O.J. Mayo updates

My interview with Sporting News basketball writer Mike DeCourcy [Sporting News]

DeCourcy points out that my book Money Players had not been selling well on amazon.com and that it will never "be up there with Harry Potter, because its target market is slim. But for an aspiring professional athlete, it could be a secular Bible." Update: My book is moving up the Amazon's best seller list.

O.J. comments on Louis Johnson's possible intentions [LA Times]

Highlights:

• He calls the allegations made by Louis Johnson "a publicity stunt."
• "Mayo suggested Johnson was motivated by revenge. Mayo said he told Guillory to sever their relationship with Johnson because Johnson's conviction for attempting to sell cocaine 'could be a distraction knowing how the NBA investigates' prospective players."
• "'I pray and hope that Rodney hasn't accepted anything from any agents,' said Mayo, adding that he was unaware of a fake charity from which Johnson said Guillory withdrew funds. 'He definitely didn't persuade me toward BDA.'"

USA Today discusses pro and cons of one and done rule [USA Today]

Excellent analysis, titled, "Merits of one-and-done rule in NBA face fresh scrutiny." Title is a misnomer because there is no "one and done rule in the NBA." The NBA only requires US-born players to be 19-years old and one year removed from high school. It is the NCAA and its members that have allowed elite players to spend their "gap year" playing on the college basketball farm.

Cedric Dempsey, former NCAA's president once complained to NBA officials: "We have a number of athletes who come to school and have no intention of getting a college education...I don't think that's a healthy environment at all."

What can be done to protect the college game? [ESPN's Jay Bilas]

Bilas discusses what he thinks can be done to improve the game -- and the business -- of basketball. He has some excellent ideas. I do, however, take issue with Jay's presumption of guilt, when he writes, "I am not at all surprised that O.J. Mayo was compromised by agents as a high school kid."

Four Questions About Recruiting and O.J. Mayo [TrueHoop]

Henry Abbott gives his Passover-version of the situation. Great point: "At what point do we stop assuming that more time on college campuses means more good influences on elite athletes? Yes, education is great. But when a big part of that education is in in under-the-table dealing, at some point it's better for your character just to move on into the world of the honest paycheck."

--Marc Isenberg