Pick Westbrook

Chapter 227 The Buck Is a Warrior

Second half of the game.

As soon as Paul came up, he made consecutive mid-range shots through the pick-and-roll.

Westbrook, who was defending Paul, was almost out of temper.

How come mid-range shots are so accurate?Almost at the same level as Kobe.

The key is that there is a big difference between Paul's mid-range shooting and Kobe's, that is, everyone knows that Kobe is going to attack when he holds the ball, but no one knows what he is going to do when he holds the ball.

Pass the ball or attack yourself?
In addition, every time Paul holds the ball, he will perform a lot of pick-and-rolls on the outside. After the pick-and-roll, he can advance to break through, hit the ground to roll down players, or attack by himself.

This also makes it difficult for defensive players to judge how to defend Paul this round.

Seeing this scene, Li Lai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"This is court dominance!"

"Paul is a player who already has the dominance of the court and even has the ability to change the opponent's defensive formation."

"It's just a pity that the Hornets didn't give him a lot of support. Otherwise, with his leadership, this team shouldn't be just a goalkeeper in the playoffs."

Of course, what Li Lai saw and heard the most in his previous life was Paul's injuries at critical moments.

Almost every year in the playoffs, Sao Paulo will be injured on the court, which also causes his team to unfortunately lose the series every year.

This is why all the fans in the previous life felt sorry for Xiaopao.

He should have helped the team play better.

on the field.

Curry and Paul were already on the bar in the first quarter, so seeing the opponent frequently hit mid-range shots in this quarter and leading the team to counterattack.

Curry chose to stand up again.

Hold the ball from the bottom line, look up at the moon and make a fake move, make a sudden stop to change the center of gravity, and then pull back with a large amplitude.

call!
Paul staggered and nearly fell to the ground.

"Fuck!"

Barkley and Kenny Smith screamed at the same time on the live commentary stand.

Curry swayed to Paul?What a joke!
Kenny Smith said: "Paul is short because he is only 183cm tall like Iverson."

"But unlike Iverson, Paul's defense is very good, especially in terms of defensive awareness and physical confrontation, he can be regarded as the top guard player."

Barkley nodded and strongly agreed with his old partner.

Although Paul is so short, he is the best defensive player in the league!

So when Paul is playing on the court, most of the time you are the only one who sees him swaying others. When can someone sway him?
But what actually happened on the court now is that Curry shook Paul and almost knocked him to the ground.

It wasn't until this time that Barkley remembered that the Bucks had chosen Curry despite the ridicule of everyone in the world.

Barkley still remembers what Lee said when the Bucks held a press conference for Curry.

"I am very grateful to those who questioned Curry. It is because of their existence that I can select this future top [-] player in the NBA."

"Remember, it is the top fifteen players in the entire history of the NBA!"

At that time, the whole world was still mocking how Li Lai dared to say such big words, but when everyone experienced Curry's rookie season, he broke Ray Allen's record for three-pointers in a single season, and watched the opponent Unparalleled offensive performance this season.

Who dares to say that Curry is not worthy?

"Also, Curry is by far the league's leading scorer."

"He's just a second-year player."

on the field.

Seeing Paul swaying to the ground, Curry shook his shoulders with great hatred before raising his hand for a three-pointer.

Swish!
Hit steadily.

Curry, who scored this three-pointer, shook his head on the court and was extremely arrogant. When he was about to make a signature shoulder shake, he suddenly remembered something.

Curry watched Paul, who had stood up, raised his right hand to the sky and then fell down charmingly, impromptu dancing.

"Xiao Pao, are you still learning?"

Paul looked at Curry, a slut, forced a smile and said, "Labor and management won't."

109: 100.

With Paul's outburst in the third quarter, the Hornets have narrowed the score to a completely acceptable range.

However, Curry's sudden effort on the offensive end still made Paul's efforts throughout the game fall short.

The Bucks have won [-] consecutive victories!
after the game.

Paul took the initiative to find Iverson and wanted to exchange jerseys with him.

Iverson only needs to look at the jersey number behind Paul to know who the opponent's fan is, so he readily agreed to the opponent.

When hugging Paul, Iverson looked at this player who was as short as himself, and couldn't help but think of himself who also had a dream to make a breakthrough in the NBA when he was a child.

He said seriously: "With your ability, you should stand on a higher stage, instead of making it so hard to make it to the playoffs."

"The coach is right, you should go to a championship team."

Paul listened carefully to the idol's suggestion, then looked at Iverson and said, "I will think about it carefully."

