The Fifth Point Guard

In fact, it is not just the Pistons that are optimistic about Darko Milicic.

As an 18-year-old player in Serbia and Montenegro, Milicic, who has already started living independently at the age of 14, has already been hailed as a talented player.

This former Yugoslavian genius boy, whose father participated in the Bosnian War, was almost raised by his mother doing hard work when he was young.

At the age of 14, he was recruited into the local team and started an independent life in boarding.

In order to allow Milicic to play smoothly, his mother sold her property and bought back a cow, so that he could drink milk while training hard, so as not to delay his growth.

At that time, he was training in a dilapidated basketball gymnasium, with NATO bombers flying in the sky.

After seeing too much poverty, backwardness and war, he wants to emulate Divac and Stojakovic, embark on the road of NBA professional players, and earn a lot of money for his family.

After participating in many trials in the NBA, his performance surprised many scouts watching the game.

He's an all-around player with quick footwork, inside and out.

This is an assessment that most scouts agree with.

Although his body is still relatively thin, his dribbling, passing, and spot-up jumpers are enough to allow him to switch back and forth between the center and forward positions and deal with them freely.

Before the draft officially started, many NBA teams were salivating over him.

In addition to the Pistons, the Mavericks and Jazz are eager to get the big man from Europe.

Jazz scout Dar Shin said: "If he has the No. 1 pick in his hand, he will not hesitate to choose Milicic instead of James."

Compared with James, Milicic's ability is more complete, and he can play more positions on the field.

He can play center, power forward, small forward.

The Mavericks, who are keen on the international market, are also very optimistic about this young man from Serbia and Montenegro.

Old Nelson said: "His size, physique, speed, dexterity and strength are all amazing. If you want a center or power forward, then Darko Milicic is definitely your best candidate."

The Pistons selected Milicic, much to the delight of the Denver Nuggets, who held the third overall pick.

They didn't need to think at all, and chose Carmelo Anthony, who has various offensive methods and super scoring ability.

Anthony was born on May 29, 1984 in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. His father is Puerto Rican and his mother, Mary, is African American.

Since the age of 8, Anthony has been passionate about basketball and has started playing with kids several years older than him.

Although he is a lot shorter than other kids, he can always use fake moves and time difference to send the ball to the basket.

In middle school, Anthony participated in the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival where he led the Eastern team to win a silver medal.

He's shooting 66 percent from the field and is averaging 24 points per game, tied for first with LeBron James.

With an extraordinary performance of 1 point over the minimum score line, Anthony successfully entered Syracuse University and became a member of the school's basketball team.

In college, Anthony led Syracuse University to a record of 30 wins and 5 losses, creating a record in school history and winning the first NCAA championship in school history.

In the selection, Anthony was unanimously elected NCAA Rookie of the Year.

He was also named to the All-Big East First Team and was unanimously named Big East Rookie of the Year.

This is why Anthony and James can be called "peerless double pride".

Although the Nuggets were very happy to select Anthony, Anthony did not want to go to Denver.

He even begged the Nuggets not to choose him after the Pistons selected Milicic, but the Nuggets still had no hesitation.

Anthony told the coach that he wanted to stay in school, but the coach told him that he was very satisfied with the NCAA championship.

Anthony, who has no way out, can only join the Nuggets.

The Pistons' surprise move had a knock-on effect.

The Toronto Raptors also immediately accepted the gift.

They used the fourth pick to select Georgia Tech college star Chris Bosh, who had been expected to be selected in the top three.

Unlike James and Anthony, Bosh's success is inseparable from the early training of his parents.

His father, Noel, was a construction engineer, and his mother, Freda, was a computer systems analyst.

A good background allowed Bosh to obtain a very good growth environment.

As a young Bosh was very active, with excellent athletic talent, he was sent by his parents to learn karate and gymnastics lessons, and he performed very well in both sports.

His father installed a hoop over the bedroom door so Bosh could showcase his athleticism.

The result didn't take long when Bosh accidentally broke the door while dunking.

This forced his father to install a simple basketball hoop for Bosh in the backyard.

While Bosh is improving his basketball skills, he is also very capable of learning.

He is one of the students with the best academic performance in the school. His double strength in study and sports makes Bosh highly appreciated by teachers and classmates.

Like Shen Tong's parents, Bosh's parents are also very clear about the primary and secondary points of reading and basketball. Once Bosh's test scores are not satisfactory, Noel and Freda will sound the alarm for him and warn him that he does not care about basketball. No matter how well you play, you must ensure that you read the book well.

In high school, Bosh's talent in basketball was gradually realized. He made rapid progress and soon became the team's starter, and then became the team's best player.

At the same time, Bosh continued to excel academically. He scored high in standardized subjects and became a member of the National Honor Society. In the eyes of his classmates, he was simply an omnipotent genius.

Science, math, website building and more basic graphic design all stood out among his peers, and Bosh once dreamed of becoming an artist before he settled on basketball as a career.

Kevin Garnett was the 15-year-old Bosh's idol.

He often imitates his footsteps, fake moves and offensive methods by watching the "Wolf King" game. When Bosh receives the ball in the penalty area, the opponent often does not know what attack method he will choose. Not easy for a 15-year-old kid.

In his senior year of high school, Bosh led Lincoln High School to a 40-0 record and a state championship.

In this year, Bosh averaged 20 points and 14 rebounds per game, so he was also elected "Mr. Basketball" in Texas.

Entering college, Bosh's progress was not even expected by himself.

In the first NCAA game, Bosh scored 26 points.

Throughout the season, Bosh averaged 15.9 points and 9 rebounds per game, and his field goal percentage and average blocked shots per game ranked first in the ACC (NCAA Atlantic Division).

