Versace's advertising shoot went well, and there was nothing wrong with the endorsement contract.

For two years, 1 million US dollars, Versace directly paid half of it first, and this half Qiao Hai directly added the 500,000 US dollars he had saved before, made up 1 million US dollars, and invested in seawater again.

After finishing Versace's advertising shoot, the time was just right, the Grizzlies' two away games were back-to-back, and Qiao Hai was also returning.

The Grizzlies' next game will be a day later, and they're going to face the Nets on the road, so Joe flew straight to New Jersey to join the team.

At this time, Kevindin also called and agreed to join Hoop Sports.

As a result, the sports media plan is well underway, with Kevinding becoming the editor-in-chief of Hoop Sports, Hoop USA by February, and the website going live before the playoffs of the season, all in an orderly manner.

David Falke also helped Qiao Hai poach several reporters, two of whom were recruited at a high price, one was Adrian Wonarowski of Yahoo Sports.

At this time, Adrian Wonarowski was just a small reporter for Yahoo Sports, and Hoop Sports promised a high salary, coupled with the attraction of the position of deputy editor, Adrian Wonarowski was naturally a fart to come.

The other is John Hollinger, a data expert in the NBA, who came up with the concept of Per value, he also has a basketball website of his own, but it is not well run and has almost no traffic, this time hoop sports promised a high salary, coupled with the attraction of the position of director of website operations, John Hollinger gave up his basketball website and joined Hoop Sports.

The framework of Hoop Sports is gradually being set up, and Qiao Hai is also returning to the team, ready to lead the team to challenge the New Jersey Nets.

At the end of 1999, the league's major awards for December were announced.

Qiao Hai once again missed out on Coach of the Month, but this time, the Grizzlies still won one of the monthly awards.

Although the Grizzlies' record in December was only 10-5, Maddy became the league's best player in December, averaging 30.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game in 15 games.

In terms of Coach of the Month, the Western Conference Coach of the Month was won by Greg Popovich, and the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month went to Pacers head coach Larry Bird.

In terms of Rookie of the Month, Lamar Odom in the West and Steve Francis in the East.

Among them, the rookie of the month last month in the West was also Lamar Odom, and the rookie of the month last month in the East was Elton Brand, and at the beginning of the new season, the three best rookies happened to be three of the top four in the draft.

So, after two months of playing, the Hornets management was rounded, and the former No. 4 rookie, Byron Davis, selected by the Hornets, performed the worst.

The Grizzlies dodged the disaster because Sean Marion was doing well, and his performance in December was stable and improved compared to November, averaging 6.5 rebounds per game, and even ranked third among rookies, behind Elton Brand and Lamar Odom, two interior players.

There's also defense, which is hard to put into stats, but at least Sean Marion has no problem staying in the top five in the 1999 draft.

Seeing the media round Hornets management, Qiao Hai also wanted to laugh a little, time will prove that the Hornets chose correctly......

Playing the Nets away, Qiao Hai came back in a hurry and didn't prepare much.

hurriedly flipped over the Nets' roster and the Nets' current record.

As of January 7, the Nets have a 12-19 record, ranking outside the playoffs, and if you look at the Nets' roster, Stephen Marbury, Kerry Kittels, Keith Van Horn, Kendall Gill, this lineup is obviously not bad.

Obviously, the Nets' poor record has a lot to do with the coach.

Before the start of the season, the Nets were also preparing to change coaches, and once set their sights on Qiao Hai, but in the end, they chose to believe the team's acting head coach Tang Casey.

As a result, Tang Casey led the team to poor results, and such an excellent lineup failed to make the playoffs in the weak East.

Qiao Hai flipped over the current data of the Nets again, the Nets' offense is average, the offensive efficiency ranks in the middle of the league, and the worst is the defense, their defensive efficiency ranks at the bottom of the league, obviously, the problem is the Nets' defense.

Playing this kind of defensive bad team is what the Grizzlies do best, the Grizzlies have an outstanding offense, and the opponent does not defend well, once the hand is opened, the Grizzlies' offense is unstoppable.

So, before the game, Qiao Hai didn't arrange anything too much.

Continental Airlines Arena, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Qiao Hai took the team to the visiting team locker room, and when everyone sat down, Qiao Hai clapped his hands: "Okay, be quiet." ”

Qiao Hai first summed up the first two games in which he was not available.

One against the Heat, one against the Magic, both away games.

Playing the Heat, against the top two teams in the East, the Grizzlies won one game, and relied on two three-pointers from Sean Marion and Maddy to win the game at the last moment, 93:87, and the Grizzlies won by 6 points.

Byron Scott was also relieved, after Qiao Hai was evicted and suspended for three additional games, the Grizzlies first lost the game with the Jazz, and that game was still under the command of Qiao Hai, after leading by 7 points at halftime, the second half was overturned by the Jazz.

The Spurs also lost, and Byron Scott even had some self-doubt, and he found that the gap between him and Joe Hai was too big.

The Heat finally won one game, and Byron Scott regained a little bit of confidence.

But soon, back-to-back games were played by the Magic, the Magic is the current lottery champion in the East, and the strength naturally cannot be compared with the Heat, but playing the Magic, the Grizzlies lost instead, and the loss was quite miserable, falling behind by 20 points at halftime.

Falling behind at halftime, Qiao Hai has only encountered it once since he coached the Grizzlies - the loss to the Mavericks, that game was caused by the explosion of the Mavericks' outside pitchers, and the Grizzlies just lost to the Mavericks' hot hand, and there was no problem with their own play.

And this loss to the Magic, the Grizzlies' offense was sluggish, and the defense was not done well, Byron Scott's adjustment was slow, and Doug Rivers seized opportunities in a row, and the Magic took a big lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Grizzlies also failed to chase the score, and Byron Scott racked his brains, but he didn't expect to make adjustments to chase the points and turn the tables.

In the end, the Grizzlies lost by 20 points.

Qiao Hai only said one sentence about the summary of these two games: "We didn't achieve our goal in December, we didn't do well enough to speed up Princeton's tactics, and this was reflected in the two games that started in January, so, obviously, we have to continue our goal from last month, and in January, we have to increase our training days." ”

There were all kinds of wails in the locker room, Qiao Hai smiled and pressed his hand: "In addition, let's congratulate Tracy together, congratulations to him for winning the Player of the Month in December!" ”

Bang Bang Bang! There was another round of applause in the locker room.

Maddie smiled shyly and said thank you.

"Keep up the good work, Tracy, we need you to step up more."

Maddie nodded, "I will, Coach." ”

In the end, Qiao Hai arranged the style of play for the next game, the regular way of playing, and there were no special changes.