"What do you want so many season tickets for? Selling? That's not allowed!"
"Who said we should sell them? There are 6 of you in total. Liam or I occasionally take our female companions to watch games, so there are 7 in total."
Schwartz wiped the cold sweat from the fright and said: "I am an agent. I can get tickets for the games I want to watch. No need."
Dean Teng said: "I'm very happy that you can remember me. No, I can't accept this kind of gift, I will be investigated."
Old man: "I have season tickets for the Clippers, but I have never been to their newly rented arena to watch a game."
Henry Beebe: "I have money, I can buy it myself."
Vivian said: "Let them investigate me, I want it!"
Liam: "No one is investigating me, and I want it too!"
"It's just the two of you. Then add one more. I want 4 sets of season tickets." Li Ao said dissatisfied.
Schwartz breathed a sigh of relief: "Only 4 sets of season tickets, right? Let me mention it, it might be possible."
I don’t know why, but it was obviously very difficult to pry out four sets of season tickets from Sterling, but now Schwartz feels that the difficulty has been greatly reduced.
"Second request..."
Schwartz exclaimed, "Is there a second request?"
"I just made one request! There are only two requests in total."
"Yeah, you tell me first and I'll listen."
"The second request is that if I need it, my family and friends can take the team's chartered flight..."
As he said this, the corners of Li Ao's mouth turned up. He thought of something. He didn't know if this time and space would happen this summer.
Wait, Li Ao asked: "There should be a charter flight for the Clippers, right?"
"Yes, they have a chartered flight, there should be no problem with this."
Schwartz heard that Sterling likes to "make the best use of everything." Other teams may not agree to let players' families take chartered flights, but Sterling will most likely do it, and it can be done without spending a penny more. one thing.
"besides……"
"Didn't I just say two requests?"
"I suddenly thought of the conditions related to you."
"Huh? What's the condition?"
"120% of maximum salary."
"This condition must be added!"
Schwartz agreed to this matter more happily than ever.
…
At around 5 o'clock in the evening, Li Ao and the hospital assistant's aunt had just returned to the apartment when their agent called.
"Leo, Sterling agreed to your request."
"What, he agreed immediately? He didn't think about it for a few more days?"
Li Ao imagined it shouldn't be like this.
According to the provisions of the 1998 labor agreement, first-round rookies have a fixed salary for each pick, and the amount fluctuates based on season income. Each team can make adjustments of plus or minus 20% on the basis of the fixed salary.
Lamar Odom, the No. 4 overall pick selected by the Clippers last year, only received the standard rookie contract and did not receive the additional 20%.
Schwartz on the other end of the phone asked in confusion: "Do you hope they won't agree?"
"If they refuse, I have legitimate reasons to apply for a trade... But if I agree, I will agree, but I won't sign the contract until after the summer league."
Schwartz on the other end of the phone didn't know how to describe his boss for a moment. He wanted to apply for a deal but still accuse the other party from the moral high ground? It was indeed something his boss could do.
However, Schwartz still admires his character of admitting it once he does it.
He said: "No problem, I didn't confirm the signing time with them. They have informed me of the summer league time. The Clippers will participate in the Southern California Summer League this year. It will start on July 7th. You need to be in July at the latest. Report on the 4th.
By the way, there is one more important thing. Xu contacted me. The media from your flower garden wanted to interview you. I agreed and made an appointment on the 30th.
I have an appointment with two brands for a meeting on the 1st. You need to make time during these two days. "
Li Ao agreed, wrote down the time on the calendar beside his bed, took a rest, and after the aunt who went out to buy groceries came back, he went to the aunt's house to cook dinner.
While having dinner, Vivian asked: "Leo, is it because you didn't apply for a trade to the Clippers because you didn't think of a suitable reason?"
Li Ao shook his head: "No, I didn't think about where to go. I didn't expect anywhere to be better than here."
"Oh, hee hee."
“I talked to Jeff this morning and I’m not going to apply for a trade just yet, let’s see what happens.
I haven’t participated in trials with other teams, and I haven’t been able to communicate with the management of other teams. I don’t know how other teams will arrange my role even if they trade me. Strong teams may not give me a role. There are too many opportunities. Weak teams may not have the ability to cultivate rookies, and teams that are really suitable may not choose to gamble with so many chips to select me..."
"This is not important, eat and eat!"
Li Ao: ()
That's not what you asked!
I was just in the midst of my analysis when I was interrupted.
It’s so frustrating!
After a night's rest, the next day, Li Ao was working as a driver, and the hospital assistant's aunt said she would train with him.
