LeBron's big deal is a big mistake
I DESPERATELY HOPE LeBron James is a basketball bust. A major NBA flop, a combined Chris Washburn and Todd Fuller, a high school hoops prodigy who is another Bill Willoughby.
It's nothing personal because James supposedly is a good kid without an overinflated opinion of himself in spite of a super-aggressive support group and his own misguided, though possibly innocent, actions.
There also is no indication James will wash out in the pros, although history has proven there is no scientific matter for predicting NBA success.
Isn't that right, LaRue Martin?
But my sincerest desire is that James falls on his expensive face, because he now represents the very worst of what the NBA has become.
The NBA now pays for potential rather than ability, and all because of the heavy influx of playground phenoms who have gone directly from high school to the pros. What the heck, give them a million dollars on spec.
But nobody other than James has been paid $90 million before he was even drafted. That's the combined endorsement money Nike and Upper Deck trading cards have assured the 18-year-old James contractually.
Ninety million!
And James hasn't even signed a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have committed to drafting him first overall in next month's NBA Draft.
The whole thing is absolutely crazy, giving a teenager that much money before he has proven himself. Some value system he's receiving.
The message Nike and Upper Deck have sent to young kids everywhere is there is $90 million waiting for them. To earn it, they only have to outplay future CPAs and phys ed teachers at the high school level.
That's basically what the 6-8 James did at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. He dunked on shrimps. It won't be the same in the NBA when he drives and finds Ben Wallace waiting.
By that time, though, Nike will have James' face plastered on billboards across America. He'll have the same scowl Nike demands from all its clients. Nike has money to spread around on endorsements and billboards from its past sweatshop working conditions in the Far East.
But the world of endorsements in sports has sunk to its lowest, slimiest level yet with the James deal. Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant didn't come anywhere near such wealth when they went from the preps to the pros.
And regardless of how great Nike, Upper Deck and the Cavs believe James will become, he won't be as good as Bryant, the best clutch player in the game today -- the Jerry West of the 21st century.
I'm pulling for James to fail because it's the only way to stop this madness of gambling on the future instead of the present. Otherwise, if James succeeds, do Nike and Upper Deck up the next endorsement bid to $100 million?
James' agent is Oakland-based Aaron Goodwin, whose most famous client up until now has been Gary Payton. No reflection on Goodwin, but I hope his most famous client after James' career is done still will be "The Glove."
James doesn't exactly enter the NBA with clean hands. His single mother somehow found the money to buy her son a Hummer. Oh, what's $50,000 to a working mom?
The whole car deal may be on the up-and-up, but no 18-year-old deserves a Hummer. James took another image blow by receiving two NBA throwback jerseys, worth $800 total, in exchange for his signature. He then needed a court injunction to complete his basketball eligibility.
That's why I'm pulling hard for Oakland Tech's Leon Powe to have a better career than James. With all the negatives Powe has overcome in his young life, he accepted a scholarship to Cal. He may only stay in Berkeley two years, but at least he's doing it the right way -- college, then the pros.
Meanwhile, Nike has become the Attila the Hun of endorsement firms. Nike just signed a 13-year-old soccer player, Freddy Adu, to a million-dollar contract. That will cover the skin creams needed for teenage blemishes, and Nike won't mind if Adu doesn't receive his high school diploma.
But I'm not rooting against Adu, a Ghanan living in Maryland, just against James. One million isn't 90 million.
My futuristic vision is James becoming a backup on the Los Angeles Clippers, when he'll be branded for all time as LeBomb James.
Once again, it's nothing personal.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10835~1420406,00.html
I DESPERATELY HOPE LeBron James is a basketball bust. A major NBA flop, a combined Chris Washburn and Todd Fuller, a high school hoops prodigy who is another Bill Willoughby.
It's nothing personal because James supposedly is a good kid without an overinflated opinion of himself in spite of a super-aggressive support group and his own misguided, though possibly innocent, actions.
There also is no indication James will wash out in the pros, although history has proven there is no scientific matter for predicting NBA success.
Isn't that right, LaRue Martin?
But my sincerest desire is that James falls on his expensive face, because he now represents the very worst of what the NBA has become.
The NBA now pays for potential rather than ability, and all because of the heavy influx of playground phenoms who have gone directly from high school to the pros. What the heck, give them a million dollars on spec.
But nobody other than James has been paid $90 million before he was even drafted. That's the combined endorsement money Nike and Upper Deck trading cards have assured the 18-year-old James contractually.
Ninety million!
And James hasn't even signed a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have committed to drafting him first overall in next month's NBA Draft.
The whole thing is absolutely crazy, giving a teenager that much money before he has proven himself. Some value system he's receiving.
The message Nike and Upper Deck have sent to young kids everywhere is there is $90 million waiting for them. To earn it, they only have to outplay future CPAs and phys ed teachers at the high school level.
That's basically what the 6-8 James did at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. He dunked on shrimps. It won't be the same in the NBA when he drives and finds Ben Wallace waiting.
By that time, though, Nike will have James' face plastered on billboards across America. He'll have the same scowl Nike demands from all its clients. Nike has money to spread around on endorsements and billboards from its past sweatshop working conditions in the Far East.
But the world of endorsements in sports has sunk to its lowest, slimiest level yet with the James deal. Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant didn't come anywhere near such wealth when they went from the preps to the pros.
And regardless of how great Nike, Upper Deck and the Cavs believe James will become, he won't be as good as Bryant, the best clutch player in the game today -- the Jerry West of the 21st century.
I'm pulling for James to fail because it's the only way to stop this madness of gambling on the future instead of the present. Otherwise, if James succeeds, do Nike and Upper Deck up the next endorsement bid to $100 million?
James' agent is Oakland-based Aaron Goodwin, whose most famous client up until now has been Gary Payton. No reflection on Goodwin, but I hope his most famous client after James' career is done still will be "The Glove."
James doesn't exactly enter the NBA with clean hands. His single mother somehow found the money to buy her son a Hummer. Oh, what's $50,000 to a working mom?
The whole car deal may be on the up-and-up, but no 18-year-old deserves a Hummer. James took another image blow by receiving two NBA throwback jerseys, worth $800 total, in exchange for his signature. He then needed a court injunction to complete his basketball eligibility.
That's why I'm pulling hard for Oakland Tech's Leon Powe to have a better career than James. With all the negatives Powe has overcome in his young life, he accepted a scholarship to Cal. He may only stay in Berkeley two years, but at least he's doing it the right way -- college, then the pros.
Meanwhile, Nike has become the Attila the Hun of endorsement firms. Nike just signed a 13-year-old soccer player, Freddy Adu, to a million-dollar contract. That will cover the skin creams needed for teenage blemishes, and Nike won't mind if Adu doesn't receive his high school diploma.
But I'm not rooting against Adu, a Ghanan living in Maryland, just against James. One million isn't 90 million.
My futuristic vision is James becoming a backup on the Los Angeles Clippers, when he'll be branded for all time as LeBomb James.
Once again, it's nothing personal.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10835~1420406,00.html
