Chapter 2 The First Contract
This year's draft scene was attended by many domestic journalists.
But they didn't come for Ji family's two brothers, they came for Tai Kong Yee.
This year, Zhou Qi was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 6th pick in the first round, becoming the highest-drafted Chinese player after Yao Ming.
Domestic media have already pinned the nickname "Chinese Garnett", "Chinese Bynum", "Chinese Baron Davis" and "Chinese Shaq" on Yao Ming, and shamelessly touted him as a combination of the NBA's five dominant power forwards.
One sentence - The sky is not his limit, outer space is!
As for Ji Guo Chou and Ji Guo Chi, the two brothers, although their names sound very patriotic, in the eyes of the media and fans, they are still two banana people, who knows if they can even speak Chinese?
When the two left the audition site, a small number of domestic reporters hesitated for a moment, just for a moment, and then swarmed towards Tai Kong Yee.
They are sitting with Durant and Oden, they are not in the same world as those end-of-bench players.
"Hey, I think you two are not inferior to your peers. By the time the regular season starts, no, I think it won't take that long, once the summer league begins, everyone will see how great you two are." The cunning and clever Jewish agent of the two didn't know whether he was speaking from his heart or just flattering them. However, Ji Guo Chou and Ji Guo Chi heard this and still felt quite happy, as flattery is always pleasant to hear.
The Los Angeles Clippers only got a record of 40 wins and 42 losses last season, such a record may be able to enter the playoffs in the East, but in the West, such a record doesn't even have a chance.
The interior strength of the fast ship team is not among the top in the 30 teams of the league, but it's not bad either. As long as Elton Brand stays healthy and Chris Kaman continues to progress, this duo will still have room for improvement and won't fall behind when facing most teams.
Coach Deng Lijun originally had his eyes on Ail Sotton, who possessed immediate combat power. However, during the trial training session, when he saw the two brothers use their tacit understanding to seal off the three-second zone airtight, Coach Deng immediately decided to give up on what was considered immediate combat power - these two were the real deal! Perhaps individually they only had the strength of a late first-round or early second-round pick. But when both were on the court at the same time, their combined might far exceeded the concept of 1+1=2.
The Clippers really lacked a number one and three position player, the successor of Cassell. Sean Livingston, who was once full of promise, suffered that horrific injury on February 26, 2007 in the game against the Charlotte Bobcats at Staples Center...
The 38-year-old Cassell will continue to prop up the Clippers' backcourt for his 15th season.
The second position on the fast boat has a 33-year-old old cat, although he is already old, but this former Rockets' second-in-command's state is still good, and every night can still make qualified contributions in scoring.
Margarito, in the number three position, recovered from injury last season and performed no worse than before he was injured. This year he may go even further.
In addition to the inside combination of Shipang and Kaman, the starting lineup of the Clippers is not bad. However, on the bench, the Clippers really don't have many players who can make a difference, except for old guy Tim Thomas, other players' contributions in the game are extremely limited, which is the key factor that restricts them from entering the playoffs.
In Lao Deng Liwei's eyes, the inside line composed of Ji Guochou and Ji Guoxiu can support the second lineup of the fast boat team when the main force is resting, with strong attack and defense intensity.
Of the two brothers, Ji Kui is more agile and quick, can even play a bit of small forward position, his shooting ability is very strong, although his ability to dribble and attack with the ball is limited, but as a three-point shooter, he's completely fine.
The twin brother, Jrue Holiday was selected 17th in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers. The Clippers offered a max contract of 4 years and $80 million with a 3+1 option for the 2009-10 season that expires in summer 2011.
Ji was selected at the end of the first round, and got a much worse contract, only 4 years $5.2 million, also 3+1, team option for the 2009-10 season, expires in summer 2011.
Although the two have now formed two consciousness, they know each other's roots and are clear about what the other is thinking. Of course, something like a bank password can't be hidden. To say that the two look alike, if it weren't for people who have been in contact with them for many years, it would be impossible to tell who is who. If the two of them were to go to the bank with each other's ID cards, I believe no one would be able to recognize them either, and their money would be completely interchangeable.
