On Monday, July 5, 2004, ESPN broke the news that the Lakers were planning to sell O'Neal.

The league's No. 1 center was traded, and the free market, which was still in the freeze period, suddenly became lively.

O'Neal's salary next season is $27.7 million, and most teams will naturally break their muscles and bones after eating this contract.

Risks and opportunities coexist, although O'Neal's performance in the finals was mediocre, everyone can see that as long as the ball can be given to the low post, the fat shark can still finish efficiently.

The team in the rebuilding period will most likely not consider him, and when the rookie contract ends, the old O'Neal does not know what state he will slip to.

Combined with the age structure of the Knicks, the young team is overdrawn into the future, that is, it is betting that the team can win the championship in the next three years.

The teams naturally know that the Knicks will not win all the time, and it is indeed an opportunity in recent years, but it is not easy to trade O'Neal, and the Lakers are waiting to sell at this time.

In terms of efficiency value, during the regular season, O'Neal PER was 24.4, which slipped to Kobe's level, and was a little short of MVP Garnett.

But in the playoffs, O'Neal's stats began to rise, and his efficiency value continued to improve, reaching 24.8.

Although there is still a gap from his previous peak form, the data proves that O'Neal still has a lot of dominance in the playoffs.

After this news was exposed, it was regarded as a slap in the face of the previous Lakers management, and the old Buss was really painting a big pie in the last interview!

Although he was ready to be traded, after the news was released, O'Neal was a little embarrassed.

There aren't many people asking for the price, he's not as popular as he thought, and there are fewer teams than he thought.

The Lakers were hoping to get an All-Star through a trade for O'Neal, but it backfired, and the Sharks traded for Duncan only in a dream.

After a day of excitement among critics, the response in the market was mediocre, and unlike what was discussed on the previous ESPN show, the attraction of the league's No. 1 center didn't seem to be very high.

On Tuesday the 6th, TNT's program also began to discuss the impact O'Neal would have on the league.

Unlike ESPN, the trio is more about discussing whether Kobe Bryant can hold up the Lakers after O'Neal leaves.

Due to Kobe's extremely hip-strained performance in the Finals, Charles Barkley has equated Kobe and Iverson:

"The Lakers don't have O'Neal, and they exchange ordinary players, so Kobe's team performance should be close to the 76ers' record."

"Kobe Bryant is not an MVP-caliber player, and although he tries to prove himself, he is still far from it."

"Under Kobe's leadership, maybe the Lakers can still make the playoffs, but it will be difficult for him to lead the team on the stage of the Finals."

"That's how I see it, Kobe Bryant is just an average All-Star who is good at showing himself, and he can't lead a team to a championship."

Charles Barkley swore that he began to predict the future, and he almost said that "Kobe Bryant is an inefficient brush".

Iverson has been plagued by injuries in the past two years, and he has indeed pulled his hips, considering that Kobe Bryant's statistics in this year's Finals are extremely close to Iverson, Kenny Smith rarely refutes:

"Chuck has a point, but I think the Lakers will make it to the Finals again!"

"Los Angeles has a good appeal for free agents, and with Stephen Marbury on the free agency market this year, the Lakers can still remain competitive if they do it right."

Salary space is an issue, Marbury is still asking for a max contract, and there are not many teams that can eat this on the salary cap.

During the Suns period, Marbury led the team to a really good performance, and it was the same with the Nets before.

In contrast, Kidd's effect on joining the Nets was immediate, leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals, although it was swept by the Knicks, but such a result was much better than Marbury

Ernie Johnson thinks about the situation in free agency this year and also thinks that the Lakers will have a hard time making a difference.

Most of the teams in the Western Conference are looking forward to the disintegration of the Lakers, and the Eastern Conference has already lost.

Charles Barkley didn't want to discuss this topic too much, and said seriously in front of the camera:

"Whether it's O'Neal or Kobe, it's hard to appear on the stage of the Finals in the future."

"What we should be talking about is which team in the West is going to challenge the Knicks, and maybe Tim Duncan is going to make it to the Finals again."

