Who has heard about this controversy with a college player dunking over LeBron James? If you haven't, I'll recap the story:

LeBron was at his LeBron James Skills Academy when a pickup game started. Jordan Crawford, a college player at Xavier University (here in my hometown of Cincinnati), was playing when he blew by his defender and then hurled himself at the basket. He unleashed a monstrous two-handed slam dunk, over the top of the hapless defender -- who just so happened to be LeBron James.

Imagine that, Jordan Crawford -- who usually unleashes his fury on the powers of the Atlantic-10 Conference, stepped up his game and dunked on one of the best current players in the NBA. Yes, this dunk alone is enough to make news on basketball message boards -- but why am I discussing it here in JockStocks? Because of Nike's (NKE) reaction.

The big news in sports this week was not LeBron James winning the MVP, nor was it the Kentucky Derby, Manny Ramirez and his drug test have made a late run at story of the week, but I am giving the sports story of the week to the Phoenix Coyotes and the NHL.

Let's start with the Coyotes. The team has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and it seems that the team is destined to move, although Commissioner Bettman (some who call him Fraudmissioner or Failmissioner) contends that won't happen. Rumors have the team pulling up roots and heading to Hamilton, Ontario - making the Coyotes round trip come back home (for those unfamiliar, the Coyotes started in Canada and were moved). I have long touted the Coyotes as one of the problems of the modern NHL. This is a team that is truly a fish out of water. Even with history stretching back to the halcyon days of the Winnipeg Jets, the team could not (or would not) be embraced by fans whose only exposure to ice was to watch it melt in their iced tea. The ownership was attracted to Phoenix because of the promise of big money, and boy did it backfire.

Turns out no one is safe from the economic downturn, not even an NBA franchise. The New Orleans Hornets dumped Tyson Chandler (and his paycheck of $12.3 million next year) on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Hornets received Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox in return, along with the draft rights to DeVon Hardin.

According to various outlets (including ESPN.com), the Hornets have long been shopping Chandler for "financial reasons." The two players received in return have contracts that expire at the end of the season, so this is the classic rent-a-player scenario for the Hornets. New Orleans' payroll was set to hit $77 million next season, and they felt strongly enough about keeping that number in check to deal Chandler.

Just a few days after General Motors (NYSE: GM) broke the news that it was ending its endorsement deal with Tiger Woods, NBA phenom LeBron James' agent told reporters that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) would not be renewing its two-year old marketing deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers forward.

King James, as he is known, appeared in commercials for the Windows Vista operating system, but very little else came of the partnership. According to The Associated Press, "The partnership faltered when Microsoft executive Joanne Bradford, who struck the deal with James, resigned as head of the company's media network this year."

These celebrity endorsement deals attract little attention from investors when times are good, but with most companies faltering now, they seem to be attracting more ire. James' seven-year, $90 million deal with Nike (NYSE: NKE) makes sense: LeBron James is a powerful force in selling basketball shoes. The terms of the Microsoft deal were not disclosed, but it seems unlikely that James contributed to any increase in sales of Microsoft products -- would anyone choose their operating system based on a basketball player in a commercial?

I can't help but question the motives behind these kinds of endorsement deals: are they inspired by a desire to drive sales and create shareholder value or a desire to hobnob with celebrities?

Most people in the United States and for sure shareholders of losing companies have been railing against executive pay for many years. It is generally agreed the salaries, bonuses, stock options, deferred compensation, and retirement packages have become ridiculous and do not reflect anything other then the "good ol' boy network" operating at its worst.

Compensation committees substantiate their decisions in a fashion that outlines plausible deniability not merit, value or truth. They do not reflect shareholders, employees, or customers best interest. They reflect a tight knit group that has to pay and pay big so that they can get theirs in the next round.

This brings me to the National Basketball Association and its use of the salary cap. We just witnessed an NBA finals where the better team won (Boston Celtics in six games) and that is the nature of the game. It's five on five, the best player does not take every shot and the best player cannot defend the other team by himself.

Yesterday could have been the end of the NBA season, but the Los Angeles Lakers forced a game six in Boston -- not so much by winning; more by having a "refuse to lose" finish that they could not muster before. I am quite sure David Stern is fine with that outcome. ESPN, and ABC television owned by Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) must be ecstatic. The NBA officials will earn another paycheck, and the sponsors? They are praying for a game seven for sure!

Yesterday, prior to the game, I posted Sunday Funnies: Lakers/Celtics -- NBA business success, and dedicated much of the word flow to all the clamoring about NBA officiating and reasons why the game had issues. Today is all the about the cash.

