Chapter 297: The new 007?
After Yang Mo figured this out, he immediately thought of a lie and said with a smile: "Jermaine, have you heard a joke?"
"What joke?" O'Neal frowned. He didn't understand why Yang Mo wanted to tell a joke at this time.
"I heard from a manager in the league that if a rookie who has been in the league for less than three years can average 15 or 16 points per game plus seven or eight rebounds, he can definitely be paid tens of millions a year. But it's not surprising for an old player to get these numbers, and he may not even get a middle-class contract. I asked him why, and he said that with the experience of the older players, as long as they are given enough shots, they will have no problem scoring more than ten points. And young players rely more on their talent to score, and this is the biggest difference." Yang Mo said this deliberately.
After hearing this, Jermaine O'Neal seemed to be thinking about something. He then asked, "Yang, is there any hidden meaning in what you said?"
"There's no hidden meaning. I just think you can play better." Yang Mo laughed and said slowly, "I think you can show those managers more of your talents, things other than scoring and rebounding."
"Something other than rebounds and points?" O'Neal Jr. muttered softly.
Seeing that he seemed to have taken her words to heart, Yang Mo sat aside and said nothing more. Some words should be said in moderation. Talking too much will confuse people and even make them think you have bad intentions.
The bus went directly to the airport. The next five games were all home games, against the Timberwolves, Warriors, Bulls, Pacers and Hornets.
These five teams are all bottom-ranked teams that missed the playoffs. The regular season has no meaning to them anymore. Their mood may have already flown elsewhere to have fun during the long offseason.
If we put aside the honors, the players of these teams are happy. They get paid as much as the players of the playoff teams, but they have more rest time than them. It is like they get a rest on Tuesday while others have a day off on Friday.
The next day after returning to Miami, when going to the training hall, Pat Riley called Yang Mo, Wade and Spoelstra into the office and held a roundtable meeting.
The four of them are the absolute core of this team, so everything is decided by them. The issue they discussed this time was which team to meet in the playoffs.
Now that the Miami Heat have firmly secured a spot in the playoffs, the Chicago Bulls have been completely removed from the competition. The question before them now is whether to win all five games and advance to seventh place, or just play randomly and enter the playoffs as eighth place. The difference between the two will determine whether they will fight the Cavaliers or the Celtics.
When Pat Riley asked the question, Spoelstra immediately answered: "Of course we are striving for seventh place. Seventh place is always better than eighth place. Besides, we just defeated the Celtics, so we have a psychological advantage."
"I'm sorry, I don't think we have any psychological advantage at all." Yang Mo shook his head, strongly disagreeing with Spoelstra's opinion: "Everyone knows how hard and lucky it was for us to win. If Ray Allen hadn't cramped and left the court, if Tony Allen hadn't been knocked away by me, if Pierce hadn't entered the one-on-one mode, they would definitely not be the losers in the last game."
"Are we really as bad as you say?" Spoelstra couldn't help but weakly retort. With Pat Riley around, he believed that Yang Mo would never fall out with him.
Hearing this, Yang Mo nodded heavily and reiterated in a very serious tone: "Yes, it's even worse than what I said."
"How can you say that about your own team?" Seeing that Yang Mo dared to say such a morale-damaging thing in front of the general manager, Spoelstra immediately felt as if he had caught Yang Mo's pigtail. He turned his head and deliberately flattered Pat Riley: "Mr. Riley, I don't agree with his point of view at all. I think our team lineup is very good."
Spoelstra wanted to use Pat Riley to kill Yang Mo's prestige, but Pat Riley actually answered directly: "Our lineup structure is indeed unreasonable, and we really can't break through the Celtics' defensive system."
When Pat Riley said this, he once again stood firmly on Yang Mo's side.
Pat Riley was so clear-cut that Spoelstra failed to instigate him again. He was very nervous and wanted to find a hole to hide in. He was afraid that Yang Mo would humiliate him because of this.
But Yang Mo didn't take him seriously at all, thinking that he was just an ant, and no matter how much he jumped around, he couldn't cause any waves.
"So, Young, you're saying you're leaning toward playing against Cleveland?" Pat Riley asked.
"Yes." Yang Mo nodded very affirmatively.
After getting Yang Mo's answer, Spoelstra turned to Wade and asked, "So, Dwyane, what about you?"
"The Cavaliers are not easy to deal with either." Wade bit his lower lip and said with some difficulty: "But since Yang prefers to play against Cleveland, I have no problem with that."
