Reborn Industrial Tycoon

Chapter 644 A huge pit

Now Adidas really needs a brand spokesperson who can carry the flag.

Historically, Adidas signed a lifetime contract with Tracy McGrady this year. Tracy McGrady, who had just reached his peak, was Adidas's leader.

Adidas then formed the so-called Adidas Five, namely Tracy McGrady, Duncan, Garnett, Arenas and Billups. These five were all at their peak at the time, and were among the best in the NBA in terms of strength and popularity.

Top notch.

With the support of the five major superstars, Adeas was extremely prosperous at that time, and even vaguely overshadowed Nike's limelight.

Now that Tracy McGrady has long been signed by Feiyue Sports, Arenas is also under Feiyue Sports, leaving Adidas without a flag-bearer and unable to put together a five-tiger lineup.

Counting on Garnett or Duncan? It's okay for insider players to do endorsements, but if you really rely on them to sell shoes, there's a high probability that they won't be reliable.

Therefore, Adidas urgently needs a superstar-level star to carry the banner of the entire brand.

Nowadays, Jay Williams, who is hyped by the media as the new generation successor of Jordan, has naturally entered Adidas's sight.

The person in charge of Adidas in the United States is named Sony Vaccaro. This person is called the "Godfather of Sneakers". What he is best at is discovering young talents.

Vaccaro was Nike's marketing director. In 1984, it was he who persuaded Nike president Phil Knight to sign Jordan, who had just entered the NBA, thus making Nike the world's top brand.

Historically, Adeas signed Kobe and Tracy McGrady, all of which were done by Vaccaro.

But unfortunately, Adidas executives in Germany did not approve of Vaccaro's marketing strategy.

For example, in 2003, Vaccaro planned to sign James. At that time, Vaccaro had already negotiated a contract worth hundreds of millions with James. As long as the money was in place, James would be the spokesperson of Adidas.

However, the Adidas headquarters in Germany ultimately only gave Vaccaro a budget of $60 million, causing James to invest in Nike.

This incident was called "the stupidest bargain ever" by Vaccaro. It was also because of this incident that Vaccaro resigned angrily and then went to Reebok.

If it were anyone else, if they encountered the same thing, they would probably resign.

The Adidas headquarters in Germany has made it clear that it does not trust Vaccaro and even had to bargain over the price of signing James. So what is the point of Vaccaro staying?

At this time, the conflict between Vaccaro and the German headquarters has not yet intensified, and since Adidas has not signed a superstar-level spokesperson, Vaccaro has a signing budget of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Faced with the media's pursuit of Jay Williams, Vaccaro is already moved.

Vaccaro's most proud achievement was convincing Nike to sign Jordan. This year's NBA draft is like a repeat of 1984, which makes Vaccaro even more confident in Jay Williams.

Vaccaro even had a feeling, could this be the second chance God gave him?

People always have this mentality. I have succeeded here before, and if the same opportunity comes again, I will definitely succeed again.

On the contrary, if I have failed here before, if the same opportunity comes again, my psychological shadow may be at work, and I will worry about whether I will fail again.

This situation is most common in sports arenas.

For example, in basketball games, some players are very good at shooting buzzer-beating shots, not just because they are accurate or have a big heart, but because they have made similar buzzer-beating shots before.

So when the same situation occurs again, they will have a psychological suggestion that they can make a winning shot again, and naturally they will dare to take action.

And if an athlete makes a mistake at a critical moment, and then in a similar situation, the psychological shadow will cause him to make another mistake, and he may never be able to defeat himself.

For example, American shooting star Emmons failed in the last step of three consecutive Olympic Games.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Emmons missed the target in the last ring and lost the gold medal with a three-ring lead. This psychological shadow has been with him ever since.

At the 2008 BJ Olympics, Emmons could win the gold medal as long as he hit an 8 in the last link. This was not difficult for him who often hit a 9.8 or above. However, he only hit a 4.4 and lost again.

gold medal.

Then at the 2012 London Olympics, it was the final round again. Emmons only needed to shoot 8.4, but he only hit 7.6 and fell for the third time on the last shot.

