More on Lebron James

From the Miami Herald:


He checked into a hotel, and a T-shirt awaited him on the bed. In big, bold letters, it read: ''King James.'' Hard to argue.

LeBron James has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, under the headline: The Chosen One. Letterman wants him. He has Michael Jordan's cell number and has played in His Airness' top-secret workouts. James' games are televised on ESPN2 and pay-per-view. His autograph is for sale on eBay ($42), as are tickets for an upcoming game ($100 each). Nike and adidas are dangling $20 million contracts in his baby face, and NBA scouts predict he will be the top pick in the 2003 draft.

James is 17 years old.

The Akron schoolboy has yet to pick a prom date, and already he has agents, shoe company executives, NBA scouts, reporters and fans romancing him. Ticket demand got so high last season St. Vincent-St. Mary High School moved its games to the University of Akron's 5,100-seat arena, where they drew 4,000-plus a game at $10-$12 a pop -- three times the price of most high school tickets in Ohio.

The school made $250,000 on basketball last year. This season, which began last night, the team will take its show on the road to Los Angeles, Chapel Hill, N.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Jersey. The school receives $10,000 appearance fees at each stop.

One promoter calls the team's tour ``The Scholastic Fantastic LeBron James Tour.''

Is this a feel-good tale of an amazingly talented kid? Or is it the poisoning of high school sports?

Depends whom you ask.

''His example will fundamentally change the way we view high school athletics,'' said Dr. Richard Lapchick, chairman of the DeVos Sports Business Management program at the University of Central Florida. ``It has to, and the change can't be for the good. Each time you have a new water mark, it's hard to go back. At the very least, this will raise the expectations of other student-athletes, a term we may have to loosely apply in the future.

"But more frightening than the aspiration of younger and younger kids is the money high schools might try to make off kids at a time money in education is very scarce.''

Magic Johnson was a terrific high school player. So were Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Kwame Brown. But none of them had Dick Vitale and Bill Walton call their high school game on national TV. The Dec. 12 ESPN2 telecast of St. Vincent-St. Mary vs. Oak Hill (Va.) Academy is the first-ever national broadcast of a regular-season high school game. The Goodyear blimp will be on hand, as will Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Krause and representatives of at least 10 other NBA teams, including the Miami Heat.

Ten more games will be available for $7.95 on pay-per-view in Ohio, and all games are live on the Internet.

No high school junior had appeared on the SI cover until James did in February. Never before has a high school kid commanded ticket prices of up to $50. At Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, tickets for the SVSM-New Castle game are priced at $10-$50, with tickets as high as $100 on eBay.

Nike and adidas are in a full-court press to sign the phenom. Nike flew James' family to Oregon to meet company chairman Phil Knight. James' best friend and former teammate, Maverick Carter, had an internship with Nike last summer. And Jordan, loyal to the Swoosh Family, has buddied up to James, even referring him to his personal trainer when James hurt his wrist last spring.

Meanwhile, adidas, which sponsors James' high school team, let James help design their uniforms.

The NBA has been drooling for more than a year. The Cleveland Cavs were fined $150,000 for inviting James to a May 22 workout, in which he reportedly more than held his own. Had NBA rules allowed James to come out before his 18th birthday, he likely would have been the top pick in June.

''Without question, LeBron is the best player in the draft, the kind of player who comes around once every 15 years,'' said an NBA scout who requested anonymity because league rules don't allow scouts to comment on underclassmen. ``He's Magic Johnson. He is so versatile. He has a step-back jumper from the perimeter, post moves, is a tremendous passer, unselfish, amazing skills for a guy his size (6-8 and 225 pounds). And he's not a good kid, he's a great kid. A marketing dream. He's the whole package, and he'll be worth every penny someone pays for him.''

IS TEAM BEING EXPLOITED?

Clair Muscaro, commissioner of the Ohio State High School Athletics Association, has been monitoring the ''LeBron James situation.'' He doesn't like what he sees.

''There's no question he and his team are being exploited, and it just doesn't seem right,'' Muscaro said. ``But that's society.

``If the NBA gurus say he's that great, and the public is willing to pay, the school can charge whatever it wants. It's within our bylaws. They can travel all over the country as long as they don't miss any school. There's nothing we can do about it. But the whole thing disturbs me philosophically because we are more than LeBron James. We have 300,000 young men and women who deserve to be treated equally, and one kid is getting all the attention.''

