Bill Hunter Slime Ball

Air Langhi · Apr 24, 2012

Billy Hunter Slime Ball

I guess Derek Fisher had a good reason to want an audit:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...roils-nba-union-as-players-question-hire.html

The National Basketball Players Association, whose business practices are being questioned by President Derek Fisher, paid almost $4.8 million to Executive Director Billy Hunter’s family members and their professional firms since 2001, according to public records.

Fisher was asked to resign last week by the union’s leadership after he sought an outside review of finances. The request for him to step down came after the association’s executive committee spoke with Hunter on a conference call.

Hunter, a former U.S. attorney who led the players through two work stoppages, has a daughter and daughter-in-law on staff at the union. Another daughter is special counsel at a law firm used by the association, and Hunter’s son is a principal at a financial planning and investment firm that last fiscal year was paid $45,526 a month to run the union’s financial awareness program and advise on investments, according to filings with the U.S. Labor Department.

“It’s not a criminal act, but it’s not something I would do,” said Marvin Miller, who led baseball players through three strikes and two lockouts as their salaries rose 12-fold between 1966 and 1982.

Union spokesman Dan Wasserman said the executive committee knows about the Hunter family’s positions with the organization. He said Hunter was unavailable to comment.

“There’s been full disclosure,” Wasserman said in a telephone interview.

Hunter said in an interview two days ago with the New York Times (NYT) that his family members are highly credentialed and “in many instances, they’re being paid at or below the market.”

“My kids have been vetted; the players have seen them,” Hunter told the newspaper. “They’re probably more competent than most of the people on my staff.”

‘Ethical Concern’

While Hunter isn’t breaking any law or violating association rules, having so many relatives making money from the union is enough for an independent examination, said Robert Barbato, a business ethics professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

“The involvement of so many family members who are receiving significant economic benefits raises enough of an ethical concern that an independent review seems required,” Barbato said in an e-mail. “Unless there is a reasonable explanation for calling for his resignation, I’m especially concerned that the executive committee has tried to silence Derek Fisher.”

Union Conference Call

Hunter, 69, discussed his family’s role in the union and the organization’s finances during the conference call last week with its executive committee, said the Washington Wizards’ Maurice Evans, a member of the nine-player group. After it concluded, the committee asked for Fisher’s resignation, saying he failed to uphold his duties as president. Fisher didn’t participate in the call.

Fisher, who signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder last month, in an April 20 statement said he was “extremely disappointed” with the executive committee.

“I have tried to convey the legal and moral obligations we have as union officers,” said Fisher, 37. “Sadly, the executive committee has now waged a personal character attack on me to divert attention from the real issue.”

According to the union’s constitution, the executive director of the 450-member organization has the authority to hire and establish salaries for administrative and legal staffs, outside counsel and other advisers.

Hunter took over as executive director in 1996. A former National Football League player, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California from 1977-84.

Partner at Prim

His son, Todd, is one of three partners at Prim Capital Corp., a Cleveland-based firm that runs the union’s financial awareness program and advises the organization on its investments. The union had about $210 million in assets as of July 2011, according to its annual filing with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The association has paid Prim almost $3 million since 2005, according to filings.

Prim has been working for the union since at least 1999, and Todd Hunter joined in 2002, Prim spokeswoman Carolyn Kaufman said in a telephone interview. Todd Hunter didn’t work on union matters until 2008, she said. Prim’s contract with the union bars the company from taking players as money management clients, she said.

Todd Hunter didn’t respond to voicemail and e-mail requests for comment.

Wasserman said the work was put out for bid and Prim was selected over at least three other companies.

Hunter’s Daughter

Billy Hunter’s daughter Alexis has worked for two law firms that were hired by the union since he took over. According to her LinkedIn profile, she left the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Francisco in 2007 and joined Washington-based Howrey LLP in September 2007. The union made its first payment to Howrey, of $60,035, on Sept. 21, 2007, and $380,917 in total before she left the firm for Steptoe & Johnson LLP in April 2011, according to the filings.

The next month, the union hired her new firm to file an unfair labor practice charge against the NBA with the National Labor Relations Board. In October, she was listed as an attorney of record for the union in a reply to a lawsuit brought against the players by the NBA. Records of how much Washington-based Steptoe & Johnson billed the union during the lockout, when team owners shut down the league, will be on the 2012 filing, which hasn’t been submitted.

Wasserman said the union hired Howrey because its former general counsel Gary Hall, who died a year ago, had a relationship with an attorney there. The union switched to Steptoe & Johnson when he moved there. Howrey filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and dissolved last year.

Billy Hunter’s daughter Robyn, the union’s benefits director, was on the organization’s payroll with an annual salary of $82,954, according to the 2011 Labor Department filing. She has been paid $201,234 since joining the union near the start of 2009.

