This derby game has little influence in the American basketball world. After all, to the majority of American fans, this is just an ordinary basketball game.
Although Jim Jackson provoked Su Feng before the game, the intensity was not enough. Not to mention, how much attention can Jim Jackson get as a homeless player?
The media is still immersed in the news that Su Feng counterattacked and left the arena with Sprewell lying covered in blood.
This public opinion is very popular, from the Internet to TV media, from TV media to newspapers and magazines. Americans like this kind of bloody confrontation, like this kind of "punishing evil and promoting good". This is also a manifestation of personal heroism. Everyone is reveling in this matter.
Su Feng's fame has increased exponentially. His popularity is now close to that of his college alumnus Carmelo Anthony. In the latest rookie rankings, he surpassed Dwyane Wade for the first time and reached fourth place. The three people in front of him are LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh.
This means that Su Feng has entered the first echelon of rookies, and has achieved a leap in fame: other NBA rookies have experienced complete experience in American basketball, and have been five-star players since high school, and have become princes in college. The popularity is there.
Where is Su Feng?
When Su Feng participated in the draft, no one knew who he was.
Now he has suddenly emerged, and after more than a dozen games, he has become one of the most popular rookies.
More importantly, Su Feng's reputation in China has been rapidly increasing after the derby. The gap with Yao Ming, who has a strong fan base, has narrowed. His market value is rising rapidly, and everyone knows... his commercial ceiling is much higher than that of Yao Ming. Much more.
In these two games, in the two superpowers on both sides of the Pacific, Su Feng's popularity increased more than other players' ten years of hard training.
On the plane back to Chicago, Scottie Pippen said to Su Feng: "Your promotion was very successful. You are now a brand newbie. Sprewell must regret provoking you. You stepped on him to an unprecedented level." the height of."
Su Feng was hesitant and said, "I have no publicity. I only have one agent, who was previously an investment manager on Wall Street. He has no close relationship with the media."
ah?
Pippen was immediately surprised. He said: "It's impossible. Just look at it, there are many media to help you publish press releases to promote it. Moreover, ESPN, TNT, ABC, NBC...these media are all promoting you. Those basketball channels even To talk about this news alone, it was definitely promoted. And heavily promoted."
This time Su Feng was confused.
Su Feng hasn't filmed a single commercial yet, so how can he get the money to promote it?
Therefore, he was also confused. Who is helping me?
Su Feng was still thinking here, and then Pippen said to Su Feng: "Tony, Bird will come to the arena tomorrow to teach you passing. Bird's skills are very strong, and he should be the most skilled star in the history of the NBA. .”
"Also, he was very versatile. He was a super-dominant player in the '80s."
Pippen took out Bird's videotape and said to Su Feng: "Michael told me that the star he admires most is Larry Bird. From this sentence, you can see how great his skills are. .”
"Moreover, his passing level is at a historical level. His passing skills in positional battles are, I think, the strongest in history. Bob Cousy, the seven-time assist king, once said that Bird came to this world to give everything Basketball skills set new standards. Their rival Jerry West also once said that Bird has reached unprecedented perfection in existing basketball skills."
"So, you have to study hard."
"Bird had a perfect career. Even though he suffered back injuries later, his career averages were still an astonishing 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists per game. In his prime, he averaged 289 points per game. , more than ten rebounds, seven or eight assists."
"He promised to teach you skills, and you must learn them hard. Now he has not said that he will teach you his greatest shooting skills, but don't underestimate his assist skills."
"You see, this is Bird's signature back-to-back pass. I think he has the best technique in history, bar none. Magic Johnson is very good at pushing the team to attack quickly and maintain a smooth and gorgeous offense. .”
"And Bird's passing in positional battles is historic, and he is not the kind of guy who gets the ball and plays it alone for ten or twenty seconds before passing the ball. He catches the ball and quickly finds his teammates in the position. The data is far away It doesn’t reflect his greatness.”
"If you learn his passing skills, I think you can directly and stably jump to the NBA elite player, and even touch the threshold of the All-Star player."
