Pick Westbrook

Chapter 17 Where To Go
Hammond had a big belly, and said with a smirk: "This is just an advance sale. When it comes to the game day, especially the first two days before the game, that is the main time period for ticket sales.

It's impossible for the Bucks to sell half of the tickets, ha. "

Li Lai took a deep breath.

Of course he could hear Hammond trying to comfort him.

But even if the Bucks sold more than 50% of their tickets, only about [-] were received.

Compared with the Bucks' monthly expenses of 1000 million, this is a bit too shabby.

So the team is still in such a bad situation. Even if they played well in summer league, it is obvious that Milwaukee fans still have no hope in it.

That's just summer league after all.

"Is the average ticket price of US$33 too low?" Li Lai suddenly asked curiously.

Holloway pushed the top of the frame and said: "It's not that low, judging from the current pricing of various teams, our average ticket price is the lowest in the league.

The average ticket price in New York next door is $91. The Lakers, which reached the Finals last season, cost $87. Even the Trail Blazers had $70, and the Timberwolves also reached $52. "

hiss~
This is almost a 3 times gap!
And the New York Knicks, which ranked second to last in the Eastern Conference last season, why did they sell tickets so expensively?

It's still the league's No. [-] fare!

And the Bucks even lost to the Timberwolves.
At this time, Li Lai finally understood what Hammond mentioned before, what Michael Reid meant to the Bucks.

The only All-Star player is the ticket guarantee!

However, Li Lai still didn't feel regretful. This pool of stagnant water must be stirred up by someone, and it is better to have a vigorous death than a slow death.

"When does the preseason start?" Li Lai continued to ask.

Hammond said: "October 10th, the joint practice and training time of all teams in the league will be set in September.

Of course, the time agreed by each team will mostly be in mid-September, so there are still three weeks. "

Li Lai thought about it, mid-September is too long, and with the current situation of the Bucks, the state of the new season is very important.

They want to win as many games as possible, and even win the opening game!

Otherwise, with the team's current funds, there are about 15 games in a single month, and about half of them are away games. The profit that the Bucks can get from the tickets will not exceed 260 million.

"So inform the players that the holiday is over early, and we will start team training on September 9." Li Lai said with firm eyes.

On August 8, the Olympic men's basketball team entered the final gold medal battle. The American Dream Team defeated the Spanish team 24:118 in this tragic battle and successfully won the Olympic men's basketball gold medal.

This is also the first time the U.S. team has reached the top of the world after winning gold in the Sydney Olympics in 00. It finally washed away the shame of consecutive failures in 02, 04 and 06.
Under Li Lai's instruction, Hammond notified all the Bucks players in advance to return to the team for joint training in advance.

After receiving responses from most of the players, Yi Jianlian, who is far away in China, received different news.

The news was completely contrary to Li Lai's imagination. Yi Jianlian did not refuse to return to the team because of fatigue from the Olympics.

"It's Yijianlian who applied for the transaction!"

Hammond sighed helplessly.

As early as last season, Yi Jianlian had already expressed his dissatisfaction with the Bucks. It was because the Bucks chose Yi Jianlian that it was a mistake.

Yi Jianlian, who has the height of a center but likes power forwards, should go to an offensive team like the Warriors or the Suns. Originally, Yi Jianlian did try out these two teams before the draft. Did not accept the Bucks' invitation to try out.

But the Bucks still chose Yi Jianlian with the No. 6 pick without hesitation, thus cutting off the possibility of the latter two teams winning Yi Jianlian.

"You know, Yi Jianlian has a huge Chinese market behind him, and he is a five-star high school student with good talent, so we made up our minds to grab him in advance."

Hammond said with some embarrassment.

The Bucks chose to win Yi Jianlian back then, but he made a decision against all opinions.

Yi Jianlian's performance in the Bucks can't be said to be bad, but it can't be said to be good either.

He averaged 25 points and 9 rebounds in 5 minutes per game.

At that time, Yi Jianlian's biggest competitor was the current Bucks' eyebrowless hero Villanueva.

The two almost evenly split the Bucks' playing time at the power forward position, but Villanueva, who also averaged 25 minutes per game, had 12 points and 6 rebounds.

"Coach Little K doesn't like Yi Jianlian, so he won't specially arrange tactics for him.

The Bucks players also don't like to pass the ball to Yi Jianlian. It is said that it is because he rarely communicates with his teammates. "

Hammond recalled.

Li Lai took a long breath.

Larry Kriskoviak, nicknamed Coach Little K, gained a foothold in the NBA coaching circle by relying on defense.

The tactic he arranged for the Bucks last season was to shrink the inside and outside as much as possible to push the opponent to the middle distance, and then use the inside and outside attack to make the opponent's shooting rate drop.

This is a mid-range defense tactic.

It's hard to say that there is anything wrong with this defensive arrangement. After all, every team these days attaches great importance to the mid-range, and there is a player in the team who can shoot the mid-range.

But putting this tactic on the current Bucks has a big problem.

Last season, Bogut's footsteps were slow, and power forwards Yi Jianlian and Villanueva were not good at defending, so pulling the inside line to the waist to help defend is not in line with the characteristics of the players.

At the same time, this also puts greater defensive pressure on the outside players of the Bucks. To make matters worse, Michael Reed and Xiao Mo are also strong offensive and defensive players.

They are not good at defense!

So the Bucks' inside and outside defense collapsed.

This is the reason why the Bucks' defensive efficiency became the sixth-lowest in the league under the guidance of Coach K last season.

And when defending the opposing team's inside breakthroughs and outside three-pointers, the Bucks' efficiency is even worse.

Of course, besides coach K's tactical reasons for Yi Jianlian's abnormal performance, his shy personality did account for a large part of the reason.

"Let Yi Jianlian return to the Bucks as soon as possible, I want to talk to him alone." Li Lai said with determination.

Although Li Lai can still choose to meet Yi Jianlian's wish to trade him, and it is very likely that he will get a good bargaining chip.

After all, according to the original historical trajectory, Yi Jianlian was also able to trade for Richard Jefferson, a quasi-All-Star.

But Li Lai still refused to trade Yilianlian!
Because he knows the future well, even if Yi Jianlian joins the Nets, Lopez will become his main competitor.

The head coach of the Nets, Lawrence Frank, prefers the heavy insider Lopez much more.

Even if the trade is not to the Nets, but to other teams that need Yi Jianlian more, Li Lai is sure that it is still difficult for Yi Jianlian to have a smooth growth trajectory and gain a foothold in the league.

It's not that Yilianlian is not good enough!It's that there are no teams in the league that really use space-based insiders.

Hammond shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's going to be hard.

Yi Jianlian has never been used to the coldness of Milwaukee. In addition, we do not have the resources of a big city, and we have no experience in cultivating players of his type.

The situation with the team is extremely unstable now, and I don't think he will really return to the team. "

In fact, as long as a player submits a trade application to the team, this already means that there is no possibility of cooperation between the two parties.

——Even if the broken mirror can be reunited, the cracks are still there.

Li Lai nodded and also understood this point, but he still did not give up and said, "But I still want to give it a try."

　The signing status has been changed. Big brothers and brothers, please ask for recommended tickets and monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)