Who knows whether this will hold up, but numerous sources report that part of the Knicks cap-clearing trade could be in jeopardy:
Guard Cuttino Mobley may have heart issues.
Mobley now cleared.
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On that Knicks Trade: Not so fast (Updated)
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
George, you want to have it both ways. You keep ranting that folks are making references to something that can’t happen for another 19 months, but here you are, bringing up that trade, the very purpose of which is to make something happen 19 months from now. So why bring it up?
I’m in New York, Alan. Covering the Cavs and anything related to them. If you want me to ignore this, I will, but, please, be prepared to cover my income when I’m fired.
No can do, George. Not while Ohio is paying me an entire $365 a week for being in the unemployment line. Otherwise I’d be there for you, Big Guy.
By the way, I strongly disagree with you that James would make anywhere close to the endorsement cash in Cleveland as he would in New York. I don’t know why you keep saying it, because you’re obviously dead wrong. Who cares about the Internet? Yeah, he’d still make a nice living, that’s for sure, but nothing remotely close to his potential empire.
For Pete’s sakes, Nike even has a special Big Apple model of James’ shoe, which he’ll be wearing tonight. Why, if there is nothing special about it? What special models does Nike make for the Cleveland area? The Hardwood of the Collinwood Hood? The Big Turd of East 93rd? That’s sure a lot of words to fit onto the side of a shoe.
gm just dropped tiger woods. the way things are going nike may not be able to write blank checks to lebron in 2010. the nba may be a whole different world too. there won’t be any seattle cavaliers in the next two years but there might be a seattle grizzlies. i see contraction in the near future. too many teams in bad markets. nothing is a sure bet in 2010, not even lebron leaving.
The NBA hopes for a 2010 Jordan-like carnival revival, corporate partners are going to do anything and everything to make it happen. Nike is still making a fortune, and its biggest growth is overseas. Everybody knows where New York City is and everybody has an image of New York City, but ask some guy in Thailand where Cleveland is. Right now, the only thing GM can hope for is a Congressional mandate to infuse hundreds of billions of tax dollars into their hip pockets. All Tiger Woods can offer is a dimpled golf ball. And Nike won’t be cutting Tiger Woods loose anytime soon.
speaking of tiger, he doesn’t live in new york, l.a. or chicago. he lives in golf course in my backyard, fl. ask anyone in thailand to point where tiger woods lives on a map. or where the masters is played. or pebble beach. why doesn’t tiger woods have to stand in the middle of times square and hit tee shots? the fact is that lebron can play basketball anywhere and the world will watch.
Oh, come on, terje. It’s about the endorsements, it’s not about spending $100 a year to watch James play a game on the broadband section of nba.com’s site. Al-Qaeda attacked New York City and Washington D.C. because those cities and their images represent something to people everywhere. What in the hell does Cleveland represent to people, other than being an image of the poorest large city in the United States? That is, to people who have even heard of Cleveland in the first place. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think anybody ever has flown a plane into the Cleveland Agora or Corky and Lenny’s. Well, at least not on purpose.
LeBron is probably gone on July 1, 2010, but admit it, if the shoe was on the other foot, Cleveland’s and Akron’s comparatively puny media would now be going all ga-ga for the likelihood of LeBron coming to Cleveland from New York, even though the date is still far away. Seems hypocritical, don’t you think?
lebron may be gone in 2010. but people are massively overselling the major city aspect. what does it really matter? he is in cleveland right now and that stops nobody from drooling all over him. the guy isn’t going to be a free agent for two years!!!!! yet espn and every major sports rag is obsessed with it.
and guess what? he is doing it all from cleveland, ohio. how much bigger can the guy get? he’s already achieved the jordan level worship. he’s already got the huge endorsements and host of the espys and all that crap. all that he needs now is the rings to match it.
moving to a major market isn’t going to put one extra cent in his pocket. he’s already got the market by the nads. it’s all b.s. hype. everyone wants lebron and they will come up with any reason as to why he needs to go to new york/l.a./chicago/timbuktu/antarctica. a media driven bogus story.
like i said. tiger has done it on sheer personality. no need for a major market. lebron is in the same category. he could make a billion from my house in rural montana.
I agree it’s a little too far away to be going nuts, but where do you think James is now, for example, on the NBA merchandising list? He’s not first, either domestically nor internationally. He’s not second. He’s not even third. His uniform is fourth in sales domestically. In China, where the majority of international hits come from when going onto nba.com, he’s not even fourth, he’s not even fifth, he’s not even sixth. He’s seventh.
