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.
