A dice rolls on the maple tabletop.
It is a very special dice, with twelve sides, primarily cast in bronze, shaped like a celestial body, adorned with gold filigree between faces, and decorated with turquoise, jade, rubies, and more.
Among the twelve sides, ten are marked with numbers from one to ten, and the other two opposite sides are carved with Chinese ancient seal script of the characters "Wine" and "Pride."
Soon, the rolling dice stops, facing up is the word "Pride."
A giant hand picks up the dice, heavy, shakes it in the palm, and tosses it back onto the wide maple table, where it rolls again.
On the opposite side of the maple table, on the television stand, a 17-inch TV is broadcasting the news; today's theme across all major TV channels is only one—9/11.
Images of the plane hitting the building and the collapse of the Twin Towers repeatedly appear on different channels, stimulating Americans' nerves time and again.
Truly a world-shattering collision, nothing bigger has happened in the first year of the 21st century.
The dice rolls off the maple table and falls onto the soft carpet, facing up is the number "ten."
Gan Guoyang bends down to pick up this specially made dice, weighing it in his palm; it was a small gift from Oscar Goodman.
Its design is modeled after the eighteen-sided bronze dice used by Chinese Han Dynasty nobles in drinking games, to welcome Gan Guoyang's investment in Las Vegas.
And inside this exquisitely made hollow dice, a heavy gold bead is placed, which Goodman says reflects the Chinese people's philosophy of appearing square outside and round inside.
Overall, this is a cleverly designed and heartfelt gift, quite to Gan Guoyang's liking, although he is not particularly interested in gambling.
Since arriving in Las Vegas, his focus has been on building a new NBA team, even though this seems to be an almost impossible task.
Gan Guoyang picks up the dice and stands from his seat; this is a luxurious office on the top floor of the MGM Grand Hotel Sports Center office building, a 150 square meter space belonging solely to Gan Guoyang.
But here, instead of being an office, it's more like an exhibition gallery, displaying replicas of Gan Guoyang's most important honors since 1980 and photos of some classic moments.
For Gan Guoyang, who has had his honors exhibited at the Memorial Coliseum, 150 square meters is still too small, unable to contain the important moments of his career.
So he selected some of the most important exhibits and moments of his career to display here as a sort of self-introduction.
In fact, he doesn't really like it here; it's too high, too lonely, and too much like being an object on display. If he truly had to work, he prefers a small, cluttered office.
But Gan Guoyang knows he must stay here as a showpiece, which is the necessary path to forming a team; his past honors and reputation are the greatest assets, more important than money.
He needs to receive investors here, politicians from Nevada, meet those willing to provide advice on forming the new team.
He must maintain high standards, must position himself at the forefront because the most difficult tasks must be personally handled by the leader.
This is the truth Gan Guoyang realized on the basketball court; if you enjoy the greatest authority, then you must bear the greatest responsibility.
The imbalance between authority and responsibility will eventually lead to backlash.
So-called backstage manipulation only exists in imagination, or can only be done for things you wouldn't want others to see.
Establishing a new team requires being seen by more people, so Gan Guoyang must charge forward and lead the operation of all affairs.
After winning the Olympics last year, Gan Guoyang's fame reached its peak globally, and leveraging this opportunity, he brought his investments into Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas, he established a sports asset management company, bought some shares in the MGM Grand Hotel Sports Center, and became a member of the board.
Subsequently, Gan Guoyang announced plans to raise funds to build a super-large comprehensive sports entertainment venue in Las Vegas, an integrated complex of hotel, dining, entertainment, and sports viewing—all in one, a Plus version of the MGM Grand Hotel.
After announcing the plan to raise funds for the super-large comprehensive sports venue, Gan Guoyang immediately established a new "Las Vegas Basketball Operations Management Co., Ltd." for the purpose of venue construction fundraising.
This company is peculiar; part of it is responsible for the fundraising and construction of the comprehensive sports venue, i.e., the capital operation management department, along with the normal administrative, legal, labor, and other foundational departments any company would have.
But meanwhile, he also established many departments unrelated to sports venue construction, including a data analysis department, basketball operations department, media publicity department, sales department, and even a fitness management department.
When recruiting employees, the requirement is ideally having work experience in the sports industry; those who participated in sports club administrative management during university will be given priority in hiring.
Very quickly, Gan Guoyang formed a team of over 100 people in Las Vegas, part of which is devoted to fundraising construction for the sports venue and external publicity, and another part has little official business each day, mostly staying in the company for meetings and activities.
According to some insiders, this part has been secretly conducting a simulation of NBA team management operations.
This includes player selection, training, management, ticketing system operation, season ticket marketing, advertisement negotiations, and logistics management, among others.