ALL BALL NERVE CENTER – A report in the June 10 issue of Forbes magazine says LeBron James isn’t just the NBA’s MVP on the court — he’s also the MVP when it comes to moving shoes.
According to Forbes, who culled this information from the research firm SportsOneSource, while several NBA players have signature shoes that sold tens of millions of dollars worth in 2012, nobody’s kicks came close to LeBron, whose signature LeBron X made about six times as much in U.S. sales as his closest finisher (in this case, Kobe Bryant). On the come-up: Derrick Rose, who moved into the top five even though he missed the entire 2012-13 season.
There are a lot of variables involved, which you can read about in the Forbes story, but here is how the top five shook out for U.S. sales in 2012, according to SportsOneSource:
1. LeBron James (Nike): $300 million
2. Kobe Bryant (Nike): $50 million
3. Carmelo Anthony (Jordan): $40 million
4. Kevin Durant (Nike): $35 million
5. Derrick Rose (Adidas): $25 million
Also worth noting from the story: Even though he retired in 2003, Michael Jordan‘s Jordan Brand did $2 billion in sales in 2012.
A player’s shoes always make a statement. Pregame, many choose to go with high-fashion dress shoes or sneakers. During games, a player can have career-defining moments that get memorialized by the shoes he wore. A player’s in-game sneakers often represent more than athletic performance. Notes can be seen scribbled across the sides, or logos crafted specifically for the player become globally recognizable symbols that represent the growth and influence of the game. In fact, the global aspect of basketball extends to shoes, as several NBA players now endorse Chinese shoe companies.
In this spotlight, we will highlight both the sneakers worn during the game, and the shoes that made the biggest statements during arrivals. As always, keep up with the conversation using #NBAStyle.
James Harden is a known risk taker, and goes all-out with multi-colored studded sneakers, which he pairs with a printed button down.
While many NBA players have different interpretations of high fashion and the latest trends, some are sticking with basic suits, while still mixing it up a bit. Perhaps the most important facet of today’s suit is an ability to break up the pieces and wear them with other items in your wardrobe. Let’s take a look at several different styles, including trends that can become part of any closet. Keep up with the conversation using #NBAStyle.
THE EXPERTLY TAILORED SUIT
Derrick Rose, Amar’e Stoudemire and Zach Randolph are in favor of finely tailored, slim cuts.
In the words of Mars Blackmon circa 1990, “It’s gotta be the shoes!”
That must be the reason Michael Jordan was able to torment defenders, right? During the 1991 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Dee Brown stopped and took the time to pump up his Reebok Pumps before successfully reversing a pass to himself. Moments like these were monumental for sneaker culture. Sports fans — both athletes and non-athletes — wanted to be like NBA superstars. Buying jerseys wasn’t enough. People wanted the shoe that Jordan was wearing when he knocked down the game-winner over Craig Ehlo.
Here’s a look at some current NBA superstars’ “career kicks” — shoes these players wore during signature moments of their careers. Don’t forget to let us know your favorite kicks in the comments below or on Twitter using the hashtag #NBAStyle…
• LeBron James — Career high 56 points vs. TOR on 3/20/2005: Nike Zoom LeBron II, released November 2004, a fan favorite!
You may have noticed it’s the offseason, which means we have plenty of time to sit around and think about many of the things that make it fun to be an NBA fan. Here at All Ball, we’ll be passing the time until the start of the season with a new series, the Fave Five. Each week we’ll count down a list of the five best, or worst … somethings. We’ll try to get creative with it. Plus we’re taking requests! If you have a suggestion for a Fave Five post, give us a shout and you may see it appear in this space over the next several weeks.
Who is going to win the Super Bowl this year? The World Series? Your guess is as good as mine. In the NFL and MLB, who wins from year to year is totally unpredictable. In football it’s about who is lucky and who is healthy; in baseball it’s who is lucky and who gets great pitching.
