Higher Level Basketball Thinking: HLBT Daily: Show Me the Money!

Former Detroit Piston and current Best Damn Sports Show... Period host John Salley is the new commissioner of the ABA. Disaster waiting to happen...? John Salley is exceptionally funny (suggestion to TNT: get him in the studio with Ernie, Kenny, and Chuck), though I never thought of him as a business man. Not to say that he isn't - I will keep an eye on how he is doing. It is the ABA after all - I'm not sure that it is possible to do an unusually good or bad job. I wish him luck.

Al Harrington is ecstatic that he is back in Indiana. Or maybe it is just that he is no longer an Atlanta Hawk. “Rebuilding here (in Indiana) is still competing for a championship,” he said. “Not like rebuilding in Atlanta and other places where you go to winning 10 games … they (the Pacers) want to bring in a lot of good guys so that they can still compete, and compete at a high level.” I have heard about this 'Indiana rebuilding' talk before; I don't exactly know where it comes from. Almost like Al said, the Pacers should make the playoffs this year. By definition, rebuilding teams do not make the playoffs in order to get a lottery pick in the next draft.

The Knicks and Maurice Taylor are very close to cutting ties. Mo and his $9.8 million salary have proven to be burdensome to the organization. Not only does he eat up cap space, but at 6'9," 265 lbs., he commands quite a bit of room sitting on the bench. The Knicks and Mo's people are reportedly negotiating a buy-out. There is word that Jalen Rose is next in line to be bought out.

Speaking of NBA salaries, I found this quote from English newspaper, This is Local London, to be interesting. "Basketball player Luol Deng became one of the highest-paid sports stars in the world when he signed a new five-year, £41.6million deal with the Chicago Bulls. The 21-year-old's meteoric success means he will now earn £160,000 a week - reputedly £60,000 a week more than Britain's biggest footballer, Beckham."
The writer is almost certainly only referring to the players' team contracts, excluding endorsement deals. If Jim Paxson shelled out $41.6 million for Luol Deng, I would have no problem with this article. The problem is, when converted to American currency, it comes to $79.1 million over five years, or roughly $16 million per year. Other players in the neighborhood of $16 mil a year: Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady. Something is not adding up here...
If you are looking to scoff at just how ridiculous some NBA salaries are, always a fun activity to partake in, Jalen Rose and Brian Grant also rake in roughly $16 mil every season. Here is a link to more player salaries. The list does not appear to be perfect, though overall it is pretty accurate.

Last, but not least (money-wise), Larry Brown is asking for $62.5 million from the Knicks. That is $12.5 million more than he would have made had he stuck with the Knicks for all five years of his contract. $12.5 million for an attorney and any emotional harm his Knick experience may have caused him? Either Larry is a big softy or he's got one hell of an attorney.

Lebron made an appearance on the Late Show last Friday. I embedded the video at the end of the post so that you can see:

Lebron call M.J. Black Jesus
Lebron comment on the World Basketball Championship
"Defensive Wizard" David Letterman
Letterman basically tie Lebron in a shooting contest

For what it's worth: "In a Q & A with the L.A. Daily News, Kwame Brown said that Phil Jackson set a goal for him this year; to average 15 and 10."~ dimemag.com. I do not foresee this coming to fruition. Kwame is as mentally ready as David Letterman is physically ready to be successful in the NBA.