Volume 1: A rookie who breaks into the basketball world Chapter 8: The Pioneer with Deep Wealth
"Jace, I think we can request a trade. You don't have to go to the Trail Blazers."
"Bill, don't apply for a trade. I don't even have a contract. How can I apply for a trade? Threaten not to sign the contract? What if their boss doesn't want to trade us? Beg for a contract later? I don't care about face... Don't worry, I'm a law-abiding foreigner."
“…”
At first, this kid was so excited when he heard the name of the Trail Blazers, but now he is eager to give it a try!
Bill Duffy wondered, wasn't it because they were afraid that you would break the law when you went there?
Fortunately, when Bill Duffy was observing Anthony this past season, he also observed Liu Xiu, who emerged in the middle and late stages of the season. He found that although Liu Xiu had a campus gang background, he never caused trouble, but was not afraid of trouble and was very tough.
He is somewhat , so they can get along well.
Uh...loyalty? Bill Duffy's nervousness was reduced a lot.
Liu Xiu and Anthony have a sense of loyalty, but he has nothing on that with the people on the Trail Blazers.
At noon, the official NBA website announced the deal between the Trail Blazers and the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies sent out first-round pick Liu Xiu, the 13th overall pick, and veteran Wesley Person in exchange for Bonzi Wells from the Trail Blazers.
No matter how you look at it, the Trail Blazers are at a loss in this deal. In the 2001-02 season, Bonzi Wells averaged 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and he is only 27 years old now.
In fact, the Trail Blazers originally wanted a player, but he was later taken away by the logo man.
As expected, the Trail Blazers were criticized again for their operations.
In the past two years, no matter whether the Trail Blazers made good or bad operations, the end result was always being criticized.
For example, in the summer of 2002, the Trail Blazers brought in two quality point guards, Jeff McGinnis and Antonio Daniels. Judging from the team's strength at the time of the trade, the Trail Blazers made a profit. However, both of them ended up lost in the Trail Blazers, and their performance was far inferior to the chips they sent away. With the core lineup still at its peak, the team's strength decreased instead of increased.
In the end, it naturally became a bad operation that was attacked.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Bill Duffy had already taken Anthony to the Nuggets to sign the contract. Now he took the check for 30% of his salary that was withdrawn in advance and went out to party with his relatives and friends.
Things went very smoothly for Anthony. The Nuggets directly gave him 120% of the maximum salary. According to the rules, the team can give the rookie a 20% increase in the fixed contract.
Now that they were there, Bill Duffy could only ask Liu Xiu what to say and what not to say when meeting with the Trail Blazers.
Bill Duffy brought Liu Xiu and the lawyer to the restaurant where they had an appointment with the Trail Blazers and chatted for a while. Then, at 6 pm, several members of the Trail Blazers arrived at the restaurant.
After a brief greeting, we got straight to the point.
Bill Duffy took the contract handed over by the other party's lawyer, but instead of showing it to his own lawyer first, he opened it and looked at the salary part...
"Fa Ke..."
Although, Bill Duffy's worries about Liu Xiu going to the Trail Blazers have been reduced a little.
But who would be willing to send their players there for no reason?
There are always ways, such as finding fault with the salary.
Although few teams have the nerve to reduce the salary when giving rookie contracts, not every team is willing to increase the salary.
Like last year, Bill Duffy had to work hard to get the Rockets to give Yao Ming a 20% salary increase, even though they were initially only willing to give 10%.
Therefore, Bill Duffy was prepared to insist on paying 120% of the salary, otherwise he would request a trade.
This is a legitimate reason and is much more useful than threatening not to sign the contract.
But he just remembered now that the Trail Blazers didn't care about this 20% salary at all...
The Trail Blazers are the luxury tax king in the past few years since the luxury tax was introduced!
The entire basketball world knows that the Knicks are rich, but that is because they are more famous for spending a lot of money and having poor results.
In fact, there are two teams that spend as much money as the Knicks, one is the Mavericks and the other is the Trail Blazers.
The Trail Blazers seemed to have arrived in a hurry. Liu Xiu could see that the process was very fast. They hardly communicated with him. The head coach who looked fierce informed him to gather in Orlando on July 5th.
Looking at the check in his hand for 30% of his rookie season salary drawn in advance... Each team will bring a check when signing a rookie they value, and lottery rookies are naturally considered rookies they value.
Most NBA players were very poor before entering the NBA, and some even couldn't afford to eat if they were not selected.
When the other party asked, Liu Xiu naturally chose to withdraw the money.
The Trail Blazers are wealthy and powerful. The starting salary is $1.49 million, which will increase by 20% to $1.78 million. The second and third years of the rookie contract will increase by 5%, to $1.87 million in the second year and $1.97 million in the third year. The fourth year will increase by 26.1% based on the third year, to $2.48 million.
Liu Xiu heard that the Wizards' first-round tenth pick Jarvis Hayes' salary without any increase is $1.79 million, which is only $10,000 higher than his. The salary increases of the Warriors' Mickael Pietrus and the Supersonics' Nick Collison are 10%, which are both lower than his.
Thinking of this, Liu Xiu felt that the Trail Blazers still had some lovely aspects.
"I'm an NBA player now! I'm rich!"