A week after the draft, on July 5, both signed their first professional contracts with the Clippers.
They immediately moved their family from Canada to Los Angeles, and will play in this "City of Angels" for at least three years unless they are traded.
Vancouver is also a big city, also known as the Northern Hollywood. However, compared to the real Hollywood, it still lags behind. Los Angeles has the real Hollywood, which is the global center of film and television, and is the second-largest city in the United States, after New York, and the largest metropolis on the West Coast.
Their two incomes are indistinguishable, after all they can still be said to be one person, many things are not divided so clearly.
After the two signed the contract, they had already received their first year's salary. After deducting nearly 50% of high taxes, they still had over ten million in cash, enough for them to buy a suburban villa in Los Angeles.
However, after discussing it, they decided not to buy a house for now.
They themselves know their own affairs, and the potential of these two bodies has yet to be fully tapped, which means they will continue to make rapid progress in the future.
In the NBA, income is tied to one's own strength, and they can't rely on others for too long. Their income will increase rapidly as soon as they become strong themselves.
Now buying an ordinary house will soon be eliminated, it's better to rent a flat first.
The two of them didn't have any trouble finding a place, and in just one day, through an intermediary, they found a 140-square-meter two-bedroom high-rise apartment with a monthly rent of 12,000 yuan. It's only a half-hour walk from the "Staples Center" and is located in the downtown area. If you drive, it takes less than ten minutes to get to the "Staples Center". The two of them already have driver's licenses, so they can completely buy a car for transportation.
The apartment is already renovated and most of the furniture is complete, you can move in with your luggage.
There are also a number of fitness equipment in the two rooms and living room, which can also be used.
Although the rent of this apartment is a bit expensive, the two brothers think it's convenient here, the surrounding environment is also good, and they live comfortably, which is enough.
The two of them resolved the housing issue at a speed that far exceeded Coach Deng's expectations.
July 6, 2007, on the second day of a three-day holiday, the two could officially start training.
The Los Angeles Times ran a story on the two brothers in its July 6 edition, their first day reporting to the team. The newspaper easily dug up the unremarkable basketball careers of the twins during high school and their freshman year.
Dave Bergman of the Los Angeles Times wrote a brief assessment of the two:
"This year, the Clippers drafted two Canadian-born Chinese twin brothers, Jie Kou and Jie Ke. In their brief college careers, they respectively averaged 7.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game, and 8.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks per game."
At a university that is not even top three in basketball level, the two of them as starters only got such data, I don't understand why Clippers would make such a bizarre choice to trade 14th pick for 21st and 30th picks?
Of course, considering the two men's Chinese heritage and handsome appearance, it may bring Mr. Sterling some financial benefits, I think that's what the Clippers value, just like the Lakers also selected China's Sun in the second round.
The Los Angeles Times' report saved domestic media from trouble.
It's really hard for domestic media to find something overseas, especially recently they have been focusing on Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue, who are pure Chinese players. What's the point of paying attention to two "banana men"? As a result, many domestic media outlets, such as "Basketball Pioneer", "Sports Weekly" and "Slam Dunk" magazine, have reprinted the report from the Los Angeles Times, and their opinions are all similar - they don't think the two will do well in the NBA.
Moreover, many media outlets deliberately downplayed Ji Zhe and Ji Zhou, emphasizing Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue instead. They believed that based on the two brothers' performance in college, they were not good enough to make it in the NBA. Although their physical data seemed better than those of Yao Ming, there were many black players with even better physical abilities who still couldn't make it in the NBA.
Domestic media reports are reasonable and convincing, winning the approval of many domestic football fans.
As parties involved, the two brothers from Ji's family are indifferent to these media reports. They now have to work hard for their own performance time and do not have extra energy to worry about other things. Besides, what moral integrity does domestic media have? They had seen it all in their previous life.
The 2007 summer league was still held in two arenas in Las Vegas, and the Clippers' first game was scheduled for July 9, a day when both brothers would prove themselves.
