James Gandolfini Fills Some Pretty Big Shoes at HBO

Attention Soprano fans. James Gandolfini is returning to HBO, where he's set to play John "Sonny" Vaccaro, the man who signed Michael Jordan to the first million-dollar shoe deal, according to Variety (funny...In a 2002 profile, ESPN Magazine compared Vaccaro to a Sopranos character, saying he's " long been cast as some kind of mafioso, strong-arming amateur basketball for much of his 63 years"). Gandolfini will also executive produce the drama, titled ABCD Camp, through his Attaboy Films banner (which has an exclusive producing deal with HBO). Also exec producing will be former Golden State Warrior Baron Davis, partner in the production company Verso Entertainment (I still think that Clippers forward Elton Brand producing a Werner Herzog movie is still way cooler.) From Variety:

"Friday Night Lights" screenwriter David Aaron Cohen pitched and will write a drama chronicling the last youth basketball camp established by the corporate sports scout Vaccaro.

Vaccaro is credited with launching the careers of dozens of NBA stars, including LeBron James and Tracy McGrady. He made a fortune brokering deals with college coaches to outfit teams in brand-name shoes, and then signing multimillion-dollar shoe-endorsement deals with Jordan, Kobe Bryant and others. Vaccaro worked first for Nike, then Adidas and Reebok.

Vaccaro was a thorn in the side of the NCAA. The governing body of college athletics tried to crack down on Vaccaro in its role of restricting compensation of amateur athletes.