This brings us to today and the sudden transformation of a basketball team, a city, and perhaps of the sporting world in general. It all started more than a year ago when Cavaliers Vice-Chairman and part owner David Katzman and his Camelot Venture Group (amidst a business fallout with majority owner Dan Gilbert), decided to sell a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers in China. Prospective buyers were narrowed down, and over the past year negotiations and details have been ironed out. In Mr. Katzman’s own words, the background of the buyer was of importance in making the deal work:

“It was very important to us that whoever acquired our ownership piece be able to add value to the team and also realize the appreciation to the value of the team that was created over the past 4 years.”

This is where Kenny Huang came in, the young, smart, and connected Chinese business man that has as good insight on the China-US business world as you can possibly find. He is the man who has been involved both at home and abroad trying to take advantage of the growth of basketball in Asia and China’s growing sports marketing opportunities. Huang had put together a group of investors several months ago that looked ready to buy a significant stake in the Cavs, but several of the investors have meanwhile changed – prolonging this process longer than expected.

It was announced yesterday that the deal has been finalized with Albert Hung (Hung Chao Hong), one of the richest man in Hong Kong, as the primary financier of the deal – making him the first Chinese owner of an American sports franchise. The Cleveland Cavaliers are valued around $475 million  by Forbes, which would mean that Albert Hung will pay out a sum near $60 million  in cash to acquire the rights to 15% of the Cleveland Cavaliers from David Katzman.

This may seem like an interesting way to finance an American basketball team, but it’s not unheard of. Although investment tends to come from sources more traditional than a big-time player at partypoker.com china, getting investors interested is always important – the UK’s Chelsea Football Club became one of the best in the world once Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich invested his considerable wealth in their upkeep. It just goes to show – money from the outside is never something to turn down.

Unlike New Jersey’s soon to be new Russian owner and controversial figure Mikhail Prokhorov, Albert Hung is the ideal owner for an NBA franchise. As Cleveland.com reports:

Hung is a member of numerous powerful groups and committees including: the Standing Committee of National Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the Vice President of China Sports Foundation, Vice Chairman of Major Sports Events Committee, the President of All Stars Sports Association Ltd. of Hong Kong, and Vice President and Director of the South China Athletic Association.

Perhaps his most valuable political affiliation is with the Hong Kong Selection Committee, which is the group that elects the chief executive of the massive Asian commerce and cultural hub.

If there were those wondering what kind of business opportunities and synergy this sort of deal would open up, few precious hours were wasted answering such concerns. Tsingtao, China’s most popular beer and also most well known international brand, has just signed a multi-year partnership with the Quicken Loans Arena and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The partnership will no doubt increase Tsingtao’s image and reputation in international markets as well as strengthening it’s brand back on home soil. Millions of basketball fans will be able to see Tsingtao billboards and ads plastered around the stadium through the 34 Cavs games scheduled to broadcast in China during the 09-10 NBA season. Further details of the deal include:

In addition to being the exclusive Chinese beer of Quicken Loans Arena, the Tsingtao partnership elements include:

• LED signage during Cavaliers games and Quicken Loans Arena events
• Permanent signage inside Quicken Loans Arena for all arena events (close to 200 annually)
• Basket pole pad signage for Cavaliers games
• Hospitality benefits during Cavaliers game and Quicken Loans Arena events
• Ad placement in Tip Off Tonight, the Cavaliers official game night program
• Strong presence on digital properties, cavs.com and CavFanatic.com
• Community relations outreach program designed to educate and share cultural ideas in northeast Ohio

As can be seen, the Cleveland Cavaliers are well on their way to an exciting journey along with their Chinese business owners. The opportunities and potential out there is immense and the pieces have already started moving. One major determinant of the success of the Cleveland Cavaliers will no doubt be LeBron James himself. LeBron’s free agency tales have been a topic of discussion forever it seems, or at least ever since he set foot into an NBA arena. If LeBron’s actions are anything to go by, it seems that there is some legitimate threat that the King could leave the Cavaliers at the end of this season and go somewhere like New York where the lights shine brighter, and the audience is more befitting for a King.

