The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 585 - 6: Socialist Basketball_4

For Raja, Auerbach was aware, the players from Yugoslavia were full of talent.

This guy was White, with exceptionally outstanding low-post offensive skills.

In the off-season of 1988, the Celtics visited Europe and played a round of the McDonald’s Open against Spain, Yugoslavia, and Italy.

Yugoslavia faced the Celtics in the first round, losing decisively 85:113.

However, two players left a deep impression on the Celtics team.

One was Drazen Petrovic, whose sudden three-point stops made Dennis Johnson’s defense look like paper.

The other was Raja, whose low-post footwork rivalled that of Kevin McHale.

Petrovic had already been selected by the Trail Blazers; the Celtics couldn’t get him.

Thus, Raja entered the sight of the Celtics management—they wanted to pick someone who could replace McHale in the low post.

Auerbach originally thought that other teams were not familiar with the Yugoslavian players, so there was no need to worry about them being snatched away.

They could pick Raja with just a second-round draft pick.

But when the Trail Blazers took Divac with the 24th pick, Auerbach had a bad feeling.

They already had Ah Gan and Sabonis—why would they still pick Divac?

A few minutes later, after losing Divac, the Lakers came to snatch Raja from the Celtics.

Upon receiving the news, Auerbach picked up the telephone on his desk and called that bastard, Don Nelson.

This guy was a Celtics legend turned traitor who went to the Lakers and was now stealing their players!

"Nellie, what are you trying to do? Why are you picking Raja? He’s the one we want! We’ve already worked him out; he won’t be going to play in Los Angeles!"

Auerbach directly threatened Don Nelson, who remained calm and said, "The Trail Blazers also took our player."

"The Trail Blazers... What do the Trail Blazers have to do with me? The Trail Blazers rob you, so you rob me?"

"Calm down Arnold, the draft is like this, it’s either you rob me or I rob you, you’ve done it many times, haven’t you? But you reminded me, Divac won’t be reporting to Portland either. If he comes to Los Angeles, I’ll send Raja to Boston."

Auerbach was furious.

Time had indeed changed; it was no longer his era.

These little bastards, robbing each other, and now robbing him.

Was he really reaping what he had sown in the past, getting shot even while lying down?

Meanwhile, Buckwalter immediately contacted Jerry West.

West, knowing that the Lakers were not willing to part with either Duckworth or James Edwards, was not alarmed.

He explained, "The Lakers and Divac made a draft promise, that if the Lakers didn’t pick him, he wouldn’t report to the NBA. The Lakers will use this to threaten us and force a trade to get more chips."

"What should we do now?"

"Then we execute Plan B, we keep Divac."

"What if he doesn’t report?"

"No, if I step in, he will definitely report. Moreover, we have Petrovic, and he’d definitely be keen to play in Portland."

Divac and Petrovic were teammates on the Yugoslavian national team, very close, like brothers.

So, West’s move to snag Divac was a check on both ends—the Lakers could trade or not, the Trail Blazers were in control.

Edwards was a veteran, plug-and-play, outstanding in attack, strong in defense, experienced, a perfect substitute.

It would be best if they could trade for him.

If not, they’d keep Divac, whom Jerry West had set his heart on picking against all opinions.

He knew more about the potential of this Yugoslavian center than Don Nelson.

To Nelson, perhaps keeping both Duckworth and Edwards was sufficient; this young and old pair was indeed not bad.

After all, they were also acquired through West’s maneuvers; West knew exactly what they were worth.

"Let’s just wait for news from the Lakers now. Let’s not contact them proactively. Let’s focus all our energy on Sanders’ trade. The Knicks want Vandeweghe, and you are in New York now. Try to finalize this deal as soon as possible to avoid complications."

"Understood... but Jerry, if Divac comes, we will have four players from Eastern countries. Are you ok with that?"

On the other end of the phone, West was silent for a moment, then said, "Basketball is just basketball, nothing else matters."

West might say that, but Buckwalter knew he didn’t think that way.

He was always saying one thing but meaning another, having put his full effort into attacking the Soviet Team at the Olympics in Rome, with a bit of personal vendetta.

But regardless, the draft was complete, and what came next would have to be taken one step at a time.

And Buckwalter believed in Ah Gan, believed he could suppress everything.