PeterHilton

Sure... First off, you have to realize that no matter where he went, Cleveland would've been hurt. So you just have to concede that hit to his image. But if he went to New York.. Right off the bat, in NY he's THE MAN as opposed to the perception in Miami that he's going to end up as Wade's sidekick. He would be THE big star. Secondly, New York is one of (if not the biggest) media centers in the world. He would've elevated his profile simply by being in NY: the Knicks on national TV would draw huge ratings, he would've had even more commercial and merchandise opportunities, he would've made basketball trendy and hip in NY to the point where there would've been more celebrities in the crowds there than in the crowds in LA, Letterman would've been talking about him every week on the Late Show..all 4 major networks are based in NY...there's just no way to measure how much bigger Lebron would've been as a marketing tool had he signed in NY. Finally, New York historically is incredibly significant to people who care about basketball. Even if you aren't talking about the Knicks specifically (they haven't been significant since the Willis Reed/Walt Frazier days), NY has been one of the centers of the basketball universe since before the NBA existed: Lew Alcindor played HS ball in Manhattan. Bob Cousy, Queens. Billy Cunningham, Connie Hawkins, Lenny Wilkens, Bernard King—all from Brooklyn. The kings of the Bronx; Dolph Schayes, Richie Guerin and Tiny Archibald. We're talking about streetball legends like Earl "The Goat" Manigault, Rick "Pee Wee" Kirkland, Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond. Throw in playground battles at Rucker Park and the social significance of the Harlem Globetrotters. And those late 60s/early 70s Knicks were dominating: 2 titles in three Finals runs in 4 years. Seven Knicks players from this championship are in the Hall of Fame. ******************************************************* So yeah...if Lebron goes to the media center of the world, is the centerpiece of a team that wins one or two titles, play in a city steeped in basketball tradition, front of fans that are STARVING to give them a reason to fall in love with a sport that their fathers and grandfathers came up watching...it'd be HUGE. He'd be the Jeter of the New York Knicks..a living legend.

Fun in the regular season. They'd be eaten alive up front in the playoffs.

All true. I wonder if Lebron wou;d've gone to Miami if Bosh hadn't though. That might be one of those "hey I wanna go play with my friends" deals.

All kinds of stuff coming out today.. --The Heat have agreed to terms with Udonis Haslem, Mike MIller, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5377012 http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5374210 --Orlando signed Q Richardson...which means Matt Barnes and possibly JJ Redick are out http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5374477 --The Chandler deal: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=5377055 So Diaw and Calderon stay in place. And the Chandler/Heywood combo should be solid.

damn..i posted while you were posting this. totally agree

If they can't get the buys up around 20 K buys, they'd be better off working out a deal with Spike to do big shows every other month with some kind of bonus deal for the rating and ad revenue that 'special even't would draw. Two hours on a Thursday night special where they can pay off their major storylines featuring much longer matches.

Based on market value, yeah he's worth it.

Because... TNA probaby doesn't *need* PPV to survive, but if they're going to throw them out there every month they need to do something to help the buys

what kills me is that the mentality is "oh I have all this space..I have to spend it all immediately even if the guy i'm going to spend it on doesn't deserve it"

Ohhhh..that's not actually what you said. This... ..is misleading. If that was your point then it makes sense.

No, it's crap. I have no desire to continue with you because you can't tell the difference between a 'sport' on an upward trend and a fad .. you also never responded to the idea that UFC has "top guys on PPV which is different from wrestling" is a completely ass backwards statement. EDIT: Listen..going back to how this relates to TNA...if the problem with the buy rates is that PPV is a dying medium then UFC wouldn't be growing so fast using PPV as the backbone of it's revenue. Period. Regardless of your opinion on MMA/UFC as a sport, the two things don't jibe.

Hyde, the "rumors" of bad buys have been around since the company began doing the montlhy PPV model. And it's pretty believable since they've only ever made the buy rates public once or twice in the history of the company. It's not "hate"..they just attract a different audience and need to adjust their revenue streams accordingly

Yeah..this is pretty much bs. I mean..the entire post beginning to end makes no real sense and you don't seem to have a solid idea about what your talking about.

