The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 40 Dream Team

In the following days, the top draft picks signed contracts with their respective teams.

O'Neal's contract is for 4 years and $1740 million, which is higher than Tang Bei's.

Mourning's contract is $13 million over four years, slightly lower than Tang Bei's.

Leitner's contract is $10.5 million over four years, which is significantly lower.

Several high draft picks have successfully signed contracts, except for the fourth pick, Jim Jackson, whose contract is in limbo.

His agent offered the Mavericks a four-year, $21 million contract, much higher than O'Neal's contract.

However, the Mavericks were only willing to offer $10 million over four years, which greatly displeased Jim Jackson and his agent.

Jim Jackson's agent told him that even if he didn't play, he should never accept a contract that was lower than his expectations.

At 7 p.m. on July 1st, Tang Bei was studying English when the apartment phone suddenly rang.

As soon as he answered the phone, it was his mother Lin Lan's voice. It turned out that the landline had been installed at home, making it much easier to call home from now on.

"Big brother, when are we going to build a house? Are we really going to build a little villa?" Tang Ning's voice rang out.

"Quiet down, Mom has something important to ask your older brother."

Lin Lan gave a light scolding and asked, "Boss, what happened when you said you made money again? Even though our family is poor, we can't go astray!"

Tang Bei explained, "Mom, I'm playing in the NBA now. It's a big company that specializes in basketball. I signed a new contract and I have a lot of money."

"Then, how many?" Lin Lan asked excitedly.

"I signed a four-year contract, and I have a lot of money. My annual salary is enough to build dozens of small villas," Tang Bei said.

"Dozens of small Western-style buildings?"

Not only did Lin Lan's eyes widen, but her family members were all stunned.

Tang Yu and Tang Bin immediately started counting on their fingers to calculate how much it would cost to build dozens of small villas.

Ever since Tang Bei mentioned wanting to repair the house, the family has been inquiring about the market price for house repairs.

In this rural area, a two-story house typically has a building area of ​​200 to 300 square meters. The cost per square meter is about 200 yuan, so a house would cost about 40,000 to 60,000 yuan. What about dozens of houses?
"Okay, that's a lot of money, I... I can't even count it all," Tang Bin stammered.

Tang Yu was the same; after calculating for a while, she blushed and stammered, "My older brother can probably earn... several hundred thousand a year."

"Hundreds of thousands?"

Upon hearing this number, Lin Lan and the others were completely stunned.

In Tianjing, those with work units generally earn only two or three thousand yuan a year, while those in good state-owned enterprises earn four or five thousand yuan a year. Earning hundreds of thousands a year is enough to frighten a family.

"Second brother, third brother, fourth brother, this matter cannot be told to outsiders."

Lin Lan snapped out of her daze and hurriedly instructed, "Especially the fourth brother, listen carefully to your mother. You're always the one who talks too much. You keep your eldest brother's money-making a secret. Do you understand? If you tell anyone, I'll beat you to death."

"Okay, Mom, I know. I promise I won't tell."

Threatened by her mother, Tang Ning had no will to resist and obediently nodded in agreement.

On the 2nd, media reported that Shaquille O'Neal's agent, Leonard Amoto, announced that negotiations for a shoe contract with Nike had broken down.

In a media interview, O'Neal said, "I demanded my own brand of shoes, but Nike didn't have a positive outlook on my future."

They even thought my career would be shorter than Tang's, and that I would be kicked out of the NBA in no more than two years.

Haha, that's hilarious. They set their sights on tough guy Alonzo Mourning and got him to sign a pair of signature sneakers. That's great, congratulations to them.

Yes, I was angry and frustrated. Who gave Alonzo Mourning the right to compare himself to me? Now Reebok has agreed to all my demands. Yes, Reebok.

The following day, Reebok finalized a contract with O'Neal to sign a signature shoe.

The news report did not disclose the specific amount and duration of the endorsement deal. Some media outlets reported it as $4100 for seven years, while others reported it as $15 million for five years.

Regardless of the contract, O'Neal would be number one, setting a new record for shoe contracts.

Jordan's early endorsement contract was worth $50 a year, but he later signed a lifetime contract, so there is no longer any mention of an annual salary.

The three superstar centers of that era earned only a few hundred thousand US dollars a year from shoe endorsements.

"So sneaker contracts are this lucrative, even more so than basketball contracts?"

After learning about this, Tang Bei couldn't help but think about the shoe contract again, but he wasn't Shaquille O'Neal. Nike didn't even look down on O'Neal, let alone him.

Next, Tang Bei began his summer training.

Meanwhile, the world has begun to prepare for the Summer Olympics. The US men's basketball team, composed of NBA superstars, has demonstrated its formidable strength in several warm-up games, and the NBA is starting to come into the spotlight for sports fans worldwide.

The Barcelona Olympics began on July 25th.

The US men's basketball team displayed terrifying strength from the group stage onwards, winning eight games and zero losses. They won the Olympic championship with undisputed strength and earned the reputation of the Dream Team.

The appearance of the Dream Team, composed of NBA professional stars, on the Olympic stage was like a game-changer; no country could compete with them.

