Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 409 - 268 The world is full of

Chapter 409: Chapter 268 The world is full of

The season ended, and the next task for NBA teams was to prepare for the 2005 draft.

This year’s draft was crowded with stars, and every team could find a player suitable for them.

Thanks to a previous trade involving Michael Redd, the Bucks got two future first-round draft picks from the New York Knicks. One of those picks would be cashed in this year.

With Redd’s addition, the Knicks were stronger than they had been at the same time in previous years, but the chaos under Thomas remained unchanged. This season they regressed instead of improving, failing to make the playoffs and giving the Bucks a 13th pick in the first round.

So, as soon as the off-season began, the Bucks got busy discussing their draft pick choices.

Yu Fei was busy lately, which gave the Bucks’ executives a sense of urgency that time was not on their side.

They needed to get things settled quickly so that Big Fei wouldn’t have the chance to remote control the draft when he returned.

They could let Big Fei play with end-of-first-round or second-round slots before, but this time it was a lottery pick. With some luck, they might pick a Kobe; with less luck… well, it couldn’t be worse than Kevin Martin.

That’s why Big Fei kept joking Martin should find a place to hang himself.

In just one season, his reputation was almost ruined by Martin.

So, what has Yu Fei been up to lately?

Actually, it wasn’t that he was busy, but he was preparing to discuss a contract renewal with his agent, Arne Trem.

Today was the formal negotiation, and since both sides were well-acquainted, it was expected that a second round of talks wouldn’t be necessary.

At the negotiation, besides Yu Fei, Trem also met “Tony” Lawson, Tim Grover, Quint DiMio, Christian Laettner, and an Asian face he had never seen before.

“You know Tim,” Yu Fei said, gesturing towards Laettner. “Chris, you should have met him too. This is Kevin Lin, my new assistant.”

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

Trem nodded, not particularly interested in the people around Yu Fei.

“Frye, first of all, I want to congratulate you on a great four years,” Trem said with a smile. “Believe me, no basketball player has had a rookie four years more impressive than yours.”

For Trem, Yu Fei’s rise compensated for the decline of Darius Miles and Kwame Brown.

In his eyes, this was a superstar with more potential than Kobe and McGrady, and he had to tie himself tightly to him.

Yu Fei responded modestly, “It wouldn’t have been possible without your help.”

“I haven’t done much,” Trem said humbly. “I’ve just done some basic work and there’s still a lot to be desired.”

Enough with the courtesies.

Yu Fei gave DiMio a look.

DiMio took out a document they had prepared and said, “Arne, this is what Frye is specifically requesting for his next contract.”

This was unusual.

Typically, such documents are provided by agents, and the player brings up any additional requests.

By Yu Fei presenting this document himself, what was he indicating besides his explicit demands?

His resolve was unshakable.

If Trem couldn’t meet these demands, then they would just go their separate ways, each to their own fantastic life.

The deeper Trem read into the document, the colder his heart became.

If he agreed, as an agent he would barely have any role other than helping Yu Fei negotiate with the Bucks.

Whether it was commercial representation, promotion, marketing, scheduling, and so on—all these powers that should belong to an agent were about to be divided.

Trem took a deep breath and looked at Yu Fei, “Frye, was this your idea?”

Yu Fei answered calmly, “It was my idea.”

“Are you dissatisfied with my work?” Trem asked.

Yu Fei replied, “Like you said, you did some basic work, and I’m satisfied with that part. But I also agree that you have many shortcomings.”

It was direct and realistic.

There was no room for sentiments here. Yu Fei once entrusted all his representation to Trem, but four years had passed, and Trem couldn’t manage everything. As a top agent with many players, even someone as great as Yu Fei couldn’t expect his undivided, full-time service.

Given that, out of consideration for their past, Yu Fei retained Trem’s right to negotiate his contract renewal, but for other aspects, he needed someone loyal to him and willing to serve him wholeheartedly.

Trem didn’t ask what would happen if he disagreed.

He knew very well, disagreeing would mean their cooperation would end then and there.

He had already lost Kobe; he couldn’t afford to lose Yu Fei.

Even if he could only have castrated rights, he had to retain the title of “Frye Yu’s agent.”

“I accept all the demands listed above,” Trem said. “Do we have any other issues?”

Yu Fei smiled, knowing Trem would agree.

“Arne, I have one small request.”

“You tell me.”

Yu Fei glanced at Christian and asked, “Do you know Chris?”

“I once sought to represent him,” Trem said. “Unfortunately, I failed.”

“Well, that was a long time ago,” Christian said.

