with all that said, the media market, endorsements, attention and personal brand has in fact decreased and he has made less money in LA from endorsments than he did in orlando. Why is that? well LA already has kobe, nash, pau, and even mwp that he has to compete with. he also hurt his image with the dwightmare. the truth is endorsement money and profit come from winning. which is why miami is such a preferred destination and the big 3 make more money than there previous location(minus wade obviously). Toronto is a bigger and more diverse market. but bosh is cashing in and making good money because they are winning.
Winning brings endorsements. Houston is not some small market. Yao Ming became a super duper star and Tracy McGrady had PLENTY of endorsements and carried Adidas while here in Houston. Dwight would do just fine popularity wise here espcially if the team is winning. You guys think Durant is not a superstar? He needs to play in LA or NYC to get more popular? No, making it to the finals and achieving things have done that, and he plays in one of the smallest markets of all.
Another point not considered in these calculations is discounting future cash flows to determine the present value of the contract. It looks as if this would benefit Houston as the Rockets salary that is offered in year one is $1.5mil higher than the Lakers and this is the amount that would be discounted the least as it is the least number of years ahead. Obviously, picking a discount rate is always difficult but should be considered for a extremely accruate look at just the NBA contracts possible offered by LA vs Houston.
How will the Lakers improve? Steve nash will be 40 next year, Gasol will be close to 34, Artest will be 34, and not to mention their best player is out and will not return the same player. He will be close to 36 and coming off of a completely torn achilles tendon which no one has ever returned from near the same player. All of this and the Lakers barely managed to squeeze into the playoffs. They have no picks and can't sign anyone. The only thing stopping Howard is the stupid idea that he will be hated like LeBron if he leaves LA. He is not a slave and he's free to sign wherever he wants. The truth is winning gets you more endorsements than anything.
There are many teams with plenty of cap space and no good players that he can sign with and they can start building around him from now. I know I am most likely wrong and the chances of Dwight staying in LA and Love signing in LA in a year is much higher than him joining the Rockets.
You should tweak the contracts slightly. Howard has 9 seasons left before the over 36 rules comes into effect. So, in LA he would sign a 5-yr deal with a player opt out after 4 seasons, he would opt out and sign a fresh 5-yr deal to carry him through age 36. That would look like this: Yr 1- $20, 513, 178.00 Yr 2- $22, 051, 666.35 (7.5% raise) Yr 3- $23, 590, 154.70 (7.5% raise) Yr 4- $25, 128, 643.05 (7.5% raise) Yr 5- $26, 385, 075.20 (5% raise from $25, 128, 643.05) Yr 6- $28, 363, 955.84 (7.5% raise) Yr 7- $30, 342, 836.48 (7.5% raise) Yr 8- $32, 321, 717.12 (7.5% raise) Yr 9- $34, 300, 597.76 (7.5% raise) TOTAL: $242, 997, 824.51 over 9 seasons. With the Rox or any other team, he would sign a 3-yr deal initially with a player option on the 4th season. After 3 seasons, he decides not to exercise his player option but instead signs a 1-yr extension with 5% raise in first season of extension with player option for second year of extension. He then plays one season and doesn't exercise his option but instead signs a fresh 5-yr birds rights deal. So his Rockets salaries would look like this: Yr 1- $20, 513, 178.00 Yr 2- $21, 436, 271.01 (4.5% raise) Yr 3- $22, 359, 364.02 (4.5% raise) Yr 4- $23, 477, 332.22 (5% raise from $22, 359, 364.02) Yr 5- $24, 651, 198.83 (5% raise from $23, 477, 332.22) Yr 6- $26, 500, 038.74 (7.5% raise) Yr 7- $28, 348, 878.66 (7.5% raise) Yr 8- $30, 197, 718.57 (7.5% raise) Yr 9- $32, 046, 558.48 (7.5% raise) TOTAL: $229, 530, 538.54 over 9 seasons. That's a difference of $13, 467, 285.97 give or take a few dollars and cents over 9 seasons or a percentage difference of 5.5% over the entire 9 seasons That's the same money or a little more in Texas dollars. He has more buying power here and less taxes. The size of the market doesn't really make a difference today if a player is a true superstar and is winning rings. These guys spector becomes bigger than Hollywood and New York. They become global icons. As long as Dwight remains healthy and effective through his 3rd season then the above scenario should be his. His only risk money-wise in coming to Houston is staying healthy through that 3rd season. In my opinion Dwight's decision comes down to 2 factors: 1. Where does he think he has the best chance of winning the most. 2. Does he actually have the balls to sign away from the Lakers leaving them empty-handed. Frankly, I don't think he's got the balls to do it. Because with our setup in Houston with Harden already here it's a no-brainer for him to sign here. I just don't think he has the balls to do it.
Correction: I said player opt-out in the above post. I should have said player option on year 5 in regards to his Laker contract.
Although i feel the chances of Dwight leaving LA are slim, i do think he wants to be coached by the likes of someone like Phil Jackson. If the Lakers get Phil then its pretty certain he stays. Where Phil goes is significant to where Dwight goes from my perspective.
Phil is really pressuring the Lakers with his threat to come back to the NBA with another team. Would be interesting to see if the NBA would allow him in another team's front office while his wife is working for the Lakers. I really don't think he wants to coach. He wants organizational control.
As much as I love sports and the Rockets, it makes me sick to see how much money these athletes make knowing there are children in the USA tonight going to bed hungry. I don't understand our society sometimes.
there will always be poverty whether due to misfortune or simply bad decisions. its pretty easy to understand why these athletes are getting paid so much. sure all they do is put a orange ball through a hoop, or hit a white ball with a bat etc, but they have such a rare combination of skill and physical prowess that only a very very tiny percentage of the entire human population is capable of doing what they do at the same performance level. on the other hands, regular joes like us are pretty much expendable; with training there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of other people on this planet that can accomplish our jobs just as well as us.
True. I guess I can say the same about the Hollywood industry. You can't have rich people without the poor people in this world.
Chris Paul was born to punch basketball players in the junk. Cliff Paul was born to kick the Progressive Insurance woman in the crotch. This is what goes through my head every time I watch that commercial. No matter how "good" a human being Chris Paul tries to make himself be off the court, his true colors show during the games. He is a dirty *******.
