The next afternoon, Zhao Chen woke up from his villa at home.
Zhao Chen drank too much last night.
This is the first time Zhao Chen has been so drunk.
The scale of the celebration in Los Angeles is not comparable to that in Oklahoma City.
After arriving at the airport, the entire Lakers team was taken directly to a nightclub.
Jim Buss booked a nightclub and invited hundreds of beautiful models to party with the players!
You can drink and play however you want!
The Lakers are not short of money! !
"Brother Chen, come out and have some porridge." Enna's voice rang in the hall.
"Okay, come on." Zhao Chen replied.
Then Zhao Chen got up and picked up his phone.
It’s still the familiar 99+ text messages and numerous missed calls.
Zhao Chen has already changed his mobile phone number. Only people with good connections have his mobile phone number.
There was nothing that could be done about it. As Zhao Chen became more and more famous, his previous number could not be used at all.
Open the text message, the text message box is full, 99+ does not mean there are only 99 messages, but many, many.
One of the text messages attracted Zhao Chen's attention.
It was sent by Arab League. He first congratulated Zhao Chen, and then asked Zhao Chen if the Lakers were short of a power forward and he wanted to give it a try.
Zhao Chen and Ah Lian met at a business event in China last year, and the two exchanged contact information.
After seeing Ah Lian's information, Zhao Chen thought for a while.
The Lakers' current power forward position is mainly played by Tucker and Randle, and Boozer has been completely abandoned.
Tucker is good at defending multiple positions, very bloody, and also has a precise corner three-pointer.
Randall has excellent physical talent and okay inside skills...
In general, both of them are functional. Tucker is very capable in immediate combat, while Randall is a good prospect and has shown strong potential.
The status of these two people is quite stable. It is really not the right time for Allen to come to the Lakers.
When Zhao Chen was thinking about how to reply to Ah Lian, Zhao Chen's phone rang again.
Agent Aaron Mintz called.
"Zhao, congratulations to you for winning the championship and finals MVP for two consecutive years. This is an amazing achievement." Aaron Mintz said.
"Thank you." Zhao Chen said politely.
"We have a lot of work to do this summer. Li Ning has organized many meetings, and your variety shows and movies have started shooting. Zhong Ming and Zhuo Zhi are also going to hold investor meetings. You will have many, many things. Money will come pouring in..."
For Zhao Chen, although the finals are over, his work is far from over.
Zhao Chen's business value has been soaring, and his business activities have been increasing.
Aaron Mintz has hired an assistant to help coordinate Zhao Chen's time.
"I have to play in the Asian Championships, travel, and train. The rest of the time is yours. Help me coordinate the time."
"Of course, thank you for your hard work, Zhao."
"You worked hard too."
...
...
Just after hanging up the phone with Aaron Mintz, Lakers general manager Kupchak called.
Kupchak discussed with Zhao Chen the next operations of the Lakers.
The Lakers also have the 28th pick in the first round and the 34th pick in the second round this year.
The Lakers had a lot of draft picks last year, but not so much this year.
Because of their good record, the Lakers' draft picks were not very good. Kupchak simply had a black eye and had difficulty choosing.
However, this season's success has made Kupchak obey Zhao Chen's instructions. Kupchak believes that Zhao Chen is very talented in lineup partners, and almost all the players he picked know how to cooperate with him.
Kupchak did not hesitate to choose players and threw the question to Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen said that he was not familiar with this rookie class and would need some time to think about it and would give him an answer later.
In addition to rookies, Kupchak also suggested that Zhao Chen could provide several recruiting directions for him to work hard.
Zhao Chen was speechless when he heard this.
The disadvantages of having too much power have emerged. The Lakers' general manager is not very good at thinking. He has fallen into professional self-doubt.
There is no way, the people Zhao Chen picked are too outstanding, which puts a lot of invisible pressure on Kupchak.
After hanging up the phone from Kupchak, Zhao Chen went to brush his teeth and wash his face. While drinking porridge, he checked the rookie and free agent information sent by Kupchak.
Zhao Chen saw many familiar figures from the rookie list.
Towns, Russell, Porzingis, Booker...
However, these rookie picks are all very high, and the Lakers cannot miss them in their current picks.
The Lakers had the No. 2 pick in their previous life and could select Russell, but they don't have it in this life. Their record is too good.
The second-round pick left a distinct impression on Zhao Chen, who felt that the only player who made the most money was Harrell...
But Harrell's offense is too limited, and defense is also a big problem.
Apart from him, most of the other second-round picks will not survive in the NBA.
As the scouting system gradually improves, it becomes increasingly difficult for Zhao Chen to pick up the slack.
Unless a trade results in a high pick, it will be difficult to select a player with both immediate ability and potential.
Zhao Chen decided to let Kupchak try to trade up the draft picks.
If it doesn’t work, let’s talk about it again.
And then the free market....
Zhao Chen kept scrolling the list.
Kupchak has listed players and free agents with recent trade intentions.
Zhao Chen looked down one by one.
Zhao Chen was dazzled by what he saw.
Varejao, Channing Frye, Shelvin Mike, Augustin, Novak....
Looking at these names, Zhao Chen had a headache.
Now Zhao Chen's vision is different from last season. What Zhao Chen needs is immediate combat ability, shooting and defense, and the overall strength cannot be weak.
This year's free market is really not deserted. After looking around the list, Zhao Chen feels that the rookies he selected last year are the most similar to the role players.
There is almost no reason for Zhao Chen to replace them.
After final hesitation, Zhao Chen gave Kupchak two instructions.
One is an instruction to trade upward picks. The higher the pick, the better the talent selected. This year's draft is more fragrant than the free market.
The other is asking about the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Don't worry about whether the Bucks are interested in trading, just ask first.
Things like trading are all about chips.
After a season, the Lakers have too many chips in their lineup.
After giving the order.
Zhao Chen received another call from Paul, chairman of the players union.
Paul invited Zhao Chen to participate in a conference call with some players of the players union.
The content of the meeting was to discuss how the next collective bargaining agreement can help players compete for more rights.
Now Zhao Chen's influence is very great and he is a very strong player representative.
Paul said that not only Zhao Chen will attend the meeting, but he has also invited superstars such as James, Curry, Durant, Harden, and Anthony to attend the meeting.
In the evening, the conference call began.
Zhao Chen expressed his opinions during the conference call.
"Superstars bear most of the league's exposure and deserve to enjoy more benefits..."
"For example: superstars are allowed to own shares in the team. The superstars I refer to are players at the same level as you here..."
