Orl meet with mavs about Dwight, orlando also prefers lakers offer over rockets

Leverage purposes.

 

It would be nice to have a deal in place. Houston will have fun watching Howard, Lin and whoever else they put on the floor. Jason Richardson can play - he's a solid player - may hurt defensively against the top tier guards, but he can score and if Duhon is moved - his contract is small.

If Big Baby is moved - he would be a solid addition and his contract is very reasonable - Orlando doesn't want to move him.

Hedo can play - he is paid too much, but only has 2 years on his agremeent with only half guaranteed in the final year so he becomes a trade chip after 1 year.

Quentin Richardson - shows effort and heart, contract is not that big, but can defend and put in some effort - nothing to get excited about, but not harmful.

Worst contract is probably Hedo, but again there is some value to him in the 2nd year and he might play well next year - just clueless at times.

Duhon - you just bury him on the bench and count it up to playing the game to get D12.

Your prior comments where D12 might walk from Orlando and give up the extra $ I totally agree with - where as Houston he starts fresh and I don't see him walking.

Good luck with Howard and company - those that haven't seen Howard play a lot will be impressed - the guy is a total game changer - he dominates - can't shoot free throws, but he is a walking highlight film every night.

 

Hello, did you not read the statement? I've already put everything up, if you are to lazy to go back and look, that's on you.

 

I ran across an interesting recent article that sheds some light about athletes and their endorsements (with a good breakdown of current endorsement dollars). Was fascinating to see the endorsements. It debunks some endorsement myths and reinforces other people's points. Good insight, which I'm sure can be used for a variety of arguments. I just wanted to pass this along because others may find it interesting or add some new twists to the endorsement aspects of the Dwight saga.

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2012/7/26/2228977/does-city-really-matter-for-athlete-endorsements

It's a long post, so i am pasting only a portion of it. Moderators, if I violated any rules I apologize and please edit.

[Article portion starts:]
Shortly after the debacle that was "The Decision" Sports Illustrated interviewed Michael Jordan's agent, David Falk to get his opinion on LeBron's Decision. The interview eventually moved toward the notion of "branding" an athlete where Falk had this to say...

In 2012, I find that to be incredible that someone would think that. We live in a digital age, and I think people like Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant -- Kevin Durant is incredibly marketable in Oklahoma. He doesn't have to be in New York or L.A. I think he could be the best player in the league in two years, at the most. And if someone said to you, "If you represented him, would you move him to New York?" I'd say, "No, for what? I think he has a certain homespun credibility being in Oklahoma. It's like Brett Favre being in Green Bay." And I think these guys are being told by these agents who aren't very sophisticated in marketing that you have to be in New York or L.A. to be marketable. Maybe they've never heard of the Internet.


I found that answer to be very interesting and it got me thinking about a couple of the guys listed. LeBron James obviously went from a small-market to a larger one. And then you have a guy like Kevin Durant who is in a tiny market. How much are those guys making, particularly in endorsements and how does that compare to some of the other superstars in the NBA?

Well, fortunately we have lists like this one from SI.com which ranked the top 50 paid athletes in the world. Below are the NBA players who cracked the top 50 overall.

Athlete Sport City Salary Endorsement Total Endorsements as % of Total
Kobe Bryant NBA Los Angeles 20,286,000 28,000,000 48,286,000 58.0%
LeBron James NBA Miami 12,880,000 33,000,000 45,880,000 71.9%
Kevin Durant NBA Oklahoma City 14,000,000 12,482,840 26,482,840 47.1%
Dwight Howard NBA Orlando 14,490,000 11,000,000 25,490,000 43.2%
Carmelo Anthony NBA New York 14,907,450 10,000,000 24,907,450 40.1%
Dwyane Wade NBA Miami 12,638,500 12,000,000 24,638,500 48.7%
Derrick Rose NBA Chicago 5,621,880 18,230,770 23,852,650 76.4%
Amare Stoudemire NBA New York 14,665,250 8,000,000 22,665,250 35.3%
Kevin Garnett NBA Boston 17,103,870 5,000,000 22,103,870 22.6%
Tim Duncan NBA San Antonio 17,146,500 3,500,000 20,646,500 17.0%
Chris Paul NBA Los Angeles 13,169,643 6,000,000 19,169,643 31.3%
Chris Bosh NBA MIami 12,898,112 4,000,000 16,898,112 23.7%
Rashard Lewis NBA Washington 1,715,000 750,000 2,465,000 30.4%


There are some interesting things of note from this data.

Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles) makes the most money among NBA players with a salary of nearly $20.3 million and endorsements bringing in $28 million.
James is #2 largely because he makes much more money in endorsements ($33 million) and then has a smaller salary (12.88 million).
Kevin Durant is in one of the smallest NBA markets yet is able to not only command a top of the line salary, but he also rakes in a number of endorsements. More endorsement money than a superstar in New York City. More endorsement money than the established and marketable Kevin Garnett in Boston. Third only to Kobe and LeBron who are basically the elite of the elite in the NBA over the last several seasons. According to this Orlando Sentinel 2009 article, Dwight Howard may have the most corporate partnerships in the NBA. Orlando is not a huge market. Where it gets really interesting with LeBron is when you look back at his endorsement income over the last few seasons. One might have expected that when he moved from Cleveland to Miami, his endorsement income dramatically increased.

2008 Endorsement income - $28,000,000 (Cleveland)
2009 Endorsement income - $28,000,000 (Cleveland) 2010 Endorsement income - $30,000,000 (Cleveland)
2011 Endorsement income - $30,000,000 (Miami)
2012 Endorsement income - $33,000,000 (Miami)
A slight increase but nothing significant and I'm not sure that the approximate 10% increase is due to being in a larger market as much as things like winning MVPs and further developing into the best player in the NBA (arguably).
[End of article portion]

 

They can keep waiting for the better offers.

 

Never said how much he would make city per city, only that LA and NY are the preferred destination because of the POSSIBLE contract he would get from Addidas. It's simple deduction that is out there if you look for it. Howard and DRose are the two top guys that push Addidas, Rose signed a 14 year agreement that could be around the 250 million mark after incentives, that includes the playoffs, all-star game, and any awards that he would get. Most of the supposed "insiders" agree that a lot of where Howard wants to go has to do with a new Addidas contract that could be in the same range as what DRose got.
As far as the basketball contract goes, TheCat put up a very intersting article about both Howard and Bynums strategies. Here is the original link:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8214165/nba-salary-strategies-dwight-howard-andrew-bynum

Agents are paid to get the most money for their client for their whole career. They have to plan ahead or they don't have a job. My opinion which is what all of this board is made for, is that he shot himself in the foot when he opted in to the final year of his contract. He lost leverage when he could have walked. I think part of this was because he almost got traded to Houston at the deadline. His request was to be traded to the Nets, Lakers or Dallas.
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/12/10/ap-source-magic-c-howard-formally-request-trade/
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7358084/orlando-magic-dwight-howard-says-trade-request-stands
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/chris_mannix/07/25/dwight-howard-magic-gm/index.html

The whole Dallas thing could be smoke and mirrors, but it's not like it just came up. They have said more than once that if he doesn't get traded where he wants to go, that he'll go to Dallas in free agency. That's both Houston and Orlando. If it's just because they have salary cap space, then why Dallas instead of Houston who also has salary cap space. There's something up, it might be Addidas, it might be Howard or Fegan I don't know, but my opinion is that if he comes here, he going to walk next summer which is what this whole stupid argument is about.

I you don't agree fine, we agree to disagree. Everything I research tells me he doesn't want to be here he wants to be with the Nets or Lakers the most and if he can't get to one of those destinations, he's going to Dallas. Dallas can't trade for him, but they can sign him as a free agent next summer. Everything I see tells me that if we trade for him, he'll go to Dallas.

 

Thanks RJ.... I had kept it to myself, but while I was watching the Olympics I just knew that sentiment of you have to be in a big market to be marketable didn't seem right. LBJ & Kobe have their supporters, but clearly KD seemed to be more popular. (I think Falk had it right about him seeming more humble than the rest BECAUSE he plays in OKC.)