This seemed plausible … until the recent Chinese invasion of Cleveland. While New York and the Madison Square Garden might have been the grandest of stages before, that has been surpassed today with the possibility of playing on aged Chinese TV sets across China’s provinces becoming a far more appealing prospect – particularly for an athlete that’s primary goal (besides Championships) is to be the world’s first sports billionaire. As it looks now, with the Cavs built to contend for years, the Knicks on a hopeless path down mediocracy, and the “Chinalization” of the Cavaliers – it would be foolish for LeBron to go anywhere.

This is the story of how a troubled sporting city in the middle of the United States was first saved by a King and then by the Middle Kingdom. This story, has just begun.

“American Basketball Association (ABA) Joins in $200 Million Global Expansion.”

I must admit, I thought that the ABA had died in 1976 when it officially merged with the NBA. When I think of the ABA, I think of the blue/red/white ‘money’ ball (used today in the NBA three point contest), of Julius Erving, and of afros and tight shorts. So I had to check out what this league was all about and headed over to their official site, www.abalive.com. The long domain name didn’t do much to settle my suspicions and upon witnessing the website, which ironically looks like it was made in 1976, I started thinking I must be on an episode of Punk’d.

I then began reading the latest news from their news feed to try to catch up with this mysterious league that had just dawned upon me. One recent news headline stated that two NBA players would be going head to head on opening night: Isaiah “JR” Rider (NBA dunk champ) and Anthony “Pig” Miller (a nobody). Another news was announcing that Troy “Escalade” Jackson (of And1 fame) was named the assistant coach of the Florida Thundercats. Then there was the news that 9 ABA teams would be playing games in China. I wanted to see one of the teams so I decided to check out the team page of the “Los Angeles SLAM” . The website look dodgy with a logo that seemed to be stolen from Slam Magazine and site design stolen from a MySpace teenager high on Mountain Dew, but regardless….the famous rapper “The Game” was on the team!

It seemed that this league was making things happen and well worth the attention. Finally I saw a big headline that was the biggest piece of linkbait I had ever seen:

“Owning a professional sports team is fun and profitable experience. Contact us for more info!”

All I had to do was fill in a simple form and I could own a pro sports team and be the next Mark Cuban?!

That was all I could take, I had to head over to Wikipedia and find out what in the world this was all about. Turns out, I wasn’t in the middle of a dream, this league really existed and the rights of the ABA were bought back from the NBA around 1999. However the league had seen its fair share of incidents and seemed more disorganized than the kindergarden basketball leagues where I first started playing. Teams didn’t show up to road games, left in the middle of season, and only around 35% of the games were actually played in the 2007-2008 seasons. Having said that, I was still interested in this China team participating in the league – but upon reading further, it would have probably been better to leave the matter alone:

“Another team that only played home games was Beijing Aoshen Olympic. This team was kicked out of the Chinese Basketball League and played home games in Singapore. Beijing would pay $3000 and fly teams to Singapore for a 2-game homestand. Early teams complained on Our Sports Central that they were forced to stay in a hotel that doubled as a brothel. Joe Newman CEO forced Beijing to find a new hotel on hearing this news. Later teams stayed in a Holiday Inn.”

(On a side note, Beijing Aoshen were kicked out of the CBA due to refusing to surrender their star point guard to the junior national squad in 2004.The player in question was Sun Yue who recently won a championship ring with the Los Angeles Lakers).

