Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

"Boss, I'm afraid the signing of Vince Carter is not very optimistic." James Bond sighed helplessly, and then said: "I have contacted Vince Carter's agent, and he is not interested in our offer. "

"Why? Do you think our price is too low, or are there other competitors?" Li Weidong asked. "

"Both sides. Carter's agent said our offer was too low and he thought Carter could receive a better offer." James Bond continued:

"The attitude of Carter's agent made me have some doubts, so I inquired through my connections and found that there were indeed other brands in contact with Carter. Including Nike and Adidas, but the one with the highest price currently is Puma!

Puma has always hoped to make a difference in the basketball shoe market. They also want to replicate Nike's success in signing Jordan, so they have been paying attention to NCAA star players.

It is said that Puma is very optimistic about Vince Carter and is willing to give Carter a big contract, and Carter's agent is also trying to help Carter get a top endorsement for the rookie. "

"A top endorsement for a rookie? How big is the contract?" Li Weidong asked.

"It should be a contract like Iverson's, 10 years and $50 million." James Bond replied.

After Iverson was locked in as the No. 1 pick, Reebok offered him a 10-year, $50 million endorsement contract, which was also the ceiling for a rookie player at the time.

It wasn't until LeBron James came along that this rookie ceiling was broken.

At that time, Nike offered James $90 million, while Reebok offered $115 million. Although Reebok offered more money, James still chose Nike.

Hearing the price of 50 million US dollars, Li Weidong smiled bitterly and shook his head, and then said, "We can't afford this price."

"Boss, what should we do? Should we give up Carter?" Bond asked.

"Don't worry, let me think about it." Li Weidong lowered his head and began to think.

In the sports brands of the 1990s, Nike and Adidas were the top two, while Converse, Reebok and Puma were almost in the top five.

Puma, which comes from Germany, is actually the brother of Adidas.

After the end of World War I, a pair of brothers in Germany, the elder brother named Rudolf Dassler and the younger brother Adolf Dassler, founded a shoe factory called Dassler Brothers.

In 1948, the brothers separated. The older brother, Rudolf Dassler, named Puma after the English name of the puma. The younger brother, Adolf Dassler, combined adi and das in his name to create Adidas. .

Puma and Adidas both started out by making football shoes. It was not until 1969 that Adidas successfully entered the field of basketball shoes with a pair of superstars, and defeated Converse to take the top spot among sports brands.

Puma also entered the basketball shoe market in 1972, but failed. Their basketball shoes were not popular.

After entering the 1980s, it was the rise of Nike, and Nike took most of the entire basketball shoe market.

However, Puma has not been idle during this period. They have conquered the European market and become the top sports brand in Europe by sponsoring football, tennis and racing.

Especially winning the sponsorship of Serie A brought Puma to the top, eclipsing Adidas in the European market.

In the 1990s, when fans watched football, their first choice was definitely Serie A. At that time, Serie A was not only star-studded, but the football was also very good-looking. Serie A's influence was also much greater than that of the Premier League and La Liga.

After achieving great success in Europe, Puma decided to explore the basketball shoe market again. After all, basketball shoes are the most profitable.

So Puma took a fancy to Vince Carter, who had unlimited potential.

In fact, a sports brand of Puma's size can definitely sign several top stars, and there is no need to stick to rookies.

But the case of Nike signing Jordan was so classic. Puma also wanted to copy Nike's success and open up the US market to the brand by signing the "next Jordan". It can be said that Puma was led astray by Nike.

Carter is also called the "Jordan heir" by the media. He was born in North Carolina, is 6 feet 6 inches tall, a shooting guard, has comprehensive skills, can jump and shoot, and other characteristics. He is simply a replica of Jordan in college.

Puma believed that Carter was the "next Jordan" they needed, so they offered a 10-year rookie ceiling endorsement contract of US$50 million to sign Carter.

After all, Carter is not a high school player, but a college basketball star.

The high school basketball league in the United States is based on states, while the college NCAA is nationwide.

In the United States, the college basketball league NCAA is as popular as the NBA, especially March Madness, which is more popular than the NBA. If it is a showdown between wealthy teams, the excitement is comparable to the Super Bowl.

In the NCAA competition, the players' abilities and potential will be scrutinized by the entire United States. Everyone can see clearly who is good and who is bad. It is almost impossible to detect leaks in college.