The NBA is different. There are very, very few Cinderella stories in professional basketball. For my money, the 2011 Mavericks and the 2004 Pistons are the only surprise champions I’ve seen in the NBA in my lifetime.
The best teams almost always prevail. Which is why when we think of the teams who have come up short since the start of the 2000s, the answers are pretty obvious.
Let’s take a look:
5. 2011 San Antonio Spurs
What happened: The Spurs got off to a ridiculous start to the season (they were 29-4 at one point), and for a while there was talk that they might flirt with 70 wins. They cooled a bit down the stretch, but still finished the regular season as the top seed in the Western Conference with a record of 61-21.
The draw in the West looked pretty good, as they faced the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. Talk about a mismatch – the Spurs, four-time NBA champions, versus the Grizz, who to that point had not won a single playoff game in franchise history in three previous appearances. So naturally they advanced to face HEY WAIT A MINUTE!
Memphis shocked San Antonio in six games, and the Spurs went home as only the fourth No. 1 seed to ever lose to a No. 8 seed*.
* The Bulls became the fifth this past season, but methinks that might have turned out differently had Derrick Rose been healthy.
Why they disappointed: I’ll be honest. I don’t really think of this Spurs team as being all that much of a disappointment. Some of that is due to the fact that the Grizzlies turned out to be a pretty good team, and some (maybe a lot) is due to the fact that Manu Ginobili hurt his elbow the final game of the season and was severely limited in the series. Still, 1 seeds don’t lose to 8 seeds, so here they are.
For the first time ever, the NBA released today the overall numbers for top selling jerseys internationally.
At the top of the list? Lakers star KobeBryant, who topped not only the overall international charts but had the highest seller in China, Europe, and Latin America as well. It’s Kobe’s world, we’re all just living in it.
Here’s a look at the top 15, based on sales at adidas locations outside the United States:
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers 2. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls 3. LeBron James, Miami Heat 4. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics 5. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic 6. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat 7. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics 8. Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks 9. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers 10. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder 11. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers 12. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks 13. Amar’e Stoudemire, New York Knicks 14. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs 15. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
Four international players on the international best-seller list (Where is Ginobili? Argentina, you need to get on that pronto.), including Rubio in his rookie season, which is pretty impressive. You can see the NBA’s biggest markets well represented, with two Lakers (and a Clipper), two Celtics, two Heat, and two Knicks on the list. LeBron is only at #3. It will be interesting to see if that changes at all if Miami takes its first title tonight or in the next few days, if that will change people’s perception of him.
Anyone surprise you with their ranking?
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This was pretty fun — joined the GameTime pregame show before Wednesday night’s games to break down the season’s best Horry Scale moments, with the scale’s patron saint himself there to critique my grades:
The prevailing thought amongst Robert Horry, Kevin Martin, and Dennis Scott was that I judged too harshly this season, which is amusing because most emails I received from the fans seemed to suggest I was too lenient. Guess you can’t please everyone!
Here is my final ranking of this year’s six Horry Scale recipients – how would you rank them?
6. Derrick Rose beats Milwaukee – This low because I hate seeing a PG of his caliber settle for a long jumper. 5. Luke Ridnour beats Utah – Difficult floater, but no resistance from the Jazz defense.
4. LaMarcus Aldridge beats Dallas – Aldridge sure does make this look easy.
3. Luol Deng beats Toronto – Only tip-in of the season, Bulls trailed by 1.
2. Kevin Love beats L.A. Clippers – Perhaps in hindsight should have graded higher, especially coming in in the city where he played his college ball.
1. Kevin Durant beats Dallas – Set the bar high the first week of the season and was never topped. The ball barely touches the net from almost 30 feet!
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
UPDATE: A reminder folks, the shot has to beat the buzzer to be considered. As great as Jeremy Lin’s shot to beat the Raptors was, there were still tenths of a second left on the clock. Doesn’t qualify. A man’s gotta have a code…
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When last we spoke around these parts, we were singing the praises of the Bulls’ Derrick Rose, one of the game’s great closers and someone we expect to see many Horry Scale entries from as the years go by.
