National Basketball Players Association Rumors

Odds & Ends: Porter, Falk, Kings, Warriors

May 22nd, 2013 at 12:42pm CST by Zachary Links

Here's today's look around the Association..

After signing Georgetown product Otto Porter, David Falk is nearly done re-building the FAME agency, tweets Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal (via Twitter). “We will sign two or three more players and that is it," said the agent.
The new Kings ownership group is set to buy the Downtown Plaza shopping mall where the team's new arena will be built, according to Tony Bizjak, Dale Kasler, and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. Meanwhile, principal owner Vivek Ranadive is actively talking to people about selling his stake in the Warriors.
The NBA players union has expressed interest in former league executive Steve Mills, according to Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (on Sulia). The former Knicks executive vice president would bring a deep understanding of how the owners think and negotiate to the negotiating table since he was on their side for the better part of his career.

Odds & Ends: Stern, Michael Curry, Zarren

May 16th, 2013 at 8:23pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld (via Twitter) hears that David Stern was an active participant in yesterday's vote over Sacramento/Seattle at the Board of Governors meeting. It's worth noting that despite an offer north of $625MM as well as the $115MM relocation fee that would have been included by the Seattle group, Stern was able to sway the vote in Sacramento's direction, even though it appeared that more owners were in favor of Seattle's offer (All Twitter links). Here are a few more miscellaneous tidbits from around the Association tonight:

Ken Berger of CBS Sports tweets that the 76ers are expected to interview lead assistant coach Michael Curry for their head coaching job next week.
Steve Bulpett of BostonHerald.com hears that Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren turned down Philadelphia's offer to make him their general manager before the Sixers turned to Sam Hinkie.
Although potential number one pick Nerlens Noel wouldn't be ready to start the regular season of his rookie campaign, the highly touted draft prospect is targeting a debut around Christmas, writes Jason Lloyd of Ohio.com.
Noel's injury is just one reason why teams might not be too high in landing the number one draft slot this year, writes Lloyd. In that same piece, Lloyd cites one league executive who thinks that a team might be better off drafting whoever falls to the third or fourth pick rather than handle the risk of drafting first overall.
Georgetown's Otto Porter spoke glowingly about being a potential fit for the Cavaliers, writes Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer.
Shabazz Muhammad opened up about the controversy surrounding his listed age and briefly told David Mayo of MLive.com about how he'd fare with the Pistons if they drafted him.
Warriors majority owner Joe Lacob says that he won't have a problem finding a replacement for Vivek Ranadive's current share with Golden State once the Sacramento situation is resolved, says Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News (via Twitter).
Jerry Stackhouse is in Chicago and plans to meet with possible draftees tomorrow to brief them on the NBPA, tweeted Hoopsworld's Steve Kyler.

Billy Hunter Files Lawsuit Against NBPA, Fisher

May 16th, 2013 at 6:04pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg News Sports tweeted that former player's union executive director Billy Hunter has filed a lawsuit against the NBPA, union president Derek Fisher, and Jamie Wior (Fisher's publicist), claiming defamation and a breach of contract. Ken Berger of CBS Sports elaborated further on the matter, reporting that the suit includes allegations accusing Fisher and Wior of secretly conspiring with "certain owners" (not identified in the suit) to negotiate the conclusion of the 2011 lockout and that their actions ultimately led to the termination of Hunter's contract with the NBPA.

Hunter's lawsuit contends that Fisher "actively manipulated the investigation" conducted by the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison law firm "by making false statements impugning Hunter's character." The document also questions why Hunter's employment contract from 2010 was deemed invalid by the Paul-Weiss firm considering that Fisher – whose signature on Hunter's termination letter indicates that he had authorization to hire Hunter – had signed it.

Expanding on the accusation that Fisher had secretly worked with several NBA owners in order to end the lockout, the lawsuit includes that Hunter received a telephone call from "one of the highest paid players and his agent" nearly a month before the actual agreement was reached and was notified that a deal had already been agreed upon with the owners. At that point, it is alleged that Hunter was then told by the player and agent to accept the terms and end the lockout. Hunter's party also contends that Fisher had negotiated the 50-50 split of league revenue "without consulting with Hunter or the Executive Committee."