The high school basketball league does not have national influence, so it is possible to pick up the slack.

When the Internet develops in the future, it will become more difficult to pick up mistakes in high school basketball leagues.

The popularity of the Internet allows talented high school students such as LeBron James and Dwight Howard to showcase their talents to the United States and make teams willing to pay for the No. 1 pick.

North Carolina is a wealthy team in the NCAA. As one of the North Carolina Twins, Carter has attracted the attention of the team and the media early.

A player with Carter's ability is now in the spotlight.

Li Weidong also realized this. With Carter's current reputation, it is impossible to sign it with 10 million.

"For a good rough stone, someone will definitely rush to increase the price." Li Weidong sighed.

Choosing a spokesperson in the NBA is like choosing jade raw materials.

Those stars who have already made a name for themselves have already cut the raw stone, and you can clearly see what it looks like inside; while the rookies who are about to enter the NBA have uncut raw materials, and you have to cut them to know the quality. .

Compared with the funds of big brands like Nike and Adidas, Feiyue Sports is definitely not comparable, not to mention that there is also Puma who is eyeing it. They are willing to spend a lot of money in order to enter the basketball shoe market.

But he was unwilling to let Li Weidong give up Carter. After all, Carter's sneakers have always been easier to sell.

Li Weidong recalled it carefully. He remembered that Puma's entry into the basketball shoe market was a failed attempt.

The design concept of Puma basketball shoes is still stuck in the 1970s. The shoes are ugly and uncomfortable to wear.

Under the attack of Nike Air Cushion and Adidas Tianzu, it is difficult for the design concepts of the 1970s to gain recognition from Americans.

So Carter only wore Puma basketball shoes for a few dozen games before giving up Puma basketball shoes. The reason was that Puma basketball shoes were not only bulky but also very uncomfortable to wear.

In 2000, when Carter participated in the slam dunk contest, he still had a Puma contract, but he wore a pair of and1 sneakers on the stage, which shows how much he dislikes Puma sneakers.

Also in 2000, Carter simply terminated his contract with Puma, for which he had to pay $15 million in liquidated damages.

However, the 15 million was paid by Nike. After Carter terminated his contract with Puma, he also switched to Nike to endorse Nike's shox technology.

Thinking of this, Li Weidong suddenly had a plan in mind.

"Since I can't compete with those big brands in terms of funds, it's better to muddy the waters first. Maybe there will be opportunities in the future."

So Li Weidong said: "Continue to quote Carter, and you can increase the price appropriately."

"Boss, even if we increase the price, we can't add more to Puma." James Bond reminded.

"So we need to add a special clause. If Carter terminates the contract during the contract period, he does not need to pay liquidated damages." Li Weidong answered.

"No liquidated damages? Then wouldn't we suffer a big loss! Then he can leave if he wants, and we won't get anything, and we will have to suffer losses. This is not okay!" James Bond shook his head.

Li Weidong said with a smile; "This special clause is a poison, but it is not prepared for us, but for Puma. Anyway, we can't sign Carter, so why not open a poison contract to disgust us?" Competitors.”

"Poison contract?" James Bond was slightly startled.

"It means adding some unfavorable factors to the contract. No matter who swallows this contract, he will have to bear the unfavorable factors inside, just like taking poison. This is a poison contract." Li Weidong explained.

"I understand. The contract conditions we issued to Carter deliberately did not require liquidated damages. Then Carter's agent will also use this as a threat to ask other brands to add similar clauses. The one who will suffer in the end will be Sign Carter's brand." Bond finally understood.

Li Weidong nodded: "That's right. I always believe in the greed of human nature. It's like looking for a job. If a boss offers you an annual salary of one hundred thousand dollars, then this one hundred thousand dollars will become your psychological bottom line. , even if your value is only fifty thousand dollars.

If Carter chooses us because of the no penalty clause, we will not lose money, since our price is low anyway. But if Carter chooses other brands, such as Puma, Adidas or Nike, they will have to swallow this poison! "

The situation was just as Li Weidong expected. When Feiyue Sports offered Carter a no-liquidation penalty contract, Carter's agent immediately asked Puma to grant the same conditions.

In fact, Carter's agent was not a good person. In the future, he was arrested by the police for hiding drugs, which also affected Carter's popularity.