Saved a trainer's salary.
Unfortunately, on the 25th, the middle-aged handsome man informed him that the Trojans could no longer provide him with a training venue, trainer, or coach.
Someone from the school also came and explained the reason.
A group of his anti-fans have appeared at the University of Southern California. Most of these people are composed of his die-hard fans. They have participated in parades, fought, and cheered for him outside the arena and onsite... ...But because he 'selfishly' left the Trojans, he grew to hate him and is now his biggest fan.
These people reported to the NCAA that the Trojans provided him with training venues and trainers, and the Trojans have received a warning from the NCAA.
Although Li Ao was surprised by this, he understood it.
No matter how pink and innocent a fan is, they will become black one day.
The simpler it is, the faster it may become black.
However, there are many small training venues rented outside the Memorial Stadium, so the old man provided him with a training venue for free and let him use it first.
Li Ao went to find out about the situation. After the universities in Los Angeles went on summer vacation in early June, the rental rate of these small training grounds was not high. He accepted the old man's kindness.
There are registered trainers at the Memorial Stadium. Li Ao originally planned to ask the trainer to help him train. The old man only needs to use it occasionally. At such an old age, he cannot torment him every day. Today, the hospital assistant aunt wanted to help him train on a whim, and he was naturally very happy.
However, although he did not expect fans at the school to report him, the Trojans' coaching staff did not have time to continue coaching him during the offseason, and he was prepared for this.
In the past month, he has not made much progress in three-pointers. At the end of May, he had reached the passing level of 60, and it has only reached 63 now. In the past 20 days, he has spent most of his time on three-pointers.
The reason for this situation is that when he received guidance from Xavier Johnson in the past two months, he mainly learned training methods, and the training time itself was greatly shortened.
As the saying goes, sharpening the knife will not waste time chopping wood.
He has developed 60 three-pointers, which is enough to show NBA teams his shooting talent. In the past sophomore season, he had no three-point ability.
Therefore, you don’t need to be particularly strong during the trial training, it is enough that you can see it.
It's just difficult for Xavier Johnson, the top shooting coach in college basketball.
When Xavier Johnson finished teaching Li Ao the three-point training method, everyone was stunned.
He was worried that Li Ao would bite off more than he could chew. His way of training young players was step-by-step. The early training had already laid the groundwork, and the subsequent training was improved step by step. He taught and taught, and a complete training system was completed.
That is, Li Ao developed the 'Level 3 training method of catching and mid-range shots' that reaches the end point when catching and mid-range shots.
This was the first time for Xavier Johnson to do this kind of cramming teaching, and he was worried that Li Ao's three-point development would become a mess.
But he didn't expect that after his cramming teaching, Li Ao actually learned a complete set of three-point training methods!
Moreover, Li Ao also 'summarized and rationalized' every step of the training method, from basic to advanced to perfection.
Xavier Johnson was so upset at the time. If he had known this, why did he bother to help Li Ao practice his mid-range shot step by step?
It's better to teach like this...
Fortunately, this did not affect Xavier Johnson's teaching philosophy. He will actively devote his time to the team's recruitment and forget about teaching Li Ao to practice three-pointers to avoid continuing to doubt that his life will take a detour.
Li Ao actually prefers the step-by-step feeling when he was learning mid-range shooting. At that time, he didn't need to think too much. Although there are training methods now, he has to plan what to practice every day. .
Fortunately, the hospital assistant is with me and she is very motivated, so it is not important to waste my brain.
…
After the day's training, Li Ao gave the hospital assistant's aunt extra food in the evening.
While eating dinner and watching TV, he saw a piece of news - the Grizzlies revealed that they originally planned to send the No. 2 pick to the Lakers in exchange for several of the Lakers' main players except OK, to help the Lakers select him. But the Lakers rejected the deal.
When the news came to light, Los Angeles basketball fans rioted.
According to the latest reports from the front, thousands of basketball fans gathered outside the Staples Center, shouting, "We want Leo, the logo man is out of class."
Vivian exclaimed: "Leo, you are so popular!"
"Yeah, are these fans really...all crazy? The Lakers training ground is at the Toyota Center, and the Lakers just rented it to play games."
"..."
Vivian: (ˇˇ)
"I don't think many of them are my fans."
The speechless Vivian's attention was diverted and she asked: "Why do you say that?"
"Obviously, this is a group of incited people. Normal fans will not be so fanatical at this time. These people are my fans today. If they go to the Staples Center, they will become other people's fans tomorrow. Go Blocking Poly Arena, the Eagles are full of rabble.”
