In the restaurant of Xinghai Hotel, a giant figure attracted the attention of many guests. A young man sitting by the window and a foreigner next to him stood up with a smile, and shook hands with the giant and a middle-aged man next to him.
"Yang Dongxu?" Zhang Lang looked at Yang Dongxu uncertainly and wanted to make sure.
"If there is no second person with this name here, I think it would be me." Yang Dongxu smiled and made a gesture to sit down.
To be honest, standing next to Yao Ming is too oppressive. He has grown a lot and is 186cm tall because of his nutrition as a child.
You can be in front of Yao Ming who is 2.26, like the cutest height difference in many shots. You have to hold your head high when smiling at Dayao, so as not to be seen by the other person.
"I'm sorry, you are really..." Zhang Lang smiled apologetically and looked up and down at Yang Dongxu curiously.
To be honest, it is not a secret that the owner of the American 76ers is Chinese. After all, as an official of the Basketball Association, he has done a good job in his job, and he naturally has a lot of understanding of the NBA, the temple of global basketball.
Even now, the Basketball Association or the General Administration of Sports has made a voice for Chinese athletes to go global and wants to expand the influence of Chinese athletes in the world. Basketball and football are the focus of the General Administration of Sports.
As an official of the Basketball Association, you naturally need to pay attention to the NBA and be always ready to see if you can send a good prospect to it. Even if you are not selected, training with him is still an improvement.
So when someone from the General Administration of Sports came over and asked him to send Yao Ming to the NBA draft, his first reaction was disbelief. His second reaction was, are you kidding me? Third, when you are sure that the other party's identity is true, you can't help but feel ecstatic.
But everything just ended, and when his superiors asked him to bring Yao Ming to see his real master, what he saw was Yang Dongxu, a young man. It seemed that he was not much older than the 20-year-old Yao Ming, right? Is this the boss behind the 76ers?
Are you kidding me? That is the favorite team to win the championship this year.
"Haha, I understand. But although young people sometimes lack experience, we are also more motivated, right?" Yang Dongxu said with a smile.
In fact, it was not just Zhang Lang's reaction. When he was preparing to invest in domestic sports, many people from the General Administration of Sports were also surprised when they saw him.
Let alone a cockroach, whoever knew that the boss behind the 76ers was a Chinese would have been surprised, not to mention that this Chinese was still so young, just like a college student.
"Yes, young people will be more energetic." Zhang Lang's face was still a little stiff. For a moment, facing Yang Dongxu, who was too young but spoke with the maturity of an older generation, he didn't know how to speak.
"Have you brought the information?" Yang Dongxu started the topic.
"Bring it here, everything you asked to prepare is here." Zhang Lang took out a file bag.
Yao Ming is not an American and is a foreign international player. He has never played in an American high school, let alone an American university. Therefore, the first thing he has to do to participate in the draft is to submit his personal information to NBA headquarters before April this year, and then obtain the other party's permission before he can participate in draft trials.
Yang Dongxu took the file bag and handed it to the intermediary whom Coulson introduced to him. The other party took the file bag, opened it and checked it carefully. Because he was applying to NBA headquarters, the information was all in English. After checking, he clicked Nodding to make sure there is nothing wrong with the information.
Then Yang Dongxu waved his hand and the white man got up and left. He came here just to get Yao Ming's information and then return to the United States to hand it over to the NBA in person to ensure that Yao Ming can participate in this year's draft.
For this reason, Yang Dongxu paid an agency fee of US$200,000 to ensure that nothing went wrong. Of course, the job of the intermediary is to submit the information and obtain the application form for the NBA foreign international player draft. As for who Yao Ming is selected in the draft, that is a matter for the NBA team. When the time comes, if he wants to win Yao Ming, he will have to battle wits and courage with these teams.
"Let's talk about the upcoming issue of Yao Ming's personal contract." After the intermediary left, Yang Dongxu leaned on the back of his chair and knocked on the table.
This is the focus of Zhang Lang's negotiation with Yao Ming in person this time. Yao Ming is a member of the national basketball team. Although he has the support of the General Administration of Sports and the Basketball Association, everything has been given the green light to move good talents to play in the NBA.
But there are restrictions on national athletes. Of course, those who are recalled to play in competitions will not be discussed for now. The matters of personal advertising endorsements and commercial interest distribution of athletes need to be discussed carefully.
Yang Dongxu spent so much money and so many things, and also decided to let Yao Ming, the first domestic basketball player, be selected by a team like the 76ers that is the favorite to win the championship, and promised to take care of, train and provide him with Enough playing time.
It is impossible to grow a money tree by yourself and always let others pick peaches for them to eat. And if you are unhappy, they may not only eat the peaches, but also pull up your tree.
