The King And The Apple: LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers make their only stop of the season in New York tonight and of course that's prompted all of the New York papers to rekindle their ongoing LeBron to the Knicks debate.
There is little doubt LeBron James is going to go shopping this summer. He's made it clear that he owed it to himself and his family to explore the market place, and many read that to mean LeBron is leaving Cleveland for a bigger market.
As we have covered in this space many times, market size means very little in the modern sports world these days and unless LeBron wants to do local TV spots for Brooklyn Toyota there really is no more money for LeBron to earn because his national deals are top dollar. In fact, LeBron stands to leave guaranteed money on the table if he leaves Cleveland.
Based on current salary cap projections LeBron re-signing in Cleveland means he lands a new six-year $126 million contract, if he walks to another team like New York or New Jersey the best he could do is $96.3 million over five years.
Admittedly, whatever team signed LeBron would give him that sixth year if they could and the odds he doesn't get a sixth year or a 7th, 8th and 9th from whatever team he joined would be slim, so it's a bit slanted to assume LeBron's earnings end after 5 years in a new city, it's just not guaranteed. If LeBron gets critically injured (see Grant Hill) then it's possible his new team stiffs him, but assuming Cleveland's ability to offer a 6th year is the difference maker would be a mistake; realize it's not.
The difference maker is going to be where can he win the most championships.
NBA agent David Falk in talking with Howard Beck of the New York Times is not sold LeBron leaving matters in the big picture marketing and branding wise. Falk believes LeBron has to look at where he can win.
"The most important thing is winning," Falk said. "If he were my client, I would tell him you better put yourself somewhere where you can win four or five."
"I don't think that where you are physically situated is nearly as important as it was 20 years ago."
"He's not going to get paid by where he lives," Falk said of future endorsement deals. "He's going to get paid by how much he sells."
The Cavaliers are off to a 3-3 start after dropping to the Bulls last night, which puts them 7th place in the Eastern Conference.
The allure of New York may be fun to talk about, but at the end of the day LeBron is more likely to choose a winner than a city and right now the Cleveland should be concerned, because they aren't a winner as constructed, and that's going to matter more than anything else this summer.
Changes In New Orleans? The New Orleans Hornets are going nowhere fast and it seems that head coach Byron Scott is ready to make some lineup changes.
Scott challenged his veterans this week in practice and made it clear that if he did not see changes and improvements, he would go to his bench and maybe even his rookies to change the focus of his 2-3 Hornets team.
Scott is in the final year of his contract and beyond star Chris Paul is not exactly a favorite with his players. Scott is very abrupt and critical of his guys and tends to say what he's thinking regardless of the setting.
"What you see is what you get with me," Scott said to John Reid of The Times Picayune. "I am honest with my guys, and if I don't like something, I'm going to let them know about it. I kind of go by the seat of my pants with my feelings, and the last thing I want to do is hold it in."
Sources close to the situation in New Orleans say there is a growing concern about whether Byron is the right guy to lead this team, and while Scott has the support of his leaders in Chris Paul and David West unless he can turn things around fairly quickly he could be the first coach fired.
"Coach is going to say what's on his mind, and you have to take it for what's it worth," forward David West said. "He's going to say what is on his mind, and you have to be man enough to deal with it."
The Hornets face the Raptors tonight in New Orleans and then head out to Los Angeles for matchups against the Lakers and Clippers this weekend.
Kevin Martin Out: In what has become all too familiar for Sacramento Kings' guard Kevin Martin, he is again injured this time with a hairline fracture in his left wrist.
The injury was sustained in a collision on Monday with Grizzlies' guard Allen Iverson. Martin played through the pain and scored a whopping 48 points. Martin said the wrist was sore on Wednesday but he still played 40 minutes and scored 29 points. His wrist swelled up on Thursday prompting him to seek an MRI which revealed the crack.
Martin may opt to play with a soft cast and see how the wrist responds. The other option is for him to have a small screw inserted to stabilize the break which could cost Kevin 6 to 8 weeks of the season. Martin will consult with a few doctors today before making a decision.
The Kings recently signed Ime Udoka to a non-guaranteed deal; the team is also without Francisco Garcia. If Martin opts for surgery it's believed rookie Tyreke Evans will move to the two-guard spot, a position some feel is his natural NBA position.
Martin who is currently third in the NBA in scoring at 30.6 points per game has missed 21 and 31 games over the past two Kings' seasons.
Standing By His Coach: Some Grizzly history is important to note – last year the Grizzlies decided to fire Marc Iavaroni as head coach the Grizzlies and convinced Lionel Hollins to come in mid-season and try and right the ship. Sources close to the situation say Hollins was guaranteed control by Grizzlies' owner Michael Heisley and it was that guarantee that got Hollins to take the job.
It's been a fun week for the Grizzlies, since Monday the Grizzlies and their mercurial guard Allen Iverson has been in the national news for all the wrong reasons. Iverson does not want to sit while the team loses, and has made no secret of his displeasure over his role and Hollins has had to battle the situation in the press.
This week Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley threw his support behind his coach, and despite leading the charge to bring Iverson to Memphis, Heisley says Lionel Hollins has complete authority to handle the situation and he is staying out of it.
"Lionel will handle it," Heisley said Ron Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "This is a situation that'll be handled between Lionel and Allen. What Allen said was inappropriate, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. Allen expressed his frustration about not playing and I understand that."
"It's up to the coach to handle these issues," Heisley said.
Admittedly every player wants to contribute, and star level players want to play big minutes and have a big role. However there are some people in Iverson's camp that are saying like Detroit, Iverson was promised a larger role than he's getting and that's the source of the frustrations now, almost a "here we go again" scenario.
While everyone on both sides needs this situation to work out, Iverson is not going to sit and watch his career waste away while the Grizzlies lose games.
Grizzlies sources said the plan is for Iverson to work his way into a larger role, but until everyone is comfortable with him in the rotation he's going to anchor the second unit for the immediate future whether he likes it or not.
Iverson signed a very disposable one-year, $3 million contract. The Grizzlies could also trade that contract on December 15th if things get out of control.
NBA Chats : HOOPSWORLD has another full day of NBA chats on the schedule, starting with Coach Anthony Macri. Coach Macri will get started at 10am and answer your questions on the X's and O's of the game. Veteran NBA writer Chris Perkins will host his weekly chat at 11am. Perk covers the Miami HEAT and the Eastern Conference. Senior HOOPSWORLD writer Travis Heath will hold his weekly NBA chat at 4pm EST rounding out the day. You can always find the next NBA chat here: Upcoming HOOPSWORLD Chats. Get in early, these chats do fill up fast.
