This link via Dwight Jaynes blog. http://sports.inquirer.net/breaking...0202-187012/China-cage-club-sacks-Bonzi-Wells Bonzi couldn't cut it in China? Hmmm, who would of thought....
He probably couldn't handle the language barrier, he got a disease to get treated (in the usa), or he felt it was better off to retire.
Who here thinks Geoff Petrie wakes up every morning and thanks Bonzi for turning down that $36MM offer?
lol. I forgot about that one. Sometimes you can just out-douche yourself. On the list of monumentally stupid financial moves, that one goes right up there with Sprewell rejecting a $21 mil, 3 year contract, arguing, "I gotta feed my kids." And that was the last we ever heard from him.
My God, you're right. Sprewell has not played in the NBA since then. I had sort of lost track of him. By the way, what are Sprewell's kids eating--gold-plated pop tarts?
Dang. How bad do you have to be with money for a guy once worth tens of millions to get a $400k home repossessed? You give me a million bucks, and in 10 years I'll have two million without even trying hard.
if I needed a guy to play decent defense and rebound at the wing position off the bench I'd pick him up......
I imagine Bonzi was not thrilled with having to live in the most racist and least free country in the world. And getting the salary of a Walgreen's manager for his trouble.
Well, I guess it's a new economy we're living in, so maybe not. But you give me that dough in 1997 (when Spree was cashing all those checks), and it's pretty much a certainty it's worth a hell of a lot more than that in 2007. I live cheap, and just going by compounding interest in an S&P index fund you could have $2 mil. And then lose all those gains in 2008.
Unless you are a Senator, you would owe all kinds of taxes on earnings, significantly reducing the ability to take advantage of the power of compounding. How did you get the million tax free in the first place? If it wasn't tax free, you actually start out with $600,000 or so, after taxes. Assuming you live in a place with no state income tax - scratch Oregon off the list. Another element - start in 1999 - not 1997. Murphy's law says you come in to a big windfall at the least oportune time - not the most. Which in a way, makes sense. Towards the end of bubbles or economic cycles is when money tends to get thrown around the most. It is when the biggest contracts are made. When the biggest buyouts, bonuses, property sales, IPO's, etc. are done. Another element - with a lot of money - could you have resisted the lure of trying to "beat the market" and thus ending up in riskier investments? Would you really have just stayed put in an index fund the entire time? Really? Even during years when "alternative" investments were badly outperforming the index. Even during years the S&P tanked? (2000, 2001, 2002, 2008) Another element - unless you have NO family and friends that are not all independently wealthy - how could you have avoided all charity? This is an issue for many American wealthy athletes. So - how do you turn $1,000,000 in windfall (ie; onetime) earnings from 10 years ago (1999) into $2,000,000 without trying hard? You start out with $600,000 after taxes. Need some for living expenses. Give some to needy family/friends. Plunk $500,000 in an index fund. Watch the worst stock market in decades (until now) take that down to $250,000 during 2002. How do you get that $250,000 into $2,000,000 by 2009 without trying hard? Can't be done. Unless you try hard. And, even then, requires brilliance and/or luck.