Agree to disagree. I honestly think Lebron going to NY and winning a title would've actually HELPED his legacy, but it's a minor point Two notes http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5375672 Raja Bell close to signing with the Lakers. Makes me wonder how long Sasha stays with the team.. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5376884 TWolves trading Al Jefferson to the Jazz. Great pick up for Utah if Jefferson is back to 100%.

that's the same broken assumption everyone in wrestling makes. The UFC will eventually level off..but i don't see why they would drop. EDIT: I also don't see how it is "different from wrestling" when wrestling PPVs are sepcifically designed so that ALL the top guys show up for the most part, whereas in UFC/MMA you are more often than nnot going to see *maybe* one top name depending on their fight schedule. Brock Lesnar probably won't be on a PPV for another 4-5 months and yet the UFC shows in between now and then will STILL do better than TNA, the WWE, and most boxing shows. TNA has fortunately enough structured themselves so that they don't depend heavily on PPV buys. So they aren't suffering as much as the WWE would with their awful buy rates. Hopefully, once the ratings get up a little, they can go to more of a "Clash of the Champions model" and hold PPVs every other month or something.

The fact that Wade has been in Miami since he was drafted and he's ALREADY won a title there means that Miami is "his team." At this time it's a matter of public perception. As they play games and we see who's the focal point of the team and who takes the shots in crunch time, things could change. But right now.. Lebron James signed on to Dwyane Wade's team.

I honestly don't think that it's because he 'left' so much as he left to go play second banana on Wade's teams. Cleveland fans would've been angry either way, but if Lebron signed with Chicago or NY, I doubt he would've received as much backlash on a basketball level. Because at least on those teams, he's still "the guy." If those teams, he still would've had the Jordan, Bird, Magic role...now he comes across as Pippen, McHale, Worthy..still great HOF players, but a step below.

Well heod goes to Phoenix..i doubt Jose is going to lose his spot to Barbosa. Yeah you guys are both right. brain fart. My bad.

I actually like both moves. If Hedo has anything left in the tank, he's a perfect fit in that system. And Childress gives them a young point guard to possibly replace Nash. They moved Barbosa to Toronto, and more intestingly, the Raptors also moved to aquire Boris Diaw. ( A Suns reunion i guess)

Bill Simmons' most recent column on espn.com featuring letters from fans reacting to te "LeBacle" Lots of emotional responses. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100709 Because we here on the boards made the same nWo connection and Because that's pretty LOL

Agree with that entire post, but just wanted to point out that a guy who won Defensive Player of the Year and was first team all defense 9 times can't really be called "underrated" Fans nowadays are just too quick to make the MJ comparison w/o really understanding how good he was. Lebron isn't in his league. Neither is Kobe really.

I think the 'one team' things is incredibly outdated and unrealistic. I mean..for every legendary player that stayed with one team their whole career, you can name just as many that moved around. Does Kareem's or Wilt's legacy suffer because they changed teams during their career? I think the part of this that will affect Lebron down the road is that any titles he might get with the Heat will be 'tainted' because he's not THE GUY on the team, in the same way that Kobe heard how the three titles with Shaq didn't really count as much because he was the #2.

Fair enough. But in either case that was not a team that was where it needed to be at mentally to compete with that Boston team.

Oh well if he's not in YOUR top 10... Watch the series against teh Pistons again where he single handedly carried them to a win that put the Cavs in the Finals against a vastly superior team. And although it's not brought up on the mainstream press, the cavs were going through some major locker room turmoil with the whole Delonte Weest thing and he was hurt. Lebron isn't the Second Coming...but there's no way in hell there are 10 better players than him in the NBA right now.

Wonderful debate in here. too much to go into so I'll just recap my thoughts: -Lebron made an odd choice. He basically took the easy way out. Staying with Cleveland would've showed loyalty. NY would've been the 'marketing first' move. And (until/unless I'm blown away by who the Heat add) i still thin the Bulls would've been the best choice from a basketball standpoint. But that would've required Lebron to be THE GUY and maybe he realizes that's not in his DNA. Last night he said that he was happy because he would be on a team where he wouldn't have 'the pressure of having to score 30' (I'm paraphrasing). Well...i get what he's saying..but that's just not something that guys like West, Bird, Jordan, Jobe..hell, even Wade...would say. they LOVE that pressure. Lebron doesn't have to be THE GUY and he can still win rings in Miami. He'll be the greatest second banana since Pippen in his prime. -I think the way he did is was ridiculous. -Dn Gilbert is an idiot and his comments made him look classless and petulant. He should've just congratulated him and then turned around and told the fans he would do everything possible so that the Cavs would see Lebron and Co in the playoffs.