Chapter 394: 392. The Preseason Is Coming, New Competition Area, New Competition System

No one expected that Glenn Robinson's return to the team was actually team owner Steven Price who personally went to Milwaukee to release him on bail.

Glenn Robinson found a lawyer the next day and negotiated a divorce. Then, with the guarantee of Steven Price, Big Dog himself paid $500,000 in bail, and Frandy sued in the hospital dying. Dagou wants divorce and compensation and then sues Dagou.

However, the $500,000 was not paid in vain, and the trial date was postponed to June 20, 2003, which meant that the trial would not begin until the season had finished anyway.

Sometimes, men are very strange creatures, and they must be cast aside for beating women.

But if a man is cheated and hit a woman...

Not to mention how highly this man will be regarded, at least the number of people who spurn him is much less, on the contrary, he has added a little more sympathy points.

Brandy said in an interview while wearing a bandage: Why can't a man go out and fool around but a woman can't find a male model to come back for revenge?

This almost confirmed the fact that the two cheated on each other, and made people feel sympathy for both of them while lamenting that they were indeed a "natural couple"...

Poor people must have something to hate, and by the same token, hateful people can always find something to sympathize with.

Including Liu Mang, they all felt that Glenn Robinson was hateful, but also sad and pitiful.

Obviously, the big dog who came late and returned late wasted the team's precious training time.

It is rare that the team is now either an old player with the hatred of last season, or a positive rookie. This should be the best time for everyone to train and improve together. As a result, a core player has not returned to the team for a long time. It's messed up during training.

Tactical training, using Emmanuel to top it is too far away, I can’t see how powerful it is, defensive training, I don’t know that the big dog, who is said to have an average defense, will come to a strong defensive team. How to change, or how black the black hole is, and whether the team's overall system can make up for it is unknown.

But such a guy who may have encountered the saddest thing as a man was brought back by the black-faced boss at this time, you really can't blame him, although it is indeed hateful, it is also quite pitiful.

The point is that Big Dog also sensed the crisis. When he returned to Atlanta in the afternoon, he came to the arena for training, which was crazy.

Looking at the big dog with the attitude of "I want to change my mind", the dissatisfaction of the rest of the Eagles can only be put aside. On September 30, the training of the Eagles can finally officially start.

...

...

The Eagles had a weird start this year, and I don't know if it was smooth or not. Anyway, the team training in the last few days was pretty good.

Although there are frequent negative news about Glenn Robinson from the outside world, the big dog is really honest these days. He was originally an old slicker. He entered the NBA at the same age as Ratliff and Raheem. 94-96 A generation of Mesozoic players looked at the Buddha's face even if they didn't look at the monk's face.

It's just that the big dog's appearance caused his commercial value, which was second only to Liu Mang and Raheem, to plummet, and those domestic sponsors dared not ask him to speak for him.

On National Day, Liu Mang wished his motherland a national birthday in a foreign country for another year, and passed it like that.

On October 6th, when the preseason was about to start, William Wesley, the social king of North American sports, and Jeff Schwartz, who was in ecstasy, came to find him with several contract offers. Liu Mang.

But when the two came to the place where Liu Mang lived, it felt so weird.

It's too different from where other All-Stars live!

Not to mention the All-Stars, even Wang Zhizhi rented a villa when he arrived in Los Angeles, and the monthly rent was several thousand dollars.

Then seeing Liu Mang, he didn’t think there was anything wrong, but he seemed to be living very comfortably. He took them to Levia’s living room on the sixth floor. William Wesley expressed that he didn’t deliberately pursue luxury because of Liu Mang’s casualness. The way of life is too good.

At first, William Wesley received a call from Jordan, and then received a call from Levia, seeing that Liu Mang did not choose to help Liu Mang because of his dressing style.

Seeing Liu Mang's lifestyle now, I really have an explosion of liking for Liu Mang.

Sometimes a person's likes and dislikes for a person are as simple as that.