When Nike signed Jordan, it could be said that it was a desperate move. For Jordan, Nike blocked almost everything and spent all its funds on Jordan. In the end, the gamble was successful.

As the leader in signing Jordan, Vaccaro is very familiar with the entire process of this matter.

At this time, Vaccaro seemed to have returned to the same situation back then. He closed his eyes and silently recalled every detail of that year.

After a long time, Vaccaro opened his eyes, with a firm look in his eyes.

"Eighteen years ago, I succeeded. Today, I can also succeed!"

Vaccaro picked up the phone, dialed a number, and then said: "Promise Jay Williams' agent that we can provide him with a ten-year, $100 million contract!"

…

At the same time, at Nike headquarters, Dyson was also considering the offer from Jay Williams' agent.

"One hundred million US dollars in ten years. If he can become the second Jordan, then this price is really not high, but will he become the second Jordan?"

Dyson put down the newspaper in his hand and continued: "The opinions of these sports commentators can only be used as a reference. I know them very well. When they want to praise an athlete, even if it is a loser, they will say it is Jordan's."

!”

"But this Jay Williams is indeed very good. He is the strongest player in college. This is undisputed. His dominance in college is even worse than Jordan's back then."

Speaking was another executive.

Just listen to the executive continue to say: "And I have received news that Feiyue Sports is bound to win for him. Feiyue's vision in selecting rookie spokespersons is obvious to all. Kobe, Tracy McGrady, and Carter are all superstars in the league now. Since

They all have their eyes on Jay Williams, he will definitely become a superstar!"

Dyson shook his head: "Maybe Feiyue Sports' previous success was all a coincidence! They also took a fancy to Kwame Brown last year, but Kwame Brown's performance was not satisfactory.

Just two hours ago, I just had a phone call with Jordan. We discussed the future development of Kwame Brown. Jordan told me personally that he may have made a mistake this time.

Kwame Brown is not as good as the media said before. It has been a season and he has not adapted to the rhythm of NBA games. With the potential he has shown so far, it is almost impossible to become a star player."

Jordan's vision for picking rookies is indeed terrible, but Jordan is not stupid.

Kwame Brown has played next to Jordan for a whole season. How can he not clearly see his potential with Jordan's experience?

At this time, Jordan had understood and personally selected a parallel import number one pick.

For this reason, in the 2002 NBA draft, the Wizards selected Jared Jeffries, who was also a player who could play center and power forward, with the same positioning as Kwame Brown.

This probably means that Kwame Brown's big account is going to be exhausted, so he should quickly open a small account to be prepared.

The relationship between Jordan and Nike is that both will be prosperous and both will suffer losses. Therefore, Jordan did not hide the fact that he chose the wrong career last year when he built a new account. Instead, he bluntly told Nike that he was mistaken. Kwame Brown was a

Parallel imports.

For Nike's top executives, Jordan's opinion is still very important.

Just listen to Dyson continue to say; "Last summer, there were many articles in the media boasting about Kwame Brown, and Feiyue Sports also showed that it was determined to win Kwame Brown.

As a result, after we spent a lot of money to sign Kwame Brown, Feiyue Sports did not compete with us, but secretly signed Arenas, a second-round pick from the Warriors.

At that time, we thought that Feiyue Sports could not compete with us in terms of capital, so we did not sign Kwame Brown. But now it seems that they may have deliberately spread the news, saying that they were determined to win Kwame Brown, just to deceive him.

Other brands took the bait.

The second-round pick they signed, Arenas, performed very well last season. His performance completely exceeded the level of a second-round pick, and he has now firmly established himself as the Warriors' starter.

So I think this year's Feiyue Sports is likely to be like last year. They are determined to win Jay Williams, but it is just a cover. They are doing this just to attract other sports brands to take the bait, and then consume the funds of competitors!

What's more, this year's No. 1 pick Yao is originally the spokesperson of Feiyue Sports. Feiyue Sports has no need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to sign Jay Williams. They can just work hard to market the new No. 1 pick.

It’s a good publicity effect.”

"So you think Jay Williams is a decoy?" someone asked.

"It's very possible!" Dyson nodded.

