LeBron would consider playing in Europe for about $50 million per season!
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I disagree. LeBron is an above average jump shooter that excels at every other aspect of the game. I think his jump shot has improved every year in the league. Look at Magic Johnson, he was not a very good jump shooter when he came into the NBA ,and turned into a very good one. IMO, Lebron at this point of his career, is a much better jump shooter than Magic was at the same point in his career.
He better improve if he wants to win, or else he better get better players around him.
Look.... I personally think he will stay....but all those reasons you stated above have been said over and over again with just about EVERY big star on EVERY sport. Just plug in the player, city and team. And then there is THE most over used cliche on the planet, "...I am dedicated to bring a championship team to ----------!"(plug in your team and city of choice.....
Now with that being said, if you think that LeBron will NOT entertain offers like $50 million from Europe and/or offers to play in NYC.....and I am sure Cleveland is great city....but sorry, playing your home games in Quikens Loan Area and MADISON SQUARE GARDENS are not even in the same stratosphere...
...again, if you think he will not SERIOUSLY look at those offers....you are way too much of a homer and are in complete denial! Same could be said for Wade.....sorry, Bosh is a nice player....but Lebron and to a lesser extent Wade are in a different league.
Another reason LeBron should stay:
the Nets roster won't change by 2010, and it's already HORRIBLE! Imagine how bad it'll be by then.
the Nets roster won't change by 2010, and it's already HORRIBLE! Imagine how bad it'll be by then.
Here is some fuel to the POSSIBLE LeBron fire, but truth be told...that applies to ANY big name NBA superstar:
BEIJING - Moments before one of the most-watched sporting events in history, the biggest cheers from the Chinese crowd were not for Yao Ming. They were not for anybody from China.
"It was amazing," Bryant said afterward. "I mean, look: I had five dunks in one game. The last time I had five dunks in a game, I was like 17. That's all because of the energy of this crowd."
I'm not sure I buy that, but Sunday's game showed that the best American players are even bigger icons abroad than they are in the States. Generally speaking, basketball fans in other countries are not as jaded about American stars as U.S. fans are. They don't worry that hip-hop and tattoos are ruining our culture. They just see Kobe and scream like little kids.
They want a Kobe of their own.
They're going to get one. Some day soon — maybe next summer, more likely the summer after that — a billionaire from overseas will send a cruise ship full of Euros to America, and the cruise ship will return with a true American hoops superstar.
It is going to happen. When they were asked about it here, the American players basically said that if somebody offered to double their salary, of course they would consider it. The idea that an NBA player would bolt for Europe may shock American fans. But step back for a second.
The key elements here are A) a billionaire who wants an expensive toy to show off; and B) an athlete who wants as much money and worldwide fame as he can get. Is this that hard to imagine? Seriously?
We are used to players taking an extra $1 million a year to go to another city. Why not take an extra $15 million a year to go to another country?
We live in a world where Joe Johnson leaves the contending Suns for the historically inept Hawks, just because he wants his own team. Don't you think some NBA player will want his own continent?
It is going to happen. The only question is who will do it, and when. Bryant recently told Yahoo! Sports that he will weigh offers from European teams when he hits free agency. Is he just tweaking the Lakers? Thinking out loud? I don't know. Probably.
But there are three major downsides to taking this leap, and I'm not sure any of them apply to Bryant.
Downside No. 1: You would have to live in Europe.
This would kill the deal for a lot of players. As a group, NBA players get a bad rap, but I haven't met too many who wish they spent a year studying abroad.
But Bryant spent a large chunk of his childhood in Italy. He loves it there. His favorite player growing up was Italian league star Mike D'Antoni, now the Knicks coach. Moving overseas would not be a big sacrifice for Bryant.
Downside No. 2: By leaving both America and the best basketball league in the world, you would alienate half of U.S. basketball fans.
Bryant is used to that. He has divided the country for years. He is the Mississippi River of the NBA. He even made a commercial about how some people love him and some people hate him. Of course, the commercial didn't include any of the actual reasons why people hate him; as I recall, Kobe said he is hated for winning championships and donating money to charity. But the point is that he is not afraid to alienate.
Downside No. 3: OK, this applies to Kobe ... but really, how much? He's already won three NBA titles. If he wins a fourth with the Lakers next year, he will have proven he can win without Shaquille O'Neal. I can't see LeBron James leaving before he wins an NBA championship; he needs the stamp of legitimacy. If Kobe wins one more title, he'll be as legit as he needs to be.
