I'm teammates with Kobe

Chapter 73 The Bear of Memphis

"What! Are you crazy?" Butler stood up directly, "Brother Ke, if you want to do this, anyone will help, not to mention whether Odom wants to come back, your team is already full, there is no extra s position!"

"What if one person is cut and signed? Like the signing of Arenas."

"Who will be judged?"

"This is negotiable." Kobe chose to keep it to himself.

"No! Didn't you guys already think about doing this?" Butler said as if he suddenly understood something, "Don't be foolish and tell me, otherwise I won't help."

"Well, it's okay to tell you." Kobe shrugged his shoulders and said, "We have a forward player named Ebanks on our team. He loves basketball very much and is eager to play. Unfortunately, the current lineup He didn’t have many chances here, so he found Zen Master two days ago, hoping to lay off himself, and then go to play in Europe. It is said that he has a younger brother who has earned tens of millions of annual salary there, and he doesn’t want to waste his time here anymore. It’s just that Zen Master has been busy with Morris’s transaction for the past two days, so he didn’t reply to him. If Odom is willing to come back, I believe Zen Master will let him go, because it can be a win-win situation.”

"Ha, it turned out to be like this, no wonder you are so confident." Butler continued to eat melons, and said while eating, "Then I can't help you. If Odom also goes back, wouldn't it make our Clippers' rivals in the same city change? I'm strong, I won't do it!"

"Do you want to do it? Do you want to do it?" Kobe bullied himself and scratched his armpit directly.

Butler was most afraid of being touched by others, so he suddenly lost his temper with laughter, and couldn't help begging for mercy, "Don't dare, don't dare, I promise it's okay!"

"Then I agree!" McGrady, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly stood up, looked at Kobe and Butler who were twisting together and said, "JellyBean (a kind of soft bean jelly, which was originally made by Kobe's father Joe Bryant) Nickname, McGrady likes to use it to call Kobe.), anyway, it’s the last season, let’s join forces, people can say what they want, I’ve figured it out, don’t care!”

"Really?" Kobe stood up in surprise, then hugged McGrady, and the two good friends immediately hugged and laughed together.

Seeing this, Butler also leaned over, hugged them both, and still shouted, "Oh, No! I want to go to the Lakers too!"

There were four men gathering at Kobe's house that night, but the one who felt the most strongly was Chu Xiao who didn't say a word after entering the house. He saw with his own eyes that two signings sprouted here and finally came to fruition.If you didn't experience it yourself, how would you know that the seemingly calm NBA is so turbulent behind it.And what makes him feel the most is the teaming up of Kobe and McGrady in his old age, and Odom will return to the Zijin team. That feeling is really amazing, amazing.

That night's talk was over, and McGrady drove Butler away first. He needed to return to San Antonio, Texas overnight. The next day, he would represent the Spurs at home against the Pacers, while discussing trades and transfers.

After sending the two away, Kobe did not continue to keep Chu Xiao, but let Vanessa take the children downstairs together, and sent Chu Xiao and the others out of the island before returning.

The next day, the Lakers will fly to FedEx Arena in Memphis, Tennessee to challenge the Grizzlies, and then immediately fly to Dallas, Texas to play back-to-back against the Mavericks. Waiting for difficulties, so Chu Xiao learned the lesson from the first time and didn't dare to waste any more energy. He sent the dazed, slightly drunk and attractive Tracy back home before returning to the residence alone to rest.

Memphis is the largest city in Tennessee, the United States. It is also an important transportation hub, transportation center and manufacturing center in the United States. It also has the busiest cargo airport in the world. However, civil aviation does not seem to be as developed as cargo, so direct international flights are not available. Many, China does not have a direct flight to Memphis.Perhaps it is for this reason that Chinese people are not as familiar with Memphis as they are with New York and Los Angeles, and the relevant information that can be found on the Internet is also very limited.

Therefore, Chu Xiao knew nothing about the city of Memphis he was about to go to. He only knew that the Grizzlies were there, so he guessed whether there were many bears in Memphis.

In fact, the name of the Memphis Grizzlies has nothing to do with whether there are bears in the local area.The team was formerly known as the Vancouver Grizzlies in Canada established in 1995. As one of the NBA's plans to expand Canada, it joined the NBA with the Toronto Raptors in the 1995-96 season and moved to Memphis in 2001.

The team's performance in the 90s was lackluster. In the new century, after the Spanish star Pau Gasol was selected, its competitiveness gradually increased. It entered the playoffs many times, but failed to win. In 2011, under the leadership of the "Double Bears" Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol (Grand Gasol's younger brother), the Grizzlies eliminated the Spurs 4:2 in the first round of the playoffs. The first playoff victory in team history also staged the fourth "Black Eight Miracle" in NBA history. Their strength should not be underestimated. There were no significant signings in the entire summer of 4. The management hopes to maintain the existing The lineup continued to rush for the championship.

