OT: Lebron James

[thepritz]

By the way. The Cavs just released LeBron. Otis says we don't need him.

hysterical... at this point who knows..

[DrunkOnMystery]

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If Hedo Turkoglu ever publicly said one of his goals was to become a billionaire, I'd rip him too. It really all boils down to how sick society is that we idolize people who are entertainers (Hollywood or sports), when they really do little to nothing for society. The peanuts they give back are more than offset by the wasted time and money society gives to them. It's kind of like an addictive drug, you start using it and THEN you need it.

So how exactly does $1 billion improve LeBron's or ANYONE's life any more than $500 million? Just to say "Hey, I've got a billion"? So is he going to work extra hard endorsing products kids can't afford or shouldn't be consuming because it's not good for them? Step back for a moment and look at the absurdity of it.

I realize that the greed is on all levels in sports, not just the athletes. But LeBron's statement is beyond wanting to live comfortbaly, it says that money is the end-all in life. And to me, that is shallow.

I can only assume you live in a modest home with just the bare essentials needed to survive, and you give the rest of your money to charity?

But I think the real question here is: What compulsion does LeBron, or anyone else on the planet, have that would demand he give up money that he had the potential to make because you thought it was unfair?

I work in the entertainment industry. I'd like to be a billionaire. I'd go so far as to say it's a goal I have, albeit one I have no hope of ever achieving. Why do you think I should have to apologize for that?

[N4U|Redux]

I work in the entertainment industry. I'd like to be a billionaire. I'd go so far as to say it's a goal I have, albeit one I have no hope of ever achieving. Why do you think I should have to apologize for that?

You really think you'll ever accomplish anything worth being a billionaire over by being in entertainment? I'd love to hear you characterize this...

[DrunkOnMystery]

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You really think you'll ever accomplish anything worth being a billionaire over by being in entertainment? I'd love to hear you characterize this...

You're missing the point. The point isn't whether or not anything I'll ever do is worth a billion dollars. Placing value on something intangible is purely subjective, and I frankly don't want to argue over a monetary value of nonsense like "a child's laughter", since that's the sort of thing entertainment provides.

My point is that wanting to be successful isn't wrong. And if LeBron's idea of success is being a billionaire, good for him. It'll be interesting to see what he does to achieve that goal.

[macdalejax]

Not only is this a basketball board but we also discuss Economy, Philosophy, History and not to mention Philanthropy. This is such a great thread...it covers everything all in one.

[pikimagic]

Not only is this a basketball board but we also discuss Economy, Philosophy, History and not to mention Philanthropy. This is such a great thread...it covers everything all in one.

OMG what a racist guy !!!! we have racial debate too.

[N4U|Redux]

You're missing the point. The point isn't whether or not anything I'll ever do is worth a billion dollars. Placing value on something intangible is purely subjective, and I frankly don't want to argue over a monetary value of nonsense like "a child's laughter", since that's the sort of thing entertainment provides.

My point is that wanting to be successful isn't wrong. And if LeBron's idea of success is being a billionaire, good for him. It'll be interesting to see what he does to achieve that goal.

The point of this thread seems to involve Lebron's greed.

The fact that he thinks he'll ever do anything worth a billion dollars is pretty irritating to me; in 100 years will we be talking about what he did on the court, his shoes made by people making $0.05/hr, or his Sprite? I doubt it. In 100 years will we be marveling about things like plumbing, computers, cars, electricity (and electronics), avionics, etc? I think so.

Fact is, it's insane that athletes and entertainers, or even to an extent great entrepreneurs are even able to have more money than entire cities do. I'm not sure where you draw the line and say "oops, you cannot make any more money this year" so we'll never have any type of cap, but it is absurd.

Carnegie was a great man for his time, he was noted to have so much money to have bailed out the government, but he also gave away almost all of his money in his lifetime, I believe he said something like a "a rich man who dies rich is..." (I don't want to ruin the elegance of the quote, but it amounted to...give your damn money away you greedy bastards). And, why do we remember him? Not because he owned railways and steel mills, but because he gave away museums, colleges, public libraries, etc that contributed to the greater good.

[DrunkOnMystery]

Any service is valued at what someone is willing to pay you to do it. If someone offered you a billion dollars to do 10 jumping jacks, would you be greedy for doing them? Of course not. You'd be insane not to.

Now imagine someone said: "Pick a number between 1 and a billion. I'll give you that many dollars to do 10 jumping jacks." Are you still greedy for choosing a billion and then doing them?

Was Lebron's quote in poor taste? Perhaps. But I still fail to see why Lebron should be looked down on, much less punished, for thinking he should get paid X amount for his total work. Especially when compared to other "superstar" athletes. If anything, I'm happy he said it honestly. I want to be the first billionaire athlete. Not: "I need to feed my family".

