Chapter 471

Finally, the journey before the All-Star Weekend is over, and the Eagles locker room is quite relaxed. After the All-Star Weekend, the Eagles only need to win three games to ensure that the winning percentage will still reach 50% before the end of February, so it is very Relaxed, Kevin Wesley couldn't help singing North African folk songs in the locker room.

The seven-day All-Star Weekend holiday is just around the corner! February 12th and February 13th are two days off before the All-Star Weekend, and then there will be a three-day All-Star Weekend. The two days after the All-Star Weekend are the training days for the Eagles, except for Liu Mang and Raheem. , Ratliff will participate in the All-Star Game, Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Prince, and Boozer will participate in the first two days of small games, and everyone else will rest and take five days off. During this period, Rat Leaf also invited guests, and the team members were very happy.

Except for Liu Mang, he was anxious about how to tell Jordan so that Jordan could accept the starting position he gave up.

Although this guy's personality has improved a lot since he got older, he is still the same as the little blacksmith who is probably studying Liu Mang's video clips in the hotel room again, like a stinky stone blocked in the middle of a ferocious river. It has been polished smoother by the torrent of society, but the stinky and hard pride in the bones will not change.

However, Liu Mang thought too much.

Liu Mang found Jordan in the parking lot after the game, and when he told Jordan face-to-face that he would give him the starting position, Jordan agreed without hesitation.

"Uh...Michael, don't you have the idea of ​​refusing?" Liu Mang couldn't help asking.

"What? Ace, do you regret it? This is not okay. I have already notified my agent and asked him to announce that he will accept the starting position you gave up." Jordan said, don't try to cheat.

"No, I'm just curious. There are so many people who give you the starter." Liu Mang heaved a sigh of relief. This All-Star Weekend is not included in the regular season and playoffs. Playing the starter will inevitably reduce a little ability. Among the All-Stars, even if he triggers the bench gangsters, he is still the weakest group, but it is not bad to be able to help Jordan, even if it is not for the sake of mentorship, it is not for the sake of the star card. .

"Haha, Ace, not everyone is as sincere as you. Some people just say something in front of the media, but you are the only one who told me about this in person, although I don't care who I choose to start , They will not refuse out of face, but who knows what they will think in private? It is difficult to guess the human heart, you are in the best time now, everything you see, everything is beautiful, everything People will accommodate you, because you are the best now, and they need you, but they can’t underestimate anyone.” Jordan shared a little life experience.

Liu Mang seemed to understand but half understood, when did he become the best? But still a little bit, suddenly, a question came to Liu Mang's mind: "By the way, Michael, when did you tell your agent that you accept my starting?"

"Ten seconds later."

"...Is it too late for me to regret it now? I think I can win another All-Star MVP."

"No, I've already dialed the phone."

"..."

...

...

The All-Star Weekend is on holiday!

However, the holidays are not so easy for Liu Mang and most of his teammates, and it is difficult to realize the agreed-upon stay in nightclubs for five consecutive days.

On February 12th, the first day of the All-Star holiday, all the Eagles except for the three All-Stars received notice from the team that they would attend an imperial court event with the Houston Rockets players except Francis and Yao Ming. For the basketball training camp, in just one morning, some rich children from China paid money to come to Atlanta to see the stars.

Of course, stars like Liu Mang, Yao Ming, Raheem, Francis, and Jason Terry, who have official big contract endorsements, cannot participate in commercial contracts other than the sneakers they endorse, so they did not participate.

This year's All-Star Weekend, Liu Mang is not as free as last year, and even the time is squeezed.

Due to the signing of too many endorsement contracts, that concept is no longer there. From the promotion meeting of sneakers, to the very cola American promotion, to the promotion meeting of a well-known thermal underwear brand in China... to the American promotion meeting of a domestic civilian aluminum and iron tool , Liu Mang started at 7:30 a.m., and broke it into 7 parts, and spent almost all of it in the car. Then he went to occupy the station for a few minutes, made a wave of publicity, and left immediately.

Until 11:30 noon, Liu Mang held a domestically produced sledgehammer, the last publicity in the morning, and finally had an hour's rest at noon. Liu Mang also heaved a sigh of relief, and then began to think wildly again.

Domestic aluminum and iron tools are sold well in the United States due to their cheap prices. In order to expand the influence of No Customs, they spent 2 million dollars a year to sign Liu Mang as an image spokesperson.

Holding the sledgehammer in his hand, Liu Mang couldn't help lamenting that Chinese people are really ignorant. For this kind of endorsement, you should find the blacksmith who promoted Adi next door to Nike!

Chinese people just haven't seen the world, and they don't know that the best blacksmith is right next door.

In the afternoon, it was the NBA's official publicity. As the popularity of the host team of this All-Star Weekend, Liu Mang undertook a lot of publicity tasks.

