If anyone, I mean anyone has any ties to DeJuan Blair. Print this entire article and make him read it (and maybe pass it along to LeSean McCoy).
What happens to many athletes and their money is indeed hard to believe. In this month alone Saints alltime leading rusher Deuce McAllister filed for bankruptcy protection for the Jackson, Miss., car dealership he owns; Panthers receiver Muhsin Muhammad put his mansion in Charlotte up for sale on eBay a month after news broke that his entertainment company was being sued by Wachovia Bank for overdue credit-card payments; and penniless former NFL running back Travis Henry was jailed for nonpayment of child support.
In a less public way, other athletes from the nation’s three biggest and most profitable leagues—the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball—are suffering from a financial pandemic. Although salaries have risen steadily during the last three decades, reports from a host of sources (athletes, players’ associations, agents and financial advisers) indicate that:
• By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce.
• Within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.
…
The Wall Street meltdown is only the latest threat to athletes’ financial health. “Athletes have a different set of challenges from, say, entertainers,” says money manager Michael Seymour, the founder of Philadelphia-based UNI Private Wealth Strategies. “There’s a far shorter peak earnings period [in sports] than in any other profession, and in many cases they lack the time and desire to understand and monitor their investments.”
It’s long, but a must read. Flat out, especially for someone like DeJuan Blair.
Look, I have no problem with Blair turning pro, and I happen to agree that he probably would not go much higher in the draft. That said, his decision-making process was unnerving.
Just how Blair came to that determination raised an eyebrow or two, including those of some Pitt officials who were present at his news conference. Blair said he based his decision not on the feedback he received from Panthers coach Jamie Dixon, who has close contacts with general managers and scouts, but by his own investigation on the Internet.
“I’m an Internet freak,” Blair said. “I go on all the draft boards. No one has me going in the second round. That’s almost a guarantee to me.”
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Dixon mentioned how uninformed those Internet sites are when it comes to projecting players in the NBA.
“It’s way too early to talk about a number,” Dixon said. “There are too many factors, unknowns to even consider a number. As we all know, as we’ve seen in the past, they’re largely inaccurate but fun to talk about.”
…
Blair admitted that he did not give much consideration to Dixon’s advice. Blair said his decision largely was based on conversations with his family.
“I turned to my family,” Blair said. “Then my coaches came in. I was really into my family. At the end of the day, I was going to make the decision … I came to my decision that I wanted to turn pro. It’s a dream come true.”
Blair said the highest he has seen his name on a mock draft is No. 8 and the lowest was No. 22. The Post-Gazette yesterday could not find a mock draft in which Blair was projected to go higher than No. 20.
Oh, please. Oh, please. Please do not hire family to handle the money. Please make sure you make an effort to learn about where your money is going. And I repeat, read that damn Sports Illustrated article.
I get that he wants to take care of his family and the economics make it important. At the same time, he has to limit just how far he’s taking care of his family.
The marketing deal, not surprisingly, is starting with stuff locally.
Cook said Blair will maintain a residence in Pittsburgh throughout his NBA career and desires a long-term relationship with the city. Cook said Blair is close to signing a deal with a local car dealership and is discussing other local advertising opportunities.
“It’s all designed to keep his image in Pittsburgh,” Cook said.
“This is my home,” Blair said. “I’ll always be here. I’m going to try and take Pittsburgh over whenever I get done with this basketball stuff.”
If you plan to be in Pittsburgh a good deal of the time, then take advantage of it and keep taking classes. Learn as much as you can about taking care of your own money and where it is going.
And on the plus side, his immediate family will stay close to him, and hopefully keep him grounded.
Blair, who turns 20 on April 22, has the full support of his family. His parents, Greg Sr. and Shari, and an aunt, Sharene Dixon, plan to move to the city of the team that drafts him to help ease his transition.
“When he started at Pitt, I used to say, ‘You’re going the whole four years.’ He changed my mind,” Shari Blair said.
Right now, DeJuan Blair just needs to really work on his conditioning. Nothing helps a draft stock for a guy who has some conditioning questions by demonstrating a determination to be in great shape.
Needless to say, this was not Blair’s finest hour.
And that’s assuming he’s somewhat sensible and doesn’t hire a staff. Remember the stories about how many people Ron Artest, an NBA star, had on retainer? When you added all the salaries up, he was under water.
Mitch, I am not trying to be facetious, but what interest rates are being paid in Pittsburgh? The last I checked, CD’s were under 3% (i.e. under $30,000 return on $1 million). Living in the northeast where I do, that may cover one’s property taxes for a year plus the mortgage for 6-8 months. (Opps. I forgot that one would have to pay federal and state income taxes on that. One will also have to pay federal and state income taxes on the initial millions the NBA will pay.) Do an analysis of, perhaps, drawing out a portion of the principal each year for 25 years in addition to the interest and let me know what is left in one’s account at age 50.
And where does Blair get the audacity to believe that he can market his Pittsburgh heritage? What in the hell did he do? All American. So what! He is not Clemente or Stargell or Franco or Mario. He played basketball for two years at Pitt. He did not lead them two the Final Four, nor did they win the Big East Championship (tournament aside) with his play. And his statement that he wants his number retired and hanging from the rafters in The Pete. Please. He is acting like a grandiose child.