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer assigned a reporter to chronicle James' senior season, and stories are labeled ''The LeBron James Journal.'' Whenever the Cavs lose, a local television station tags the game report ``The LeBron Lottery.''

Critics say James' school is doing him a disservice and tainting the purity of amateur athletics by moving games to a bigger venues and raising ticket prices; accommodating scouts, agents, shoe reps and the media; and accepting invitations from out-of-state promoters.

''The purpose of high school athletics is not to get publicity for one outstanding student or to accommodate outsiders who want to cash in on that student,'' said Bob Hughes, commissioner of the Florida High School Activities Association. ``The purpose of high school sports is to offer a rewarding, enriching experience to all students and showcase all athletes, not just those bound for the NBA, NFL or the PGA.

``It sounds like this situation in Ohio has become a circus side show, totally out of proportion, and the school must take some of the blame. They should play in their gym, turn people away if they have to and treat him like a regular student-athlete. Perspective has been lost. You can't sell your soul and sacrifice the principles of character and amateurism -- which are the reasons for the existence of high school athletics -- for the almighty dollar.''

Grant Innocenzi is the athletic director at St. Vincent-St. Mary. His phone rings off the hook, and most of the calls are about his star basketball player. Everyone wants a ticket, an interview, an autograph.

''It's like having an NBA player on your high school team,'' Innocenzi said.

But Innocenzi vehemently defends the way the school is handling the frenzy. At the request of the 600-member student body, two games will be played at the school's 1,600-seat gym. Student ticket prices remain at $3, even for the games at the University of Akron.

No media is allowed in the building during the school day. All interviews must be approved by James, his mother, Gloria, and his coach, Dru Joyce. James' father figure, Eddie Jackson, is involved as James' advisor, but Jackson recently pleaded guilty to federal and state charges of mortgage fraud and awaits sentencing Dec. 11. A sentence of three years is expected.

''We're trying to keep things as normal as possible, but it's very hard,'' Innocenzi said. ``We moved the games because people were complaining they couldn't get in our gym. We raised prices because we have added expenses playing at the college. We have to pay rent, security, game management costs. This isn't about getting rich on LeBron, absolutely not.''

Innocenzi says it is the media, not the school, that is promoting James.

''Most of this hype was generated by the media,'' he said. ``Once LeBron was in Sports Illustrated, things got crazy. Ten years ago, nobody cared about the best high school player. But as younger and younger kids go to the NBA, kids like LeBron become bigger stories.''

HIGH SCHOOL TO NBA

The issues that have plagued college athletics for years are trickling down to high school. It was once a big deal when a college athlete bypassed his senior year to enter the NBA. Now, athletes such as James bypass college altogether.

This trend worries some coaches and educators. But nobody is arguing James' game isn't NBA-ready.

''I've been in this business for 37 years, and LeBron James is without question the best high school prospect I've ever seen,'' said Sonny Vaccaro, the adidas power broker who runs the ABCD camp and first declared the kid a gem in the spring of 2000 after seeing him on video.

David Lumpkin, coach of Cincinnati's Winton Woods High, echoed Vaccaro's praises.

''He's phenomenal,'' Lumpkin said. ``He passes maybe better than Magic. He has range and amazing skills. I've seen very few kids in high school who come close to doing what he can do. He can score any time he wants to. He could average 50 a game in high school if he wanted to, but he prides himself on being an all-around player. I've never seen anything like him, and high school sports will go to another level because of this.

'Is it exploiting? I don't know. Colleges go to bowl games and sell jerseys with kids' names on them, and the kids don't make a dime. I've thought about paying kids stipends, but then you're getting in the business of buying and selling kids, and that would tarnish the game.''

Sebastien Telfair, next year's LeBron James, is a junior at Brooklyn Lincoln High. He is featured in a recent issue of hip hoops magazine Dime draped in diamonds, gold and lingerie models.

He is 17.



The story just gets more and more sickening. What kind of life will this kid lead if he gets injured or doesn't pan out?

 

Unless he uses that money to buy 11 Bentleys, like Allen Iverson did.

With all the family and hangers-on, that money could dry up very quickly.