 and ’08 first-round picks extremely important; they can’t be traded away under any circumstances.’

’As for giving up two first-rounders, so be it.’

’The Phoenix Suns’ picks are always at the end of the first round anyway, so their trade value isn’t that high to begin with.’

Brian: "That’s what I was thinking, too. Alright, I’ll go talk to them again."

With that, he hung up.

Chen Yu sat for a little while longer until he felt a bit more human. He took one last look at the bodies strewn across the floor, found his jacket, and got ready to leave.

’Time to go.’

He reached the soundproof wooden door and was about to open it when someone suddenly called his name from behind.

He turned to see Hill, who must have just woken up.

He called out to Chen Yu, but said nothing more.

Knowing Chen Yu was busy, he didn’t try to stop him.

"Chen, see you in Phoenix."

He said with a grin, giving the Finals MVP Trophy in his hand a little shake.

Chen Yu smiled back.

’What a monster of self-discipline!’

With the season officially over, the draft became the most important item on the agenda.

The day before the draft, Brian and the Fast Ship finally reached an agreement.

The Phoenix Suns would send David West, along with their ’05 and ’09 first-round picks, to the Fast Ship in exchange for Livingston.

That left the Phoenix Suns with one second-round pick.

It was only a second-round pick, but hey, every little bit helps.

So they still had to carefully consider who to select.

「June 28th.」

Chen Yu and Brian didn’t go to New York for the live event, opting to stay in Phoenix instead.

Skiles hadn’t gone either; he was currently deliberating with Brian over their pick.

From the way they were carrying on, you’d think they were debating the number one overall pick.

Chen Yu paid them no mind, quietly monitoring his laptop and phone.

The Pioneer were also making their selections.

They had one first-round and two second-round picks this year.

During the season, Chen Yu’s own company had even helped them design their workout programs for prospects.

They were in a bit of a bind themselves.

Their eighth-seed upset last season, where they went on a dark horse run all the way, proved there wasn’t a major problem with their roster.

The reason they lost was a lack of top-tier star power.

Especially in their frontcourt.

Milicic was playing exceptionally well, but on the championship stage, he still came up short.

He was a star, but not a superstar.

So the Pioneer were considering consolidating their assets—trading spare parts for a whole—and going all-in for a superstar.

They had a plethora of high-quality assets that had the rest of the league drooling.

And if they didn’t want to make significant changes to their current roster, their draft picks weren’t particularly useful.

They’d be better off trading them.

They didn’t want players in return; they could trade for picks in future years to continue building up their reserves.

So they had two options, and right now, John Nash and Rivers were agonizing over the decision.

Suddenly, a message from John Nash popped up on his phone.

Instead of calling, he had sent Chen Yu a direct message.

Chen Yu tapped the table, then said to Brian and Skiles, "Alright, you two. It’s the 25th pick in the second round. Do you really need to discuss it for this long? Just take him."

Chen Yu pulled a file from a stack of papers and tossed it in front of them.

Almi Johnson. A high schooler who decided to declare for the draft early because of the rule change.

Long and athletic, but technically a disaster.

But that was enough. The gamble was on his youth.

"Look at this first."

Chen Yu held out his phone for them to see.

Brian squinted to read it, then his eyes went wide in surprise.

The Pioneer wanted to pursue the Phoenix Suns’ Chandler and were willing to offer this year’s first-round pick, two second-round picks, plus Darius Miles!