Champion Rules

Chapter 52 049: The autumn wind carries restlessness and expectation (please read!)

The giant LED screen in Times Square continues to shine Lynch's huge advertisement 24 hours a day, like the city's never-extinguished neon beacon.

From Ginza in Tokyo to the Champs-Elysées in Paris, Lynch's advertising posters can be seen everywhere.

Advertising images endorsed by Lynch were played on television screens on five continents around the world.

Even in the art film field of various countries, there are many more works about basketball locker rooms.

Yes, China may have many Olympic champions, but there are very few people who become Olympic champions in highly commercialized events like basketball.

So Lynch is special.

When the glory of the Olympics is combined with the potential of the two major markets of New York and China, the brand value created by Lynch produces an amazing multiplier effect.

This sports superstar, who combines Olympic gold medals with business miracles, is reshaping the dimensions of modern marketing with his all-round exposure.

The products he endorses have not only swept the North American and Asian sportswear markets, but have also set off a consumption frenzy around the world.

As the biggest beneficiary, Reebok has also achieved a vertical increase in sales like the Atlas II carrier rocket thanks to the global influence of this basketball legend.

This kind of commercial penetration that transcends cultural barriers has made some NBA superstars envy the "Lynch effect."

As a result, Lynch became a favorite of the fans, but also began to become the enemy of some players.

You should never ignore the petty jealousy of these big, strong men.

Shaquille O'Neal finally went to Miami after the trade with Lynch fell through. At a lively welcome ceremony held for him by South Coast fans, when he received the city key from the mayor, Shaquille O'Neal declared that he would bring a championship trophy to Miami.

When asked who is the most promising rookie in the Eastern Conference, Shaquille O'Neal thought for a moment.

This is a very common but also highly-watched issue, because the East is now in a state of raising poisonous insects.

Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Lynch, Dwight Howard, these top talents of the new era have gathered in the East by accident, outlining the most tense battle for new kings in NBA history.

A bloody fight between young people is inevitable, and at least one of them will find it difficult to turn things around in the East.

Therefore, who will become the ruler of the East has been a hot topic in the media for some time.

After thinking for a while, the shark gave his answer.

"Dwyane will be the dominant player, Melo is close behind, and LeBron needs to prove himself. As for that Chinese kid?" Shark snorted. "He's barely qualified to be ranked ahead of Dwight. After all, those idiots in the Magic front office drafted a bunch of wimps."

This explosive evaluation is not accidental. When the trade rumors first compared the Eastern player who had not experienced the NBA with the Sharks, he angrily smashed the locker room wardrobe.

In his eyes, being put on the trading shelf by the Lakers was already a great humiliation, and the exchange target was a young man who had never set foot in the NBA. This was simply a blasphemy to the title of "the most dominant center" and left the Shark with an unhealable scar on his dignity.

He couldn't wait to destroy the bastard who was loved by the whole world and prove that he wasn't out of the discussion of the world's top basketball players.

On the other hand, LeBron James was giving an exclusive interview to Sports Illustrated, and the main content of the interview was about the Dream Team's most unsuccessful Olympic journey in history.

Normally, no player would want to talk about such a humiliating moment.

But at the beginning of the interview, LeBron James completely distanced himself from failure: "Larry barely gave me playing time. I felt I could help the team, but his rotation strategy was powerless."

Who could blame someone who couldn't play?

He talked a lot about the Dream Team's less harmonious atmosphere and the chaotic system and strategy. From the fragmentation of team atmosphere to the disorder of tactical system, the superstar pointed the finger at the entire team's operating mechanism.

Finally, the interview inevitably talked about Lynch, the biggest winner of the Olympics, and Reebok, which Lynch endorses.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became tense, and the reporter asked a sharp question.

"Have you ever thought about what kind of business miracle you two could have created now if you had chosen Reebok last summer?"

Who knew LBJ's answer would be even more pointed.

"No, never thought of it, that can't happen."

"You mean you never considered Reebok's offer?"

"Yeah, I don't like Reebok shoes. A few years ago, Shawn Kemp of Reebok said that the shoes he was given by Reebok were damaged during a game. I've also heard a lot of people around the league say that Reebok shoes are 'disposable.'

I chose Nike because I love the company, because I grew up watching MJ wear Nike, and because I believe Nike can produce the best sneaker designs. It's because I value who can help me leave behind important spiritual assets, rather than just trying to make more money.

The interview caused a stir because it's rare to see a star directly attack another sports brand in public.

In fact, this is not the first time LeBron James has been involved in a brand controversy.

Last year, Stephon Marbury launched his own sneaker brand, "StarBrie," targeting the low-end market. Thanks to its affordable price and Marbury's personal outreach to communities and schools, sales of the shoes were incredibly strong.

