DWade leads NBA Jersey Sales, Carmelo 8th

[RhymesayersDU]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2258757

Jersey sales: Wade No. 1, A.I. No. 2, James No. 3
By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com

Top 10 jerseys
1. Dwyane Wade, Heat
2. Allen Iverson, 76ers
3. LeBron James, Cavaliers
4. Stephon Marbury, Knicks
5. Kobe Bryant, Lakers
6. Shaquille O'Neal, Heat
7. Tracy McGrady, Rockets
8. Carmelo Anthony, Nuggets
9. Tim Duncan, Spurs
10. Vince Carter, Nets

He was passed over for LeBron James, Darko Milicic and Carmelo Anthony, but the fifth pick in the 2003 NBA draft might be the most popular player in the NBA today.

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade will top the league's best-selling jersey list when it is released Thursday. The list includes sales from the NBA store in Manhattan and on NBA.com from the last three months. Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson ranks second and James ranks third.

Dubbed "Flash" for his quick moves on the court, Wade's charisma off the hardwood has made him one of the league's most marketable superstars. He has endorsement deals with Converse, Sean John and Topps, and he will appear in a Gatorade commercial in February. The 23-year-old has been featured on the cover of "NBA Live '06" as well as in countless magazines, including People, which named him to its "50 Most Beautiful" list in April.

Wade's shoe, the "Wade," is the fifth most popular signature basketball shoe behind shoes bearing the names of Anthony, Tracy McGrady, James and Michael Jordan, according to SportsScanINFO, a market retail tracking firm. The shoes, retailing at $90, were the second best-selling shoe on Amazon.com from Nov. 1-Nov. 22, according to the Web site.

Wade currently ranks fifth in the league in scoring, with 26.7 points per game. Wade also ranks third in the league in steals and 12th in assists.

Led by strong jersey sales of Wade and Shaquille O'Neal, who placed sixth on the list, the Miami Heat lead the team jersey sales rankings for the first time since the NBA started compiling the list five years ago.

Despite some marketers saying that Kobe Bryant's appeal has waned, Bryant came in at number five on the list. Despite his troubles, embattled Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest, who has demanded a trade, appeared for the first time on the list, coming in at No. 22.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com.

[Clockwork Orange]

Wade's a hell of a player. This isn't surprising at all.

[Clockwork Orange]

Wait, there must have been some kind of mistake. How on earth is Skita....oops....sorry....I mean Darko Milicic's jersey not in the top 10?

[RhymesayersDU]

Ba-Zing.

But yeah, I'm not surprised. I've got a bunch of jerseys I want already, but If I had some extra money, I'd totally wear a DWade jersey. Dude is just flat out good.

I want a LeBron too... Over the summer they had a 2-for-$100 deal at the mall, I almost got a LBJ and KMart, but I had to save cash so I passed.

[Nuggets4]

Wait, there must have been some kind of mistake. How on earth is Skita....oops....sorry....I mean Darko Milicic's jersey not in the top 10?

Dammit, you beat me to the Darko joke.

Rhyme, why the hell do you wear jerseys of other teams man? That's just wrong.

[Clockwork Orange]

Dammit, you beat me to the Darko joke.

I know that I shouldn't bag on Darko too much. Between the Nuggets history of drafting stiffs and the Pistons recent run of success, there's not too much room to talk. But I revel in it just a little because it's one of the fwe times I can ever remember good fortune smiling on the Nuggets.

By all rights, Carmelo shouldn't have ended up here. A few things broke our way for that to happen. Make no mistake about it, if things hadn't happened the way they did, Kiki would have drafted Darko at #3 and we'd still be a perennial lottery team.

Sadly, not much else has gone our way in the luck department.

[Nuggets4]

There's not a doubt in my mind that if we had the second pick, we'd have Darko on our roster today.

[Clockwork Orange]

There's not a doubt in my mind that if we had the second pick, we'd have Darko on our roster today.

Or if Memphis hadn't had to hand the 2nd pick over to the Pistons to complete the Otis Thorpe deal from 5 years prior, Kiki'd have taken him 3rd because Jerry West made no secret of the fact that he loved Carmelo Anthony. So much so that he openly questioned the sanity of the Pistons for not taking him.

Looks like The Logo was right again.

[RhymesayersDU]

Must be nice to be able to completely waste a #2 overall pick and still win a title. That team would be scary good with Carmelo on it.

As for your question Nug4, there are a couple reasons. The biggest reason is because before I moved to Denver, I didn't have a team affiliation with the NBA... I just loved the game, and loved players. Even though I've grown into a Nugget fan, I still hold some player affiliations. I know this is sacriligious, but I'll admit, I've been an Iverson fan since he came into the league, and the first time I saw him live 2 years ago, I wore his jersey when the 6ers came to Pepsi center, although I rooted for the Nuggets to win.

The other reason is more of a hip-hop, urban fashion thing. I just like different jerseys, different colors, etc.

So although I root for the Nuggets now, I still hold that same feeling towards certain players. I would wear a Duncan jersey with pride, to be honest, he's that good, and I appreciate his game so much. But at the same time, I've got quite a list going before I can get to other teams... I want a Nuggets alternate, a Champ Bailey, and hell, I might even break down and get a Jake if he continues to play well. I also want a Granger Pacer jersey, gotta rep NM.

[Nuggets4]

Hey Rhyme,

Do you have any idea if there are any places around that have the new authentic Nugs jersey? The Pepsi Center store is all out except for a size 40 K-Mart one.

[RhymesayersDU]

Hey Rhyme,

Do you have any idea if there are any places around that have the new authentic Nugs jersey? The Pepsi Center store is all out except for a size 40 K-Mart one.
First off, that Conan sig is mesmerizing. Nice.

Anyways, I would definately try the Park Meadows mall, they have a Footaction there which always has a huge selection of jerseys. Now, I don't know about authentics, to be honest, because I never usually look for authentics... I assume they'd have some though. If by new jersey you mean that alternate, then I do know it is out, because I saw it in a mall last week here in Albuquerque. So everywhere in Denver should have it, I would assume.

Also, you might want to try the NBA online store... Assuming you already know the size you need and don't need to try anything on (if I remember correctly, you own a boatload of Andre jerseys, right?) you might be able to find it there.

Or, just go buy your favorite player's jersey in size 40. ;)

[Nuggets4]

First off, that Conan sig is mesmerizing. Nice.

Anyways, I would definately try the Park Meadows mall, they have a Footaction there which always has a huge selection of jerseys. Now, I don't know about authentics, to be honest, because I never usually look for authentics... I assume they'd have some though. If by new jersey you mean that alternate, then I do know it is out, because I saw it in a mall last week here in Albuquerque. So everywhere in Denver should have it, I would assume.

Also, you might want to try the NBA online store... Assuming you already know the size you need and don't need to try anything on (if I remember correctly, you own a boatload of Andre jerseys, right?) you might be able to find it there.

Or, just go buy your favorite player's jersey in size 40. ;)

Park Meadows is too much of a pain in the ass for me. Long drive, plus I hate that mall. Everywhere is out of the alternate authentics though. Pissing me off. I called the NBA.com store and they're expecting more in my size at the end of hte month, but the Pepsi Center doesn't expect them until Feb or March. I just hope Dre hasn't been traded by then.

And for the record, I only have an authentic home and authentic away Dre.

[RhymesayersDU]

Ah. Well, hopefully he's not dealt. Although, you'd rather see KMart dealt... so yeah, I don't want that.

And for some reason I thought you had more then that... I knew you had those 2 Dre jerseys, because you've mentioned them... but for some reason...eh, whatever.