Basketball: The Chosen Victim

Chapter 73 What's wrong with having more friends (4000+ words big chapter, two in one)

"Wu, I don't think there is any sports brand that is more suitable for you than us. You know, we have developed rapidly in recent years, and the price of our products is also higher than that of Nike and Adidas, which is more in line with your noble temperament. If you enter an independent brand, you will be the next Air Jordan..."

Under Armour's Beauty Marketing Director, Lydia Hearst blinked her Kazilan's big eyes and said.

Wu Di swallowed, unable to stop his heartbeat.

After the fight, his popularity unexpectedly jumped, and the major brands started a new round of quotations.

Like Under Armor, they proposed a new contract for him to create an independent brand.

Independent brand contracts are also called super giant contracts, because this is the treatment that only superstars will have. For example, Kobe has his own Mamba series, Lao Zhan has his own Emperor series, Rose has his own Rose series, etc.

This kind of contract allows him to have an exclusive logo alongside the main brand, and also allows him to have a greater say in the design of sneakers and clothing, which is no different from a sub-brand.

There is such a saying in the brand endorsement, the ordinary endorsement contract is just a part-time job for the brand, the superstar contract, that is, the signature shoe contract, is regarded as the son of the brand, and the super giant contract is the marriage with the brand, which can be regarded as equal to the brand to a certain extent.

It couldn't be more alluring.

But the problem is that the contract price is still $[-] million for five years.

damn...

"There is a bonus in the flying man's contract."

Wu Di looked to the left through the window, which was in the direction of Chicago. When Jordan signed with Nike, the price of the one-year contract was only [-] US dollars, but because of the dividends, the annual income directly exceeds [-] million US dollars.

"My dear, that time is gone forever."

Hurst said with a smile, Jordan's contract does have a dividend clause, [-]% of the annual dividend, and it is a dividend of sales, not a dividend of profit, it is simply the only one!

What athlete wouldn't want a contract like this?
But after all, there are still special circumstances. Nike was only a niche brand at the time, and Jordan's agent was David Falk, a business genius.

"You are so popular now, and the number of Twitter followers is less than [-] million. If you have the blessing of our traffic, you will have already broken through this number!"

Hurst once again sincerely said that now Wu Di's fan growth has encountered a bottleneck, and if he wants to grow again, the only way is to sign a contract as soon as possible.

Wu Di looked at Hearst, the latter is the kind of rare career woman, with a confident smile, capable hairstyle, and determination in his eyes.

Well, the type he never collected.

"To tell you the truth, [-] million US dollars, and more, is the contract price of a superstar. But you haven't finished a season, and now you are injured. Other brands can't offer better terms than us."

Hester pursed his lips and looked at him after speaking.

But Wu Di was still very moved and refused.

As soon as Hurst left, August, the marketing director of Adidas, came.

Wu Di was called to the door of the garage, behind August's big Benz, there was a cart with a cool blue and black super sports car on it!
"Hi, Wu! Look what I brought you, Italian brand, German technology, French factory, light of porridge, Bugatti Veyron!"

August laughed. He turned on the headlights with the key in his hand, and there was even Adidas' iconic three stripes.

This wave of fantasy linkage really stunned Wu Di.

At this time, the Bugatti Veyron is the fastest super sports car in the world. With a [-]-cylinder engine and [-] horsepower, it only takes [-] seconds to accelerate from zero to [-] kilometers per hour, and it only takes [-] seconds to accelerate to [-] kilometers per hour. [-] kilometers per hour, it is an out-and-out super sports car.

The price of a Veyron is more than [-] million US dollars. Although Bugatti does not need to buy the qualification at this time, but if you want to pick up the car, you have to queue up. It takes at least two years from payment to pick up the car.

"Sign the contract, this car is yours!"

August tempted.

Wu Di looked at the contract and shook his head again, it was still [-] million US dollars, and it was still [-] years.

He was a little helpless, and Pierre from Nike also came this morning, bringing all AJ's original shoes as gifts, and said that he could sign AJ.

If he can be signed, he will be AJ's first Asian spokesperson, [-] years earlier than Guo Ailun.

But the price is also [-] million US dollars for [-] years.

Reebok is even more amazing, he found Wu Suhua directly in Huaxia, and expressed that he would provide her with a job...

Simply.

These brand owners seem to have reached some kind of tacit agreement, and each has their own unique tricks, but they just don't raise their prices.

Wu Di refused all of them. He planned to meet his potential manager this Sunday, which is four days later.

