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June 27, 2001
New York, Madison Square Garden
Yu Fei and his threepanions arrived at the green room, where other potential lottery picks were also present.
Warmly greeted by Kwame Brown, who had already received the Wizards'' first pick promise, "Frye, over here!"
The Brown family was muchrger than Yu Fei had imagined.
Around Brown were about a dozen people, including seven siblings; he was the youngest child, then there was their mother, Joyce, who had single-handedly raised them all—unsurprisingly—along with some older adults, some about the same age as Joyce and others even older, likely aunts and uncles, or rtives of that sort.
They all came from Brunswick, a small city with just 15,000 people; it was both beautiful and filthy, with the contradictory charm of the Old South.
ording to Brown, their family of nearly ten lived in a small, A-frame wooden house with torn screens and copsing sofas.
But after today, that life woulde to an end.
Yu Fei briefly introduced his mother andpanions before they took their seats.
Soon, Eddie Curry appeared and simply nodded to Brown in greeting.
Then came Tyson Chandler, who felt ufortable seeing Brown''s triumphant demeanor.
Jason Richardson and Shane Battier followed shortly after…
One could glean quite a bit about a person''s character at first sight.
As one of the few potential lottery picks at the draft who had reached the legal drinking age in the United States, Battier exuded a friendly aura.
Before taking his seat, Battier proactively said to those present, "I''m honored to be part of this draft with you all, and I hope we can all end this day on a high note."
If everyone who yed four years of college spoke as eloquently, then David Stern should consider making 22, not 20, the age limit for entering the draft instead of the 19 we now know. He could even stipte that all domestic yers mustplete four years of college before being eligible for the draft.
At the turn of the century, with the influx of high school athletes into the NBA draft, restricting the eligibility age of the yers was a major topic for bothbor and management. Initially, the league proposed setting the eligibility age at 20 instead of the 19 that we are familiar with.
When Eddie Griffin arrived, the atmosphere in the green room grew somewhat tense.
Griffin red at Yu Fei fiercely.
Yu Fei looked back at him without a care.
"Eddie, I have a seat open here," said Battier warmly.
Griffin looked over in surprise; he was not familiar with Battier.
Moreover, they could be consideredpetitors.
Griffin and the person with him took their seats near the empty spots by Battier.
Battiermented, "You know, Eddie, I''m jealous of you. I barely got a lottery prospect after ying four years of college, and you''re considered for the number one pick after just one year. Life''s not fair."
Thank God for Battier; otherwise, Yu Fei really didn''t know how he would endure the waiting time before Stern, that androgynous person, took the stage.
Battier was like Empress Fucha from Story of Yanxi Pce, purifying everyone''s negative energy.
Even Griffin, with his unstable emotions, was made tough by him.
At 7:35 pm, NBA Commissioner David Stern went up to the podium and delivered his opening speech: "Good evening, wee to the NBA Draft. You may or may not know, this will be thest draft featuring high school athletes, as I n to disband the yers'' union again and set mandatory minimum age requirements for the draft. Billy Hunter (yer union consultant), you better get lost now. I am going toy into you. Do you hear me? I am going toy into you. You can''t even imagine that scenario!"
Okay, thetter part was Yu Fei''s own fantasy; in reality, themissioner greeted everyone properly and considerately gave the Washington Wizards a final five minutes to reconsider whether to use their number one pick on a high school athlete.
None of those songs'' lyrics better reflect the situation of the team holding the number one draft pick than Xu Peizhe''s "Balloon."
They''re like the most evil person on earth, heading to the darkest night club, with countless beauties lined up for their choosing.
Michael Jordan, who had not been at a draft since 1984, was once again present; he was familiar with Madison Square Garden but not so much with this theater designated for the draft.
Within five minutes, the focus of the basketball world was entirely on the Wizards.
The world wanted to know how they would use their franchise''s second number one pick.
Without any surprises, just as Yu Fei knew, the Washington Wizards selected Kwame Brown with the first pick in the first round.
Thementators from ABC and TNT began to evaluate the Wizards'' choice.
In those few seconds as Brown walked on stage, ABC''s guestmentator Rick Pitino showed intense admiration for Brown, saying, "The perfect choice, D.C. has got the jackpot of the draft, Kwame Brown will be a better yer than Chris Webber."
Thisment came from a coach who had just ended a disastrous term in the NBA and had the thick skin to write a book titled Sess Is a Choice after his NBA stint.
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