Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

Chapter five hundred and sixty seventh lifetime contract

Toronto Rainbow Stadium, here is still the home of the Raptors, until next season, the Raptors will move to the newly built Airline Center Stadium.

Carter walked into the players' locker room with a gloomy face, sat down on a chair, took off his shoes and threw them on the ground, complaining: These worn-out shoes are really uncomfortable to wear, I've had enough!

The shoes that Carter threw aside were the cells provided by Puma

origin basketball shoes.

In order to re-enter the field of basketball shoes, Puma spent a lot of money to sign Vince Carter, hoping to use the fame of this star of hope to open up the basketball shoe market in the United States.

Carter is indeed very competitive, playing the best data of that rookie class, the best rookie is not running, worthy of the title of the new generation of Jordan's successor.

However, the shoes provided by Puma are not enough. This pair of cell

Origin basketball shoes are really not good either.

Puma has not made basketball shoes for a long time. Their design concept of basketball shoes is still in the 1970s and 1980s. The basketball shoes they design are not fashionable at all, and their appearance is very bloated.

For a player with speed and bounce like Carter, playing in a pair of bloated shoes will not only feel uncomfortable, but also affect his performance.

The most important thing is that Puma's basketball shoes have no technological content, just a pair of ordinary basketball shoes.

Since the 1990s, the technological content of basketball shoes has been getting higher and higher. The design has begun to conform to ergonomics, and the application of new technologies and materials has also made the shoes more comfortable.

Among other things, take shock absorption as an example. All sports brands have made great efforts. Nike has tirelessly launched generations of air cushions, and Adidas has developed polymer materials and even installed springs in sneakers.

Puma obviously didn't realize this. They still made traditional basketball shoes, without air cushion, without the feeling of stepping on shit, and without any remarkable advanced technology.

Probably because football shoes and running shoes have been in production for a long time, Puma's designers are no longer good at designing basketball shoes, so they can only deal with the problem with the concept of ten or twenty years ago.

Basketball shoes and football shoes are different. Basketball shoes focus on the feeling of the feet, while football shoes focus on not only the feeling of the feet, but also football.

When wearing basketball shoes on the feet, the first thing is to feel very comfortable, and the second is to protect the feet to a certain extent.

And football shoes need to be in contact with the ball when worn on the feet, so the most important thing is to facilitate playing football. As for the comfort of the feet, that is not the first consideration.

If you want to pursue the comfort of shoes and improve the protective effect of shoes, then the upper must be soft.

However, if you want to improve the handling and precision of shooting and dribbling, the upper must be hard.

If you want better cushioning and shock absorption, the sole must be soft, and even a buffer zone, such as an air cushion, must be set.

And if you want the shoes to have strong grip and fast acceleration, the soles must be hard, and even need to be strengthened with nails on the soles of the feet.

Therefore, basketball shoes and football shoes are completely two extreme products. Basketball shoes are soft and have strong cushioning, while football shoes are hard and have strong grip.

If you use the concept of designing football shoes to design basketball shoes, you can imagine the result.

So Puma launched a basketball shoe that failed.

Fans of later generations buy Puma's cell

Origin basketball shoes are almost all aimed at Carter's popularity, otherwise who would buy a pair of old-fashioned basketball shoes.

The poor actual combat performance and poor comfort of Puma basketball shoes made Carter unbearable, and the shoes were ugly, and Carter felt very embarrassed when wearing them.

So Carter only wore Puma sneakers for dozens of games, and then switched to other brands of shoes.

In the history of the All-Star Weekend in 2000, Carter was selected as the top voter in the All-Star Game and won the Slam Dunk Contest. Although he had a Puma contract at the time,

But they were wearing and1's classic Taichi series, and they didn't ask and1 for advertising fees. It can be seen that Puma's shoes are not liked by Carter.

Carter threw his sneakers aside with an irritable expression on his face. At this time, McGrady, as Odoudou, of course wanted to comfort Onisan.

I saw McGrady coming over and said, If you really don't like these shoes, just change to another pair. I'll wear my shoes for you!