Daughter-In-Law

Todd Hunter’s wife, Megan Inaba, currently the union’s director of special events, has been on the payroll since 2001 - - before she and Todd Hunter were married -- and has made almost $1.2 million. She was paid $70,948 as the union’s director of career programs in 2002. According to the 2011 filing, she was paid $173,219, fifth most at the union, and more than the $163,458 paid to Pamela Wheeler, director of operations for the women’s players union.

In total, Hunter’s relatives and their firms, excluding the executive director, have been paid $4,768,685 since 2001, the filings show.

“That about says it all,” Philadelphia 76ers center Spencer Hawes, the team’s alternate representative to the union, said in an interview. “I don’t see what it hurts to try and see how the money is spent.”

Hunter’s Salary

Hunter himself made $2.39 million in salary, according to the 2011 filing, the most of the three major-sports unions based in the U.S. NFL union chief DeMaurice Smith made $1.38 million, according to the 2011 filing. Baseball’s Michael Weiner made $1 million.

Former NBA player and executive board member Jerome Williams said the structure of the basketball union merits examination.

“It’s a fine line because of how many players are represented and the amount of money that’s influenced by one person,” Williams, 38, said via telephone. “As a former vice president, I would have to advise the group that it would be wise to diversify.”

Last week, the executive committee first agreed with Fisher’s call for an outside examination of the union. The players changed their minds after hearing from Hunter in the conference call.

In calling for his resignation in an April 20 statement, the committee accused Fisher of conduct detrimental to the union and not acting in the players’ best interest.

Annual Audits

The union in that statement said it performs annual audits and shares the results with the executive committee and player representatives. The association completed an audit in February and will share the results at its summer meeting. In addition, the statement said the union would conduct a business review “in a timely manner.” It wasn’t specific.

The executive committee is composed of Fisher, the Boston Celtics’ Keyon Dooling; the Miami Heat’s James Jones; the San Antonio Spurs’ Matt Bonner; the Washington Wizards’ Roger Mason and Evans; the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul; the Los Angeles Lakers’ Theo Ratliff; and Etan Thomas, who isn’t on a roster.

Basketball Hall of Fame member Bob Cousy, one of the founders of the players association in 1954, said Fisher might have trouble gaining support from his peers.

“I doubt whether they’re seriously interested in the whole thing unless it affects them directly,” the 83-year-old Cousy said in a telephone interview. “At that age, all these man- children are busy doing their own thing.”

Declined Invitation

Evans told reporters on April 20 that Fisher declined an invitation from the executive committee to defend himself on a conference call with Hunter. Nepotism at the union was among the topics discussed on the call, Evans said.

“Billy answered those questions to our satisfaction, was very open and candid with us, and we were satisfied, and again, the players were disappointed because Derek has yet to address us,” he said.

Miller, 95, said in a telephone interview that hiring family makes him squeamish.

“I would never do it,” he said.
Click to expand...

JuanValdez · Apr 25, 2012

Yeah, the nepotism doesn't sound appropriate. It sounds like Hunter has too much power in deciding who to contract. But, the executive committee is made up of elected players, so if Hunter can convince them then so be it.

ferrari77 · Apr 25, 2012

But yet some folks were calling Fisher the dirty one in this matter.
The guy has been a dirty player but in this case I see nothing wrong with Fisher's stance and I might be wrong but it seems Hunter wants Fisher out because Fisher wanted the audit.

Patience · Apr 25, 2012

Agreed. You read between the lines on this one, and Billy Hunter is the one who looks dirty, not Fisher. I mean, Hunter has even hired a PR company, which means he knows it looks bad.

da1 · Apr 25, 2012

Just further validation Hunter is a scumbag

JuanValdez · Apr 25, 2012

Keyon Dooling, James Jones, Matt Bonner, Roger Mason, Maurice Evans, Chris Paul, Theo Ratliff, and Etan Thomas have a lot more information about it than we do and they have a personal stake in what Billy Hunter does with union dues. They not only side with Hunter, but they want Fisher out. The potential conflict of interest of nepotism is so apparent, even pro basketball players that skipped half their college courses can see it. So, I don't think it is that straight-forward.

Hunter and Fisher had a bit of a power struggle during the lockout and each, I think, wants the other out. Fisher seized upon the nepotism as a pretext and he got outflanked. That's how I see it.

ROXTXIA · Apr 25, 2012

Hunter saying his "highly-credentialed" relatives are receiving "at or below market value" is disingenuous at best.

How much real work are they doing?

Are they "side-benefitting" from Hunter's gigantic salary?

intergalactic · Apr 25, 2012

Fisher is doing the ethically clean thing to try to get rid of Hunter's brood, but it really looks like he's doing it in the wrong way. The fact that all the other players on the executive committee are against him is a very bad sign.

