The longest river

Chapter 169 Offseason Tidbits
From the moment he transmigrated until now, Yang Shuai's nerves have been constantly on edge.

At first, he was thinking about how to solve the problems of food and lodging, then how to make it into the NBA, how to get playing time with the Pacers, and how to beat Jordan...

They dared not slacken their efforts in the slightest and never stopped for a moment.

But this time, he finally relaxed, albeit passively.

After the fan meet-and-greet, Yang Shuai began his recovery process.

Because he cannot remove the protective gear for a month after the surgery, he cannot engage in strenuous activities for most of that month.

Not to mention this life, he had never been this free in his previous life.

So Yang Shuai immediately started talking about what he had mentioned at the fan meeting: travel.

Instead of staying at home and getting moldy, why not take this opportunity to go out and explore?

His first stop was the University of Portland.

I never had the chance to go to university in either of my lives, so now that I have the time, I definitely want to experience the university atmosphere.

He was just wandering around the campus when the school quickly spotted him, not only sending someone to be his guide but also giving him a welcoming ceremony.

Portland has few sports celebrities, so Yang Shuai is really too famous now.

This went against Yang Shuai's original intention, and after dealing with the matter perfunctorily, he quickly left the University of Portland.

He then went to Washington Park to see the International Rose Experimental Garden there.

According to the supervisor at the time, this was the place with the most roses in the world.

This time, Yang Shuai was smarter; he wore a hoodie and sunglasses so no one would recognize him.

When they arrived, Yang Shuai saw exactly what she had said.

It was the height of summer, and more than ten thousand roses of various shapes and colors were in full bloom, creating a truly breathtaking scene.

From that moment on, Yang Shuai's success became unstoppable.

Portland National Forest, Columbia River Canyon, Mount Hood Crater, Cannon Beach, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Crater Lake National Park.

He visited almost all the attractions around Portland.

He even tossed his phone to Johnson and completely enjoyed himself.

When he returned from the trip, he was in an indescribably wonderful mood.

The joy he felt was no less than winning a championship trophy, and it even gave him a new hobby.

People should definitely take the opportunity to go out and experience nature.

However, once he returned to Portland, he got busy again.

Having signed a 1.5 million contract, of course we should first indulge in some serious spending.

He first spent a million to buy a river-view apartment, the kind with a small dock attached.

Then he bought two luxury cars, a convertible sports car and a city SUV.

In addition to hiring a Chinese chef, he also hired a nutritionist.

He plans to reduce his weight from 98 kg to 96 kg this summer.

The reason he gained so much weight before was to compete with Jordan, and now he is losing weight to reduce the risk of injury.

Of course, the most important thing after returning is to recover from injuries.

Previously, with Vaccaro's help, Di Francesco and Grover had an in-depth exchange, and it was after that exchange that Yang Shuai learned about Grover's training philosophy.

According to Grover, his training philosophy is called "savage evolution."

To put it simply, compared to traditional, broad-based physical training, it is a detailed and precise training of muscle groups.

To give an example of an ordinary person, the knees often suffer from various inflammations due to a lack of exercise.

There are generally two approaches to treating this inflammation.

One of the most common approaches is to treat the symptoms and use medication to eliminate these inflammations.

However, another approach, closer to Grover's philosophy, involves strengthening the corresponding thigh muscles to reduce stress on the knees and thus prevent inflammation.

The so-called "steel bones" do not mean training a person to be a bodybuilder like Ma Long, but simply strengthening specific muscle groups to reduce the stress on the joints, thus reducing the occurrence of injuries.

Yang Shuai didn't know much about kinesiology, but Di Francesco thought the concept was feasible, and with Jordan as a successful example, Yang Shuai readily accepted it.

Of course, only time will tell what the specific effects will be.

It was during this period that Yang Shuai met with Carlisle.

Carlisle was not originally prepared to accept the Trail Blazers' offer, but he changed his mind for reasons similar to Yang Shuai's: the Trail Blazers offered too much.

The Trail Blazers offered Carlisle a head coaching contract worth $150 million a year!
In an era when head coaches typically earn between $50 and $100 million annually, this is definitely a generous salary.

Even the league has very few head coaches who earn more than that salary. For comparison, Phil Jackson only earned $250 million a year with the Bulls last season.

Jackson has already won four championships with the Bulls.

