LeBron says he will consider extension with Cavs

Being the man who brought back the Knicks and won a championship = Legend in the country's biggest market. A superduperduperdupertimestenmillion star.

 

Exactly right. I'm not sure why anyone would assume LeBron would be joining a bad Knick team two years from now. The Knicks are half-decent right now, thanks to D'Antoni. Give them another draft, and they might very well be coming off a playoff appearance by the time they start courting LeBron. They should certainly have enough pieces that adding LBJ and say, Chris Bosh would make them serious contenders for the Finals. And winning in NY would definitely make him even more prominent than he already is. I don't see how anyone could dispute that. You think Derek Jeter would be as well known if he had won his World Series rings with the Indians?

 

There you go dragging Terrell Owens into this ...

 

No, but Derek Jeter didn't have half the impact on those rings as LBJ would in basketball. If Lebron wins a bunch of titles anywhere, he'll be equally respected.

 

The NBA is a niche sport designed to promote athletic apparel. It has a nice core audience but will be the most hard hit of all the pro team sports leagues since it has effectively priced itself out of the middle class ticket market. Its largest demographic can't afford tickets, and its ticket buyers will cut back on spending, especially as the 2008-09 NBA seasons will effectively be over by January 1.
Lebron's agents may be smart to lock him up now, as the season ticket buyers dry up with the economy and the sponsors cut back on advertising, in 2 years there may be no way a team can afford to pay a max salary.

If I owned the Cavs I'd trade LeBron the franchise for the value of a max contract

 

Dude got a hummer from his mom, how much more attention can a whore get?

 

Why are people making such a big deal out of this?

Of course he would "consider" it. There's no harm in "considering" anything. It doesn't mean he's going to re-sign. Wake me up when he does.

 

It costs $10 to go to a Cavs game. How is the middle class priced out?

 

LeBron SAYS a lot of things.

It's easy to imagine him hanging out with his buddies, and all of them laughing at the media froth and fanaticism that follow his every statement about 2010.

In a couple of weeks, he'll get bored, and say something else.

I actually like him more and more for this.

 

I'm not talking about respect, I'm talking about fame. LBJ's fame does not yet transcend sports in the way that Michael Jordan's did. People who couldn't name a single other NBA player still knew Jordan, which increased his off-court money making potential exponentially. LeBron's not there yet, and he's not gonna get there playing in Cleveland. Now, maybe that's not a priority for him, which is fine, but I don't buy the theory that there's nothing to be gained by playing in NY as opposed to Cleveland.

 

Wake me in two years when his contract is up.

 

LeBron might not be at Jordan's level of marketability yet, but he's pretty much in the ballpark. If the litmus test is, as you've described, "people who can't name another player can name LeBron" -- I think he's DEFINITELY in the ballpark.

LeBron can definitely get there playing in Cleveland, the way Jordan got there playing in Chicago (which, last I checked, is also not New York) -- win a bunchafuckinchampionships.