After Lu Yu finished training, he returned to the locker room and saw the text message on his phone. He couldn't help but look solemn.
Next, the real game begins.
Lu Yu called Snoopy and asked him to arrange for Zhang Mingqi to talk about the buyout of Yao Ming and the Sharks. It was definitely impossible to make the other Lions open their mouths. If it was the same as in the previous life, around 10 million, Lu Yu could accept it.
This matter still needs to be discussed, and it is estimated that it will be almost May when the discussion is completed. By that time, Lu Yu will be almost halfway through the playoffs, and the remaining matters will still need to be discussed with the Basketball Association.
It is impossible to guarantee, because the current situation is different from Lu Yu's previous life.
Wang Zhizhi has already received an early extension of his contract with the Mavericks, and he no longer has to fight for the next contract. Therefore, Wang Zhizhi will definitely participate in the Chinese Men's Basketball World Championships this summer.
This makes the Basketball Association not as worried about NBA players not coming back to play as it was in Lu Yu's previous life.
Lu Yu also agreed to participate in this year's World Championships.
This made the leaders of the Basketball Association very happy.
In fact, even in his previous life, Wang Zhizhi's request for leave in order to find his next contract in the NBA was verbally approved by the leaders of the Basketball Association. However, Wang Zhizhi's operation was that he asked for instructions at a higher level. He had a phone call with Xin Lancheng, and Xin Lancheng's
The answer is: "I can promise you, but I can't say this in front of the media."
Because once you say this, it will cause players to refuse to play for the country after they leave.
Wang Zhizhi and Xin Lancheng asked for leave, but did not notify the Bayi team. Bayi was still waiting for him to come back without getting the contract, so they broke up directly. Later, a reporter interviewed Wang Fei and asked Wang Fei about Wang Zhizhi's leave.
matter.
Wang Fei knew very well who was behind this reporter, so he had no choice but to avoid offending him and said, "I don't know."
At this time, Xin Lancheng could not pretend to be dead and could only invalidate the oral agreement.
And Wang Zhizhi became the scapegoat.
But because of the appearance of Lu Yu, these things in the previous life did not happen. Since Wang Zhizhi integrated into the Mavericks early last summer and got his contract extension, there is no need to take leave.
Without this series of events, the Basketball Association's concerns about players leaving the country would have been minimized.
When the time comes for the Basketball Association to let go of Yao Ming, there is a high probability that there will be no need to make that series of guarantees.
Of course, there is a prerequisite.
Yao Ming is an artist under Lu Yu's agency. The Basketball Association really has no good way to deal with Lu Yu. If Lu Yu is offended and Lu Yu turns his back, the Chinese men's basketball team will lose three generals... maybe more than that, Gonzaga
Yi Jianlian is also confirmed to participate in this year's World Championships.
This is equivalent to half of the main players of the national team.
The Basketball Association cannot afford the loss, and Lu Yu's reputation in the country makes him unsure that he can overpower Lu Yu. For officials like the Basketball Association, who have been in the officialdom for many years and are good at assessing the situation, if they make a choice, they can already
Expected.
Lu Yu also arranged for Snoopy to arrange signing and endorsement deals with Yao Ming.
However, the contract between Yao Ming and Hook will expire in one year, so the sports brand can only let it go.
Of course, if the price is right, breach of contract is not impossible. After all, the contract between Yao Ming and Hook is only 4 years and 200,000 US dollars. As for why the price is so low... In fact, it was not low for Yao Ming at that time.
In 1996, when he was only 16 years old, Yao Ming joined the Sharks and officially started his career. At that time, the sponsor of the Shanghai team was Gouzi, and Yao Ming and Gouzi got to know each other like this.
The person in charge of the hook at that time was Sha Yifeng. When he saw Yao Ming, he judged that this player would be one of the best players in China in the future. At that time, Yao Ming was wearing Adidas shoes, and his mind began to
Decide to sign this player.
Although Hook is a sponsor of the Shanghai team, they only provide sneakers for the main players, and Yao Ming has not played in the game yet. However, in order to show their goodwill and show their sincerity, Hook gave Yao Ming a pair of shoes belonging to NBA superstar center Mourning.
This was obviously a huge support. It didn’t matter how much the sneakers cost, but the significance. So Yao Ming and Hook began to try to cooperate.
In 1997, Yao Ming was invited to participate in the basketball summer camp organized by Gou. In 1998, he was invited by Gou to participate in the American High School League organized by Gou. The series of cooperation was very pleasant.
Yao Ming's outstanding performance and rapid growth made Gouzi see Yao Ming's huge value. After the two parties went through the honeymoon period in 1999, Gouzi officially provided Yao Ming with a cooperation contract of 200,000 US dollars over four years. From the value at that time and Yao Ming's
In terms of popularity, it is not bad. After all, it is nearly 400,000 yuan a year. In 1999, when 100 yuan was still very valuable, this was a considerable amount of income.
Lu Yu was not in a hurry and took a long-term approach to catch the big fish.
He also has no intention of letting Yao Ming sign with a domestic brand. Firstly, his influence is greater than that of Yao Ming now, and secondly, the center's sneakers are actually not that easy to sell.
In the 1990s, major brands began to impact the NBA sneaker market. Stars such as Jordan, Hardaway, and O'Neal were all acquired by major brands. However, Olajuwon, the number one center at the time, actually joined Spalding.