This brings us back to today and this CNN story of this 200 million $ global expansion that has just been announced (to me at least). 200 million is not a small amount, it’s around the same as what minority stakeholders Disney and Bank of China among others paid to acquire 11% of the NBA China entity back in January 2008. Who would part with such a large sum and take on this massive challenge of epic proportions was the new question brewing inside my head. The answer to that is none other than Paul Monozca, a Singapore-based Filipino sportsman-businessman who also holds the following lofty titles: investment banker, sports philanthropist, international fiancier, global kingpin..ok so the last one I made up. It’s no one I had heard of before, but someone that should be on any basketball enthusiasts’ to-follow list from this day on if his aspirations are anything to go by:

The ABA Global expansion initiatives will include a player exchange program, participation in a China-based league, the ABA USA League itself, and the ABA’s World Basketball Cup in Atlanta in 2011. Mr. Monzoca’s vision is certainly optimistic:

“The ABA Global program is timely. When countries see their very own players and teams play with the benchmark that is American basketball, it gives basketball a whole new meaning. This is global basketball with national pride worldwide.”

The key allure of this league is that it caters to smaller cities which NBA teams can’t target to in the US, and allows foreign teams to play against top global competition on an international level. If the management, organization, and marketing falls into place, it will mark an interesting global league that hasn’t really ever seen the light of day in basketball. Their first summit which will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada will feature big names such as Dr. J and George Gervin and should get them much needed publicity.

I’m never one to discount crazy and wild ideas, and I won’t make an exception this time regardless of the negative press this league has received in the past with many looking at it as somewhat of a joke. Fact is that basketball is on its way to becoming the most popular sport in the world and there hasn’t ever been a proper global initiative to make it a global competition. The NBA has such a plan many years down the road and they surely have their reasons for taking their time. So until then, I can only extend my best wishes to the rebirth of the ABA and will surely be keeping an eye out on them. I have a feeling I won’t be the only one.

The 18,000 seat arena being built at Shanghai’s World Expo Site is  still underway, being currently jointly built by partners AEG and NBA as well as the Oriental Pearl Group (of the Shanghai Media Group). The $280 million stadium is being constructed around the Huangpu River and will have a look reminiscing a clam or a flying saucer, depending on personal taste. A glimspe of what the arena will look like can be seen in the artist rendering displayed below .

Shanghai Mercedes Benz Arena

In what is considered a first in China – the NBA and AEG have managed to sell the naming rights of this arena for an estimated value of ~$100 million (terms of the deal have not been announced and analysts estimate anywhere from 75-150$ million dollars)  to German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz. The stadium will be ready in time for the 2010 expo set to begin in May, but the deal and naming of the stadium will only begin in 2011 and last a total of 10 years. To put the price in perspective, Staples had to pay $100 million for the rights to name the arena where the prestigious Los Angeles Lakers play along with the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Kings (NHL) for a contract lasting 20 years.

Shanghai is considered by some as the capital of Asia, and the business center of the soon to be superpower of the world. Many companies were interested in placing their name on Shanghai’s number one arena to be, but it took a company of Mercedes’ size, ambition and growth prospects (55% growth in China in first 9 months of 2009) in China to get such an astronomical figure. Analysts predict that it will be near impossible for Mercedes-Benz to get adequate returns on this investment (even with a showroom for its cars, and exlusive rights relating to the Arena) but according to Mercedes-Benz China CEO Klaus Maier, this deal is about more than that:

“The new Mercedes-Benz Arena will reinforce Shanghai as culturally-rich city on the world map and create a new destination of arts and lifestyle on the international stage.”

Tim Chen, NBA China CEO, also agrees:

“Mercedes-Benz Arena will truly become Shanghai’ s and all of China’ s state-of-the-art showplace for culture, arts, sports and entertainment events when this world-class arena debuts. With the help of our partners, we are certain this arena will be the premier destination for sports, entertainment and cultural events in Shanghai.”

In essence, the above claims are more than just PR jargon and hold some valid and important claims. China is still a hugely undevelopped market in terms of entertainment, arts, lifestyle and sports. It’s a country with rich culture and much to offer on the grandest of stages (as was demonstarted in the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony), but so far a lack of business experience, logistical capabilities, and market know-how have kept this potentially enormous market dormant. The NBA and AEG were well aware of these limitations when commiting to build world class arenas all around China, and they stepped in trying to change that course. Basketball was the main factor in pushing such a project, but hardly the only factor.