…
The next morning, Bill Duffy took Liu Xiu to the bank's VIP room and performed the same operation he had performed with Anthony yesterday.
Cashing checks, taking commissions, recommending stable funds, and informing you of the time and method of salary payments for the new season...
"My suggestion is that every time you get your salary, you should use the highest tax rate to buy some stable funds and agree to pay them before next year's tax day... No matter what, Jace, remember to keep enough money for tax!"
"Don't worry, I'm a law-abiding foreigner."
Why doesn't this sound like something a good person would say?
Will a good person repeatedly emphasize that he is a good person?
Bill Duffy really doesn't want his players to go to the Trail Blazers, but things have come to this point and he can only accept the situation. No agent wants his players to go to the Trail Blazers, but there are always a dozen players who have to go.
The selected rookies are easy to deal with. Bill Duffy arranged the three selected rookies in two days, but the next part is the busiest. There are still seven or eight undrafted players who have not been arranged. It does not mean that all the 10 or so players signed every year can enter the NBA. In most cases, those who can eventually enter the NBA are those who are selected.
After finishing Liu Xiu's business, Bill Duffy started to get busy again.
At noon, Liu Xiu and Anthony, who had been partying for two days, had a meal together. After that, Liu Xiu would return to Syracuse and Anthony would return to Baltimore to spend time with their relatives and friends and would soon start a new life.
After fighting side by side for a year on and off the court, when the two decided to leave college and enter the NBA, they thought about what the scene would be like when they parted.
But when we really parted, there wasn't so much sentimentality, but more blessings to each other and expectations for ourselves.
…
…
Syracuse, a city in central New York State, also known as Salt City, was once a major salt city in the United States. Now the salt industry has declined, but the consumer sectors such as culture, education, tourism, etc. are very developed. Syracuse University, one of the core industries in the education industry, is a world-class university. The school's public administration major ranks first in the United States, and several majors such as architecture, tourism, and law are among the top ten in the United States.
As in other wealthy cities in the United States, as residents gain a little more money, they move from inner-city neighborhoods to the suburbs.
In the past two years, most people cannot afford to move, even if they have earned enough money. After the Internet bubble crisis, a large amount of funds shifted from the stock market to the real estate market, and housing prices have skyrocketed in the past two years.
And Liu Xiu knew that this was just the beginning.
Liu Xiu looked at the house in front of him where he had lived for several months, and in total for three years including his original memories... "My cheap uncle is so lucky!"
A few years ago, the whole United States was buying stocks. Countless people sold their properties and fixed assets to buy stocks, and housing prices plummeted.
His cheap uncle also bought stocks, but after making enough money to buy a house, he sold the stocks and bought a house.
Then the Internet bubble burst...
When Liu Xiu heard about this for the first time, he sighed that if one stood at the forefront of the trend, even an ordinary person with no ambition could earn enough money for half a lifetime in a few months.
In the early 1990s, he married an American girl who was traveling in China, got a green card and worked in the United States. He also took care of his sister's son. When Liu Xiu was in high school, he was busy helping Liu Xiu complete the admission to Syracuse University, and then let Liu Xiu stay for three years...
Whether in his memory or in his personal experience over the past few months, Liu Xiu felt the strong family love in a foreign country.
It’s just that this family relationship is a bit heavy now… “I should have known not to buy so many things.”
Liu Xiu is now in front of the villa, with a lot of bags hanging on his body. It's not right to put them down, but it's also difficult to take out the keys if he doesn't put them down...
Liu Xiu is now very conflicted. Should he put his things down and take out the key, or try again?
When he got off the car just now, the driver had a hard time hanging the things on him. Now he has to put them down... and then he has to pick them up one by one slowly. How troublesome!
Liu Xiu is now becoming more and more lazy due to the lack of training... It's not that he doesn't want to do anything, but he always thinks about the optimal solution when doing things, and he won't force it if he can't think of it.
"Your nephew has returned home in glory... No, he passed the imperial examination... That's not right either... Is there no one to welcome your rich nephew back home?"
Liu Xiu remembered that he had called his aunt!
At this time, the sound of "dong dong dong dong" was rang out.
This running sound...is not good!
The moment the door was opened, Liu Xiu threw things everywhere like a fairy scattering flowers. A loli flew over and Liu Xiu caught her skillfully.
"Your sister... No, this is my sister..."
After Liu Xiu shouted, he looked at the large and small bags of things thrown on both sides and on the wall and bounced into the yard, and suddenly he felt a little convinced of himself.
If he were asked to do it again, he really didn't think he could replicate the rain...it was too evenly distributed!
"My brother is so stingy! He went to New York by himself and didn't even take me with him!"
Qing'er had an expression that said, "You'd better coax me, or I won't pay attention to you."
It’s just... Liu Xiu supported his unfortunate sister’s back... Just now he was so careful that he even put the things on the ground and took them out one by one, and it was troublesome. Now they are all over the ground, which is even more troublesome. He is so angry!
This time I have to learn a lesson!
"Okay, I'll definitely take you with me next time I go out. Come down quickly and help me get my things in."
"I do not want!"
" Okay , I'll do it myself. Fortunately, I didn't buy those bottles and jars..."
