In mid-December, as Christmas approached, the film " Kingmaker (Part 1)" held large-scale advance screenings simultaneously in Lincoln Center in New York, Manhattan York, Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, and Copley Square in Boston, officially kicking off the Christmas movie season.
The screening room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
David Fincher uses a cool and restrained cinematic language, coupled with Aaron Sorkin's dense and tight dialogue, to present a gripping picture of the behind-the-scenes work of professional sports management, the power struggles of draft night, and locker room stories.
On screen, Keanu Reeves plays a young Lin Qi, dressed in a black suit, who, facing difficulties from his former owner Gaston, signs a bet to make the playoffs without increasing the budget by a single penny. In the first half of the film, Keanu's character is a statistic-driven, ruthless control freak. Brad Pete, on the other hand, plays the old-school scout " Pete," representing the human touch in traditional basketball. The two argue fiercely in the office about whether to keep a veteran and whether to give a short, undersized second-round pick a guaranteed contract, ultimately working together to win their first championship in 1999.
When the end credits rolled, hundreds of discerning film critics and sports journalists in the preview screenings across the three cities rose to their feet and applauded for a full five minutes.
The morning after the preview screenings ended, the entertainment and sports sections of major media outlets across the United States were completely dominated by this film.
The New York Times ' chief film critic gave it high praise, "This is the most exciting business drama since Wall Street. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin have turned the NBA general manager's office into a battlefield without gunpowder, and the scenes between Keanu Reeves and Brad Pete are absolutely brilliant."
What truly ignited basketball fans across the United States was an in-depth research article published that same morning by Bob Leon, a senior reporter for the Boston Globe: "In Search of the Real ' Pete ': Unveiling the Secrets of the 1990s Boston Celtics Behind the Kingmaker Part 1."
In this article, Bob Leon recounts the true story of the Celtics Club from 1994 to 1999.
"In the movie ' Kingmaker Part 1,' the most touching character for the audience is undoubtedly the veteran scout played by Brad Pete. On screen, Keanu Reeves ' Lin Qi is ruthless, but it was Pete who desperately persuaded him to sign the unwanted Ben Wallace with the 58th pick. It was also Pete's insistence on offering the veteran a guaranteed contract that allowed the team to establish its own unique culture."
"However, when we reviewed the complete employee list of the Boston Celtics' management in the 1990s, we discovered a startling fact: there was absolutely no such veteran scout in the Boston scouting department from 1994 to 1999!"
"We interviewed former team staff and agent David Falk, who confirmed that everything Brad Pete did in the movie, including drafting Ben Wallace last overall in the 1996 NBA Draft, immediately giving Wallace a permanent contract after playing against Mourning, and treating every player who left the team well, was actually handled by Lin Qi himself in reality!"
In a telephone interview with this newspaper, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin frankly admitted. "If I were to write all of Lin Qi's past actions onto one person based on true history, the audience in the theater would find the protagonist unrealistic. So I had to split the real Lin Qi into two characters, with Keanu Reeves playing his rational side and Brad Pete playing his emotional side."
This report caused an uproar across the United States.
More than five million tickets for the Christmas release of " Kingmaker Part 1" were sold in advance within 48 hours.
With Christmas Day just a week away, the focus of the US sports business market has shifted from movie theaters to the fiercely competitive sneaker sections of major shopping malls.
In mid-December 2003, the United States welcomed the peak of the annual Christmas shopping season.
The sneaker war between Nike and Converse has reached a fever pitch in Fifth Avenue in New York, Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and Foot Locker flagship stores in Santa Monica Los Angeles.
In an effort to reverse its two-year decline in the basketball shoe market, which had been dominated by Converse, Nike went all out this month to officially launch the Air Zoom Generation, the first signature shoe of high school rookie LeBron James, priced at $110. Nike bought huge outdoor billboards in major cities across the United States, using the slogan " The Chosen One," packaging this 18-year-old rookie with no negative news and a sunny smile as the perfect idol for American teenagers.
Converse, on the other hand, unleashed a two-pronged approach: on one hand, a team-oriented basketball shoe endorsed by MVP frontrunners Kevin Garnett and Dwyane Wade; on the other hand, a black and white signature shoe priced at $100 and endorsed by Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Brian.
In order to completely overwhelm Converse on the last weekend before Christmas, Nike's public relations team and major pro -Nike media outlets focused all their firepower on the sensitive points of public opinion surrounding Kobe Brian.
Although as early as the end of September this year, the Eagle County Colorado case, through Lin Qi's mediation, entered an indefinite legal process suspension, with the plaintiff citing "the victim's severe post-traumatic stress disorder preventing him from appearing in court" and the defense voluntarily giving up the right to a expedited trial. Kobe will not have to travel back and forth between the Denver court and the court as originally expected, and can play the entire season for the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, the freeze on judicial proceedings does not mean that public opinion has subsided.
On the contrary, many women's rights organizations, conservative parent groups, and fans from rival markets believe that the indefinite postponement of the case demonstrates that "superstars used dirty money and privilege to cover up their crimes and evade legal judgment."
Since the start of the regular season at the end of October, whenever the Los Angeles Lakers went to play an away game, Kobe faced the worst away game conditions in the entire league.
On December 19th, the last Friday before Christmas, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Indiana Pacers on the road, which was broadcast live across the United States.
Nine o'clock in the morning, third floor of the Boston Auerbach Training Center.
Lin Qi sat at his desk, the television in front of him tuned to ESPN's morning sports news. The screen showed footage of the Los Angeles Lakers arriving at their Indianapolis hotel the previous night: in the sub-zero five-degree wind, hundreds of local protesters held signs blocking the hotel's security cordon, bearing glaring red letters that read "Money Can't Buy Innocence" and "Rapists Out of Indiana."
The phone on the table rang, and Gregg, the CEO of Converse, spoke through the receiver, his voice tinged with anxiety.
"Boss, Nike started their Christmas weekend sale in major department stores across the US this morning. What's more troublesome is that several local newspaper columnists published articles today urging parents to boycott Kobe's shoes for Christmas and buy their kids the more wholesome LeBron James 1s instead."
"Tonight the Lakers are playing the Pacers, who are second in the Eastern Conference, on the road. The Indiana home fans are notoriously toxic. I heard they've prepared thousands of insulting placards at Conseco Fieldhouse tonight. Should we take a few of Kobe's 'Love Me or Hate Me' commercials off tonight during the national broadcast and replace them with Kevin's MVP promotional video that he just filmed today to avoid the storm?"
Lin Qi watched the aloof figure on the television screen, wearing a black beanie, silently walking through the protest crowd into the hotel, and spoke calmly.
" Gregg, Kevin's shoes aren't having any trouble selling right now. The real key to this year's Christmas season is Kobe. The more people criticize him on the road, the stronger his inner drive to beat everyone becomes. The more you criticize him, the more motivated he gets. His performance will be even better, and his fans will love him even more."
Lin Qi paused for a moment, then gave the order directly.
"Not only should we not withdraw, but this afternoon you should notify the marketing department to buy all the remaining ad slots during the fourth quarter of tonight's TNT nationwide broadcast. As soon as the game ends, immediately play the full version of Kobe's 'Love Me or Hate Me' black and white ad, and at the same time issue a notice to all Foot Locker stores across the United States to restock overnight."
Gregg paused for a moment on the other end of the phone. "Buy them all? Got it, boss, I'll get on it right away!"