Let's make our dream Duke Alum TBT team

[camion]

Yes, but what weighs more, a ton of pennies or a ton of bills?

Which weighs more a ton of pennies of a tonne of pennies?

[JasonEvans]

A ton of $100 dollar bills would be worth $90.8m. 3 tons=$272m
Has anybody from Duke made this, lifetime? I don’t think so, though I could guess who might be there before he hits 30.

Kyrie is currently at $126.9 mil in career NBA earnings and will be at $231.7 mil when his contract with the Nets runs up in 3 years. He will be 31 at that time and it is highly likely he will get another lucrative contract. So, he's going to get there. If we include endorsements and the such (I bet he made a lot from being Uncle Drew in commercials and a movie) his career earnings are likely already over $272 mill.

Grant Hill had made $141 mil when he retired in 2013. He also made some good investments over his career -- he has an ownership stake in the Hawks, he owns a real estate investment firm -- and was a high demand endorser -- he still has a lifetime endorsement deal with Fila and the company still sells a lot of Grant Hill shoes. I would not be at all surprised if his career earnings have surpassed $272 mil.

I suspect there might be others. Boozer made about $143 mil in his NBA career and while I don't think he has done as well outside the basketball arena as Grant has, if he had even mildly competent financial advisers, they should have been able to double that $143 mil without too much trouble (unless Carlos spent like a drunken sailor and did not invest wisely). Same story with Elton Brand (earned over $165 mil in his career) and Luol Deng ($156 mil in NBA earnings).

-Jason "and, FWIW, I too expect Zion to easily surpass $272 mil by the time he is 30... especially if we include endorsement income" Evans

[phaedrus]

I'm not sure how many of you all are watching the TBT... I've been enjoying the bits I've watched since I so desperately miss basketball, and the Elam Ending makes for some exciting finishes.

For those aren't aware, the best teams in the tourney (which awards 1 or 2 million dollars, depending on the year, to the winning team in a winner-take-all format) are mostly "alumni" teams of certain schools. Ohio State, Marquette, Dayton, and Purdue, amongst others, have teams this year.

So, I was thinking it might be fun to craft a dream "Duke Alum" TBT team. The rules:

• No currently active NBA players.
• Former players currently playing overseas are fair game (in fact, many such players are in the tournament).
• Players should have semi-recently been playing competitively (so I can't put Zoubek on my team).
• Some, but not many, older guys play... so let's not let our players get too much older than 30, with maybe the exception of one veteran outlier to lead the squad.
• Avoid guys who made tons of money in the league, or are doing so coaching... they likely wouldn't be interested, haha.
• 5 starters and 3 bench players (the teams are small, since less players means more money for each).
• For added challenge, everyone had to GRADUATE from Duke... 4 year players only.
• Pick a coach too for the fun of it.

My squad:
1: Tyler Thornton (I didn't realize it, but he's playing in Canada!)
2: Demarcus Nelson
3: Kyle Singler
4: Ryan Kelly
5: Miles Plumlee
Bench: Matt Jones
Bench: Jack White (I imagine he'll be starting a career in Australia soon...)
Bench: Vrank
Coach: Nolan

Minus lacking a playmaking PG (most of our recent PGs are in the league!), that team is easily a contender in the tournament I'm watching.

Who can craft a better squad? I'm sure I forgot some guys...

I'd like to see those guys match up against Grant Hill, Luol Deng, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, and Gerald Henderson.

[JasonEvans]

I'd like to see those guys match up against Grant Hill, Luol Deng, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, and Gerald Henderson.

I'm confused why you picked a team exclusively of guys who the "rules" expressly forbade from being included. Retired NBA players only very rarely play in the TBT. And Joe Johnson is the only really successful one I can recall doing it.

That said, I suspect all these guys are nowhere near playing shape at this point and would not fare all that well against the significantly younger active players who played in this year's TBT.

[duke96]

$272m
Has anybody from Duke made this, lifetime? I don’t think so, though I could guess who might be there before he hits 30.

Quite a few have, but not athletes as far as I'm aware. Amazing to see that Miles has made over $50m in the NBA. Good for him ... and a bit startling to see!