While the Super Bowl is the hugest of events, an NBA Finals is a saga with twists and turns, and this one so far has had many. The Lakers face insurmountable odds of winning two games in Boston so they have been as much as counted out already.

Laker star and NBA Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant has posed the most interesting perspective on the challenge his team faces that I can ever remember. He said, prior to the game, that since he did not go to college he viewed his situation like making the Elite Eight referring to Division I college basketball March Madness. He said, you just have to feel grateful you are there and know that you have to win three games to win the tournament.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) led by commissioner David Stern, Esq. has been a spectacular financial success over the past two decades. Even after Michael Jordan hung up his jersey and people wondered aloud how he could be replaced, the league hardly missed a beat.

Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Garnet, Amare Stoudamire, and this year Chris Paul and Dwight Howard have entered the pantheon of NBA superstars adding plenty of excitement. By the time Jordan retired it was over due.

While the NBA has been making money it has been losing its luster in other regards. The brawls, bad calls, and official Donaghy's integrity fall have only served to force Stern to earn his pay working over time to repair the damage.

The current uproar about the officiating is not the result of criminal activity, or lack of effort or skill, or poor eye sight, or planned manipulation. What it is about is a lack of clarity and consistency in the game. No other legitimate professional sport ignores its own rules as blatantly as the NBA.

The most serious are the definitions of traveling or carrying. The words in the book have not changed they are just ignored. I watched Tim Duncan walk from the top of the key taking three long and obvious strides to the hoop and dunk it without a call. Guys spin to the hoop changing their pivot foot all the time. Sure it makes the play fun but it makes the game a sham at times also. It also feeds the misrepresentation of the players as "unruly".

This weeks Barron's (subscription required) talks about The Next Warren Buffett. Of course nobody believes that's going to happen. The headline is cast to grab attention and sell papers, just like mine, but it's not happening: no way, no how!

Barron's discusses in it's story the strong possibilty that David Sokol, 51, the curent chairman of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company is the most likely to succeed Buffett. MidAmerican has $39 billion in assets and is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A). The headline should really have read "succeed" not be the "next".

No matter how much you plan, calculate, speculate and research sometimes you just cannot avoid turmoil and it is going to affect your business. It does not matter what kind of business you're in, you are going to have surprises.

This week when I read Miami Heat forward Shawn Marion out for season with foot injury, I could not help but think how ironic. When the Phoenix Suns NBA basketball franchise traded all-star forward Shawn Marion (and guard Marcus Banks) to the Heat for Shaquille O'Neal I am quite certain that there was unanimity of thought that it was Shaq that would be more prone to injury. He had already missed many games this season and was just coming off an injury right before the trade.

After a very slow (losing) start with the Suns Shaq has done well (ignoring his pitiful free-throw shooting) and they have reversed course over the last ten games. The Suns are still in the same hunt for a Championship they were before, but now with a monster in the middle perhaps giving them greater hope for a storybook ending.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of the Phoenix Suns or Miami Heat , but I am saving up to buy the Los Angeles Lakers.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Jeffrey Jordan live up to the legacy of his father, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

By Mike Brewster, guest blogger.

Since legendary hoopster Michael Jordan retired for good in 2003, none of the "next Michael Jordans"-- from Tracy McGrady to Jerry Stackhouse to Vince Carter -- have come close to matching Jordan's gaudy stats, six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, or impact on the game (not to mention his poker losses, but that's another story). Perhaps we have to look closer to home to find the real heir to Air Jordan?

Son Jeff Jordan is a freshman at the University of Illinois, and the first thing that strikes you about the younger Jordan is that he earned an academic scholarship to Illinois, certainly impressive but not exactly predictive of a Hall of Fame NBA career. Jeff's stats -- he's averaging five minutes and under one point per game this season for one of the worst Illinois squads in memory -- suggest that he might have been better off playing at one of the schools where he was offered a basketball scholarship, such as Loyola University of Chicago or Valparaiso.

You have to admire the courage of senior management teams who agree to present at financial conferences, especially when the president of the company is unloading stock, and the best spin the CFO can put on the numbers is that they aren't as bad as they used to be. Such is the case with G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (Nasdaq: GIII), which manufactures and distributes higher end coats and jackets under label for Calvin Klein, Guess?, Tommy Hilfiger and others, as well as licensed sportswear. G-III licenses jackets for the NHL, NBA, MLB, and dozens of major colleges and universities. They control a brand portfolio to envy. So why is it that the best the company can do is not lose as much money as quickly?

To its credit, G-III has narrowed its losses in 3Q 2007 by almost 60%, down to about $0.05 per share, compared with $0.14 per share a year ago. Net sales for the recent quarter were up 21% to $84 million. CEO Morris Goldfarb was so pleased with the posted loss that was well below what was expected that he has raised FY2007 guidance to $0.90-$0.95 per diluted share based on a $10 million increase in sales to $510 million.

