When pride still matters

Chapter 34 The Chosen One
Yu Fei indirectly announced that he would give up his college qualifications and directly sign up for this year's NBA draft by publicly recruiting agents.

Quint DiMeo thinks this move is too low-key. With Yu Fei's local momentum, he can invite the Washington state media to attend his press conference with great fanfare, and then announce it like Kobe Bryant did back then. The decision to enter the draft.

Looking back at what Kobe did back then, Yu Fei thought it was reckless and frivolous. Kobe wore sunglasses frivolously in front of dozens of media, and then announced that he was going to bring his talent to the NBA.

In the eyes of people at the time, Kobe was too high-profile and flamboyant, and his actions brought him a lot of negative comments.

This was actually a forced move. After all, from the perspective of the time, Kobe did not have the super talent visible to the naked eye like Kevin Garnett.This is one of Kobe's ways of hyping himself, and it is precisely because he has brought himself into the attention of more and more people through this kind of hype.

Now, the NBA has no doubt about the success rate of high school players, and Yu Fei no longer needs to hype himself like Kobe did.

Moreover, he was only the fifth player in the nation in the 2001 class. Three of the four players ahead of him decided to sign up for the draft, and none of them did what Kobe did.

It was wise, Yu Fei did the same thing.

Compared with creating gimmicks, choosing a reliable agent is the most important thing at the moment.

There were many agents interested in Fei, but there was only one who really got into Yu Fei's heart, and that was the candidate recommended by Sonny Vaccaro - Arn Herschel Tellem.

Tram is 47 years old. He is a Jew from Philadelphia. He was originally a lawyer until he switched careers as an agent in the early 80s. His earliest clients were baseball players. Until 1996, he became a lawyer named Kobe Bryant. Agent for Leante's high school basketball player.

Kobe successfully expanded Trame's business scope into the basketball circle, and, through Kobe's example, his choice of clients also tends to be young players who are ready to enter the league - high school students are the best.

Treme was out of control, and in the eyes of those who wanted to go directly to the NBA from high school, he was an angel.

Tracy McGrady in 1997;

Darius Miles in 2000;

As well as this year's Kwame Brown, Eddie Curry, and Tyson Chandler, they are all under his banner.

In addition, Tralem is not like David Falk, Dan Fagan and other vampire agents who are hated by NBA executives. He has a good reputation in the professional basketball circle and is known for his aboveboard and empathy. .

Yu Fei thinks this is relatively rare. He doesn't need an agent like Falke who dares to criticize NBA teams in a specific era, because the NBA will become more and more professional, and the size of the contract a player should sign will not matter. It depends on the individual's strength and demands; he doesn't need a genius agent like Fagan who instigates players to sign yin-yang contracts with the team, and arranges for players to compete with chairs during trials.

Yu Fei's concern about Trem is that he already has too many players who will be selected in the 2001 draft.

"When I encounter a problem, can you show up immediately?" Yu Fei asked.

Trem gave Yu Fei a sunny smile: "Anything within the scope of my business, if you encounter a problem one second, my call will be to the team's office the next second."

Yu Fei then asked: "What if it is outside the scope of business?"

"If you suddenly want to kill everyone in the locker room, I'm not going to buy you a gun," Trem joked.

Yu Fei smiled, Trem gave him a very reliable feeling.

To be honest, he didn't know if this person was the most suitable candidate. The biggest difference between him and other time-travelers was that he lacked sufficient qualifications. How about a young man who was in his prime in his previous life and traveled to another 17-year-old who was not much different from himself? For a young boy who is [-] years old, will his past life experience be of any help to him?He has not even left society.

Yu Fei considers several points, including personality, qualifications, professional opinions, player evaluations and impressions after meeting.

Trem has a good personality, senior qualifications, and is highly recommended by big names in the industry like Vaccaro. Clients including Kobe and Tracy McGrady all said he was good. After meeting Yu Fei, he also felt that this person was very reliable. In addition, he has a long-term As an agent for high school players, as the next high school player to land in the NBA, Yu Fei believes that he cannot find a more suitable candidate than Tram.

That night, Yu Fei took Trime to meet Yu Fenglin.

Yu Fenglin's sense of Trime was surprisingly consistent with Yu Fei's.

At this point, there is no doubt about the matter.

Two days later, Yu Fei began negotiating an agency contract with Traim.

Yu Fei, who had never experienced such a thing in his previous life, was confused by all the professional terms. It took him a long time to understand all the terms.After more than half a day of negotiation, the agency contract between Yu Fei and Treme was finalized as follows.

