am i proud?

Chapter 129 Love from the CEO ([-]nd update today)
The morning sun shone on Fifth Avenue in New York, and Mark Tatum walked into the "Olympic Tower" building at 645 Fifth Avenue, which is the headquarters of the NBA.

As the executive vice president of the NBA's global marketing and cooperation department, Tatum is one of the top figures in the NBA today, and there are only a handful of people with his status.

Since the beginning of this season, Stern has intended to choose one of several company executives to serve as the vice president. Currently, Tatum and Adam Silver have the highest voices.

Compared with Adam Silver, who is a senior administrator, Tatum is superior in terms of education, ability and appearance, and he has been in charge of the alliance's global promotion plan for more than a year, so his strategic vision is undoubtedly more advantageous.

Now is the critical juncture, if you can earn performance, you still have to perform as much as possible, such as arriving at the company an hour early every day... Don't underestimate such details, the Jewish old man Stern pays attention to these details!
As soon as he walked into the office, before he had time to sit down, Stern's female secretary knocked on the door and came in.

"Mr. Tatum, the president invites you to his office!"

"Okay, I'll go right now!"

Tatum walked into Stern's office, and saw the president standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and staring downstairs. Tatum walked over and glanced, and saw the staff below entering the building one by one.

"Mark, you're here!" Stern turned to see him, and immediately showed a warm smile, "I asked Lucy to prepare your favorite 'latte', let's sit down and talk!"

"Yes, Mr. Stern!"

The two sat on the sofa. Not long after, the female secretary brought two cups of coffee. Stern smiled and said, "Lucy, help me cancel all the morning appointments. I have very important work arrangements!"

"Okay, sir!"

The female secretary turned around and backed out, closing the office door behind her.

"Okay, I'll cut to the chase!" Stern smiled, "Mark, if I remember correctly, you have been with the company for two years, right?"

"Yes, sir, your memory is really good!" Tatum is undoubtedly a master at communicating with people, and being able to flatter the president so unobtrusively is completely a basic operation for him.

"Hehe, it's too late, I'm getting old!" Stern laughed, "Mark, you should have heard about it, the company is going to select a vice president?"

"Yes, sir!" Tatum nodded.

"Well, any thoughts?" Stern asked with a smile.

"Sir, I don't want to think too much about things that haven't been filmed yet!" Tatum smiled, "I think that as long as I do my job well, Mr. President, you will definitely see it!"

Stern smiled in satisfaction, and continued: "I can tell you very clearly that you and Adam are currently the most promising candidates, and the vice president will most likely be created between the two of you. Therefore, I will give you a special task. Of course, Adam will also receive another special task...Which one of you will be the vice president this time depends on how well you complete this task!"

A gleam flashed in Tatum's eyes, and he asked: "Mr. President, please tell me? No matter what kind of task, I will go all out to do my best!"

Stern smiled and said, "I have given you this task, which I call the 'God-making Movement'. As the name suggests, we need to create a new generation of superstars!"

He took a sip of coffee, and continued: "Michael's skills are obviously not as good as before. Only his comeback this time will not improve the league's ball market as much as I expected. So I hope that in the next one or two seasons, there will be a group of new superstars in the league. Can you do it?"

Tatum immediately fell into contemplation. Whether this matter is difficult or easy depends entirely on how determined Stern is.

As an NBA executive, Tatum knows very well that it was Stern who made Michael Jordan popular back then.

Although Jordan is indeed superior in strength, without Stern's strong support, he would never be able to become the "God of Basketball" that everyone admires.

Just because of the desperate blocking of the "Bad Boys" of the Pistons back then, Jordan fell into the sand twice in the East, and facing the "Magician" and "SHOW-TIME" Lakers who were still at their peak, Jordan and the young Bulls did not have a full advantage.

Thinking about the two finals in 1997 and 1998, did the Jazz really have no chance at all?Are the Bulls really invincible?

As a fan, it is natural to think that Jordan and the Bulls are invincible, but as an NBA executive, Tatum's thinking is not so naive.

Take the 1998 Finals as an example. In the 6 games in the entire series, the Jazz averaged only 18.8 free throws per game, while the Bulls averaged 23.4 free throws per game.

Tatum knows it's not a coincidence, or that Bulls players are better at drawing fouls...it's just that the referee's whistle is "a little bit biased" against the Bulls.

When two evenly matched teams meet, as long as there is a slight off-court factor that favors one side, then the other side will naturally have almost no chance of winning.

Stern obviously saw Tatum's hesitation, so he said gently: "Mark, you don't have to worry too much, I will let all the departments of the company fully cooperate with you, and you can use all the resources you think should be used!"

