Chapter 20

In the first round, eighteen players were selected. Although Lin Han had indeed thought about the possibility of being chosen in the first round, and he had also considered that after the Jazz lost their target for an inside player, they might really use the team's 18th draft pick on him.

However, even so, this still left Lin Han feeling somewhat incredulous. After all, Lin Han was only 19 years old. According to Lin Han's understanding, among this year's hot prospects, he was the youngest. At least among the eighteen players selected before him, apart from Lin Han, only this year's second overall pick, Shawn Bradley, was a freshman in college.

Although the NBA now allows high school players to enter the league, due to the current lack of successful examples of high school players in the NBA, high school players are not the mainstream. Even young college players, such as freshmen, are not the mainstream. Even extremely talented players like Penny Hardaway and Webber were sophomores or juniors. This is not to say that super talents like Hardaway and Webber would not be drafted if they entered the NBA a year or two earlier; in fact, even if Webber and Hardaway had entered the draft last year, they would still have been lottery picks.

However, in the current American basketball scene, both players and NBA management are not very keen on having too young players enter the league. A 19-year-old player like Lin Han is definitely an anomaly this year. Moreover, unlike this year's second overall pick, Shawn Bradley, Lin Han is an outside player. Although the success of players like Jordan and Magic Johnson has made the NBA dominated by outside players for the past decade, in the NBA draft, outside players still cannot compare to inside players.

Therefore, it was even more unbelievable to Lin Han that the Jazz actually used their 18th draft pick on a 19-year-old guard. Although he had mentally prepared for this, Lin Han still felt a bit dazed when he saw David Stern announce on TV that he had been selected by the Jazz.

At this moment, Lin Yu, who was leaning against Lin Han, was also a bit puzzled by her brother's sudden daze. When she heard her brother's name on TV, she also felt somewhat incredulous, as if her brother had not been lying to her before. However, apart from that, she did not have much of a concept about her brother entering the NBA. On the other hand, Lin Wei, who had been paying attention to the situation, had a clearer understanding of what it meant for Lin Han to enter the NBA.

Before college, Lin Wei, like Lin Yu, had no impression of the NBA or basketball. They did not care at all. However, since entering the University of Utah, Lin Wei had passively learned a lot about the NCAA, the NBA, and even the NBA draft. After all, although the University of Utah ranks outside the top 100 in the United States, its basketball team is still a powerhouse in the NCAA, and the basketball atmosphere on campus is very strong. Some of the girls in Lin Wei's class were even members of the University of Utah basketball team's cheerleading squad.

She had also heard from her classmates that the goal of all 4,000+ players in the NCAA was to enter the NBA, and to do so, they needed to participate in the NBA draft. The NBA draft selects only 54 players each year from around the world. Even for the University of Utah, the star player of the team is not guaranteed to enter the NBA. Although Lin Wei did not know the exact difficulty of the NBA draft, she did know that the star player of her school was admired by many female students and was the undisputed top star of the school.

Now, everything on TV told her that her brother, who had a somewhat strained relationship with her, was even more talented than the star player of her school. This was simply an unacceptable fact.

"Is this guy really good at basketball, and did he really make it to the NBA? Did he really go to Chicago for a tryout recently, and has he really been training with the Utah Jazz lately?"

At this moment, Lin Wei was full of questions, and her gaze towards Lin Han was extremely complex. She simply could not believe all of this.

Of course, at this moment, Lin Han's family was completely stunned by his entry into the NBA. However, at the draft site in The Palace of Auburn Hills, the scene was quite different.

Lin Han was selected 18th by the Jazz. The entire NBA was somewhat familiar with Lin Han. After all, a month ago, at the Chicago天才训练营, although Lin Han's team did not ultimately win the championship, this Chinese-American boy was the scoring champion of the camp. Because his main scoring method was Jordan-style jump shots, this Chinese-American boy was once even suspected of having some unclear relationship with Jordan.

After the camp, Lin Han was even selected as the most surprising rookie in the United States, entering the national basketball fans' field of vision. His highest draft ranking was once as high as 30th. At that time, almost all NBA teams sent Lin Han tryout invitations, wanting to see up close what this guy, who was then called Jordan's disciple, was capable of.