In addition to the "black and white bears" Randolph and Gasol, the team also has Rudy Gay, Tony Allen, Mike Conley and other star players. They have offense and defense, and they are indeed healthy. Strength.

Memphis is 1800 miles from Los Angeles, 25 hours by car or 2.5 hours by plane.

At 11 a.m. on November 23, the Lakers took off from Los Angeles on time. They will arrive in Memphis before 9 a.m. and then stay at the signing hotel next to the FedEx Arena.

Since Chu Xiao joined the Lakers, this was the first time he went out to play an away game with the team, and he couldn't help but feel very curious about everything about the journey.

NBA teams have to play 41 away games every season, and the distance between the two teams is generally relatively far, which leads to players basically using planes to reach another venue.

The players also took civil aviation in the early years, but the players were too tall and the civil aviation seats were not suitable. In addition, frequent away trips affected their rest. Each team has signed a special plane exclusive service with the airline. Although they are all small passenger planes, the cost of this aspect is about 350 million US dollars a year.

Going away, giant teams like the Lakers stay in five-star hotels signed locally, including players, coaches and staff. Every time they appear, they need at least 40 rooms, and top players will live in the presidential suite. That works out to $100 million a year.

In addition to accommodation and transportation, of course there is food.Before each game, the team gives players and staff $120.Just food subsidies, the team has to spend 5000 US dollars per game.

Of course, this meal supplement is definitely a big fortune for those staff or fringe players.But for superstars like Kobe, Nash, Howard, and Gasol, it's all small money.

Since Kobe only eats food prepared by his private nutritionist before each game, he will always give his $120 meal supplement to Chu Xiao, whose monthly salary is less than 10.

Calculated in this way, once the team plays an away game, they will spend about 10 US dollars just for food, accommodation and transportation. If other expenses are added, the amount will be even larger.

On this trip to Memphis, Kobe gave Chu Xiao his meal allowance as usual. When they met Tracy on the plane, they were very polite, as if Kobe didn't know they were in a relationship.

Due to too much energy spent on Thanksgiving, the players have been in a state of waking and sleeping along the way, and they were not fully awakened until they approached Memphis.

At 11:30 in the morning, the plane arrived at Memphis International Airport on time, and the players transferred to the bus and continued to the signing hotel.

Tennessee is located in the central part of the United States. Although it is already winter, the weather that day was very good, the sun was shining, and the climate was pleasant. The road was covered with blue sky and white clouds, surrounded by green trees and green grass, showing an idyllic look.

Chu Xiao woke up, and looked out of the window intently, and found that the color of the road here is very interesting. The expressway and the road into the city are all valley yellow, which is very special. You can clearly see the rough particles on the road surface, which is different from the usual Black roads are different.

However, the yellow pavement matches the green trees, grass and blue sky and white clouds outside the window very well, making it look clean and tidy with distinct layers.

The pastoral style of Memphis is really strong. After entering the city, there are few tall buildings. Most of the families are small villas, and they are close to the road. There are large lawns in front of and behind the houses, which are very neatly trimmed and absolutely clean. .

According to Gasol, residents will be penalized if they do not maintain their homes and surroundings in accordance with regulations.It seems that the people here are more important to environmental hygiene.

After the bus crossed the Mississippi River Bridge, it drove for more than 10 minutes to arrive at the signing hotel. This is the tallest building Chu Xiao saw along the way. It has 20 floors, of which the top 4 floors are reserved for the entire Lakers team. Exclusive access and elevator access directly above.

Tracy and other staff were arranged on the 17th floor, and Chu Xiao, Kobe, Gasol and others were on the top 20th floor, each with a single room.Among them, Kobe's room is the presidential suite.

There were no special features in the room to introduce, so Chu Xiao put down his things and left, and went directly to the meeting room on the 18th floor, where Zen master will hold a short meeting for everyone.

After all the personnel arrived, Master Zen straight to the point, "Because it is an away game, the training in the afternoon is canceled, mainly to adjust the rest and buy some personal items around. But I have to remind you again, especially those who come to Memphis for the first time , this is one of the most unsafe cities in the United States, you'd better not go out for a walk alone during the day, let alone go far.”

The Zen master told people who need to go out, it is best to put some small change on them. If someone robs, give him the money directly. Don't bring too much cash, so as not to kill the criminals and cause life danger.

He suggested that $20 is life-saving money. If you give it to the robber, the other party will generally not continue to embarrass you.

(End of this chapter)