Unfortunately Mr. Rose is currently out of the lineup for Chicago, having missed the past six games with a hamstring strain. So when the game came down to the final possession against the Raptors tonight, it brought up a quasi-philosophical question: if the Bulls need a game-winner and Rose isn’t around to take the shot, does it make a sound? (Or something like that).
Looks like we have our answer.
For those that are new around these parts, the Horry scale examines a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.
The Bulls may not have Rose, but they still have one more All-Star, and that is Luol Deng. Let’s see how his understudy did:
Difficulty
The time element was the only thing difficult about this shot. Deng set a pick for C.J. Watson at the top of the key, then immediately dove to the basket to put himself in position for exactly what was to come — a potential tip-in situation. I would give Deng credit for a nice box-out to get his hold in the lane, but the Raptors really made it easy on him. To be fair, there is always a lot of chaos in a final-shot scenario like this, it’s easy to lose your man. But Deng faces no opposition at the basket once he gets in the air, and the ensuing tip-in after Watson’s shot comes up short is a piece of cake.
Game Situation
The Raptors led 101-100 after James Johnson hit 1-2 free throws with 15.2 seconds left in overtime, then failed to extend that lead when Gary Forbes missed a pair with 6.4 on the clock. The Bulls then inbounded the ball at midcourt with 6.0 seconds left — plenty of time to get a shot off, but with no room for error since they were trailing.
Importance
Here is what I wrote after Rose’s GWBB back on March 7:
The Bulls fell to the Heat in last season’s Eastern Conference finals, and the two teams appear on a crash course to go at it again this May. With the way Miami has improved, home-court advantage could certainly play a big role in that series, and as such, every win for Chicago will matter from here until the end of the regular season.
Since that win over the Bucks, the Bulls have gone 6-2, but have gained only one game on the Heat in the standings. The sentiment still stands.
Celebration
If I had to make a list of every player in the NBA, then rank them most to least expressive, I’d probably put Deng somewhere next to Tim Duncan down near the very bottom*. So you know Deng has to be pumped to react the way he does after the ball drops — immediately pointing to the stands to celebrate with the fans. Of course by the time the camera pans in on his face the emotion is gone, but we’ll take what we can get from Lu. Bonus points for John Lucas nearly spinning like a top on Deng’s head, plus the shot of Rose watching it all unfold from the bench. By the way, someone tweeted after the game that in the Bulls’ last 82 games covering this season and last, their record is 68-14. Going to be an interesting postseason in the East, no doubt about it.
* Who would be at the top, you ask? That’s easy — Ronny Turiaf.
Grade
3 Horrys. Last-second tip-ins are always a fun sub-genre of the Horry Scale. I’m tempted to debit a half-Horry for the way the Raptors gave this one away, but I won’t. The stakes are always a little higher when you trail at the end, and Deng deserves a lot of credit for making a very difficult situation look relatively easy. Good on the Bulls for doing it all without Rose as well. And the cherry on top? The win made the Bulls the first team in the NBA to clinch a playoff berth this season.
What do you think?
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Almost had two Horry Scale entries tonight, but sadly Jordan Farmar‘s game-winner for the Nets left a measly 0.4 seconds left on the clock for the Clippers to salvage a win. A great shot no doubt (though where was the Clippers’ D on that play?), but twasn’t a buzzer-beater, so it fails to qualify. Fortunately, we still have Derrick Rose to take care of us.
For those that are new around these parts, the Horry scale examines a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.
Rose is one of the ultimate closers in the NBA, so it’s a bit of a surprise to me this is his first appearance on the Horry Scale. How did the league’s reigning MVP stack up? Let’s find out:
Difficulty
Not terribly difficult for Rose, who created some space for himself against Brandon Jennings before knocking down the step-back jumper from the top of the key to win the game. However, I am going to complain just a little here. I won’t argue with the outcome, but with as much time as Rose had to work with in a tie game, I want him to get to the basket there. I’ll give him a pass, though, because that’s typically what he does in game-winning situations. But a lesson to the kids — never settle for the J.