"But Coach Li Lai also said that if you can't go to a championship team, then you'd rather not go anywhere."

4 month 1 day.

The regular season is drawing to a close.

Most of the teams in the league that desperately want to squeeze into the playoffs are about to end all the fighting at this time.

As for those teams that have already made it to the playoffs, after competing for better Eastern and Western rankings, they all chose to stop tacitly at this time.

Adjust the state of the team, reduce the playing time of core players, and minimize the probability of injury.

This is what most aspiring teams are doing.

Relying on the terrifying thirteen-game winning streak, the Bucks have overtaken at the end of the game and squeezed the Bulls.

The Bucks are now ranked second in the East in terms of record.

At this time, Li Lai also prepared to let the players take a break, and adjusted the playing time of core players such as Westbrook, Curry, and Cousins ​​to about 30 minutes.

At the same time, it gave Jeremy Lin, Danny Green, Dragic and others more playing time, allowing them to prepare for the next playoffs.

Hammond said: "The regular season will end on April 4, and we have six games left."

"Currently we have achieved a record of 60 wins and 16 losses, ranking second in the Eastern Conference."

"The Heat are now 65-11 and the Bulls are 59-17."

"It's almost hopeless for us to surpass the Heat to become No. 6 in the East, but the Bulls are very likely to surpass us in the last six games."

"They have that hope."

Li Lai naturally knew what Hammond meant when he said this, so he said directly: "Even if the Bulls overtake us in the final stage, it won't be a big problem."

"In short, we can't let the players fight game by game at such a critical time, which will increase their risk of injury."

"The playoffs are coming, and the players also need to ensure sufficient physical fitness."

"If the Bulls intend to play a better record in the next game, this is what I want to see."

Hammond nodded.

Li Lai has always been extremely cautious in the team's handling, and he also believes that the opponent's decision can make the team better.

At this time Li Lai suddenly looked at Holloway and said something else seriously.

"How has the team fared so far?"

Holloway took a deep breath in surprise, and after a while, she came back to her senses and said: "Because the retirement tour we held for Iverson and O'Neal attracted the attention of the whole United States, the average ticket price of the Bucks this season has soared." .”

"The average price of each ticket has reached 92 US dollars, which ranks fourth in the league."

"Bradley Arena can accommodate 18717 people, and every home game we have is full of fans."

"That means we've got $7000 million for the entire season in ticket revenue alone."

"And we have already sold two home games in the first round of the playoffs in advance. The average selling price is 290 US dollars, which can rank fifth in the league."

"Excluding 6% of the ticket revenue for each game during the regular season to the league, 45% of the ticket revenue for each game during the playoffs is turned over to the league."

"We have a total of 7600 million in ticket revenue so far."

Hammond listened with great satisfaction and nodded repeatedly.

The sales performance of these tickets is enough to be regarded as the highest in the entire history of the Bucks.

If it weren't for the fact that the Bucks are located in remote Milwaukee, and the four teams of the Heat, Lakers, Bulls and Knicks are in big cities, the Bucks must be better than them.

All this is the change brought about by Li Lai.

Hammond admired Li Lai more and more from the sidelines. In his opinion, Li Lai was simply a business genius.

Li Lai did not speak at the side, but continued to look at Huo Luowei and waited for the next sentence.

Holloway knew what the other party wanted to know, so she continued: "We have received a lot of off-court sponsorships this season, and the cost alone has reached 2500 million."

"This data is also fourth in the league, second only to the Lakers, Heat and Knicks."

"That is to say, our current total profit is 1 million yuan, excluding player salaries of 100 million yuan and luxury tax of 7500 million yuan."

"Our final profit was 1850 million."

Of course, the league's broadcast share and other ancillary profits will not be released until the end of the regular season, which is the biggest part of each team's entire season.

In addition, there are only two ticket sales for the Bucks playoffs, so there are still more ticket sales profits that have not been achieved.

According to Holloway's estimates, the Bucks' profit this season is conservatively estimated to exceed 7500 million.

You must know that last season's Bucks' profit reached 7000 million for the entire season, which already cheered the entire team. No one thought that the Bucks could earn more this season.

The Milwaukee Bucks haven't made this much money in years.

After listening to Holloway's words, Li Lai secretly estimated in his heart.

Earlier, he had asked Wang Lishen in advance that Li Ning's factory started in July, and 7 months have passed so far, and the accumulated profit has reached 10 million.

According to Li Ning's group headquarters, 50% will be taken, the NBA will take 10%, and Li Lai will take 40%, which means that Li Lai can take 2800 million yuan in income there.

