Dave in Green

The LeBron Factor has wide-ranging influence. Whoever thought a 6-8 shooting guard who hit 46% of his 3s last season and owns 2 NBA championship rings would turn down offers from Denver, Dallas and Houston to come to Cleveland to play for less money just to be with LeBron? Mike Miller's perimeter shooting will help fill a big Cavs' need.

InTheTwilightZone.

Yes, but how much did you pay the experts to say that?

Bingo, zippy5. Looking nice may be in the eye of the beholder, so there will always be mixed feelings about the look of the Z. But there's no denying that the Z is simple and unique. When looking for an identity symbol, those are the two most important factors for immediate recognition. Quick views on TV or long views from the cheap seats don't allow easy interpretation of complex images that look like an inkblot (Rorschach) test,

I think about Coach Peters a lot and always hope he's doing well, so it's really nice to get a report like this. He always used to be so warm and friendly to those of us who showed up at Zips practices to get our off-season basketball fix. Happy birthday to Coach Peters and may he enjoy many more.

GP1, you should announce that you're going to bring your talents back to Akron and see what kind of reception you'd get.

One of the major problems with most financial impact studies is that they don't account for offsets. For example, in trying to calculate how much money will be injected into the local economy by LeBron's return to the Cavs, they don't consider how much of that is money shifted from one area of the local economy to another. Fans who deserted the Cavs four years ago after LeBron left didn't stop spending money, they just shifted their spending to something else. So while the Cavs will take in more money in ticket sales and bars and restaurants near the Q will see increased business on game nights, that's not all new money flowing into Cleveland and NEO. Most of it is just shifted from one thing to another, with the overall effect on the local economy being much smaller. As already pointed out, the same applies to conventions. A lot of the money spent during conventions is from outside the area, so that's a plus. But the offset is that locals won't be spending as much in bars and restaurants flooded by convention goers, and other potential visitors to the area will not be able to book hotel rooms and many will visit other areas with open hotel space and spend their money outside the area. So a really sophisticated and objective study would subtract money that won't be spent from money that will be spent to arrive at a more accurate number for the total economic impact of any event. Ultimately the most important number is how the local economy performs from year to year, not just during special events. Most of these economic impact studies are funded by people with a vested interest in "proving" that there will be a major positive economic impact, and they get the results they pay for. Reality is that any study that doesn't include offsets is misleading at best. Does that mean that things like LeBron's return and the Republican Convention are totally worthless to the local economy? Like extremely positive estimates, extremely negative estimates are rarely accurate. The objective truth is usually somewhere in between, and objectivity requires considering the pros and cons of all available data.

Thanks for the report, GoZips. Made me go searching for any summer predictions for the coming college basketball season. Lo and behold, College Sports Madness just filed a report on the Zips, who they're projecting as #124 in the country based on lots of question marks about the young players. They did have nice things to say about Jimond, but of course he won't be playing this season.

GP1, good point about "the study." Real economic impact studies require a lot of time and resources to do right. Companies that specialize in this charge lots of money for such studies. Kentucky windage studies are a dime a dozen. No one really knows what the full effect will be on Cleveland and NEO. I do think that Michael Jordan is a poor comparison with LeBron off the court. MJ was never interested in any non-basketball issues during his playing career. LBJ has evolved into a person with way more civic interests than MJ ever had. MJ would never, ever, ever have said "I feel my calling here goes above basketball." The book is far from written on what LeBron will accomplish off the basketball court, where he should be measured on his own merit and not merely assumed to be the same as other star athletes. He's still just 29 years old.

Clearly, LeBron's message states that he wants his impact on NEO to go beyond basketball: What's not clear is what he can do to help the whole area pull itself up by its bootstraps. This will play out over the coming years, and I don't really see any simple formula for estimating the full impact, including such things as the economy beyond the direct effect of the Cavs. NEO doesn't need a savior so much as effective leadership. The more effective leader LeBron becomes the more NEO benefits. Just helping NEO lose the beaten down loser mentality would be a great start.

We shouldn't be surprised by LeBron supporting all things Ohio and being claimed by all. No one in Ohio has an exclusive on him. His relationships with various parts of Ohio are all a little different. The one with tOSU is scripted to be highly visible. Every time he shows up there it's highly publicized with cameras whirring and clicking. The locker with his name on it that he never has a real need to use is just part of the tOSU/Nike marketing program. Urban Meyer and Thad Matta are just two of many who want a piece of him. Who wouldn't? Whatever claim anyone else in Ohio may make on LeBron, Akron is home. The JAR is where he played many of his HS games. Keith Dambrot helped turn an aspiring young football player into a basketball legend. When LeBron shows up unannounced at the JAR to scrimmage with the Zips, there are no cameras and no publicity flaks to orchestrate media coverage. It's just LeBron being LeBron in private in a place and with people he's comfortable being around. No one at UA needs to reach out to LeBron. UA is part of his home. He may have left the Cavaliers for four years, but he never left home.