Except for yoga, boxing, and shopping, Levia usually stays paralyzed and does not move. Either Alexia comes to cook, or Dinah orders takeaway, but whenever outsiders come, they change. As if, I ran to make coffee, pour drinks and buy some snacks.

After exchanging pleasantries, Schwartz excitedly took out six quotation contracts: "Ace, come and see, this is the final quotation of Nike, Reebok, and Adidas, and this is the final quotation of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Very Coke."

Liu Mang has been devoting himself to training in the summer, and did not pay attention to the news about sneakers. He has already been snapped up by several major sneaker brands!

He and Yao Ming were regarded by Nike as big men who couldn’t sell sneakers and were only willing to give $500,000 a year. With the help of the famous agent Fagan, he signed a long-term contract with Reebok with a total value of no less than $60 million. The endorsement contracts are different. As a defender, Liu Mang has been looted by the three giants of Nike, Reebok, and Adidas in terms of sneaker endorsements.

It’s true that big men don’t sell sneakers, so Yao Ming’s performance in sneaker endorsements is mediocre, but after Reebok gave a big contract of 60 million to start his career, Nike was also in a hurry and gave the same offer, but Yao Ming is really considered domestic. Among the players, there are individual players who said they would not sign with Nike if they said they would not sign with Nike, and accepted Reebok's contract early.

Originally, this should have happened after Yao Ming faced O’Neill and asked Barkley to kiss his ass, but because Liu Mang drove the Chinese market ahead of time, this matter was advanced by more than half a year. .

Therefore, looting Liu Mang has become the top priority of the three major basketball shoe giants.

With William Wesley constantly running around to build momentum for Liu Mang and Schwartz looking like he was sitting on Mount Tai, the three giants couldn't bear it anymore and offered a big contract.

Liu Mang looked at the 7-year 80 million dollars from Nike, the 10-year 90 million dollars from Adidas, and the total price of Reebok's lifetime contract not less than 100 million dollars, and there are plans for exclusive boots before Christmas. I didn't expect to be so valuable!

Liu Mang still underestimated his commercial value. He used to think that James’ commercial value was the highest. After all, James represented the NBA’s North American market. It was estimated that the North American commercial value in NBA history was second only to Jordan’s super gold-absorbing machine. Unexpectedly I didn't go anywhere.

But what Liu Mang wants to complain about is why Reebok loves giving lifetime contracts so much. Iverson has a lifetime contract, Yao Ming has a lifetime contract, and I also have a lifetime contract here.

There is a lot of money, sneakers, how can the difference between the three brands go? The technology is similar, and the money is also similar. Nike has the highest unit price, but the minimum term; Adidas can re-sign the contract after ten years, and Liu Mang will only be 30 by then. The first step is to have a long-term guarantee, which is of great benefit to NBA players who may go bankrupt after retirement, such as Iverson. After retiring until the age of 40, Reebok had to buy him dozens Wan's insurance, so that you won't go bankrupt and starve to death after retiring.

Theoretically, the endorsement contracts offered by the three giants are of similar value. Otherwise, just looking at the unit price, you can choose Nike without hesitation.

Why can Liu Mang analyze it so clearly?

Because Schwartz is really a practical person, there is a detailed analysis next to each quotation.

"Jeff, Uncle Weiss, who do you think we should choose?" Liu Mang asked.

"I prefer Reebok, which is guaranteed." Schwartz decisively chose to be safe, which is the basic preparation for his career, and it is also the reason why he will be fired by Jordan in the future. For future popular brokers, it can only be said that life has its ups and downs. Any choice is the same. There are benefits and risks. It is best to keep the original intention.

Liu Mang felt that this choice was too in line with the impression Schwartz gave him, being pragmatic but not surprising, so he was fired by Jordan, but he has always maintained close cooperation with Love who likes to be pragmatic.

Liu Mang looked at William Wesley.

Sure enough, William Wesley said: "Of course I suggest that you choose Nike, I am a shareholder."

So direct!

