LeBron James might not be done just yet.
As expected, Fred Nance, the lawyer for the 6-foot, 8-inch phenom, yesterday requested an injunction on Friday’s ruling by the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) that banned James from completing his high school hoop career.
The Summit County Common Pleas Court will listen to arguments from both sides at 9 a.m. today. If the court finds in favor of James, the 18-year-old would be cleared to play, pending a further appeal by the OHSAA. His school, St. Vincent-St. Mary, will play in the Isles Prime Time Shootout in Trenton this weekend.
Yesterday Martin Johnson, president of Isles, said the appeal leaves him optimistic that James will be able to play.
“Absolutely,” Johnson said. “We’re more optimistic [yesterday] than [Monday] even, because of the way the appeal is structured and the level of support for that appeal.”
Coincidentally, Johnson is an alumnus of St. Vincent-St. Mary’s who played basketball for the team in the ’70s. His tournament essentially was the first event to showcase James when the Fighting Irish played in it last season.
Now, with the Akron-based team due to arrive in just 48 hours, Johnson is expecting James be with his teammates – even if he’s not allowed to wear a uniform.
“He clearly is planning to travel, whether he plays or not,” Johnson said.
As for the appeal, Nance argued essentially what James said during his CBS interview yesterday – the prep star, who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, simply believed he was being awarded $845 worth of sports clothing for his academic prowess.
James claims to be an honors student with a 3.5 grade point average.
“All LeBron did was receive a gift from a friend as congratulations for his academic achievements,” Nance said. “Had LeBron wished to capitalize on his fame, the recompense could be in the millions of dollars.”
Among Nance’s other statements were that OHSAA commissioner Clair Muscaro issued his ruling out of frustration that SVSM was able to capitalize financially on James’ stardom by playing in a larger arena (the University of Akron) and receiving thousands of dollars worth of appearance fees.
The court document states: “Upon information and belief, the rush to judgment against LeBron James without reasonable investigation, notice or opportunity to be heard stems from defendants Muscaro and OHSAA’s frustration that defendant St. Vincent-St. Mary is capitalizing on LeBron James’ fame.”
Steven Craig, a lawyer for the OHSAA, insisted that Muscaro stands by his decision.
“The commissioner is obligated to interpret and enforce the bylaws as written,” Craig said. “That is what he feels he’s done in this case.”
As for the shootout, 44 teams will compete in the tournament and Isles handles everything from inviting the teams, to coordinating the schedules, to arranging and paying for lodging and airline travel.
In the case of SVSM, Jeff Hewitson, team selection coordinator and founder, said that the school was compensated to the tune of $15,000 (based on a 3000-person attendance and five-dollar charge per person).
“When you’ve got a team like SVSM, they only have a certain amount of home games. What they were facing is home-game revenue loss,” Hewitson said. “That was going to be something they couldn’t absorb.”
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WE DON’T NEED NO EDUCATION
A look at the players to enter NBA straight from high school since 1995:
Player/Draft Year/ Rookie year MPG / Rookie year PPG / Years played
Kevin Garnett/1995/28.7/10.4/1995-96 — present
Kobe Bryant/1996/15.5/7.6/1996-97 — present
Jermaine O’Neal/1996/10.2/4.1/1996-97 — present
Tracy McGrady/1997/18.4/7.0/1996-97 — present
Al Harrington/1998/7.6/2.1/1998-99 — present
Rashard Lewis/1998/7.3/2.4/1998-99 — present
Korleone Young/1998/5/4.3/1998-99
Jonathan Bender/1999/5.4/2.7/1999-00 — present
Leon Smith/1999/7.1/2.2/2001-02
Darius Miles/2000/26.3/9.4/2000 — present
DeShawn Stevenson/2000/7.3/2.2/2000 — present
Kwame Brown/2001/14.3/4.5/2001 — present
Tyson Chandler/2001/19.6/6.1/2001 — present
Eddy Curry/2001/16.0/6.7/2001 — present
DeSagna Diop/2001/6.1/1.4/2001 — present
Ousmane Cisse/2001/ DNP, injury/2001
Amare Stoudemire/2002/31.2/12.8/2002– present