2011 was destined to be a difficult year for the NBA, and despite another all-time record 15 million viewers for the Finals, the players' union and the league were unable to reach an agreement.

As early as May 26, the players' union officially submitted a lawsuit to the Amelica Labor Arbitration Institution.

The NBA is suing the NBA for using intimidation and intimidation to force the players' union to sign a new collective bargaining agreement that is unfavorable to the players.

The filing of the lawsuit also represents the official tearing of the face of the players' union and the league, but considering that the finals are about to take place, neither side has made a big deal out of it.

Unfortunately, after the Finals, the conversation between the two sides ended up again without a hitch, and the players' union believed that the NBA league was doing nothing, and several conversations were deliberately stalling for time in an attempt to intimidate players with a shutdown.

That's right, the league wants to procrastinate in exchange for favorable terms, and most owners are willing to wait, after all, as long as the shutdown allows the team to avoid paying player wages and other expenses related to contracts.

The owners believe that if there is a downtime, there will be conflicts within the players' unions, and the NBA league has also played some small tricks, such as bypassing the unions and finding some leaders to negotiate.

This kind of behavior is a provocation in the eyes of the players' union, of course the workers will not give in, the players are also clear about their position, and no star player will be a dog in the league...

However, most Celestial Empire fans don't care about these news, and everyone is still immersed in the joy of Li Ze's victory.

Due to the fact that the finals G5 was held on the 9th, due to the time difference, the day of the Celestial Empire happened to be Friday, and the last game of the NBA Finals was broadcast in the morning, and at 18:35 in the evening, the sports program Basketball Park of the Central Five came to an issue of the Thunder team while it was hot.

This show is good anywhere, and it almost blew Li Ze into the sky, but Director Zhang once again dedicated his famous sentence, but it almost made the fans of the Celestial Thunder team break the defense.

"The Thunder team can win the championship, and the draft is really an eye-opener! To tell the truth, I have come to Russia so many times, and the population of this place is about the same as the population of our Tiantongyuan, and it is really not easy to be in Xiaoqiu City! ”

As soon as the host Yang Jian saw that Director Zhang was telling the truth, he immediately played a round again:

"The Thunder market is also good, there is only one sports league here, so the fans are very enthusiastic, and I am deeply touched by that!"

It's a pity that Director Zhang couldn't hold the topic as soon as he started, and continued to complain with a smile in the show:

"The fans are really enthusiastic, but if the team had continued to choose Seattle, the SuperSonics have won the championship, Gary Payton, Sean Kemp, Ray Allen, Lewis, plus the current Thunder three less, the team's foundation has risen all of a sudden!"

“…”

It's no wonder that the old people have to drive an hour to get to the stadium every time they get off the plane in Russia, and there are not too many high-rise buildings in the entire main city.

Director Zhang's disappointment is inevitable, after all, the United Arab Emirates is in New York, and the two places run back and forth, in contrast, the Russian city has become a village...

As soon as the show was broadcast, the Thunder fans who liked Li Ze were not happy, why couldn't they do it in Russia?

Many fans complained directly on the forum, saying that Director Zhang's Komi must be nonsense!

Li Ze is so powerful, the Thunder team will be so strong, and the city will definitely not be bad!

In short, Giegie is great, the team is great, and the city is just as powerful, as long as you say bad things, it's black Giegie...

If Presti, the general manager who is far away in Russia, hears Director Zhang's words, it is estimated that he will have to break the defense.

Since the players' union and the league have not yet reached an agreement, once the existing collective bargaining agreement expires, it is destined to be shut down, which also causes a lot of trouble for his work.

During the shutdown, teams cannot negotiate with players, sign and trade players, players cannot use the team's training facilities for any reason, and teams cannot hold summer training camps, exhibitions, team meetings and coach gatherings...

This is bad news for the Thunder, after winning the championship, Presti originally wanted to take the opportunity to do more activities, by the way, to fight for some more advertising, if it really stopped, it would be completely cold...