"That makes sense..."
The next day, Li Ao attended a press conference and accepted interviews with domestic media.
At Yingjiang's house, he participated in the draft this time and the popularity remained high.
He is also very popular in China!
Moreover, it has just reached the breaking point. He was elected to the top three and became the third overall pick.
Coinciding with the hit of Little Li's Flying Knife filmed by Baldy, "Little Li Tanhua" became his nickname in China.
But in this interview, Li Ao was tortured enough.
How should I put it, the domestic media is particularly...radical at this time?
The questions asked are 'Are you confident of winning the championship? ', "Can you lead the Clippers to become an invincible team like you led the Trojans to victory?", "You will lead the team to challenge the Lakers' dominance"...etc.
Li Ao finally realized how difficult it was for Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian to enter the NBA.
How to answer these questions?
He can only talk about him, use his talkative nature, and make reporters speechless, and he will win.
In just half an hour of press conference, he felt more tired than playing in the finals with the Spartans.
The next day, July 1st, a new month arrived.
The NBA officially announced the salary cap for the new season, which is more than 34.36 million US dollars.
This has nothing to do with Li Ao for the time being. He can only get a fixed contract now.
At around 8 a.m., Schwartz came to the apartment and picked him up to meet with three brands about endorsement deals.
Originally there were two, but when Pepsi heard that KFC was going to sign Li Ao, they followed suit.
Pepsi pays US$4 million in two years and KFC pays US$6 million in two years. That's a lot of money. These two brands have never given such high endorsement fees to NBA rookies.
Li Ao knew what these two companies were looking for, the big flower grower market behind him.
Before coming, Schwartz told Li Ao that this was the highest contract he could get at present, and the other party offered him a short term and high remuneration, so he was very sincere.
The negotiation went smoothly. After the lawyer brought by Schwartz checked the contract, he signed it on the spot.
But the negotiation with Adidas in the afternoon was not going well. The other party offered a five-year contract worth 15 million U.S. dollars. If Schwartz hadn't winked, Li Ao would have dumped the KFC contract on the spot.
Sneaker endorsement Li Ao is not in a hurry. If he signs hastily at this time, he may regret it more than Pippen.
Schwartz, who just received a signing fee of US$100,000 from Pepsi and US$150,000 from KFC, is not in a hurry.
He is not short of money now!
He wants to buy a new car!
This $250,000 is in addition to his commission.
When an agent signs an endorsement contract for a player, he or she usually pays both sides. This is not a shameful thing. To put it bluntly, the agent's main role is to act as an 'intermediary'. As long as the brand is not stingy, they will pay benefits to the agent who helps them win the endorsement deal.
Li Ao still has to give IMG a normal 20% commission on the endorsement fee.
This is a regular commission ratio, which is much better than that of artists. He heard that when Jessica shoots an advertisement, the company takes more than half.
The main reason is that the two endorsement contracts with Pepsi and KFC are not big contracts in IMG.
According to Schwartz, if he can get an endorsement contract with an annual average of over 10 million, he can renegotiate the draw ratio with IMG.
Li Ao asked Schwartz why he didn't go it alone and received a blank stare.
He reacted immediately - a novice agent, how can he get a legal team if he works alone? Where did the media resources come from? Where did the information channels come from?
However, he just wanted to ask if the amount of drawing achievements he gave could not be higher. This was Schwartz's various channels for using the money he earned to exchange for IMG. It was considered that each of the two parties got what they needed.
…
In the next two days, Li Ao and his assistant aunt worked hard on the training ground.
On July 4th, it was time to return to the team, and Li Ao and Schwartz came to the Clippers training facility together.
Li Ao looked at the slightly desolate and declining factory area around him, and then at the house with the Clippers Training Center sign in front of him, and was silent for a long time.
"Jeff, is this the legendary training arena? Are you sure it's not an abandoned warehouse?"
Schwartz was very calm. He had been here twice and said, "At least it's a training hall now."
Li Ao was helpless. He looked around. This was once a clothing manufacturing factory in Los Angeles. Later, with the de-manufacturing of Eagle Sauce, the factories here went bankrupt one after another. Most of the clothing factories still operating now are They are some handmade clothing brands that can be sold at high prices. Most of the houses look like haunted houses, and a homeless man can be seen coming in and out from time to time.
No wonder Schwartz told him that he had to drive here and not drive too slowly.
Schwartz drove the car into the parking lot, and Li Ao followed him into the venue.
Once inside, Li Ao felt pretty good!
