Will Olshey help draw bigger stars to Portland?

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It's certainly a huge factor, IMO. But lack of endorsements is big as well. Somewhere, maybe in this forum, I saw national endorsements by teams and players. Portland had 2 total. Both LaMarcus, and I believe both comcast commercials

Portland is also pretty damned lily white, which plays a role when your targets are mostly young black men with entourages and a lot of money to burn -- not a lot of hip-hop culture.
 
No star in the league would object to coming to play for Portland, provided PA paid him enough, and there is no real barrier to PA paying them whatever is required to get them.

We should have the top 5 players in the league, but no GM can accomplish that without PA opening up his wallet.
 
Portland is also pretty damned lily white, which plays a role when your targets are mostly young black men with entourages and a lot of money to burn -- not a lot of hip-hop culture.

What are you talking about! My life IS hip hop culture! I am makin' it rain on the daily FAMS!
 
Portland is also pretty damned lily white, which plays a role when your targets are mostly young black men with entourages and a lot of money to burn -- not a lot of hip-hop culture.

Players don't actually "live" anywhere, except during the off season, so that's not much of a factor unless they have families.
 
It's certainly a huge factor, IMO. But lack of endorsements is big as well. Somewhere, maybe in this forum, I saw national endorsements by teams and players. Portland had 2 total. Both LaMarcus, and I believe both comcast commercials

I think they pay tax in whatever state each game is played, and only pay Oregon for home games.

Endorsements are sought from great players who are well-known to the general public, regardless of their team.

Other than LaMarcus, we have no players that fit that description.
 
I think they pay tax in whatever state each game is played, and only pay Oregon for home games.

Endorsements are sought from great players who are well-known to the general public, regardless of their team.

Other than LaMarcus, we have no players that fit that description.

But if you play 41 games in Miami, Orlando, Houston, Dallas, SA or Memphis, that is better than 41 home games in Portland financially

I will try to find that list again, but there were several players with less credentials than LA that had more endorsements because of the market they played in
 
Market makes players ... but players make markets.

Cleveland was hot when LeBron James was there. Nothing now.
Orlando was hot with Shaq & Penny. Warm with Dwight Howard. Ice cold during their lottery years.
Clippers played in LA but were never even warm tap water until Blake Griffin and Chris Paul.
Crappy Sacramento was hot when the had Webber, Peja et al. Now may be least desirable destination despite warm weather.
Do you think anyone would want to play in OKC if the team sucked? You think players would want to go there now?

If you build the team, they will come. Portland still has better winter weather than most cities and is surely more exciting than Sacto, even our Lieutenant Governor finds it dull (of course that was after being Mayor of San Francisco).
 
It's certainly a huge factor, IMO. But lack of endorsements is big as well. Somewhere, maybe in this forum, I saw national endorsements by teams and players. Portland had 2 total. Both LaMarcus, and I believe both comcast commercials

Market size is definitely a factor for that, to an extent. But not as much for national endorsements. I recall seeing a few Love commercials this season, can not remember what for. I don't know if it is companies going after him, or having a better agent finding those bigger endorsements or what. He is in a smaller market, and was landing national deals, though.
 
It's certainly a huge factor, IMO. But lack of endorsements is big as well. Somewhere, maybe in this forum, I saw national endorsements by teams and players. Portland had 2 total. Both LaMarcus, and I believe both comcast commercials

LMA has at least one Ford commercial. His F-150 is loaded with basketballs for the little boys and girls.
 
I think the state income tax hurts our shot at getting big $$ players more than any other factor.

State tax for states which have NBA teams:

All 30 teams: sales and property tax

Income tax only on interest and dividends: Memphis

No income tax: Miami, Orlando, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio (Florida & Texas)

Income tax on most income: The other 24 NBA teams, including Portland

So Portland has no disadvantage to 23 of the 29 other teams.
 
State tax for states which have NBA teams:

All 30 teams: sales and property tax

Income tax only on interest and dividends: Memphis

No income tax: Miami, Orlando, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio (Florida & Texas)

Income tax on most income: The other 24 NBA teams, including Portland

So Portland has no disadvantage to 23 of the 29 other teams.

I have always been led to believe it is a higher tax rate than other states
 
Drexler trumps any current Blazer in National endorsements.