Going to Europe would allow Bryant, in his own way, to finally surpass Michael Jordan. Isn't this cooler than leaving to play minor-league baseball? Wouldn't Kobe have a chance to be an even bigger global icon than MJ?
It sounds far-fetched. Maybe it is. But let's see how far-fetched it sounds if somebody offers $40 million a year.
Bryant doesn't need the money, of course. None of these guys do. But Bryant is a hyper-competitive person who wants more, more, more. More shots, more money, more of an impact on the game he loves. Maybe he'll go around the world for it. If he doesn't, somebody else will.
FOX Sports on MSN - Olympics - International icons have international options
BEIJING - Moments before one of the most-watched sporting events in history, the biggest cheers from the Chinese crowd were not for Yao Ming. They were not for anybody from China.
"It was amazing," Bryant said afterward. "I mean, look: I had five dunks in one game. The last time I had five dunks in a game, I was like 17. That's all because of the energy of this crowd."
I'm not sure I buy that, but Sunday's game showed that the best American players are even bigger icons abroad than they are in the States. Generally speaking, basketball fans in other countries are not as jaded about American stars as U.S. fans are. They don't worry that hip-hop and tattoos are ruining our culture. They just see Kobe and scream like little kids.
They want a Kobe of their own.
They're going to get one. Some day soon — maybe next summer, more likely the summer after that — a billionaire from overseas will send a cruise ship full of Euros to America, and the cruise ship will return with a true American hoops superstar.
It is going to happen. When they were asked about it here, the American players basically said that if somebody offered to double their salary, of course they would consider it. The idea that an NBA player would bolt for Europe may shock American fans. But step back for a second.
The key elements here are A) a billionaire who wants an expensive toy to show off; and B) an athlete who wants as much money and worldwide fame as he can get. Is this that hard to imagine? Seriously?
We are used to players taking an extra $1 million a year to go to another city. Why not take an extra $15 million a year to go to another country?
We live in a world where Joe Johnson leaves the contending Suns for the historically inept Hawks, just because he wants his own team. Don't you think some NBA player will want his own continent?
It is going to happen. The only question is who will do it, and when. Bryant recently told Yahoo! Sports that he will weigh offers from European teams when he hits free agency. Is he just tweaking the Lakers? Thinking out loud? I don't know. Probably.
But there are three major downsides to taking this leap, and I'm not sure any of them apply to Bryant.
Downside No. 1: You would have to live in Europe.
This would kill the deal for a lot of players. As a group, NBA players get a bad rap, but I haven't met too many who wish they spent a year studying abroad.
But Bryant spent a large chunk of his childhood in Italy. He loves it there. His favorite player growing up was Italian league star Mike D'Antoni, now the Knicks coach. Moving overseas would not be a big sacrifice for Bryant.
Downside No. 2: By leaving both America and the best basketball league in the world, you would alienate half of U.S. basketball fans.
Bryant is used to that. He has divided the country for years. He is the Mississippi River of the NBA. He even made a commercial about how some people love him and some people hate him. Of course, the commercial didn't include any of the actual reasons why people hate him; as I recall, Kobe said he is hated for winning championships and donating money to charity. But the point is that he is not afraid to alienate.
Downside No. 3: OK, this applies to Kobe ... but really, how much? He's already won three NBA titles. If he wins a fourth with the Lakers next year, he will have proven he can win without Shaquille O'Neal. I can't see LeBron James leaving before he wins an NBA championship; he needs the stamp of legitimacy. If Kobe wins one more title, he'll be as legit as he needs to be.
Going to Europe would allow Bryant, in his own way, to finally surpass Michael Jordan. Isn't this cooler than leaving to play minor-league baseball? Wouldn't Kobe have a chance to be an even bigger global icon than MJ?
It sounds far-fetched. Maybe it is. But let's see how far-fetched it sounds if somebody offers $40 million a year.
Bryant doesn't need the money, of course. None of these guys do. But Bryant is a hyper-competitive person who wants more, more, more. More shots, more money, more of an impact on the game he loves. Maybe he'll go around the world for it. If he doesn't, somebody else will.
FOX Sports on MSN - Olympics - International icons have international options
Cavs Owners Rips Media On LeBron Departure Stories
Good for Dan Gilbert....
RealGM: Basketball Wiretap Archives: Cavs Owners Rips Media On LeBron Departure Stories
Good for Dan Gilbert....