“.”

On July 7, after coming to BJ, Li You only had one day off, and attended Cadillac's press conference at the Taimiao Temple in the Forbidden City that night.

GM used a Hollywood-style press conference to launch a new car, and the Associated Press and other media naturally followed suit.

The press conference was held like a song and dance performance, not talking about the content, and it was very high

When Li You took the stage with GM's current CEO Rick Wagner, some Chinese sports media realized that basketball was only a small part of the theme of the Asian tour.

As the brand spokesperson, Li You, who is dressed in a black suit, will certainly not say that this car is not suitable for the Chinese market after taking the stage.

The small space and high fuel consumption are not mentioned at all, Li You just introduced the driving experience, blowing the X handling and power

When it was getting dark, most of the invited media reporters gathered around the CTS car surrounded by lights, and Li You, who was interviewed, laughed so hard that his cheeks were sour after blowing hard.

Standard Mandarin allowed Li You to seamlessly integrate into the scene, and after completing the task of blowing X, when he came to the backstage, Mark Renard, general manager of the General Brand, hugged Li You and exclaimed:

"You've behaved so well, Lee! I knew it was the right decision to postpone the launch for a month! ”

Reynard, who has brown hair combed in three or seven points, is a typical white American elite, and he is over 40 years old and has not made a fortune.

Since taking over the endorsement, the general manager of the brand with a hearty personality has had a good relationship with Li You.

However, the content of the press conference was actually planned by GM China, and Renard and Wagner were only responsible for nodding

"Large-displacement cars with little space and high fuel consumption are not suitable here, and seriously, don't expect the Chinese market to save the stock price, this is the opinion of a friend."

Li You put his arm around the other party and briefly reminded him that he had said this a few times, but Wagner, who had just become CEO, would not listen to him.

Renard didn't care, in his opinion, Li You was also the first time to come to China, or the research of the branch was more reliable.

This will not affect the friendship between the two, he is just a senior worker, even the CEO Wagner, the stock price has fallen, and he can't hold back, so he will go to Washington for help.

In the sound of blowing X, the evening press conference ended successfully, and the last group of people went straight to the BJ Hotel, followed by a celebratory dinner.

There are also a lot of people here from Shanghai General Motors, and Chen Hong, the general manager, didn't expect Li You to follow the customs of the countryside to such a point.

After entertaining the guests, the general people gathered together, pushed the cup and changed the lamp, and Li You did not refuse.

In the end, everyone drank so much that everyone's tongues were a few laps bigger, but Li You was still not drunk, and the general manager Chen Hong was so drunk that his brain was cloudy, and after the drunkenness surged, he only heard:

"It's still delicious Chinese food."

The General Administration of Sports arranged Li You and his entourage in BJ St. Regis, which is closer to Tiananmen Square and convenient for travel.

However, the brand's activities occupied most of the time, and Li You could only let Milinda and Mike Sr. move freely.

When I returned to the hotel suite, it was close to 23 o'clock, and Milinda was wearing her pajamas and surfing the Internet with her laptop.

The humble web page made Li You uninterested, and Facebook at this time was simply a bankrupt version of QQ Space in his memory.

As if seeing some interesting news, Milinda giggled, and was kissed by Li You before saying in disgust:

"Isn't it true that athletes can't drink alcohol? I realized that you don't seem to be on a strict diet either! ”

Li You picked up the big wave girl who deliberately teased him, which made the other party laugh again and again, and only said proudly when he walked to the bathroom:

"I can't be strict with myself anymore, I have to give other people some chances, well, this year I decided to enjoy life."

"When I get back to Greenwich, I'm ready to bask in the sun and fish!"

Looking at Li You, who was a little drunk, Milinda snorted in her arms, so she didn't believe the wine.

The two tossed until the middle of the night, and after 1 o'clock, the energetic Li You still didn't feel too sleepy.

Unlike those 20-year-old chicks in the family, Li You still prefers to talk to mature girls.

