Basketball UFO

Chapter 61

(Ask for support!)
On June 1997, 6, Charlotte, North Carolina was crowded with many young athletes.

This year's draft will be held in Charlotte, and David Stern is already in place.

Carter did not go to the scene. He declined the invitations of Duncan and McGrady, not wanting to take away the rookie's limelight.Last year, Carter was one of the rookies, and this season, he has become a star in the league.

There's nothing wrong with the San Antonio Spurs' choice, it's still Tim Duncan.

Popovich and David Robinson in the audience were so excited that they grinned behind their ears. They saw a bright future for the Spurs.The nerd is about to start a 19-year glorious journey.

"I'm going to teach Duncan a lesson on the training ground." David Robinson smirked, ready to give the No. [-] pick a good look. He is also the No. [-] pick and brought a good record to the Spurs, only short of the championship.

"Don't make it too ugly." Popovich also smiled, contented, "I will let Duncan feel the atmosphere of the NBA in the summer league."

Duncan did not play well in the summer league, scoring only 14 points and 8 rebounds in the first game.It is worth mentioning that Wenbanyama also seems to pay tribute to Duncan. In his summer league debut, he scored 9 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Of course, even if the summer league was abused, Duncan easily beat David Robinson in the one-on-one contest with David Robinson.Let Popovich quickly order the doors and windows to be closed and the curtains to be drawn tight, otherwise the team boss will be beaten by fat, which is too ugly.

With the second pick, the Philadelphia 76ers also chose an inside player, Keith Van Horn, a player who was hyped by the media to be comparable to Duncan.

With the third pick, the Boston Celtics selected Chauncey Billups.But the Celtics didn't intend to train Billups, and they didn't pay much attention to it. Their minds have been messed up...

Carter didn't pay much attention to the next few players.Seeing the ninth pick, McGrady was successfully picked by the Raptors.

History repeated itself, McGrady became a member of the Raptors, and he was selected in the top ten.Carter secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the results of the draft did not change much.

On the TV, McGrady heard his name, clenched his fists, and waved excitedly, finally getting into the NBA as he wished, "My cousin said I was a top-[-] pick, and it was true. Raptors, here I come."

It is actually not easy for high school students to get a good pick. Currently, the highest pick is Kevin Garnett at No. 5; Kobe is at No. 13, McGrady is at No. 9, and O'Neal is at No. 17.

Of course, before that, there was Moses Malone who graduated from high school and participated in the draft with the fourth overall pick, but he participated in the 1974 ABA draft and did not enter the NBA until 1976.In the future, there will also be high school draft players elected as the No. [-] pick. Kwame Brown was the first, then LeBron James, followed by Dwight Howard, and they all became famous.

Both good and bad reputations are reputations.

Carter turned off the live TV, which was similar to the choice of parallel time and space.It's just that this Nets performed well, making it to the playoffs, naturally there is no option for the seventh pick, and they were traded out early.

After watching the previous live broadcast, Carter couldn't even remember the names of the first few picks. Among the players in this draft, the success rate is not high, and Tim Duncan stands out.

John Nash selected Stephen Jackson with the 40th pick, the most accomplished player in the second round of the 1997 draft. However, he is just an unpolished player now, and it is impossible to perform at his peak.

Carter's idea was just to let him hone his defense, train with him, and use the opportunity to exert some energy on the bench.

After the draft, John Nash began negotiating a contract with Stephen Jackson, preparing to give him a two-year minimum salary contract.

The first-round pick must be given a guaranteed contract, and the lottery show also has strict salary scale regulations. The money received by the No. [-] pick has a gradient.The second-round pick does not have a guaranteed contract, depending on the negotiation between the player and the team.

Most of the second-round picks are ready-to-play. If the team needs it, they will stay. There is no need to lose it for a few years. It is normal to retain the right to sign or give up signing.

"There are still internal lines that need to be strengthened, but Ben Wallace recommended by Vince is only a second-year rookie, without any decent statistics, we need to strengthen more." John Nash discussed with Calipari, "The only The reason should be that Ben Wallace has a good relationship with Vince. His arrival will make Vince happier."