RealGM: Basketball Wiretap Archives: Cavs Owners Rips Media On LeBron Departure Stories
The only way to surpass Michael is to win 7 NBA titles. Funny how European fans all ready worship NBA superstars over their own stars. Winning in Europe means nothing here, but winning here means everything all over the world. Besides, does anybody really believe a European team can pony up that kind of money? No way, no how.
WHY NOT? Do you see how much money the Euro soccer teams "pony up" to get the likes Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Kaka, Samuel Eto'o, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane??!! 1st, the team that want them must pay to RENT them from their club teams back home AND THEN pay their salary....easily in the upper $20s to upper $40 million dollar range when it comes down to the final tab. And some of these big $$$ teams do this for 2, 3 and sometimes 4 players at a time. And these owners owner soccer AND basketball teams.....believe me....with the popularity of the NBA and their games viewed WORLD WIDE through satellite...there is MORE than enough money to lure ANYONE from the NBA to the Euro leagues.....easily!
OK, but that's soccer, which is way bigger in every measurable way in Europe. Basketball can't be that big in Europe, is it? I still stand by comments from my last post about building your "brand" through the NBA.
It's not as big as soccer, but it's still very popular and well supported. The big name clubs and leagues in basketball rake in plenty of dough just like their soccer equivalents and the Euroleague competition (similar to the UEFA Champions League in soccer) is broadcasted worldwide and allows for top clubs to make additional money.
Yeah, but $50 million dollars is still $50 million dollars. The value of our dollar couldn't have decreased that much compared to the Euro.
The cream of the crop plays in the NBA! LeBron doesn't need another $30M, he needs NBA championships. That, and that alone, will determine where he will play. Michael Jordan would have been nobody if he played in Europe, and so will LeBron. The world cares about the NBA, not Euroball. The top selling jerseys in China this week are all American born NBA players. Yao isn't even in the top 3 this week, in his homeland! Want to grow your "brand", win some championships in the NBA. Plain and simple. Win, and the endorsements will follow. Look how big LeBron is, and he hasn't won anything yet. How big will he be when he wins a NBA championship? (Yes Matt, it will happen, I just hope it's in Cleveland.)
Absolutely that the cream of the crop WANTS to play in the NBA. But the Euro leagues knows that $$$$$ talks and in the end....if an established star like a Kobe, LeBron and a Wade would take an absolute serious look at a $50 million dollar payday....and those Euro leagues know it. Look, it would make sense for a Lebron or Kobe or Wade to play 3 years in Europe, come back STILL in their prime and dominate/be at the top of their game in the NBA.
This has NOTHING to do with marketing nad growing the NBA brand and all about money and ego. Think of the legacy of ANY of those guys if THEY were THE guy that establishes THAT specific division/team of the Euro League...and make $50 million a year to boot??!! And if you think Jordan would NOT have thought about an Euro contract at $50 million a year.....your dreaming.....
I was part of the crew that covered HIM and those Bulls in the '90 and considering how much he HATED Jerry "Crums" Krause....he would have VERY seriously looked at contract of $50 million after the 1st 3 Championships.
Your kidding right??!!....Michael Jordan was HUGE BEFORE the NBA titles....the NBA titles HELPED....but he was a monster PRE titles. He was a the NBA's marketing machine WET DREAM......
Not from where I'm sitting he wasn't. You may have been too close. Tell me he was bigger before he won the titles.... I didn't think so. Salsa, you know what I'm saying, and further more you know I'm right. Nothing more to say here, it's fallen on deaf ears.
You must be kidding? He was HUGE after his slam dunk win and he was huge after his big Nike push....EVEN without the Bulls winning ANY championship...he was gonna be world wide. Hell, prime example now IS Lebron....he has won NOTHING and he is world wide. Michael was gonna be a monster WITH or WITHOUT an NBA championship....The championship just speeded up the process.
Ask the Celtics, when he lit EVERY SINGLE DEFENDER up for 69 points in the playoffs...and that was 3 years BEFORE they won a championship.
I'll tell everyone what the "KEY" is....
It still has not even been confirmed that ANY team or owner even made LeBron an offer of $50 million or even intends on spending that much money at all on one player! Until then, it's all just speculation, and as Dan Gilbert said, it's a slap in Cleveland's face.
It still has not even been confirmed that ANY team or owner even made LeBron an offer of $50 million or even intends on spending that much money at all on one player! Until then, it's all just speculation, and as Dan Gilbert said, it's a slap in Cleveland's face.
I read this the other day and forgot to add it in the mix:
All world's a stage for billion-dollar man - Opinion - smh.com.au