Gas, Blair certainly has the personality, charisma and talent to market his Pittsburgh heritage. I don’t think its that ridiculous. And if he becomes a star in the league it would be great for Pitt and the city of Pittsburgh if he marketed himself as a “Pittsburgh” guy.
His decision is final. We may not like it, we may think he’s just being a dumb kid, but all of us complaining won’t change it.
I still think he made the right decision.
Sure 1 million won’t last him long, but I believe if he gets picked in the early 20s, it’s about a million per year, and it goes up slightly every year for the first three years.
So that’s more like 3 million spread out over 3 years.
And if you’re a first rounder, it’s all guaranteed money.
Plus there are 4th year options and stuff that are even higher.
So it’s not like he’s just getting a million bucks and that’s it, like some people are acting in here.
I’m not saying he won’t blow it all or something like the guys in the story, but I still think a lot of people here are just pissed because he’s not going to be wearing that Pitt uniform next year.
If I were 20, and there were 3 million+ dollars waiting for me, and all I had to do was drop out of a college that I probably wasn’t working too hard at anyways (and for, let’s face it, the same type of bullshit degree that the majority of athletes get…. it’s not like Blair’s an engineering major), my Dad would kick my ass if I didn’t take it!
I mean, say what you want about young athletes blowing money, but for the majority of collegiate athletes (in other words, guys just skating by getting crappy degrees) leaving school to get drafted in the 1st round is a great decision.
I mean, he’ll make more in that three years than most people who get a garbage arts degree (and let’s not kid ourselves, a lot of college athletes just get similar, useless degrees to maintain eligibility) get in 20 years.
Now whether he’s smart with the money or not is up to him, but unless he slips to the 2nd round (no guaranteed cash) and completely washes out of the NBA, going into the draft now is the absolute best decision that a guy in his shoes can make.
It’s not like he’s partaking in Myron Rolle-esque academics at Pitt right now.
What I find hilarious is that he (and his family apparently) think that the city of Pittsburgh and WPA will give two craps about him in 5-10 years. Sure, he’s a fun kid and PITT had a great run with him on the BB team – but he lacks the maturity and insight to realize Pittsburghers could care less about basketball on the whole. Some PITT alumni will remember his name probably, but that’s about it.
There’s a reason very few college ‘stars’ move back into PGH after their playing careers – and one is that whatever success they really have – in the national media on a professional level – happens in another city, and hopefully, on a bigger stage.
Contrast that the the Steeler stars who have found success – and then stayed here to ‘own’ the city.
And last but not least, sorry to say but in my opinion Blair will not “own” anything unless he becomes a star in the NBA which I’ll bet never happens. He’ll obviously make a roster and probably have a serviceable career – but any comparisons to established stars (some I’ve heard are as far-fetched as Charles Barkley… right!)are off base I think.
If I were his parents I’d counsel him to manage his money like this… “Assume you’ll fail in the NBA and be crippled for life – invest in some way that will keep your standard of living healthy for all your days”. Of course they won’t do that – as evidenced by them already saying “The whole family is moving to whatever city he ends up in”.
Guys, I think we are going to looking back at all this in 10 years and be going ‘Remember DeJuan Blair, what ever happened with him?”
Lawyer’s fees
Agent’s fees
Federal taxes
State taxes
Local taxes
Union fees (bigger than most think)
That’s where 60-70% of those big salaries you guys are tossing around go – and what these young kid’s have no conception of.
A few million $$s, most spent unwisely?? Nothing really as far as lifetime earnings. Don’t discount the earning power over 40 years of a degree… it would have been a beautiful thing to have to go along with a professional sports career.
As far as his maturity, etc… did anyone here have the potential to make $1MM when they were 20 yrs old? Do you really think if you did, you would be much wiser?
Is not the same thing that could happen to Blair responsible for most of America’s probelms today (living above your means, running up credit card debt on junk like high-def tvs, buying over-priced cars for the image, buying an unnecessarily-large home and not understanding the terms)? Can any of us truly, honestly say that none of us are guilty of at least one of these?
Why does it seem in Pittsburgh that we can’t ever be happy fans, but instead have negative feelings for someone unless they are perfect?!
Maybe there are horror stories I haven’t heard about, but for his youth, he’s impressed me with the way he’s handled his fame and money.
And greg, I don’t think Pittsburgh fans are unhappy; I think we’ve accepted that we won’t have Blair for another season, and we’re ready to move on. What I see is that fans appreciated Blair’s play and contributions to the team so much, we feel compelled to amuse ourselves with the question, “what advice would you give Blair?”
Hey one draft board has Sam young and Dejuan being taken by the BULLS both in the first round like 16th and 28th. Id like to see that.
Good Luck Dejuan and better luck Sam Young
Put a million dollars in the bank account of any college student (athlete or non-athlete). If that is all he has, it, by itself, is not sufficient to sustain him for the next 50 years. Let that same person earn a marketable degree (with no money in the bank), and he has a much better chance of financial comfort for the next 50 years.