When pride still matters

Chapter 268 There are many things in this world

The season is over, and the next thing NBA teams have to concentrate on preparing for is the 2005 draft.

This year's draft can be said to be star-studded, and every team can find players that suit themselves in this draft.

The Bucks acquired two future first-round picks from the New York Knicks this year through the previous trade of Michael Redd. One of those first-round picks will cash in this year.

Due to the addition of Reid, the Knicks' strength has been enhanced compared to the same period in the previous life, but the chaotic situation under Thomas remains unchanged. This season, they did not advance but retreated, failing to enter the playoffs. Sent the Bucks the 13th pick in the first round.

Therefore, as soon as the offseason began, the Bucks were busy selecting draft picks.

Yu Fei has been unavailable recently, which has given the Bucks' executives a sense of urgency that time cannot wait.

We have to get things done quickly and don't give Da Fei a chance to come back and remotely control the draft.

In the past, the picks at the end of the first round and the second round were given to Da Fei for fun. This time it is a lottery pick. If you are lucky, you can choose Kobe. If you are unlucky, it will not be more disaster than Kevin Martin.

That's why Da Fei stayed still and let Martin find a place to hang himself.

In just one season, his lifelong reputation was almost ruined by Martin.

So, what is Yu Fei busy with recently?

In fact, he is not busy, but he is preparing to discuss contract renewal with his agent Arne Traim.

Today is the formal negotiation. Since both parties are familiar with each other, it is not expected that a second round of negotiations will be needed.

At the negotiation site, in addition to Yu Fei, Trem also met "Tony" Lawson, Tim Grover, Quint DeMeo and Christian Leitner, as well as an Asia player he had never seen before. Asian face.

"You know Tim." Yu Fei waved his hand and pointed at Leitner, "Chris, you should have seen him, this is Kevin Lin, my new assistant."

Trem nodded, showing little interest in the people around Fei.

"Frye, first of all, I want to congratulate you on your great four years." Tram smiled. "Believe me, from ancient times to the present, no basketball player has had a better four years as a rookie than you."

For Trame, Yu Fei's rise offsets the decline of Darius Miles and Kwame Brown.

In his opinion, this is a superstar who has more development potential than Kobe and Tracy McGrady, and he must closely link himself with each other.

Yu Fei softly complimented: "This would not be possible without your help."

"I didn't do much," Trem said modestly, "I just did some basic work, but there are still many shortcomings."

Okay, enough of the politeness.

Yu Fei gave Demeo a look.

DeMeo took out a document they had prepared and said, "Arn, these are Frye's specific requirements for the next contract."

This is an unusual thing.

Generally speaking, this kind of document is given by the agent, and the players can ask for it if they have any requirements.

Now that Yu Fei took the initiative to give out this document, besides stating his needs, what else did he explain?

His determination is unshakable.

If Trem can't accept these demands, then they can only have dreams in life and be wonderful on their own.

The deeper Trim looked into the document, the colder his heart became.

If he agrees, his agent will have basically no other role besides helping Yu Fei negotiate with the Bucks.

Whether it is commercial agency rights, or rights such as publicity, marketing, itinerary arrangements, etc. that should be the prerogative of agents, will be divided.

Trem took a deep breath and looked at Yu Fei: "Fry, is this your idea?"

Yu Fei replied calmly: "It was my idea."

"Are you dissatisfied with my work?" Trim asked.

Yu Fei said: "As you said, you have done some basic work, and I am very satisfied with this part. But I also agree that you still have many shortcomings."

Very direct and realistic.

There is no human relationship here. Yu Fei once gave all his agency rights to Trilem, but four years have passed and Trilem has no other skills. For an ace agent with many players under his banner, Yu Fei is as great as Yu Fei. Flying, it is impossible for him to provide full-time services wholeheartedly.

In this case, Yu Fei remembered his old relationship and retained Treme's right to negotiate for contract renewal. As for other aspects, he needed someone who was loyal to him and served him wholeheartedly to do it for him.

Trem did not ask Yu Fei what would happen if he disagreed.

He knew very well that any disagreement would mean that the cooperation between the two parties would come to an end.

He has already lost Kobe and cannot lose Yu Fei again.

Even if he can only have the emasculated agency power, he must retain the title of "Fry Yu's agent".

"I accept all the demands above," Trem said. "Do we have any other questions?"

Yu Fei smiled, knowing that Trem would agree.

"Arn, I have a small request."

"Say." Yu Fei glanced at Leitner and said, "Do you know Chris?"

"I sought the opportunity to represent him back then," Traim said. "Unfortunately, it failed."

"Well, that was a long time ago," Lightner said.

