Tag: LeBron James (Page 65 of 85)

      LeBron James will not sign an extension this summer

      August 7, 2009 /

      It was kind of a pipe dream anyway, but LeBron isn’t going to sign the extension that the Cavs have offered, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

      “I signed a contract in 2006 with an option,” he said. “It would make no sense for me to sign that contract if I didn’t keep my options open. I’ll let you fill in the blanks.”

      James is playing this one the right way. If he re-ups now, then he loses the leverage necessary to keep GM Danny Ferry’s feet to the fire in terms of bringing in some long-term help. Shaquille O’Neal is fine for a year or two, but he’s most definitely a short-term fix.

      The bad news is that with the long-term commitment the team made to Anderson Varejao, the Cavs aren’t projected to have any cap space next summer if they’re lucky enough to re-sign LeBron. It looks like Ferry sees the writing on the wall — with the salary cap likely dropping to $50-$51 million next season, he wasn’t going to have enough money to sign LeBron and another superstar, so he re-signed Varejao to make this year’s Cavs team as good as possible in the hopes that a Finals appearance or a championship would be enough to keep LeBron in Cleveland.

      NBA, News

      LeBron James gets dunked on at camp, Nike confiscates tapes

      July 9, 2009 /

      Remember when Michael Jordan got dunked on by a camper in the summer? Yes, the video was grainy, but there it was, His Airness posterized by a high school kid. I forget the guy’s name, but I’m pretty sure he was from the Milwaukee area and that I played against him in the Easter Seals All-Star Game in high school. He had his 15 minutes of fame, and then I never heard about him again.

      What’s my point? Well, LeBron James just got dunked on at his skills camp by Xavier’s Jordan Crawford, and according to Gary Parrish, the tapes were confiscated by a representative from Nike.

      Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would’ve circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk happened by allegedly confiscating tapes from various cameramen.

      Worth noting is that there is no policy against filming at the LeBron James Skills Academy, and Miller said he had been filming all day without incident. Nobody ever told him to stop. Nobody ever said there was a problem … until after Crawford dunked on James.

      “LeBron called Lynn over and told him something,” Miller said. “That’s how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, ‘Hey, Lynn. Come here.'”

      Minutes later, Miller said Merritt demanded his tape.

      LeBron shouldn’t be worried about the tape ruining his image. He should be more worried how it looks to confiscate the tape. This is a case where the censorship is worse than the actual incident.

      Until recently, James has always acted wise beyond his years. But this, coupled with his refusal to shake hands after the Eastern Conference Finals, indicates an underlying immaturity. He (or Nike) is so concerned with his image that he (or they) don’t think about the ramifications of confiscating a video that makes him look bad. This only makes him look worse.

      Humor, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      NBA announces 2009 salary cap, warns about 2010

      July 8, 2009 /

      The new salary cap figure is out, and it dipped slightly from last season.

      The new figures for 2009-10 just announced by the league have set the salary cap at $57.7 million per team — down $1 million from $58.7 from 2008-09 — and the luxury-tax threshold at $69.9 million.

      More importantly, the league is projecting a much bigger drop (as much as $8 million) heading into the 2010 season.

      The official league memorandum, obtained by ESPN.com, forecasts a dip in basketball-related income in the 2009-10 season of 2.5 percent to 5 percent, which threatens to take the 2010-11 cap down some $5 million to $8 million from last season’s $58.7 million salary cap.

      A significant drop for the luxury-tax threshold is also projected going into the summer of 2010. If basketball-related income drops by 2.5 percent in 2009-10, league officials are projecting a 2010-11 salary cap of $53.6 million and a luxury-tax line of $65 million. If BRI, as it is referred to in the NBA, decreases by five percent, teams would be looking at a $50.4 million salary cap and a luxury-tax line of $61.2 million in 2010-11.

      What does this mean? Well, a team like the New York Knicks, who are projected to have a payroll of about $23 million heading into 2010 would have had about $35 million to spend had the cap stayed at $58 million. That’s plenty of money to sign to superstars. If the cap drops $5-$8 million, it means that they’re projected cap space will be in the $27-$30 million range. That makes signing two “max” players quite tough.

      This is probably good news for teams looking to retain their superstars, since they can go over the cap to re-sign players. If the cap does indeed drop to $50 million, it would increase the chances of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson staying put.

      NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      LeBron pledging to stay in Cleveland?