Already, companies involved with the deal have said the arena will include recreational elements such as a cinema, public ice skating rink, bowling alley, live music club and retail space. Top performers from all four corners of arts and entertainment world have already started flocking to the Pearl of the Orient – and the arena will only attract more. Shanghai is a metropolis in dire need of commercialization and proper marketing of cultural showcases, and Mercedes-Benz have acquired the rights to be in the same sentence of every conversation we will have about this booming market in the next decade.

Putting aside Mercedes-Benz and the new arena, this is no doubt a tremendous development for the sports business in China. While there have been previous namings of stadiums in China after sponsors (most notably the Chinese Super League football team Shaanxi Neo-China Chanba playing in the Shaanxi Coca-Cola Stadium), it is the first major arena to sell naming rights. The sports marketing field never managed to develop as rapidly as predicted following the Beijing Olympics, but this development is sure to give new hope and inspiration to those in the industry.

One part of the new deal will see NBA experienced coaches,trainers, and even nutritionists lecture at the CBA’s exisiting coaching camps. But the more interesting aspect will be Chinese coaches in the making having the chance to travel to the US to experience first hand how teams are run by learning through NBDL teams and coaches. They will be able to attend practices as well as receive personal training from the NBDL coaches. Things are also working the other way around, with American coaches coming to coach in the CBA as is the case with the Shanghai Shark’s new head coach, Bob Donewald Jr.

Many have wondered when exactly the NBA will make its defining move and stamp its brand on an actual league in China. This latest development signals that the NBA is taking things slowly and is still quite a long way away from any such major steps.

At the heart of the matter is the reality that has sunk in that the basketball level in China is still in need of major improvement before the NBA can really be fully associated with it.

Recent basketball development concerning China has not been encouraging. It started with the defeat at the FIBA Asian Basketball Championships during the summer. China was hosting the competition in Tianjin and were eager to take back the Asian trophy they had relinquished two years ago, but yet were handily defeated by 18 points in the finals by a tougher and more organized Iranian side. The lack of Yao Ming both in these championships and around NBA circles has highlighted once again the massive importance he holds for basketball in the PRC. It was expected that there would be promising players ready to carry forward the progress of Chinese basketball but those are expectations are crashing quite rapidly.

Yi Jianlian was banked on to be among the leading candidates to take over the rains, but he disappointed with his lackluster performance in the Asian Championships. Furthermore, in the  2009-2010 NBA season he was injured after only 4 games and his team, the New Jersey Nets, might just make history as the worst team in the history of the NBA. Sun Yue similarly has been a big disappointment being first waved by the Lakers for salary cap reasons, followed by the lowly New York Knicks. One would have thought the Knicks could have at least used him for Marketing purposes with the city’s large Asian population and poor basketball record, but instead Sun now finds himself back in Beijing. This, compounded with all the troubles the CBA is facing at home, is making it quite clear that a lot of work still needs to be done.

A while back, I had a conversation with a Basketball Director from Nike China and he told me that in 10 years, China will have caught up with the rest of the world in terms of basketball capabilities. I was shocked to hear the claim then, and I’m equally not sure of it now. While NBA China, sports consultancies, and even the CBA have taken big steps in the right direction, there are still some crucial elements that I believe are being ignored. Next time, I will share ideas I believe need to be considered to really step up the development of basketball in China.

One of the biggest basketball developments during this year’s offseason that largely went unreported in the Western media was the CBA’s introduction of a salary cap. The Chinese Basketball Association has been under large scrutiny recently for A) failing to produce top quality Chinese players B) not creating an exciting or marketable product in a country where basketball is loved and C) failing to generate sustainable revenue leading to many teams facing near bankruptcy.

