CAA: The REAL POWER behind the DEPARTURE of LIN from New York

there's a reason why Calipari always has first round level players stockpiled at whatever college he coaches at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Creative_Artists_Agency_clients

Just look at that list of clients CAA employs. Not just in sports.

 

forgot to add this from the same link:



CAA has strong ties to the Garden and the Knicks. New York forward Carmelo Anthony and guard J.R. Smith are represented by Leon Rose of CAA, and MSG Sports partnered with CAA to sign high-dollar sponsorships for the Garden.

Here's an (old) article on William Wesley detailing his relationship with Lebron, his apparently huge influence (one of the 3 most powerful people in professional sports, according to David Falk).

Here's a quote from the article that sums up Wesley's influence:

if you look closely at the various forces at work in basketball at every level of the sport—the AAU programs that funnel players to college programs, the agents looking to land players as early as NBA rules allow, the shoe companies, coaches, franchise owners, front-office executives, players—it eventually dawns on you that they have one thing in common: William Wesley.

More fodder:

Greg Anthony called the selection of Balkman [by the Knicks] “befuddling” and later hypothesized that Isiah Thomas had selected Balkman and Temple University guard Mardy Collins because both were clients of Leon Rose [of CAA], and that taking these players in the first round might help them in the pursuit of free agent LeBron James.

and more:

Wes’s relationships with the NBA’s elite players give him access to the owners and general managers of every team in the league. (Not to mention agents, media, and corporate execs.) In 2004, Reebok sent Wes to Athens with Team USA to manage Allen Iverson. Wes stayed in the players’ quarters on the Queen Mary 2, placing him in close proximity to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and other superstars. He was granted access to Team USA practices and functions that were off¬-limits to players’ families and entourages during last summer’s World Championships, landing him alongside twenty-three other players Leon Rose covets. (Wes’s presence caused quite a commotion. As Henry Abbott reported on TrueHoop, “Two independent sources confirm that one, if not more, NBA agent was livid at USA Basketball for letting William Wesley into closed sessions with the young and impressionable stars of Team USA. It’s an agent’s worst nightmare to have someone like that hanging around your player in a closed session.”) Nike also provides Wes with access to the nation’s premier prep players at their summer basketball camps. And access to these kids means access to college coaches.

Then Wes said, I want you to meet my close friend Allan. Allan was former Knicks star Allan Houston.

While Wesley was courting Barbosa to join CAA:

What kind of music do you like?

“Jay-Z.”

Wes pounded away at the keypad, there was the sound of a phone ringing, and this time there was an answer. Jay-Z. He and Beyoncé were working late in the studio. There were a few moments of conversation, and Leandro attempted to sing Jay-Z’s hit song “Hard Knock Life.” Beyoncé laughed. Jay-Z laughed.

Wes called Nike’s global director of basketball, Lynn Merritt. He called Scott Perry, director of player personnel for the Detroit Pistons. “Barbosa’s going to be a big star,” Perry said.

The rest -- Stephen A's relationship with CAA is unprovable but it fits with the fact that he had such a headstart on the lebron story and with the underhanded way CAA seems to operate. the narrative of CAA's desires and their relationship with letting Lin go is speculation based on the very obvious stupidity of the decision from a basketball standpoint, the Knicks' past relationship with CAA, and Anthony and Smith's reactions to Lin's offer sheet.