After the shutdown, the most important thing is that the team's website can no longer use the image of the player, and the player cannot be used as a promotional representative, these two rules directly make Presti numb!

Obviously, the team has the youngest MVP+FMVP in history, but Li Ze can't be promoted in the offseason, how can the Thunder team play?

"Sam, the Lakers have officially announced that Time Warner bought the regional broadcast rights of the Lakers for the next 20 years at a high price of 3 billion, and of course, this also includes the Los Angeles Sparks."

"Oh God! This contract gives the Lakers close to 150 million per year, no wonder Fox Sports and KCAL-TV finally gave up their contracts, which is incredible! ”

Presti couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth when he heard the words of the two staff members, and he also confirmed a message on his side...

The Celtics have also agreed a new broadcast deal with Comcast Sports.com's New England regional channel.

The deal will allow the Celtics to acquire a 20% stake in the regional sports channel, and the local media revenue is expected to double directly, and $50 million is not a problem!

Both veteran teams released the news after the finals, as if flexing their muscles, what about the championship?

We don't have a champion and still make money!

Presti, as the general manager of the team, naturally went crazy when he saw such news, and the Lakers got such a broadcast contract, and the team's market value directly increased by 40%!

The Lakers, who stopped in the Western Conference semifinals, actually got a super broadcast contract, and then thought that his owner was still worried about the team's local broadcast, Presti felt helpless.

Broadcast contracts do make teams a lot of money, and the league stipulates that the cost of broadcasting in and around the city where the team is located within a 70-mile radius of the stadium is owned by the team itself, so every team has a place to broadcast and there is an urgent need!

After winning the championship, team owner Clayton Bennett teamed up with several shareholders to lobby Russian city mayor Mick Cornett again, and the team and the city worked together just to get a decent local broadcast contract.

But it's a pity that there has been no progress in the past two days, of course there are many interested broadcast companies, after all, the Thunder team has three superstars, but as soon as they heard that the Thunder team plans to do free channels in the next two years, everyone started Tai Chi...

"Do you think there will be fan support if we pay for broadcasting next season?"

Presti read the news for a while, her heart was sour, and she couldn't help but discuss things with the Thunder staff.

"The boss won't agree, this is his promise to move from Seattle to Oh City, he can't just win the championship and start letting the fans of Oh City spend money, if so, wouldn't it be better to stay in Seattle in the first place?"

"I believe that most Russian fans don't like to spend money on TV to watch the game, and we have been broadcasting it for free for the past two years, and the fans are used to it."

"Actually, it's the same in all regions, and I see a lot of Lakers fans on Reddit scolding old Buss..."

"We have also gained some results from our work in the past two days, the stadium naming rights have been given a new contract, a 12-year agreement, 3 million US dollars in the first year, and an annual increase of 3%, I think it's not bad!"

Hearing this, Presti was even more sad, 3 million US dollars, a drop in the bucket for the big contract that is about to be renewed, although the chain retail company Love''s Travel Stops also has plans to increase sponsorship, but the amount is destined not to be too large.

After all, they're sponsoring a live kissing camera...

Presti felt that the Thunder seemed to have changed something after winning the championship, but it didn't seem to change anything.

The fans were more enthusiastic, the broadcast and sponsorship were still pulling their hips, and then thinking of the imminent shutdown and the new collective bargaining agreement, Presti complained silently:

"Let's get ready for the draft, that's probably the only thing we can do in the last few months..."

…

On June 13, after resting in Russia for two days, Li Ze went to New York again without stopping.

The youngest MVP+FMVP in history made him completely famous in Americaka's sports circle.

With such an achievement at the age of 20, América's sports journalists certainly won't let go of this hot spot.

Just after the finals, Time Warner's Sports Illustrated sent Chapman a special invitation.

The established magazine has a huge user base, with nearly 20 million people reading it every week.

Although Li Ze prefers their swimsuit special issue, being the cover character of Sports Illustrated, plus an exclusive interview, can still bring him a lot of popularity, so he must take this job.