Although he is very optimistic about Yao Ming's future in business and wants to help domestic basketball develop better, for example, in the future, he will encourage more domestic players to play in the NBA. However, he is not a philanthropist. If he has some benefits, he will definitely need to do so. Got it in hand.
Especially the money tree grown at home, although you helped cultivate the first half of it, so I have no problem with you eating the fruit. But it is only through your own efforts that the money tree bears fruit, so I share the fruit with you. This tree cannot be yours if you say it is yours. I also need to have a certain amount of autonomy, right?
"Before this came, the General Administration of Sports had already informed the general framework. Yao Ming and I generally have no opinions. However, the issue of contract ownership needs to be further negotiated." Zhang Lang said.
In fact, the General Administration of Sports currently hopes that more players can play in top international clubs and learn more experience to strengthen themselves. The issue of ownership of Yao Ming's contract is not as troublesome as Yang Dongxu imagined.
Or maybe Yao Ming is an excellent basketball player, but he only made a qualitative leap after entering the NBA. Now he is just an ordinary national team player in China, not even a true core player.
To put it bluntly, when something is not very valuable, there is naturally not so much nonsense. What's more, this is a decision supported by the above, so everything goes very smoothly.
But although most of it goes smoothly, there are always some people who will jump out and look for trouble. It's like a broken stone. No one wanted it when it was thrown in a corner. Everyone knew it was a broken stone. But suddenly someone said they wanted to move the broken stone. There are always people who want to take advantage of this broken stone.
Therefore, Zhang Lang's contract needs to be negotiated again. Yang Dongxu heard what it meant. In fact, it would be very difficult to negotiate with Zhang Lang again.
According to his idea, someone will help domestic players move to the NBA, and they will also ensure that there are teams that want them in the draft, and that they will be a team that can win the championship, and they will also be guaranteed playing time. This is simply a piece of cake in the sky.
Not to mention Yao Ming's contract, he is willing to pay even if it is a small fee. Besides, Yang Dongxu's demands for the contract were not too excessive. They gave the General Administration of Sports and the Basketball Association face, and they also took into account Yao Ming's personal interests. It's not that Yao Ming is treated as a commodity just to make money, but he really wants to create a good player.
But this was obviously a contract that benefited all three parties, but things didn't go smoothly when the negotiations started. Some people think that since you have given so many benefits, can you still give more? This is undoubtedly a test that makes people want to curse, but although Zhang Lang works in the Basketball Association and is the representative of this negotiation, the decision-making power does not belong to him, so he can only bite the bullet and negotiate.
"The contract should be as it was drawn up before and cannot be changed at all. This is the premise. Otherwise, you will handle the draft by yourself, and the expenses spent on helping with the application will be regarded as my contribution to the domestic basketball association." Yang Dongxu's smile did not change. said.
Zhang Lang couldn't help but look a little embarrassed, but he didn't dare to say anything more. Young people have one common characteristic, that is, they are self-willed. The boss of the 76ers in front of him is not only a young man, but also a very successful young man. Maybe if you disobey his wishes, he will just slap your ass and leave.
If you only use one draft pick, let alone one, even several will be fine. After all, where are the NBA's application rules? International players can apply. It's just a matter of success rate.
The key is the draft picks you operate and whether there are players selected for the players you send out. Even if you are selected as a player, will you have a chance to play?
He was sent out and didn't even get playing time, so what's the point of talking about results? What’s the point of talking about political achievements without results? How to appreciate without political achievements? How to make money from business without appreciation?
Therefore, although the draft pick is a beginning, this beginning is only a stepping stone, and the subsequent team career is the focus. So if Yang Dongxu takes back his previous promises and leaves, the one who is sitting on the throne will definitely be the Basketball Association.
After all, there was no precedent for Chinese players to enter the NBA before, so there was no experience in operating players. Even the NBA team owners were not familiar with it.
So although Yang Dongxu didn't like anyone, he just looked at Yao Ming, a big man, and seemed to be very optimistic about his future, which he could control.
But the same thing is that without the support of the 76ers, a strong NBA team, no one knows what Yao Ming's future will be. Will he be selected and not even have a chance to play? Even if there is a chance to play, is he just a marginal role player?
Therefore, because of Yao Ming's contract with the national team, they certainly have some control. But Yang Dongxu's support is a choice they can't refuse.
"This... needs to be discussed slowly." Zhang Lang smiled awkwardly.
"Please give me a reply as soon as possible. After all, my team's performance last season was pretty good. It reached the semi-finals again and ranked third among all teams in the league. Although it is not as good as last season's performance, but This year I am more certain to win the championship." Yang Dongxu said.
Although the words were not explained, the meaning was very obvious. He was still busy with championship matters, and he had no time to spend time here as a rookie who had not yet entered the NBA.
