After graduating from Ohio State with a …

After graduating from Ohio State with a bachelor’s degree in sports industry last spring, the former No. 1 NBA draft pick who helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2007 NCAA championship game has a new job. Oden is officially an athlete adviser for Edyoucore Sports & Entertainment, a Baltimore-based company that provides financial education and consulting services to individuals, including amateur and professional athletes. For Oden, it consists of one primary responsibility: be yourself.

“I’m not saying I did terrible things …

Oden said he hasn’t closed the door on …

Oden said he hasn’t closed the door on coaching; he still hopes to work his way into the profession. For now, though, this is a welcome spot to be in. “I am a basketball player through and through and I got my degree, but I don’t want to be looked at as just a basketball player,” he said. “I feel like my life means something right now where I can help these kids or anybody to be better in their life, be happier, be more positive. That’s really what I hope to bring to this life and to this world. When the right (coaching) opportunity comes, I would love to take advantage of that. ”

Randolph owns a small percentage of the …

Randolph owns a small percentage of the Phoenix, and like the other NBA players who have bought into the NBL, he has entered into a mutually beneficial arrangement by investing with a friend in a franchise. The players buy proximity to the nerve center of a professional sports team, and the franchise gets an association with a brand-name NBA player. “It gives you confidence that you are on the right track and that there are others who share your vision who have done it before,” said Craig Hutchison, chairman of Melbourne United.

Basketball is still Marion’s true love, …

Basketball is still Marion’s true love, the sport he intuitively knows and the one in which he can imagine playing the most central role post-retirement. When the chance to join Walsh presented itself, Marion jumped. “I didn’t know anything about the NBL,” Marion said. “But it was a winning situation. Now that I’ve been, I would say that the way we have it set up over there, it’s the closest thing to NBA ball. That’s the thing I was in awe of.”

Disney’s ABC and ESPN have sold out of …

Disney’s ABC and ESPN have sold out of advertising time for all Christmas Day NBA game telecasts. This year’s five-game slate of Christmas Day games is drawing record ad rates, according to Disney. The NBA’s annual Christmas Day hoops celebration is viewed internally at ABC/ESPN as the unofficial start of the regular season. Advertisers and agencies that may have been holding back from early game action are jumping in with both feet.

When Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid …

When Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid $450 million for the Golden State Warriors in 2010, the sports world was left scratching its head. The first major team purchase for the venture capitalist and Hollywood producer, who outbid billionaire Larry Ellison, then the world’s sixth-richest person, set a record price for an NBA franchise. It was hardly anyone’s idea of a crown jewel. Forbes valued the team at $315 million seven months earlier, No. 18 in the league. The team had been to the playoffs just once in the prior 15 years and had inconsistent attendance at its 44-year-old arena. No one is questioning the deal now. Today the Warriors are valued at $3.5 billion, the third most valuable team in the NBA behind the New York Knicks ($4 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($3.7 billion), a ten-fold appreciation since 2009 that has proven to be the decade’s best team investment in all the major sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and international soccer, on a percentage basis.

NBA star Kevin Durant met with …

NBA star Kevin Durant met with Philadelphia Union owners Jay Sugarman and Richard Leibovitch in Chester on Friday, for a conversation that the team was quite coy about. He was joined by colleagues from his company, 35 Ventures, which invests in a range of sports, technology, media and philanthropic entities. A Union spokesperson offered only this one-sentence statement: “We entertained 35 Ventures for a meeting with Union ownership.”