Game Situation
Potential trade bait Ersan Ilyasova scored on an offensive rebound to tie the game at 104-104 with 24 seconds left to play, which gave the Bulls all the time in the world to set up a play for the win. Chicago cleared it out for Rose, who went mano-a-mano with Jennings for the final shot.
Importance
The Bulls fell to the Heat in last season’s Eastern Conference finals, and the two teams appear on a crash course to go at it again this May. With the way Miami has improved, home-court advantage could certainly play a big role in that series, and as such, every win for Chicago will matter from here until the end of the regular season. The Bulls remain two games ahead of the Heat with this win.
Celebration
Watch the clip again, and listen for the crowd’s reaction (go ahead, I’ll wait). What city was this game played in again? I had to look a few times to remind myself it was played in Milwaukee because judging by the crowd’s reaction, you might have thought it was the Windy City. Look how much red is in that crowd! I realize Chicago is a short distance from Milwaukee, but that’s embarrassing. Bonus points for the skyward finger-point celebration from Brian Scalabrine.
Grade
1.5 Horrys. A tie game, plenty of time to work with, and a more-difficult-shot-than-necessary from Rose makes this one fairly standard. But I’m giving an extra half-Horry in honor of the Bulls fans for turning the place into United Center North.
What do you think?
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As everyone knows by now, the compressed NBA schedule will force every team to play three games in three nights at least one this season (42 times in total). With only 66 games to stake a claim to a playoff spot or seed, how teams perform during these killer slates could have a large impact on how their seasons turn out.
With that in mind, we’re going to keep track of each of the 42 three-plays to see which teams take advantage and which teams fall apart. Up next, the New Jersey Nets, who played three straight from Feb. 18-20.
This hasn’t been the best season for the Nets. In a season full of injuries, they’ve been perhaps the most afflicted, suiting up the minimum eight healthy bodies for several games. They put up only 2 points in their first three for all challenge, and that is mainly because they got to play one of the only teams worse than they are. Playing this threeplay would be just leading lambs to the slaughter, right?
Game 1: Nets 97, Bulls 85 - Say what? Yeah that’s right. The Nets, behind 29 points from Deron Williams and a huge 24 and 18 rebounds from the guy you love to hate, Kris Humphries, came into the United Center and put it on the Bulls, jumping out to a 34-19 lead after one and never looking back. The Bulls were without Derrick Rose, but still — they’d only lost one home game all season before this spanking. Didn’t see this one coming. 3 points (1 for win, 1 for road, 1 for +10 margin)
Game 2: Bucks 92, Nets 85 - Naturally, after the road win in Chicago, the Nets returned to New Jersey and promptly lost to the Bucks, despite the season debut for center Brook Lopez (nine points and two rebounds in 12 minutes) Game ball goes to Bucks F Ersan Ilyasova, who had perhaps the most surprising stat line of the season with 29 points and 25 rebounds — and fouled out as well! -1 point
Game 3: Nets 100, Knicks 92 - Oh sure, the Nets go right into Madison Square Garden, overcome Linsanity and the return of Carmelo Anthony to drop the Knicks, who had only won eight of their last nine coming in. Makes perfect sense. I gotta say, people were dogging on D-Will for getting an All-Star nod, but let’s not forget how freakin’ talented this dude is. A career-high eight 3-pointers and a season-best 38 points stole the show in this one. 6 points (5 for win, 1 for road)
No question about it, this is the surprise result of the season in the three for all. 8 points for the Nets, impressive regardless but especially so considering who they beat. Tip o’ the cap.
Up next: The New Orleans Hornets play three straight Feb. 20-22.
Catch up on every single game-winning buzzer beater during the season and see how it rates on the Horry Scale.