My stupid Odoudou, our feet are not the same size! Carter thought to himself.

Tracy McGrady wears a size 16 shoe, which is an American size. The standard size is a size 50 shoe. Carter wears a size 47 shoe. Tracy McGrady's shoes are definitely too big for Carter.

However, Carter still looked enviously at McGrady's pair of shoes, which were exclusive signature sneakers launched by Feiyue Company for McGrady.

As a second-year student and still playing as a substitute, he has his own signature sneakers. Any player would be envious of such treatment.

McGrady went on to say: Well, let me ask the agent to contact the sponsor, send someone over to measure your foot model, and then let them customize a few pairs of shoes for you.

Is this okay? How much do I need to pay them? Carter asked subconsciously.

For Americans, everything is considered a transaction, so the price must be negotiated before doing business.

McGrady smiled slightly and said, Don't worry, it doesn't cost money! I have a very good relationship with the sponsors, and they will try their best to satisfy my requests!

The sneakers of star players are all custom-made by sponsors according to the players' feet.

In fact, there is no need to customize the entire sneaker, generally only a pair of special insoles are needed, and the sneakers are still the original normal size sneakers.

There are often stars in the nba who will give their sneakers to fans after the game, but they will always pull out the insoles.

This is not because the feet are too smelly, and the fans are afraid that the original sneakers will smell too much.

It's because the insoles are custom-made for my own name, and there are even some high-tech shock-absorbing materials inside. This pair of insoles is more expensive than shoes.

A few days later, Carter put on a pair of McGrady's first-generation sneakers tailored for him.

As the spokesperson of Puma, but did not wear Puma shoes to play, Puma company is naturally very unhappy, but this matter did not attract too many people's attention.

Because everyone knows that Carter and McGrady are cousins, and the two are usually inseparable, so Carter wearing a pair of Tracy McGrady's signature sneakers is more like showing the relationship between brothers, which is a very legitimate thing.

Moreover, Feiyue Sports created a generation of signature combat boots for McGrady, which is indeed better than Puma's pair of cell shoes.

Origin basketball shoes are even better.

James Bond was originally a designer of trendy brands. The sneakers he designed, I dare not say anything else, must be very fashionable in appearance.

For a young man in his twenties like Carter, he would naturally not refuse a pair of stylish sneakers.

As for the technical content, although Feiyue's basketball shoes do not have the advanced black technology of Nike and Adidas, they are quite satisfactory.

The second- and third-tier sports brands do not have the R\u0026D capabilities of the first-tier brands, so they basically adopt some relatively mature technologies, and at worst pay some patent fees. The patent protection period of some sneaker technologies has passed, which even saves patent fees.

James Bond reported Carter's situation to Li Weidong.

Vince Carter is very satisfied with the sneakers we provided. He has played several games in these shoes. Carter is very popular in North America. He wears our sneakers and also improves our brand awareness. Judging from the feedback from the market, since Carter put on McGrady One, the sales of McGrady One have increased a lot. James Bond said.

From 1998 to 1999, due to the lockout of the NBA, this season was shrunk. Carter averaged 18.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.54 blocks per game, and his shooting percentage was as high as 45. For a rookie guard, this is already considered The top answer sheet.

It is also because Carter's data is very good that his popularity in North America has begun to explode. Among young guards, there is a tendency to compete with Iverson and Kobe.

The next season, Carter began to explode, averaging 25.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.34 steals and 1.12 blocks per game. The All-Star performance made him the All-Star vote king, and the champion of the slam dunk contest made the young Carter cross Into the ranks of superstars.

A second-year student became the All-Star vote leader, which shows his popularity.

More importantly, Carter led the Toronto Raptors to the playoffs, which made fans recognize him even more.

Before Carter came, the Toronto Raptors were still a big team, but after Carter came, he led the team to the playoffs in the second year.

In the nba, there are some players with good data, but they can't lead the team to victory, even many All-Star players are like this, so they are often called data brushes.

