LeBron to Europe? Please Don’t Insult My Intelligence

Why does ESPN insist to insult my intelligence?  Why are they gving any credence to the idea that LeBron is seriously considering a jump to Europe?  Sure he is willing to consider a move for $50 million a season but does anyone truly believe that offer would ever come to fruition?

Consider that the deals that Josh Childress and Earl Boykins recently signed are two of the more lucrative deals in their respective leagues.  Childress is only getting roughly six to seven million per season and that is the richest on his team.  Does anyone believe the cash is out there for a European team to legitimatly make this kind of offer to a LeBron James?

LeBron puts that price tag out there because he knows it is not a realistic possibility.  He is essentially saying, “Yeah I’ll go play in Europe if you give me $50 mil a year”, because he knows the likelihood of getting his asking price is remote at best.  I just have a hard time believing that any European teams have the resources to be able to compete with the NBA when it comes to the overall amount of money an elite basketball player can make playing in the NBA.

You see European teams do not pony up $100 million guaranteed contracts the way NBA teams do.  Nor do European players gain as much exposure or garner the endorsement opportunities the way NBA stars do.  Is a European team going to be able to match the $200 million or so LeBron would be walking away from in guaranteed salary and endorsement money he would likely receive if he stayed in the NBA?  I seriously doubt it as if they could they would have already made a run at American players better than Josh Childress and Earl Boykins.  The European leagues are a long way away from being able to financially compete with the NBA for the elite basketball talent of the world.

Okafor Re-Ups and More

Charlotte Bobcats’ fans can breathe easy now that Emeka Okafor has agreed to a 6-year, $72 million deal that will keep him in Charlotte for the foreseeable future.  I have to admit that I was mildly surprised when I read that they had reached an agreement this morning as everything being printed in the media the past week or so implied that both sides were at an impasse and a deal was not imminent and that the ‘Cats were pondering whether or not they should explore a sign-and-trade deal for Okafor. 

After inexplicably passing on Brook Lopez in favor of point guard D. J. Augustin in the draft the Bobcats had to re-sign Okafor if they have any hopes of making the playoffs next season.  Okafor is the only real offensive threat on the low post for them and he is the team’s best rebounder and shot blocker to boot.  They had to realize that they were not going to be any kind of a threat if they were to rely on Sean May and Nazr Mohammed to hold down the middle for an entire 82 games.

With Okafor back on board next season could be the breakout year the Bobcats have been looking for.  They have enough talent to make a playoff run and there is no reason why they cannot compete with teams like Washington and Toronto for that 5th or 6th seed in the east.  They had the talent last year until Sean May and Adam Morrison went down due to injury.  Once they lost May and Morrison they lost their top two options off the bench and when Gerald Wallace missed an extended period of time due to injury they had nobody to fill his spot in the starting lineup.

NBA Most Improved: Hedo Turkoglu

Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu has been voted the Most Improved Player this season outdistancing Memphis’ Rudy Gay and Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge.  Honestly, I would have gone with Gay over Turkoglu simply based on the fact that Gay was thrust into the role of being the go-to-guy after Pau Gasol’s departure and his level of play did not drop off at all.  The big question with Turkoglu is whether or not his improvement was due to him actually becoming a better player or is it because he is now seen as the 3rd option in the Magic offense with the addition of Rashard Lewis to the lineup.  I just cannot help but wonder if his performance is due to that and whether or not he is simply a 29 year old veteran having his career year.

On the flipside of that Rudy Gay, in only his second season, went from being an inconsistent rookie struggling to score double figures night-in-night-out to a guy scoring 20 points a game.  On top of that Gay saw his FG percentage rise 40 points as he became the Grizzlies’ number one option on offense.  In the matter of one season Gay has gone from being an immature rookie with a cloudy future to a rising star in the league and that is why he is the league’s Most Improved Player and not a 29 year old veteran who may have just caught lightning in a bottle this year.

Sam Vincent Out in Charlotte

The Bobcats have fired Sam Vincent after one disappointing season in Charlotte. This seems a bit of a raw deal for Sam Vincent given that he only got one season to show what he could do.  While it was a disappointing season, they have the talent to be a playoff team in the East, the Bobcats did seem to be coming together towards the end and did win 8 of their last 14 games including wins in Toronto and LA, against the Lakers, and closing the season with a win at home versus the Sixers.

Vincent being fired, so soon after Larry Brown re-signed his post in Philly, has of course, led to speculation that Brown is going to be the next coach in Charlotte.  My gut reaction to this is that the firing of Vincent is nothing more than a PR move.  The ‘Cats are struggling to keep attendance numbers up and, in fact, saw attendance drop this year despite the fact they are playing in a fancy new arena.  Hiring Larry Brown gives the team some instant credibility and they already have enough talent on the roster to be a playoff team in the East and Brown’s track record of getting teams into the postseason sooner rather than later is a pretty good one.  The Bobcats need a postseason appearance if they want to build any kind of momentum and build a fan base in the city of Charlotte.

The big question would be whether Jordan’s ego would let Brown have input on personnel moves or whether Brown’s would acquiesce to letting Jordan call the shots.

