Interesting write up over on Rivals by Dan Woike.
With Mayo in Memphis, he ends up in a town that hasn't fully embraced NBA basketball. Nike didn't shy away, though, inking Mayo to a four-year endorsement deal. The deal, though, wasn't for "major" dollars, according to reports.
More importantly than the size of the market, though, is the fit within the team that selected Mayo.
Unfortunately for the ex-Trojan guard, things don't look too promising.
I guess it depends on what your definition of bad is. I actually think this is a perfect fit for Mayo, he is from a small town so his thought process is geared towards that small town mentality. That's not to say he doesn't have big aspirations or that he couldn't make it in a big market but with the amount of pressure that will be placed on him to perform this is a great fit. Sure, Mayo may have to compete with Rudy Gay for ball time but I see no reason why Mayo won't succeed as far as his basketball growth is concerned.
Memphis isn't very good and yes they are guard heavy but for Mayo this could be the best place for him to thrive without the pressure of big market media breathing down his neck. Mayo is going to be an all-star in this league regardless of where he plays that's a given, and while his goal of coming to USC to market his image was short lived I think he did just enough controversy aside.
Mayo's goal was to make it to the NBA, he has now achieved that goal. He now needs to set a new list of goals that would include the obvious, being an all-star and winning a title. The former is completely up to him while the latter is out of his control and because it was out his control on where he went I don't think the draft was bad for Mayo at all. He has had the last laugh with a big contract coming and slew of endorsements as well.
I am still not happy about the controversy but up to this point its mission accomplished. We wish him luck.