And Jordan Carver's food and broadcasting company has a net profit of 10 million in the past 5000 months, and Li Lai can get 20 million if he divides it into 1000%.

Coupled with Mavericks owner Cuban's 400 million overseas sales share from Li Ning, and the 10 million profit of Kulai Express Company in the past 4000 months, Li Lai can get half of 2000 million.

In other words, Li Lai currently has a total of 1 million working capital that can be withdrawn.

"The distance from 2 million is only 1950 million."

Hammond said with some pity.

He was very aware of Li Lai's debt of 2 million in those three years. After all, it was left behind by Li Lai's father, Herbert Kerr, the previous owner of the Bucks.

When Li Laicai took over as the head of the Bucks, at that time no one believed that he could pay off such a terrible debt in three years.

That's $2 million!
In the NBA, the price of an ordinary team is only around 3-4 million US dollars.

Cuban spent $2.85 million when he bought the Mavericks.

In any case, Hammond never expected that Li Lai would actually achieve this step, although it happened that this goal was about to be completed at the juncture of the three-year deadline, and it was very dangerous.

But also very remarkable.

Holloway looked at Li Lai with very strange eyes.

It's still 1950 million short!
At the same time, there are still 6 games to come to the end of the season. At that time, the Bucks will get the big money from the league's broadcasting. Li Lai will be able to pay off the 2 million debt directly no matter what.

And it's more than enough!
From this, Holloway could see that even if Li Lai had any force majeure or strategic mistakes in the process of raising funds, he still had someone who could fill the vacancy.

Li Lai wanted to pay off the 2 million debt, he was serious.

"No! We are not short of the 1950 million, but 50 more."

Li Lai said suddenly at this moment.

Hammond frowned and didn't understand very well. Although his calculation level has not been very high, this account is still clear.

Isn't all the amount listed by Li Lai just now 1 million?
Isn't that 1950 million short?Where is the extra 50?
Holloway tilted her little head to the side and also didn't quite understand, even if she did the math, she didn't realize why there was an extra 50.

Li Lai explained: "I have reserved funds of 2000 million in the team, plus this money, isn't it 2 million?"

Ah ~
Holloway covered her mouth and let out a surprised sound for a moment.

She remembered that when the Bucks' funds were extremely difficult, Li Lai took out the bank card that Herbert Cole left him, which was exactly 500 million.

It was that money that allowed the Bucks to survive the most dangerous difficulties.

After the end of that season, Holloway suggested that Li Lai should keep at least 2000 million as the team's activity funds, otherwise the picture of not being able to make money in the previous season might reappear.

And Li Lai also followed Holloway's suggestion and put the money on that bank card, so he kept it until now.

If Li Lai hadn't mentioned it suddenly, Holloway would have even forgotten about the money.

In other words, the debt of 2 million has been saved enough!
At this time, Hammond and Holloway looked at Li Lai in front of them at the same time.

Both of them suddenly had a feeling that they still underestimated each other.

"Now that the debt has been raised, it is time to notify Mark Leslie and Wesley Edens."

"I know that Wesley Edens is the owner of a very well-known local hospital in Milwaukee. Only Mark Leslie is little known."

"But it's been on my mind for three years, so whether or not Mark Leslie is in Milwaukee right now, I'd love to bring Wesley Edens in."

"End this three-year 2 million debt as soon as possible."

After saying this, Li Lai walked out the floor-to-ceiling windows of the office and looked down at the fans outside the Milwaukee Arena.

The playoffs have not yet started, and many fans have already raised the banner of defending the title and cheered for the team outside the arena.

Among them, many fans shouted: "Li Lai, listen to me, you hip-playing kid. If the Bucks can't defend their title, I'll twist your head off and use it as a chamber pot."

"Our team has Curry, Westbrook, Cousins, Yi Jianlian, Artest, Dragic, McGrady."

"If such a lineup can't defend the title, then there is only one problem, that is, your team coach is too incompetent!"

"With our current lineup, my grandma can defend the title when she coaches."

"So Li Lai, don't embarrass us."

"."

The corners of Li Lai's mouth lifted and he smiled lightly.

Milwaukee fans still haven't given up their habit of spraying him.

In short, if the Bucks win, Li Lai is at fault, and if the Bucks lose, all eighteen generations of Li Lai's ancestors are at fault.

At this time, Li Lai also saw the huge stag statue standing in the center outside the arena, surrounded by fans, which was extremely eye-catching.

Li Lai said: "He is like a warrior. May all of us be brave, carefree, proud and strong."

(End of this chapter)