Chapter 1480 1479. Reed Joins the Bulls
Time flies to July 28th, and Liu Mang's 12-day, 9-stop promotional activities in China and other Asian countries and regions have finally ended.
The last stop was Shanghai on the 27th. After the event, Liu Mang took the three girls and others back to his hometown. When he saw the closed door of the breakfast room, and the door of his house was also closed, Liu Mang fell into deep thought...
"Dina, do you know where the key is?" Liu Mang asked.
Dina shook her head, and looked at Liu Mang with Levia, Alexia and the two children, as if asking what to do next.
Liu Mang originally wanted to take the three girls and two children to give his parents a surprise, but he didn't expect it to be like this.
"I should have called first, wait..."
Liu Mang called his mother, but after answering the phone, his mother said a word and hung up.
"We are traveling in Switzerland, international roaming is very expensive, hang up."
He really went to travel in Europe! She didn't tell him where to go, as if she was afraid of being followed by Liu Mang...
But Liu Mang didn't want to ask this, he just wanted to know where the key was!
Looking at Liu Mang's confused face, Levia deeply felt the meaning of the word "real mother".
Just as the driver hadn't left yet, seeing the closed door, the driver didn't like sports and didn't know who Liu Mang was, but he knew there might be a business waiting there.
Levia called Schwartz and asked him to book another night in a hotel in Shanghai, and then contacted the airline to charter a plane...
...
...
Looking at the white clouds outside the window, Liu Mang felt so sad. He felt abandoned by his parents. After a day and a night, he still felt very sad.
The charter flight flew directly to Miami. This year, the training location agreed by Liu Mang, Rondo, McGrady and others was not in Los Angeles.
When they won, or when the Lakers didn't win, it would be good to go to Los Angeles, but now the Hawks lost, and the opponent they lost to was still the Lakers. Liu Mang chose to train in the South Coast this time.
Of course, the little blacksmith will come this time.
On the 30th, at about 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Liu Mang and his family arrived in Miami. They were exhausted from the long flight. After the driver took them to the booked beach villa, the three girls took the two children to sleep. The bodyguards and servants had things to do.
Liu Mang flew from the dark night when he boarded the plane in China to the daytime. Although it was bleak, he slept very well. People who love sports generally have good sleep quality.
Liu Mang asked Wade to help rent a private gym. After sending text messages to James, McGrady, Rondo, Kobe, Paul and Durant to inform them of the training location, he began to do nothing.
The jet lag was still a bit troublesome for Liu Mang, who slept like a pig after boarding the plane in China last night. It was almost night in the United States, but Liu Mang was still full of energy.
"I should have forced myself to stay awake with Dina..."
Liu Mang felt a little pain in his balls, but he didn't care too much. He had a strong ability to adjust himself. There was still one day and two nights before the scheduled training on the 1st, so there was enough time to adjust.
The offseason has been over for almost a month, and the free market is still hot.
Liu Mang looked at the transactions that were updated almost every day on the website. Most of them were small-scale transactions, but they also proved how hot this summer was.
In addition, experts and media predicted that some teams wanted to abandon the stars who had played well but could not lead the team to achieve good results like the Pistons and Nets, and start over. Some teams wanted to build a star lineup, but that was not a transaction that could be completed overnight.
It was rare to see a team as decisive as the Nets. Most of them would take a long time like Anthony's team change, Paul George's team change, Leonard's team change, and Anthony Davis' team change in Liu Mang's memory.
Look, a month has passed, and the big transactions are only those of Billups, Randolph, and the Nets' two stars.
Just when Liu Mang was about to check the news to see if he was sleepy, a new transaction was really checked!
On the evening of July 30, 2007, the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks reached a deal. The Bulls sent Thabo Sefolosha, Andres Nocioni, Chris Duhon, Thomas Gardner, an efficient substitute pitcher who averaged 9 minutes per game and scored 5 points and 1 rebound last season, and Victor Caiappa, a second-round pick in 2004, to the Bucks' Michael Reed and Bobby Simmons.
Seeing this deal, Liu Mang was shocked!
The Bulls were too willing!
In order to get Reed, they did not hesitate to take Bobby Simmons's garbage contract!
Chris Duhon was a second-round pick in 2004. At that time, he only signed a one-year contract. In his second year, he renewed his contract for 3 years and 12 million. Now it is the last year of his contract. He is a backup point guard with super high value. Nocioni averaged 13 points per game as a substitute last season. Sefolosha is only in his second year. He is a tough guy that championship teams like.
As for the Bucks, Reed averaged 26.7 points per game in the season that just ended, but it is no longer news that the Bucks are dissatisfied with his leadership ability. In addition to getting some high-quality contracts, there is another reason for sending Reed away, which is to send Bobby Simmons away.
Liu Mang has an impression of Bobby Simmons, a second-round pick in the same class. He played very poorly at the beginning, but suddenly broke out when he played for the Clippers in the 04-05 season, averaging 16 points and 4 rebounds per game. He was poached by the Bucks for 5 years and 35 million. He broke his ankle last season and did not play a single game in the season. It is unlikely that he can return to his peak state, but he still has a 3-year contract worth nearly 20 million.
In order to make up for the salary cap, the Bulls sent Duhon and Sefrosa away...
However, Liu Mang saw the determination of the Bulls management. Reed and Ben Wallace are close to the maximum salary, plus Garnett...the total salary is almost catching up with the Mavericks!
This summer, the Bulls changed their coach and dug Tom Thibodeau from the Rockets as the head coach.