The whiteness that could not be held was still changing shape in her hand, and Milinda snorted twice, arched into her arms and whispered:

"I thought about it for a few days, maybe we should take Roger Stone's help, and if there really is a big profit coming in next year, he should be able to help."

That "Wall Street sheriff" doesn't believe in our market behavior, he just needs to be skeptical, and the political landscape of New York may change in the future. ”

"I got a lot of news at Skadden, and everybody thought Spitzer was going to be elected governor."

Under the dim light, the fair and smooth skin made Li You love it, and when he was kissed, Milinda quickly snorted again, and then slapped Li You twice with shortness of breath:

"We'll talk to Bobby again when we get back to Greenwich at the end of the month, and I don't want to waste time now."

Sensing the big hand on her waist, Milinda laughed evilly, and quickly straightened up and twisted her body, which is her favorite knowledge:

"Hah! Don't blame me for my weak legs tomorrow! ”

On July 8th, at the Capital Gymnasium, a brand activity of hooks will be held at 7 p.m.

Due to the over-enthusiasm of the fans during Michael Jordan's trip to China, some events were forced to cancel for safety reasons.

After Li You arrived at BJ, he learned the previous lesson and directly set the event at the city's basketball hall.

The early announcement was made, the tickets were sold out, and although the seats were temporarily added, there were not too many safety risks.

Although Li You hoped that the ticket price could be cheaper, as the news leaked, the national team participated, and the event included public training sessions, the price of scalper tickets suddenly skyrocketed.

One is willing to fight, the other is willing to suffer, this kind of thing is difficult to eliminate, Li You still underestimated the fanatical star-chasing attitude of young people, and the atmosphere was even more violent than Madison Square Garden.

Hook is also a sponsor of the Chinese men's basketball team, and this event was originally only for fans, but after Harris led the team back from training in the United States, he responded positively.

As for the expectations of the Chinese media, Harris is not easy to say, hiring him as the head coach, and the domestic idea is to let Yao Ming play to the fullest.

After all, Harris has a rich resume and is more suitable for coaching the high-level Yao Ming than domestic coaches

It's just that since the Silver Fox took over the team, it has always been questioned by the Chinese media, and the issue of the squad alone has been repeatedly ridiculed.

Coupled with the anticipation of the '08 Olympics, Harris said a lot of things, but it did not dispel everyone's desire for medals.

Tomorrow is the first game of the BJ Four Nations Invitational Tournament, and Harris intends to use this opportunity to let Chinese reporters know about the gap between the men's basketball guards and the world's top guards.

With half an hour to go, Yao Ming was signing autographs for enthusiastic fans, and the men's basketball team also enjoyed a superstar treatment.

At present, the director of the sports bureau is Yuan Weimin, who created a glorious moment for the Chinese women's volleyball team and also made great efforts to bid for the Olympic Games.

Matt Parker is also on Lee's side, and he and Nike staff are tally fan attributes at this time, assessing impact in general.

This is related to the amount of Li You's lifelong contract, business is business, and no matter how good the personal relationship is, you have to do things according to the contract.

Yuan Weimin showed an obvious smile on his face when he was present, and those who didn't know thought that he had taken a kickback

"Do you feel the enthusiasm of the Chinese fans? Thankfully, this time we learned our lesson and communicated the organized event in advance, and you are more popular than Michael Jordan! ”

"Li You, what do you think of the strength of this Chinese men's basketball team?"

After praising the smiling Yuan Weimin, he suddenly asked about the men's basketball team, and Li You, who was wearing a white training uniform, said very naturally:

"The strength is very strong, work hard, and it is not a problem to get a medal!"

Hearing these words, the staff of the General Administration of Sports laughed along, everyone carried the sedan chair, and everyone loved to listen to good words.

Before the start of the event, nearly 20,000 people had been squeezed into the Capital Gymnasium, which was temporarily added.

Many teenagers wear Knicks jerseys, and genuine jerseys don't come cheap, but fans who can buy tickets to the event have bulging wallets.