And the interview with the "New York Times" can not be refused, Big Machine Records has always cooperated very well with each other, and Li Ze also has to agree to this simple request.

After spending a week or so in New York, he had to continue to travel to Los Angeles, and the bleachers had to continue to cover B/R's interviews, and Yahoo Sports, ESPN, and TNT had to be greeted with a smile.

After all, in the selection of MVP and FMVP, the senior reporters of these sports media have contributed, and in order to continue to maintain a good relationship, various activities have to give face...

In New York in June, the average daytime temperature is around 25 degrees Celsius, so pedestrians on the streets are dressed coolly.

"Don't tell me this is the little house Taylor was talking about!"

Li Ze looked at Chapman beside him helplessly, and the other party could only helplessly coax his shoulders, and then comforted in a low voice:

"This apartment is really good, it will definitely appreciate in the future, well, the floor below is owned by Peter Jackson, the director of "The Lord of the Rings", but it took me a lot of effort to get the other party to sell the house to Taylor!"

Li Ze was a little speechless in his heart, he didn't care about the director of "The Lord of the Rings", celebrity plots and anything didn't exist here at all, mainly because this house cost more than 18 million US dollars, and he felt a little heartache when he thought of it, a loser!

He promised Taylor half of the investment, and then thought that this girl would have to buy a house in July, and Li Ze felt that the money earned from music would have to become a house sooner or later...

This apartment is located at 155 Franklin Street in New York, with 7 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, and the upper and lower floors are connected into a super-large duplex apartment.

To make money, you have to consume, Li Ze has a psychological massage on himself, and at present, part of the American knife he earns from music is voted for Keds, part of it is left for the Dutton family, and the remaining 1/3 is what he can spend personally.

Coupled with the millions of dollars in the rookie contract, the daily expenses are completely fine, but according to Taylor's spending, his "creation" speed needs to be accelerated...

Chapman saw Li Ze fall on the sofa and suddenly became salty, and couldn't help but comfort again:

"Don't worry, Kayce, we still have two quarters of revenue to be settled, and good concerts are constantly bringing in beautiful knives."

"Don't forget that your singles are still on the billboard, and after the reshoot of the MV, we will re-promote the whole album, and it will definitely be a big hit!"

The studio album Night Visions sold very well, topping the American Rock Albums Chart, Alternative Albums Chart and Digital Download Sales Chart in its first week of release.

Several of the current singles are still in the Billboard top 40 and are selling very well in the UK.

"Is Sports Illustrated really going to give me the Athlete of the Year award? Doesn't this thing need PR? I don't think we had any PR costs for sports. ”

Hearing Li Ze's straightforward words, Chapman couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth, and then began to explain:

"At Amerika, sometimes you have to talk about sportsmanship, and the most important thing is your age."

"20 years old! After getting two such important achievements in the NBA, it is well deserved to give you an award, of course, it is difficult to refuse the other party's invitation after winning the award, Sports Illustrated is a weekly, in short, this must be a good thing! ”

Li Ze sat up straight and asked Chapman again:

"In addition to shooting the cover, is there anything I need to pay attention to in the interview?"

"Praise your teammates, praise your coach, praise your opponents, show some confidence appropriately, promote the team by the way, have the opportunity to promote the record company, that's it!"

"The editor-in-chief, Paul Felchenbaum, is a very good person to deal with, don't worry, media reporters are better storytellers than you, as long as you answer his questions normally, the rest of the work is their business."

Li Ze couldn't help pouting, he made that out of nothing.

Just like his image in China, he actually went to nightclubs a lot, but the domestic media turned a blind eye and promoted him as a model player.

It's the same with Amika's side, most of the stars have a miserable childhood, and finally relied on basketball to counterattack, won Bai Fumei, and reached the pinnacle of life, such an old-fashioned story, the audience is simply tired of watching it.

The most typical is the Lakers, if there is a role player who plays very well, then the media in Los Angeles can pick up all the past decades of his life and then process it into a sad little article.

Of course, some players are really miserable, but some rely on marketing, and this star player is no exception, no way, after all, fans like to counterattack...