That's right, Gilbert has already told him that the manager mentioned last time is already in place, and there will be a charity reception this Sunday, and they will officially meet at that time.

Time passed quickly, and there were two games in the middle, both of which were at home for the Cavaliers, but they both lost.

The first game was against the Bulls. The Cavaliers lost [-]:[-] in the absence of [-] players, setting a record for the largest loss in team history.

Noah, this kid is very aggressive, he actually played all four quarters in this situation, Wu Di must have made a note of this.

Williams' performance was mediocre, scoring [-] points, [-] rebounds and [-] assists.

The second game was against the Wizards. This time everyone except Wu Di returned to the court, but the Cavaliers still lost [-]:[-], allowing the Wizards to take revenge.

Williams performed well this time, scoring [-] points, [-] rebounds and [-] assists.

But the six Wizards in double figures, especially their lone wolf small forward Al Thornton, facing Jamison's defense, broke out and scored [-] points, [-] rebounds and [-] assists.

Jamison's defensive awareness is fine, but when he meets a player like Al Thornton who is in his prime, his physical fitness can't keep up from the second quarter. In addition, the Cavaliers' awareness of supplementary defense is relatively poor. That made El Thornton explode.

This is also the hole that the Cavaliers urgently need to fill now, defense.

And this loophole cannot be filled in a short while.

The pessimistic forecasts of the media also illustrate this point.

Their current actual record is three wins and two losses, with a winning rate of [-]%, ranking fifth in the Eastern Conference.

After the three-game winning streak at the beginning, some media's predictions for the Cavaliers' results have increased, but the highest is only the [-]th in the Eastern Conference. This result will not even make it to the playoffs...

A large part of the reason for such pessimistic predictions is the Cavaliers' defensive problems.

Among the current main players, Gibson, Hickson, Sessions, and Hollins are natural defensive colanders. Davis and Jamison have physical problems, but Woody, Jordan Jr., and Parker's defense is okay.

Although the Cavaliers won three consecutive victories at the beginning, in fact, the Raptors and Bucks they defeated were teams that could not even buy playoff tickets.

Although the Nuggets have hope of entering the playoffs, the huge difference in winning percentage between home and away shows that their true level is not as good as it appears on paper.

That's why there is the media's prediction of No. [-] in the East.

Wu Di is also anxious, their goal is at least sixth in the Eastern Conference, but there is really not much time left for them to improve.

The improvement of the overall defense awareness is in charge of Scott.

As the level of one-on-one defense has improved, Wu Di is going to use himself as a spear to fight one-on-one, and then the trainer will observe and analyze by the side, and then improve in a targeted manner.

This is also why Wu Di had to bear the fines for his teammates before, because there would be no shortage of excuses to single out.

Therefore, it is necessary to let his wrist recover as soon as possible...

In fact, Wu Di also sprained his ankle when he was in college. Although the system does not have the holy medicine for healing, the recovery essence can speed up the recovery.

[-] drop of recovery essence can probably support the natural recovery effect for [-] day, and the recovery essence can be used up to [-] drops a day, plus natural recovery, [-] day can support up to [-] days.

If it can be used without restriction, he can recover within [-] days at the earliest.

But now 100 drop of recovery essence costs [-] million US dollars, which is too expensive...

In other words, he is still a little poor, and the speed of making money is not fast enough.

In the two-legged strategy, the first leg increases the team's chances of winning, from the bottom [-] to the [-]th, but it is not enough. It is necessary to strengthen the defense and use Williams as a bargaining chip in exchange for combat power.

The second leg got a large endorsement contract, and the price of his mainline endorsement contract rose to the order of [-] million and he encountered a bottleneck, so he needed to find an agent as soon as possible...

……

At 1 o'clock in the evening on November 5th, Wu Di took the invitation letter sent by Gilbert to the magnificent Cleveland Museum of Art to attend the charity reception.

There is a saying on the Internet that the current urban population of Cleveland is only more than 100, but in the first half of the last century, the population was once close to [-] million. It is said that Cleveland has declined severely.

But in fact, there is a misunderstanding. In the second half of the last century in the United States, with the great popularity of cars, there was a wave of suburbanization. Citizens moved from the crowded apartments in the urban area to the loose Dabieye in the suburbs.

Therefore, it is more accurate to use the concept of metropolitan area to count the population of an area. In 200, the population of the Cleveland metropolitan area exceeded [-] million, which is actually an increase compared with the last century.