Interviews with Imperial TV, Xinhua News Agency, Time Magazine Asian Edition, NBA official press conferences, photo shoots...

Liu Mang would occasionally meet McGrady, the superstar of Adidas, and occasionally meet an old Jordan who is still promoting Air Jordan. It doesn't look like I'm only in the second grade, and I have to bear the beauty and talent that I shouldn't have at this age... No, it's the responsibility.

At this time, Liu Mang couldn't wait to see James enter the NBA as soon as possible. He came in. The number 23, who is old but not old, is probably the number one.

Now Carter has begun to enter a period of decline in popularity. The main reason is that he has been injured for half a season, and his influence has dropped a lot. Coupled with aesthetic fatigue, everyone thinks that Carter is a dunker. When I was a partner, I played the best data and the best efficiency in my career, and because I lost my invincible explosive power and jumping, I became very eager to win, but since the beginning of the 06-07 season, I have never been selected again The All-Star starter, even if he was the first and only time in his career that year, he attended all 82 games and averaged 25 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

Carter is not a magician, Jordan, Kobe, James, a superstar of the era who has accumulated a lot of popularity. At a certain time, Carter may be the most popular in the league, but more people voted for him and made him the king of votes , Most of them voted for him not because they liked his game, but simply because of his dunks.

Just like most superstars, their popularity has declined over time. Even O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Wade, who once exploded in popularity, missed the All-Star starters in the last few seasons.

This is why Carter is so determined to participate in the slam dunk contest. He discussed with his agent that he must participate in this slam dunk contest.

On the one hand, Carter really wanted to fight Liu Mang, but on the other hand, because of his own endorsement began to lose a lot, the rise of McGrady and Liu Mang, two rising stars in the East, made Carter, who was originally on equal terms with Iverson in terms of popularity The popularity has lost a lot. Although the lean camel is bigger than the horse, Carter is still the absolute candidate for the All-Star starter, but the gap from when he just won the slam dunk champion in the previous two seasons can be clearly seen.

Therefore, even if there is a conflict with the management, Carter will also participate in this dunk contest.

Most people in the outside world look like Carter is making trouble for no reason, influencing the team's plan for the "personal confrontation", but in fact Carter is smart and wants to take this opportunity and take advantage of Liu Mang's current popularity to return to the peak of his popularity .

It even feels like a back-to-back fight. Carter's dunking title has been deeply ingrained in the fans' impressions. It wasn't until he was 30 in the future that people discovered that he was not just a dunking general. But it was too late by then. Now Carter, There is only one way to go to the black.

If he wins this slam dunk duel, Carter will wipe away all the negative news and once again prove that he is the strongest slam dunker. If he loses, the title of the strongest slam dunk king will also be affected.

However, a slow death is not as good as a happy one, and there may be a chance to turn things around.

Moreover, Carter does have enough ability to complete a comeback, because his jumping has not been affected by injuries, and he is still the best dunk at the age of 26.

Now that Nike is not in demand, Liu Mang can only be used to death. The propaganda of China and the United States has fallen on Liu Mang.

Although in the signed contract, the number of publicity for one year is limited, and if there is more, you have to pay an additional notice fee, but Nike is also willing to pay. I can’t stop regretting it. Although the center forward doesn’t sell sneakers, the sportswear worn by Yao Ming sells quite well in the Chinese market, and the knockoff market is even more popular. There are middle-aged uncles everywhere wearing the same sportswear worn by Yao Ming running in the sunset. ...

...

"Jeff, I think our strategy is wrong, we can't sign so many endorsements, I can't take it anymore!"

"Ace, your career is only so long, don't take advantage of this time to make more money..." Schwartz persuaded Liu Mang to endure it, and it passed, a year is only a few days.

Schwartz is really not just for his own commission, his commission is only 5%, and Liu Mang is the one who takes the absolute bulk.

As an agent, I have seen too many examples of making a lot of money during the peak period, and no money after the peak period. Now that Liu Mang's popularity is rising, Schwartz wants to take advantage of this time to let Liu Mang make more money. Of course you can make more money yourself.

"No, no, Jeff, I don't think the money is too much, but some endorsements cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and there is no need to sign. Look at these endorsements, the sum is not as much as Nike's endorsement. You can increase the price. Love to sign? Sign!" Although Liu Mang loves money, he is not a luxury person, enough money is enough, he has no idea of ​​leaving a pile of money in the coffin.

Moreover, the many endorsement fees are too low! Nike's endorsement fee is close to 13 million, while other endorsements add up to more than 8 million.

During the two days of rest, Liu Mang didn't get a chance to rest at all. Instead, it became a two-day nightmare. Liu Mang felt that it was necessary to reduce some endorsements for the next season, which was far less important than quality!

After the last publicity event ended on the afternoon of February 13th, Liu Mang called Schwartz over just to talk about it.