"That's enough, marginal players don't need to spend too much. In addition, Ben Wallace has strong upper body strength. If given time, he will become a good defensive player." Calipari gave an affirmative answer.

Cheap players, you can't ask for much.If it's worth more than your salary, then that's great.

"Other reinforcement players, what options do you have?" John Nash and Calipari have been particularly in tune recently. Both of them want to get better results and grab more right to speak.

Carter recommended Charles Oakley, Oakley didn't come, he recommended Dominique Wilkins, but he didn't come, he recommended Ben Wallace, this one came.

And Stephen Jackson, this one is coming too.

"These two are not handsome guys," Calipari joked, and then said sternly, "As for the reinforcement options, I think the focus should be on marginal players. The main players have basically been finalized. Next season's main partners It will be more tacit, and the results will be better.”

Calipari thought for a while, "How attractive is our team?"

"Basically, people come to us only if others don't want it. It's hard to get good players." John Nash smiled wryly. It's not that he hasn't asked well-known players, and no one wants to come.

If Carter hadn't brought the Nets' attention, no one would have noticed this team at all.And no player would take the initiative to seek refuge.

"Choose a few fringe players who are a little more reliable? We don't think we can set too high a standard for those who have no contracts or whose contracts have expired." Calipari thought, free agents on the market, strong players There are not many, and they will not go to the Nets.Especially inside players, almost every team is not for sale. It is difficult for the Nets to get good stuff.

The most important thing is that the Nets can't give a high annual salary.The management is very smart and announced that Carter is the core. Carter's annual salary standard is almost the maximum salary of the Nets. If the annual salary is too high, it will squeeze out Carter's rookie contract.

Ben Wallace is in Las Vegas.

With Carter, he threw away the chips in his hand and said with excitement on his face, "Vince, my contract with the Bullets expires on July 7st, and I will sign directly with the Nets when the time comes. Hehe..."

Carter gathered the chips in front of him, allocated some to Ben Wallace, and some to Kendall Gill, poor Kendall, already lost.

"It's a good thing. We will fight side by side next season. I've been so poor recently that I won some living expenses on this table." Carter laughed at himself and started a new round. Fortunately, he won tens of thousands of dollars, otherwise he would have won Not enough for summer expenses.

He has had no new expenses in his account recently, and his life is tight.Most of the funds are either in the stock market or in the fund, and a considerable part of it, a full US$1 million, was used to buy a large amount of Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah.

First exchange US dollars into Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah, and put in tens of millions of dollars directly. The repayment will be made in about half a year. The first batch will be repaid in August, and the funds in Indonesian rupiah will be repaid at the end of the year. All repayments will be made in US dollars when due .

The exchange rate difference in the middle is Carter's profit in the next few months.

If exchange rates fluctuate and the U.S. dollar exchanges for more Thai baht and Indonesian rupiahs, Carter could make a small fortune.Carter expects to double his profits.If the funds on hand were not too small, he would still want to invest more funds and make more money if he could.

Carter definitely doesn't know how to make him a full-time trader, but knowing the general trend, it's not a big question to follow the big guy to drink some soup.Don't be too greedy, just run fast.

Well, this year was 1997, and there was already a large amount of hot money in the United States rushing to the Southeast Asian market. At the beginning of the year, Soros' fund had lost 3 million US dollars, but he clearly saw Thailand's hole card.

Carter let the fund company operate and was ready to take a share early on. Now Thailand's economy has fluctuated significantly.Anyway, the Southeast Asian countries will die, and it will seriously affect Japan and South Korea. Only Xiangjiang, with its back to the mainland and the support of the Chinese system, defeated Soros.

He doesn't care about the life and death of Southeast Asian countries.

"Vince, do you really want to live here for a month?" Kendall-Gill looked at Carter, looking forward to the answer.

Life in Las Vegas is really comfortable if you talk about luxury and money.

"Not now, I'll just stay for a few days. I want to travel around the world, including Southeast Asia and East Asia." Carter looked at the dealer, asked for another card, and covered it.I lost this game and had no choice. "After the summer league, I will live here for a month and prepare to gather a few brothers for special training. Do you want to come together?"

This is what Kendall Gill was waiting for, without even thinking about it, "No problem, I will train with you."

He also wants to spell out better statistics next season.