Kids in black neighborhoods who can't afford AJs can get rid of the label of "country bumpkin" by wearing a pair of Star Brie.

When a reporter asked LeBron James what he thought of the "StarBrie" craze, he scoffed, "I'd never wear $20 sneakers."

This sharp comment sparked controversy and triggered a war of words between Marbury and LBJ. Marbury, standing on the moral high ground, harshly criticized Cleveland's Chosen One: "$20 was enough for my family to survive when I was a kid. I always miss the poor, and the same goes for my philosophy when making sneakers. I won't forget my roots like some people do after making money."

Although Marbury fought back with the moral stance of "caring about the poor", the three defeats in the arena made Marbury completely lose his voice.

Yes, facing an enemy who humiliated his personal brand, this loser Marbury didn't even win a single game against LBJ.

After moving to the Knicks, he lost three times against the Cavaliers led by rookie LeBron, and in one of the games he only scored 8 points - God knows what the number 8 has done to offend anyone, and it always appears in these embarrassing situations.

After losing consecutive games, Marbury had nothing to say and could only let James insult his brand and let it go.

This is how the world of competitive sports is, only the winners can speak loudly.

But Starbury is, after all, just a small brand created by the sons of New York. Reebok is different. Although they are suppressed by Nike, they are still a heavyweight player in the field of sports brands.

LBJ firing on Mars Brie can only be regarded as an anti-terrorism and security war by Nike, but firing on Reebok is simply provoking a world war.

This time, James pointed the finger at industry giants and also implicitly mocked Lynch's characterization of "profit-seeking", creating a double resonance between the commercial value showdown and the competition on the court between the two phenomenal young players.

Although the outside world speculates that these offensive remarks came from the instructions of Nike's senior management, perhaps Nike asked LBJ to attack other brands again and again, perhaps this is their strategy, and this is also LBJ's endorsement obligation.

But it is undeniable that LeBron James's personal image is deeply intertwined with the brand strategy. Words spoken from LBJ's mouth naturally represent LBJ himself.

Faced with such provocation, Reebok's counterattack was very swift. They were not like the cash-strapped Starbury who could be bullied.

They filmed a commercial. In the commercial, the bench players wearing the No. 23 jersey kept complaining on the sidelines, while Lynch, in the middle of the court, twirled the basketball with one hand and delivered a line that captivated the nation: "Shut up and come on for a one-on-one."

This marketing punch of using one's own tactics to fight back not only cleverly echoed James's past experience of having to sit on the bench during the Olympics, but also concretized the swordplay of the brand game into a head-on confrontation on the court.

The online clash between these two sports giants intensified, their tit-for-tat marketing strategies infused with the intense personal vendetta between Phil Knight and Sonny Vaccaro. The fateful showdown between LeBron and Lynch has quietly taken root in the hearts of fans around the world.

Although he has not yet officially landed on the NBA court, this rising Chinese star will have to face the wrath of Shaquille O'Neal and the edge of LeBron James next season - two mountains he must overcome on his journey to legend.

Lynch was helpless as he had two more opponents for no apparent reason.

He thought that his old friend Darko Milicic would jump out and attack him closely, but he didn't expect that the first ones to jump out were Shaq and LeBron.

As the new season approaches, fans' enthusiasm is growing.

The autumn wind in New York is filled with restlessness and anticipation, and the countdown to the new season has mixed the gloom and hope over Madison Square Garden.

Stephen A. Smith, a well-known New York basketball commentator, said: "For the past three years, our salary cap has ranked first, second, and first in the league, but we can't even make the playoffs. If even Lynch can't end the team's curse of missing the playoffs, then this team will be permanently sealed on the pillar of shame in basketball history."

The playoffs, this is the first goal set by New York fans for Lynch.

Whether New York is hell or heaven depends on whether Lynch can meet the expectations of New Yorkers.

The city is divided into two parts - heaven belongs to the savior who can fulfill his promise, and hell is for the losers who fail to live up to expectations.

Entering the playoffs is not easy because it means Lynch will help the Knicks win at least 12 more games.

In the Eastern Conference, the four powerhouses of Pistons, Pacers, Heat and Nets have already secured half of the spots, so there are actually only four spots left to compete for.

But Lynch feels that the biggest difficulty is not the overflowing talent in the East, but Isiah Thomas's head.

He still doesn't know how the general manager, who has an outstanding draft vision but almost no team building skills, will change the team.

Lynch understood that he had to fight not only against O'Neal's giant hand and James's tomahawk, but also against the absurd decisions of the management.

The road to redemption for this basketball temple is destined to be more thorny than the journey under the five rings.

Although Lynch has not yet established enough authority in the team and has temporarily maintained superficial peace with general manager Isiah Thomas, he has secretly drawn a bottom line - if the management's decision threatens victory, he will definitely fight back as a player.

