Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

The Pacers' three consecutive away games did not end with a complete victory. When they came to Minnesota against the Timberwolves, they lost their proud defense and allowed their opponents to make 35 of 70 shots, which was 50% of their field goals.

Rate.

Even though George Hill made 11 of 17 shots and scored 29 points with an astonishing shooting percentage, and even though West scored a huge double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds, they still lost the game.

You know, Kevin Love, the head coach of this Timberwolves team, injured his right hand while doing push-ups in training camp before the regular season and will miss the first 9 games.

Without Love, the Timberwolves are still performing vigorously. After winning against the Pacers, they have achieved an excellent record of 4 wins and 1 loss.

What worries Pacers fans is the weakness of the home team's bench. The bench led by Augustin all scored less than double digits, while the opposite substitutes Budinger, Cunningham and Shved scored 18 points and 11 points respectively.

Scored 11 points to help the team win.

As a young team grows, it is bound to gradually lose its lineup thickness. After all, it is human nature to seek a big contract after performing well.

What is difficult for Pacers fans to accept is that this process happened too quickly for the Pacers, so that after Collison left and Qi Tian was promoted to the starting lineup, the Pacers' bench suddenly stopped playing.

Fortunately, in back-to-back games after returning home, the Pacers found themselves. Stephenson stepped up from the bench and scored 15 points. Coupled with George's 20 points, Qi Tian scored 12 points on 5 of 7 shots.

While the Pacers avoided a losing streak, they also gave their opponent the Wizards a five-game losing streak at the start of the season.

Next, the Pacers got two days of rest to eliminate the fatigue from three consecutive away games. On the third day, they will also play at home.

Qi Tian declined the invitation from George and others to take him to get high - not high on marijuana - but returned to the apartment alone, ready to relax.

However, things never ended. Qi Tian, ​​who was lying on the bed reading a book, was about to fall asleep when he heard a knock on the door.

Before Qi Tian came to the door, he heard the voice of his agent Jack:

"Seven, open the door, it's me."

"Of course I know it's you."

Qi Tian pulled on his shoes and opened the door, and was immediately startled by Jack outside.

Jack is not a mysophobia, nor does he have obsessive-compulsive disorder, so his suit will have wrinkles that are unevenly ironed, and his shirt may have residue from yesterday's bread. However, as long as he is working, he will definitely wear a suit.

Now Jack is indeed wearing the black suit he usually wears, but the suit is wrinkled to the point that it looks like cotton and linen clothes. His brown hair is as messy as a bird's nest, his face is full of exhaustion, and the bloodshot eyes in his eyes remind Qi Tian of India.

train.

"What's going on? How many nights have you been up?"

Qi Tian blinked, somewhat confused.

Jack chuckled, squeezed Qi Tian away, and rushed in.

"It's only three days, seven! You, no, we are going to get rich!"

Only then did Qi Tian notice that Jack was holding a phone tightly in his hand. He waved his arms twice with a force that almost broke the wall, and continued,

"Get rich!"

"Calm down, bro."

Qi Tian searched around and handed Jack a bottle of water.

"Sit down and talk."

Don’t you have any sedatives at home?

Qi Tian was a little troubled.

"It's a little too messy here."

Jack took the water bottle and sat down, but he still couldn't suppress his excitement. He stared at Qi Tian and said word by word:

"It's true, I'm going to get rich!"

Qi Tian's heart moved, and he quickly took out his mobile phone. After searching online, he could not hide his depression.

"Jack, aren't you talking nonsense? Bitcoin hasn't risen yet?"

He just checked the latest price of Bitcoin and found that it was not much higher than when he bought it.

“Bitcoin?”

Jack's mind was obviously not spinning as fast as before. He shook his head and explained to Qi Tian,

"Of course not, it's a contract, a signed contract!"

"Renew the contract?"

Qi Tian was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that his rookie contract was partially guaranteed for two years, with team options for the other two years.

Could it be...

"No way. Judging from my performance, why doesn't the team execute the option?"

Jack pointed at his employer, laughing at his naivety.

"If the Pacers exercise the team option, aren't they obviously going to use your two years of fighting power for nothing? Then when it comes time to renew the contract, we don't have to be merciful at all, we are just talking about business!"

"But if he talks to you about renewing the contract in advance, it will leave some favor. We can make a little concession then, and everyone will be fine!"

Qi Tian didn't understand.

"What if I go directly to negotiate contracts with other teams?"

Jack thought for a while before he understood what Qi Tian meant.

In 2004, the Cavaliers wanted to keep Boozer, their second-round pick in 2002, for a long time, and built a lineup with the combination of James and Boozer.

But Boozer was very concerned about James taking away his ball rights, so he promised the Cavaliers on the surface, coaxed the Cavaliers to give up his third-year team option, and then turned around and signed a 6-year, 68 million contract with the robbing Jazz.

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The Cavaliers struggled, but all teams have learned their lesson since then.

Jack explained to Qi Tian:

"This is why the management wants to talk to you about renewing your contract in advance. If you sign the contract, they will give up the option to execute the last two years; if you don't sign, they will execute it."

"Of course, based on my experience as a professional manager, I still strongly support your signing."

He smiled and explained the important reason that kept him sleepless for three days:

"I mentioned it to Larry two days ago and directly offered you an annual salary of tens of millions. On the third day, they called back and said they could consider it."

"When the time comes, I will temporarily raise the price, and then let them cut it down, and my annual salary will be tens of millions!"

Qi Tian knew the reason for Jack's excitement.

The agent works on a commission basis, taking a commission of 4% of the total player contract, and the endorsement fee is higher, which can reach 20%.

The annual salary in Qitian's rookie contract is only 500,000 U.S. dollars, and Jack only gets 20,000 U.S. dollars in commission. Although it is a lot, but...

If Qi Tian completes the contract renewal and earns an annual salary of tens of millions, Jack's income will reach 400,000, which is a 20-fold increase from his income two years ago!

How many opportunities can a person encounter in his life to increase his income by 20 times?

No wonder Jack was excited.

"palo!"

Qi Tian rarely showed his true feelings and said to Jack,

"I have said before that you are solely responsible for these matters, and it is all your credit for how much we can negotiate."

As an extremely low-ranked rookie, Qi Tian certainly knew how much Jack had been looked down upon when he contacted the team for a trial training, and how tiring it was to negotiate endorsement contracts.

But Jack knew where his confidence lay. He put down the water in his hand that he had not opened at all, and held Qi Tian's hand. His eyes were full of sincerity.

"Seven, this is all based on your strength. This is the credit of the two of us."