LeBron's future

[abrahamrudy]

Originally Posted by FUBAR

he is just like most of the other NBA players, greedy.. "i gots ta get paid"

Reminds me of Latrell Sprewell and he turned down 10 mill a year, cause he "has a family to feed" dumb ass!

I don't blame NBA players for being greedy. They have, what, 15 years to make as much as they can? And then it's living off retirement funds from age 38. Not easy when you don't even have a college degree to fall back on.

It's not like the good old days when baseball players had winter jobs. Athletes are dependent upon their sports income for the rest of their lives.

[steve B]

If you do the math, that's a bad argument. Lets say you start working at 18 and retire at 70. And along the way you make 100K a year. That's 5.2 million earned in a lifetime, and most people would say that 100K is a pretty decent salary. A lot of sports figures make as much in a year as a fairly well paid person will make in a lifetime.

Not that they aren't "worth" that much, an owner would only pay that sort of salary if the player had a good chance of bringing in more by way of ticket sales, improved tv revenue, and souvenir sales.

Steve B

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by abrahamrudy

I don't blame NBA players for being greedy. They have, what, 15 years to make as much as they can? And then it's living off retirement funds from age 38. Not easy when you don't even have a college degree to fall back on.

It's not like the good old days when baseball players had winter jobs. Athletes are dependent upon their sports income for the rest of their lives.

I weep for them, but on the other hand they only make what someone is willing to pay them. None of us would do it any differently if we were in their shoes.

For those who maintain a mangeable lifestyle alot of them can make enough in a year or two to live very comfortably the rest of their lives. If they get into money trouble it is because of lack of financial discipline and not because they only had 10-15 years of peak earning potential. That is laughable.

[barrysloate]

It's starting to look like LeBron will be joining his friends Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. While it doesn't guarantee a championship, it is hard to recall any team in any sport adding and retaining so many high caliber players in one shot.

And one thing is undeniable: on any given night, these guys are going to put on an amazing show. There will be nights, and many of them, when the opposition will be blown off the court.

Of course it's not a done deal yet, but if James does in fact land in Miami it's really going to be a nightly highlight reel.

[pgellis]

If he does end up in Miami, who else do they have around them? Nobody. I know you will have 3 All-Stars, but you also need 5 guys on the court at the same time and you need a bench to win it all in the NBA.

[nolemmings]

All I know is I'm looking forward to telling my grandchildren where I was on the night LeBron announced his decision. Monumental!!! You know--"kids, Grandpa remembers when JFK was shot, when man landed on the moon, when the USA olympic hockey team beat the big, bad Russians in 1980 AND, most of all, when LeBron took an hour out of his busy and regal day to announce to the great unwashed where he was going to play".


I'm very disappointed that the fete was not reserved for the pagaentry of the silver screen, but am eternally grateful it will not be on pay-per-view, where it could rightfully command a king's ransom to see. Of course, one hour is just a teaser, and can't possibly do justice to such an important subject. Obviously I will record it on the DVR, but will still await the packaged, professionally done "commemorative collector's set", complete with candid and revealing outtakes of the man, the myth, the legend.

I only hope the President will proclaim this LeBron James Day, to be observed annually. Lord knows it's long overdue.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

All I know is I'm looking forward to telling my grandchildren where I was on the night LeBron announced his decision. Monumental!!! You know--"kids, Grandpa remembers when JFK was shot, when man landed on the moon, when the USA olympic hockey team beat the big, bad Russians in 1980 AND, most of all, when LeBron took an hour out of his busy and regal day to announce to the great unwashed where he was going to play".


I'm very disappointed that the fete was not reserved for the pagaentry of the silver screen, but am eternally grateful it will not be on pay-per-view, where it could rightfully command a king's ransom to see. Of course, one hour is just a teaser, and can't possibly do justice to such an important subject. Obviously I will record it on the DVR, but will still await the packaged, professionally done "commemorative collector's set", complete with candid and revealing outtakes of the man, the myth, the legend.

I only hope the President will proclaim this LeBron James Day, to be observed annually. Lord knows it's long overdue.

AMEN Brother Todd! That's the problem with 24 hour sports and news channels, sometimes they have to create news to fill the time. Now at least I can hopefully get back to a regular sleep cycle since this cataclysmic event has played itself out. Maybe one day I'll find a reason to be a NBA fan.

[JasonL]

at least he didn't ruin baseball.


By the way, the Cleveland owner's comments showed EXACTLY why that city has hosted nothing but losers for 50 years.
No offense to the individuals that live and hail from there, as no city is perfect, and this was just one guy, but boy, did his rant ever provide a "See, I told you so" for anyone who is offended by the whine of those who choose to be victims. He wasn't wronged. He just failed. It's so tired.

[k-dog]

Originally Posted by pgellis

If he does end up in Miami, who else do they have around them? Nobody. I know you will have 3 All-Stars, but you also need 5 guys on the court at the same time and you need a bench to win it all in the NBA.

I don't think he is leaving Cleveland...but if he does go to South Beach:

The Heat have no Center worth talking about and Mario Chalmers at PG..He has averaged 8 points and 4 assists in two seasons. Unless they address those 2 positions quicklyThis potential "power trio" will need to all score 25-30 a night to even think of winning 60 games! YES...the highlights would be there...but NO...I don't see them winning a Championship anytime soon!

[barrysloate]

All of the teams who got themselves into the free agent sweepstakes, with the exception of Chicago, stripped themselves of nearly all their good players. Look at the Knicks, they have only a shell of a team around Stoudemire.

Miami will be able to put together enough middling players to complement the three superstars. Again, no championship is being handed to them. But they won't have any trouble putting on a show every night.

[old-baseball]

Not much of a basketball fan but because I live in the North-East Ohio area this is of interest to me. I really don't care one way or another if he goes or he stays but what I'm really wondering is if he leaves how he thinks he can still live in the Akron area and be treated the same way that he was when he played for the Cavs. In my opinion, if he goes on national TV and announces in an hour long show that he's abanonding his home town team / area, he moves immediately to human "turd" status in this area. I can't imagine that he's not smart enough to realize that "The Decision" also affects his kids, family and friends that are left in Ohio.