I don't know if anyone follows sports agents and such, but because of Chuck (and Yao) I've been paying attention to BDA. Recently, because of BDA's facebook posts I realized that we have a lot of BDA athletes on the Rockets. Yao Chuck Chase Goran Jordan Hasheem That's more than 1/3rd of our roster. This seems an unusual amount of players with one sports agency. Maybe this is not a rare occurrence or maybe it's just coincidence... I'd like to know what yall know/think about this. Does Morey target/accept players who's agent he can work with... or knows better than others?
I totally agree with you. I was thinking about this the other day. I even posted something similar about the trade regarding AB0. AB0 is with world wide wes and i dont think Morey likes him that much, which I believe was another reason why he was moved. I wouldnt be surprised that certain Agents work better with certain teams.
Didn't really do us any good in the Melo sweepstakes. That said, Martin and Lee are both clients of Dan Feigan, who also conveniently happens to be Dwight Howard's agent. Lee is also buddy with Dwight Howard. Makes you wonder the real reason Morey made these trades.
Are you serious? Give me a break. If Morey is targeting certain players more because of their agent, HE SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP. That's ridiculous. You target the best fit/most talented players for your teams -- what agent they have has almost nothing to do with it. This isn't baseball where you can afford to pass on drafting a certain player because his agent is Scott Boras. Individuals affect basketball more than any other major sport and any GM that lets agent biases get in the way of them signing the best roster possible should be immediately fired.
Assuming we let Hayes, Yao, Dragic, and Carroll go, we'd have about 22 million dollars to spend in 2012 assuming the cap stays the sa,e, not including anybody we draft. We actually might have a chance to get howard. I wouldn't go all in like the Knicks or the Heat did last summer(simply because there would be no real consolation prize out there). Even if we do resign Hayes, he probably doesn't have a lot of market value amongst other teams, so we could get him for cheap.
I made a thread on this a while back. In terms of the salary situation, the main thing with the Rockets are the players options for Thabeet, TWill, PP, Hill, etc. as well as Lee's qualifying offer. We have to let some of them go, or resign them very cheaply, to make room for Dwight Howard. Whereas renouncing most of them in addition to moving Scola will create enough for two max players(or nearly that amount that DH and CP3/DWill take minimal paycuts). So yes, the Rockets can technically go for it. But IMO, it better be the Miami version where the deal is done before Dwight even hits FA, and not the Knicks version where they're just desperately hoping it works.
I see it as a risk to have so much dependency on a single agency. It means the agent will have intimate knowledge about your negotiations with several players and can leverage that information against you. Also, given their influence over player decisions, they could leverage that against you as well. I'd be a little concerned as a player as well. It helps you if your agent has this additional leverage, but the agent also potentially has conflicts of interest. What if the agency makes more money by delivering Dwight Howard, but that means you have to be renounced and lose your Bird Rights, etc.?
I think this is just the matter of the team having a good working relationship with certain agents like BDA and Dan Fegan. I don't think this affects drafting much at all, but as far as trades and especially free agent go, to the extent that an agent is involved, it helps that the team and the agent work well together. It's a similar thing, I think, with the Rockets making frequent trades with Memphis and Sacramento. It's not that Morey don't talk to anyone else, it's just that he has a good working relationship with Petrie and Wallace. Mark Cuban even said at the MIT Geek Conference that working relationship between front offices is important and some front offices really don't even speak to each other.
Exactly what I was saying, the Knicks were lucky that amar'e was around and melo wanted to go there. We probably won't Paul or Williams if we can't get Howard. And if we don't get any of those three guys, we're screwed.
Yes you pick the best player available, however look at all the situations during draft time. Agents play a huge part, if they dont want their players to go to a certain team they try everything in their power to make sure that doesnt happen. Therefore, it can also go the way. If a team likes a player, they can try to get the agent to make noise so the team can draft them. There is a lot more politics than you might know and it would be naive to think that it agents dont play a part.
You made a good point about agents and the draft process and I agree with you. I was more responding to the notion that Morey would intentionally target x player over y player because of their agent -- I don't believe that one bit. For instance, I don't think who AB's agent is factored into the decision to trade him at all.
Melo left BDA, he's with CAA now. The same agency as LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and Warkentien. Warkentien was hired by the Knicks last month. Some media speculated it was to help them get Melo.
I dont think any GM would not draft the best player on the board. Let's say that a Lebron type player was at our pick but he has publically said he doesnt want to play there.... "ala rubio", do you still draft him and then trade him or do you draft him and play him. i am sure the agents are pushing the drafting and trading. But what do you get in return for a player unless it is a packaged deal. I have no doubt that if Rubio was drafted where he was projected he would be playing in the nba right now. Back in the days, you get what you get and you are happy with it. Nowadays players/agents are picking and choosing, looking for the easy way to a championship or more money, bigger markets, etc. Case in point there is a player saying he wants to go to the knicks already. If you are another team, do you draft him or pass on him. He fits as the best player on the board and the need you have.