This year, the Bulls played too badly. Not only the Bulls, but also the Eagles made the Nets very uncomfortable. If it weren't for Carter's top performance, the Nets would definitely not be able to beat the Eagles.

Carter will face strong enemies to stimulate himself to become stronger, and Kendall doesn't want to fall behind. Since Carter invites him, he will include room and board for training.Including Rashid, he doesn't want to fall behind, and he also wants to come to eat, drink, and train.

"Have you been repaired too badly by the Bulls?" Big Ben asked meanly.

Carter kept a straight face and didn't want to answer.Kendall Gill cursed, "Fuck it, the Bulls hurt three of our players."

Jason Williams, who was injured, was already crazy. He was actually training with Robert Pike.As expected, I was quite stimulated.

Tony Musenberg is looking for a new contract and has found a better place.

He called Carter and said goodbye to Carter, "Vince, I'm going to Vancouver. The contract they offered is $3 million for three years, and the third year is a player option."

Tony Masenberg has only been to the Nets for less than a season, and he became the first player to leave at the end of the season.

Business alliances, that's all.

Carter was very happy, and Massenberg was willing to call him to prove that he respected Carter very much.Moreover, Massenberg wanted to pay back the money that Carter had lent out before.

"I'm very happy, Tony, that you still want to communicate with me. If there is a bigger contract and better development, I support you to go to Vancouver. Play wherever you play, and personal development is the most important." Carter said He supports his teammates from the bottom of his heart. Even if Rasheed wants to leave now, Carter will not stop him.

"You borrowed my money..."

"Don't worry about it, buddy, you can pay it back whenever you want. If you don't want to pay it back, you can invite me to dinner when I go to Vancouver to play someday. We have fought together, and this is very important."

"No, that's not what I mean. I want to say, borrow first. Now the stock has been rising. By 2000, you said, I will give enough interest."

Carter laughed, not realizing he remembered all the ideas thrown around in 2000.Now technology stocks and Enron stocks have been rising, and after 2000 they collapsed and entered a bear market.

"Man, I think you will earn millions of dollars by then. This is the most important thing. Playing in the NBA, you have to earn some money to support your family. As for the little money I have, you can just watch and deal with it. I don't care about that, really."

These people go to other teams, and it's important to spread Carter's good reputation.The player's reputation is spread by former teammates on the one hand, and hyped by the media on the other.

Just like a well-known star, the players who have worked with him will be interviewed by the media, and their word-of-mouth can prove the player's image.

Carter is willing to buy a good word of mouth for $10.

"Thank you, Vince, you are the most amazing player I have ever seen." Tony Masenberg was very moved.

If the price hadn't been too different, he would have really wanted to stay in the team.The Nets only offered a two-year, 150 million contract, and the second year was a team option. Compared to the Grizzlies' contract, it was really far behind.The Grizzlies' contract amount in the first two years was 190 million, a full US$40 difference.

Ben Wallace's contract last season was only $25.

Carter hung up the phone and looked at Big Ben, "Mr. Tony has reserved a spot for you, but I hope you can compete for more playing time. Defense is your magic weapon. In addition, you'd better try to learn to shoot with your left hand."

"My wrist was injured, so I have been having problems with my shooting posture and I can't be accurate. Wait, you mean the left hand? This... I can try." Ben suddenly realized that his right hand was not accurate in shooting and it was difficult to control his left hand. Give it a try, even if you’re not left-handed, you can still try, right?
"Don't worry, I'll also contact you for non-handed shots." Carter thought for a while.

Jamie has sorted out the technical defects of last season. This offseason, Carter will have targeted training.

A few days later, there was indeed a financial crisis in Southeast Asian countries... The exchange rate of the Thai baht against the US dollar plummeted!
Then came the Indonesian rupiah, the exchange rate fell even more, and the entire country's economy collapsed.

The misery belongs to them, and the contract belongs to the rookie.Duncan and McGrady both signed contracts, and they told Carter about it early.

"Are you going to summer league?" Carter asked McGrady. "If not, train with me."

"No problem, the Raptors have no summer league games." McGrady was very excited, is he finally going to meet his cousin?
The Nets also held a press conference and signed a total of 3 new players.

(End of this chapter)