At first, the Knicks were slow to act.

Trade rumors about Stephen Marbury continued throughout the summer, but due to his poor performance in the Olympics and his annual salary of $1463 million, his trading value was quite low and he has not been traded until now.

The team also has Alan Houston, who will earn $1753 million next season but can hardly play, which means that the channel for free signings has been locked.

But what is coming will eventually come, and fortunately, the Smiling Assassin's first transaction was normal.

He used Dikembe Mutombo as the main bargaining chip, plus a few extras in exchange for the talented Jamal Crawford and blue-collar forward Jerome Williams from Chicago.

This deal was actually not well-received by the outside world. Stephen A. Smith was almost shocked: "I don't know how Isaiah saw that Jamal and Stephen could coexist on the back line! God, our Olympic champion might not even be able to catch the ball on the court!"

But in fact, if Knicks coach Lenny Wilkens lets Jamal Crawford go to the bench and play as sixth man next season, this deal would actually be quite good.

In the second deal, he traded Vin Baker, Mookie Norris and the 2006 second-round pick to the Houston Rockets for Maurice Taylor.

Lynch doesn't think Morris Taylor can bring any substantial help to the team, and he doesn't know why the Assassin would give up a draft pick for such a mediocre player. You can never guess what the Assassin is thinking.

But at least the drunkard Vin Baker is no longer in the locker room, which is good news.

Thank God, there is a Stephen Marbury, the locker room is already a mess.

Lynch doesn't want to smell of alcohol every day when he walks into the locker room.

The transaction is still ongoing, and Lynch's joining has brought some changes to the original history.

In the original time and space, the defensive stalwart Nazr Mohammed, who was sent to the Spurs by the Smiling Assassin in exchange for draft picks, was able to stay with the team. The Assassin firmly believed that retaining this kind of tough inside player could reshape the team's iron-blooded spirit of the 1990s and match Lynch's defensive style.

The same transformation happened to Tim Thomas, the No. 7 pick in 97 who was once hailed as the "next Kevin Garnett". However, he completely lost his value because Lynch occupied the core position.

No matter how stupid the Smiling Assassin is, he would not let a guy with a salary of 1290 million US dollars only play as a substitute.

He decisively initiated the transaction process, trying to replace Lynch with a more worthy person.

Subtle changes were quietly brewing in New York. When Tim Thomas's trade negotiations entered the substantive stage, when the wine in the locker room was cleared out, and when players like Vin Baker who destroyed the team's chemistry left the team one after another, the door to the playoffs seemed to be really opening.

Lynch watched these changes, feeling both grateful for the management's courage in cleaning up the environment and wary of the possible turmoil.

On the other side, Orlando is in a state of disrepair.

Grant Hill is holding a book signing with his Fila brand and announcing his return for next season.

Grant Hill stroked the microphone with the Fila logo on it, his knuckles turning white from the effort.

He looked at the familiar faces of local Orlando reporters below the stage, and swallowed the bitterness of four years of injuries with his Adam's apple rolling.

"The fans of this city," he said, his voice suddenly choking as his fingertips quickly wiped across the reddened corners of his eyes. "You have shown me so much kindness, and I have no way to repay you. I swear to repay you with every drop of sweat I have and give you everything I have for Orlando."

There were sporadic shutter sounds from the audience. The No. 33 player, once hailed as Jordan's successor, had worn a Magic jersey for even less time than he had worn a hospital gown in the past four years - he had only played 47 games for the Magic in the past four seasons.

At this moment, the sound of Grant Hill's assistant Long Babi's leather shoes tapping on the floor suddenly tore apart the warm atmosphere.

Grant Hill is one of the few NBA players who does not hire an agent. He believes that it is not worth it to let the agent take a cut.

Therefore, Long Babby only has a cooperative relationship with him and does not take a commission from Grant Hill's contract. The fee is calculated by the hour.

When participating in business activities, Grant Hill always likes to bring him with him to deal with various problems.

This famous lawyer, who was always known for his elegance, took two steps at a time and stepped onto the podium, his tie sticking askew on his sweaty neck.

Hill, sitting on the sofa, subconsciously leaned back, the microphone tilted dangerously in his hand, and Long Babby's cigar-scented breath blew into his ear: "You've been traded!"

"What did you say?"

Grant Hill, who had just made a passionate confession to Orlando, widened his eyes and covered the microphone with his hands.

"You were traded by the Magic!"

"Trade me at my sneaker launch? Where?"

"New York! Substitute Tim Thomas!"

Grant Hill stared at the sneakers in his hands. It had been less than 30 seconds since he began to believe that the NBA had a human touch.

(End of this chapter)