It is interesting that Arn Tellem ( now with Wasserman)- is the agent for 1. La Marcus Aldridge 2. Brandon Roy 3. Shelden Williams 4. JJ Redick This dude is known to be influential! Let us see what Tracy's agent can do for us! Just an interesting tidbit!
If you mean what he can do for us in this year's draft: Nothing. Agents sometimes have influence over trades and free agency but not the draft.
Dude do you know who this guy is? Seriously no one is suggesting that they tamper with stuff- but to say Agents dont influence the decision making is kind of ignorant.
An agent has control over who his player works out for. That's it. It'd be disingenious for the agent to not let his player work out for a team and cause his player to be picked later. First round picks have their contracts slotted. There's no negotiation really - a team's not going to avoid a player because of contract issues.
I think it's "ignorant" to think Arn Tellem could bring either LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Shelden Williams or JJ Redick to us just because he represents them and Tracy.
How many other stars does he represent on different teams? For some reason, I just can't imagine that Tracy McGrady and the Rockets are the only team he has a vested interest in.
Steve Francis , when drafted by Vancouver, refused to play there and was moved to another Team. Does anyone know the behind the sceens story of this case senario?
Hey if we land Roy, then you may be onto something here. Tellem and Roy did drop out of a workout with Charlotte. Maybe Tellem is some kind of puppeteer genius who steered Roy to Houston so that his client lands with a good team, while his superstar client in T-mac gets the help that his team needs. Not to mention that Shelden Williams goes top 10 to a southern team that's probably closer to his OKC roots than the likes of Minnesota or Seattle or where-ever. Kobe Bryant is said to call Arn Tellem; Hyman Roth after the Jewish crime boss in Godfather II. If he lands us Roy, then I think we should all pay our respects to the guy. The Arn Tellem Connection indeed.
The hype about Tellem's "genius" kind of ties into that which you called disingenuous. He is dubious, in the fact that he looks at where his client will fit with a team later on down the line (i.e. once their rookie contract is up, and they go to sign their first LARGE contract), and tries to manuever his prospects workouts to a team that will maximize his client's first non-rookie contract.
telling Roy to miss the Bobcat workout was good enough. if they decide to take gay because of that and morrison goes to the blazers, roy falls to us via trade at #5. had roy gone to that workout, jordan might have already promised roy the pick.
Tellem strong-armed the Hornets into trading Kobe Bryant to the Lakers. It probably doesn't have any effect on things, but don't forget that one of Tellem's first high profile NBA players was none other than Hakeem Olajuwon. Roy has twice cancelled workout with Charlotte. The second of which was after Jordan took over and it was reported that he favored Roy. Sure sounds like they're trying to discourage Charlotte from picking Roy. The way Tellem works is that he looks at the long term big picture, not just draft postion. Better to go to a team that is a good fit and both the player and the team can be successful. He's smart enough to know that there's a bigger upside there than getting an extra couple of million now.
Tellem has been known on several occasions to put his client on a team that would work better for the client. Kobe Bryant is the best example. While agents may not have a direct influence on the draft, it would be naive to say they have no effect on it.
Just follow the $.. Having his client in a Rockets uniform opens a lot more doors to outside markets than having his client in a Bobcats uniform. Especially the possibility in overseas markets. This might be good thing for us this year but this type of influence by an agent can bite us later.
Chad Ford, FWIW, said on Dan Patrick's show today (with Eric Cassilias - sp?) that AT was efforting to do just that...also, that BR blew off a w/o with His Michaelness.
It's pretty clear that Tellem trying to place Roy on a particular team. Even if it ends up not working, Roy's buzz and possible slot in the draft have increased, IMO, and what Tellem's been doing hasn't hurt that a bit. Man, I sure hope we get him, so it's worked on me!
