LeBron Waffling On Team USA?

[Atlanta Duke]

After purportedly having one of his less cohesive Duke teams this past year, apparently K can now look forward to potential diva behavior from LeBron James if this linked article is credible.

If LeBron James wants to assure himself of a trip to the Beijing Olympics, he'd better show up for more than a cameo in Las Vegas this summer.

In a blunt retort to James' statement that he is only "50-50" on playing for the United States at the Tournament of the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament, Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo told ESPN.com that James could be jeopardizing his status as one of the five or six core players for the Beijing Olympics....

James gave his "50-50" prognosis last month, saying: "Right now, I'm 50-50. My girlfriend is expecting another [baby] in June. Health is always an issue. You have to re-evaluate things, go through the season, go through the playoffs and then look at it afterward."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2824500

My bet is Nike & Friends will have a sit down with LeBron, as indicated by this further observation in the story:

Jeopardizing his spot on the Beijing roster would be a huge risk for James, who has been studying Mandarin as he seeks to become even more of a marketing and pop icon in China. There's are financial implications, too, for James, who would lose more than $250,000 in endorsement bonuses from Nike, Coca-Cola and Upper Deck if he failed to make the 2008 Beijing roster.

Not exactly the best of basketball times for K as the pressures relating to bringing back the gold in 2008 will continue to increase.

[pamtar]

I bet Coach K wishes he could be 50-50 on the Olympics right now.

[SmartDevil]

LeBron James "STUDYING Mandarin?"

Do you really believe that?

He might "learn" to parrot relatively brief PHONETIC displays off a teleprompter. But respond spontaneously in Mandarin at a press conference? .Come on ! LeBron doesn't strike me as the academic type. (Though maybe someday he'll be awarded an honorary degree from the University of Phoenix.)

[HK Dukie]

somehow I doubt a $250,000 loss in endorsements is going to have much impact on him

[JasonEvans]

somehow I doubt a $250,000 loss in endorsements is going to have much impact on him

Well, it may be $250k now, but if he is seen as someone who is not patriotic and refuses to play for his country, then all his endorsement income could be in danger.

Frankly, Team USA will be fine without him if they just learn to play like a team. K needs to get Jason Kapono or JJ Redick or someone who can just destroy international zones ASAP though.

-Jason "if they get the time to practice together, Team USA will win and win big" Evans

[dukeENG2003]

Jason Kapono or JJ would be nice, but Kobe will do just fine for a zone buster

[Classof06]

I am from Cleveland and thus a Cavs fan, so I am biased, but I think way too much is being made out of all of this. I think to sit there and call LeBron unpatriotic is extremely premature and short-sighted. There are a lot of factors involved, a lot of factors people don't really care or seem to look at. Just my $0.02 though...

[JasonEvans]

I am from Cleveland and thus a Cavs fan, so I am biased, but I think way too much is being made out of all of this. I think to sit there and call LeBron unpatriotic is extremely premature and short-sighted. There are a lot of factors involved, a lot of factors people don't really care or seem to look at. Just my $0.02 though...

I wass not saying he was unpatriotic, I was saying that if he pulls out of the Olympic team without a really, really, really great excuse he would be perceived as being unpatriotic by the general public.

-Jason "frankly, I am not sure Bron-Bron's skills translate really well to the international game" Evans