LeBron James..the next Jordan?!
 

I'm getting a little tired of all the attention that this kid is receiving without playing a single NBA game. Now he has a 90 million deal with Nike (read), and people are expecting him to be the first pick in the draft. I think Carmelo Anthony deserves that spot, but it will depend which team will win the lottery. anyways..

Do you think that he deserves all the attention that he is getting, and that he will be the next big thing?

omar i agree with you compelty on the carmelo anthony thing


this lebron james kid is so over rated

He will be a good player in the NBA, but clearly he has too much baggage.

He has an entourage that will certain follow him whereever he goes. He will, in my sense, focus more on his off-court activities rather than his performance on court.

Drafting Lebron James will result in high attendance, more season ticket holders, and national tv coverage. Something the teams in the lottery are hoping to get if they get an opportunity to have Lebron James play on their team.

LeBron will be a ticket seller at least for the first couple years. I don't think he should be the first pick. I think Carmello should get that. He's proved he's a winner and I think he will have a better career in the NBA. Look for him to end up on top. As far as LeBron goes.. I think he will be decent. I don't think he'll ever even match up to Kobe. The kid has skills but if he falls prey to the dangers of fame early he's not going to amount to much. I guess we'll all have to wait and see. IMO I think the team with the second pick (assuming they get Anthony) will have the best pick available.

Carmello has supposedly signed a 3.3 million dollar deal with Nike. Nike is going to make a killing off the kid.

i dont think he'll stand up to all the hype, he dominated high schoolers, i doubt he coudl really dominate college players, let alone nba stars

guccilvr, I agreee with you almost completely. IMO, hes already fallen prey to the dangers of fame. I dont think hell get close to Kobe, let alone his Airness.

I'm excited about LeBron... I think he's got skills and he has so much room to learn more.

I'm lucky enough to live close to Akron and I've seen many of his games. He's gonna be a top 3 player if he isn't the best player in the NBA in 5 years. He's gonna be rookie of the year. He's the best player that I've ever seen on a basketball court who wasn't in the NBA. He needs to work on his jumper. I'm sure he'll become a solid shooter. Once he does that and gets tough on D he'll be unreal. I can't wait until he proves himself so all the Lebron hatere will shut up. I just hope he doesn't go to Cleveland or the Clippers.

im shooting for darco milicec. but the order is gonna be lebron, darco, then carmelo.

Get your facts sir. The article at espn suggests the deal is between 90 and 100 million over 7 years.

As for carmello, he got a $40 million dollar deal with nike just last week.

I was talking about Carmello.. and I wasn't positve on the figures I was just going by what I heard on espn yesterday. regardless of the figures I still think Carmello is going to be a better ball-player than LeBron:o

I also misread =]

however the deal is roughly 40 million from what i've seen

I forgot all about Darko Milicic, but then again, it will depend what team.

Well, Cleveland won the lottery, there goes the first pick, hands down that it will be LeBron James.

edit
my predictions

01 - Cleveland Cavaliers - LeBron James
02 - Detroit Pistons - Carmelo Anthony
03 - Denver Nuggets - Darko Milicic
04 - Toronto Raptors -
05 - Miami Heat -

Detroit will be a contender with Anthony on the team.. that's a great lottery win for them.. I know memphis is kicking themselves in the ass right about now.. oh well that's how it goes.

I can't fucking belive that Cleveland won the damn lottery. Fuuuck!

Detroit better not be dumb and pick Darko.

LOL what's wrong Sixate?? Don't think LeBron can turn around Clevland?? Don't worry they'll just trade him after a few years anyway.. they have a way of screwing things up.. hell maybe he'll even end up with the clippers :)

I am a Piston fan and would rather they took Drako over Melo.

He is legit 7' and can post up or shoot the 3. It would allow Ben to move to his natural PF position. Drako has been playing against better competition for the last 2 years while playing pro ball over in Europe. No knock on the NCAA but the leagues in Europe are 2nd only to the NBA and some teams could probably beat some of the low end NBA teams.

I do not think either Melo or Drako is a bad pick. My only true problem with Melo is that he needs to get rid of that baby fat and add some muscle.

See come June 26th..:)

Art

Drako is doing the same stuff Lebron has been doing except he does it against grown men rather than high school kids. Drako will end up being better than Lebron but not better than Carmelo

LeBron will be a great player, but another Jordan? It's way too early to tell. As for the Pistons, I'd love to see Carmelo alongside RIP, but it's not gonna happen. They're going to take Darko with the number 2. Carmelo will be a great NBA player, but Darko could become one of the best and you just can't pass that up.

LeBron gets a $90 million dollar nike shoe contract
 

Lebron got $90 million dollars shoe contract from nike. $90 million?! $90 million?! I don't care if this kid is supposed to be the lord and savior of Cleveland, no straight out of high school/rookie deserves a $90 million dollar shoe deal!

I've seen him play twice. One of my Dad's friends is a high school ref.

We both got the same impression: Some help is needed in his defensive game. Other than that, I see no reason why he can't have a Stoudamire-type rookie season. He has the same physique. He's ready. Oh yeah, go cavs.

Nobody deserves that kind of cash to wear some damn shoes, but don't even try telling me if Nike put that contact in front of you that you wouldn't sign it. :p

Nope I wouldn't sign it..now if it were Converse.. haha yeah of course I'd fucking sign it.. if you don't you're ummm STUPID :D

I think Darko is the real deal. The Pistons must be laughing there way to the bank right now.