Among some of the rest of the charges listed in the lawsuit, Fisher is accused of "(inserting) himself into the collective bargaining process to the detriment of the union" and that he "was incentivized to complete a deal as quickly as possible given his limited playing career and need to secure his future job prospects by staying on good terms with the NBA and team owners." It also brings into question the active role of Jamie Wior, who Hunter asserts had no authority to become involved with or assist Fisher with the negotiations of the CBA. At the very minimum, Hunter is seeking the rest of the money owed to him at the time his contract was terminated, not including compensatory and punitive damages.

Odds & Ends: NBPA, James, Datome, Love

April 25th, 2013 at 9:01pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports tweets that the U.S. Attorney's office has indicted Prim Capital for falsifying a document to defraud the NBPA of $3MM. Wojnarowski provided a link to the full press release earlier as well. Prim Capital, in which the son of former NBPA executive director Billy Hunter was vice president, previously had a consulting contract with the player's union that was later deemed fraudulent by the U.S. Attorney's office. Here are more of tonight's odds and ends:

Knicks guard Jason Kidd credits Kenyon Martin for "saving our season," writes Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York. It is difficult to imagine where New York would have been without Martin's contributions, especially as the team has dealt with plenty of injuries in their frontcourt.
Eric Koreen of the National Post outlines the top ten legacies that are on the line during the NBA playoffs.
Jon Humbert of KOMO tweets that the Longshore Union filed an appeal over the land use challenge for the Seattle arena. Last month, a report from The Seattle Times (via the Associated press) said that the Longshoremen have been in staunch opposition of an arena being built near the Seattle waterfront, due to the congestion of the area that would be caused by athletic events.
Mike James proved to be a viable pickup for the Mavericks this season, averaging 8.1 PPG and 4.2 APG while helping the team finish 15-8 over their final 23 games. Although James said recently that he'd like to play two more seasons with the Mavs, Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas discusses why the Amityville product doesn't figure to be in the team's long-term plans.
Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace is expected to travel to Rome next week to scout Gigi Datome, according to Sportando.net (hat tip to Il Corriere dello Sport).
Following up on a hypothetical trade proposed by Grantland's Bill
Simmons, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com examines the possibility of
the Bulls trying to trade for Kevin Love, exploring whether a package of
Carlos Boozer, Jimmy Butler, the rights to Nikola Mirotic, and
Charlotte's first-round pick would be more than Chicago would be willing
to give up.
Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld looks at the evolution of Paul George into an All-Star and a leader in the Pacers locker room.

Aldridge’s Latest: Kings Sale, NBPA, Bynum, Bell

March 4th, 2013 at 12:30pm CST by Luke Adams

David Aldridge's latest Morning Tip column at NBA.com is packed full with updates on a few notable stories from around the league. Here's Aldridge's latest on the Kings' sale, the NBPA, Andrew Bynum, and more:

Owners don't like telling other owners to whom they should sell their teams, so the final decision on the Kings sale still may come down to the Maloofs, rather than the league's finance or relocation committees, a source tells Aldridge.
A source involved in the process tells Aldridge that for the Maloofs to consider moving away from the Seattle group in favor of the Sacramento group, there'd have to be an extremely good (and extremely well-articulated) reason.
Aldridge believes that David Stern genuinely wants to give Sacramento a legitimate shot to make its case at April's Board of Governors meetings, so no decision will be made before then.
Sacramento's bid for the Kings was deliberately arranged so that Mark Mastrov would be the one officially buying the team, with Ron Burkle heading the charge for the new arena, given the Maloofs' history of antipathy toward Burkle.
Star players like LeBron James have pledged to take a more active role in staying apprised of union affairs and issues, according to Aldridge. The NBPA executive committee, which includes Andre Iguodala, also includes a few more big names this time around. "In the past, team reps have always been 10th, 11th guys going to the meetings," Iguodala said. "Eighth, ninth. 10th, 11th guys were going to the meetings, and we weren't as involved as we should have been. But I think we're stepping it up."
The Sixers remain "intoxicated" by Bynum's potential, a source tells Aldridge, suggesting that the team is still contemplating re-signing him. When we asked yesterday whether Philadelphia ought to re-sign Bynum, nearly 70% of you said no.
Mike D'Antoni tried to talk the Lakers into pursuing buyout candidate Raja Bell before last Friday's deadline, but the front office didn't feel like Bell was worth adding to the team's salary and tax bill.

