Not Going Anywhere?: You gotta hand it to the folks at ESPN, they are very good promoters. ESPN sent out excerpts of an interview with Cleveland star LeBron James that will air this Sunday in which the Cavs' star was asked point blank where he stood on staying in Cleveland long term.
"I'm comfortable with being in Cleveland. I'm excited about it," James told Mark Schwarz before Thursday night's Game 2. "I'm loving the direction we're [going] in and I'm loving the teammates I have and the organization. So if that's any indication of me leaving, then somebody must be looking out the wrong box."
James is considered the prize free agent in the summer of 2010 when as many as 16 NBA teams could have enough cap space to offer him a maximum deal. The general uninformed belief is that LeBron somehow gains something by leaving Cleveland for a larger market city like New York.
The reality is LeBron has for several seasons maxed out his earning potential in the NBA, unless he changes sports, his shoe deal is by far the most lucrative in the business and he has marketing deals with almost every major industry that are among the highest paid in all of sports. There is not much more money out there that LeBron is not getting and none of the brands LeBron is locked into can pay him more than they are; he's at the top of the chart already.
CNN Money's Tim Arango estimated LeBron's endorsement package to bring in roughly $25 million per year, putting him at the very top of the NBA. In total he has roughly $170 million in sponsorship deals which include $90 million from Nike, $15 million from Coke, $6 million from Upper Deck, $4.5 million from Bubblicious, and $7.5 million from Cub Cadet. His deal with Microsoft has come to an end but netted him $3 million in upfront money.
LeBron's marketing team, LRMR, has shifted focus away from traditional ad deals with LeBron focusing on deals that return equity in the companies he works with including Cannondale, the bike company in which he owns an equity stake; Sprite; and accessories company Judith Lieber. LeBron will be publishing a book this summer, and there is continued talk of LeBron foraying into acting and major movie roles.
The next big leap in the mass market for LeBron comes with MVPs and NBA titles, which looks very strong today like he'll put a few new lines on his resume this summer. James has notched his first regular season MVP, his Cavs team looks to be the prohibitive favorites to win the East and appear in the NBA Finals again, where he would be the front runner for Finals MVP.
Don't believe the hype; LeBron gains very little from leaving Cleveland other than getting a glitzy zip code and his name on a few million new jerseys he doesn't get a piece of. As it seems today, LeBron doesn't sound like a guy that's even considering it, but after all no decisions get made on this for at least another year. Things do change in a year, just ask the New Orleans Hornets.
Sticking To The Plan: The New Orleans Hornets put a few things to rest yesterday. Team president Hugh Weber in speaking with Nakia Hogan of The Times-Picayune, made it clear that not only was head coach Byron Scott going to be back next season, but that the team was not looking at moving two-time All-Star David West in order to improve, saying that building around All-Star Chris Paul and West were the plans as the team enters into a summer were they are looking at a hefty luxury tax bill next season.
"At that time a week ago, when Byron and I and George spoke, we shared what he was disappointed with, what he felt he could have done better, what George and the team felt we could have done better," Weber said. "And really kind of taking a pause and looking back and saying what are the things we need to do moving toward the future.
"At that meeting, it was very clear that Byron is committed to improving, as we are, that we are committed to making this a championship-caliber team. And that is all we needed to hear."
"The luxury tax is something that all teams are concerned about," admitted Weber. "Not small-market teams, not teams in New Orleans, not teams owned by George Shinn, but all teams are concerned about the luxury tax because it is punitive."
"I think the real question is if we have to go over the luxury tax to be competitive, will we? And the answer is yes. At the same time, you have to ask yourself the question if you don't have to, we won't... A lot of the speculation is that (getting under the luxury tax) is the priority, and it's not.
"We are looking to improve in a traditional way. We normally have five or six or seven roster changes a year. That's just the natural chain of events. Chris and David have been key to this team. And I don't see that ever changing. And you talk about guys like Tyson and Peja, and these guys are critical to the core of this team."
"I don't want to tie anybody's hands and say Jeff can't talk about or we are not going to talk about (trading certain players). You can't speculate. But I tell you, we are planning to move about with the traditional roster changes that we have and not some blowup breakdown type of process."
Rick Pitino Not Happening: Yesterday, Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, who is top shelf in this business, reported that Louisville head coach Rick Pitino had interest in the vacant King's coaching job and that several sources had told Yahoo! that the interest was mutual and that Pitino was a legitimate candidate. Since that story broke, all sides of this story have chimed in basically shooting down the notion of Pitino leaving Louisville and that the Kings have had any talks with him.
U.of.L spokesman Kenny Klein told The Courier-Journal that he had talked with Pitino, who is in Florida, and the coach indicated that "he's not going anywhere."
Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof denied the team has talked to Rick, saying to Yahoo!: "I think he's a great coach and he's done an unbelievable job at Louisville, but we haven't talked to him."
NBA Chats Today: IMG Basketball's Coach Anthony Macri hosts his weekly NBA Chat at 12pm EST. Coach Macri has been working with NBA draft hopefuls Jrue Holiday, Earl Clark, Nick Calathes and Big DeJuan Blair to name a few. With the draft heating up and the NBA playoffs in full swing drop your questions in for Coach Macri now; his chat is sure to fill up fast. HOOPSWORLD senior writer Travis Heath gets a couple of days off as his Denver Nuggets hit the road in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Travis covers the league from Denver and will get going at 4:00pm EST. So whether its trade rumors, the draft or the playoffs, get your questions in now for the best shot at getting it answered.
