Because the contract salary is still being negotiated, the Pelicans haven't officially announced it yet, but after Woj reported it, the news is almost certain.

Mike D'Antoni is not bad either.

In Tang Tian's plan, he had the idea of improving his passing ability in the new season. With D'Antoni's arrival, he can just strengthen this aspect.

Both Jokic and Davis have three-pointers.

In his previous life, he also played against D'Antoni and the Rockets as an opponent. Now that he has the opportunity to personally experience Moreyball, he is quite looking forward to it.

Negotiating a contract is not something that can be done overnight.

While D'Antoni and the Pelicans were still negotiating their salaries, the 2015 NBA draft was already upon them.

The lottery ceremony had already been completed during the second round of the playoffs last season, and the lottery order had also been determined.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, with the worst record last season, won the first overall pick.

The Brooklyn Nets got the second pick.

The Nets were tenth in the Eastern Conference last season, and their probability of getting a top-three pick was not high.

But their owner, Prokhorov, showed his magical drawing skills.

Although many fans complained that the league was once again controlling the lottery results, they finally had a chance to turn around after the Billy King era.

The Philadelphia 76ers got the third pick.

The lottery picks from 4th to 14th were: Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Pelicans only had one draft pick this year, the 28th overall pick in the first round.

On draft day, Tang Tian, Dell Demps, and Lausha went to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Because he already had the experience from last year, Tang Tian seemed much more natural this year, and even the media felt a bit strange about it.

The Pelicans didn't care at all about the outside world's confirmation of interference in the management, and the fans and the media naturally didn't care either.

When going to the draft green room, Tang Tian saw the popular rookies sitting there.

He had already played in the league for four years, and almost all of those he had played against in the NCAA had already graduated. At this time, he felt more unfamiliar.

Of the 14 lottery spots, there were 19 people sitting inside, and 5 people were destined to fall out of the lottery.

Among these 19 people, only a few, three or four, caught his eye.

Towns, Woj had already revealed that after a private workout, he had squeezed out Okafor and become the designated number one pick.

Mudiay, according to league rules, players who graduate from high school must play in the NCAA for one year or play in an overseas league before they can participate in the draft. Mudiay didn't play in the NCAA and chose to go to the Chinese CBA to play for a year.

Bobby Portis, this was the only one of the people that Tang Tian had Demps work out who entered the green room.

Portis has excellent scoring ability, and his wingspan is also excellent, and his defense is not bad. Especially as a big man, his three-point ability is very outstanding.

He is also Tang Tian and Demps' ideal choice after discussion.

Of course, his current draft projection is around the 20th pick, and whether he can be selected is another matter.

Because the pick was relatively late, after arriving at the draft green room, Demps began to get busy.

He was seizing the last time to trade up for draft picks, as well as looking for some potential reinforcement trade options.

There are two time points in the NBA where trades are frequent, one is the trade deadline, and the other is the draft.

While Demps was still busy, the draft had already begun.

When Adam Silver came out from backstage, there were non-stop boos from the crowd.

Fouling out Davis in the Western Conference Finals last season, forcing the Cavaliers to win a game in the Finals, including the referee reports issued before, all became his black marks.

The fans usually don't have the opportunity, but now that they caught the opportunity, they really booed him to death.

However, Silver had been the president for two years and had long been accustomed to these things.

After laughing, he began his familiar opening remarks, and then announced the start of the draft.

The Timberwolves fans at the scene were very excited at this time. They traded for two number one picks through the Love trade last year, and then they got another number one pick this year. The team's talent was exploding.

Five minutes later, Silver came out from backstage and announced the destination of the number one pick.

As with the news that had been revealed before, Towns was successfully selected as the number one pick in the 2015 NBA draft.

Towns, Wiggins, LaVine, Rubio, Bennett, the Timberwolves are full of talent, and fans are looking forward to the new season.

With Towns successfully selected as the number one pick, who could become the second pick became the focus of everyone's attention.

Was it Okafor, who had previously been highly touted as the number one pick, or Russell, who had excellent breakthrough ability, or Towns' teammate Cauley-Stein.

Because the Nets' center Lopez's contract with the team was about to expire, anything was possible.

Five minutes later, Silver appeared at the front desk again, and he announced the Nets' final choice.

"With the second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Brooklyn Nets select D'Angelo Russell, a 1.96-meter point guard from Ohio State University."

When Silver announced the result, there was a cheer from the crowd.

The Barclays Center is the Nets' home court.

This choice was also the best for the Nets.

Deron was completely finished, and according to previous news, the Nets would most likely use the stretch provision to buy him out, and selecting Russell was just the right move.

Moreover, in this way, they can also renew Lopez's contract. As long as they trade for another shooting guard, they will have competitiveness in the East again.

The Nets' new general manager Sean Marks is obviously capable.

The draft continued, and the 76ers chose the best of the remaining players, Okafor from Duke University.

The Kings, who had the fourth pick, selected Cauley-Stein.

The Suns, who had the fifth pick, selected Latvia's Porzingis, who had skyrocketed in the draft rankings.

The Nuggets, who had the sixth pick, selected Mudiay.

It is worth mentioning that Mudiay opened his suit when he stepped down, revealing the Chinese flag inside.

This scene made many fans who watched the draft in China very excited.

Although he is an American, he has a kind of inexplicable pride.

That feeling was like saying that this is a Chinese-made guard.

……

Silver walked out from behind the stage for the 11th time, holding the Mavericks' final selection result in his hand.

The Mavericks took a gamble on Embiid last year, but Embiid was out for the season. Although the team tried hard, they didn't tank, but they still failed to make the playoffs.

Being able to get this 11th pick in the end, they had to thank the strength of the Western Conference last season.

With 3 teams with 60+ wins, the record of the teams behind them naturally deteriorated, and the pick was correspondingly higher.

"With the eleventh overall pick in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks select Devin Booker, a 1.98-meter shooting guard from the University of Kentucky."

Kentucky was full of talent this year, but they stopped in the Final Four in the end.

However, this did not affect their draft prospects. The team's three giants, Towns, Stein, and Booker, were all selected in the lottery.

Booker's scoring ability in the NCAA was good, but his physical talent was average. He was lucky to be selected in this pick.

He smiled, took the Mavericks' hat, and ran onto the court.