Odds & Ends: China, Bynum, Fisher, NBPA, Draft

February 26th, 2013 at 2:25pm CST by Luke Adams

In a piece for SheridanHoops.com, Jon Pastuszek of NiuBBall.com previews the Chinese Basketball Association playoffs and recaps the standings for the season. Pastuszek also makes note of the American players who had been playing in China, some of whom could be candidates to return stateside and catch on with an NBA team. So far, Terrence Williams has signed a 10-day contract with the Celtics after his stint with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, while D.J. White is set to sign with the C's as well.

Here are a few more Tuesday afternoon odds and ends:

The Sixers know what Andrew Bynum is capable of when he's healthy, which is why John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer argues that the club should shut down the big man for the rest of this season.
In his latest mailbag, Ian Thomsen of SI.com cites one rival executive who expects the Sixers to re-sign Bynum this summer, negotiating language into his contract that gives the team some level of protection in case his knee issues continue. "If they don't sign him, then we'd all better run the other direction," said the exec. "Because they'll know his situation better than everybody."
While the Mavericks' front office was reportedly "agitated" to see Derek Fisher sign with the Thunder, Mavs players didn't seem too shocked by the move, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com details. "It wasn't a big surprise," one Mavs veteran said. "We expected him to end up with the Lakers or OKC."
Fisher told Oklahoma City reporters today that he's not necessarily planning to retire at season's end, according to Royce Young of Daily Thunder (via Twitter).
Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld runs through all 30 NBA head coaches in an attempt to determine which ones are safe and which ones might be on the hot seat.
The NBPA moved quickly to remove Billy Hunter from his exectutive director position, but finding a replacement figures to be a longer process, tweets Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal.
21 NBA scouts and one general manager, the Thunder's Sam Presti, were in France today to watch Rudy Gobert match up against Mouhammadou Jaiteh, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com (Twitter link). Gobert ranks 12th on Givony's list of top 100 prospects, while Jaiteh is 32nd.

Billy Hunter Out As Executive Director Of Union

February 16th, 2013 at 5:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:21pm: Wojnarowski writes that the NBPA's decision to fire Hunter could lead to a legal dispute over the $10.5MM remaining on his contract.

4:38pm: Fisher and Matt Bonner will remain union president and vice president, respectively, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). James Jones will serve as secretary/treasurer, TNT's David Aldridge adds via Twitter. They'll join Stackhouse, Roger Mason, Chris Paul, Andre Iguodala, Stephen Curry and Willie Green on the new executive committee, tweets USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. In brief remarks, Fisher hinted that he expects Hunter will take legal action following his dismissal, Washburn notes (Twitter link).

4:29pm: The vote to oust Hunter was 24-0, Wojnarowski tweets, with six player representatives apparently absent from the meeting.

3:50pm: The players union has voted to remove longtime executive director Billy Hunter from his position, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The move has appeared likely over the last couple of days, as Hunter had been placed on an indefinite leave of absence following the release of an independent investigation critical of his practices. In a meeting today that Hunter did not attend, player representatives voted in a "decisive manner" to fire Hunter, and LeBron James spoke of the need for an overhaul, Wojnarowski tweets.

James and Nets reserve Jerry Stackhouse were two of the most vocal players at the meeting, and Stackhouse excoriated union president Derek Fisher, who has been cast as one of Hunter's opponents in a yearlong power struggle atop the union, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link). It's unclear whether the players voted to fire him with or without cause, though it appeared two days ago that firing Hunter with cause was the favored route. According to Hunter's contract, a firing with cause would entail "embezzlement, theft, larceny, material fraud or other acts of dishonesty" on Hunter's part, and the "acts of dishonesty" clause looked to be the players' best chance to pursue the action. A firing with cause would allow Hunter to collect his salary for the remainder of the year and for any accrued and unused vacation, rather than the full value of his contract as would be necessary in a firing without cause, as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today detailed.

Hunter, who's been in charge of the NBPA for 17 years, created a blog to present his response to the report by the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison that laid out Hunter's abuses of power while in office. There were conflicting reports from Hunter's lawyers and the NBPA over whether Hunter was allowed to attend today's meeting.

Several influential agents have been privately discussing Don Fehr, former baseball union chief and current head of the NHL players union, as a successor to Hunter. A couple of weeks ago, Wojnarowski reported that the union may look for a replacement in B. Todd Jones, the current Minnesota attorney general and acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Agent Arn Tellem, speaking with Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal, advised the players to take their time in selecting a new executive director.