After the freshman season, under the advice of his mentor Hewitt, Bosh did not give up the opportunity to become the top five picks in the NBA and chose to join the NBA in advance.

Facts have proved that his decision is correct.

The Toronto Raptors were very happy with Bosh at No. 4.

The Miami Heat played fifth, they hesitated a little, and chose Marquette's Dwyane Wade.

Like James and Anthony, Wade grew up in a slum in his childhood.

His parents divorced when he was very young.

Wade grew up in Chicago, so he admired Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan very much.

In fact, there is a very interesting story about Wade's name.

The spelling of Wade's name "Dwyane" is actually wrong, because his grandmother misspelled Wade's father's name when she registered for the household registration, so she continued to use it on Wade.

In high school, Wade's start was actually not high.

Although one of the members of the school team, but he did not get much playing time.

His younger brother, Mike Daniel, was the team's star player.

In the third year of high school, Wade met his own Bole, the school's basketball assistant Gary Andaman.

Under Andaman's training, Wade's ball-handling ability and shooting ability have been greatly improved.

At the same time, Wade's height has grown mysteriously, growing 4 inches in a short period of time.

This year, Wade's performance has undergone a qualitative change. He averaged 20.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

By his senior year, Wade had become something that college teams wanted.

Marquette and Illinois have strong interest in him.

In this year, Wade was able to get a double-double in almost every game.

He averaged 27 points and 11 rebounds per game and led the team to a 24-5 record.

After arriving in college, due to poor academic performance, Wade was not eligible to represent Marquette University in the competition as a freshman.

After a year of hard work, Wade, a sophomore, began to play on behalf of the team.

Although there has been a one-year blank period without competitions, Wade's skills have not declined.

He averaged 17.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.5 steals per game, helping Marquette University achieve a record of 26 wins and 7 losses, creating the team's best record since the 1993-94 season.

In his junior year, Wade averaged 21.5 points per game and led the team to the semi-finals. Although he lost in the end, he also became the first player selected to the first team in the United States by Marquette University in the past 35 years.

In the just-concluded NCAA Tournament, in the quarter-finals, Wade led Marquette University to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats 83-69 and reached the semi-finals. Wade scored a triple-double of 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. , won the MVP in the Midwest Finals.

Wade's achievements in college were very impressive, but his height of 1.93 meters and inaccurate positioning made many teams hesitate.

But the Heat finally made up their minds and decided to bring Wade to Miami.

The Los Angeles Clippers, with the sixth pick, selected a white center, Chris Kaman, who is 2.13 meters tall.

Don't look at the polite Kaman in the little green house, but in fact, Kaman was a complete villain when he was a child.

At the age of two and a half, Kaman was diagnosed with ADHD.

When he got a little older, his symptoms of ADHD began to gradually appear.

Either leave the neighbor's bike on the train tracks, or regularly climb on other people's roofs, or hit people in the back with pebbles.

In order to treat Kaman's ADHD problem, in addition to receiving drug treatment, Kaman's parents also let Kaman vent excess energy and vitality through exercise.

Kaman chose basketball.

In the basketball game, Kaman's condition gradually improved. By the time of college, he had got rid of ADHD and became a completely normal ordinary person.

Kaman is a white center with a tough style of play. The Clippers hope that he can support the Clippers' inside line together with "Captain" Brand.

The Chicago Bulls selected University of Kansas guard Kirk Hinrich with the seventh overall pick.

Hinrich inherited his father's basketball talent, and with his extraordinary talent and hard training, he became a leader in the high school team.

In the senior season of high school, Hinrich scored 25 points in the finals, leading the team to taste the taste of the state championship for the first time.

Hinrich's perfect performance that season also allowed the residents of Sioux Town to taste the taste of the state championship for the first time in 65 years.

As a high school student, Hinrich also represented the United States in the World Youth Basketball Championship held in Moscow in 1998, and helped the United States win the championship with an undefeated record against strong teams such as Greece, Russia, and Croatia.

After entering the University of Kansas, Hinrich quickly became the team's starting point guard.

In the team's final 13 games, Hinrich, who became the starter, shot more than 40% of his three-pointers and made Kansas' offense look smoother.

His 123 assists throughout the season were the fourth-highest by any rookie in the history of the prestigious university.

By his sophomore year, Hinrich was already an indispensable core player for the team, and his terrifying 50.5% three-point shooting percentage also rewrote the school history record.

This season, Hinrich spent more time in the gym than before, and he also used sweat to add 15 pounds of muscle to himself.

After declaring his participation in the draft, experts generally believe that Hinrich will be selected in the first round, but due to the abundance of rookies in this class, it is not certain that he can enter the lottery.

However, just a week before the start of the draft, the Chicago Bulls' No. 2 pick in 2002, Jay Williams, was involved in a car accident and would not be able to play for a long time in the future. In the blank, he contacted Hinrich's agent and told him that he would choose Hinrich with the seventh overall pick.

Being able to be selected by his favorite team at such a high pick, Hinrich was elated, and went to Las Vegas with his friends to celebrate, and looked forward to his rookie season with great anticipation.

So, I would rather gamble than drag racing.

The eighth Milwaukee Bucks selected point guard TJ Ford from the University of Texas.

This small defender with a height of only 1.80 meters is not small.

During his sophomore season, Ford ranked second in the country in assists per game with 7.7, and led the University of Texas in scoring, assists and steals.

After leading the University of Texas to the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1947, Ford was also named the Southern Conference MVP.

At the end of the season, Ford was unanimously selected to the All-American First Team, also won the prestigious Naismith University Player of the Year Award and the John Wooden Award, and was voted by Sports Illustrated, Sports News, CBS Sports Online. for Player of the Year.