However, in the end, because Lin Han rejected all the invitations and stayed with the Jazz, and because Jordan denied any relationship with Lin Han in an interview, Lin Han's draft prospects plummeted. Due to his bizarre physical test data and almost no high school or college game records, Lin Han was even called a one-hit wonder before the draft.

It can be said that Lin Han was not unknown among this year's rookies; on the contrary, his fame could even rank in the top 15. However, because most of his fame was accompanied by doubts, when the Jazz selected Lin Han at such a 'high pick,' it caused a stir among all the management and fans present.

"Are the Jazz crazy? Last year, they signed Jan-Henderson in free agency, and it turned out that Henderson signed a big contract with the Jazz just to retire. Henderson's performance last season embarrassed all the Jazz management. If they had used the two million dollars to sign two quality bench players, they might not have finished sixth in the regular season and been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs."

"It looks like Jazz fans are in for a rough year. Since Scott Layden became the team's general manager last year, he hasn't accomplished anything. Last year, he signed Henderson, and this year, he drafted Lin Han. This guy is preparing to be fired from the Jazz next year."

"Yeah, if I were the Jazz owner, Larry Miller, I would fire this guy right now. Isn't he just wasting Stockton and Malone's careers?"

"Didn't they say this Chinese-American has a style of play that is almost identical to Jordan's? Maybe the Jazz's draft pick will really be successful this time?"

"You don't know anything. This Chinese-American's jump shot is indeed almost identical to Jordan's, but if Jordan's three-quarters court sprint was 4 seconds and his full-court shuttle run was over 13 seconds, Jordan would have been out of the NBA long ago."

"Three-quarters court sprint in 4 seconds? Full-court shuttle run over 13 seconds? Is that true? This data is even worse than mine, who doesn't exercise often. How did he even participate in the draft?"

"Who knows how he decided to participate in the NBA draft. Anyway, he succeeded, and the Jazz actually ended up drafting him. What a foolish team. If I knew this, I would have participated in the NBA draft too. I'm known as 'Dunedin's Barkley,' and I'm not any worse than this 'Utah Community College Jordan.'"

Of course, at this moment, Jazz General Manager Scott Layden, who had become the focus of the entire venue due to the team's 18th pick of Lin Han, was actually quite helpless. Originally, they had planned to use this draft pick on an inside player. Although their top target was snatched away, they still had second and third targets. However, in the end, the team's head coach Jerry Sloan suddenly called him after their top target was taken, telling him to use the draft pick on Lin Han.

According to Jerry Sloan's explanation, he had felt very uneasy throughout the draft, fearing that something bad might happen. The snatching of their inside target further reinforced his premonition, so he was really afraid that even Lin Han, whom he highly valued as an outside player, would be taken.

Although Jerry Sloan's personal feelings were not based on any evidence, Scott Layden had to follow his instructions. Although he was the team's general manager, the head coach in the Jazz had more authority than the general manager.

"Really, just a step too late."

In fact, Jerry Sloan's premonition was not entirely baseless. After David Stern announced that Lin Han had been selected, Lakers General Manager Jerry West, who was sitting in the audience, had already contacted the Cavaliers. If Lin Han had not been selected, the Cavaliers would have used their 22nd pick to select Lin Han, and the Lakers would have traded a key rotation player to the Cavaliers in exchange.

Although Lin Han had rejected Jerry West, and Jerry West had not contacted Lin Han since, he could not shake off the impression of this young player who had given him an incredible shock at the training camp. However, he ultimately lost to the Jazz by four picks.

"I hope this miss doesn't haunt me for the rest of my life."

Finally, Jerry West looked at the Jazz General Manager Scott Layden, who was not far away, with a complex expression in his heart.

Of course, the shock caused by Lin Han could not affect the continuation of the NBA draft. The scene quickly returned to calm, and the 1993 NBA draft ended perfectly.

However, although the 1993 NBA draft ended perfectly, the aftermath of the draft was far from over. At the very least, Lin Han would be the focus of public opinion for a long time to come.

---

(End of the page)