If you're a superstar it doesn't matter where you play. Hell, Durant is doing just fine in a city half the size of Portland.
 
Olshey strikes me as a pretty confident guy. I think his good looks, charm, and ability to communice will only help us attract the kind of players we need to win another championship.
 
Drexler trumps any current Blazer in National endorsements.

If you're a superstar it doesn't matter where you play. Hell, Durant is doing just fine in a city half the size of Portland.

Huh? Portland's population is 569k and OKC's population is 563k.
 
Huh? Portland's population is 569k and OKC's population is 563k.

If you go by the proper, Seattle is smaller than both.

Metro-pop, bro.

Portland: 2.3 million
OKC: 1.2 million

OKC has the urban density of Salem, Oregon.
 
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State tax for states which have NBA teams:

All 30 teams: sales and property tax

When did OR get a sales tax?

barfo
 
I have always been led to believe it is a higher tax rate than other states

Oregon income tax rate maxes out at 11%. Only home games count so the tax is only going to be 5.5% of the contract. The lowest income tax states still have rates around 5%, which would equal 2.5% of a contract. That would be a difference of 3% on the total contract.

So for a free agent looking at a near max 4 year contract in the $65 million range being in a higher tax state would cost them $1.95 million on their entire deal. Do you think a player looking at one team offering $65 million and another offering $63 million views the offers as terribly different? Plus to mitigate the difference the player would save much of that $1.95 million back from no sales tax while spending money in Oregon.

I don’t think the state tax will be any sort of a major factor in a free agent signing in Portland. Sure the higher state tax rate is a disadvantage, but I think it’s nearly insignificant with all the multiple overall factors a player considers prior to signing.
 
Oregon income tax rate maxes out at 11%. Only home games count so the tax is only going to be 5.5% of the contract. The lowest income tax states still have rates around 5%, which would equal 2.5% of a contract. That would be a difference of 3% on the total contract.

So for a free agent looking at a near max 4 year contract in the $65 million range being in a higher tax state would cost them $1.95 million on their entire deal. Do you think a player looking at one team offering $65 million and another offering $63 million views the offers as terribly different? Plus to mitigate the difference the player would save much of that $1.95 million back from no sales tax while spending money in Oregon.

I don’t think the state tax will be any sort of a major factor in a free agent signing in Portland. Sure the higher state tax rate is a disadvantage, but I think it’s nearly insignificant with all the multiple overall factors a player considers prior to signing.

You assume that players (or even their agents) actually take the time to make calculations like that.
 
You assume that players (or even their agents) actually take the time to make calculations like that.

Maybe not, but if the tax rate is a consideration to them, I'm sure they would.
 
IIRC Chris Dudley, while playing for the Blazers, built his house in Vancouver?
 
Sales tax isn't a big deal, at least for me, here in Texas. We get to write it all off at the end of the year
 
IIRC Chris Dudley, while playing for the Blazers, built his house in Vancouver?

If I were a Blazer going to make this place my home I would buy a house in Vancouver with a Nice view of the Columbia/MtHood as my primary residence and buy a Condo Downtown or the South Waterfront.
 
Sales tax isn't a big deal, at least for me, here in Texas. We get to write it all off at the end of the year

So why would you care about income tax?

You can write them all off at the end of the year...
 
If today's players wants endorsement deals, they can get them in any market. The big stars make so much money, most of them dont want to commit their time/effort to an endorsement deal. Even the mediorce players would rather spend time with their family/friends than making extra $$ shooting commercials or making appearances during their off time. Unless of course its a big $$ sponsor like Nike. If athletes want to establish their brand, the deals are out there for them to do so. For example, Olympic athletes dont make nearly as much money as NBA/NFL/MLB athletes. That's why you see so many olympic athletes take advantage of the opportunities to make extra $$ doing commercials etc. Now more than ever, you even see retired athletes in more and more commercials etc. because current players arent interested. Players Unions and agents also have more control than in the past, and require huge fee's to be paid to the players.
 
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aren't most endorsement deals more about players wearing exclusively certain brands, and not making commercials per-say?

I can't think of the last sports star commercial I saw in regular rotation. It's more about product placement now, isn't it?
 

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