My mother had some serious age-related problems in her later years. My older brother was so intimidated by the situation that he wouldn't even try to help. The situation was bad enough that no one had been able to help. My mother was an extraordinarily strong-willed person, and my wife and I understood that trying to help her would present the biggest challenge to our marriage that we would ever face. We took on the challenge together because we feared that my mother was otherwise headed for certain self-destruction. For five years it turned our lives upside down. But we managed to make the last years of my mother's life safe and comfortable. From the personal perspective of that experience, I have great respect for people like LeBron and his wife who do all they can to help make his mother's life safer and more comfortable.

I found Kareem's piece to be a generic statement on coming home that applies to some more than others. I thought a lot of what Kareem had to say is not applicable to LeBron's specific case. As for LeBron's wife and mother, I thought he put their feelings compared with his own in good perspective in his written explanation: Some people are going to be dissecting LeBron's written statement and trying to read between the lines for years to come. Others are just going to take the man at his word.

Cavs fans just want to win. LeBron's return instantly turns the Cavs into a winner. For most Cavs fans, winning = forgiveness. For LeBron fans, forgiveness is not required.

GP1, this is the kind of thoughtful analysis I appreciate from you. Dorvilus comes across as a really intelligent guy from his comments about the various programs he visited. That's why his comment about UA makes me feel even more optimistic about the Zips' future under Coach Bowden:

So far I like Bill Simmons' article -- God Loves Cleveland -- the most. It's a good long read trying to put LeBron's genius in historical perspective through insightful comparisons with Michael, Larry and Magic. Here's just one small part from the beginning that Simmons documents in great detail throughout the remainder of his story:

Just caught up with the George Thomas update on the Zips that ran a few days ago. Confirming what GoZips has been telling us, Coach Dambrot likes his two new true freshman PGs a lot and also thinks BJ can handle the ball pretty well. Melo is still in the mix for PG time, but Nyles is being moved to shooting guard (where he'll have tough competition for PT). Coach Dambrot is expecting BJ and Aaron to help replace Nick and Q. A little surprise at the end of the story are the new numbers for Tree. Listed at 6-7, 235 pounds last season, he's now described as 6-8, 250. Coincidentally, that's the exact same height and weight as a player named LeBron who occasionally scrimmages with the Zips.

LeBron definitely said all the right things this time around. George Thomas quotes Coach Dambrot: UA coach @CoachDambrot: LeBron came back because he felt loyalty to this community.

Announcing the decision at the World Cup wouldn't surprise me. Fox Sports documents why all the attention is deserved in a story entitled Does LeBron's Decision Deserve This Much Attention? YEP. The story points out that the 66 players named so far to the 2014 MLB All-Star Game have a combined Twitter following of 7.01 million while LeBron alone has 13.4 million Twitter followers. I don't believe the latest rumor today that Dan Gilbert's open letter from four years ago is still a sticking point with LeBron even if it may be with some in his entourage. LeBron is a bigger thinker than that. I agree with George Thomas who tweeted that he endorses Jason Whitlock's intelligent analysis in a story entitled LeBron's Pride Simply Not Important. Jason nails it when he writes that the wrong P-word is being tossed around in this saga -- it's Power and Progress that LeBron should be focused on, not Pride. We're in the middle of the changing of the fundamental power structure of the NBA, and LeBron is doing a good job of turning Akron into the center of the NBA universe.

Candidate for best LeBron-related tweet ever: Romeo Travis ‏@RomeTravThe mayor of Akron just sent me a text asking where is he going. This is getting out of hand6:23 PM - 10 Jul 2014

Savior? Nah, just a kid from Akron, Ohio.

If I'm Dan Gilbert, part of my pitch for luring LeBron back is the promise of major Quickens Loans sponsorship of the new Akron area with naming rights to call it the LeBron James Arena by Quicken Loans. Add in hosting youth basketball programs and moving the Cavs D-League team there. Make the package so sweet for the City of Akron that voters would be more inclined to vote yes on the sales tax increase.

Rumor about the Cavs' interest in Zeke heating up along with rumors of LeBron leaning toward a return to the Cavs:

Buckzip, thanks, that's the kind of info I'm interested in. Doing a little research myself, I see out of HS he had offers from Florida, Auburn, South Carolina and Clemson, so he was obviously evaluated highly by top SEC teams. He also had offers from Southern California and a host of other major schools. He's either the real deal or he fooled a lot of schools that some rate higher than tOSU. At 6-2, 243 pounds he appears to be a bit of a tweener in going back and forth between OLB and weakside DE. He's fairly quick for his size with a 4.6-second 40. It will be interesting to see how Coach Amato positions him. There appears to be mixed opinion on just how good he is He has all the tools to be an outstanding player at the MAC level, but it will ultimately depend on how badly he wants it.. My best guess at this point is that he is likely to be at least a solid player for UA.

Let's not drag Gerry Faust into this. Again, the Zips are getting a specific player, not a generic player. I'm interested in learning more about this specific player, not stereotypes.