Chapter 381 Continuing the Winning Streak 5
The game started with the NC State Wolfpack team looking for the attack, as they had no confidence in stopping the Tar Heels team attack with their defense the only way to attempt victory was by attacking.
But Team Tar Heels was not praised for good defense for no reason, the strong start of Team NC State Wolfpack was halted by pressure from the defense of Team Tar Heels who attacked calmly with Jake controlling the pace of the team.
But in this game, the defense of the NC State Wolfpack team was also doing a good job and the players of the Tar Heels team were not doing as well in attack as in the last games.
Even so, Jake was getting good a.s.sists and making some three-point plays, so by the end of the 1st half Tar Heels ended up winning with a slight lead on the scoreboard.
Coach Guthridge realized this and tried to change some things in the team"s tactics of play, and this evil 1st half of team Tar Heels made the NC State Wolfpack team have more hopes to win this game.
In that 1st half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 14 points, 3 a.s.sists, 4 rebounds, and 5 steals, this was a game that even Jake was not doing very well and was lacking the confidence to try many individual and three-point plays.
Luckily the defense of Jake and Tar Heels was still good and could stop the pressure of the attack by NC State Wolfpack, it was one of the worst games of team Tar Heels of the whole season.
Even though Jake had good results in the game, compared to what he had been doing this season this was the worst game for him, yet the Tar Heels team was much better than the NC State Wolfpack team and so they managed to win by one good advantage.
The Tar Heels team won by scoring 82 points against the 54 points of the NC State Wolfpack team, if the Tar Heels defense were not so good in this game could be the team"s first defeat of the season.
In the 2nd half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 13 points, 4 a.s.sists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, it was a good defensive game compared to the offensive game and Jake just got so many points relying on the 3 point shots.
The Tar Heels team won well, but the players knew it was not such a good game, even though Jake was disappointed with his performance, scoring 27 points and doing what he did during the game would be considered the ideal game for many players.
But Jake knew what he could do and how he had the system to help him, his results would always be better than other players, and it was always thinking that he kept improving even though he had the stats he had and played so well how he played.
Even though Jake and the Tar Heels players thought they had not played so well, all the media cared more about the victory than the way they managed to win, because with that victory they increased the winning streak even more.
It was hard to find a college basketball team in the modern years that managed a sequence of over 40 games without losing, and the Tar Heels team still had a strong appeal to the media for having players like Jake, Jamison, and Carter who played very well and they had high hopes of being stars in the NBA.
The other day the Tar Heels team got a day off because they would have the next game in 4 days, Jake thinking about focusing on his training for athletics, but he got a call that changed his plans for the next few weeks.
"Hi Jake, this is David Falk speaking, you said you wanted to talk to me a few weeks ago and I"m here at a restaurant near your university."
"Alright, I"m going over there."
Jake had called to talk to Falk in late 1997 because he realized that he wouldn"t have that much time to talk to him and the draft season was coming and if Jake wanted to get a better deal he had better talk to David Falk in advance.
Jake knew it was normal to just join a team for the draft and stay with that team for a few years before moving, but he knew the history of the teams that had a chance to get him out of the draft if he was first overall pick and he didn"t. I wanted to lose a few years without a chance to win.
Jake soon arrived at the restaurant and David Falk had been waiting for him, long time since they last saw each other, David Falk was increasingly famous in the NBA and he had been spending a great deal of time trying to get Jake"s new contracts in the NBA.
But David Falk didn"t get as easy as he expected because even though many thought Jake was really a star he might not play that well in the NBA, and as David didn"t know when Jake would join the NBA it was even harder to get a good one. sponsors.h.i.+p agreement.
"Hi Jake, good to see you again, you did very well in your debut season on the Tar Heels team, showed that you really have a star, this season I think you will win all the individual awards again."
"Hi David, thanks for the compliments, I was happy with the Tar Heels team winning the NCAA t.i.tle last season, I was also happy to be able to win several individual awards last season as well."
"I hope this year our team will be able to win the NCAA t.i.tle again, if that happens I"ll be happy."
"True, if your team wins this season again and breaks the second place winning record, you will win all the individual awards and will still go down in history, but let"s talk about reality now, which you said wanted to talk to me?"
"I"m going to join the NBA draft this year, so I called you to organize what we can do in the coming months and to make it happen as I hope."
David Falk didn"t expect Jake to want to join the NBA this year, next season would be a tough time for Jake to join the NBA, and David wanted Jake to wait at least another year.
"Look, Jake, I think this year will be a bad year for you to join the NBA, some things will happen and the reputation of the NBA players and teams will be shaken after that."
"As the Tar Heels team is playing so well I think it"s best that you stay for one or two seasons and try to win 4 NCAA t.i.tle in a row and make history or break that winning record."
"I already thought about it, I think this is the best year for me, this problem that will have in the NBA may be a good opportunity for me, the debut years of the NBA players do not get many opportunities to play and next year I can become an NBA star after this mess."
"Also, in the coming seasons I find it harder for the Tar Heels team to break this winning record or even win the NCAA t.i.tle, Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, and Antawn Jamison will be joining the NBA draft this year and the team will be much weaker next season."
Hearing this David Falk had to agree with Jake and he realized that Jake had thought a lot about it if the best players of the Tar Heels team left after this season next season the team will have to adapt to the new players.
This will make it difficult for the Tar Heels team to win the NCAA t.i.tle again next season, so if the Tar Heels team won the NCAA t.i.tle and Jake left he would emerge as a hero at the university and with much more impact to enter the NBA.
It was being difficult for David Falk to get endors.e.m.e.nts for Jake when he entered the NBA without a set date, and after the NBA shutdown next season it would be much harder to get another good contract for Jake for a few years.
After Jake got all the individual prizes with more than 30 points per game and winning the NCAA t.i.tle it was much easier to negotiate with companies about endors.e.m.e.nts, this season Jake kept playing well and if he said Jake would join the NBA this season It would be easier to close endors.e.m.e.nt agreements a year.
"I agree with you so if you have ever thought about it then I will organize everything for you, I am already talking to 9 different companies that are thinking of closing an endors.e.m.e.nt agreement with you when you join the NBA."
"Now I was wondering if you have any conditions for these endors.e.m.e.nt contracts and which shoe company do you intend to sign with?"
"I have some conditions, I"ll tell you, David, because I trust you and because it"s something you need to know."
"In those years after making a lot of money from my endors.e.m.e.nts as a child, I made some investments, at that time I am a shareholder of 3 different companies and owner of two companies."
"So in a.s.sets, I currently have over $ 100 million worth of stocks that are valuing a lot, so I don"t need a bad endors.e.m.e.nt contract."
David Falk heard this and was shocked, he knew few NBA players who were stars who had more than $ 100 million, many earned it in their career, but spent most of their money.
But Jake was saying that he had it in stock and David felt that Jake was telling the truth and might even be hiding the real values so as not to scare him.