As for Carnegie, Carnegie was also noted for thinking the poor were too stupid to know how to spend their money. So while he was a great philanthropist, he also had a lot of people working for him that made next to nothing.

And while Carnegie, and to a lesser extent Rockefeller, did give money to charities, men like Gould who took over the railroad industry during the same period of time, didn't. And to be perfectly blunt, I don't care that he didn't.

But here's a question that I'm serious about: If Lebron said on tv tomorrow: "I want to be a billionaire athlete, but I'm going to give $100m of that to charity", would he still be greedy? What if he said $500m?

[N4U|Redux]

Any service is valued at what someone is willing to pay you to do it. If someone offered you a billion dollars to do 10 jumping jacks, would you be greedy for doing them? Of course not. You'd be insane not to.

Being greedy, and being insane not to do it are two distinctly different things. You can be both, neither, or any combination of the two.

Now imagine someone said: "Pick a number between 1 and a billion. I'll give you that many dollars to do 10 jumping jacks." Are you still greedy for choosing a billion and then doing them?

Yes. You're greedy, and I agree, insane if you don't do it. I certainly wouldn't haggle the price down either. The difference here is we don't have the mindframe that we walk through life thinking we deserve that opportunity. Lebron is walking through life thinking "Hmm...I play good basketball, I pack crowds to see me, maybe I deserve a billion dollars." WTF is wrong with his ego?

Was Lebron's quote in poor taste? Perhaps. But I still fail to see why Lebron should be looked down on, much less punished, for thinking he should get paid X amount for his total work. Especially when compared to other "superstar" athletes. If anything, I'm happy he said it honestly. I want to be the first billionaire athlete. Not: "I need to feed my family".

It's fine that he's ambitious, and he's no Sprewell, but no athlete or entertainer deserve that type of dough. The fact that he thinks he's worth that shows some significant ego problems, if you believe that too, you have significant ego problems. I have no qualms in saying what I do in my life will probably not be worth a billion dollars.

And while Carnegie, and to a lesser extent Rockefeller, did give money to charities, men like Gould who took over the railroad industry during the same period of time, didn't. And to be perfectly blunt, I don't care that he didn't.

Of course you don't care about an idiot, rather jerk, like Gould; at least you're consistent.

But here's a question that I'm serious about: If Lebron said on tv tomorrow: "I want to be a billionaire athlete, but I'm going to give $100m of that to charity", would he still be greedy? What if he said $500m?

1. He doesn't deserve a billion dollars unless he develops some new skill useful toward society, I don't care if he says (and does) he'll give away 100% of his money the second he gets the checks -- that makes him nice, but doesn't make it absurd that he made the amount of money he has for the relatively useless skills he possesses.

2. He hasn't shown that he is the type of philanthropist to do that type of thing.

3. I'm not trying to advocate philanthropy by the way. I don't care if he doesn't give a dime of his money away if he sticks to "normal" athlete money (which is absurd, but we've grown desensitized to it), I don't care if Bill Gates gives away as much money as he does, or if he stopped because he was useful to humanity and probably deserves his money, same with Carnegie, Morgan, etc.

My primary problem here is that Lebron desires to get something he in no way deserves, but I'm sure in his mind it is a legitimate goal that he will try his hardest to fulfill within his life. It's this type of ego that is bothersome...how does he actually believe he deserves that much money even if he gives all of it away and lives in a shack? Does he really contribute that much to humanity?

[DrunkOnMystery]

Your argument seems to lean towards: "Athletes make too much money because they don't benefit society as a whole." That's fine to say, but the same can be said for countless industries. Should they all be shut down because they don't benefit society?

We can agree to disagree, but I think it's an important point to note that if a shoe company pays Lebron 50 million dollars to endorse their shoes, and that company turns a 200 million dollar profit as a result, Lebron has done his job. He just hasn't done a job you feel is worth doing.

[taruky1]

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I can only assume you live in a modest home with just the bare essentials needed to survive, and you give the rest of your money to charity?

But I think the real question here is: What compulsion does LeBron, or anyone else on the planet, have that would demand he give up money that he had the potential to make because you thought it was unfair?

I work in the entertainment industry. I'd like to be a billionaire. I'd go so far as to say it's a goal I have, albeit one I have no hope of ever achieving. Why do you think I should have to apologize for that?

I do live comfortably, a reasonably nice home and a car each for my wife and I. I save for my kids' schooling and for my retirement. I donate to charities. I'm content with what I have and recognize that I am fortunate. I do not have a goal to live in twice as big a home, own a Ferrari and Lamborghini, or throw $100,000 parties. My goal is to be the best I can be in my profession, spend time with my family, and hopefully do some good in my life. If a lot more money comes with it great.

I can honestly say that if I won the lottery and was to receive $200 million, I might keep a million to fund my retirement, pay for my kids' schooling, or help a family member in need, but the rest would go to charity. I don't need it, I don't want it.