This kind of person naturally does not have a high moral bottom line and will put interests as the highest priority. The greed of human nature is vividly displayed in him.

Of course, the agent's greed also helped Carter obtain the maximum rights and interests.

The endorsement fee of 50 million in 10 years has exceeded the budget of other sports brands. After all, Carter is still a rookie. Except for Puma, no one is willing to spend so much money to buy a piece of wool that has not been cut.

In the end, Puma successfully signed Carter, but because of Li Weidong's interference, the endorsement contract became a no-liquidation penalty version.

After learning the news, Li Weidong did not feel sorry.

Because he knows that the NBA will soon fall into a shutdown, and the next two years will be a shortened season. Coupled with Jordan's second retirement, this double blow has caused the NBA's attention to drop significantly. In the next two years, he will spend a lot of money to sign contracts. Stars are definitely not cost-effective.

In the blink of an eye, it was the 1998 draft.

The media's evaluation of this rookie class is not very high, not even as good as in 1997.

After all, in 1997, there was a Duncan who most of the league was in trouble for, but in 1998, there was no player of Duncan's level participating in the draft.

But in fact, the level of rookies in 1998 was still very good, with at least three Hall of Fame players and several All-Stars.

This year's top pick, Olowokandi, is recognized as the parallel import top pick. Fortunately, Bennett and Kwame Brown have the backing, otherwise Olowokandi would definitely be known as the "most watery" No. 1 pick.

Although it was a gamble for the Clippers to choose Olowokandi, there was not much controversy at the time.

Olowokandi is Nigerian and his father is a diplomat. He only started to play basketball when he was 17 years old, and did not receive formal basketball training until he entered college.

However, by his junior year, he averaged 22.2 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.88 blocks per game, which is obviously full of talent.

With such data, he is definitely the top center in the NCAA. In an era when the center was the core of the team's tactics, it is understandable to get the top pick with such data.

Moreover, African centers also have successful experience in the NBA. For example, Olajuwon is a Nigerian. He is the same height as Olowokandi, seven feet. It was Olowokandi who was naturally labeled as "Olajuwon". "Successor" title.

Bet on a successor to Olajuwon with the No. 1 pick. If you win the bet, you will definitely make money with blood. Even if Olajuwon cannot survive and becomes the second Mutombo, he will not lose money.

Therefore, the Clippers' choice was not criticized at the time. It wasn't until the next few Hall of Fame players showed their worth that the Clippers' operations were criticized by fans.

Carter was eventually selected by the Golden State Warriors with the fifth overall pick, and was then traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Antawn Jamison, another of the "North Carolina Two Stars."

In fact, what the Raptors really like is Carter, while what the Warriors like is Jamison. Ordinarily, the two teams can directly select the players they like, that is, the Raptors select Carter with the fourth overall pick, and the Warriors choose fifth. Draft Jamison. There is no need to pick first and then trade.

But the Raptors' general manager showed off a move. They drafted Jamison first, forcing the Warriors to draft Carter, and then traded Jamison for Carter. Since the fourth pick was traded for the fifth pick, So the Warriors need to pay some extra money.

In addition, the salaries of the fourth and fifth picks are different. The salary of the fifth pick is less. The Raptors can also save a fortune by paying Carter the salary of the fifth pick. .

In the end, this operation helped the Raptors save more than one million US dollars, but Carter was dropped from the fourth pick to the fifth pick.

Needless to say, Carter's strength is also an All-Star player.

In addition to the two, this draft also includes Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Rashard Lewis, Mike Babe, Brad Miller, Al Harrington, Larry Hughes, "White Chocolate" Williams.

In addition, players such as Bonchi Wells, Ricky Davis, Tyronn Lue, "Streetball King" Alston, and "Old Cat" Mobley also came from this class.

Just looking at the names of these players, although they are not as brilliant as the 1996 golden generation, they are definitely a great year for the draft.

After the draft, those players who were not selected began to find their own way, either participating in the team's trial training or participating in the summer league, hoping to impress a certain team with their performance and get a contract.

However, the rookies in 1998 did not have this treatment, because the NBA announced that starting from July 1, the league would enter a shutdown.

The entire NBA has pressed the pause button!

Puma, which originally planned to re-enter the basketball shoe market with Carter, suddenly cried in the toilet.

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