“You know, Chris is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Now that he’s retired, he wants to stay in the professional circle. I’ve been thinking, the best post-retirement job for him would be to become a full-time agent,” Yu Fei said. “You’re an expert in this field, and I believe you can help him quickly become an excellent agent.”

For Trem, it was a minor matter, and for Yu Fei’s sake, he agreed.

“Chris can come to be my assistant, and I’ll teach him some basic things.” Trem began to feel as if he was digging a hole for himself.

Would Christian end up stealing his business, like Rob Pelinka did, after being run ragged?

Yu Fei didn’t notice Trem sinking into painful memories and turned to Christian, saying, “Work hard.”

“What if I don’t do well?”

“Even if you don’t do well, it doesn’t matter.” Yu Fei said cheerfully, “You can find a place to bury yourself so I never have to see you again.”

Christian jokingly asked, “Doesn’t that mean not even having an epitaph?”

“What does a complete failure need an epitaph for? It’s quite fitting this way.”

Afterward, Yu Fei signed another four-year agency contract with Trem.

This time, Trem felt bitter.

As usual, every time they wrapped up a signing, he would take his client out to eat, but today, he had no appetite at all and just wanted to know who had usurped his power.

“Who are you planning to give those agency rights to?”

Yu Fei looked at DiMio with a smile and said, “Let me introduce you to the upcoming president of the ‘B-B-F’ company, Quentin DiMio. He will be responsible for another part of my agency rights.”

So the thief was right beside him!

Trem turned to DiMio and said, “You’re new to the industry. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can call me.”

“Thank you,” DiMio smiled. “This is a good day, Arne, don’t you think we should find a restaurant and celebrate properly?”

Forcing back the urge to vomit, Trem managed a smile and said, “We should certainly celebrate…”

So they went to a Michelin restaurant for a meal.

Later, Yu Fei returned to Milwaukee to carry on with the Bucks’ drafting work. Trem needed to find his place in this new agent contract, and DiMio officially started his role as CEO of B-B-F.

This year’s draft looked promising for the Bucks, unlike in the past where they could only hope for leftovers.

They had the Knicks’ first-round 13th pick and their own 26th pick. As for their second-round pick, it was traded to the Trail Blazers early in the last season.

When Yu Fei got back to the team, tryouts were in full swing.

First, the Bucks tried out Raymond Felton, who seemed like a lesser version of Deron Williams, a top-five favorite from the same class.

But the Bucks didn’t really need a point guard, and it would have been a luxury to use a lottery pick to select a backup.

Martin didn’t seem promising, Ariza needed long-term development, Sprewell’s return next year was uncertain, and he would be a year older. Consequently, the Bucks were leaning towards choosing a wing swingman.

This class had many wing swingmen, like North Carolina’s Marvin Williams, McGrady’s successor Gerald Green, another talented high school student Martell Webster, Anthony’s college roommate Hakim Warrick (Small Forward), and Danny Granger, who skyrocketed during his senior year at New Mexico State.

All these names were prominent, but Fei was familiar only with Green.

Yet Green’s future was no more than a mediocre NBA player, and it would not be worth it to select him with a lottery pick.

Out of the rest, only the name Danny Granger seemed vaguely familiar to him.

So, he didn’t have a clear idea whom to select with the draft right.

The Bucks first sent out an invitation to Green for a tryout, but this talent hailed as the next McGrady not only snubbed the Bucks for their low pick but also turned down another club’s invitation because they “dared” to arrange a tryout with others.

Marvin Williams, being a top three favorite, also declined the Bucks’ tryout.

Out of the many potential lottery wing players invited by the Bucks, only Hakim Warrick, Antoine Wright, and Danny Granger accepted.

It was Granger’s acceptance that surprised the Bucks the most.

As the only player in this class with size, immediate impact, shooting ability, and ball-handling skills as a strong wing player, Granger was almost guaranteed a top-ten pick. If he shone in the tryouts, cracking the top five was not out of the question.

During the interview, the Bucks asked him specifically, “You’re considered a top-ten pick in many media mock drafts. What made you accept our tryout invitation?”

Granger replied, “If I can be Frye Yu’s teammate, I’m willing to give up the chance to be selected within the top twelve picks.”

Recently, the Bucks’ executives always felt Yu Fei’s reputation stank, a result of media suppression. But clearly, the voice of the fourth estate only speaks for a few, not for the whole world.

The world is full of young people like Danny Granger who idolize Frye.

“Frye will be very pleased to hear you say that,” Karl laughed. “Let’s continue.”

COMMENT

0 comment

Vote

3 left

SEND GIFT