My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 778 I Want to Be the King of Asia
He rattled off the five hundred dollars like the back of his hand: “Sean Camp, 6 feet 10 inches…”

It doesn't matter anymore. Wei Dong almost threw his wife off, and Qin Yu Ye felt like he was sitting on a wild horse!

Sean Camp?!
Rain Man, Sean Camp?!
This is a super tough player who could go toe-to-toe with Jordan during his prime and not be at a disadvantage!
But what this guy is more famous for is that he had a bunch of kids, illegitimate children everywhere, and squandered his talent and wealth.

An absolute All-Star level player, he rose like a comet and fell just as quickly, going bankrupt rapidly after retiring because he had to pay too much in child support.

He definitely had the strength of a 75-star player, but because he was too reckless, his peak period was very short.

A match made in heaven!

What Wei Dong wanted were these short-term mercenaries, one or two years' worth, to help him build a reputation in Southeast Asia and even domestically and internationally.

He doesn't care about the other person's future career.

Even Qin Yuye can understand this principle. When a bunch of ordinary basketball players, or even top players at the national team level, play, onlookers will wonder what the point of doing this is.
How can it help your business?

Just look at the performance of someone as brilliant as Camp, and you'll know that he'll be admired by all of humanity.

No matter if you understand relativity or the Symphony of Destiny, no talent is as intuitive as this kind of physical gift.

Moreover, this guy has maxed out the violent aesthetics attribute, making his berserk state the most visually appealing!

Even those who know nothing about basketball will be glued to the screen.

This is a natural traffic magnet, a topic generator, a money laundering machine, an investment project, a sports charity...

No wonder even at his most extravagant, Belt Bro got involved in football; it had so many uses.

Of course, almost everyone in the NBA has this kind of top talent; at least the main players of each team are at this level.

So his appearance here is stunning, but not so precious as to be irreplaceable.

Who knows if he can maintain his level in two or three years, or if a two or three-year period of rehabilitation will be enough to stop him from doing bad things.

Many seventeen-year-olds possess extraordinary talent for flying and escaping, but many also perish within a couple of years.

Capitalists won't gamble on such uncertain investments; they only care about the results.

Wei Dong knew that this guy had at least a few years of peak performance and was definitely at the All-Star level. This was his peak performance before reaching his peak.

This might even be its peak period.

He, a guy with some extraordinary energy, knew very well that seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys who liked sports had boundless energy that was about to explode.

During his high school years, he could engage in intense physical activity for four or five hours straight in the afternoon on the school basketball court without feeling exhausted.

For most people, seventeen or eighteen is their peak physical age, and it takes several more years to hone their skills and gradually achieve a perfect blend of professional excellence.

This thing clearly doesn't need polishing.

What skills are needed for a powerful dunk?
He was a guy whose physical attributes were so good that he could overwhelm any skill, and later he was able to dunk and defend against Jordan one-on-one.

Wei Dong was already drooling over it.

“Okay, are you... are you interested in coming to Hong Kong with us to make money? I'll give you $100,000 a year. You can stay for a year or several years, and you can come back to Citibank anytime. Your job is to help me talk to him. I'll give him $200,000 a year. Also, that guy with the afro, that guy with the headband, that white guy, and that guy in the red T-shirt, each of them will get $50,000... $80,000. I'll give you $1,000 if you can get one of them. Even if you don't want to go to Hong Kong, that's fine too.”

no problem!

I go!

Fred scrambled down the stairs.

Waving a check is also the simplest method...

The couple sat in the stands and witnessed Sean Camp looking in their direction as Fred gestured wildly, and then nodding without hesitation!
Two hundred thousand dollars is already quite a lot.

In reality, when Citizens' players can't make it to the NBA, they either grit their teeth and persevere in playing domestically to gain exposure and popularity, hoping to be noticed by fate, or they go overseas to earn money.

Being a star player in a top European league can earn you an annual salary of two to three hundred thousand US dollars plus subsidies and bonuses.

This demonstrates Citibank's economic strength; even in the NBA, the worst of the four major leagues, its revenue level far surpasses all its global counterparts.

Second-tier leagues like France and Greece have around 100,000 players.

However, there was one option that Wei Dong hadn't expected, but Fred explained it to him and it became very, very simple.

Bet365 League!
As a Southeast Asian country that has long been home to Citizens' troops, it has a long tradition of inviting Citizens' players to play.

Countless mixed-race individuals were born.

So this Southeast Asian league is actually on par with the second-tier European leagues, and it's a place where struggling Citizens players often go.

Several young men who clearly had no idea where HK was, or even that the place was known, immediately agreed without hesitation when they heard it was right next to Fairfield.

Looking at the six sweaty young men, mostly high school students, standing in front of him, Fred flattered him with his explanation that he had asked for an extra substitute, and that he thought the kid was pretty good.

If that makes Wei Dong laugh out loud, then let's do it together.

FrieslandCampina did indeed naturalize a lot of American players, making it difficult for the mainland national teams to compete. It turns out that's where it all started. "Okay, after we form a team, we'll go to FrieslandCampina to play a game and spread your name. Besides, I'm a partner of Chrysler and Apple, so I'll keep you in the spotlight and famous in North America, and help you get into the NBA and make big money as soon as possible!"