"Are we at Nike going to give up on Jay Williams? What if he really becomes the second Jordan?" another person asked.

"We won't completely give up on Jay Williams. We will still quote the normal price. As for whether Jay Williams accepts it, it's up to God!"

Dyson continued: "Compared to Jay Williams, I am more optimistic about Kobe Bryant. He has won three championships. In the current NBA, the one closest to Jordan must be Kobe!

Since they are all Jordan's successors, instead of choosing a rookie Jay Williams, why don't we choose a star closer to Jordan?

Even if Kobe can't become the second Jordan, he is still a superstar now, and it is not a loss to sign him. So I think our focus in the future should be on Kobe. We must find a way to poach Kobe from Feiyue Sports

!

In addition, there are excellent young people every year, and maybe next year, even better young people will join the NBA. We have set aside some budget this year to prepare for next summer!"

…

"Boss, Jay Williams' agent told me that if we don't raise the price, he will accept Adidas' offer!" James Bond said.

"Okay, tell that agent that we're quitting!" Li Weidong let out a sigh of relief.

Last year, he cheated Nike with Kwame Brown, and this year he cheated Adidas with Jay Williams. Li Weidong felt happy instantly.

Although Nike and Adidas are both top international sports brands, their budgets for signing brand spokespersons are also limited.

Last year, Nike spent a lot of money on Kwame Brown, so it seemed more conservative to sign the spokesperson this year.

Now that Adidas has wasted a budget of 100 million US dollars on Jay Williams, Li Weidong estimates that Adidas will not be able to come up with enough budget to poach Tracy McGrady in the short term. The spokesperson of Feiyue is temporarily stable.

In the 2002 draft, Jay Williams was indeed the superstar of that draft. After all, the honors he won in college were not fake. How could he have gotten so many without two tools?

award!

The failure to win the No. 1 pick is something Jay Williams has always been worried about. He always believed that he should be the No. 1 pick in that class. Therefore, he couldn't wait to prove himself.

In the Basketball World Championships in the summer of 2002, there was a confrontation between the Dream Five Team and the Chinese Men's Basketball Team. Jay Williams tried to dunk on Chairman Yao's head, but was severely blocked by Chairman Yao. This was considered a new technology.

The first confrontation between the No. 1 pick and the No. 2 pick.

After entering the NBA, Jay Williams failed to realize his talent, averaging 9.5 points and 4.7 assists per game. He was only selected to the Rookie Second Team, which was completely inconsistent with his status as the second overall pick.

However, Jay Williams occasionally has some wonderful performances. For example, he scored a huge triple-double of 26 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists on Kidd's head, which is enough to prove that he has a high ceiling.

Unfortunately, in June of 2003, Jay Williams hit a telephone pole while riding his motorcycle, directly destroying his career.

The left knee ligament was ruptured and three nerves in the left leg were injured. Jay Williams can still stand up and walk, which is considered a perfect recovery. It is undoubtedly a fantasy to want to play in the fierce NBA!

As a result, this person who was ranked second in the same year as Chairman Yao was quickly forgotten by people.

Obviously, for sports brands, Jay Williams is a huge pit, a bigger pit than Kwame Brown!

However, this huge hole was indeed a good prospect for a superstar in the 2002 NBA draft.

So Li Weidong simply took advantage of this and made a big trap, waiting for other sports brands to jump.

Nike has been deceived by Kwame Brown, and it has learned a lot from its mistakes, so it has been much more cautious this year and has not been fooled.

Adidas obviously didn't know about Li Weidong's insidiousness. They also dreamed of signing the second Jordan, so they stepped on the trap.

"I think by this time next year, Jay Williams, who is lying in the hospital, may thank me. That's 100 million US dollars. Even if he has to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he can still live a happy life!" Li Weidong thought to himself.

Then Li Weidong asked: "James, has Stoudemire agreed to our contract?"

"No, he's still thinking about it," James Bond reported.

"Urge him. If necessary, you can increase the price appropriately. Also, see if he has any additional needs. If they can be met, try to satisfy him." Li Weidong ordered.

Among the rookies in 2002, apart from Chairman Yao, the one most worthy of being signed as a spokesperson is of course the "little bully" Stoudemire.

