NBA Memphis Basketball

It's not a terribly huge surprise that the NBA will be welcoming it's next big thing, lock job first round pick Derrick Rose, who has already stated he will "test the waters" (read: figure out what agent is going to offer me the best deal) and now, according to Darren Rovell vis a vis sources within Memphis, Rose is going to name his agent today, making him "our" (NBA junkies) property.

No, instead, Derrick Rose -- who took his Memphis Tigers all the way to the National Championship Game and could be the No. 1 overall pick -- is going to pick Arn Tellem of the Wasserman Media Group to represent him in the NBA Draft in June.

Tellem, who is already representing the Lopez brothers from Stanford as well as Anthony Randolph from LSU, didn't return a call seeking comment.

This was a shock because Derrick Rose was so connected to William Wesley, who had steered clients towards Leon Rose, agent of LeBron James and Allen Iverson.

All of this is important for two reasons. First, Rose is not going to be playing in college anymore (duuuuh). Second, as Rovell points out, if he is picked first overall, he will get a three year deal worth 15 million dollars. Since that's some fairly serious cheddar -- and so is the supposed 1.5 million/10% for the agent -- you have to wonder if that will be the full amount coming Tellem's way.

Obviously, Rose had his choice of agents to pick from, and Tellem, as noted, already has a few clients that could make him some money in June. Which means that there's a pretty decent chance that he offered up to take seven percent or something like, or guaranteed a bigger shoe deal from Reebok/Adidas perhaps. Or, maybe Leon made the same assumption -- that Derrick would sign with him because of the Wesley connection -- and refused to budge off of his initial offer, only to see it backfire on him. Pat Riley could not be reached for comment on which agent he preferred; apparently there was a big Lil' Ballers championship game at the greater Tampa area YMCA.

The estimation of $10 million is, of course, just that. But Derrick Rose should probably give David Stern a huge hug when his name gets called during the first 30 or so minutes of the NBA draft in June. Rose, even if Memphis wins, seems like a one-and-done player, and with his ridiculous NCAA tournament (can you have negative turnovers, like in a positive fashion?) he has not only vaulted Memphis to the title game, but jacked up his draft status as well. And Darren Rovell is estimating that his superb play has made him roughly ten mil.

It's hard to say where Rose might have went had the rule not have existed--each guru has his own site -- but let's say, for argument sake, a pre-college Rose would have gone third. Where does he go after tonight's Championship Game? Possibly first. Possibly second. Maybe third. But the fact is that this tournament has given him a great marketing platform that the likes of O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley obviously won't realize.

So before we even start with projecting how far Rose rose and how his rookie scale might have jumped up, I'm saying his shoe deal over a six year contract is up $10 million from the tourney alone. Tonight is a great opportunity for a kid like Rose as a guy like Carmelo Anthony has proven in years past.

TZ points out, and I agree, that Rovell may actually be underselling the loss that Mr. Mayo is going to take as result of this year's college basketball season. Prior to his year at USC, Mayo would have likely been top five in the draft (although not a lock, certainly a high probability), but his relatively under the radar season with Tim Floyd has him dropping a few slots and a potential pay scale.