This made everyone even happier. It was obvious that they weren't on the draft list this year, so they could play games to maintain their form, get paid, and keep their exposure.

There was no room for hesitation.

Let Wei Dong give each person a $500 red envelope as a greeting gift, then everyone go to shower and change clothes. Should we inform our families? We'll have dinner at the hotel to sign the contract, and then watch the talent show in the evening.

In the 1980s, when professional basketball was just beginning to make big money, there weren't many second-generation players yet; these guys were mostly from the lower rungs of society.

Three of them came with their parents. One of them, like Sean Kemp, had come all the way from out of town with great difficulty to scrape together some travel expenses, just for this little bit of exposure. And now he's really made a profit.

An annual salary of $80,000—let alone the fact that the highest salary for a blue-collar worker in the Motor City was only a little over $3,000 a month—just think about the purchasing power of the dollar. That's enough to buy eight affordable cars. Just convert it to later years and you'll see what that level of income was like.

A kid in his early twenties earning this salary.

Wei Dong didn't even know if it would get them killed.

But what does it matter to him what happens to the Citizens' kids? Just like he had no intention of interfering with Kemp's career as a playboy... well, he still had to. He could imagine the kind of masculine charm this two-meter-tall humanoid self-propelled gun would have in Asia.

Later, some NBA stars went to the right bank to make money after semi-retirement, and the criticism was so overwhelming that they couldn't keep up.

Being too weak and indecisive can negatively impact one's investments.

Kamp didn't go anywhere, not even to shower or change his clothes, and stayed close to Rang Weidong and the others.

Wei Dong noticed: "Aren't you going to change your clothes and get your luggage?"

Kemp shook his head: "Damn, sir."

At this moment, Wei Dong had a feeling of déjà vu.

But he was still excited. Several other parents were also discussing it enthusiastically. One of them was going to Hong Kong to live with him and accompany him, while the other two were entrusted to the boss. Judging from the appearance of the husband and wife, they were respectable people.

Once everyone has arrived, we'll head to the hotel.

Qin Yuye had already secretly made phone calls to request the arrangement of a lawyer and to raise some cash.

The days when mobile transfers weren't possible were truly inconvenient.

But it really has an impact.

Back in the small conference room specially prepared by the luxury hotel, Wei Dong showed Liu Xiaoyong the location of Hong Kong across the ocean on the world map that Liu Xiaoyong had immediately bought: "It's very simple. Training and competitions are mostly commercial exhibition matches, without professional championships. Just play your heart out and beat everyone to a pulp."

The young people quickly applauded.

The couple had already agreed on the terms: "We'll each receive two thousand US dollars upfront, another eight thousand US dollars upon arrival in Hong Kong, and the remainder will be paid monthly salaries, plus bonuses, competition subsidies, and subsidies for three round-trip airfares to North America throughout the year..."

The parents clapped along with him, and Kemp clapped too, sitting in the corner, not at all like someone who was receiving $200,000.

Fred actually knew to not share their income information with each other.

But Wei Dong appointed him as the general manager of the Dong Sheng International Basketball Team, taking care of all their needs: "We currently only have a small, rudimentary arena in Hong Kong, but in the future we plan to build a huge stadium like Madison Square Garden. We hope that even if you make it to the NBA, you'll still come and play often. I believe you'll love Hong Kong..."

That young white man only knew about Hong Kong, saying he really admired Bruce Lee's hometown!

This immediately sparked the excitement of the others, who all demonstrated some kung fu moves and talked about the most popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon this year.

Only Camp remained seated in the corner, a slightly restrained,憨笑 (a kind of simple, honest smile).

He was nothing like the dashing playboy Wei Dong had imagined, nor was he the unruly thieving boy he had imagined.

It started to dawn on me—he's still just a child!

If I could go back to being nineteen, wouldn't I have undergone earth-shattering changes?

If you look at him a few more times, you'll notice something, and you'll immediately sit up even more stiffly.

The contrast between his arrogant and violent demeanor on the court and his behavior on the field is huge!
Wei Dong quickly realized why scouts and team managers hadn't given this young man, who was still in his formative years, any guidance or training.

I didn't go to the rooftop restaurant from last night today.

The luxurious and grand restaurant inside the hotel, Xibanya, was where Wei Dong instructed the architecture students to pair up with the basketball players one-on-one to take care of and interact with them, while the extra students were assigned to take care of the players' parents.

The young players, who have basically never experienced high-end consumption, and the mainland architecture students, who are also experiencing it for the first time, can support each other.

But Wei Dong still noticed that Kemp didn't communicate at all.

Qin Yuye noticed: "She seems a bit like... Xiaodie back then."

Yes, women do have a more acute sixth sense.

This was the aura that Wei Dong had sensed earlier; this guy was a bit too introverted.

Perhaps that's why he's so unrestrained on the court.

At this point, Wei Dong no longer wanted to stay at Citibank. What business was he talking about? He wanted to go back to playing basketball!
Unrivaled throughout Asia!
(End of this chapter)