Ultimately, Carlisle is just an assistant coach now, and his financial needs are much greater than Yang Shuai's.

However, the Trail Blazers' coaching staff is not solely composed of Carlisle, or rather, the composition of the coaching staff is not entirely determined by him.

Management was concerned that he wouldn't be able to manage the players due to his lack of experience, so they brought in Mike Dunleavy as the team's first assistant coach. Dunleavy's salary also set a record for assistant coaches, reaching $60 a year.

In this day and age, such a coaching staff configuration is outrageous; only Paul Allen could pull it off.

When Carlisle talked to Yang Shuai, he discussed team tactics. He said he would put Dunleavy in charge of the team's defense, while he himself would be in charge of the offense.

The offensive tactics system is the same spacing system that he and Bird used with the Pacers.

The Trail Blazers' current roster is also very well suited to this style of play.

Because both Sabonis and Wallace, who are inside players, have shooting range.

Especially for Sabonis, this style of play can reduce the energy expenditure on his offense and protect his already fragile knee.

Moreover, Sabonis's playmaking ability is much stronger than Schmitz's, which means that when the ball reaches his point, there will be more tactical options available.

As for Wallace, Carlisle had already visited him before coming to see Yang Shuai, and they discussed developing three-point shooting range.

Wallace has agreed.

"I thought he would make some demands, but I didn't expect him to agree right away."

Carlisle was talking about something that surprised him, and Yang Shuai was equally surprised.

Based on his previous encounters and the nickname "Roaring Celestial" from his past life, he assumed Wallace was a hot-tempered and difficult-to-communicate person.

How is your injury recovery going?

However, Carlisle was most concerned about Yang Shuai's injury recovery.

Because of the spacing tactics, you can't win games by relying solely on the inside game.

"It's faster than expected."

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Yang Shuai should be able to return to play before Christmas, rather than waiting until January.

As I said before, young people recover from injuries much faster.

By September, Yang Shuai was able to walk around and began some recovery shooting training.

After two months without training, his various attributes within the system have declined further than before.

However, this time he added one more thing to his training compared to before: mid-range shooting.

The talent ceiling for mid-range shooting has already been raised to 73 when shooting talent was improved previously.

However, because he needed to shoot more three-pointers and drive to the basket during the game, he didn't have time to improve his training.

This injury just happened to give him an opportunity.

It was during this period that he made a significant personnel change around him.

He ended his partnership with Fisher and then officially made Paul his agent.

This was part of the plan, and the reason for doing it now is Yang Shuai's way of giving back to Ferreira.

By having Fisher handle his contract with the Trail Blazers, he could earn a three million dollar commission.

After taking over Yang Shuai, Fu Baolu also changed his previous strategy of seeking stability and began to engage in more business collaborations.

His first collaboration as an agent was with Columbia Clothing Company, where he signed a 5-year, $1000 million endorsement contract.

Columbia is an outdoor apparel brand headquartered in Portland. Due to the local environment, they initially produced raincoats and are now a leader in waterproof clothing technology.

This is also the first time that Columbia Apparel has chosen an NBA player as its spokesperson.

Paul demonstrated his negotiation skills in this collaboration, convincing Columbia that Yang Shuai could promote their brand worldwide.

Of course, Yang Shuai's personal inclinations also played a key role.

His previous travel experience made him pay more attention to outdoor brands.

However, a collaboration that better reflects Paul's personal style comes from a private jet company.

Paul found Yang Shuai a private jet company called Marquis Jet.

Founded by Jesse Izler, the company is dedicated to providing private jet travel for celebrities.

In this day and age, buying a private jet is extremely expensive. In the NBA, for example, among players, only Michael Jordan probably has that kind of financial resources.

However, the price of traveling in a private jet is much cheaper than buying one.

Among them, NBA players who are "rich but not that rich" represent a huge potential customer group.

It's important to understand that the NBA hadn't yet entered the era of charter flights. As Yang Shuai experienced over the past two years, they had to travel by commercial plane, which left them with no privacy and caused them a lot of unnecessary trouble.

And these problems will all be solved on a private jet.

Therefore, choosing a popular NBA player as a spokesperson is a very smart choice.

Before the official signing, Izler invited Yang Shuai to experience a flight.

At a private airport in Portland, Yang Shuai, Paul, Jesse Izler, and several beautiful female companions boarded the plane together.

They will take a long flight along the west coast.

(End of this chapter)