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 General Basketball WiretapESPN encore for Lebron JamesCan't get enough of Lebron James? Still have questions about his talent that have not been answered? Based on the success ESPN had showing James' St. Vincent-St. Mary vs. Oak Hill Academy the guys at ESPN are ready to give you an encore. ESPN.com is now reporting that ESPN2 will offer live coverage of the Pangos Dream Classic on Jan. 4. The game starts at 9:30pm ET, and will show James' crew against Mater Dei High School of Santa Ana, Calif. The Oak Hill game was ESPN2's third highest rated basketball game in their history. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Get ready for realignmentWith Charlotte coming into the league in 2004, a realignment will be needed. Right now there are 15 teams in the east and 14 in the west. David DuPree of the USA Today expects Charlotte to be in the east, so one team is going to have to head west. Going from the map, that would be New Orleans. But Memphis has been trying to escape the stiffer competition out west, so would they consider moving Memphis to the east while Chicago and Milwaukee head west? Unlikely. DuPree also reports that the player conditions for the new Charlotte team have been settled. Charlotte will get the fourth pick in the 2004 draft. In future years they will pick wherever they land in the draft, with no restrictions. At the end of the 2003/04 season, teams will all be able to protect eight players that they have under contract for the 2004/05 season. Charlotte will be able to select up to one player from each team. Dupree says to expect older players with ugly contracts to be available, citing Damon Stoudamire and his $15.8 million salary being a prime candidate. Charlotte will be able to sign free agents like other teams (not if they take on Stoudamire’s salary!). But for the first season their salary cap will be two-thirds what other teams have, and in the second season it will be three-quarters what other teams have. Although each team gets about $10.3 million from the $300 million expansion fee Charlotte is paying, it won’t take too many years for that to be offset by each team’s loss in national TV revenue. General Basketball, New Orleans Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback BET founder to own Charlotte franchiseRick Bonnell and Scott Dodd of the Charlotte Observer report: The NBA has picked an owner for the league's 30th franchise. Robert Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, has been chosen to own Charlotte's new NBA franchise. Johnson will be introduced at an 11 a.m. news conference Wednesday at the NBA Store in midtown Manhattan. The league's expansion committee chose Johnson over a Boston-based group that included Hall of Famer Larry Bird, sources close to the situation told The Observer. Johnson will become the only African-American majority owner of a major-league team. He couldn't be reached Tuesday night. Steve Belkin, the managing partner of Bird's group, declined to comment. Johnson will pay a $300 million expansion fee to the NBA to get the team. He has said he's prepared to own anywhere from 51 percent of the franchise to all of it. Wealthy Charlotteans are expected to invest about $50 million in the team. The team will replace the Hornets, who moved to New Orleans. The NBA already has a deal with the city of Charlotte to build a new arena that would open in the fall of 2005, one year after the new team debuts at the Charlotte Coliseum. The Charlotte franchise will begin play starting in the 2004-2005 season. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Dec 2002 Archive
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