They averaged 117.3 points per game and won by an average of 43.8 points per game. They didn't call a single timeout in eight games. The head coach's job was to enjoy the performances of the superstars. They changed the starting lineup six times in eight games. The Olympic men's basketball tournament completely turned into an individual exhibition game for NBA superstars.

As a result, the NBA officially entered the world's spotlight and quickly became the highest level of basketball in the world.

Michael Jordan, the current best player in the NBA, has become one of the most dazzling superstars in the Olympics thanks to his outstanding performances and personal charm, and his influence has begun to spread all over the world.

At the same time, the Dream Team's huge success also made the Second Sports Division and the Basketball Division realize that they had not paid enough attention to Tang Bei.

But at this moment, an unexpected incident occurred, leaving the Sports Commission, the Second Competition Division, and the Basketball Division in a very passive position.

Ma Jian ran away.

He said he was going to play in the NCAA in the United States and then participate in the NBA. Without the approval of the sports commission, he left the team without permission and flew directly from Barcelona to the United States.

This matter could be considered a minor or major issue. On a minor level, it could undermine morale and have a negative impact. On a major level, it was quite serious. Ma Jian was subsequently removed from the national team.

In September, Tang Bei played several games in the so-called Summer League, arranged by the Hornets.

The current Summer League is not considered a lower league in the NBA, and it is very small in scale, mostly regional, consisting of games between small teams from nearby cities, with a very low level of competition.

After playing a few matches, he realized that not only did he not get any good training results, but he might even lower his skill level, so he stopped playing.

In early October, the NBA preseason began.

The Charlotte Hornets are located in the southeast, and they played against several teams in the southeast during the preseason.

Besides the Hornets, there are also the Magic, Heat, Hawks, Wizards, and Bullets. The location is Miami, at the Miami Heat's home arena, Miami Arena.

With Shaquille O'Neal on the Magic, Donnie Lay on the Hornets, and Tom Gugliotta on the Bullets—these are the number one, two, and six picks in this year's draft, respectively—the Southeastern Conference preseason is attracting considerable media attention.

In late September, personal trainer Carey Osman left.

After the preseason comes the regular season. Teams that value Tang Bei highly will assign him a trainer, so he won't need a private trainer.

Over the course of several months, his height and wingspan remained unchanged, but his weight increased to 136 kilograms.

However, his athletic ability did not decline, and after professional physical training, his physical fitness level was improved to 92.

[Center Fundamentals: Shooting 55, Dribbling 72, Hook Shot 45, Floater 42, Layup 80, Dunk 91, Strength 95, Footwork 93]

[Center Advanced Skills: Post-up 92, Low Post Back-to-the-Basket 70, Low Post Face-up 62, One-on-One Defense 90, Help Defense 80, Block 90, Steal 66, Rebound 90, Pick and Roll 70, Playmaking 20, Tactical Ability 60]

After this period of targeted training, I have made significant progress in several areas, including both basic and advanced skills.

Of course, a level 55 shooting technique is still far from being suitable for actual games, and he needs more time to practice his fundamentals.

Dribbling is a fundamental skill he focuses on practicing, as it relates to the quality of his low-post offense. If his dribbling fundamentals are not good, his improvement in low-post offense will be limited.

If you're in the low post and your position is a little far from the basket, you'll need to dribble once or twice. If you're not good at dribbling, it will cause a lot of trouble.

Because of his excessively fast and forceful turning speed, he is likely to make a dribbling mistake. He made this kind of basic mistake many times when he was in the CBA.

Even when he's close to the basket, he might need to dribble when turning around in a strong situation, otherwise he might commit a traveling violation. So dribbling is a very important basic skill for him.

However, if you encounter a double team and your dribbling is poor, your turnover rate will increase dramatically.

Furthermore, if his dribbling is poor, he cannot utilize the Tai Chi turn technique, which limits his overall strength.

After more than three months of targeted training, his dribbling skills improved from level 59 to level 72.

In the NBA, a dribbling skill level of 72 is sufficient for the center position, since it's not an outside position and centers have the simplest use of dribbling techniques.

Moreover, when he turns, he often uses a low stance. With his wingspan, he dribbles very low, almost touching the ground, which greatly reduces the possibility of being intercepted.

My shooting skill level has increased from 50 to 55. As my skill level improves, the difficulty of further improvements also increases. Level 5 is already a significant step forward.

Hook shots and throws were also emphasized in training. The hook shot, which was level 37, was improved to level 45, and the throw, which was level 35, was improved to level 42, which is a good improvement.

The layup skill was upgraded from level 76 to level 80, and the footwork skill was upgraded from level 92 to level 93.

In terms of advanced skills, the post-up game has been upgraded to level 92, the low post back-to-the-basket game from level 66 to level 70, the low post face-up game from level 60 to level 62, and the rebounding skill from level 88 to level 90.

Currently, the most reliable offensive strategy is one-on-one play under the basket, while low-post back-to-the-basket moves are barely usable. Defense and rebounding are both quite good.

(End of this chapter)