This is a four-year contract. Trilem will receive 4% of Yu Fei’s future rookie contract as commission, but Yu Fei also needs to give Trilem 6% of the income from his rookie contract for the offseason. Travel expenses, attorney fees in case of litigation, and promotional expenses for commercial activities.Yu Fei can choose not to give the money, but if not, he will have to handle these matters by himself.

All rookies will give this amount of money, and Yu Fei is no exception. Moreover, the commission rate charged by Treme is already very low. The average agent will take 10% of the contract income as commission, but he only needs 4%, which is simply a conscience. Yu Fei agreed to the matter without any worries.

Then there is the issue of agency qualification authorization, which means whether the agent has the authority to sign commercial endorsement agreements or negotiate contracts on behalf of athletes. Yu Fei first gave full authority to negotiate player contracts to Teleme, and then granted the negotiation rights for commercial endorsements to Teleme. Mu.

There are countless rules and regulations in the contract.

Yu Fei and Treme started negotiating the contract during lunch time. When both parties reached an agreement and completed the signing, it was already dinner time.

"To celebrate the signing, I'm treating you tonight." Trem smiled. "Let's commemorate this day with the best steak."

At this time, Quint DeMeo on the side joked: "Arn, it's time to get to know your customers better. Fulai prefers the Pork Chop Fairy's pork chop rice to steak."

The news that Yu Fei signed with his agent was quickly reported to the media, and the college coaches who were looking forward to recruiting him during the summer vacation were discouraged and gave up their attention to him.

Then, the media and city radio in Kent City began to promote Yu Fei with great fanfare.

Yu Fei will be the first NBA player from Kent City, and he is the pride of Kent people.

Seattle shamelessly gave Yu Fei the title "Son of Seattle", which is senseless and even more despicable to Kentish people.

But just like James always says "I'm a little boy from Akron", Cleveland is Cleveland, Akron is Akron, similarly, Seattle is Seattle, Kent is Kent, although these cities They are geographically very close to each other, but their boundaries are clear.

In late April, just before the NBA playoffs started, Yu Fei went to Seattle to shoot a promotional video for Adidas.

As a result, the name "Son of Seattle" became even more famous. After all, Yu Fei never had the opportunity to help Kent shoot a promotional video.

After the planned filming in Seattle ended, the hype for Fly began to escalate in Washington state.

Yu Fei's name gradually entered the offices of NBA teams, but the explosive hype that truly made him an unquestionable top-fifteen pick in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft came from "Sports Illustrated" on April 4. The latest issue of the magazine features a feature article, a long article written by Gary Smith, the most famous chief writer of Illustrated Magazine——

2001/4/30

The Chosen One

Quote: Frye Yu believed he was God's chosen man, but, in the eyes of those who worshiped him, his destiny was not only to become the greatest basketball player in Washington State, but to change the world.Will the pressure of celebrity crush him?

".A few months ago, when Frye's dominant performance helped Kent Meridian High School win its first state championship in franchise history, he had a charisma that transcended geography and Seattle fell madly in love with. This young man.

That was an extraordinary night.There is a salad, a piece of bread, a piece of steak, half a potato, a piece of cake, clinking forks on the table, a man is telling a joke on the stage, and the room is full of mixed conversations.Then a fat man with messy hair stood up.His voice shook, tears welled up, his throat choked as he swallowed sobs, and everything ordinary was banished.

"Forgive me...but I get so emotional when I talk about Frye...my heart...is filled with so much...joy...when I realize...that this young man...will be able... Helping so many people...he will transcend this game...and bring to the world...unprecedented heroism...the world will be a better place for his presence...and his presence...I only acknowledge one of them A small part of it...because I know God Himself chose me and KM...to raise this young man...and make him useful to people...this is our treasure...please accept it...and be wise Make good use of it...thank you."

Blinking back tears, the man found himself surrounded by the respect of his students and the applause of their parents, all of whom rose to their feet.No principal in the history of Washington State would speak of a student in this way.Most principals leave before their students enter the field, or remain silent, and few students are praised in this way, because no one wants their students to wander and get lost in the sad and ridiculous wilderness of premature celebrity.

When the party was over and everyone was leaving, a well-groomed Latina woman in her 50s—the kind we see at every country club—walked up to them and said, "Fry , when I watch you compete against other players, I feel like I'm watching my son."

In that moment we can feel the vibration of the cosmic compass, as a human being looks into the eyes of a human being of another color and sees his own blood kin.

Fry So 'that guy'?Does he have a chance to change the status quo of Asian Americans withering away in professional sports?Only time will tell, but my answer is the same as the people of Kent, the same as the people of Seattle, and the same as the people of Washington State.

He is the "Chosen One."

(End of this chapter)