Sports Medicine Master System

Chapter 654: Chapter 580: Splitting the Consulting Services

San Antonio.

At the Spurs’ training facility, Chen Yu and his team met with Popovich and company.

"Greg, I think this is the first time I’ve been to your training facility," Chen Yu said as he followed Popovich on a tour of the entire facility.

The facility wasn’t very large. The Spurs had bought it from the city government two years ago for two million dollars.

At that price, one could imagine the age and condition of the entire facility.

The main issue was that it was far away.

The Spurs’ previous home court, the Alamodome, was in downtown San Antonio.

The newly built AT&T Center was east of downtown, while this training facility was to the northwest, almost thirty kilometers away from the AT&T Center.

Across the entire league, only the Spurs and the Bulls had training facilities so far from their home arenas.

Popovich nodded and showed Chen Yu the cramped locker room, the medical center, and the equipment room.

"Robert," Chen Yu said, looking at Buford after the tour. He now had a good sense of the situation. "Renovating this place will have its difficulties, but it’s not a huge problem. However, you need to be sure about this. Once it’s renovated, if you decide to change training facilities later, a lot of this will go to waste."

As the effects of Chen Yu’s high-tech training methods became more apparent, some of the league’s more frugal teams—yes, teams like the Spurs—were gradually learning a simple truth: if you don’t invest, you fall behind.

Therefore, before the start of the new season, the Spurs had finally scraped together some funds to upgrade their training facility.

Some of the training machines and high-tech equipment were easy enough to handle; they could just knock down a few walls and set them up.

But the electronic devices for the court itself—various sensors, high-definition cameras—required prying up the floorboards for wiring. Once that renovation was done, it would be a fixed investment with no possibility of relocation.

Buford said, "We’ve thought it through. The environment here might be average, but it’ll last us at least another ten years."

Chen Yu shook his head inwardly. ’Just patching it up to last a few more years, huh?’

But since he’d said that, Chen Yu didn’t press the issue.

Besides, their renovations were limited in scope—they simply didn’t have the money.

Chen Yu, for his part, actually had a much more advanced plan in mind.

In Chen Yu’s vision, the entire floor of the training facility would be densely packed with sensors to collect data from all training activities.

The renovations and investment involved would be much larger.

Chen Yu had already spoken with Old Kolangelo about it. Once the team recovered financially in the next couple of years and started turning a better profit, his own company would put up some of the funds, the team would put up the rest, and they would jointly invest in building a brand-new training facility.

They would truly integrate high-tech data collection into daily training, setting a new benchmark.

In contrast, the Spurs’ facility renovation was a minor affair.

Besides the facility renovation, Chen Yu had another piece of business on this trip: specifically improving the three-point shooting ability of the Spurs’ players.

Skill-enhancement consulting had always been the main business of Chen Yu’s company.

But covering an entire team of fifteen players was expensive.

It was Popovich who had proposed breaking up the service package, providing consulting for specific skills of only a few select players.

For example, improving the three-point shooting of a few of their outside shooters.

This would dramatically lower the cost.

After considering it, Chen Yu thought it was a pretty good idea.

A comprehensive consulting package would cost several million dollars, which was a significant expense for any team, especially for a cash-strapped one like the Spurs.

That was enough money to sign several players.

If the services were broken down to target specific players’ individual skills based on the team’s tactical needs, the cost would be lower and it would better fit the team’s requirements.

A team could spend a fortune on a training plan for a player, only for that player to be deemed unnecessary after a year and traded away, wasting the entire investment.

Last season, for instance, Chen Yu’s business had been limited, with only two clients: the Lakers and the Pioneer.

One reason was a shortage of trainers and limited resources as the business was just starting out and still gaining experience. But a more significant reason was the high cost, which made many teams hesitant.

Now, by offering targeted improvements, the business should be able to expand.

And it wasn’t just for basketball; it could work for soccer too.

For example, if a team just wanted to improve their forwards’ shooting technique, Chen Yu could offer a standalone consulting service for that.

In the conference room, Chen Yu’s team met with Popovich’s coaching staff to seriously discuss their consulting needs.

At this point in time, their roster adjustments were complete, and it was the perfect time to draw up training plans for the new season.

Chen Yu listened attentively to Popovich’s requests.

That summer, the Spurs had been quite active in the market, retaining only nine players from the previous season.

But while they were busy, a closer look revealed that all their moves were minor tinkering.

Their only significant acquisition was signing veteran Brent Barry from the Supersonics.

Even so, due to a lack of funds, they lost the Turkish player Turkoglu, who went to the Magic.

The rest of their acquisitions were all just spare parts.

At the end of the day, it came down to being cheap and unwilling to spend big.

You could tell just by looking at their payroll; it was right under the salary cap. They truly weren’t willing to spend a single extra cent.

And yet, under these circumstances, they still made it to the West Finals year after year. It just went to show that tanking to draft Duncan was truly the Spurs’ most brilliant move of the last twenty years.

"By the way, Chen, is the Shaq trade finalized yet?" Popovich suddenly interjected while they were talking.

Chen Yu raised an eyebrow.

’What’s this? Is he trying to fish for intel?’

Chen Yu smiled. "Greg, put Tim on the block, and you can have Shaq immediately."

Previously, when the Phoenix Suns put O’Neal on the block, Popovich had come running, anxious to inquire about a price. He’d even offered Ginobili as the centerpiece of a trade package for O’Neal.

Brian couldn’t even be bothered to respond to him.

’A second-round pick, and you’re treating him like a treasure, huh?’

Popovich gave an awkward laugh and added, "What about Reggie, then? You guys are rebuilding anyway, and you just traded for Ben Gordon. You could totally trade Reggie away."

’He still hasn’t given up, has he?’

"Greg, we never said we were rebuilding," Chen Yu chuckled, retorting, "On the other hand, are you guys that desperate for shooters? Are you really planning to add a lot of shooting-heavy plays next season?"

Popovich’s expression changed slightly, but he just laughed it off. "Once the new rules came out, you told the reporters that the perimeter would open up, making it better for three-point shots. I’ve always trusted your judgment."

Chen Yu waved his hand, not wanting to get sidetracked with Popovich any longer, and brought the conversation back on topic.

After the meeting, Chen Yu didn’t leave right away.

He stayed in the facility’s rec room to watch the ABC live broadcast with the others.

Today was the first game day of the show’s playoffs.

There were two games each in the East and West.

Popovich wanted to watch the two morning games in the West.

The last-placed Curry was leading his team against Eric Gordon’s Little Horse Team.

Gordon, who, like Oden, was from Indianapolis, had directly borrowed the name of the Little Horse Team when naming his own team.

The other game featured Durant challenging the California Boys Team, led by Love.

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