Champion Rules

Chapter 27 026: The Destined Child of the Iberian Peninsula (Please Read!)
In the past many years, Nike has not encountered much competition and has become an absolute dominant force in the sports shoe industry.

It all started in 1984 when Nike recruiter Sonny Vaccaro made a decision that defied industry convention: We had to devote all of the company's marketing resources to one star player.

So, when Converse approached Michael Jordan, who was just about to enter the professional basketball world, with an offer of $10 a year, which was almost the same as that of other top NBA stars, Sonny Vaccaro directly offered him a five-year, $250 million contract to end all suspense.

No player has ever made so much money from sneaker marketing in the past. This huge difference even made the Smiling Assassin jealous of Jordan, and led to a series of grievances between the two.

Sonny Vaccaro's strategy was a huge success. He allowed the company, which had difficulty paying its employees, to dominate the entire sneaker market and make billions of dollars.

But in 1991, Nike abruptly severed ties with Sonny, and the reason remains a mystery.

People only know that Nike Chairman Phil Knight is a competitive dictator. He believes that Nike's success depends on players and smart people, but not on any specific player or smart person.

He often said: "You better work hard for me, because if I can't stand you, I'll kill you."

So when Sonny Vaccaro's voice in Nike grew, his split with Phil Knight was almost an inevitable result.

Despite no longer having the powerful backing of Nike, the name "Sonny Vaccaro" is still a powerful weapon.

He decided to fight Phil Knight.

So the exiled Nike godfather joined Adidas, which had little sales share in North America at the time. Relying on the huge influence of the ABCD training camp he founded, he discovered a kid named Kobe Bryant before Nike, and made the second big gamble in his life after 1984.

He used all of Adidas North America's signing budget to sign this kid who hadn't even reached puberty.

Facts have proved that his unique vision has not deteriorated, and the strategy of "pour all the company's marketing resources into one star player" is still not outdated.

When Kobe Bryant wore Adidas shoes and dominated the Finals, the German brand had the perfect marketing machine. Adidas was on the rise, with its market share increasing dramatically, which drove Phil Knight crazy.

Not long after, Sonny signed another super talent, Tracy McGrady, which allowed Adidas to grab more market share from Nike.

Phil Knight was furious. He didn't know how Sonny found these kids before Nike. The dictator made an iron rule: he would never let the next superstar fall into the hands of a German brand again.

He does what he says.

This summer, Sonny Vaccaro and Nike are once again engaged in a fierce battle for LeBron James.

At the beginning, Sonny still had the upper hand. He was good at dealing with high school players, and his relationship with LBJ began in 2001.

With his genius lobbying ability, LeBron not only agreed to sign the contract, he also convinced LBJ's mother that this would become the most transformative cooperation in sports history - if Li Hongzhang had taken Sonny to negotiate, the Eight-Nation Alliance might have had to pay some compensation.

But when the final decision was made, the amount written on the Adidas contract was not the $100 million that Sonny Vaccaro had agreed upon before, but much less than that number, only less than 60 million.

Sonny was dumbfounded, realizing Adidas was getting cold feet. Adding fuel to the fire, his arch-rival Phil Knight signed LeBron James for $9000 million and, along with free agent Kobe Bryant, reclaimed absolute control of the sneaker market.

(The claim that Kobe was abandoned by Adidas because of the Eagle County incident is pure fiction. Before the Eagle County incident, Kobe had already paid $800 million out of his own pocket to buy out his contract with Adidas due to irreconcilable conflicts with Adidas. So yes, Adidas lost two of the most influential players of the 21st century purely out of its own stupidity.)
In this bloody battle for star players, Phil Knight had the last laugh.

The value of the phrase "competitors are idiots" is still increasing.

Sonny Vaccaro was deeply saddened by Adidas's near betrayal. He apologized to LBJ and his mother privately and submitted a letter of resignation to Adidas.

"We could have changed the times, but victory is not for the faint of heart," he wrote in his resignation letter.

Sonny was not as timid as Adidas. This short and fat Italian, known as the "Godfather of Sneakers" in the industry, vowed to fight his arch-rival Phil Knight to the end.

Now he has joined Reebok, hoping to make a comeback.

From 1984 to 2003, Nike, Adidas, and Reebok engaged in countless battles. Throughout these battles, Sonny Vaccaro clearly understood one constant in the sneaker market: "throwing all of a company's marketing resources behind a single star player" was the fastest way for a brand to turn itself around.

So after coming to Reebok, he was ready to make the third big gamble in his life.

He has to sign the next Michael Jordan before he becomes Michael Jordan.

This time, his sights are no longer on the ABCD training camp, or even North America.

He traveled across the ocean to the Iberian Peninsula, knowing that the next child of destiny might be waiting for him in Madrid.
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Lynch's La Liga debut with 31 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks shocked the entire professional basketball world.

It wouldn't be surprising if a player who went from the NBA to Europe achieved this data.

It would not be surprising if an undrafted player who played college basketball in the United States achieved these numbers in Europe.

But what if the player who achieved this statistic was a 17-year-old kid who had never played professional basketball before?

Lynch became a super idol in Madrid overnight. Many girls covered Lynch's posters on top of David Beckham's posters as a source of strength when digging at night.

The boys formed a long queue outside the Real Madrid fan shop and the No. 10 jersey sold out in a flash.

Even Sonny Vaccaro, who has seen a lot of things in the world, was amazed: in the streets and alleys of this football capital, young boys wearing No. 10 basketball vests can be seen everywhere.

He decided to stay in Madrid for a while because there was a European League match next, Real Madrid vs. Russian League champions CSKA Moscow.

