The Road to Stardom: Start as a Slam Dunk Master.

Chapter 339 Sweeping the Trail Blazers 4:0

Of course, it is impossible to listen to the boss. No one is here, so just listen.

The only result of Schultz's call was to make Bob, who had just arrived, and even McMillan, Payton and others feel a little chilled.

Except for Lin Dong, this matter cannot be told to other rookie players. Otherwise, the Sonics have already made a rumor that they are worried about the bankruptcy of their boss, fearing that it will shake the morale of the Sonics at this critical juncture of the playoffs. .

Schultz is the only team owner to do this.

Starbucks in this era was not yet a behemoth with a market value of hundreds of billions and more than 92 stores worldwide. Although it had been listed as early as 02, by 30, its market value was only about US$19 billion. Schultz His personal worth is billion, but in fact, except for the SuperSonics team, his other assets are almost all Starbucks shares that cannot be sold, so in fact he has little money, and he is probably the poorest among the NBA owners. He is often teased for selling coffee.

Now his blind expansion in the Dragon Kingdom has put him in trouble with capital turnover. Everyone expresses sympathy and understanding, but if you want to kill the goose and lay off the eggs just to sell some tickets, it is a bit intolerable.

Win at home? That means everyone needs three days less rest. How important is three days of rest in the exciting life-and-death playoffs? How important is it to boost the morale of the team with four consecutive wins? Is that comparable to 4:4?

So he simply ignored it, not even mentioning it internally, and just prepared for war with all his strength.

G3.

The Trail Blazers returned home and played their best game since the playoffs.

To deal with this kind of situation, either you don't care about him, but if you want to care about him, you must completely crush him, otherwise it will be a waste of troops, so Wallace, the real core of the Trail Blazers, is deployed to defend Sakuragi Hanamichi alone. The finishing touch of Dunleavy's tactics.

This also allows Trail Blazers fans to see a slim hope that the home team can come back, but it's a pity...

After all, he was the second-in-command of the Bulls dynasty and a historical small forward in the NBA. His voice at the press conference was undoubtedly like a bombshell, igniting the gossipy souls of the reporters at the scene.

There are really too many mysteries in the life of Mr. Pi Er and No. 23, and before the feud between the old No. 23 is over, the new No. 23 is here again.

The rebounding gap was 14 points, and the inside scoring gap was a full 28 points. The Blazers' strategy of focusing on the inside also improved the Blazers' shooting percentage.

At 124:98, the SuperSonics once again ushered in a hearty victory, sweeping the Trail Blazers 4:0 and taking the lead in advancing to the Western Conference semifinals.

The Blazers, who had thoroughly adapted to the Supersonic rhythm, resolutely implemented Dunleavy's various targeted tactics.

Dunleavy also understood that the real soul of the SuperSonics insider is not Chandler, who is taller and stronger. That guy is quite satisfactory in terms of physical fitness, talent and skills, and he can be used. However, his too regular style also makes him in the old age. There are actually loopholes in front of the player, and Randolph can still suppress him, and even if he can't completely suppress him, the guy can't actually do anything.

There is no way, as a reporter, I am too sensitive to hot topics.

He was regarded as the most overrated player in history because of his No. 23, and now he is forced to retire because of his No. 23. There is no destiny in between, let alone the gossip lovers in the United States. The audience, I'm afraid even Pippen himself doesn't believe it.

Although they still fell to the SuperSonics' powerful outside firepower in the end, the score of 112:108, at least on the scene, was not a loss.

Being targeted by Roaring God, who is a whole rank higher than him and has more tricks than him, Sakuragi's heroic performance in the first two games faded a lot, which made the Sonics lose miserably in the inside of G3.

The Blazers made slight adjustments to their strategy in the last game. Although they still focused on attacking the inside, with Wallace suppressing Sakuragi Hanamichi as the main tactical starting point, they put some energy into limiting the SuperSonics' outside lines. This time The result of distraction is complete internal and external loss.