Union Likely To Fire Billy Hunter

February 15th, 2013 at 9:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

The widespread belief among players, agents and other stakeholders is that NBPA player representatives will vote to oust executive director Billy Hunter in tommorrow's meeting, reports Howard Beck of the New York Times. A representative from each team will cast a vote, and members of the interim executive committee might also be permitted to vote, according to Beck. As many as 50 players are expected to attend the meeting, during which a new executive committee will also be elected.

Union representatives say no decision has been made about whether to invite Hunter, but Hunter's lawyers insist their client has been made unwelcome. Hunter, placed on indefinite leave of absence after the release of an independent audit critical of his practices while in charge of the union, released a presentation that he claimed was in lieu of the ability to address the players in person at the meeting.

"On every call, I have raised this issue of attending with their lawyers, and they have said consistently: you can continue assuming you are not coming," said Michael Carlinsky, an attorney for Hunter.

Agent Arn Tellem, who represents more than 50 players, is advising his clients to fire Hunter. Speaking with Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal, he laid out recommendations for the players as they meet to decide Hunter's fate, and gave his thoughts on how they should go about replacing the executive director should they choose to let him go.

Billy Hunter Issues Response To Report On NBPA

February 15th, 2013 at 8:45am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA players' union will meet this weekend in Houston to discuss the future of executive director Billy Hunter, along with a handful of other topics. In the wake of a report on the NBPA by the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Hunter has been placed on indefinite leave in advance of this weekend's meetings.

However, it appears Hunter may not be permitted to attend the Houston meetings to rebut the findings in the Paul Weiss report. Instead, Hunter and his representatives have created a blog, on which they've published a 21-page preliminary response to the report, calling it "disturbing" that Hunter hasn't been invited to Houston to address the players. The blog also includes a PowerPoint presentation that Hunter had hoped to deliver to the union at this weekend's meetings.

Among the points Hunter makes in his response: No criminal acts were found by the Paul Weiss report, Delaware law was observed for the signing of his contract and for hiring decisions, and no cross-examination of the witnesses used in the Paul Weiss report was permitted to assess their credibility. Hunter also points to the progress he's made during his 17-year stint as the union's executive director, including his success in "turning the union's finances around."

Whether or not Hunter ultimately gets the opportunity to address the NBPA in Houston, we heard yesterday that his lawyers plan to present this information directly to union members this weekend.

Latest On Billy Hunter, NBPA

February 14th, 2013 at 9:29pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Recently placed on indefinite leave, NBPA executive director Billy Hunter is prepared to actively pursue efforts to keep his job in the next coming days as the annual player's meeting is set to take place this weekend in Houston (Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today). Facing accusations of nepotism and questions about the approval of his contract, Hunter and his lawyers are prepared to refute the independent report conducted by the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, which says that he failed to properly put the interests of the Union above his personal interests.

"There's no there there…This is an effort to make zero plus zero plus zero equal one," said Corey Worcestor, one of Hunter's lawyers who asserts that his client had done nothing wrong and acted in accordance with union bylaws.

This article from NBA.com indicates that while Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison originally planned to release a supplement to their original report, the New York law firm will hold off for now being that the government is now conducting its own investigation.

Zillgitt writes that the players will need a majority vote from the executive committee in order to fire Hunter, with or without cause. According to his contract, firing with cause would involve finding him guilty of "embezzlement, theft, larceny, material fraud or other acts of dishonesty." In this case, Hunter would be paid for the remainder of the year. Should he be fired without cause, Hunter would accrue all of what he is owed under his current contract, which isn't thought to be a consideration among the players union at this point. Zillgitt also adds the opinion of Geoffrey Rapp, a sports law expert and professor at the Toledo College of Law, who says that the players would likely only focus on the "acts of dishonesty" phrase being that Hunter hasn't been accused of committing embezzlement, theft, or larceny.

According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, J.J. Redick, who serves as the Magic's acting representative to the Union, along with the rest of his teammates in Orlando believe that Hunter's time as executive director is up:"I think most everyone in the NBA has reached the same conclusion, and that’s that we need some change.”

Kyle Korver, who is the Hawks' representative, also weighed in: "I think one of the weaknesses so far at this point has been a lack of communication. I think a lot of us were taken by surprise by a lot of things that supposedly have been found."

While Hunter is expected to release a statement to defend himself, the New York law firm plans to present information directly to union membership this weekend in Houston.