Stoudemire has incredible physical fitness, comprehensive skills, and gorgeous playing style. The key is that he has Nash beside him to feed the ball, so Stoudemire often scores wonderful goals, so he will be popular among fans.

It is very popular in the United States.

In the selection of the best rookie that year, Stoudemire was able to defeat Chairman Yao because of his higher popularity.

At that time, the two averaged the same points per game, 13.5 points per game. In other statistics, Stoudemire had 0.6 more rebounds and 0.4 steals than Chairman Yao, but Chairman Yao had 0.7 assists and 0.7 more blocks than Stoudemire.

The value of 0.7 assists is definitely much higher than that of 0.6 rebounds, because every assist means scoring, and every rebound only means not losing points. It goes without saying which one is more important, scoring or not losing points.

.

If we compare steals and blocks, steals are slightly better in terms of income.

Stealing means a change of ball rights, but it may not result in scoring. Blocking means not losing points, but there is also a probability of causing a change of ball rights.

But Chairman Yao's 0.7 blocks are definitely more valuable than Stoudemire's 0.4 steals.

Assuming that each blocked shot is worth two points, then 0.7 blocked shots means at least 1.4 points lost. This does not include the situation where your team regains the ball after blocking the shot.

The transfer of ball possession caused by each steal is equivalent to a successful defense plus an offensive opportunity.

One defense is equivalent to losing 2 points, but the subsequent offense may not be able to score. Calculated based on the 50% offensive shooting rate, one more point can be scored. In total, one steal can gain 3 points.

So 0.4 steals is a gain of 1.2 points.

Therefore, from the data point of view, Chairman Yao is obviously better, and the Rookie of the Year that year should be Chairman Yao.

But in the end, the Rookie of the Year award fell to Stoudemire because Stoudemire was more popular.

It is no exaggeration to say that if it were not for the help of Chinese fans, Chairman Yao might not have been able to beat Stoudemire in the All-Star votes.

Historically, Stoudemire was also a very competent sneaker spokesperson. After this guy endorsed Nike, he only collected sneakers from Nike, and they were basically the AIR series and ZOOM series that he endorsed.

He has high popularity, good data, and works hard as an endorser. Signing Stoudemire as an endorser is very cost-effective for a sports brand.

In the 2002 NBA draft, Stoudemire was reduced to the ninth overall pick, which was also related to his advertising endorsement.

Stoudemire did not go to college. He was the only high school player among the 2002 rookie class.

The reason why he did not go to college was not because no college wanted him, but because he violated the NCAA's sponsor regulations.

At that time, Stoudemire's mother committed a crime, and Stoudemire needed money to hire a lawyer for her mother, so he communicated privately with a certain brand and asked the other party to send money.

However, at that time, the NCAA prohibited athletes from accepting sponsorships, so the universities that were originally interested in Stoudemire were deterred. Stoudemire was also forced to give up going to college and directly participate in the NBA draft.

But the year before, there happened to be three high school insiders who participated in the NBA draft. They were No. 1 pick Kwame Brown, No. 2 pick Tyson Chandler and No. 4 pick Eddie Curry.

The performance of these three high school insiders in their rookie seasons was outstanding. Especially the No. 1 pick, Kwame Brown, averaged 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Even the great Michael Jordan could not train him, and he has been regarded as a parallel import by many people.

Stoudemire's positioning is similar to that of Kwame Brown. Both of them can play center and power forward. Therefore, Kwame Brown's performance has improved, which directly led to the decline of Stoudemire's draft stock.

Therefore, in the 2002 draft, among the first eight teams, five teams selected post players, but none of them selected Stoudemire. It was not until the ninth overall pick that the Suns selected him.

It is not difficult to sign Stoudemire in his rookie season.

At this time, Xiaosi was short of money, and his mother was still in jail!

As long as you have money, hire a better lawyer, and you can at least get the person released on bail.

So Feiyue Sports spent some money, hired a lawyer for Stoudemire's mother, and successfully signed this "little bully".

The update was delivered today. Thank you to all the parents for subscribing. I will take a day off tomorrow to think about the next plot.