"The workflow of the old magazine is so boring, don't tell me tonight's talk show is the same!"

Chapman glanced at Li Ze with a strange expression, and then said in a mysterious tone:

"Don't worry, it's also an NBC show, Jimmy is much younger than Jay Reno, and "The Late Show" is more open, suitable for young people like you!"

Li Ze didn't notice the other party's tone at all, he could be regarded as having seen the talk show since he was a child, most of them chatted all over the world, stood up and moved his body again.

There's going to be a show tonight, and then Alexandra will come to pick him up, and the friendly game still has to go on...

"You don't have to pick me up in the evening, maybe after a while Presti and talk to us about the contract, don't forget to bring two professional sports agents with you then, the new collective bargaining agreement will definitely change, remember to be prepared in advance."

"It's a small thing, don't be late for tomorrow morning's event."

“…”

"The Tonight Show" is an evening talk variety show founded by NBC, and the artistic life of the Celestial Empire is actually somewhat similar to this show, and it is a household name in Amerika.

However, Li Zezhi is relatively indifferent to this show, too much zz is correct.

Therefore, Chapman helped him choose "The Late Night Show", which has just risen in recent years, in the NBC invitation, this set of shows is mostly for fun, and the overall style of the show is relaxed and happy, which is indeed very suitable for young people...

NBC's headquarters are located in Rockefeller Center, and as one of Amerika's three major commercial broadcasters, the reception process is impeccable.

Jimmy Fallon, who was the host of the 62nd Emmy Awards last year, is now arguably one of Amelika's most popular TV hosts.

The first time the two met, the popular host who used to be a funny one-man show actor gave Li Ze a big hug.

"Kayce, welcome to my show, I'm a huge fan of yours, I was there when you broke Chamberlain's all-win record at Barclays Center, God, it was an incredible performance!"

Although Jimmy Fallon was wearing a dark gray suit, a white shirt and a black tie, he looked serious, but his tone was subdued and his expression was extraordinarily exaggerated.

"Oh! I didn't expect that I also have superstar fans, can you reveal what the links are tonight? You know, this is my first time on a talk show. ”

Li Ze wore a dark blue handmade suit with a simple gray shirt.

In order to be on the show, he deliberately fiddled with his hair, and at the same time wore a silver snake earring given to him by his blonde sister in his left ear, which looked young and handsome on the outside, but exuded a mature atmosphere all over his body, so he looked particularly attractive...

If several female audience members at the scene hadn't been stopped by the staff, they would have already filled up to take a group photo at this time, and when they saw Li Ze waving at them, they immediately caused another uproar.

"Don't worry, Kayce, Chapman and I are old acquaintances, and tonight's theme is to be happy, relax, just like this is a normal talk show!"

Li Ze looked at Jimmy Fallon, and always felt that the other party was going to do something, after all, the person in front of him who had acted in a comedy sketch on NBC's Saturday Night Live was indeed very good...

The live layout of the show "Late Night Show" is particularly simple, with dozens of live audience members acting as atmosphere groups, plus a small band, the host Jimmy Fallon sits behind the table, and Li Ze sits on the small sofa next to him, and the two are almost face-to-face...

When the on-site director signaled that it was ready to start, the atmosphere team suddenly let out a burst of cheers.

"Welcome to The Jimmy Late Show, it's great to have the NBA's youngest MVP on the scene tonight, and he's also a great music producer, so let's welcome Kayce-LI together!"

Li Ze also smiled, simply raised his hands and applauded, and the host Jimmy immediately smiled and asked after completing the opening:

"The NBA Finals just ended, and I was very curious, who do you think is the toughest opponent throughout the playoffs?"

"It's definitely the Dallas Mavericks, Nowitzki is crazy!"

As soon as the host Jimmy heard Li Ze's words, he immediately asked in an exaggerated tone:

"Wow, I thought you'd say Kobe Bryant or James, after all, the two of them are more topical, aren't they?"