Luckily, except for soda, fast food, and sneakers, which are the three major endorsement fees, Liu Mang’s authorization is to sign a short contract for only one year. After the one-year endorsement ends, he will re-sign, or he will not continue to endorse.

Seeing Liu Mang's firm request to reduce the number of endorsements, Schwartz can't help it. He is just a part-time agent, and it is not those decisions that can affect a player or even affect a team or several teams. The ability of the gold medal broker.

But... Whether it is Liu Mang or Schwartz, they still underestimated Liu Mang's commercial value, next year Liu Mang will continue to cry...

...

...

Finally, the long-awaited All-Star Weekend is here!

On February 14th, this beautiful day, the 2003 Atlanta All-Star Weekend officially kicked off.

This is the first large-scale event held in Atlanta since 1996. The Eagles’ home arena is so advanced because of the 1996 Olympics. Of course, it is limited to this era. The Phillips Arena of the Eagles is the most complete facility in the league. One of the arenas.

Atlanta ushered in another wave of economic upsurge, just like the original 2006 All-Star Weekend in Houston doubled the market value of the Rockets.

Atlanta is the ninth largest city in the United States, and it is famous all over the world. However, there are no super-popular superstars in history, and the market has not been fully developed. This All-Star Weekend, nearly 100,000 Chinese tourists and tens of thousands of tourists from other Asian regions came to Atlanta. Depends on the All-Star Weekend game.

It's a pity that even if Phillips Arena fills up the seats and adds as many seats as possible, there are only 37,000 seats. Many tourists come to Atlanta, and there is no way to watch the game.

However, this is enough. The airlines, travel companies, Atlanta’s tourism industry, and the hotel industry in China and the United States have all exploded. If it really explodes in place, both hotels and homestays are collectively full, and even metropolitan Atlanta The surrounding cities in the circle have ushered in a wave of tourist season.

The commercial value brought by Liu Mang is not only reflected in the live broadcast in China, but the whole city has benefited from it.

This is very similar to James. His decision one not only caused the Cavaliers to suffer losses, but the entire city suffered economic decline because of his departure. That's why so many people burned their jerseys angrily, cursed and even acted aggressively. He returned to the Cavaliers, and immediately the gongs, drums, and firecrackers went off...

The commercial benefits brought by Liu Wei during the All-Star Weekend in Atlanta this time made David Stern almost annoyed by the Rockets owner Alexander. Alexander wanted Houston to hold one instead of the original All-Star Weekend in history. When they settled in Houston, Alexander refused to pay, and the Houston government had to pay. This time Alexander was very active.

David Stern also wants to host the All-Star Weekend in Houston. The mayor of Houston visited him in New York at the beginning of the month, but next year’s All-Star Weekend has been confirmed to be held in Los Angeles. It was confirmed in December, and Denver held in 2005 was already confirmed in December last year.

This kind of thing needs to be prepared in advance, such as funds, transportation, security personnel, tourist reception plan, surrounding commercial preparations, etc., etc., etc., it is not a separate matter for the team and club that hosts it. The team, the league, the city government, Sponsors, hotel industry, commercial streets, etc., this is something that everyone needs to prepare for, and generally it is announced two years in advance.

After all, an All-Star Weekend brings not only the income of several hundred million dollars in the three to five days, but may also bring a wave of tourism later.

...

Liu Mang arrived at the Phillips Arena at noon, and the entire arena changed drastically! People in all kinds of fancy clothes, some people from China, the United States, island countries, Europe and even Africa wear very distinctive clothes, there are more shops selling clothes, shops selling various specialty products...the commercial area of ​​Phillips Arena It's become a trade fair.

Liu Mang's arrival caused quite a commotion. He looked at the crowded crowd and ran away. He was just curious to see, but he didn't expect it would cause a commotion and caused a lot of trouble for the security. The Eagles team press officer took Liu Mang to the interview hall with a black face. The interview for the second grade had already started, and Liu Mang was not only late, but also caused a commotion. The press officer felt that he was going to be scolded again. As for deducting salary, Not really, Liu Mang's love of causing trouble has become an inevitable thing for the Eagles, and everyone knows that they can't control it, so the boss is just looking for an outlet for cursing, and he can't scold Liu Mang.

Just like Jordan almost pissed the general manager to death during the Bulls period, and the general manager didn't dare to scold Jordan, making money is the last word.

Liu Mang was not as crazy as Jordan, he was still a good boy in private, and apologized to the press officer William Kyle with an apologetic face.

William Kyle can't help it, this guy almost scares him to death every time he is interviewed, and then apologizes, which makes people really angry.

At the entrance of the official channel of the interview hall, there are two entrances to the interview hall, one is for the media to enter and exit, and the other is for the interviewed players and staff to enter and exit.