Before the start of the event, Li You came to the center of the venue, took the microphone, and loudly expressed his gratitude:

"Thank you for your attention over the years, and thank the Chinese men's basketball team for their support to the event!"

"Sports is a bridge of communication, and basketball keeps us together."

Hearing the cheers in the arena, Li You waved his hand, paused, and then said with a smile:

"I'm just a normal basketball player tonight, I hope you can have fun and enjoy moments like this!"

On the Chinese men's basketball team's side, Yao Ming followed suit, and Li You should be the most unscrupulous star in China.

Unlike the future men's basketball team, the 2004 team has a lot of front-line players and is very tall.

The backcourt is Liu Wei, Guo Shiqiang, Zhang Jinsong, Zhang Yunsong;

There are Li Nan, Du Feng, Chen Ke, Zhu Fangyu, Mo Ke, Yi Jianlian, Battle and Yao Ming in the frontcourt.

Accompanied by Tang Zhengdong, this is a young team, 4 years later, everyone is at their peak.

Maybe before the start of the event, some of these players still had a fluke mentality, but as Li You took off his coat and warmed up, Guo Shiqiang, who was two years older than Li You, widened his eyes.

Zhang Yunsong, who was the same age, looked at his arms and shoulders, and then looked at Li You, who was warming up, and was speechless

"Tall and strong defender", Li You may be almost tall, but his strength is vividly reflected.

Zhang Yunsong, who is in his early 1.8 meters, can almost be trapped by Li You, and he somewhat understands that Li You can succeed in the NBA:

"As strong as a cow."

The public training session was naturally casual and performance-oriented, and after the event began, the fans sitting in the front row continued to exclaim.

Watching the game live is completely different from watching the ball in front of the TV.

Li You, who took the lead in following the white team, was ridiculously fast, and when he changed direction in front of his body, he had a large range of movements, giving people the illusion that the basketball had disappeared

Many Chinese sports media understand Harris's ability to shoot on the move.

Battle only needs to stand still, with a simple hand at the top of the arc, and Li You can throw the ball into the basket after receiving the ball with his right hand and then drifting to the right after making a sharp stop

The pick-and-roll doesn't even need to be fully in place for Li You to go straight to the basket from the middle, and finally pull the lever in the air with all the bells and whistles, dodge Yao Ming's block, and send the ball to the basket.

In the transition offense, Li You was more than a meter away from the three-point line after half the court and threw it up, which made the fans on the scene shout again and again.

In May, the Chinese team also had some warm-up games, and the two completely different perceptions made fans suspect that they had watched match-fixing.

Especially when they saw the exceptionally young Yi Jianlian complete the empty connection and violent dunk in the positional attack for two consecutive rounds, some sports reporters also secretly exclaimed.

An excellent defender can naturally control the rhythm of the game, and Yao Ming is a little nervous when he runs.

Fortunately, Li You saw the dilemma on the other side and took the initiative to slow down the pace.

In the 10 minutes of the first quarter, the halftime bench easily scored 50 points.

At halftime, there was also a shooting charity event, and the fans who participated in the event donated 10,000 US dollars for every shot Li You hit.

Naturally, the Open Tournament will not be sandwiched, most of them are one-on-one, and Guo Shiqiang has been hit the most.

During the Asian Championships, in the face of the South Korean team's full-court pressing, the Chinese team's backcourt played a disaster and was chased by consecutive steals.

Li You faced personal defense, and even showed off two tricks

The fans at the scene did not know that many people in the Chinese men's basketball team were silent at halftime, and the young people participating in the event had fun, and everyone would cheer every time they hit a shot.

The event was lively, and Lee Woo also actively interacted with the fans, and the halftime activity hook suggested one-on-one, but no one responded to the players of the national team.

Therefore, after the shooting event, only amateur fans can appear.

Seeing Li You's giggling and amusing young people, some Chinese sports reporters couldn't help but look at each other:

"Big stars are like this?!"

On July 9, with the coverage of the Chinese media, the hook also began to place advertisements, and Li You's name began to sweep the land.

