"I hope you don't get bored."

Presti's last sentence reminded Yu Fei of something about his rookie season.

Yu Fei was deeply impressed by Jordan's handling of many things, and many of them even affected his current way of doing things. But Jordan has one thing that Yu Fei doesn't have.

That is Jordan's possessiveness of his own commercial value.

Jordan didn't like the fact that the team was making money in his name, and that's what every team with a superstar does.

That's why Jordan and the Wizards' then-director Susan O'Marie were at odds with each other.

O'Marie wants to squeeze every point of value out of Jordan, but Jordan always feels that commercial value is his bargaining chip, and the Wizards must make concessions to him in some aspects if they want to. This self-confident mentality caused Jordan to mess up all the personnel relationships, and also laid the foundation for him to be purged by Bolin at the speed of light after retiring.

Yu Fei doesn't mind this kind of thing, especially now.

Only if the SuperSonics make money with him can they prove themselves to be a franchise that can bring economic effect to Seattle.

Otherwise, as Nick Licata said, a team that loses money year after year doesn't deserve the best stadium. Yes is also waste.

"I'm not going to get bored." "Also, I want Lenny [Wilkens] to come with me, he's the most famous basketball player in the area, and things will go a lot better with him." ”

Presti said: "It's a question of whether Lenny would like to do it, he's the president of the team and I'm not qualified to ask him to do community activities. ”

After finishing speaking, Yu Fei left.

Presti watched Yu Fei leave.

If there was one word to describe Yu Fei's life in Seattle, Presti would use the word "hurry."

Every day, Yu Fei is very busy.

Even if he is the majority shareholder of the team, he will not care about the team as much as he does.

He even noticed the lack of community activities in the team.

The average player shes away from such thankless tasks, but he knows that this is the most direct way for the team to communicate with the local fans.

If the team gives up on maintaining the relationship, isn't it indirectly signaling to the fans that they are ready to go?

Initially, it was part of Clay Bennett's overall grand plan, and Presti was just acting on orders.

It's a well-known fact that Bennett wants to move the supersonic away. It's like people know that his assurances at Schultz Howard's press conference announcing the supersonic change of ownership were a lie.

Presti only knew part of the relocation of the team.

He knew Bennett had decided to move the team out, but the plan was made at the top.

Part of Presti's responsibility was to distance the team from fans in Seattle, including but not limited to raising ticket prices, no longer paying homage to the team's history, pressing the reset button on team building, drastically reducing community-related activities, and placing a large group of underqualified staff on front desk services.

The plan went very well, and as of June this year, superSonic's approval rating in the city was down 20% compared to last year.

It's just that neither Presti nor Bennett expected a fierce man from the sky.

Yu Fei's transfer caused the superSonics' approval rating to triple and the lifeless ball market instantly became popular, and from the summer to the present, Yu Fei's No. 44 jersey has topped the league's best-selling jersey list.

In the first week of the season, the SuperSonics had $20 million in cash.

The chain reaction of the supergiant franchise, the almost terrifying commercial value and the ability to attract money shocked Clay Bennett.

If it is said that the supersonic speed with the key arena is like moving forward with a load when it is operating, then Yu Fei's performance so far is basically carrying the home debuff and the rotten management to run out of the plaque of "big market shame".

According to SuperSonic's internal statistics, according to this scenario, by the end of the season, SuperSonics will easily complete the basic indicator of a large-market team - a season revenue of $100 million.

Bennett, a lifelong Oklahomanian, vowed to have an NBA team in his hometown, but the commercial benefits generated by Yu Fei made him less convinced.

So, the latest news Presti got was a change in plans.

But how to change, where to change, he didn't know, and Bennett didn't say it, so these measures to alienate fans were not revoked until Yu Fei took the initiative to feedback the problem.

Public opinion, politicians, the will of the alliance, the wishes of the bosses.

These are the four difficulties that Yu Fei faced, and now, he has shaken the determination of his boss.

Presti still feels that the supersonic relocation is the general trend, and all attempts to keep the team have been exhausted in the Schultz Howard era, and if it weren't for the supersonics' unprofitability locally, Seattle, which is full of plutocrats, would never sit idly by and win the opportunity to make money and keep the team in Emerald City.

Since the coffee king sold the team to outsiders, there are only three possibilities.

Only the out-of-town defense is willing to buy it, and the coffee king wants to take revenge on the fans, or. One of the craziest possibilities for Presti — the league needs to warn other cities by punishing Seattle that if you don't support your team, you'll lose your team. So, hypersound was sold to outsiders.