William Kyle emphasized again: "Ace, this All-Star weekend is a very important thing for our team. If you are not interested in this rookie game, don't draw the attention of the media and fans to you, rookie You also know the purpose of the competition, it is to promote newcomers..."

"Yes, yes, William, I know, don't worry!" Liu Mang really has a headache, why does everyone think that his appearance is just to cause trouble? He has always considered himself a good baby.

Don't worry! How could William Kyle rest assured!

When Liu Mang entered the tunnel, he could already see the people being interviewed, but from this angle he could only see the interview booth, not the reporters. Of course, the reporters couldn't see the situation in the tunnel either.

The person who is being interviewed is the person Liu Mang is most interested in coming here today, otherwise he would go directly to the locker room to change clothes, and then find a place to train. Today is not a day for him to be in the limelight. , he didn't intend to come.

The one who is being interviewed is Gilbert Arenas, the second-round pick in the same class as Liu Mang, who started to counterattack this year.

It has been half a season since Arenas played this year, averaging 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and is still on the rise, showing the potential of a superstar. At the age of 21, he has become the most sought after young player in the West .

After reaching the second grade, almost all rookies in the same class can tell who will succeed and who will be eliminated.

Last year, some players in the rookie game reached their second grades and were no longer eligible to enter the rookie game. Chandler, Richard Jefferson, and Arenas, the rising stars, took their places.

The current second-year lineup, Liu Mang, Arenas, Parker, Gasol, Battier, Chandler, Richard Jefferson, Kirilenko, Jason Richardson, the nine Individuals can basically be regarded as the best nine players in the 2001 class and the nine most promising players in the future.

Only then did people realize that the 2001 rookies seemed to be pretty good. These nine players seemed to have All-Star potential.

The most surprising thing is that most of these nine players are not high in the draft. Except for Kirilenko, who is a rookie in the past, except for Gasol, Battier, and Chandler, the remaining half of the players are drafted. The highest pick is Richard Jefferson's thirteenth pick in the first round, that is to say, 2001 is a big year of counterattack!

Players who counterattack always have a stomach full of grievances in their hearts, especially when Arenas participated in the draft, his heart was higher than the sky, but he was selected with the second overall pick in the second round. Now that he counterattacks, his mouth is full I can't control it anymore.

At this time, Liu Mang heard a reporter ask a question: "Arenas, Williams of the Bulls said he will win the rookie game MVP, he is the best player in this game, do you think Williams has Is there a chance to win the rookie game MVP?"

Liu Mang never showed up, so the media had to pick someone else to pick things up. Fortunately, Arenas couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Hearing this question, Arenas, who is aiming to be the MVP of the rookie game this year, immediately fired: "The smuggled No. 2 pick? Has he accomplished what he said? The Bulls have their heads flooded again this year. Every year they will pick some smuggled... ..."

When Arenas said these words, the reporters were naturally very happy, there was another news to break out, and today's game was watched again.

It's just that Arenas didn't see an unhappy look from the side. This person is Tyson Chandler.

Chandler doesn't care what others say about Jay Williams, and even he himself is dissatisfied because Jay Williams received more training in his rookie year than he did in his rookie season, but what Arenas said, not only Jay Williams was belittled, and even Chandler was belittled, because last year, Chandler was also regarded as a parallel import. After adapting to the NBA this year, Chandler showed his potential to defend the gate.

In the All-Star rookie game, people's expectations were lowered a lot because of rumors of Liu Mang's retirement, because even if Liu Mang didn't retire, it would definitely not be too long. Seeing the head coach of the second-year team He is the assistant coach of the Eagles, so he knows that Liu Mang has already won the MVP of the rookie game. The rules are like this, no matter how good Liu Mang plays this time, he cannot win the MVP of the rookie game.

This is also the reason why Liu Mang has no motivation for this rookie competition.

But seeing Arenas' interview, Liu Mang knew that today's game was interesting, and the match between Jay Williams and Arenas was still very interesting!

It's normal for Jay Williams to play poorly against well-known veterans, but if it's a rookie game, it seems to be worth seeing against the young Arenas!

When Liu Reck saw Arenas himself, he was as arrogant and arrogant as the rumors said, so Liu Reck didn't go to the press conference anymore, he had already seen what he wanted to see.

As for the reporters waiting for him to show up?

Unfortunately, Liu Mang released pigeons again.

William Kyle was so sad, but fortunately, Liu Mang went to participate, he was worried, if he didn't participate, he would have to clean up the mess...

Liu Mang came to the locker room of the second grade. He was about to go in and change into the unified jersey and training clothes again this year, when he suddenly stopped at the door.

"It seems that agent No. 0 also uses this locker room..." Liu Mang felt a very special feeling, a sense of Mission: Impossible, as if the door was opened, and a 0 with a pistol would appear inside. Number.

Liu Mang was a little excited, sharing a dressing room with Mr. 0, so exciting!