      July 7, 2009 /

      Yes, at least according to a “source” close to Trevor Ariza…

      The Cleveland Cavaliers got some bad news followed by some potentially terrific news on Sunday. In a last-ditch effort to recruit Trevor Ariza away from the Houston Rockets, LeBron James told Ariza he would remain with the Cavaliers past 2010, according to a person close to Ariza.

      Even that wasn’t enough to get Ariza, who verbally committed to join the Rockets last Thursday, to change his mind and go to Cleveland.

      But the Cavaliers will gladly settle for the consolation prize; if indeed James’ statement to Ariza was more than an empty sales pitch.

      “Trevor asked LeBron if he would be in Cleveland after next season,” the source said. “And LeBron said, ‘I’ll be there. Of course, I’ll be there.'”

      When James told Ariza he’d be a Cavalier past next season, Ariza was less than convinced.

      “He thought it was just a recruiting tool,” the source said. “LeBron definitely said it, but until he signs the contract it doesn’t mean much.”

      If James was indeed being sincere in his intentions to re-sign with the Cavs, this is about the best news that the city of Cleveland could get on a Tuesday morning in July. Of course, a lot can happen in a year and he could just be saying this to try to convince a free agent or two to join the Cavs. There’s also the distinct possibility that this “source” is full of it.

      The LeBron Watch continues…

      NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Ranking the 50 highest-earning athletes

      July 1, 2009 /

      SI.com compiled a ranking of the 50 highest-earning American athletes and discovered that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are at the top of the list.

      1. Tiger Woods
      Pro Golf
      Last Year’s Rank: 1
      Salary/Winnings: $7,737,626
      Endorsements: $92,000,000
      Total: $99,737,626

      Tiger sacrificed millions in appearance fees during his year off to recover from knee surgery, but replaced his lucrative Buick deal — voided by mutual consent — with a new one from AT&T.

      2. Phil Mickelson
      Pro Golf
      Last Year’s Rank: 2
      Salary/Winnings: $6,350,356
      Endorsements: $46,600,000
      Total: $52,950,356

      Like Tiger, Phil no longer counts on a car-maker in his endorsement portfolio. (Ford chose not to re-sign him.) He still has lucrative deals with Rolex, Callaway, Exxon, Barclay’s and KPMG.

      3. LeBron James
      Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA)
      Last Year’s Rank: 3
      Salary/Winnings: $14,410,581
      Endorsements: $28,000,000
      Total: $42,410,581

      LeBron has one more season left under his deal before he can opt out. If Cleveland doesn’t show it’s Finals-worthy by next spring, expect the Knicks to come in with a huge offer.

      4. Alex Rodriguez
      New York Yankees (MLB)
      Last Year’s Rank: 6 (tie)
      Salary/Winnings: $33,000,000
      Endorsements: $6,000,000
      Total: $39,000,000

      We’re in the middle of A-Rod’s peak earning power in his middle-loaded, 10-year megadeal: He’ll make another $33 million in 2010 and then gradually decrease to a “normal” $20 million by ’17.

      No. 5 Shaquille O’Neal
      Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA)
      Last Year’s Rank: 6 (tie)
      Salary/Winnings: $20,000,000
      Endorsements: $15,000,000
      Total: $35,000,000

      The Big Bargaining Chip? Regardless of his trade to Cleveland, Shaq is in the final year of the five-year, $100 million deal he signed while with Miami. It’s the largest expiring deal in the NBA.

      No. 10 Peyton Manning
      Indianapolis Colts (NFL)
      Last Year’s Rank: 9
      Salary/Winnings: $14,500,000
      Endorsements: $13,000,000
      Total: $27,000,000

      NFL’s top endorser has distributed $500,000 in grants in ’09 through his PayBack Foundation to charities in Indianapolis, near his alma mater (Tennessee) and his hometown, New Orleans.

      It’s amazing that the highest paid NFL player (Peyton Manning) barely cracked the top 10. Granted, the NFL only has a 17-game regular season, but you’d think that for what football players put their bodies through every season that they would make more than baseball players, golfers and basketball players.

      Although he is pitching well this season despite his overall numbers, seeing Zito’s name on this list at No. 26 makes me shudder. He’s the third best pitcher (maybe fourth depending on how high you value Randy Johnson) on his own club, yet he’s the 26th highest-earning American athlete. Still, it should be noted that Zito donates $400 for every strikeout that he throws to the Strikeouts for Troops charity that he created to help hospitals treat soldiers that are wounded in military operations. In fact, as the article notes, a lot of the guys on this list give thousands of dollars to charities every year and that shouldn’t be overlooked.

      General Sports, Golf, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Soccer, Tennis

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