Therefore, Presti believes that Yu Fei's hope of success is slim, but his courage is commendable, and this is completely a Don Quixote choice.

He admired such a person, although he couldn't help, but not so much that he would stumble, and if he had to choose between Emerald City and Exploding City, he still liked the rainy city.

Seriously, how many normal human beings would choose a city that is famous all over the world for its bombing by a madman?

Just as Presti's thoughts were fluttering, his boss called.

Bennett had only a brief sentence on the phone: "We've just worked out a new financing package, and the draft has been sent to your inbox." ”

"Do you want Frye to know about this?"

"Not yet."

It's Bennett's style to hang up and get straight to the point, and he doesn't spend ten minutes talking nonsense and then 10 seconds saying what he wants to say.

Presti opened the draft financing proposal in her mailbox.

“WTF？！！！”

※※※

Lenny Wilkens never imagined that he would follow the league's most powerful players to the "Save Our HyperSonics" rally to hand out SuperSonics' historical memorabilia.

Wilkens' initial impression of Fei was not good, except that he was a combination of Big O and Wilt, a man who thought highly of himself and was greedy for data.

The worst thing about such a person is that he doesn't understand the importance of respecting his teammates and team. Because they think of themselves as greater than God.

But during training camp, Wilkens once made a cameo appearance as a player, and when Yu Fei received a pass from his hand and scored, the arrogant active first man looked at him unexpectedly and asked like an idiot, "Lanny, have you played before?" ”

At that moment, Wilkens smiled: "Yes, I've played before. ”

Unbeknownst to the first, he inadvertently accomplished something that many lifelong actors in the 50s and 60s couldn't do – make Lanny Wilkens laugh.

Now, he's the same guy and he's more involved in the team's community than anyone else.

He wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the supersonic logo and handed out gifts to fans who were randomly selected.

"Fry, save our supersonics!"

A fan shouted excitedly.

"I can't do it alone, so I need your help and support."

Yu Fei responded with a smile.

If there is a numerical value for a person's charisma, then the first person's current charisma will be a perfect score.

There is no arrogance, no condescension, and not even the slightest impatience with the demanding fans.

He reminded Wilkens of Johnson, the magician who competed at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

It's a monster who doesn't get tired of signing autographs for fans for 5 hours in a row.

A natural public figure.

During this period, an old man appeared, wearing the number 43 jersey (Jack Hickma) from the 1978-79 season, and kept saying that he was a fan of the supersonic in the late '60s, the era of the league's national expansion. For this status, he deserves three memorabilia because he doesn't know if the team he's supported for 40 years will be here next year.

"Okay, then I'm going to test you." The first person asked, "Who was the original star in the history of the SuperSonics?" ”

If his answer is not Lenny Wilkens, then the first person will only give him a souvenir.

Unbeknownst to him, the old man actually said an unfamiliar name: "No. 21, Bob Rule Luhr (Bob Rule PF/C), he is the original supersonic." ”

The first person to be unsure looked at Wilkens.

"He's right." Wilkens' unwavering face tinged with nostalgia, "Bob is the original supersonic. ”

"He's right?"

"Exactly."

"You're the most senior fan today, can you tell me your name?"

"Joe Kennedy."

The first person was happy when he heard this: "Are you an optimist?" ”

"Hahaha, how do you know?"

Wilkens didn't say a word, the league's best player on the top of the table coped with a wide variety of fans today, but he didn't show the slightest bit of unprofessionalism.

As the biggest face of the league, he fully fulfilled his mission and made fans feel respected and valued.

Wilkens believes that the fans who came into contact with the first person today will never forget it for the rest of their lives.

A few hours later, they were on their way home.

"Lenny, do you think we still have enough time?"

Wilkens rarely saw a lack of confidence in the young man's face.

After seeing so many pro-sonic fans in person, he should have been optimistic, but his mood turned negative.

"Do you think there's not enough time?"

"I don't know." Yu Fei said, "The fans I saw today are the most loyal fans, they will support the team no matter what, I just gave them some encouragement on behalf of the team today, but what about those who don't support the team? What do these things do mean to them? ”

Wilkens will always have only one expression, like those who don't smile in the second dimension.

Yu Fei's pessimism about the future made him feel that under this person's omnipotent performance, he also had mortal fragility, and when he felt that no matter how hard he tried, he would of course doubt whether he could achieve his goal.

"Do you know the Sailors?" Wilkens's voice, like Morgan Freeman, gives a sense of time and time. "They almost moved out in 1995.."

(End of chapter)