"You know, Chris is one of the smartest guys I've ever met, and now that he's retired, but he wants to stay in the pros, I've thought about it a lot, and the best retirement job for him is to be a full-time agent." Yu Fei asked, "You are an expert in this industry. I believe you can help him grow into an excellent agent quickly."

This was just a trivial matter to Trim, so for Yu Fei's sake, he agreed.

"Chris can be my assistant, and I'll teach him some basic things." Tram began to feel like he was digging a hole for himself.

Will Laettner steal his own home like Rob Pelinka did in the future?

Yu Fei didn't notice that Trem was immersed in painful memories, and turned to Leitner and said, "Do it well."

"What if I don't do it right?"

"It's okay if you don't do it well." Yu Fei said with a smile, "You can find a place to bury yourself and don't let me see you again."

Leitner asked humorously: "Isn't there even an epitaph?"

"What epitaph do you want for a complete loser? This is good."

Subsequently, Yu Fei once again signed a four-year agency contract with Teleme.

This time, Trem's mood was bitter.

As usual, he would take his employer to dinner every time he signed a contract, but today, he had no appetite at all and just wanted to know who had taken away his power.

"Who are you going to give those powers of attorney to?"

Yu Fei smiled and looked at DiMeo, "Let me introduce to you, this is the incoming president of 'B-B-F' company, Quentin DiMeo. He will be responsible for the other part of my agency rights."

Dare the love thief is around!

Trem looked at Demeo and said, "You have just entered the industry. If you don't understand anything, you can call me."

"Thank you." Demeo smiled, "Today is a good day, Arne, do you think we should find a restaurant to celebrate properly."

Trem resisted the desire to vomit and forced a smile on his face: "It's time to celebrate."

So they went to a Michelin restaurant for dinner.

After that, Yu Fei returned to Milwaukee to follow up on the team's draft work. Trame needed to find his position under this new agency contract. DiMeo officially took office as the president of B-B-F.

In this year's draft, the Bucks have something to play for, unlike in the past where they could only pick and miss.

They own the Knicks' 13th pick in the first round and their own 26th pick in the first round. As for their second-round pick, they gave it to the Trail Blazers as early as last season.

When Yu Fei returned to the team, the trial training was in full swing.

The Bucks tried out Raymond Felton first, and he looked like a drop-in replacement for top-five prospect Deron Williams in the same class.

But the Bucks don't actually need a point guard that much. It would be a bit of a luxury to use the lottery pick to select a backup point guard.

Martin seems to have been discarded, Ariza needs long-term development, and Sprewell's status is unclear even if he returns next year, and he is one year older. Therefore, the Bucks tend to choose a wing swingman.

There are many wing swingmen in this class, such as North Carolina Eagle Marvin Williams, Tracy McGrady II, Gerald Green, another talented high school student Martell Webster, and Melo’s college roommate Hakeem. Hakim Warrick SF and Danny Granger, a New Mexico State talent who quickly became popular during his senior season.

All of these people have great names, but Green is the only one Yu Fei is familiar with.

But Green's subsequent development is just a mediocre NBA player, and it is really not worthwhile to select him with a lottery pick.

Among the remaining people, only the name Granger seemed to have been heard somewhere.

Therefore, he has no idea in mind as to who to select with this pick.

The Bucks first invited Green to try out. As a result, the genius known as Tracy McGrady II not only disliked the Bucks' low pick, but also rejected another club's offer because other teams "dared" to arrange for him to try out with others. invite.

Marvin Williams, as the top three favorite, also declined the Bucks' trial training.

Of the many would-be lottery wings the Bucks invited, only Hakeem Warwick, Antoine White and Danny Granger accepted the invitation.

Among them, Granger's acceptance of the invitation was the most surprising to the Bucks.

Because Granger is the only powerful wing player in this class who has the size, immediate combat ability, shooting skills and ball-handling ability to basically lock in the top ten picks. If he excels in the trial, it is not impossible to squeeze into the top five.

The Bucks specifically asked him during the interview: "You were ranked among the top ten in many media's mock drafts. What made you accept our trial invitation?"

Granger responded: "I would give up the chance to be drafted in the top 12 picks if I could be Frye Yu's teammate."

Some time ago, Bucks executives always felt that Yu Fei's reputation was not good, and this was the result of the media's efforts to suppress him. But obviously, the voices issued by the fourth estate are only issued by individual people in the name of the world, but they do not represent the whole world.

There are many young people in this world like Danny Granger who regard Frye as their idol.

"Fry will be happy to hear you say that." Carl smiled, "Let's continue."

(End of this chapter)