The shooting activity was put together, Li You personally donated 250,000 US dollars, and his personal foundation and hook also donated 250,000 yuan, and the final donation was 500,000 dollars, which will be used for education in remote areas.

For Li You, this money is not much, but it is a long stream, and he doesn't want to be labeled as a rich Kaizi.

In a simple open training match, the Chinese media completely believed what Harris had said before.

Experiencing the individual abilities of superstars, everyone is no longer looking to the future, and before the BJ Four Nations Invitational, Harris is out of trouble, and finally no one asks him about the men's basketball team selection and results.

Maybe it was a little aggrieved last night, although he didn't plan to play against Canada tonight, Yao Ming still talked about last night's Open in an interview:

"There is still some gap between our basketball and the NBA, and there is also some distance between us and the world's strongest teams."

"It was a completely different pace of the game, the simplest, Lee You knew what tactics to play in the game, and when the opponent made a change, he would direct the team and make the right way to deal with it."

'And now we're stuck with the coach telling us to make changes and maybe we can win the game, but a lot of times we don't know why we play that tactic.

"It's a gap in understanding basketball, and if you compare the gap to a ladder, we're on the first level, and Coach Lee and Coach Harris are on the fifth level."

"Now all we have to do is climb up with our feet on the ground."

No one talks about medals anymore, and no one talks about the possibility of MVP anymore.

In the past, many sports reporters stationed in the United States would blow Li You after returning to China, but they didn't witness it with their own eyes, and they couldn't realize it after all.

Li You continued to attend the brand's activities during the day, and then took Milinda to see the scenery.

There are always so many people in BJ, and the city under construction is exactly the same as Lee Woo remembers.

Everyone who travels to China will probably climb the Great Wall, and Milinda, who has been frequently one-on-one in the past two days, is not in good health, and she is not shy when she is carried on her back, but hugs Li You and laughs non-stop.

The surrounding melon-eating crowd did not affect Li You's mood, and the familiar scenery of climbing to the eighth floor of the north made him a little nostalgic.

Matt Parker, who was following behind, was also dressed in sports, and he was in a better and better mood in the past two days, not noticing that he had turned into a light bulb, and leaned forward and exclaimed:

"It's no wonder that the revenue of overseas markets will exceed that of North America, which is a huge market."

Old Mike on the side lifted his sunglasses, observed the surrounding situation, glanced at Matt Parker again, and shook his head slightly in his heart, he could see that Li You didn't like to cut leeks here.

At 20 o'clock that night, at the Capital Gymnasium, Harris made his coaching debut.

Facing the Canadian men's basketball team, Yao Ming did not appear, the strength gap between the two sides was large, and the Chinese men's basketball team was 45:24 at halftime, leading the opponent by a large score.

In the end, Harris lived up to the expectations of the fans and defeated the Canadian team 84-70.

Yi Jianlian scored 15 points and also delivered 5 blocks, although he lost rebounds, his performance was remarkable.

Most of the fans at the scene came to see Li You, and after the game, everyone in the Canadian team also came to the sidelines to take photos with Li You.

After leaving the Capital Gymnasium, a large number of fans also gathered outside the stadium, although there was no video material for the public training session, but word of mouth made the fans even more itchy.

At first, the siege made Mike Sr. a little nervous, but now he was completely used to it.

Sitting in the driver's seat, old Mike waited for Li You to get into the car, touched his bald head, looked at the rearview mirror and said in a deep voice:

"Ramis, Lee seems familiar with this place."

Milinda, who was wearing a black professional suit, nodded disapprerovingly, turned her head to look at the scenery outside the car window, the hair on her forehead rippled, and responded softly:

"He belongs to me, and our home is in Manhattan, in Greenwich."

On Sunday, July 11, the U.S. sports media began reporting on Lee's trip to China, and photos of Lee Woo and more than 10,000 people in the stadium appeared on ESPN and several mainstream media websites:

"Lee is conquering the world!"