The audience at the scene all smiled, and as fans of New York, everyone was in a good mood when they saw the Lakers and Heat lose the championship...

"But the fact that the two of them didn't really bother me too much, we swept the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals, and in the finals, the gentlemen swept the Heat, so, you know!"

The atmosphere group suddenly snorted, and Jimmy Fallon asked again at this time:

"We all know there's going to be some trash talk in NBA games, and if you've been in the league for two seasons and you've achieved so much, will there still be players who will trash talk to you?"

Li Ze didn't speak, but pretended to look serious, opened five fingers with his left hand, and waved twice at the host Jimmy.

“ What？”

"Win 5 championships and talk to me again!"

"You're done! I'm going to completely destroy you in the low position tonight! ”

Li Ze imitated Kobe's tone, and after finishing speaking, he shook his shoulders again, showing very helplessness...

"Oh! Is this really Kobe Bryant? ”

"Of course, that's the trash talk I've encountered, the old-school players always like to talk about championships!"

The host Jimmy slapped his forehead at this time and asked curiously again:

"Did you respond? I mean, what do players do when they encounter this, uh, championship trash talk? ”

"Kobe Bryant had five championships, and there was really nothing to say at the time, but we eliminated the Lakers in the end, and victory was the best response!"

The atmosphere group at the scene followed the coaxing again, and at this time, the host Jimmy changed his words and immediately talked about what happened when he was a child:

"Kayce, we all know that you spent elementary and junior high school in Monta, it was a beautiful place, you joined the choir at that time when you were still in junior high school, and the program team even found a precious video for this!"

When Li Ze heard this, the corners of his mouth twitched, thinking of the embarrassing choir experience in junior high school, and he felt like he was going to die...

Sure enough, in the next second, the scene directly switched to the video, and when everyone saw Li Ze wearing a school uniform, with white powder on his face and thick eyebrows, and a loveless expression appeared on the screen, the atmosphere group immediately burst into laughter.

Coupled with the proud appearance of the little girl holding his hand on the side, the expressions of the two were in stark contrast, and everyone laughed even more happily...

"Is this something that can be shown on NBC..."

The person who recorded the video seemed to be amused by the expressions of the two, so the picture looked a little unstable, and when the two sang together, the little girl's voice was high, and Li Ze's voice was depressed, this strong contrast made the scene laugh again...

"Thank you very much to Taylor's mother for providing this valuable video, God, when I watched it for the first time, everyone in the program team laughed like crazy, you two have changed so much when you grow up!"

Feeling the joyful atmosphere of the scene, Li Ze laughed on the surface, but he was powerless to complain in his heart:

"Is the final destination of DIVA a a sketch..."

The "Late Night Show" program eventually turned into Li Ze's small solo concert, and the half-hour program was almost all about promoting his and Taylor's albums.

In order to make money, Li Ze had to perform and almost sang and danced Rap directly!

On the morning of June 14th, Li Ze was directly awakened, looking at Alexandra on his body, he suddenly couldn't cry or laugh.

Gently pulled twice, and found that Sister Dabo was still wrapped around him, and immediately understood that the other party was pretending to be asleep, lifted the quilt on his body, and slapped his right hand fiercely:

"Smack!"

"Ahh

Alexandra suddenly exclaimed, and when she saw Li Ze with a wicked smile on her face, she immediately rode on him and slammed it.

"Get up, get up! At 10 o'clock, I still have to go to the Sports Illustrated side to shoot the cover, and there will be an interview in the afternoon, so I can't be late! ”

"No matter! I haven't slept enough yet, I slept so late last night, I didn't eat breakfast, and I slept a little longer! ”

Due to the fierce friendly match last night, the black-haired Dabo Royal Sister was seriously deprived of sleep at this time, and with the blessing of getting up, the two made trouble and had another overtime game.

As a result, he didn't eat breakfast in the end, and Li Ze was almost late directly, the goblins hurt people!

As a world-renowned sports magazine, the girl at the front desk who is responsible for receiving Li Ze is also very correct, one black and one white, the appearance of the two is quite standard, and when I saw Li Ze's arrival, I notified the editor-in-chief Paul as soon as possible.

