The Whip of the God of Basketball

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, Andy Miller met his guest in his office, a guy who had just lost his job in the NBA, Jeff Tripnell. Miller looked at the other party's English spelling "Jeff-Trepagnier" and thought for a while before remembering the pinyin of his surname. Then he stood up, shook hands with the other party, and asked him to sit down.

Tripnell, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard with Latin American blood, is an unknown basketball player in the United States. Maybe he was once a superstar at Compton High School in California. He is a good scorer in the NCAA. But in the NBA, he's nothing.

Miller didn't intend to pour him a cup of coffee or any other drink, because Miller knew that since this person came to his office, he had come to ask him to sign a contract. For those guys who came to ask for help, Miller thought that Let them feel the atmosphere of asking for help. But Miller took the lead and said, "Let's talk about the contract. After you were traded to the Nuggets last year, you didn't have an agent, did you? When did you sign the contract with the last agent? Is there anything?" Special terms or restrictions?"

As an agent, Miller is most concerned about matters related to the contract. He knows that he will not make too much money from this business. He is only entrusted by others and adheres to the principle that no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat Meet Tripnir. There happened to be a basketball training camp in New York today, so Tripnell personally visited and wanted to have an excellent agent like Andy Miller to fight for a good contract for himself.

"Yeah, there was a falling out between me and Aaron Mintz, the contract he got for me was really bad, I only got a one-year deal, and then the Cavaliers cut me, but I don't want to play in the NBDL, I still want to fight to stay in the NBA and play in the major leagues. But I don't know what to do, I need some reasonable advice and help..." Tripnell is clear about his current situation, an excellent Most players don't come to the agent's office, the agent will go to him himself. And a player like him who is unemployed from the NBA and wants to return to the NBA has to rely on some connections or luck to seek the help of an excellent agent. If he can win a contract of about three years, at least within ten years he will not Need to worry about livelihood.

The NBA has both a glamorous big stage, where superstars belong, and they never need to worry about money. What they need is to fight for honor, status, and victory. And at the bottom of the league, there are many players who just want to get a contract based on their own ability. After all, even the basic salary in the NBA is hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and it is the annual salary of executives in society. For those black boys who haven't finished college, the temptation of such a contract is far greater than that of a championship.

Miller looked at Tripnell, who was looking eagerly in front of him, and dug out a document he had prepared a long time ago from the drawer. It was some statistics of Tripnell's one-year playing time in college and NBA. Although Miller doesn't like this mosquito meat business, as an agent who has been in the NBA for nearly ten years, he still has some basic qualities. He threw this data in front of Tripnell and said : "Look at your stats and performance. No matter what kind of mouth I have, I can't get the NBA boss to give you money, right? Even if I give him bragging, it's useless. So, you'd better hire a Personal coach, start to strengthen your ability from the beginning to the end, I suggest you better improve your three-point shooting ability, now every team needs more and more three-point shooting. If you don’t have a personal coach, It’s okay to sign up for some training camps, get to know some people, and improve yourself. As for the team, as long as you sign a contract with me, I will naturally contact you for you. I know many scouts in the league. By the way, You haven't told me what happened to your contract with your previous agent?"

Miller told Tripnell what to do next, but at the same time he did not forget to ask him about the contract. This is still very important to him. If Tripnell still has a contract, he will For Miller, who is now preparing to start a brokerage company, he is very unwilling to see legal disputes caused by embarrassing peer competition.

"Oh, there is still a contract between me and Aaron Mintz. I signed a two-year agency contract with him, but from this year he doesn't care much about me, and he doesn't concentrate on helping me find a team. I'm just going to visit the rookies who are about to join the NBA this year... Anyway, I don't want to stay under him anymore, I want to change agents." Tripnell said a little excitedly.

"Huh...Focus on those rookies is of course more important than paying attention to you..." Miller snorted coldly in his heart. 2003 will be recognized as a big draft year, and all agents are gearing up to make a big splash on these future stars. Skills, once you hook a newcomer, such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh, you can imagine how rich the benefits will be waiting for them.

Thinking of this, Miller didn't want to say anything more to Tripnier. He took a contract from the shelf and threw it to Tripnier, saying: "Let's take a look at the framework of the contract. In a moment, you first find a place to send a fax to your agent, tell him that you want to terminate the contract, receive the reply and sign it, then fax it, and then decide to sign with me. Remember, find a place far away from me Fax, there are many office buildings near here, find a copy shop to send it. Remember, don’t send it here!”

After emphasizing these, Miller changed a relatively soft tone and said to Tripnell: "How is Henry now, is he okay in Los Angeles? How is his relationship with his son?"

The Henry that Miller talked about was Henry Bibby, the head coach of the University of Southern California basketball team, because Tripnell graduated from the University of Southern California, and it was Henry Bibby who introduced him to Andy Miller. When Miller hadn't entered the agent circle, he had a lot of contact with Bibby, who coached in the lower leagues, and learned a lot from him. Later, when he became an agent in 1995, Bibby happened to also serve as the coach of the NCAA and provided Miller with a lot of scouting information. Although the two practice less now, Miller is still willing to help of.

Of course, what Miller values ​​is not the friendship with Bibby. On the one hand, he hopes that the relationship between Henry Bibby and Mike Bibby can win Mike Bibby to expand the strength of his own players. The relationship between father and son potential and water and fire is basically impossible. On the other hand, Miller also fell in love with Will Bynum, a strong and small point guard in Bibby's team, and hoped that when he joined the NBA two years later, he could directly join him.

Although Bynum is not a super talent, he is also a very talented player. At this time, Miller is a greedy glutton, and he will not let go of any opportunity to absorb outstanding players. For this reason, he does not mind signing players like Tripnell Such a mosquito meat player.

Tripnell thought for a while and replied: "Uh... the coach is pretty good, but his contract with the university is about to expire. It is said that he may go to the NBA to seek a position. I hope he can succeed... ..." Tripnell said a few vague words, took the contract and bid farewell to Miller, and told Miller that he would come to sign a new contract in 15 days, and terminate the contract according to the league's regulations. After that, you need to wait 15 days to sign a new brokerage contract.

Miller just nodded, and didn't even think about getting up to send Tripnell off. At this time, his thoughts returned to the preparation of his new company, how to restrain the Celtics, how to sign more superstars, and how to start this year. It's time for a big victory in the draft.

And Tripnell, after leaving Miller's office, went directly to a copy shop downstairs in the building, and sent his intention to terminate the contract to his agent Aaron Mintz.

Aaron Mintz has been waiting for this fax in his office for a long time.