The way of the center

Chapter 608 Return to Zero
After successive transfer rumors broke out, on September 9, the Trail Blazers once again became the center of news and public opinion.

But this time, the Trail Blazers hit the headlines not because of a new player, but because the Trail Blazers' home stadium, the former Rose Garden, officially changed its name.

Paul Allen, the legend who once teamed up with Bill Gates to build the Microsoft empire, is a businessman through and through.

Since he is a businessman, it is impossible for him to make the Trail Blazers lose money.This does not mean that Allen will reduce the expenses of the Trail Blazers, but that he intends to use other methods to increase the income of the Trail Blazers.

Now, the right to name NBA team venues has long been a sought-after thing.Various companies and institutions will fight for the right to name a famous stadium.

And this summer, the Moda Health Association also joined the battle for the right to name the arena.

Fortunately, the newly arrived Moda Health Association hit it off with Paul Allen, a business tycoon.Moda Health won the naming rights of the Rose Garden Stadium at a price of US$420 million a year.Starting today, the Trail Blazers' home court will no longer be called the Rose Garden, but will be officially renamed the Moda Center.

The new name of the Trail Blazers' home court still has many people in the circle making complaints about it. CBS expert Matt said: "Rose Garden is such a perfect name, and now it has become Moda Center, which feels like a drugstore name."

Indeed, the Moda Center is not as nice as the name Rose Garden.However, the increase in the team's economic strength may not be a bad thing for the Blazers.

Afterwards, Paul Allen also personally stated that the funds obtained from the cooperation with the Moda Health Association this time will be invested in the construction of the team's training facilities.

The Blazers are a championship team, and a championship team must be a cash cow in the hands of businessmen.Paul Allen is not stupid. Only if he invests more money in the Blazers, the Blazers will give him a greater return.

Well now, after selling the naming rights to the Rose Garden, Allen will get $420 million per year to increase team building.Don't underestimate the figure of 420 million. Perhaps for people like An Jie and the others with an annual salary of tens of millions, 420 million is really not that big.But if this fund is spent on the upgrade of the team's facilities, it is already very ample.

Paul Allen started to make money, and Angie had to keep up with the times and keep up with the team owner.

Since Anjie had many things to be busy with this summer, Moslav did not arrange too many business activities for him.But now, there is a series of activities that An Jie has to participate in, and that is the promotion of the second generation of the way of the center.

Nike worked overtime, and finally made the second generation of the center forward before Anjie's enthusiasm for winning the championship dissipated.

When the new sneakers came out, the first thing An Jie had to do was shoot the advertisement.Afterwards, on-site autograph sessions were held in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Beijing, Shanghai and other cities.

An Jie, who has not participated in commercial activities for a long time, was a little caught off guard by this series of things, but the design of the new sneakers still made An Jie very satisfied.

The second generation of sneakers has surpassed the first generation in all aspects, and Nike has successfully surpassed Adidas, which was endorsed by Howard, by virtue of Anjie's Center Forward series, and has become the largest manufacturer of interior shoes.

Advertisements for the second generation of Center Forward Way were continuously broadcast on TV stations in various countries and regions, and this pair of shoes, as expected by Nike, was a big hit.

In the past few years, Nike has invested a lot of money in An Jie, but if An Jie achieves something, the reward terms signed by the two parties will take effect, and the contract forces Nike to pay An Jie a large reward fee.

Meslav is indeed very subtle, and his existence has increased An Jie's annual income by at least three or four times.But this doesn't mean Nike is stupid, if it wasn't because An Jie made them a lot of money, they wouldn't give An Jie such preferential treatment.

The second generation of Center Forward's Way is once again selling well all over the world. Even the Asian region, where the purchasing power is not strong on weekdays, bought a large number of sneakers frantically this time.

Back then, not many people knew that Yao Ming was the spokesperson of Reebok.Moreover, the sales of Yao Ming's sneakers are also very pessimistic.

But now, Anjie's Way of the Center series are selling well all over the world.The "tradition" of the center forward not wearing shoes was also broken by An Jie in one fell swoop.

Facts have proved that strength is always the criterion for determining the situation.When Anjie has stronger strength than Yao Ming, when Nike has stronger strength than Reebok.The ending of the global sale is simply expected.

An Jie's series of business activities gave him a good warm-up for the new season.Even though the Trail Blazers didn't have any heavy operations this summer, they still became one of the most anticipated teams in the new season.

Everyone expects the Trail Blazers, whose championship team is retained, to successfully defend their title in the new season, even if Westbrook will return from injury next season, even if the combination of Warcraft and Harden will change the situation in the West, Formed an instant champion, even if the Heat's Big Three regrouped.