The scene of 10,000 empty alleys was so shocking that Yahoo Sports thought it was a replica of the Championship Parade.

Lee You's influence is indeed expanding, with Sky Sports broadcasting this year's Grand Final and gossiping about Lee Woo lately.

Perhaps in order to attract the attention of Manchester United fans, the British Sun newspaper popularized Li You's relationship history, and as a result, he picked up a bunch of blondes.

A lot of people are disgusted with Playboy and it is to be expected that some United fans will step up their protests in the future.

Bryant hasn't been in a good mood lately, he has no commercial activities this offseason, and he has to continue to play before the trespass settlement.

Of course, this matter is almost over for Kobe, after a year of tugging, paying a lot of legal fees, the other party will finally compromise and choose to settle.

Although he feels sorry for his American knife, Kobe Bryant has been feeling depressed recently by the Lakers trade.

Although O'Neal is the league's No. 1 center, it is definitely not an easy task to find a home that is satisfactory to both parties.

O'Neal said in front of the media, thinking that he would still win the championship, Kobe Bryant was naturally not convinced, and he also had to prove himself.

On Monday the 12th, Bryant threw himself in the training gym at 4 a.m., and when he returned home at 7 a.m., he had already completed his daily morning training.

Vanessa doesn't like Kobe's recent routine, and training at 4 a.m. is simply an anti-human approach.

"You don't have to force yourself, hasn't the team already promised you to complete the contract extension?"

"You should spend more time with your daughter, even if you are a basketball player, you should take a break in the offseason."

"Look at Lee, he brought his girlfriend with him when he was in China."

"Every offseason, I rarely see anything about Lee's training, that book is not true, Tim Grover must be lying to you!"

"He just wants you to pay for the hefty training fees, honey, you need to get back into the family."

At the mention of Tim Grover, a well-known trainer, Vanessa was particularly angry, and she felt that the other party was cheating on their beautiful knife

Kobe, who was eating a customized breakfast, heard Vanessa's words, and only then did he notice a group photo of Li You and fans in the newspaper.

Seeing Li You wearing a white jersey and smiling brightly in the photo, Kobe Bryant felt more and more uncomfortable, reluctantly pulled out a smile, adjusted his mood and whispered:

"Tim Grover is a trainer for Michael Jordan and I believe him!"

"Next season, I have to prove myself! Basketball doesn't lie, and hard work pays off. ”

On July 14, with the end of the freeze period, a blockbuster trade took place in the free market:

The Lakers traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat;

In exchange for Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom, a 2006 first-round pick, and a 2007 second-round pick.

As soon as the deal was announced, it immediately sparked heated discussions among ball critics.

At a time when many teams choose to accumulate talent and prepare to bring down the Knicks, Pat Riley has made a move!

The Heat have always been Pat Riley's horses, overdrawing the future? The general manager with a lot of personality doesn't care.

Once again in the spotlight, Pat Riley is enjoying it.

The Miami Herald, as one of the most influential newspapers in the United States, naturally got the news a long time ago, and there was an op-ed in the sports section of the day that pat Riley blowing X:

"In three years, the Miami Heat will win the championship!"

The Lakers suffered a bit in this deal, although Odom and Wade made the playoffs together last season, but in terms of personal strength and influence on the game, they were naturally far less than O'Neal.

While critics began to debate whether the Heat could win a championship in three years, the Lakers were forgotten and no one believed that Kobe Bryant would be able to lead the team to win the championship.

Despite some dissatisfaction with the trade, Kobe Bryant didn't say anything, he threw himself into the training gym again, and this offseason, he wants to complete the transformation!

Li You, who flew to Tokyo, was not in the mood to pay attention to these gossips at this time, and was entertained by the brand, and he was soaking in the hot spring at night

Holding the slippery in his arms, although he had not trained systematically for almost a month, Li You felt that his physical condition was very good, and his energy was getting more and more energetic.

Looking at the white softness that seemed to float, Li You immediately buried his head and said in a muffled voice:

"Honey, we're going to have jet lag!"

(End of chapter)