Tatum pondered for a moment, then smiled and said: "Okay, Mr. President, I think I can do it! In just one or two seasons, you will see no less than 5 new superstars appear!"

Stern smiled and asked, "It seems that you already have a goal in mind, can you tell me about it?"

Tatum said with a smile: "First of all, Shaq, Tim and Allen are already well-known. I'm afraid you don't think they are 'new' superstars. Players such as Jason Kidd, Chris Webber and Alan Houston have been famous for a long time, and they seem to have exhausted their potential. So I plan to give Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Dirk Nowitzki and Darling King!"

Stern looked at him with great interest and asked, "Why do you take a fancy to Dirk and Wang? Both of them are international players. It will definitely cost a lot for the league to praise them!"

Tatum smiled and said: "Because they are international players, I think the league should support them more! Mr. President, I have been committed to the league's expansion and cooperation in the global market for the past two years, so I think we should pay more attention to international players, so that the influence of the NBA league on a global scale will grow!"

Stern nodded and said with a smile: "Well, your thinking coincides with mine, so... just let it go, I'm waiting for your good news!"

Tatum nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. President!"

After he got up and wanted to leave, Stern laughed again: "Pay more attention to that kid Darling-Wang. The Chinese market is far bigger than you imagined. The global strategy of the NBA in the future, maybe...China is the most important link!"

Tatum nodded and said, "I see, Mr. President!"

Exiting the president's office, Tatum saw a bald man wearing glasses sitting on the sofa at the door. Of course he recognized this as Adam Silver - currently his biggest competitor for being elected as the NBA vice president.

The two nodded and smiled at each other as a greeting, Tatum walked straight to his office, while Xiao Hua gently knocked on the door of the president's office...

Now that Tatum was interviewed, of course Stern also interviewed Xiao Hua. At present, in the mind of the president, there is no distinction between the two of them, and naturally they should be treated equally.

The task given to Tatum was "God-making Movement", and the task given to Xiao Hua was "Restore Godhead"... As the name suggests, the task Xiao Hua received was to help Jordan restore his reputation, and even recreate the glory of the year.

After listening to Stern's words, Xiao Hua also fell into deep thought.It's not an easy task, especially since Jordan is right now at the center of the vortex of public opinion, and his ratings have been falling repeatedly.

After bowing his head and pondering for a long time, Xiao Hua raised his head, stared at Stern and said, "I think we can start from another angle..."

The volume of his speech was getting lower and lower, but Stern's smile was getting bigger and bigger... Obviously, his idea satisfied the President very much.

……

After the Pistons ended their game against the Bulls, they ushered in three consecutive days of rest. Carlisle is not like Riley's guy who likes to engage in "devil training", so all the Pistons players have relaxed for the past three days.

The start of the season is a five-game winning streak, and the Pistons are undoubtedly in a good mood up and down.

But the good times didn't last long. They lost 11:11 in the game against the Trail Blazers at home on November 98.

The game was fierce from the very beginning, and it was still close until the last moment.

With 14 seconds left in the game, the Pistons still lead by 98 point at 97:1. If Wang Dalin can make a quasi-lore, the Pistons will be able to lead by 3 points, basically winning the game.

It's a pity that Wang Dalin didn't make this goal under Pippen's desperate interference.

Looking back, Trail Blazers power forward Rasheed Wallace hit a three-pointer against Robinson's defense... You must know that this guy failed to make two three-pointers in the game, but he gave the Pistons the deadliest blow.

本场比赛开拓者队得分后卫邦奇.威尔斯全场16投11中，其中三分5投4中，罚球4投4中，砍下30分5篮板2助攻。

In addition, Rasheed Wallace also scored 19 points, 12 rebounds and 27 assists on 10 of 2 shots. Including the bonus of the lore, he was actually the best performer in the game.

活塞队这边王大林延续了上场比赛的糟糕手感，全场15投仅6中，加上罚球“只得到”21分6篮板5助攻。

汉密尔顿17投9中，外加罚球10投7中，砍下25分5篮板2助攻，算是活塞队本场比赛表现最好的球员。

In fact, Wang Dalin didn't notice that he had already enjoyed a different whistle-blowing treatment in this game. This can be seen from the number of free throws he made... He only made 15 of 6 shots and didn't make a single three-pointer. How could he score 21 points?
If in the last 14 seconds he didn't rush to shoot the backside fadeaway jumper, but made one or two more fake moves, there would be a high probability of cheating a foul... Maybe the ending of this game would be completely different!

　Thank you "Blood Fiend Demon" for the encouragement of the monthly pass, and thank you to this friend whose name is full of murderous intent!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)