Scottie Pippen introduced to Su Feng.
He also gave Su Feng instructions on how to watch Bird’s videotape.
This makes the young players next to him very envious. Especially Hinrich, he didn't expect Pippen to be so kind to Su Feng.
It was clear that Pippen was closer to him at the beginning. What kind of ecstasy did Su Feng pour into him?
Hinrich was puzzled.
But it’s okay to be confused.
If he knew that Su Feng went on a date with his goddess Scarlett and had nothing to do the next day, so he bought a fruit basket when passing by the hospital to see Pippen gain favor, he would definitely cry blindly.
It's just a fruit basket.
Pippen was supporting Su Feng as his own son and nephew. Not only did he provide comprehensive guidance at the training ground and court, but he also scanned Su Feng's faces everywhere to find superstars to teach him.
This is to create a true heir to the mantle at the last moment of his career.
However, Hinrich had nothing to fear from Su Feng asking Bird to learn passing.
He's a point guard.
He knows very well that passing ability cannot be improved rapidly by learning from a famous teacher for a few hours overnight. Passing requires basketball wisdom, rich court experience, and the brain to experiment again and again. It’s all a result of hard work soaked in time.
If you study for a few hours with a historically dominant player, you can learn to pass.
So what does my ten years of hard training count for?
Why should I lose to you a few hours of training after ten years of hard work?
What's more, he didn't believe that Bird would give him everything he had. Bird is a man with his eyes higher than his head, and he doesn't take ordinary players seriously at all. What's more, why should Bird teach a Bulls player his real skills? Does Pippen have such a big reputation?
He closed his eyes and fell asleep leisurely with Pippen in the front row whispering instructions to Su Feng on how to watch the Bird tape.
…
The Bulls have two home games next, with a game against the Boston Celtics on Saturday and then the Lakers on Sunday night.
Coach Bill issued an order when the team was disbanded, and they must win one of the two games. He was, of course, referring to winning against the Celtics.
They defeated the Celtics once before on the road, and now they beat them again to complete a home and away double play. This is a perfect assumption.
As for the Lakers, they really don't dare to think about it.
Although Kobe is currently in trouble with a lawsuit, and the conflicts between the OK group have been completely made public. However, they have Super F4 after all.
The most powerful foursome in NBA history.
O'Neal and Kobe have already won three consecutive championships. Together with Karl Malone and Gary Payton, who have played in the Finals with Jordan respectively, Coach Bill never dared to dream of arm wrestling with the Lakers. Even though their current record is temporarily ranked first in the Eastern Conference, they seem to be on the same level as the Lakers who came from behind to be first in the Western Conference.
It's going to be a busy weekend for Su Feng.
He received a call from Jason Thomas when he returned to his rented apartment, and he quickly asked Eddy Curry to take him to the Hilton Hotel.
Eddie Curry is now ridiculed as Su Feng's 'special driver'. Although he took out a car for Su Feng to drive, Su Feng's skills are not very good, and he does not want to throw the car in the airport parking lot for a week or two. Parking fees are quite expensive. Although he is not short of money now, it is his principle to spend what the province needs.
"Going on a date at the Hilton Hotel?" Eddy Curry teased Su Feng.
Su Feng smiled and said he had a business negotiation.
Eddy Curry quickly volunteered: Do you need me to help you increase your worth?
Su Feng smiled and refused.
Eddy Curry put Su Feng in the underground parking lot of the Hilton Hotel, and then Su Feng went to the conference room of the Hilton Hotel.
When Su Feng opened the elevator door, he saw Phil Knight and Nike executives personally greeting him at the door.
This was a very sincere sign. They shook hands and entered the conference room.
Phil Knight and Su Feng chatted for a while, talking about Su Feng's outstanding performance in Minnesota. Then, he introduced to Su Feng the senior executives present. Without exception, they were all Nike officials with brilliant records.
Compared to their outstanding achievements.
Jason Thomas next to Su Feng is simply a rookie.
But they did not look down upon Su Feng because of this.
