He Xi Meng directly recommended the current assistant general manager of the Spurs, Sam Presti, to John!
This guy, in the original history, was the general manager of the Thunder! He was the master of drafting the "Thunder Three Youngsters" and a genius general manager who seemed to have foresight!
Before becoming the general manager of the Thunder, Sam Presti was actually an assistant to Spurs general manager Buford, under the unified leadership of President and Head Coach Popovich!
He Xi Meng was no stranger to Sam Presti when he played for the Spurs.
Every year during the draft and player trades, Popovich would have Buford bring this slender, refined-looking young man with gold-rimmed glasses along.
Perhaps, in Popovich's plan, after he retired, Buford would be promoted to president, and Sam Presti would take over as the general manager of the Spurs!
After all, Sam Presti was only 29 years old in 2007!
Popovich's career plan was to work for another 10 years! Ten years later, when Duncan reached retirement age, he would also retire along with Duncan...
And ten years later, Sam Presti would still only be 39 years old! As a team general manager, 39 is the prime age. Energetic and experienced!
It's a pity that man proposes, but heaven disposes. The successor was directly poached by the Thunder!
In this timeline, the Thunder team seems to be gone, but Popovich couldn't keep his desired successor as general manager. He Xi Meng, under John's name, directly poached him to the Supersonics to lead the team's 2007 draft!
In 2007, the Supersonics held three draft picks.
One first-round lottery pick, which was reserved for Durant. Regardless of He Xi Meng's instructions, the newly appointed Supersonics general manager, Sam, was already prepared to select Durant!
As for the other two picks, the first and fifth picks in the second round, the Supersonics' original choices were Carl Landry from Purdue University and DeMarcus Cousins from Louisiana State University.
This DeMarcus Cousins was the "Boogie" who cried a lot and was later ironically called the league's number one power forward by Chinese fans.
For these two picks, He Xi Meng instructed John to pass on a message to Sam Presti, asking him to switch his choices to Spanish player Marc Gasol and Chinese player Xu Yong.
He Xi Meng wasn't worried about Sun Yue being undrafted, but Xu Yong had a higher probability of being overlooked.
Therefore, He Xi Meng had to use a little bit of privilege to select Xu Yong first. Then, he would take him for a physical examination and surgery. If the surgery went smoothly, it could also help him recover quickly and return to the court.
Influenced by Kobe and Durant, He Xi Meng believed that Xu Yong's future growth would be very promising.
Marc Gasol and Xu Yong were both new clients of the Superstar League, so John naturally had no objections.
As for Sam, although he was more optimistic about Landry and Cousins, he wouldn't argue with the owner, John, over two second-round picks. As long as the owner didn't object to him signing Durant!
Sam Presti was truly optimistic about the rookie player Durant!
Yes, He Xi Meng was also very optimistic about Durant.
Durant + Gasol!
He Xi Meng had already brought the two rookies with the highest future growth potential in the 2007 draft class to Seattle. There was nothing else he could covet from the other rookies.
More importantly, after the draft, the summer trading window would officially open, and the league's bloodshed was about to begin...
"Air" Jordan took the lead, making the first move, signing Carter to a five-year, $108 million maximum contract!
The entire league was instantly shocked!
Because the Celtics offered Carter a maximum contract, it meant they no longer had the salary cap space to sign He Xi Meng!
Before this, most fans believed that the Celtics would offer He Xi Meng a maximum contract, and Carter would likely be signed and then traded, or simply let go as a free agent.
Unexpectedly, "Air" Jordan's move was a thunderclap, completely overturning all pre-game predictions and disrupting the offseason recruitment plans of most teams in the league.
Since He Xi Meng did not re-sign with the Celtics, did it mean that any other team in the league had a chance to get He Xi Meng?
The Lakers reacted extremely quickly!
Old Buss immediately sent an invitation to He Xi Meng, inviting him to his mansion for a chat. As long as He Xi Meng was willing to join the Lakers, Old Buss was willing to meet any of his conditions.
Management privileges, trade veto power, none of it was a problem.
As for the salary contract, a maximum deal was the minimum!
Team status, as long as Kobe was willing, you could even be his boss, the team would fully support it...
Why was Old Buss reacting so strongly and decisively? Because before the summer trading window opened, Kobe had officially submitted a trade request to the Lakers!
In the original history, Old Buss wrote a personal letter to Kobe, promising to re-sign him and make blockbuster signings! With Old Buss's three-pronged approach, he successfully stabilized Kobe!
After that, the Lakers snatched Gasol from the Grizzlies, and with the help of a group of role players, they successfully achieved another resurgence of the Lakers!
But this time, Old Buss's personal letter + more money didn't seem to work as well. Kobe remained silent in response to the sincerity shown by the Lakers.
This made Old Buss a little flustered!
Therefore, upon learning that He Xi Meng had not re-signed with the Celtics, Old Buss immediately decided to make a move, hoping to reunite the former "Lakers Twin Stars"!
However, to Old Buss's surprise, the invitation he sent to He Xi Meng was like a stone sinking into the sea, with no response at all.
Jeanie reminded her father, "The He Xi Meng of today is no longer the He Xi Meng of the past. Perhaps we should consider visiting him in person, instead of just calling or sending a piece of paper to summon him to our home..."
Old Buss took Jeanie's advice and personally drove to He Xi Meng's villa in Los Angeles.
He Xi Meng warmly welcomed Old Buss and Jeanie, but regarding his next destination, He Xi Meng refused to commit, only replying to Old Buss that he needed time to consider the Lakers' offer.
Old Buss took his leave tactfully, remaining optimistic about He Xi Meng rejoining the Lakers. Next, Old Buss planned to contact Kobe and have him join the lobbying efforts. Didn't Kobe want strong reinforcements? He Xi Meng was the best reinforcement currently in the league.
However, Jeanie, with her woman's intuition, had a premonition that He Xi Meng would not join the Lakers.
When Old Buss asked her for the reason, Jeanie couldn't articulate it.
"There's no why! But this time meeting He Xi Meng, I feel like I've encountered a scumbag. He speaks nicely, but I'm sure he's not sincere..."
As Jeanie predicted, He Xi Meng immediately called John, urging him to expedite the three-way trade with the Magic and Grizzlies...