LeBron James, your house got robbed.

April 14, Cleveland, Ohio

Chen Shuo sat at the table, staring at the black screen of the computer, his brows furrowed, a state he had maintained since morning.

Last night, the Cavaliers defeated the Wizards 100-93 at home, ending this difficult season.

After defeating the Heat, the Cavaliers carried their momentum into the remaining nine games, winning four of them and finishing the season with a 50% winning percentage.

It's worth noting that the Cavaliers only won 19 games throughout the entire season, which shows how hot the team has been during this period.

Chen Shuo also gained widespread recognition from Cleveland fans for his remarks before the game against the Heat.

At the press conference, a photo of him displaying fervent devotion while answering Jason's questions briefly topped the North American trending search list.

Although the bet with reporter Jason was warned by the league, its storytelling helped Chen Shuo regain a lot of reputation.

The latter did not abide by the bet, stating that he genuinely loved his profession.

I've made up my mind that as long as I'm thick-skinned enough, this matter will eventually be forgotten over time.

Chen Shuo didn't care about Jason's situation. The bet was just a pretext, and so far it had achieved its purpose.

What truly troubled Chen Shuo was Gilbert's attitude.

In the game against the Heat, Chen Shuo reversed the process from the result, and with a bit of luck, he almost completely predicted the course of the game, which was a very impressive performance.

Logically speaking, Gilbert should have earned him a lot of points.

After the game, Gilbert was overjoyed and immediately hosted a party for the whole team at his suburban villa as a celebration.

The revelry lasted all night until dawn.

The next day, after waking up from a hangover, Chen Shuo was full of confidence and opened the system panel.

As expected, there was an increase.

[Gilbert's Trust Rating ==> Chen Shuo: 1%]

Gilbert wasn't concerned with any moves Chen Shuo made regarding the general manager position; this was just an experiment.

Chen Shuo had a huge question mark on his head.

It's better not to add it at all.

Clearly, this incident was not enough to shake Gilbert's spirits; this 1% figure likely reflects Gilbert's good mood.

During the final period of the season, Chen Shuo was unable to find any further entry point.

Grant holds all the power in basketball operations, and besides scouting rookies, the team hasn't made any major moves yet.

As for the games at the end of the season, there is almost no attention, and the teams are destined to be eliminated, plus their opponents are not high-profile teams.

Even Gilbert hasn't been seen at Quicken Loans for a long time.

Worst of all, Chen Shuo noticed that Gilbert's favorability toward Grant had changed, increasing by ten percentage points.

Gilbert's Trust Rating ==> Grant's: 70%

The following supplementary information has also changed accordingly.

Chen Shuo isn't suited for the general manager position; Grant, you need to work harder!

This is basically the American version of "The crown prince is often weak, you should encourage him." It's estimated that Gilbert has already spoken with Grant and reached a new consensus.

At this point, no solution could be found.

He had great ambitions, but had nowhere to put them to use.

Chen Shuo didn't think that he could easily get a general manager position after losing this opportunity.

I rubbed my temples, turned on my computer, and casually browsed the latest news.

Both ESPN and Bleacher Report have provided their playoff predictions.

In the East, the Heat, who have formed a Big Three, are considered the most likely to reach the Finals and have a higher chance of winning the championship than the defending champion Lakers.

Last season, the Celtics emerged from the Eastern Conference. Considering the aging of their core players, most media outlets believed that the Celtics, who were in the same half of the conference as the Heat, would have their season end in disappointment after a fierce series.

Chen Shuo nodded slightly; the general direction of this part of the prediction was correct.

On the other hand, ESPN columnists are not optimistic about the Bulls' comedic rise this season.

They believe the Bulls have a promising future, but they are still too immature, similar to the Thunder in the West.

The situation in the West is even clearer. Everyone believes that the Lakers and the Spurs will meet in the Western Conference Finals. These two teams have won eight of the championships in the past 11 years.

However, experts also pointed out that both teams have certain hidden problems.

Bynum and Odom are in worrying form, while Duncan has been suffering from plantar fasciitis all season.

As for the Mavericks, not many people are optimistic about them.

Chen Shuo smiled slightly; this was precisely what made it interesting.

During this time, Chen Shuo kept thinking about how to impress Gilbert.

He tried to put himself in Gilbert's shoes and understand what Gilbert wanted.

Overall champion?

Rapid reconstruction?

Selling tickets?

During this time, he searched through a large number of news articles about Gilbert, trying to find some useful clues.

To this end, Chen Shuo even found news about Gilbert's acquisition of the Cavaliers.

When speaking to the media, Gilbert stated that he is a passionate basketball fan and wants to own his own team.

He also promised in front of the media that he would lead the team to break the curse and win the championship that Cleveland had not won in 40 years.

They were all just polite platitudes; almost every boss made the same kind of statement.

If one had to find fault with these news reports, it would be Gilbert's attitude towards James.

Before James left the Cavaliers, Gilbert would mention James on various occasions, praising him endlessly.

Some media outlets have even suggested that Gilbert's high-priced acquisition of the Cavaliers was precisely because he admires James and is James' most loyal fan.

After all, the Cavaliers' owner, Gund, had no intention of selling them at the time; he was completely swayed by Gilbert's money.