So one sharp question after another flooded into poor Pippen at the scene.

G4.

Trail Blazers fans were very hurt, and Pippen was even more hurt. He announced his decision to retire directly at the post-game press conference.

If Pippen couldn't beat Lin Dong, he would try not to attack, or look for opportunities to cut through, and then save all his energy on Lin Dong's personal defense.

Randolph and Rasheed Wallace switched positions. Randolph went to the basket to play center against Chandler, and Wallace moved to the edge of the paint area to play power forward.

The Trail Blazers do not have the ability to limit the SuperSonics' outside perimeter. In addition, the 37-year-old Pippen has failed in the first three consecutive games. The double blow to his body and mind has already made his fuel tank bottom out and his fighting spirit gone. Without Pippen's defense, , the Blazers' defense plummeted.

The real trouble is the Japanese red-haired kid. Not only does he make a lot of small moves, but he also has a very keen sense of rebounds and is very resilient. He often makes some unexpected moves. In the first two games, the Sonics were able to not lose too much in the paint. It's all because that Japanese guy 'stole' it.

——As No. 23, do you think Lin Dong now has a chance to surpass your old teammate Jordan?
——You have been a teammate of No. 23 Jordan and an opponent of No. 23 Lin Dong. Their scoring abilities seem to be very similar. So in your opinion, whose breakthrough do you think is more difficult to defend?
——You have been involved in the public opinion controversy of No. 23 all your life. You were once called the most overrated player because of No. 23, and now you have to retire because of No. 23. What do you think of the number 23? If you bought a lottery ticket, would you choose the number 23?

——You seem to have been the foil of No. 23 all your life. Have you ever felt jealous or resentful about this in your heart?
No. 23, No. 23, No. 23...

Pippen feels like throwing up now when he hears this number.

The various rude questions these reporters racked their brains with were just to stimulate him. He, Pippen, was the backdrop for No. 23, and he would never be able to get past No. 23 in his life. Mr. Pi Er was angry.

Don’t you just want to hear yourself say something shocking? Is it necessary to be so exciting?

"If I were still on the court, I might have better answers to these questions, but now that I'm retired, I think I no longer need to use basketball to answer some boring questions."

"And when everyone looks outside the court, everyone in the United States knows...I am bigger than two No. 2s!" Pippen smiled lightly and said calmly: "My life is already perfect. I'm very satisfied with this, and I can't say I'm jealous of anyone. After I retire, I will have a happy new life. Maybe I will be a football commentator, maybe a coach, and do a lighter job. My wife has been waiting for me at home for a long time. I will I will spend the rest of my life with her, and I will never have to interact with No. 23 again, and I will no longer have these boring questions from everyone, thank you!”

The reporters were stunned. Pippen was born in 65, and Lin Dong was born in 84. He said that it was no problem that he was older than Lin Dong, but Jordan was born in 64. How could he say that he was older than Jordan?

But after all, this is a group of reporters with amazing memories. After a moment of association, they can think of the origin of Pippen's words.

That was because of the relationship between Pippen and Madonna. It is said that every time the Bulls went to New York to play, Madonna would drive a luxury car equipped with an electric Jacuzzi to pick up Pippen. Jordan was very jealous of this and once recommended himself to Madonna, saying I am better than Pippen in everything, but Madonna replied, "He is older than you"...

This news caused a sensation back then, and the exact location of this 'big' is a matter of opinion.

This was the only time Pippen won against No. 23 in his life, and he won cleanly.

At least on the issue of women, I didn’t lose! And never lose!
Anyway, everyone has long known that Pippen was romantic. His popularity with women was indeed much better than Jordan's at that time. Reporters understood it instantly after hearing it, but Pippen was provoked and said this in public, It's obviously still breaking news.

It can bring another wave of heat...

Pippen's shocking remarks, coupled with the news of his retirement, took away a lot of the limelight from the Sonics' sweep of the Trail Blazers.

Lin Dong couldn't help but smile when he heard about this, and he was somewhat touched.

