Chapter 1 Tang Tian's First Year

Tang Tian reaped a lot in his first year with the Pelicans.

He was crowned scoring champion, won Defensive Player of the Year, was selected to the All-Defensive First Team and All-NBA Second Team, won the All-Star Game MVP, and ranked second in the regular season MVP voting.

These hard honors were a big improvement compared to his first year, and everyone knew that this was just the beginning of his time with the Pelicans.

After the Game 7 victory, in addition to head coach Williams, general manager Demps also participated in the post-game press conference.

This press conference was also a season summary meeting for them.

"I am proud of this team. At the beginning of the season, no one thought we could make the playoffs, but we did. Before the playoffs started, no one thought we could advance to the second round, but we did. This is the best team I have ever coached, and they deserve all the praise."

Williams lavished praise on the team.

"I also need to give extra thanks to two players. One is Anthony Davis. He faced a lot of criticism last year, but he was not defeated by those voices. Instead, he overcame those difficulties and made progress. His injured performance in Game 7 gave the team a great boost.

"Of course, the person I should thank the most is Tang. He is very hardworking, more hardworking than anyone I have ever met. And before he was so hardworking, he was already the best player on this team. He has done everything a team leader can do and needs to do. I am very proud that I am coaching him."

Williams' additional remarks drew applause from the local New Orleans reporters below the stage.

They witnessed the Pelicans' performance this season, and witnessed the progress of Davis and Tang Tian.

Williams' words were all true, without any exaggeration.

After Williams, the Pelicans' general manager also spoke to summarize the team's performance this season.

However, unlike Williams, he focused on Tang Tian.

"I need to apologize."

His opening remark caught the attention of all the reporters.

"When we got Tang, I thought we had found Ray Allen, but what we ended up getting was Kobe."

His words brought another round of applause from the audience.

Tang Tian's performance this season was indeed comparable to a young Kobe, and may even have exceeded it.

Because his teammates did not include a superstar like Shaquille O'Neal.

Demps said he needed to apologize, but he was not the only one who needed to apologize.

Even Benson, when Tang first came to the Pelicans, said he would be Davis' best helper.

And those expert media outlets were completely pessimistic.

Now Tang Tian's performance has really slapped everyone in the face and made everyone look at him with new eyes.

"I think this is a very good start. We will continue to strengthen the team in the summer. I am now full of expectations for next season."

At the end of his summary, Demps also used a hopeful sentence to conclude.

In fact, not only Demps, but also after Game 7, hope became the word most often mentioned by Pelicans fans.

"We beat the Clippers and went to Game 7 with the Grizzlies. I'm already extremely satisfied. This is only our first year!"

"We were once incredibly dim after Paul left, but this season, for the first time, we really saw hope within reach!"

"Next season we will be the champions! This is definitely not wishful thinking!"

"We have a most hardworking team core, and a second-in-command who doesn't talk much but is extremely competitive. Hope is really very close!"

"I really, really can't wait to see next season start!"

...

The Pelicans fans were full of expectations for next season on social media, but the season was not over yet.

The Eastern and Western Conference Finals still had to be played. The Heat had already taken a 97-87 lead in the first game, and the Spurs and Grizzlies game would begin two days later.

At this time, the NBA Draft Lottery was held in a small room in New York.

The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs would determine their final draft order here.

This was a non-public process, but it would be supervised by NBA officials, accountants, and lawyers, as well as a small number of media representatives.

At the same time, 14 teams would send representatives to participate.

During the entire process, all communication tools were not allowed to be brought in, and everyone entering the small room would be inspected to ensure complete isolation from the outside world.

The rules of the lottery were also very simple. 14 balls numbered 1 to 14 were rolled out randomly, four at a time, equivalent to C414 permutation and combination in mathematics, resulting in a total of 1001 combinations.

After excluding the 11 12 13 14 combination, the lottery was conducted. The team that drew the first combination would get the first overall pick.

After the first overall pick, the second and third picks would be drawn in the same way, and the remaining 4 to 14 would be sorted according to their record.

So what the lottery drew was actually the top three picks.

Each team had a different number of combinations based on their record.

The team with the worst record had 250 combinations, which was a 25% chance of drawing the first overall pick.

And so on, the 14th-ranked team had 5 combinations, which was a 0.5% chance.

The team with the worst regular season record last season was the Bucks, followed by the 76ers, and then the Magic, Celtics, Jazz, Mavericks...

The NBA Draft Lottery was small, but it was an event full of highlights.

The representatives sent by many teams used all sorts of tricks to draw the first overall pick.

At the 1998 Draft Lottery, Celtics general manager Chris Wallace brought two cigars from "Red Auerbach";

And this was still the lowest level. At the 2007 Draft Lottery, the Timberwolves even brought holy water of the Virgin Mary from France from afar;

Of course, this was not the most exaggerated. The most exaggerated was in 1989 when Pacers general manager Donnie Walsh took the lucky charm to a new level, the spiritual world!

Before the lottery, he contacted several psychologists in the Indianapolis area, asking them to bring some positive signs to the team!

In order to draw the final first overall pick, the teams came up with endless tricks.

This year was no exception. Two-dollar folded paper pens and horseshoes were also emerging one after another, but the most eye-catching was the Cavaliers.

They sent Nick Gilbert, the son of the team owner who had helped them draw the first overall pick in 2011 and 2013.

Also worth noting was the Mavericks. They hadn't tanked for a long time. This time, Cuban sent himself, and he also hoped to bring good luck to the team.

After a closed and tense lottery, the top three picks of the 2014 NBA Draft were finally revealed.

Nick Gilbert once again showed his lucky hand, helping the Cavaliers win the first overall pick for the third time in four years!

Their probability of winning the first overall pick this time was only 1.7%!

The Bucks eventually got the second pick.

And the third pick was drawn by the Mavericks. Cuban's luck didn't seem bad either.