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Chapter 469 - 209. Rogue Cat Born, Uneventful Second Round_2

Chapter 469: 209. Rogue Cat Born, Uneventful Second Round_2

The onlookers were already displeased to see a man with bad manners cutting in line, and when it seemed like he was picking on Rufus, they grew even more upset. A few fiery youths were about to step forward to defend Rufus... when suddenly they saw the ’rude man’ transform into Jordan!

Soon, screams and cheers filled the square.

Jordan, caught off guard by Zhang Yang’s sudden attack, was bewildered. By the time he came to his senses, he could hear everyone screaming and cheering his name.

Though he had retired years ago, his professionalism remained. He flashed a smile, waved to the crowd, and took the opportunity to glance around... the kid was gone!

No way, you run off just like that, and you take the cash box too!

Fortunately, Bobby appeared next to the cash box at that moment...

...

In the evening, after the Bobcats’ practice session, Jordan, Bickerstaff, Bobby, and the team’s press officer and vice president of logistics, Kyle, gathered in the President’s office to watch a news video.

The video showed the scene of Rufus’s ’paid photo op,’ ending with the moment when Jordan’s cap was snatched, forcibly turning him to face the audience.

After the video ended, Jordan said, "Bobby, explain this to me."

Bobby, "Boss, you know it wasn’t me."

Jordan, "No, it was you."

Bobby, "Boss, really, it wasn’t me; I was right next to you!"

Jordan, "It must be you."

Bobby, "..."

So you got your cap snatched and you’re in a bad mood, so you need some excuse to fire me?

Kyle patted Bobby’s shoulder and said, "What the boss means is, the mascot that went viral today is you. You’ll keep playing Rufus from now on."

Bobby, upon hearing this, looked at the boss. Jordan was rolling his eyes... His first reaction was that he felt a bit stupid, but immediately he blamed the boss internally for not being straightforward with his words.

Still, his face showed an awkward smile as he said, "I understand... Here’s what happened: after being informed about my leave yesterday, I was preparing to head back when Jack found me. He asked to borrow the mascot suit, saying he had a plan to make the fans love Rufus. I was going to refuse, but he mentioned if I got fired over it, he’d hire me to be the mascot at his restaurant, offering the same salary to keep me employed..."

Bickerstaff, hearing this, said, "Jack’s thoughtful, not using his influence in the team to make you take a risk."

Jordan knew what Bickerstaff meant by that, telling him not to pursue the matter with Zhang Yang.

It was nice of the old man to say that; it gave him an out, otherwise, he’d have to find his own way out.

Bickerstaff was actually curious; other players matured more the longer they played in the NBA, even people like Jordan and Kobe.

However, with Zhang Yang, mature beyond his years at 17 when he first entered the NBA, but as he grew younger, his methods became increasingly... distinctive.

Jordan noticed this too, but his perspective differed—he saw that as Zhang Yang’s skills improved, his attitude towards what he cared about grew increasingly firm, an issue that occasionally annoyed him, but having been a player himself, he understood Zhang Yang’s mindset shift and thought it was quite good—a soft personality made it easy to get pushed around on the court.

Because of this, when making decisions related to Zhang Yang, he took Zhang Yang’s feelings and dislikes more seriously, such as replacing the head coach, whom he initially had someone else in mind, but no longer considered that old senior.

The one he worshipped daily was just a mythical god of wealth; to him, the young acolyte was the real god of fortune.

Jordan said, "Let’s not bring this up; who would have thought that Rufus, despised by the entire net yesterday, would become the most popular NBA mascot today. All basketball forums are discussing Rufus. Jack has a real knack for marketing. If he wants to join the management after retiring... What am I saying, who knows how many years until he retires."

Kyle responded, "Actually, Rufus wasn’t really despised by the entire net. I wanted to say this yesterday; I scrolled through those stacked threads, and aside from some extreme Knight fans, most comments were just joining the fun. Moreover, many posts were from the same account, dozens of pages by the same person, likely a bot... which means programmed comments. Our local fans, although some think Rufus is ugly, most don’t mind him and actually enjoy using the GIF of James being scared away by Rufus to argue with Knight fans."

Jordan, realizing his decision to change the mascot was too hasty and almost cost them this surge in popularity, said nothing but continued, "So, Rufus, originally a mascot with little presence, became famous because of the Knight fans’ stacking event? That’s not important anymore. Since Jack successfully used this attention to make Rufus popular, let’s continue with this marketing."

"Bobby, Kyle, you guys handle this. Activities like advertising and photo ops can continue... remember to charge for photos, but only from adults. Kids are free."

"I’ll get a new costume made, and for now, we’ll revert to the old one."

Kyle, feeling overwhelmed, had yet another task added to his workload, thankfully the boss was already planning to hire a professional logistics manager.

The Bobcats were only in their third year since formation; many staff members initially held multiple roles. Kyle was in charge of the trainers’ team until Randy Brown and Ingles were brought in, which relieved him of some duties.

Mainly, their rapid development over the past two years meant they could only focus on the essentials, dealing with the finer details as they could... Of course, as a founding member, Kyle was happy about this situation.