His arrival has already changed the trajectory of Pippen's life. He was originally supposed to play for one more season and then retire after returning to the Bulls.

However, when it comes to changes, LeBron has already changed because of his arrival.

So it’s just a small emotion, being beaten to the point of retiring early?
Pippen was the first, but he definitely won't be the last.

Although the team did not follow Schulz's instructions to deliberately lose a game, Schulz was not stupid after all and would not blame the team for this kind of thing. He just let his finances come to the team to plunder again. , the ticket revenue from the two semi-finals scheduled for April 4th and 26th will be taken away.

Compared with the previous first round, the semifinal match against the Lakers is obviously more interesting, and compared with the first round tickets, the tickets for the semifinals are naturally more expensive. The two games actually earned a full 1100 million in ticket revenue. , plus the more than 800 million from the previous round, Schultz directly took away 1500 million. If Bob hadn't used various reasons to block it, and now it would take a lot of money to apply to the Seattle Department of Finance for the arena expansion plan. Money, I'm afraid he won't even keep the 400 million for the team.

Frankly speaking, even Bob was really a little panicked now.

It stands to reason that even if Schultz invests in 150 stores in Longguo and loses money and closes down, with his family background and the background of Starbucks, he will not be out of money to deal with it. I feel that things are definitely not that simple.

And now he comes to collect tickets for one game after selling them. Although he is the owner of the team and does not need to explain how to manage the account, you still have to consider the basic operation of the team next year.

So many people have to pay their salaries, and money is needed for all kinds of maintenance in such a big arena. You have exhausted all your money, will the SuperSonics still be able to play next season?

But he really didn't understand the situation in Long Country. After Yang Dong heard about it, he asked friends in China to help inquire about it, and then he found out what kind of trouble Schulz was in.

It turns out that for all the stores Schultz invested in Longguo, he actually didn’t spend a penny...

This guy found the heads of several leading industries in Longguo and made a gambling agreement to attract investment. He signed a gambling agreement involving about 10 billion US dollars, which was invested by Longguo's investors. Starting from the opening of 150 Starbucks stores , until Starbucks is listed in Xiangjiang, it will be a complete cycle, limited to two years.

For the Dragon Kingdom in another world, it was not until 03 that the first gambling agreement initiated by overseas investment companies such as Mengniu Group and Morgan Stanley was established. In 02... the Dragon Kingdom had no commercial counterparties. Gambling precedent.

Schultz thought he could use this hand to play with the Dragon Kingdom people, and use the empty-glove White Wolf to the fullest. After all, the Dragon Kingdom people had never played this before.

But he never thought that the people from the Dragon Kingdom were the best at playing with rules and studying loopholes in the world. His gambling agreement seemed mature, but in the territory of the Dragon Kingdom, he was not allowed to decide whether it was fair or unfair. ?
Schultz has actually come back to his senses now. Whether there is an accident at the construction site or the bottleneck of various units, it is difficult to say that it has nothing to do with the employer. They have no intention of waiting for you to go public in Xiangjiang. , just for the $10 billion you bet against!
Schultz is now in a difficult situation.

His current total net worth is only 19 billion U.S. dollars, but of that 15 billion is Starbucks stock. If he really wants to sell a large amount of money in exchange for money, he will probably not be able to cash out even half of it. By then, the Starbucks stock market will plummet, and his net worth will be huge. The range is reduced, and the one billion US dollars bet is lost... The business empire that has been worked so hard for the past half of his life will become pauper in minutes!

Schulz was also helpless. He already regretted it to death.

He couldn't lose this battle, so he had to keep pouring money into it from his own pocket, making money at the expense of the district, until it passed the certification of the China Banking Regulatory Commission and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It would be over on the day when Xiangjiang was listed.

And now it is estimated that if he does not sell stocks and the team, even if all his properties are sold, there will still be a funding gap of at least 3 to 5 million. It is no wonder that he even has more than million tickets for the team. Searched desperately.

(End of this chapter)