The contract extension that Garnett and the Bulls had been negotiating well since January last season ended in the playoffs. Garnett's contract was a player option in the summer of 2008. In order to keep Garnett, the Bulls tried every means to strengthen.
Last year, the Bulls lacked a striker. Even with the strongest defense in history, they still failed to pass the second round, so this year they would sell everything they had to get a powerful outside player.
The Bucks had no choice but to trade. The Australian Duncan was roaring, but in the end he was just an average player among the top picks. He couldn't be said to be water, but compared with the excellent ones among the top picks, he was completely incomparable.
Reed plus Bogut can't really do anything big. The Bucks chose to collect a group of combat power, which will also be beneficial for trading draft picks later.
Before seeing the news of this transaction, Liu Mang felt that he hadn't seen news about Reed for two years. Liu Mang remembered that Reed's career was quite miserable. He played in the playoffs only two or three times in 12 years. He was selected for the Dream Team 8 in his peak period, but his club performance was very poor, and he suffered from injuries in the later period of his career. The main reason was that he was not healthy after the Olympics.
Seeing Reed, Liu Mang still missed the memory of the two years of the rookie contract with Reed, but the goals pursued by the two people later were far apart. They only played against each other three or four times a year, and there was no other contact opportunity.
However... Thibodeau... Liu Mang saw the related news link below the news that Thibodeau became the head coach of the Bulls...
Can Reed hold on? The Bulls got Thibodeau, Garnett, Luol Deng, Ben Wallace, Hinrich, Big Z and others, and the defense may not be a big problem after losing Sefrosa.
But that was Thibodeau!
Liu Mang could only silently wish Reed good luck.
But Liu Mang thought about it. It was already 2007. In the original time and space, Reed also reached his final peak in the 07-08 season, but the Bucks seemed to be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference...
It seems that for Reed, he went to play for a top team before his peak...
Liu Mang was still very excited to think that he could see Reed in his peak period against Reed in a strong team.
Although playing against the Bulls was indeed a headache, such a game made Liu Mang more interested. Sweeping and beating was certainly cool, but evenly matched opponents were more exciting.
Seeing the news just come out, the focus of online fans' discussion became the Bulls.
This summer, there is a feeling of "the emperor takes turns to be my turn this year", and it is getting closer to the era of information explosion. The speed of news dissemination and the convenience of fan communication are getting faster and faster.
The faster the information is replaced, the easier it is for the news to become popular.
Liu Mang watched the news, watched TV, played games, and felt sleepy until late at night...
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...
The South Coast is still great. Liu Mang feels great every time he comes here. Although it is not as prosperous as Los Angeles, it is also the best city in the South Coast.
After a night of rest, Liu Mang sat on the balcony and watched the scenery the next morning. In the afternoon, McGrady, the blacksmith, James, Paul, Durant, and Rondo, who had not been seen for a long time, came to Miami one after another and made an appointment to come to Liu Mang together.
The first place the six people came to was the villa where Liu Mang lived.
"Ah... ha..." Liu Mang yawned as he looked at the six people who came.
It was a little embarrassing. James thought Kobe would not come this year, but Liu Mang still invited Kobe. This made James' perception of Liu Mang change a little.
But it was still embarrassing with you. McGrady was having fun and didn't say anything. Paul and Rondo, the two backpackers who had just finished the Pan American Basketball Championship, didn't say anything either.
Durant rookie...
The Pan American Basketball Championship ended in mid-July. These six players were selected for the US national team and helped the US team easily win three games in the Pan American Basketball Championship.
The Pan American Basketball Championship changes every year. The last champion, the US team, only played three games this time and started directly from the quarterfinals. This time, the US team was serious. A total of 24 American NBA All-Stars and potential new stars were invited to form a lineup. They won the championship by averaging more than 40 points in three games. There was a reason why they didn't let them play in the group stage.
For the US team, such a game is not as good as their team training game.
After the US team won the championship on July 13, except for Durant and Rondo, the other four went to participate in commercial activities in Asia. In Europe, whether it was Adidas or Nike, except Liu Mang had European promotion, Nowitzki, Gasol, Milicic and others had European promotion, no other NBA players were arranged to promote.
Compared with Liu Mang's influence in Europe, Kobe and McGrady are far behind. Liu Mang and European players in the NBA are both overseas players in the NBA. Although they have different skin colors, they are more popular with European fans.
As for Durant... the shoe endorsement has not been negotiated yet, and the endorsement fee is not as good as expected. Liu Mang wants to get a commission, so of course we have to talk slowly. Anyway, Durant can't have a signature shoe like Liu Mang and James from the beginning, and not many overseas fans know them.
Rondo doesn’t have any endorsements for the time being. He played well in his rookie season. After all, he is still a quasi-sophomore player who just finished his rookie season. Some sponsors are still waiting and watching.
Liu Mang looked at the seats where Rondo and Paul were sitting far apart, and sighed in his heart that the two of them were really incompatible. Playing in the Pan American Basketball Championship, it seemed that neither of them had a chance to play, but it seemed that a gap had already been created.
Kobe saw that no one spoke for a long time, and asked bluntly: "Where are we staying?"
"The hotel next door, pay for it yourself." Liu Mang pointed out the window, where there was a sea...
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, James quickly said: "When Ace sent me the address yesterday, I had already booked a nearby hotel. I'll take you there..."
Looking at Kobe who was about to leave with a cold snort, Liu Mang thought of something and asked: "Kobe, do you know how to play the three-threat style?"
"No!" Kobe left without looking back...