In front of the powerful pioneers, each of these opponents seemed less terrifying.

With everyone's expectations, the time came to October, and the Trail Blazers' pre-game training camp for the new season officially started.

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Allen Crabbe was excitedly practicing shooting in the Rose Garden, no, it should be called the Moda Center training ground now.

As a second-round pick, Crabbe's biggest dream now is not to be like Kobe and Jordan, but to try to survive in the NBA.

Fortunately, this small guard with a height of 1 meters successfully passed the summer league experience and successfully signed with the Trail Blazers.

But he knows that he still has a long way to go in the NBA.This is a league where the weak eat the strong, not to mention the Blazers are a championship team.Championship teams usually don't have much time to develop rookies, so if Crabbe wants to survive, he must immediately show satisfactory strength.

The basketball hits one after another, and it seems that Crabbe has become accustomed to the farther three-point line in the NBA.The first day of official training in the NBA must not be messed up!
Just when Crabbe was about to make another shot, the door of the training ground was suddenly pushed open.The breath startled Crabbe, who missed a [-]-pointer.

Crabbe looked at the observer and suddenly felt that something was wrong.An Jie was standing at the entrance of the training ground at this time, and he just successfully performed a shot in front of the leading star of the Trail Blazers.

"Are you Crabbe? Allen Crabbe?" An Jie realized that the guy in front of him was a little strange. Since the Blazers were the championship team, they didn't have a high pick in the draft.So this year, Anjie didn't care too much about the Trail Blazers' draft.He just vaguely remembered that in the end, it seemed that this guy had passed the experience of the summer league and successfully signed with the team.

"Crabbe, Aaron Crabbe!" The rookie guard stood nervously in front of An Jie. Everyone knew that An Jie was notoriously strict in training. Perhaps his missed shot just now had left An Jie behind. got a bad impression.

"Welcome to the Trail Blazers, buddy." Unexpectedly, Anjie was not dissatisfied. Instead, he smiled and shook hands with Crabbe.

"The moment I opened the door just now, I saw that your shooting action seemed to be a little out of touch." Anjie talked to Crabbe while practicing his shooting.

"Uh" Crabbe was sweating profusely, and Anjie really saw it!

"I'll talk to the coach later, and ask them to arrange more training for you to interfere with shooting. You know, in the NBA game, the noise around you can be thousands of times louder than the door opening just now. I think Going through your scouting reports and game tape, keep it up man, the Blazers are sorely lacking in pure [-]-point shooters. And if you show up, you'll be the perfect complement to our void."

Crabbe didn't expect that Angie, the double MVP, would watch the scouting report and game video of a second-round pick.Everyone wants to be valued, even if this person is just a second-round pick.

When Crabbe gets the attention and respect he deserves, he will put all his energy into training and competition.

Angie knew this, which is why he said this to Crabbe.

After a while, more and more people gathered in the training ground.Andre Miller brought small gifts to everyone. The multi-team veteran knows how to bond with his new teammates.

Robin Lopez still puts on a rebellious look, and he seems to have no problem getting along with his new teammates.As for how to coexist between him and An Jie, it may have to be adjusted slowly over time.

The rest are basically old faces.Of course, there are also some people who were carnival together in the locker room a few months ago, but they did not appear in this familiar venue again.For example, Fisher and Jeffries who chose to retire in the Trail Blazers, for example, Hickson who left for a better future
But that's the way the NBA is, players come and go.An Jie has long been accustomed to this.At that time, he also thought that he, Westbrook and Durant could create brilliance together, but he reached the top in Portland, which he never thought of.

Looking at his energetic teammates, An Jie couldn't help but giggled.

"What's the matter with you, boy, you're smiling at a group of big men." Ricard's joke made everyone below relax a lot.

"Hey, I just think that our title defense is settled!" An Jie replied confidently.

Training camp has begun, and every team is back in preparations.

Whether it is the champion or the bottom, whether it is a traditional giant or a rising dark horse.From now on, everything has been reset to zero.

27 consecutive victories, double MVP, championship. All these honors are a thing of the past.

Now, brilliance has to be recreated step by step!
The 2013-2014 season was Anjie's sixth year in the NBA.The giant's legend is far from over!

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Attachment: Portland Trail Blazers 2013-2014 season player list:

Centers: Ainger, Robin Lopez, Meyers Leonard

Power forwards: LaMarcus Aldridge, Thomas Robinson

Small Forwards: Andre Iguodala, Nicolas Batum, Dorell White, Victor Clavell
Shooting Guard: Wesley Matthews, Courtney Lee, Allen Crabbe

Point Guard: Damian Lillard, Andre Miller, Earl Watson

(End of this chapter)