That's why Gilbert was so furious when James announced his departure that he completely lost his composure.

The team's official website cursing LeBron James seems like a disgrace to the team owner, and more like an act of anger and frustration.

Will she turn evil after being betrayed by a scumbag?

Chen Shuo shook his head, rejecting the possibility.

Despite the brief contact, Chen Shuo was certain that Gilbert was not a true fan.

His eyes were filled with deep thought when he watched the game.

So to put it more realistically, James is important to Gilbert, or to one of Gilbert's plans.

Just then, Chen Shuo noticed a report about James from The New York Times.

The author of this report meticulously compared James' commercial value before leaving the Cavaliers and after joining the Heat.

The results showed that after James left the Cavaliers, his commercial value increased by about 30% across the board.

To further compare, the authors also used a business model to remove the gains from Miami being a large city.

Even so, James' commercial value still increased by nearly 20%.

In other words, while the defection may have damaged the player's image to some extent, it undeniably boosted his commercial value.

Chen Shuo understood the reason almost instantly.

Living in an era of explosive growth in online traffic, Chen Shuo understands the saying "haters are fans too" better than most people of this generation.

A perfect persona is far less appealing than one that is controversial.

Just by looking at the endless war of words between LeBron haters and LeBron fans on various platforms, you can tell how much traffic is involved.

Celebrities in the entertainment industry sometimes even have trivial scandals exposed from time to time to increase their exposure and traffic.

At that moment, like a bolt of lightning, it illuminated Chen Shuo's chaotic mind.

Chen Shuo finally understood how important James was to Gilbert.

Having corrected his course, Chen Shuo opened Google, entered "Quick Loan Company," and began searching for relevant information.

Chen Shuo learned in detail about Quick Loan's main business, its history of rising to prominence through the 08 subprime crisis, and the current ecosystem of Quick Loan's business in the United States.

By comparing the two, we finally got the answer and the mystery we wanted.

Chen Shuo's eyes lit up; he could now fully understand Gilbert's anger towards James.

James' departure was tantamount to undermining Quicken Loans' growth, even if he himself may not have been aware of it.

……

Gilbert took the documents Chen Shuo handed him.

Chen Shuo's visit was completely unexpected, but he was willing to give the intelligent man some time.

Gilbert looked at it very carefully, which was his consistent approach to doing things.

Chen Shuo, with an air of nonchalance, sat on the sofa, picked up Gilbert's bottle of wine, and gulped it down in one go to cool his brain.

Over the past two hours, Chen Shuo rushed from his apartment to the stadium and found Amy to help him organize the news materials.

Using his memories, he reconstructed the free agency market during the offseason and pieced together a complete and feasible plan.

It also needs to be modified so that the content doesn't look too futuristic.

After all, from Chen Shuo's perspective, many things that seem certain to happen are still uncertain.

Gilbert quickly finished reading the information about James's commercial value, then turned his gaze to Chen Shuo, waiting for the next part.

Chen Shuo slowly began to speak:

"I've looked into Quick Loans' business."

"After the 08 subprime mortgage crisis, many large banks reduced their lending business, and quick loan companies quickly seized the market gap by using online approval and fast loan disbursement as their selling points."

"Over the past five years, relying on the rapid rise of the Internet, quick loan companies have experienced rapid development."

Gilbert's eyes narrowed; he had a gut feeling that he would be very interested in what Chen Shuo was about to say.

"This also happens to be five years after the Cavaliers were acquired."

"Buying the naming rights to the arena and renaming it Quicken Loans Arena was the beginning of everything."

"The Cavaliers team with LeBron James in the past brought a huge amount of traffic to Quicken Loans."

Whether the Cavaliers win the championship or not is not important; what matters is keeping Quicken Loans Arena at the center of online discussion.

Gilbert did not deny that these things were not difficult to judge.

Chen Shuo took out his phone.

"The iPhone, a groundbreaking product, will usher in a new wave of mobile internet."

Then Chen Shuo opened Twitter and handed his phone to Gilbert, where he saw a message from the well-known sports reporter WoJ.

"Dan, WoJ has already smelled the fishy smell of the sea; he started using Twitter as his main platform for releasing information last year."

"In the next decade, mobile internet will be the trend of the times. Imagine everyone walking on the street, in the office, or in the car, constantly on their phones, browsing all kinds of breaking news."

"For quick loan companies, this is the best time, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you must seize it."

Gilbert looked at Chen Shuo carefully and nodded slightly:

"The company will launch a mobile application in June, allowing users to complete the loan process on their phones."

Chen Shuo first expressed his approval.

"marvelous"

Then he picked up the document on James's business value from the table, held it facing Gilbert, and said:

"Everything is ready except for a reliable fuel that can provide a continuous and sustained flame."

"Without LeBron James, the Cavaliers couldn't have carried the Rockets to success."

A flash of anger crossed Gilbert's face.

Chen Shuo didn't take it seriously and pointed to James in the document.

"Dan, I've brought a plan."

"Even if LeBron James isn't with the Cavaliers, it can still be fuel for Quicken Loans."

Gilbert's eyes gleamed; he had been troubled by this matter for far too long.

Chen Shuo is right. Quick Loan Company absolutely cannot miss this opportunity.