However, Cleveland's industrial transformation is indeed a fact. Cleveland, a city that made its fortune through industry in the last century, has produced a number of industrial giants such as Standard Oil, Goodyear Rubber, and Republic Steel. field.

The transformation was fairly successful, as Gilbert is a leader in the financial sector. In terms of medical care, Cleveland has the second top medical center in the United States. In terms of insurance, there are also several giant insurance companies.

Although these industries generally have higher wages, the number of employed people they can absorb is far less than that of the industry, which has caused the unemployment rate to rise. In order to retain more industrial enterprises, the state government chose to provide them with huge subsidies, which also led to the state government deficit. Seriously, there is no way to invest in infrastructure maintenance, which makes Cleveland look a little bit decayed.

Having said that, Cleveland has been home to so many famous big companies and rich people, and there are still some things that have settled down.

For example, the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is one of the most important large art institutions in the United States, houses a series of works by famous artists such as Gauguin, Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso.

The Cleveland Museum of Art's charity reception is held once a year. This year's theme is modern art. The works of some modern artists will be auctioned at the reception. The rich and famous will bid and the auctioned works will be donated to the museum collection.

The title is a charity reception, but it is actually a high-end social occasion, just like various forums in China.

The reception adopts an invitation system, which people are invited to participate, which works are invited to be auctioned and then entered into the museum for tourists to admire, which contains countless ways.

More money means more money, and the Cavaliers players have also talked in private, organizing and hosting this kind of reception, with a bottom line of at least [-] million U.S. dollars, without the auction fee.

One night, drinking a few glasses of wine, chatting and looking at artworks, [-] million US dollars was burned, and ten Porsche [-]s were lost, but the rich were lining up to fight for the right to undertake.

Because hosting this kind of reception can greatly demonstrate their social status and wealth level in the local area.

It can be expected that all the local celebrities present, even American celebrities, dressed up in the name of charity, and walked through the ceremonial red carpet under the constantly shining spotlights of media reporters...

The organizers have a lot of face, and the participants are also very honored.

After entering, once the door is closed, everyone is a decent person, and they can only scratch the G-spot by filling each other's cups.

Although team owner Gilbert got the right to host this year, there are not many actual invitations to the Cavaliers.

Only Grant, Scott, Wu Di, Jamison, and Williams were five people. Even Jordan and Gibson, who have performed well recently, were not invited.

Grant and Scott are the team's management, and Jamison and Williams are both All-Star players.

Wu Di has not been selected for the All-Star yet, but he was invited as an "artist".

Because one of his "artworks" will enter the auction process later, that is the Cavaliers jersey worn when he broke Chamberlain's record in his first game of his career.

Yes, thanks to the influence of caterer Gilbert, he too is an artist.

Wu Di came to the scene in a Turbo S, why didn't he drive a more cool Lamborghini Batman, because five people can't fit.

Five old men carpooling?
What a joke!
Wu Di came with four golden flowers.

Of course you can bring female companions to the reception, but you can bring four at once...

Is this a problem?

Wu Di asked Gilbert for advice in advance, and the latter said that there was nothing wrong with him. He was single and young, so why did he have more friends?

Having more friends just shows our charm.

That's a good thing, the high-end dresses Wu Di bought for them just happened to be used.

So Enya drove the car, Wu Di sat in the middle of the back seat, and came here surrounded by aromas all the way.

Originally, Wu Di didn't want to be so high-profile, he originally planned to only bring Ariana to participate.

However, Arina said that doing so would be considered as a couple, and the relationship developed from the office relationship may be detrimental to Wu Di's reputation.

Bringing four beauties to appear at the same time is a playboy with infinite charm, but bringing one beauty is a problem star who is unclear about his work and life...

This logic is similar to "Under the age of [-] cannot drink alcohol, but can smoke marijuana".

Just like the irony in "The Simpsons", half of the immigrant ship named "Mayflower" were Puritans who advocated abstinence, and the other half were criminals.

Well, I'm sorry for such a population formula without some schizophrenia!

The moonlight blue Cayenne Turbo S stopped firmly in front of the red carpet. Wu Di got out of the car first, stretched out his uninjured right hand, and helped the four golden flowers out of the car like a knight.

Let’s talk about it, let’s talk about it, don’t make fun of our [-]-meter arms, Aniston and Zivia on the left, Miranda and Enya on the right, are just right.

For a moment, flashes of light illuminated the front of the Cleveland Museum of Art like daylight.

Wu Di smiled and looked forward. In the center of the red carpet was the work of sculptor Auguste Rodin, the destroyed sculpture of "The Thinker".

(End of this chapter)