Refreshing enough!

According to his impression, Liu Mang remembers that Nike's air-cushioned shoes are always the best-selling basketball shoes. The key is that Nike has many sub-brands, which are very attractive, and Adi was very popular in North America when he signed it. Rose, who surpassed James and Kobe, and the later giant guard Antetokounmpo, have been losing ground in the basketball shoe market.

From the perspective of business thinking, Adidas is still more suitable for making football shoes. The NBA, which is almost a closed league, is too unfriendly to Adidas. Basketball players need much less equipment than football players.

Reebok... Later, because UA's strength squeezed the market, the sneakers could not be sold and were acquired by Adidas, specializing in sports equipment.

Generally speaking, unlike Adidas and Reebok, who want to be the best all-rounder, Nike is more focused on basketball shoes. After all, without Jordan and without basketball, there would be no Nike.

Suddenly, Liu Mang thought of an interesting thing.

"Uncle Weiss, help me tell Nike that it will be 90 million and 1 yuan in seven years, and the first endorsement contract of a newly signed athlete in the next two years cannot be higher than my price." Liu Mang couldn't help laughing as he spoke. .

"Uh... let me ask, it should be fine." William Wesley thought that Liu Mang would raise the price, but he didn't expect it to be accurate to $1, which made him a little at a loss as to what to say.

Nike lost Yao Ming, especially because of the bad public opinion in the Chinese market, so although the price quoted to Liu Mang is already high, it has not yet reached the bottom line.

After choosing the sneaker endorsement, Liu Mang calculated that 7 years later, it will be 2009. According to Moore's Law, information and communication at that time will begin to enter the explosive stage, and media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Weibo will enter at that time. During the peak period of development, the value of the players also began to explode from then on, and then they could sign bigger contracts.

Compared with Liu Mang's personal situation, whether it is Adidas or Reebok, the contract is too long.

After the sneaker endorsement was decided, Liu Mang looked at the name of a soda that made him very curious.

Very Coke?

Such a memorable name! This is a domestic brand, but it suddenly disappeared without knowing when.

Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi gave $6 million for three years, which is quite satisfactory. The highest offer for an NBA player at this stage is the same as Iverson's price.

And the quotation of Very Coke...only 15 million for 3 years...soft girl coins.

Liu Mang didn't believe that the offer was so simple, otherwise Schwartz would not be able to come up with such a different offer, only less than half of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

"Ace, I wanted to refuse this, but look at the back, here..." Schwartz pointed to the last clause.

Liu Mang turned to the last page of Very Coke's endorsement offer.

"In the dividend agreement, Party B can receive a 3% dividend from sales in urban areas and sales in overseas markets."

Liu Mang looked at this clause and found it incredible!

three percent?

Stupid this company!

"Ace, don't think they are stupid. I did some research. Their sales in urban areas in 2001 were less than 200,000 US dollars, and their sales outside the Chinese market were almost zero." William Wesley reminded.

Liu Mang understood, that is to say, very Coke is like...Nike in the 80s? Nothing more than the Nike of the cola market.

He remembers that when he was a child in a small country town, he often saw Coca-Cola, but when he went to the city to go to high school and university, and then returned to the countryside, the brand disappeared.

The three major brands in the sneaker market each have their strengths and weaknesses. It is impossible for Liu Mang to support a brand like Jordan, because there is no market to support him. Even Curry was so irritable later, he did not support UA.

As for the Coke market, Liu Mang thought for a while: "Jeff, Uncle Weiss, do you think I should take a gamble?"

"Why, Ace, do you want to try to bring a brand by yourself?" William Wesley laughed. He was the one who suggested to keep this offer, otherwise Schwartz would have rejected it long ago.

"It's interesting, isn't it? I seem to have just asked for an extra 10 million from Nike. It doesn't matter if you lose money. You can re-elect after three years." Liu Mang thinks that sometimes he can try to gamble, anyway, the money he usually spends That's all.

