Champion Creed
Chapter 370 - 370 149 Is the Last Dance Really Coming

370: 149: Is the Last Dance Really Coming?

(Requesting Monthly Tickets!)_3 370: 149: Is the Last Dance Really Coming?

(Requesting Monthly Tickets!)_3 Even though everyone knew that Audi was a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, given the same price of 300,000, more people still chose Audi.

After Roger established his independent brand, it achieved roughly that sort of effect.

Jordan glanced at Falk and responded, “You don’t have to worry.”

Jordan knew that David Falk wasn’t there to talk about sneakers; they were actually discussing influence.

As far as Jordan knew, O’Neal had also launched his own independent brand that summer.

But the sales?

They couldn’t even see the taillights of AJ.

Though it’s said that centers don’t sell shoes, even if O’Neal were a guard, his sneakers wouldn’t sell well because his influence wasn’t as big as Roger’s or Jordan’s.

The obstacles to AJ’s sales weren’t because of Roger’s independent brand or because of some sneaker design.

At least, those weren’t the main reasons.

The real root cause was that Jordan’s own influence was on the decline.

Seeing that Jordan understood his point, Falk no longer beat around the bush, “You don’t understand, Michael, this might be our last chance.

If we lose again this season, we’ve got to cut our losses in time.”

“What do you mean by ‘cut our losses in time’?”

“Let me put it another way, although you’ve lost to Roger twice and your influence has declined, your past glories still keep our influence at the top.

But, and I’m just saying if, if you lose again after the transfer…

then our influence might not be at the top anymore.

So, this is our last chance, our influence can’t slide down further, if we lose this season…”

“Are you saying that if I lose this season, I’d better retire?

To prevent further decline in influence?”

David Falk didn’t speak, his silence an affirmation.

Indeed, if Michael Jordan hadn’t come back and the world’s last memory of him was that legendary triple championship, how cool that would have been.

But his career after the comeback made him look more mortal, mixing some unpleasant memories into fans’ minds, damaging his historical status.

Each loss diminished Jordan’s influence further.

If you don’t play, you can’t lose.

Three consecutive losses were the limit.

If he couldn’t win this year, Falk believed Jordan couldn’t risk any more.

Seeing David Falk had not replied, Jordan asked, “Is Nike of the same opinion?”

Unlike many other players, some GOATs create influence through Nike.

But Jordan, Nike created influence through him, which was fundamentally different.

If Jordan’s influence continued to decline, so would Nike’s.

“We are discussing this matter.” David Falk’s words lacked confidence.

Jordan sighed, what had this damned summer brought?

His sneaker sales were falling, the Bulls team was no longer listening to him, and even characters like Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant dared speak boldly to him.

If he lost a fourth time, a fifth time, Michael Jordan would truly become just another person.

Jordan knew this, so he had to win this season.

This time, it was the real last dance.

If he lost, he didn’t even have another chance.

Afterward, Michael Jordan continued his training, repeating those overly familiar movements over and over.

After a series of shooting drills, Jordan shook his finger at Falk, “Don’t be so pessimistic, David, no one can make me retire!”

At that time, Roger didn’t know that his presence could possibly bring the last dance closer.

Roger was training in a facility specially set up by Universal Pictures.

David Falk was right; Roger was also going to make a movie.

As Warner was about to launch “Space Jam,” Universal Pictures also wanted to make their own basketball movie, and just as Reebok needed a soft advertisement film to promote Roger’s sneakers, the two sides hit it off.

Unlike the real-person + animation model of “Space Jam,” Universal Pictures’ movie about Roger would be performed entirely by real people, and many NBA stars would be invited to participate.

The plot goes somewhat like this: a kid finds a pair of worn-out Roger sneakers and, upon wearing them, gains all of Roger’s abilities, then enters the NBA and wins the championship with Roger.

Yes, this plot sounds very familiar—it’s the plot of the movie “next Michael Jordan.”

But this time, Universal Pictures got ahead with this script.

Considering Roger’s experience in “Blue Chips” and his high popularity, Universal Pictures and Reebok were very confident in turning it into a blockbuster in sports cinema.

During the movie shooting, Roger also invited the stars who were shooting with him to play some games, maintaining his competitiveness.

In the following period, you could almost see all those participating stars giving high praise to Roger in front of the media.

In an interview with “Slam” magazine, Jason Kidd talked about his experience shooting a movie with Roger:

“He has incredible willpower.

I don’t know how Roger does it, I don’t know how he can shoot all day, train for three more hours, and then play with us for 40 minutes.

Probably around six or seven the next morning, Roger would continue to call you to train.

I…

I don’t know how he does it, he is an incredible guy!”