NBA Draft 2005 Revisited (1-10)

1. Milwaukee Bucks: Andrew Bogut, C.  I was one of those who thought Bogut was a bit overrated in college and looked like an elite prospect due to playing against lesser competition.  Coming out of college Bogut was stiff and unathletic and that has hindered him to a degree in the NBA.  While Bogut has not lived up to the expectations that come along with being the top pick in the NBA draft I would not call him a bust either.  In the pantheon of top picks there have been worse than Bogut.  After all his scoring average has steadily increased from 9.4 to to 12.3 to 14.1 points per game and his rebounding has gone from 7 to 8.8 to 9.7 per game and he has developed into a pretty good shot blocker knocking away just under two per game in his third season.  He has a career .527 field goal percentage and he looks like he is going to be a guy who eventually gives your team 15 to 18 points per game and 9 to 11 rebounds per game which is nothing to sneeze at it just is not the production you expect from a big man who goes number one.  Grade: B-.

2. Atlanta Hawks: Marvin Williams, F.  I never understood this pick by the Hawks given that they already had Josh Childress and Josh Smith on the roster and their true need was a franchise PG and there was tons of elite talent at the position in this draft.  After a shaky rookie season Williams is starting to emerge as a quality player and is beginning to show some of the reasons why he was so highly regarded when he came out.  However, he still has yet to show he is going to be an elite player in the league.  He is a solid scorer but is still the third option behind Smith and Joe Johnson and is probably the 4th option now that Mike Bibby is there.  He does not have a 3-point shot to speak of and does not rebound particularly well for a 6′ 9″ forward.  Grade: B-.
3. Utah Jazz: Deron Williams, PG.  The Jazz had the pick of the PG litter when it came to their pick and it is hard to argue with how this turned out for them even though Chris Paul has turned out to be the better PG.  Williams has quickly developed into an elite NBA point guard already averaging 19 points and 10.6 assists per game.  He shoots over 50% from the field and is already a good shooter from behind the arc.  There is not much he does not do for the Jazz from the PG position.  Grade: A-. (Only because they missed on Paul.)

4. New Orleans Hornets: Chris Paul, PG.  Is head and shoulders above the rest of the players in this class and won the Rookie of the Year averaging 16.1 points, 7.8 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game.  Paul is arguably the best point man in the league just three years into his career.  He has lead the Hornets to the top of the Western Conference standings and is drawing comparisons to Isiah Thomas due to his hard nosed style of play and the way he elevates his entire team around him.  Paul has the ability to lead the league in scoring if he wants to, but, like Thomas he realizes how much better his team is when he is setting up his teammates around them.  Paul currently leads the league in assists and steals per game while scoring 21.1 points per game.  Grade: A.

5. Charlotte Bobcats: Raymond Felton, PG.  While Felton has not been nearly as successful as the two point guards taken before him he still holds his own out there.  He has struggled with his shooting which was to be expected in the early going but his 3-point shooting seems to be regressing as he has gone from shooting .358 his rookie year to .284 in his third season.  He is a solid scorer and good assist man who struggles when he is prevented from running the floor or being able to penetrate to the basket.  Grade: B-.

6. Portland Trail Blazers: Martell Webster, G/F.  This one was definitely a head scratcher when the Blazers made it given that players of Webster’s ilk have never been terribly successful coming straight from high school.  This pick is just now starting to pay some dividends for the Blazers as he has finally secured a starting spot and scores 10.7 points a game making his living being a long range bomber.  Webster still has a long way to go before the Blazers can feel justified with making this pick though.  Grade: C+.

7. Toronto Raptors: Charlie Villanueva, F.  Initially I thought this was a horrible pick given how Villanueva never came remotely close to living up to the hype he received at UConn.  However, this turned out fairly well for the Raptors as after a surprisingly strong rookie season that saw him score 13 points and grab 6.4 rebounds per game they promptly dealt him to the Bucks for T. J. Ford who was the PG the Raptors had been lacking since Damon Stoudamire left for Portland.  Unfortunately for the Bucks Villanueva has struggled to stay healthy and has yet to elevate his game to the next level after such a promising rookie campaign.  Grade: B-.

8. New York Knicks: Channing Frye, C.  Like Villanueva, Frye had an unexpectedly strong rookie season scoring 12.3 points and grabbing 5.8 rebounds per game.  Frye’s rookie season was so strong that the Knicks thought they finally had another big man to build around, that was until Isiah took over the reins and Frye wallowed under his coaching.  He has since been dealt to the Blazers and continues to struggle to find the productivity he had during his rookie season.  Grade: C.

9. Golden State Warriors: Ike Diogu, F.  Yet another player who looked like a budding star during his rookie season.  This pick was initially panned by most as Diogu was seen as a guy not quite big enough to play power forward and not quite quick or athletic enough to play small forward.  He raised a lot of eyebrows averaging 7 points and 3.3 rebounds in just 14.9 minutes per game.  But, after failing to earn more minutes during his second season he was dealt to Indiana where he has wallowed on the bench.  Grade: C.

10. Los Angeles Lakers: Andrew Bynum, C.  This one raised a few eyebrows as well when it was made.  Bynum was considered a very raw talent and a project player that would take a few years to develop and could go either way as there were a lot of questions about his dedication to conditioning and whether he had the drive to be a star in the NBA.  After two fairly forgettable seasons Bynum was having a breakout season averaging 13.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game when he hurt his knee.  Bynum appears to have all of the makings of being the next big time low post player but it remains to be seen how he comes back from theis first dose of adversity.  Grade: B.