Wade reluctantly agreed with Yang Mo's opinion . Pat Riley looked at Spoelstra, who was a little nervous because of what happened before, and said quickly: "I agree with Yang. The Cavaliers' defense is not as strong as the Celtics, but Yang can definitely fully restrict LeBron James. We might be able to create a black 8."
Spoelstra's words were too exaggerated. Not only Yang Mo, but even Pat Riley and Wade were a little disappointed. They felt that his opportunism was too clumsy.
"Okay, since everyone agrees to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs, then it's decided. We will give up the next game appropriately." Pat Riley made the decision immediately.
"Then I'll apply for DNP." Wade raised his hand and said, "My knee has been reacting recently. If I can have some time to recover, I will perform better in the playoffs."
"I agree. Before the playoffs, your knee cannot be aggravated by these insignificant games." Pat Riley agreed to Wade's application immediately. After agreeing, he actually glanced at Yang Mo subconsciously.
Yang Mo immediately understood Pat Riley's look. In fact, he also knew why Wade applied for DNP, which was nothing more than wanting to give himself a complete rehearsal stage, which could be considered as preparation for the playoffs. After all, Yang Mo's strength increased by one point, which meant that the Miami Heat's strength increased by one point.
While the Celtics were happily deciding their first-round playoff opponent, Paul Pierce of the Celtics once again made a stern statement. He swore in front of the media: "When we meet the Heat in the playoffs, we will definitely win 4:0. We will never let those guys steal our victory again with conspiracy and trickery."
His oath spread for a while at first, but was soon completely overshadowed by a shocking news.
This news is about the entertainment industry.
Ms. Lu Xueman, president of Baofeng Agency, and the chairman of MGM held a press conference at the same time, announcing that Yang Mo would become the new 007 James Bond.
The news shocked the world. No one was not surprised. James Bond's influence is too great. After all, this is a super popular movie that has spanned more than half a century and has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts. Although previous casting changes have caused controversy, this time is undoubtedly the biggest.
Almost all 007 fans do not think that Super Yang can play this role well, let alone that Super Yang is suitable for this role. Because, James Bond is a British man after all, and... Super Yang is Chinese. Although he is handsome, cool, and manly. But... the skin color problem is definitely not something that can be solved by makeup.
Super Yang's die-hard fans all firmly believed that Yang Mo was the best candidate for the role, so naturally, they started a fierce quarrel on the Internet, cursing so hard that the sky was dark and the earth was collapsing.
For MGM, these verbal battles have proven their casting success.
In fact, the reason why they chose Yang Mo was not because they wanted to use Super Yang's popularity to create a box office record as the outside world said. They simply found the master tape of "Violence and Passion" produced by Universal Studios, and Yang Mo's acting skills in it completely conquered them. The boss of MGM personally decided to use Yang Mo as the protagonist. They also reached a deep cooperation with Baofeng Agency, preparing to use this movie to directly turn things around and completely get rid of the bankruptcy crisis.
MGM was willing to extend an olive branch, and Lu Xueman certainly wanted it. Although MGM was in a debt crisis, a lean camel was bigger than a horse. She immediately represented Baofeng Agency to form a strategic alliance with MGM and invested 50 million US dollars in the film, of which 20 million was Yang Mo's salary.
Yang Mo's remuneration also included a share of the box office revenue, which means that Lu Xueman spent 30 million US dollars, not only to make Yang Mo the new generation of 007, but also to enjoy double profit-sharing treatment, with the amount of share being higher than that of the largest investor, which was equivalent to achieving the effect of getting something for nothing.
With the fame of 007 and Yang Mo's popularity, it is no problem for the global box office revenue to exceed 500 million US dollars. With the peripheral income, 700 million US dollars is definitely not a problem. Excluding the 280 million taken by the theaters, and the other miscellaneous nearly 40 to 50 million US dollars, as the largest sharer, this sum can earn at least 130 million US dollars.
Of course, MGM was not stupid, and the reason they agreed to such a high revenue sharing ratio was entirely because Lu Xueman promised them that she would help them get an injection of idle funds from the emerging market of China to help them survive this disaster.
This was not a problem for Lu Xueman. She had been to China and after learning about the domestic entertainment industry, she felt that it was easy to make money there. Many coal bosses offered cash to film, and the pay was rising like the Yellow River flooding.
As long as Lu Xueman tried to fool people, those coal bosses who only recognized brands would definitely spend huge amounts of money on MGM, once the top production company in Hollywood. Under the powerful financial offensive, it would not be difficult for the company to make a comeback.
After all, in this era, capital is invincible.
Yang Mo only learned about the news that he would play 007 James Bond from the reports. He was very surprised and immediately called Lu Xueman to question her.