He would get a close-up look at how the kid played.

CSKA Moscow performed very well in the EuroLeague last season, reaching the final four.

Although it is a pity that we failed to win the championship, every season the team that can reach the final four of the European League can be regarded as the big devil of European basketball that season.

The match was a packed house and Lynch, now a superstar in Madrid, had a strong box office appeal.

He also performed very well in the game.

Contrary to popular belief, this Russian team didn't rely on a formidable front line. After all, there was only one Andrei Kirilenko. CSKA Moscow's strength lay in their two small, agile scoring machines: American guard Marcus Brown and Russian national team guard J.R. Holden.

The former was selected to the first team of the EuroLeague last season and had short stints with the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons.

The latter is actually an American, after all, Slavic peoples do not produce black people. However, because JR. Holden is an outstanding basketball player and has played in the Russian league for a long time, Russia has specially approved his naturalization.

This operation is like China specially approving Stephen Marbury during the BJ era to join the national team.

This produced an extremely ironic result: the Slavic Eagle had to rely on two black guns of the North American bald eagle to sweep across Europe.

Before the game started, Marcus Brown faced the interview camera fiercely:

"Yes, I heard that Lynch is likely to be selected in the top three in the 2004 NBA draft. But I also know something else: Real Madrid is the only team in all European leagues that did not make the playoffs last season, and their opponent was the Russian league champion!

Even though he's said to be very talented, he's still a high school student. Do you expect a high school student to lead a team that can't even make the playoffs to defeat the Russian champions?"

After the game.
"Oh, you know, Lynch is an extremely good player. I've said a long time ago that he's not an ordinary high school student. You can see that he's destined for greatness," Marcus Brown said after recalling the game. "You can imagine his bright future. He's awesome!"

Marcus Brown's main feature is schizophrenia.

Who made the Russian champions lose to Real Madrid, who finished tenth in La Liga last season, by 12 points?

Lynch had trouble shooting today, going 0 for 4 from beyond the three-point line, and his efficiency from mid-range was just barely passing.

His shooting still depends a lot on his touch and condition, and he can't be as accurate as a sharpshooter in every game.

Although his shooting performance was not satisfactory, Lynch still dominated the game with his terrifying defensive ability.

Tonight, Lynch and Louis Brock completely locked down Marcus Brown.

Louis Bullock put pressure on him without reservation and did not give him any chance to shoot three-pointers.

And once Marcus Brown chooses to break through, Lynch, waving his long arms, will always appear in time to deal with him.

Such a defensive strategy will certainly allow the black Slav JR. Holden to explode, and he scored 33 points today.

However, Marcus Brown only scored 8 points with 3 of 16 shots in a single game, which made it difficult for JR. Holden to carry the team alone.

Marcus Brown went home to sleep today, and as soon as he got into bed, Lynch was on his mind.

Lynch finally scored 23 points, 16 rebounds and 6 blocks, and Louis Bullock scored 25 points.

The Europa League debut was still perfect.

At the end of the game, Louis Brock pounded his chest in front of the camera: "Man, it's not difficult to lock up Marcus. Defense is no longer my weakness."

From Marcus Brown to Louis Brock, Americans have always been adept at creating comedic relief in interviews at European tournaments.

Even Real Madrid captain Herreros couldn't stand it anymore. Standing on the shoulders of giants allows you to see farther, not to show off!

After all the work was done, Lynch changed his clothes and met his agent Misko Raznatovic and the short and fat Italian in the player tunnel.

Sonny Vaccaro warmly shook Lynch's hand with his cigar-scented palm. He wanted to introduce himself to Lynch, who was active in the European basketball world, in case he didn't know who he was.

But Lynch interrupted him with a laugh: "We've all heard your story, Sonny."

Sonny could see Lynch's confident eyes, which looked very much like the flying man who had just come out of North Carolina in 1984.

"Well, let's go to my hotel room and talk. I'll get in the car first. I believe you and Mr. Misko need some privacy."

After saying that, Sonny was the first to walk out of the player tunnel, leaving Lynch and Misco behind.

Misko smiled and shrugged: "Next, let's go and negotiate a business, a business where you can wear their shoes for money."

"This sounds like robbery." Lynch's sense of morality disappeared without a trace at this moment, and he suddenly fell in love with robbery.

"When I was little, my mother always said that a lawyer with a briefcase could steal more money than a thousand robbers with masks and guns. Later I found out she was wrong. Professional football players are the real robbers. So yes, Lynch, let's rob him!"

"How much are you going to ask for?" Lynch had to have a rough idea in mind to avoid the price Misko asked for being too far away from what he wanted.

Misko opened his palm and spun it in front of Lynch.

“Fifty million?

"No, no, no," Misko turned his palm over again, "Two hundred and fifty million, make him one hundred million!"

"Listen, kid, your price must be higher than LeBron James. Countless young players regard LBJ's contract as the ceiling, but that is just our bottom line, because this is your ticket to becoming a superstar, and your level cannot be lower than LBJ. You may not get this money immediately, after all, this negotiation is a long process. But I promise that this is the price you will get in the end."

Misco doesn't just want Lynch to be the top pick.

He wants to make him a No. 1 pick on the level of Dream, Stonewall Inn and LBJ.

The comparison between Lynch and LeBron James began before Lynch entered the league.

(Thanks to Shufeijiebuedu, book friend 20220416110602124, Qiye Xuelie, iz丶one, Tiancangren, Sitting Alone on the Beach Watching the Sunrise, Cabbage Peanuts, book friend 20241220232826528, Please Call Me Wolf Master, Tianma Xingkongzxz and other big guys for their rewards. Thank you all!)

(End of this chapter)