The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him! -
Chapter 337 - 187 The Free Market Shakes Once Again_3
Chapter 337: Chapter 187 The Free Market Shakes Once Again_3
"That couldn’t be better, Dwayne, good luck with the new season!"
After he hung up, he immediately called Shaq.
"Welcome to Cleveland, Shaq, I’m excited to partner with you this upcoming season!"
Shaq’s raspy voice came through from the phone:
"King, get ready to ascend to the throne, I’ll be your most loyal Sword Guard!"
To be honest,
that was the most magnificent phrase LeBron had ever heard.
Shaq hadn’t given him a drink, yet he was drunk as a dog.
"Sharks" plus "King," he really wanted to post a status on Facebook with just three words:
Who else!
Just as he was caught up in excitement, Danny Ferri called him, "Buddy, I held up my end of the deal, so are you going to keep your end of the deal too..."
"No problem, Danny, I’ve decided. Let’s sign a 4-year contract, you just need to give me a player option for the last year!"
LeBron was extremely prompt, so much so that Danny Ferri almost thought he had heard wrong.
He thought LeBron would back out, maybe wait until after the new season to see if the Cavaliers were really rising before signing the contract, especially since not everyone was optimistic about the trade. Mainly because Shaquille O’Neal literally became a liability in the game against the Pacers. But unexpectedly, LeBron was this prompt.
Thus, he didn’t ponder why LeBron said the extension contract was a "3+1."
On July 22, news that LeBron had signed the extension spread throughout the league.
Su Wan, upon seeing this news, hastily checked the contract renewal progress of Wade and Chris Bosh.
He found out all were announced on the same day, also as a 3+1 contract.
The foreshadowing was laid down right at that moment.
It’s just that nobody noticed it.
Mainly because no one expected these three would have the idea of banding together.
Every major "Draft Year" in the past, the luminaries of the same class hated each other immensely, each trying to prove they were the strongest of their draft. Nobody guessed that the "Class of ’03" would play up the "brotherhood."
Su Wan took another look at Carmelo Anthony’s contract.
4+1...
No problems, Anthony only cares about money!
This is a guy who, as a child, faced a gun but refused to hand over the money—the ultimate "money slave."
Thus his achievement in the NBA is the smallest among the "Class of ’03" Superstars.
His first purpose in playing basketball is to make money, using that money to mix with the mob.
His path lies outside the basketball court.
After confirming that the "Class of ’03" hadn’t changed their minds about sticking together, Su Wan stopped paying attention to the movements in Cleveland.
Although majorly, outsiders are quite optimistic about Shaquille O’Neal’s and LeBron’s partnership,
Su Wan was clear that the issues between the two couldn’t be resolved just by reducing Shaq’s age by three years.
Firstly, a critical issue:
LeBron needs screens to progress ball attacks, needing space under the basket, yet Shaquille O’Neal is the last player in the league who would want to budge from the five position.
So how could this problem be solved?
But that Danny Ferri managed to trick Channing Frye and "A Q" away from the New York Knicks, that strategy was impressive enough.
This trade would actually be a bigger boost to LeBron than the addition of Shaquille O’Neal.
Given the "Piston Five" has disbanded, Su Wan believed that it shouldn’t be a problem for the Heat Team to hit the Eastern Conference top four in the new season.
"Upper Body Strength: 79→85 (93); Lower Body Strength: 80→86 (93); Core Strength: 84→87 (93); Coordination: 80→81 (84); Speed: 76→77 (78); Cross Movement: 77→78 (80); Explosive Power: 85→87 (90); Jumping: 85 (85); Physical Fitness: 82→85 (88); Injury Resistance: 100 (100);"
On August 1, after more than a month of training, Su Wan’s strength had advanced again, reaching the "Superstar Floor" level,
and his Physical Fitness also increased to 87.
With such physical conditions, coupled with his skills, even without turning "The Zone" on, he was a bona fide All-Star player, even beyond just the All-Star threshold.
He didn’t delay any further and flew from Bolis to Japan to join the Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team.
Yao Ming had arrived a week earlier.
It was evident that after the trade to Los Angeles, Yao Ming was doing very well.
How could it not be!
In recent days, Yao Ming had hardly been off the media headlines.
Although Houston is a big city, its media exposure is not on the same level as Los Angeles.
There, Yao Ming finally had the feeling of a "Superstar," even Yao’s team continually exclaimed, "We came too late, we came too late, if we knew Los Angeles had a much better atmosphere than Houston, we should have moved to Los Angeles sooner!"
Actually, Houston’s development level is almost the same as Los Angeles.
But Los Angeles is a media hub, the cornerstone industry of this city being various culture-related businesses.
Especially near Hollywood, where if a signboard falls and injures ten people, eight are actors, with the other two being directors.
Thus, exposure centers on entertainment and sports stars.
And exposure correlates directly with commercial contracts, Yao’s team has not been short of endorsements during this time. Yao Ming also dealt with these things before coming from Los Angeles to Japan.
The World Championship, which was later known as the Men’s Basketball World Cup.
It gathered the strongest teams from various states. The level the Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team usually played at in the Asian Championship was nowhere near this.
Moreover, this time Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team was grouped with the United States Men’s Basketball Team; other four teams were Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Italy, and Senegal—all tough opponents.
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