It can be said that a basketball brand has made a bad start for centers selling shoes.
In the later years of his career, sneaker sales were very bleak, which shows Olajuwon's appeal at the time.
O'Neal, who took over Olajuwon's position, did a lot of stunts under Reebok. Reebok shaqnosis, this sneaker called the "annual ring" by Chinese shoe fans, gained a lot of fans at the turn of the century.
wholesale.
But these were still minor changes in the trend caused by Nike's alpha project and Jordan's second comeback at the time.
Shark also didn't get the success he wanted.
As for Lu Yu's previous life, Yao Ming's development under Reebok was not ideal.
The high price and the lack of a particularly popular sneaker culture prevent the Chinese from fully supporting the sneakers endorsed by Yao Ming.
Now that Yao Ming is signed, apart from increasing a part of the company's market value, it won't do much to help the growth of domestic brands in terms of sales.
And Yao Ming still owes a lot of money because of the buyout fee. Yao Ming must be trying to make more money.
At this time, as a brokerage company, we must first consider the players' ideas. The brokerage company serves the players, and the players are the main body.
You can put sneaker endorsements on hold first.
The most important thing right now is to cut off the relationship between Yao Ming and the Sharks.
The Sharks are all about money, easy to handle.
In fact, if the Sharks hadn't asked for so much money last year, Lu Yu wouldn't have been given the chance to win Yao Ming.
Last year, Higgins, the then Wizards vice president, made a special trip to Shanghai to watch Yao Ming's game.
After the inspection, Higgins told those accompanying him that if Yao Ming signs up for the draft, the Wizards, who have the No. 1 pick, will definitely select him.
However, Yao Ming did not participate in the draft that year. The direct reason was that the Sharks offered conditions that now seem unbelievable, including Yao having to hand over two-thirds of his income and a $30 million buyout fee.
The team needs to exchange players of the same level and send coaches to help the Sharks build the team. In addition, the NBA also has requirements, including building an arena and basketball school for the Sharks.
The NBA is here for the draft, not poverty alleviation?
This is how Lu Yu advanced to the NBA and made a lot of money from the Chinese market. Lu Yu relied on this financial resources to return to China and sign Yao Ming in the days after he was suspended.
All I can say is that everything is a coincidence.
The Shanghai team has taken care of it, and Yao Ming will take care of the NBA next.
According to the draft process, Yao Ming is going to the United States for a trial training. Lu Yu learned about it and found that the teams interested in him include the Warriors, Knicks, and Bulls, spanning the east and west coasts of the United States. Yao Ming went to the United States because of his national team competition obligations.
The trial period was so short that traveling across the United States was impossible.
Although Yao Ming can not make a guarantee to the Basketball Association, it is impossible not to play in this year's World Championships.
After all, the World Championships is one of the most important events in the world basketball world. In the current world basketball world, apart from the Olympic Games, it is the World Championships.
The Asian Championships are the qualifying rounds for these two events.
For example, in the Asian Championship last year, the Chinese men's basketball team that won the championship had the opportunity to qualify for this year's World Championship.
Next year, the 2003 Asian Championships, will be the qualifying tournament leading to the Athens Olympics.
The top six in this year's World Championships can also win an extra spot for their respective continents leading to the Athens Olympics.
So it’s not that the Asian Championships are unimportant, sometimes if you can’t win the Asian Championships, you won’t even be qualified to play in the World Championships and Olympic Games, so whether you should play in the Asian Championships or not…basically not.
As for the defeat of Busan that will happen this year?
Lu Yu smiled and said, let's watch after the World Championships. If you play well in the World Championships, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose in the Asian Games. After all, competitions at this level of the Asian Games can be used to train newcomers.
If you don't do well in the World Championships, go to the Asian Games to vent your anger.
Don't worry about any of this right now, we still need to make arrangements for Yao Ming's trial training.
Lu Yu got in touch with NBA president David Stern and explained Yao Ming's current situation. Stern immediately made a promise. Yao Ming only needs to determine when he can come, and NBA officials will be responsible for other matters.
After getting the promise, Lu Yu felt relieved.
Lu Yu called Yao Ming to tell him the situation, and asked casually: "At which pick do you think you can be selected?"
Yao Ming thought for a while and asked: "With which pick was your team's Tyson Chandler selected?"
Lu Yu replied: "Fourth."
Yao Ming said with a smile: "He can be fourth, so I will definitely not be too low, because I have played against him before, and others said he is a player who can enter the NBA, so I wanted to be serious in that game."
"As a result, I may have been too serious..."
Lu Yu smiled, he knew that Yao Ming defeated Chandler in that game.
On April 18, the NBA regular season ended, and the list of 16 teams entering the playoffs was released. They are——
West: Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle SuperSonics and Utah Jazz.
East: New Jersey Nets, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers
Arenas' Warriors are ranked last in the Western Conference, while Battier and Gasol's Grizzlies are ranked second last in the Western Conference. They have gone home to fish.
Among the rookies who performed well this year, Lu Yu stands out.
Winning the Rookie of the Year award this season is almost a sure thing.
The opponent the Chicago Bulls faced in the first round of the playoffs was the Magic team where Lu Yu's good friend Tracy McGrady belonged!