The CBA in turn has introduced a salary cap that it hopes will alleviate some of these problems. Foreign players in the CBA are looked upon negatively by many in the Chinese basketball community. Foreign players tend to not only dominate the ball and the scoring (resulting in 19 of the top 20 scorers last year being foreign players), but also the teams’ payrolls. Many of the larger teams this year where rumored to be looking to spend in the vicinity of 1 million dollars to recruit some top level foreigners for their teams.

The new salary cap will limit foreign players to make no more than 30,000 dollars per month, and the total that teams may spend on foreigners per month will be limited to 60,000 dollars per month. There is already a quota of two players that CBA teams are facing on the number of foreign players allowed.

The cap doesn’t stop there, Chinese club players will have their yearly income cap set at no more than 300,000 yuan ($44,000).  Chinese media Xinhua reports that the average annual income of the CBA players and coaches is 500,000 RMB. The new cap is also applicable to the national team where the players and coaches can’t earn more than 1 million yuan ($146,000) per annum. Players who have played in the NBA will be exempt from this rule, but they will still count towards the total cap of a team that is 55 per cent of the total annual income of the club, which is no less than 5.5 million RMB (about 820,000 U.S. dollars).

That’s definitely some interesting and at the same time controversial rules that the CBA has developed for its league in turmoil. There are already many critics of the new cap, claiming that this will not grow the popularity’s sport but instead limit it and the amount of Chinese players who aim to play professionally. The 700,000 RMB per year cap gap on club players and national team players is also expected to create problems within teams and between players.

CBA’s Strategy

If we’re to analyze what the CBA has achieved to do and dissect their strategy we can come to the following conclusions:

1. Foreign players should not have a big effect on the league in anyway.
2. Chinese players shouldn’t be content in mediocrity and should be motivated to be permanent contributors to the National Team
3. Teams should be governed more tightly and not promise to hand out salaries higher than they are capable of paying

Analysis of the New CBA Salary Cap

Given the problems that the league has been facing in recent years, they needed to do something drastic to change the course of Chinese Basketball that has been on a downward trajectory ever since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Some of the new rules they have set forward were indeed necessary.

Cap Being set at 55% of Annual Income Rule

The cap per team being set at 55% of the annual income of a club is certainly an innovative rule and will see different teams have different caps. Some will think this rule as being totally unfair – teams in wealthier areas will have naturally more income and be allowed a higher cap. Teams that are struggling will see a lower cap, able to recruit a lower level of talent, and it would seem they might be stuck in that downward cycle.

At the same time, the CBA and Chinese sports in general has always been criticized of being too passive, not creative, not innovative, and largely blind to the potential that basketball as entertaintment can provide. Perhaps this new drastic approach will motivate teams to create more sources of revenue and increase their income levels, which will guarantee the long term safety of the league to stay above troubling financial waters.

Players Cap Rules

It was only last season when the CBA had increased the quote of foreign players per team from 1 to 2. So now introducing a rule to limit foreign players will be somewhat of a flipflop. But if anything, the league tried to find a solution last year to increase level of competition, saw that it led to negative consequences, and now is rectifying its mistakes. While foreign players did bring an extra level of competition and excitement to the CBA, it prevented any Chinese stars from emerging. When a league is still at its relative infancy, and players are still trying to develop, it is wise to develop a system where local players can develop the best.

Local players on the other hand will see huge boosts to their salaries, if they are able to make the national team. This kind of rule might encourage a level of selfishness and more of star system instead of team system, but perhaps this is exactly what the CBA wants. The NBA has become so successful through largely creating teams revolved around star players, rather than players revolved around a team. It is certainly easier to market players than teams, and this hopefully should help team’s branding, marketing, promotions, sponsorships, and help raise the interest of local fans. If it can result in players making the jump to the NBA, the CBA will not mind that either

Conclusions

With foreign player influence on teams down, and a clear incentive to be a star and make the national team, this will set the stage for a truely competitive level of play from the Chinese players. In essence, the league is using  protectionist measures to protect the domestic industry from foreign domination, while setting a capitalist system for its local businesses to compete and the most succesful being rewarded heftily. Does this sound familiar? It’s actual the same rules and principles that the Chinese government has used on its businesses. Whether it will work as well with basketball, is something that we will just have to wait and see.

