espn.com[/caption]Not only was returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers a smart basketball decision by LeBron James, but also a great move for his business, brand, PR and reputation.
James' reputation, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell, has been it at it's highest since June 2010, right before he made his infamous decision to sign with the Miami Heat.
The reputation is based off a California-based E-Poll. According to Rovell, "The company takes the opinions of 1,100 people, ages 13 and up that reflect a representative sampling of the U.S. population, in a poll and uses that data to give the more than 8,000 celebrities in its database an E-Score ranging from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most known, liked and appealing."
James had an 80 E-Poll score for this month. He had an 84 in June 2010 and a career-high 87 in January 2010. His lowest ever is a 40 in July 2011, which was after LBJ's loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
Here's a breakdown of his scores:
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espn.com [/caption]"He has been on a roller coaster, with all the peaks and valleys you'd expect," E-Poll's president and CEO Gerry Philpott said. "I think the loss to the Spurs actually helped him, made him look more human, and then his coming back to Cleveland, and the way he did it, did even more to change how people viewed him. I think a big part of that was how deep he went on admitting why his original decision wasn't handled right."
Philpott doesn't believe James can get past an 87 E-Poll score, though.
"He probably won't get to 100, like [Michael] Jordan did, but I think he can get into the 90s before he retires."
Good stuff for LeBron, but he probably doesn't care.