In fact, the interior is just an ordinary office space, but with the appearance, it looks very luxurious.
Seeing Li Ao coming, the reception staff dialed the internal line. Soon, he met the legendary Bay Asia king Elgin Baylor and Clippers head coach Alvin Gentry.
Baylor shook hands with Li Ao without saltiness, while Alvin Gentry hugged Li Ao enthusiastically, then took Li Ao to familiarize himself with the internal facilities and introduced them enthusiastically.
After walking around, just talking about the office area and training venue, Li Ao felt that it was much larger than the Lakers' office area and training venue at Toyota Center.
However, there was one thing that Li Ao felt very awkward about.
After all, he couldn't hold it back and asked Baylor, who had been silent for a long time: "General manager, have you heard of this sentence?"
"What words?"
"A man who loves to laugh will always have good luck."
"?"
"I think you must be quite unlucky. I haven't seen you smile since we've seen each other for so long."
Gentry: (_)
Is this newbie speaking so directly?
He didn't notice it at all when they were chatting just now. He thought the legend was false. This rookie was obviously so sunny and cheerful.
Schwartz's face was expressionless. He had expected it, but he didn't expect it to be so sudden.
Elgin Baylor's expression became even more gloomy, he didn't respond and walked away.
Li Ao said what was in his heart and finally felt comfortable. He asked Gentry: "Why haven't you seen any teammates after coming for so long? Isn't it a gathering today?"
Did the topic change so quickly?
You just pissed off the general manager!
Not worried at all?
Forget it, Gentry thinks why he worries so much, it's not like he offended the general manager.
"They seem to be in the locker room. I'm going to take you to the locker room and warehouse to have a look. Let's go there together."
Li Ao nodded and followed Gentry to the locker room.
Gentry knocked on the door and pushed it open...
"Wow"
A basin of water poured on the faces of Gentry and Li Ao. The water was so big that they were soaked all over.
What followed was a burst of loud ridicule.
Gentry wiped his eyes and saw their No. 1 pick holding a basin!
"I'm sorry, coach, I didn't expect you to open the door and come in." Michael Olowokandi apologized, but couldn't stop the smile on his face.
Just when Jintry was about to scold the other party, Li Ao spoke first: "What are you doing?"
"Hahaha, how about it, rookie, this is a meeting gift for you...ah..."
Before Olowokandi could finish speaking, Li Ao flew up and kicked him in the stomach.
Then Li Ao pressed down with his whole body, and Olowokandi fell back heavily to the floor.
This scene shocked everyone in the locker room, as well as Gentry and Schwartz at the door.
Olowokandi groaned in pain and shouted: "Mom Vaco, damn rookie you...ah..."
Before Olowokandi could finish speaking, Li Ao pressed his knee on the opponent's chest, not giving the opponent a chance to struggle to get up, and then punched the opponent in the face.
“****…”
Olowokandi sprayed a slang, but before he finished, Li Ao also punched Olowokandi with his left hand and hit the other side of Olowokandi's face.
"Sorry, I was wrong...ah..."
Li Ao punched him again with his right hand, this time without stopping. After punching him with his right hand, he punched again with his left hand.
And the force is getting stronger and stronger, and the beating is getting smoother and smoother!
Olowokandi tried to struggle, but every time he moved, he was punched back to the floor.
At this scene, the Clippers players and head coach, who had already moved to start a fight, all stopped.
How cruel!
Who dares to go up and find someone unhappy?
Gentry was frightened.
This rookie started fighting when he first came here?
wrong!
This is not a fight, this is a massacre!
The Clippers players in the locker room felt guilty. They just saw Gentry and Li Ao being splashed with water, and they also laughed.
Now, they dare not even speak out for fear of being implicated.
As a result, the only sounds in the locker room were Olowokandi's screams and pleas for mercy and the contact of his head and fists.
The screams and begging for mercy became smaller and smaller. Finally, Li Ao shook his hands, twisted his neck, stood up, and muttered: "Huh... there's something wrong. I'm looking for a beating. I've been in a bad mood these days." Okay, now I’m finally happy.”
Olowokandi on the ground seemed to have fainted!
Li Ao looked around at the people who might become teammates and asked: "Why don't you help a teammate here if he falls? Are you so devoid of teammate camaraderie?"
Li Ao was very satisfied when he heard his prospective teammates curse the familiar word starting with 'F' in unison.
He said to Gentry: "Coach, I accidentally fell into the ditch just now and broke the back of my hand. Where is the medical room?"
Gentry: "..."
What kind of player did we choose to come back?
(End of chapter)
