CLEVELAND -- 1. The playoffs have just begun, but the Cavs are breaking nearly all of their records for merchandise sales. According to director of merchandising Michael Thom, the team ranked eighth in the NBA in per-fan sales last season. This season, they were No. 3 -- behind Boston and Los Angeles -- heading into April. Thom believes the team could pass Boston and finish No. 2, remarkable for a middle-market city in the middle of an economic recession that has hit this area as hard as anywhere in the country.
2. Obviously, LeBron James drives the sales. In the last report, sales of James' items ranked third in the NBA, behind Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. But Thom said Mo Williams is a real fan attraction. "I worked for the Indians in the 1990s, and Mo sells as much as Omar Vizquel and Jim Thome did back then," he said. Thom characterizes James as a "A-plus, plus, plus" mover of merchandise. He then said Williams is a "grade A." Of late, Delonte West has been third on the list, "a B-plus," said Thom. These players are in the "B" category: Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Daniel Gibson and Ben Wallace. Little kids especially like the baby-faced Gibson, and when the guard has a good game, sales of his merchandise spikes.
3. In their first playoff game Saturday, the Cavs doubled the sales of their opening playoff game against Washington in 2008. Overall, Cavs sales are up 45 percent, more than double the increase of any other team's merchandise this season.
4. Thom also said each Cavalier has a jersey on sale, and at most games, they will even sell "six to eight" with seldom-used rookies J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson. "Fans don't just love LeBron, they love the whole team," said Thom. "They appreciate how all the players really seem to enjoy playing with each other and being in Cleveland."