This positive spin does not at all address the problems facing G-III. Are its costs not yet under control? Are its licensing deals structured in such a way that it is difficult to turn a profit? It manufactures team jackets for most major American sports leagues. Surely some of them must be widely popular with sports fans. Yet even CEO Goldfarb admits that sportswear is not yet a "meaningful" contributor to the bottom line. Investors should hope he accelerates his search for meaning and soon.

Any experienced investor could give a dissertation on the utmost importance of good senior management toward the success of any enterprise. This seems to be lost on the Boards of Directors of both Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and the New York Knickerbockers NBA franchise.

Last week the Knicks suffered another embarrassing moment during the reign of Isaiah Thomas as General Manager and Coach of the team. A jury awarded a plaintiff $11,600,000 in a sexual harassment case against Thomas and the Knicks. Thomas has squirmed around in the executive suite for a long time, and after numerous bad trades and draft picks, he let a great coach go only to decide to pace the hardwood himself. After all the wheeling and dealing, it is long overdue for a change at the top of the Knicks organization. My comment comes at the end of a long list of people that have been saying the same thing for years -- but now the feeling is almost unanimous throughout the sports world.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss told reporters Thursday that he would consider trading Kobe Bryant and said he must behave in a business-like manner. To Buss, this means being open to all offers and considering anything where he thought he could get equal value - Yeah right!

I'm sure previous owner Jack Kent Cooke was all ears when Hall of Famers Jerry West and Elgin Baylor played out their careers on the Lakers. After Kent Cooke (also an astute business man) did his listening, he also probably laughed so uncontrollably he was not in a condition to answer the owner or general manager that was speaking to him.

Dr. Buss must be consulting with the very young ladies he has been dating, because it is beyond my imagination that trading Kobe is still being discussed. Besides, what equal value (LeBron? Duncan?) could he be talking about?

Players would think twice about joining a mediocre team with a disintegrating management team that let go of Jerry West, Shaquille O'Neal, Derrick Fisher (now back), and traded Caron Butler for disappointing, disappearing center Kwame Brown.

When Jerry West was our GM, you had players that took less pay to come to the southland. Shaquille was right, this owner has lost his touch. Not only would it be silly to trade Kobe for three other players, but I would do the reverse. I actually would trade four for one: our front office, Mr. Buss and kids, plus Mitch Kupchak, to get Jerry West back.

Seems like Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) not only has the EU as an adversary, but now the world's largest software maker can butt heads with the National Basketball Association. The head of Microsoft's China operations has left for a position with the NBA's operations in that country at a time when Ole' Softie continues to lose top talent in many key areas. Remember Google snatching away a top Microsoft China exec a few years ago?

China is a bit of a quandary for Microsoft. It's the world's largest country by population, and it's considered an emerging market for PCs as the ranks of the middle class climb. Also, though, it's home to rampant amounts of software piracy, much of which directly hits Microsoft's already-large pocketbook. Still, Tim Chen will be leaving to head the NBA's operations in that country, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. Microsoft needs to act quickly to appoint someone capable to sit atop China's fast-growing economy or it could find itself in a world of hurt.

All of these defections have to leave many of us wondering: do China-based execs employed by Microsoft not see any growth or future with the software maker? It's flattering in one way that Microsoft's China execs are apparently sought after highly, but then again, it hurts the software maker as it constantly turns over important top leadership. It's hard to argue that Chen didn't see a bigger opportunity with the NBA in terms of growth, as there are reportedly 300 million basketball players in the country, with it also being the most popular youth sport. Now, that's growth potential even the computer industry can't touch.

Ticketmaster, the leading ticket sales website owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp (NYSE: IACI) is being sued by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The NBA basketball team accuses the company of anticompetitive and monopolistic practices.

According to the Associated Press, "The Cavaliers allege in the lawsuit that Ticketmaster is trying to prevent the team's Flash Seats secondary-ticketing Web site from competing with the ticketing giant. Flash Seats provides season ticket holders a way to sell and transfer seats electronically _ a system that is superior to Ticketmaster's TeamExchange program, the lawsuit says."

Ticketmaster has also sued the team, claiming that its contract makes the relationship with Flash Seats illegal.

As Doug McIntyre wrote earlier, IAC reported disappointing earnings today sending the stock down more than 5%. But the drop does not appear to be attributable to the Ticketmaster lawsuit.

Zac Bissonnette is a partner and writer for Hedge Funnies, a satirical take on the financial markets.