"Haha, Jeff, you lost, I said, Ace will definitely gamble, and you are responsible for paying for the celebration banquet after signing the contract!" William Wesley laughed.

"Okay! I'll pay the bill!" Schwartz also smiled wryly. He has a steady amount of money and doesn't want to take it. He has to gamble on the almost impossible odds. The markets for very cola are basically rural or small towns, and they are still being announced Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which never increase in price, are not so easy to carry.

"Celebration banquet?" Liu Mang asked curiously, just the three of us, what achievements are we celebrating?

"Ace, you don't think I'm the only one in my company, do you? I'm different from Jeff. My promotion company has dozens of people waiting to eat." William Wesley laughed.

Liu Mang was stunned, and he was right, as if he thought things too simply. As the behind-the-scenes driver who can promote a lifetime contract of 1 billion dollars for James, how could it be possible to fight alone.

Wait, Liu Mang asked contemptuously: "Uncle Weiss, I chose Nike, how much signing fee do you have?"

Schwartz's signing fee was $500,000, which was written clearly, but Liu Mang didn't believe that William Wesley didn't have any money for it!

How could William Wesley expose his income? He joked: "This is a man's secret. When you grow up, Ace, I will show you things that make men happy."

"Go to hell!"

...

...

The endorsement is done, and the Eagles' preseason will start soon.

On October 7th, before the league announced the preseason schedule, several major events were announced! And it is a major event that is directly related to the Eagles!

First of all, the new arena of the Hornets has finally been selected!

Before the Hornets wanted to move, there were three places to be selected, and they all looked forward to waiting for the Hornets to settle down.

One is Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, one is New Orleans, Louisiana, and one is Vancouver, where fans are going crazy after losing the Grizzlies.

Since Vancouver was first vetoed by the owner of the Hornets, it was determined that the Hornets would be followed by the Western Conference team, which did not affect the league's schedule for the Hornets.

In the end, the Hornets chose to settle in New Orleans, the richest city in Louisiana, where the per capita income is as high as $50,000, the highest in Louisiana.

The redivision was announced after the NBA announced where the Hornets would be based.

This does not affect the schedule, the Eastern team is still the Eastern team, the Western team is still the Western team, and there is no change in the Western Division, but there is an extra Hornets in the Southwest Division, mainly because the three major divisions in the East have changed.

In the Atlantic Division, the Nets and Knicks, who were originally very close but were separated into two divisions, finally became teams in the same division. The Atlantic Division became the Celtics, 76ers, Knicks , Nets, Raptors.

The Central Division consists of the Bulls, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, and Bucks.

In the Southeast Division, the Eagles were divided into the Southeast Division, which was assigned to the same division as the Magic, Wizards, and Heat.

This division is to avoid the Celtics' poor record in the early stage last year and staying in the top three. Sending the Nets over is to see that there are two teams in the same division competing for the top three.

The Central Division used to have the Pistons and the Eagles, and the Pacers had a good momentum in the second half of last year. Therefore, the Pistons and the Pacers are regarded as the two teams competing for the top spot in the division. The Eagles were transferred from the Central Division to the Southeast Division. Compete with the Magic for the top spot in the division.

The alliance has always wanted to balance the strength of the six major regions, but it has no choice but to solve the problem from within.

When Liu Mang saw the news, he wondered why he had to play Magic four times this year.

In addition, there is a third major event, the playoffs have been restructured, and the first round has been changed from the 5-game 3-win system that has been criticized to 7-game 4-win system, and the first place in the division will not automatically occupy The top three, of course, the fact that the number one in the division is still the top four in the division has not changed, in order to avoid the fact that there are no playoff teams in such a division.

The new first round made the possibility of black eight further reduced. Liu Mang saw that this new first round system really came out, that is, McGrady's sad reminder that the second round is coming?

Wait, this year's No. 1 in the Eastern Conference might be Xiao Ye!

I'm sorry, Liu Mang said sorry to Brother McGrady in advance...

Update tomorrow at noon and afternoon~