Shaq’s interests in kung-fu are well documented – he made a movie called Shaq Fu and it even spawned one of the worst video games of all time. Shaq is also known to practice martial arts in the offseason, and told Titan Sports that he would like to learn more about Kung Fu in particular.

“I am really interested in snake-style kung fu,”  O’Neal was quoted as saying.

“When I retire, I hope to come back to the Shaolin Temple to study for a year. To come here just this one time is not enough.”

Obviously we don’t know how serious Shaq is about these comments, especially when he suggested that he would like to incorporate some of the moves he saw in his recent visit, into his basketball game.

Shaq holds other ties to China. He is currently sponsor for Li-Ning, China’s largest and most succesful sports apparel brand, and even has a giant statue of himself overlooking a parking lot! He is one of the most recognized and loved foreigners in China, and this all means that we could perhaps see Shaq in China after he retires.

Shaq feeds off of attention and also revels in it. His twitter account is one of the most followed ones in the world, and probably also the most entertaining one. His boundless wisdom and wit combined with his unique personality and physique make him one of the most entertaining individuals on the planet. Shaq knows this and this is why he spent 2 days this offseason going to broadcasting school at Syracuse University- to get himself ready for life after basketball.

“After basketball, I’d love to have my own radio show, my own TV show,” Shaq told the Post-Standard.

If I were the folks over at NBA China or Li-Ning, I would do everything in my power to have Shaq’s post-basketball career be closely related to China. Shaq is a one man marketing-army. The possibilities of Shaq in China are endless, but I already like the idea of Yao Ming and Shaq leading their own teams in the CBA (future to be NBA China), and evolving their iconic rivalry on this new stage.

So I hope this isn’t the end of Shaq-Fu in China, his powers could be of great use.

Last week I mentioned Yao’s intentions of having a part-ownership role in the Shanghai Sharks, but as it turns out all the owners have agreed to sell their shares of the team, making Yao the sole owner of the Shanghai Sharks.

The deal supposedly will cost Yao ming just under 3 million dollars – which looks like a bargain if I’ve ever seen one. Shanghai is shaping up to be the most important city in Asia, and owning the city’s proffesional basketball team is surely an investment worthy of the 20 million Reminbi or so that China Daily expects the deal to cost. Running the team is suppose to cost another 20 million RMB per year according to China Business News.

Even if this ends up being a sour investment financially, Yao Ming won’t be too bothered as his main purpose is giving back to the organization that helped him become who he is today. Saving his own team from bankrupcy will increase his popularity just another notch, if that’s even possible.

Yao Ming having a direct stake in the CBA will be encouraging news for the NBA China team. Even if Yao Ming doesn’t play another minute in the NBA, his presence in Chinese Basketball will never cease and will only help the NBA’s goals in expanding interest locally. Many years down the line, Yao Ming can be a strong ambassador both in transforming the CBA into something akin the NBA, and in recruiting high-profile players to his team.

However much like his father, Kim Jong Un is said to enjoy popular culture and is apparently a fan of NBA basketball. Why is this important you might ask?

Guards in North Korea shooting some hoops - Courtesy of Reuters

If we go back more than 30 years ago, we can remember how pingpong was the sport that brought China and the USA closer together. It was called Ping Pong Diplomacy and paved the way for China-US relations.

Coming back to today, it is basketball and particularly the NBA that is the major global sport. China is already said to be the biggest basketball market in the world, and is working on completing an NBA branded basketball league in China. North Korea is also a country with ties to basketball, and with a leader emotionally attached to the NBA perhaps we could one day see a repeat in sports diplomacy breaking the ice between unfriendly nations.