And some players have relatively average statistics, but they can always help the team win. Such players can get high salaries, but their popularity may not be very high, because their help to the team is not fully reflected in their personal statistics.

The so-called popular right and wrong, personal data is good, but the team does not win, it is inevitable to be sprayed by fans. In this case, the better the personal data, the faster the black fans will grow.

That's why so many stars joined together later, the purpose is to pursue a championship to prove themselves.

Carter, a player who can lead the team to achieve results in the second grade, and his personal data is very good, naturally his popularity has skyrocketed.

If Kobe hadn't won three consecutive championships and Iverson led the team to the finals with a single core, Carter's popularity would definitely overshadow Kobe and Iverson.

In my impression, Carter's sneakers have always sold well! Even if Puma designed such bad shoes for him, people would buy them.

Thinking of this, Li Weidong said; Now Carter is dissatisfied with Puma, and he is more satisfied with our shoes. Is it possible for us to poach Carter from Puma to be our spokesperson?

It's more difficult. James Bond continued without hesitation; Puma gave Carter a five-year contract of 25 million U.S. dollars, with an average of 5 million a year. We don't have such a large budget.

How much money can we give? Li Weidong asked.

We can spend at most 2.5 million a year. If I were Carter, how could I give up the 5 million and choose 2.5 million! James Bond replied.

Isn't it possible to launch a personal signature sneaker? Li Weidong continued to ask.

James Bond thought for a while and said, Although signed sneakers are a bonus item, they are not worth 2.5 million dollars a year! What's more, with Carter's current strength and popularity, it will be a matter of time before he releases his own signature sneakers.

Then give him a lifetime contract! Li Weidong said.

You mean a lifetime contract? James Bond's tone was full of surprise.

Yes, a lifetime contract, I think this temptation should be worth 2.5 million US dollars per year! Li Weidong said.

In the nba, five people have received lifetime contracts. The first one is of course Jordan. He not only received a lifetime contract from Nike, but also got an exclusive brand of air

Before the 21st century, only Jordan got a lifetime contract.

The other four are Adidas signing McGrady, Reebok signing Iverson, Nike signing James, and Li Ning signing Wade. Even Kobe didn't get a lifetime contract.

Kobe did not get a lifetime contract for two main reasons.

The first is that Bryant's shoes are not selling as well as Nike expected. Since the sexual assault scandal, Kobe has a lot more black fans, and the better Kobe plays on the court, the more black fans.

81 points in a single game, that is, the season in which he averaged 35.4 points per game, was probably the year when Kobe's fans grew the fastest. In that year, Kobe was sprayed as the number one statist in the NBA. This also affected Kobe's sneaker sales.

So Nike has been hesitant about whether to give Kobe a lifetime contract.

The second reason is that Kobe has his own business territory.

When the Lakers won the championship again in 2009, Kobe definitely deserved a lifetime contract.

However, at this time, Kobe had already built a huge business map. At this time, Kobe was able to operate by himself, so it was impossible to sign a contract with Nike for life.

This point is not available to other stars who have signed a lifetime contract. Even Mr. Jordan established his own business kingdom later. When he signed with Nike, he was just a simple player.

When mentioning a lifetime contract, Li Weidong also thought of Kobe.

Kobe has always been arrogant. Adidas gave McGrady a lifetime contract, but he didn't give Kobe a lifetime contract, which became the fuse for him to leave Adidas.

If I give Carter a lifetime contract this time, that guy Kobe will definitely be jealous again. I'd better keep a bowl of water level!

Thinking of this, Li Weidong said; You can contact Kobe again and tell him that if he wants to sign a lifetime contract, we are always welcome!

Does Kobe even have to give him a lifetime contract? James Bond paused, and then asked; What about Tracy McGrady?

For Tracy McGrady, let's wait for a year first! Wait for his statistics to improve, and then ask him about a lifetime contract. Li Weidong said.

Oududou McGrady had to wait until after he transferred to the Magic to start his supernatural performance. Now Oududou is serving as a substitute for Onisan, averaging less than 10 points per game, and he is indeed not worthy of a lifetime contract.

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