"Kayce, welcome to Sports Illustrated, we actually wanted to do an interview about you last year, but it's not too late, come on, I'll show you around the headquarters first!"

"Thank you so much for your hospitality!"

After the editor-in-chief Paul took Li Ze for a long walk, the two sides quickly got to the point, but in the morning, it was all a shooting session, and most of the staff also watched the NBA, and the scene once became a fan meeting.

In time, Li Ze chatted with the staff, and involuntarily talked about this year's draft.

"The Cavaliers actually won the top pick, I bet there must be something shady in this!"

"James left Cleveland, the league wants to make up for the Cavaliers, after all, Cleveland's current ball market is too bad."

"Shet! The Knicks have the largest market capitalization, and this year they traded Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, but they were eliminated in the first round! ”

"Kayce, will you choose New York in the future? We'd all love to see you at Madison Square Garden. ”

When Li Ze heard such an inquiry, he just replied with a smile:

"I'm only 20 years old, anything is possible in the future, let's leave the problem to time!"

"If the Knicks can also pick a player like Kayce, then they will definitely rise in the future, but unfortunately in recent years, New York has been the grave of newcomers."

"Alright guys! This is the end of the chat, there is still a lot of work today, after the end of the shooting in the morning, there will be an interview in the afternoon, everyone hurry up. ”

The workflow of professional sports magazines is very standardized, and there is no whole part of the interview in the afternoon, and all the questions are in order.

Editor-in-chief Paul also assured Li Ze that as long as the magazine is released next week, the number of readers will definitely exceed 30 million!

This is also due to the great popularity of last night's "Late Night Show" program, viewers who don't watch the NBA can't help but have a good impression of Li Ze when they see this episode.

Amerika, everyone likes to listen to stories, everyone loves to watch sketches!

NBA stars sometimes do not pay as much attention as a well-known singer, and Li Ze, with the blessing of 2-in-1, has completely broken the circle this year.

When he returned to Alexandra's house again in the evening, he saw some blackened steaks on the table, and Li Ze couldn't help but twitch his stomach.

"Alex, why don't you go out to eat in the evening? It always feels weird to stay in your house, and I'm afraid that your father will suddenly appear! ”

Li Ze hurriedly reminded this sister that if she played a friendly match at home, once she was discovered, it would be a big deal.

Alexandra glanced at Li Ze and said very calmly:

"We're all adults, aren't we? Do you dislike the dishes I make, don't change the subject! ”

“.”

The arm couldn't twist the big wave, but fortunately, the dish looked bad, and it tasted good in the mouth, Li Ze was eating the steak, and saw that Alexandra was still lazy, and asked again:

"Don't have a suitable script yet? You're not going to say goodbye to Hollywood after making a movie, are you? ”

"Hollywood movies are like an assembly line, a lot of garbage is produced every year, and young actors have to make that kind of brainless bad movie in order to make a living, but I'm not interested in participating in it."

Li Ze was suddenly powerless to complain, Alexandra's so-called lack of money is actually gnawing at the old, after this sister returned to New York, she went directly to the law firm where his father was a partner to help

"If you're bored, do me a little favor, the album has to make up the MV, so you don't have to take care of the printer in the law firm every day!"

Alexandra was overjoyed when she heard the first half of Li Ze's words, and when she heard the second half of the sentence, she instantly exploded, immediately glared at Li Ze, and shouted:

"What do you mean by taking care of printers!"

“.”

After dinner, a rare leisurely time, but when Li Ze swiped the prediction of the 2011 draft on his phone, he just drank the juice in his mouth and almost squirted it out:

"What the hell! Klay's second draft pick? Kawhi Leonard in fifth? Jimmy Butler in eleventh? ”

"This is ESPN's ranking? Amplified butterfly effect? ”

Thank you all for your subscription support~

After surviving Friday, we must have stepped up our efforts over the weekend, and today we failed to fish

(End of chapter)