[N4U|Redux]

Your argument seems to lean towards: "Athletes make too much money because they don't benefit society as a whole." That's fine to say, but the same can be said for countless industries. Should they all be shut down because they don't benefit society?

We can agree to disagree, but I think it's an important point to note that if a shoe company pays Lebron 50 million dollars to endorse their shoes, and that company turns a 200 million dollar profit as a result, Lebron has done his job. He just hasn't done a job you feel is worth doing.

Going from 50 million to 1 billion is a giant leap, which is where my problem lies. I specifically said if he makes normal athlete money I'd be cool with it, hell, even if he makes Jordan-esque money which is in the hundred's of millions it's cool with me. But, a billion? Hell, even a number like 250 million is reallllllly far from a billion. There's a reason no athlete in history has (apparently) made this much -- why is Lebron's ego so big that he feels he should or even, can, accomplish it?

On other industries doing it -- if they gloat openly about it, then it'll annoy me too. Lebron's waving his ego around on a big pole for all to see with statements like these.

[Stinko Malenko]

Its just Lebron doing his best to copy Jordan as usual

[DrunkOnMystery]

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Going from 50 million to 1 billion is a giant leap, which is where my problem lies. I specifically said if he makes normal athlete money I'd be cool with it, hell, even if he makes Jordan-esque money which is in the hundred's of millions it's cool with me. But, a billion? Hell, even a number like 250 million is reallllllly far from a billion. There's a reason no athlete in history has (apparently) made this much -- why is Lebron's ego so big that he feels he should or even, can, accomplish it?

On other industries doing it -- if they gloat openly about it, then it'll annoy me too. Lebron's waving his ego around on a big pole for all to see with statements like these.

Ok, but supposing Lebron endorses a dozen different products at 50 million each? That, combined with the amount he'll make as a player in his career, and all of a sudden he's not too far off(relatively).

Although I think someone mentioned it earlier, and it's absolutely true: Lebron is going to have to make an insane amount very quickly if he's going to beat Tiger Woods to a billion.

[N4U|Redux]

Ok, but supposing Lebron endorses a dozen different products at 50 million each? That, combined with the amount he'll make as a player in his career, and all of a sudden he's not too far off(relatively).

Although I think someone mentioned it earlier, and it's absolutely true: Lebron is going to have to make an insane amount very quickly if he's going to beat Tiger Woods to a billion.

What will he make as a player, $200mil depending on how long his career goes?

This BEFORE having half of it being removed by the government. Now down to $100 mil.

If he signs all those endorsements (which would be quite a bit of money for so many endorsements, it won't happen). You get $600 mil, again cut in half by the government (gee, I now see why it should be so popular to play here). Now at $100 + 300 mil => $400 mil.

Beyond playing and endorsements I'm not sure what else the man can realistically do. Maybe he'll go partner in purchasing teams and that would up his worth, but not necessarily what's in his pocket (unless he sells). I don't mind owners of businesses making tons of money and a sports franchise is a business, so he'll have to make a bulk of his money after his playing days are over if you ask me.

The above is not including what he'll be "giving away" to charity and/or spending on himself and his family (probably a vast amount).

[N4U|Redux]

http://newscompass.blogspot.com/2006/01 ... first.html

Looks like you're right about Tiger.

Interestingly, he's made like $480 million off of endorsements and only $66 million off of playing the game he gets those endorsements from.

That is nuts...

[NetsForce]

I have nothing against Lebron wanting to be a billionaire athlete, and if he think coming to Brooklyn is going to help him achieve that goal then that's fine as well...

But sometimes I just feel that LBJ should spend less time thinking about making more money and more time working on his cod damn free throws.

[The Letter J]

LeBron is very entrepreneurial. He also works extremely hard at improving his game and is a fierce competitor. I can see how the 2 blend and I can't fault his passion for success spilling over into his business career.

Of course it would be nice to hear him say that he wants to be the first athlete to raise a billion dollars for good will alone. Who knows though, maybe he has that passion as well. LeBron, like a lot of NBA athletes, grew up in a less fortunate situation financially. It's kind of hard for me to believe that most of the people that judge him could truly understand why he is driven to become so successful.

[bucsmagicfan]

Doesn't really matter how much money they give back, there is no logical reason that Lebron makes so much more money than a guy like the president (even if he is a moron).

Cant that be said about pretty much every professional athlete? For example, I'm pretty sure the NBA league minumum is more than the president's salary.

[N4U|Redux]

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Cant that be said about pretty much every professional athlete? For example, I'm pretty sure the NBA league minumum is more than the president's salary.

It's absurd in general what all NBA players make, but as mentioned in this thread, we're most desensitized and they do make a great deal of money for their teams' owners.

However, I mentioned the fact that he makes so much more than the president. Hell, when his career is over, he'll have made more than all president's combined probably (not including outside business ventures of said presidents).