The media public relations manager introduced their recent publicity to Su Feng, and he also said that this was an order personally issued by the chairman.
This solved the mystery of Su Feng.
Su Feng expressed his sincere gratitude to them for helping him promote himself even before the contract was signed.
This is complete sincerity.
Su Feng was so impressed that Jason Thomas even wanted to sign a direct contract with Nike.
"Because we firmly believe that we will definitely reach cooperation, using some of our media resources to promote you is also helping our brand." Phil Knight said sincerely.
Then, he said straight to the point: "I know that other brands have also contacted you recently, and our quotation may not be as high as theirs. However, I think you also know that we are a local brand and we have a large scale in the field of basketball shoes. , we also have a lot of resources in the media. If you sign with us and form a star matrix, I can guarantee that it will help you far more than other brands."
Although Adidas has a high market value, it is a European brand after all, and they are not as thorough in the basketball field as Nike. Their focus is more on the football field.
Reebok is now in deterioration. Although they have stars such as Iverson and Yao Ming, their business difficulties are often reported in the press.
They certainly don’t have as much media resources as Nike.
Therefore, there is no exaggeration in what Phil Knight said. Jason Thomas did his homework and he nodded repeatedly.
At this time, Phil Knight personally announced his offer: "Tony, the offer we are giving you is 58 million US dollars over 6 years. This price is already the limit we can give. For this, we need to do something to the Kobe team Give an explanation, give an explanation to the LeBron James team. You know, stars are very price sensitive."
"When many stars renew their contracts, they pay even more attention to the salaries of superstars of the same level than themselves. Kobe switched to Nike because Adidas gave Tracy McGrady the only lifetime contract, and O'Neal switched to the Lakers because the Magic were unwilling to do so. Giving him a higher contract than Hardaway...that's a real problem." Phil Knight was very, very sincere.
"If it weren't for Kobe's recent troubles, we wouldn't dare to give you a higher contract than him. His current annual salary is 9 million per year, and we will give you a little more than him. This is our greatest sincerity. .”
Phil Knight’s words moved Jason Thomas.
This is indeed the highest contract Nike can offer.
Moreover, they had previously used media resources to help Su Feng publicize, which was enough to prove their sincerity in this matter.
Jason Thomas looked at Su Feng, and he nodded slightly. He knew now was the perfect time to sign.
Indeed, this contract is very, very good.
Sincerely, it is impossible to find a better contract than this.
You can’t surpass LeBron James, the chosen one, right?
James has been a popular star in the United States since high school. He said something during the summer league: I have more fans in the United States than even the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although this sentence is a bit young and frivolous, it is true.
In the United States, James is a basketball prodigy. If Nike gives Su Feng a contract that surpasses James, public opinion will explode.
Su Feng took a deep breath.
He tried hard to calm down and thought carefully for a long time.
He closed his eyes and opened them again, sincerely and calmly meeting Phil Knight's expectant eyes.
He said: "Mr. Phil, I am very touched that you can trust me so much and help me. I should sign a contract with you, but..."
As soon as Su Feng mentioned but, Jason Thomas's mood turned cold. The surrounding executives were also in an uproar. They didn't expect Su Feng to be unsatisfied.
Only Phil Knight still looked at Su Feng sincerely.
Su Feng continued: "However, I don't want you to risk offending Kobe by paying me such a high contract."
The conference room was filled with surprise.
Su Feng thinks this contract is too high?
Is he crazy?
Jason Thomas even wanted to pinch Su Feng twice to make sure he was sane.
"I mean, I can accept a guaranteed contract of 8 million a year, or even a little less, 7 million. But, I am confident in myself. I hope to increase the incentive clauses."
When Su Feng said this, there was a low-pitched discussion in the conference room.
Philnet made a gesture of invitation, signaling Su Feng to continue speaking.
"I mean, if I win Rookie of the Year, make the All-Rookie Team, All-Star, average 30+ per game, All-NBA First Team, regular season MVP, win a championship trophy, win Finals MVP... I want it all. Corresponding incentive bonus. This way, the risk is lower for you."
Su Feng said frankly.