Also, as a point of clarification, Toronto is a bigger market than Miami. (I live in South Florida.) So when people talk about Miami being a BIG market, I am always like "it kind of is, but not really." You have to combine Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach (where I am) to make that argument. However, It is a REALLY, REALLY nice place to live 11 months out of the year. :grin:

 

Which is fine by me (and I think Morey knows as well) because as was pointed out, it would cripple Dallas' ability to field a competitive team next year.


J.R. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=7094819&postcount=147
& BimaThug noted this already http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=7095056&postcount=153
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=7095446&postcount=161

 

They can sign him for LESS than max money in the offseason, possibly much less if they intend to surround him and Dirk with players not making minimum salaries.

I'm not saying Dwight Howard can't hate Houston so much he's willing to play with a 37yr old Dirk and a bunch of guys who can't even make $1mil on the FA market. It's quite possible Howard would rather get paid $3mil by the Lakers than $20mil by the Rockets. After all, who the hell knows what he thinks.

But if I were Morey or Les, I'd actually want to see an NBA player cut off his face to spite his nose rather than being scared by verbal threats.

 

What if Dwight comes to Houston, and rather than leave by free agency, does his best Scotty Pippin impersonation to try to get the team to trade him to NJ?

I mean, it really didn't take Pippin too much effort to get vomited out of town as the most reviled athlete in Houston history. Could Dwight not eventually annoy his way out of town?

 

what happened again with Pippen that he wanted out so bad? I remember he got in some arguments with the Chuckster...was that it? bad lockerroom chemistry?

 

NO. He was embarrassed by his ****tastic play after he had done interviews in Chicago saying he was the second best player in the NBA after MJ. Instead of admitting his degenerative back problems were robbing him of his ability to play at an elite level, he used the "Rudy T isn't using me right" card.

He then leaned on the Rockets to trade him to the Lakers so he could play under Phil again (and with Shaq/Kobe). Rockets balked and told him to dedicate himself to the team. Pippen responded by basting Barkley in the papers to make such an ugly mess that the team would have to get rid of him. This, after Barkley played FOR THE MINIMUM in order to open up money for Pippen's max contract.

That's why Pippen was booed without mercy any time he came to town as a Blazer.

 

Much different scenario. Pippen was on his last contract and had nothing to lose. Dwight Howard has to worry about his shoe deal, other advertising opportunities, and he has easily TWO more max deals before the end of his career.

It seems many people are pointing out all these scenarios that end up screwing Dwight Howard a lot more than anyone else, including the Rockets. I sincerely doubt he cares enough about the city of Houston to risk losing perhaps tens or hundred million dollars just to give us the finger.

Honestly, Houston doesn't matter enough to Howard for him to purposely try to screw us by screwing himself even more

 

Excellent...EXCELLENT stuff, rocketjunkie. Everyone needs to read that.

 

Did Pippen - or Tmac in Orlando for that matter - really hurt themselves nationally by throwing their tantrums? And wouldn't it really be just a continuation of what Dwight is already doing in Orlando? If these sorts of things mattered, there would be a giant list of hated athletes. How upset were you when Steve Francis screwed over the city of Vancouver? Did that destroy his shoe deal revenue and long term prospects? I mean, LBJ was the villain for a whole year after his embarrassing behavior with respect to Cleveland. He wins a championship, and he goes from being the goat to being part of the discussion of GOAT and is again loved nationally.

And I don't think doing it would have anything to do with Houston. It would have everything to do with Brooklyn. Whatever he does to get to Brooklyn, the national media will conspire to make everyone forgive him once he's there. He'll be hated in Houston and Orlando, but like you said, he doesn't really care enough about Houston or Orlando for it to matter. The increased positive exposure will more than offset the negative exposure in Houston. Like with Francis and Stu Jackson, it will be explained away how it isn't his fault and that Houston was to blame for getting him when they knew he didn't want to be there, etc.

 

A lot of fans bate Dwight as it is now because he tries to come off as being funny.

 

Hatee

 

Man, I just wish this was over one way or another.

 

You mean " Hate"