The NBA here has an opportunity to bring one of the most isolated and problematic countries in the world closer to the rest of the world. It is perhaps a distant dream to see an NBA match in North Korea one day between the Pyongyang Rockets and the Bejiing Ducks – but with as massive of implications as this, it is a dream worth holding on to.

But I was really surprised to see no one break down what winning a championship really comes down to. When you’re pretty much guaranteed a place in the playoffs, it doesn’t matter how well a player plays against the non-playoff teams, and non-contenders. The NBA championship comes down to 1 or maybe 2 key series. It’s how well you play against the top competition trying to take that championship away from you that really matters. Sure huge games against lottery bound teams look good on paper, but since the NBA is not like football/soccer where the best regular season record wins the championship, it has practically no meaning to gauge which player is more likely to win a championship.

As far as I’m concerned if a player strolls through the season, lets his young and role players develop, and then just steps it up in the Conference Finals and the Finals and wins the championship – he should be regarded as a better player than the guy who averages 40 10 10 in the regular season but gets beat in the Finals (considering they have similar caliber teams).

So when it comes down to Kobe vs LeBron – first and foremost, stats only should be looked at versus perhaps the top 5 teams in the NBA…everything else is pretty much irrelevant. I’ve gone ahead and collected the stats of Kobe and LeBron against the top 2 threats in each conference as well as games against each other.

Kobe vs LeBron

These stats can be analyzed in a number of ways and can be twisted to support any number of arguments. However, it’s quite clear that LeBron James’ effectiveness reduces greatly against the top teams in the NBA. A +0.5 plus minus over 13 games and a below .500 winning percentage along with over 4 turnovers and a 44% shooting average isn’t exactly the dominant stats we have come to expect of him. Kobe on the other hand has very impressive numbers, and contrary to popular opinion is standing toe to toe with the King of Stats: LeBron James.

Now even more important should be the stats between these two teams which are predicted to battle it out for a championship this summer. Here Kobe also has the edge, and was able to execute the right strategy to get his team comfortable  wins and secure an average of +10 plus or minus versus LeBron’s -11.5 in these two games.

Why are we seeing this reversal of stat dominance all of sudden, is it just the poor sample size? Possibly but it could also be LeBron’s power and raw athleticsm is more dominant against lesser opposition, but when it comes down to the best teams in the world with dedicated defenses and strategies, that’s when having a wide array of moves and a vast offensive arsenal becomes so much more important. Let’s go back even further and look at LeBron James’ career and list how many playoff series he’s won that was against a championship contender. I can only name you the Detroit Pistons of 2007. Forget that he hasn’t won a championship ring yet, that’s a grand total of one, ONE true series win to LeBron’s name in his career.

In LeBron’s defence, his team wasn’t always championship caliber so his past efforts in the playoffs are regarded with awe rather than dissapointment…for now.

But as I’ve said before, this year the championship is between two great teams that are evenly matched without their star players. So whoever is able to win the championship this year for their team, should be labeled the best player in the world in the year 2009. I think that’s a fair way to settle it, don’t you think?

However, China’s love for Kobe Bryant is far greater than that of LeBron James at the moment. This can be associated with the vast array of moves that he performs each and every night, and his demeanor on the court is watched with awe in a country where strong ruthless leaders are a strong part of their history.

China loves Kobe Bryant so much that after Yao Ming he had received the second largest ovation at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. LeBron James also has his fair share of fans in China, as well as even museums and large billboards being dedicated to his name. However, Kobe’s love is more fan generated than sponsor pushed. Kobe has finished number 1 in jersey sales this year, and is the main face of Nike in China, something he has relinquished largely to his nemesis LeBron James in recent years.

This year’s championship will come down to the L.A Lakers against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It will come down to LeBron against Kobe.

The Lakers are certainly equipped to win the title – so if China’s hero, the Black Mamba, doesn’t defeat LeBron, the Little Emperor, then we will be in for a new Dynasty in the NBA and in the Middle Kingdom.