In hockey we have a guy who had the kind of "hype" and "entourage" like Lebron James, is name is Eric Lindros, nuff said.

Lebron will be a legitmate star some day. He will not be the next MJ, he's not a 1-man show like AI. A better comparison would be Magic. Around the same heighth and similar build but much more athletic and quicker then Magic. His O game will be fine as long as Cleveland runs but his biggest adjustment will be on the defense side of the ball. He has a long way to go to become a good defender.
I've never seen Darko play but from what I hear and read, he won't dissapoint. He definately should be the 2nd pick over Carmelo. The problem I see with Melo is his back. It's not a good sign seeing a young kid already having back problems.
Also, you guys that say Melo proved it over college players and Lebron only did it against High Schoolers, the NCAA is a watered down league these days. All the exceptional talent in the NCAA go pro early. The kids Lebron played against aren't really that much less talented then whats in the NCAA now. He played a lot of games going against some of the top prep stars.
All 3 will be good players but 5 years from now, Lebron will stand above the other 2.
My predicted 4th pick is TJ Ford to Toronto. Smart player who flourishes in the open court. He and air Canada will be a great open court duo.

TJ Ford choked big time in the big dance. Melo has a back problem but I don't think it's a major problem. He proved how much he wants to win in the dance. He played hurt and still dominated. To say that the people he faced in the NCAA aren't that much better than the top prep stars in HS is bull. You could take the majority of those "top prep stars" and put them in the league and they wouldn't start. Melo basically destroyed the toughest conference in NCAA by himself. That says alot. As far as Darko goes, I don't know enough about him to really comment as to how good he will be.

I would not say that the Big East was the toughest conference (Big 12).

I would say that the comp level between even a watered down NCAA and HS is like the NBA to the CBA and it might not even be that close. Melo's back will fine if he can strengthen his middle section and get rid of that baby fat.

Drako is by far the better choice because they need a big man who can play with his back to the basket.


Art

Remember Len Bias?? "PUT DOWN THE CRACK PIPE LABRON!!"

I was saying the big 12 was the toughest and that Melo destroyed them.. sorry about not being clear on that. :D

So did Marcus Fizer when he was in the Big 12 and look at him now. First I wouldn't say he destroyed anyone and he certainly didn't do it by himself. College teams don't have players to match up against players like Melo day in day out. Against Texas he had a 6'3" guard matching up with him, he won't see that kind of favorable match up in the NBA ever. To say his back problem is not that serious is a ridiculous statement. Any back problem is a concern especially when you're talking about the kind of money a #2 or #3 pick in the draft is going to make. I also stand by what I said, the NCAA is a watered down league. I didn't say that teams that Lebron played against could beat them but the individuals he played against all year long are all americans and receiving scholarships to Division I schools. He basically made fools of all of them. Melo will be a good player but I can't see him making much of an impact, not right away anyway. Melo reminds me of Glen Robinson, pure scorer and not much else and he isn't anything near what Robinson was when he was with Purdue. Look at him now, just another body who occasionally scores in the 30's, nothing special.
BTW have you looked at any pre-draft boards? Most of the players that are predicted to go in the first round are all foreigners, that backs up my statement about the NCAA being a watered down league.

That was so low and insensitive. Len Bias had so much potential and he lost his life because of one night.

>>LeBron James..the next Jordan?!

No. He won't be the next Jordan, he'll be the first Lebron James. I really dislike how the media like to call people "the next this or the next that." Simply spoken that's just something NOONE can live up to, because every individual is just that - individual. Remember Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner? High expectations, low results. I can go on forever about media labels... but I won't

As for Lebron. I've seen him on TV. Looks like he needs to build a better jump shot and play harder defense. He's already got three extraordinary skills you can't teach - passing, ball handling and driving to the basket. Will he be amazing right away? Probably not. Will he be a superstar in the future? I think he has a great chance to.

As for Carmelo, I think he'll be a superstar. Darko will be like Nowitzki.

I don't know if this means anything, but when Oak Hill Academy played St. Vincent-St. Mary the season before this past season, Lebron showed up Carmelo big time. While Oak Hill won the game because of their incredibly deep squad, all the scouts and the crowd knew that LeBron was better. This was when he was a Junior and Carmelo was a senior.

Carmelo is an amazing basketball player, as we've seen from his outstanding (but all too short) college career. But who's to say that LeBron would/wouldn't be able to do it. All this speculation isn't really necessary because it really could swing either way. LeBron may very well be the next Jordan, or he might be the next Harold Miner. It really just depends on his ability to adapt to a more intense schedule and his work ethic. Kobe is where he is now because of how hard he works on his game.

Anyways, personally, I think he's gonna be good. Not legendary-good, but a mid-upper tier player that will start on most any team he plays on. But again, it's just guessing.

for some reason I just think that LeBron is going to end up being the Randy Moss of the NBA. Guess he'll have to compete with Rasheed Wallace. Plus being the main attraction so early could hurt him. Even Jordan needed a supporting cast, in Clevland LeBron won't have that. I'm ready to see what he can do..

LeBron will do for Cleveland what MJ did for Chicago. Did anybody ever talk about the Bulls before he arrived? I don't think all the off-court crap will affect him. Sure, he knows some iffy people, but he's not a thug like Iverson.