Team merchandising sales? New York absolutely sucked last year. But as bad as they were, Knicks merchandising sales was still third. The Cavaliers? They were a lowly eighth.
Jordan sales? Always first. Chicago Bulls sales? Always first. The same way James merchandising sales would become if he’s in New York, the same way Knicks merchandising sales would become if he’s in New York.
You’ve heard James say so himself. He doesn’t want to finish seventh. He wants to finish first.
Like just about everybody else who lives in the area or used to live in the area and moved to the middle of nowhere, you greatly overestimate where James now stands and you greatly underestimate how much more there is for him out there. It’s not a media-driven bogus story. It’s being hyped a little too much a little too early, but that’s all that’s bogus about it.
alan – im not sure where you got your numbers, but this article says a little differently. http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2008/10/king_without_a_crown_james_kno.html (dated 10/25/08)
i dont know which is more accurate, but im just pointing out your numbers might not be 100% right.
“The NBA does not release actual numbers, but in its most recent rankings James is just third worldwide in replica jersey sales. In Europe, he ranks fourth. In China — where James and Nike have focused their efforts with specialized campaigns, including games or promotional tours in each of the past four years — James ranks fifth. (you said 7th)”
btw, nba merchandise profit is split evenly between the teams. lebron doesn’t make a penny from selling a 23 cavs jersey.
terje – i was actually just wondering about that. do the players get anything at all from jersey sales or is it totally split between the nba and the teams?
they don’t get anything. it all goes to the teams. jersey sales can only translate to leverage when negotiating endorsements.
Mike, I got my numbers from both nba.com and Street and Smith’s Sports Business Daily. But it really doesn’t matter whether he’s now fourth, seventh, or whatever, whether it’s domestic, whether it’s international. The point is, he hasn’t come remotely close to hitting his potential popularity and endorsement ceiling, he isn’t even first in selling his own jersey, let alone in selling beverages that taste like urine. In James’ mind and in the minds of the people who whisper things in his ear, I presume he feels he can’t be a global icon if he’s coming in seventh. Jordan wasn’t seventh.
in 2007 lebron made more money off of endorsements than any player in the nba.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/specials/fortunate50/2007/
i don’t expect that will change when they tally 2008.
so, he is first in the nba. he is third overall behind tiger and mickelson.
Simple question, terje: Why isn’t he first in jersey sales? Shouldn’t he be?
Besides, that perverted Nike endorsement contract he signed back in 2003 kind of warps any other endorsement tally. The sky is the limit for this guy, but he’s already nearing his ceiling in Cleveland. This guy wants to be Jesus, but right now he’s a glorified Pat Robertson. He knows it, or else he wouldn’t be playing his self-serving question and answer games with the media.
answer: he isn’t first in jersey sales because he hasn’t won a championship. no, he shouldn’t be.
once lebron gets the ring his jersey sales will be number one. jordan was in a unique situation where cable tv was still new to a lot of people. he was able to make a brand and sell himself. the first guy to really do that. everyone knows the jordan nike logo. it’s just as recognizable as the nike swoosh. i’m not even sure if lebron has a logo. i know i’ll never find out if i have to buy $140 shoes to see it. maybe, it’s nike’s fault. they sure haven’t been able to come up with a marketing campaign as good as jordan’s (spike lee).
sure, more people will tune in to watch if he plays for a big market. but as lebron said, his goal is to win championships. if i’m lebron i’m not counting on a jackass like james dolan to be the guy to bring a trophy to nyc. i see lebron going to san antonio before i see him playing with james dolan’s miserable knicks franchise. until lebron wins a few rings he will never be in the same class as jordan and tiger in endorsement money.
The thing is RINGS. The knicks are bad and clearing cap space. Their coach will never win a title reguardless of talent, he proved that in Pheonix. The Cavs best players are young and they have flexibilty to improve thru trades the next 2 years. It is the age old argument, what comes first the chicken or the egg? In this case it answer is clear, it is the Championships. Lebron will not waste his prime years trying to get the Knicks to the playoffs when Cleveland is clearly in position to win Championships. Face it New York, the Knicks suck and they are going to continue to suck until Dolan is gone. Remember a fish rotts from the head down.