What it looks like is Fisher has just gotten fed up with Hunter, and decided that the whole world needs to see what a jerk Hunter is. But there are a couple of problems with this. First, it's no surprise Hunter is a sleazy jerk. That's exactly what lawyers are paid to be. Second, if Fisher can't even convince the other players on the committee to side with him, then he must have a weak case. Fisher is almost certainly going to be kicked out. If he's lucky, Hunter will be kicked out too. But what players are going to spend the time to make sure that happens?

JayZ750 · Apr 25, 2012

ROXTXIA said: ↑

Hunter saying his "highly-credentialed" relatives are receiving "at or below market value" is disingenuous at best.

How much real work are they doing?

Are they "side-benefitting" from Hunter's gigantic salary?
Click to expand...

agreed.

beyond that, is there any indication the Hunter is good at his job anyway?

hotballa · Apr 26, 2012

and the poopoo officially hits the fan. every person on the Executive Committee that was part of that disgraceful 8-0 vote against Fisher should resign immediately and make apologies to Fisher and every union member he was supposed to be looking out for. Just disgusting. Billy Hunter has exploited these guys long enough. NBA players shouldn't even need a union. All their dues go to this slimeball's pocket.

It's a tremendously long read, but WELL worth it to see the scope of this thing. Billy Hunter should be in jail for the way he's screwed these guys.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--n...ion-investment-for-bank-with-ties-to-son.html

NBPA executive director Billy Hunter sought union investment for bank with ties to son
By Adrian Wojnarowski and Rand Getlin | Yahoo! Sports – 19 hours ago

Billy Hunter is executive director of the union for the NBA's players. (Getty Images)On the weekend of the 2009 All-Star game in Phoenix, Pat Garrity, the treasurer of the National Basketball Players Association, walked into a conference room inside the Sheraton Phoenix determined to make one final stand in his decade of service to the union. Garrity had warned peers and NBPA executive director Billy Hunter prior to the '09 executive committee meeting that he planned to challenge Hunter on business practices, and several players purposely steered clear of the confrontational scene.

In the aftermath of the U.S. banking crisis in 2008, Garrity had grown increasingly suspicious of an investment bank project that Hunter had been pitching to the executive committee and player representatives. For Garrity and some peers in the NBPA, the investment made no sense.

Hunter had sought a $7 million to $9 million investment from the union into Interstate Net Bank of Cherry Hill, N.J., a financial institution that federal and state banking regulators had slapped with debilitating "cease-and-desist" orders, sources said.

Garrity discovered information online that left him feeling obligated to confront Billy Hunter: Hunter's son, Todd, had a seat on the board of directors of Interstate Net Bank.

[Y! exclusive: How NBPA director Billy Hunter distributed funds to family members]

Todd Hunter is also a vice president for Prim Capital, which has a consulting contract with the NBPA that has paid the company in excess of $2.5 million since 2006, according to U.S. Department of Labor filings.

"Why didn't you disclose any of this?" Garrity asked Hunter several times at the 2009 meeting, witnesses told Yahoo! Sports.

When reached by phone, Garrity confirmed the description of events that sources provided Yahoo! Sports. He declined to further comment. Hunter declined comment for this story through a union spokesman.

At the meeting, Hunter left the talking to longtime ally and NBPA chief counsel, Gary Hall, and Hall wasn't offering answers. Garrity and Hall screamed back and forth, and Garrity's questions weren't addressed, witnesses said.

Finally, witnesses said, Hall – who died on May 11, 2011 – told Garrity that he was a retired player, no longer welcome on the executive committee, and that security would be called to remove him unless he left on his own. With executive committee members Keyon Dooling and Adonal Foyle appearing uncomfortable – and NBPA president Derek Fisher refusing to use his authority to demand Garrity be allowed to speak over Hall's yelling – Garrity left the room, left the NBPA and never returned again. Fisher declined comment.

The potential conflicts were far deeper and connective than Garrity realized at the time, a Yahoo! Sports investigation has discovered. Prim Capital controlled 200,000 shares of ISN Bank stock, according to a 2010 ISN Bank letter to stockholders. In addition to Todd Hunter, another Prim employee, executive Carolyn Kaufman, joined the bank's board of directors of ISN in 2004 and was paid $97,000 and $90,000 in consecutive years, according to a KPMG audit of ISN Bank in January 2008 that Yahoo! Sports obtained. She owned 250 shares of the stock, according to the March 2010 ISN letter to stockholders. The audits had been available online.

"Ms. Kaufman was appointed to the board at the request of Prim Capital, which owns 200,000 shares. The combined 200,250 shares represent 4.9 percent of the outstanding shares," the 2010 letter from ISN senior vice president and CFO William Easterday said.

Todd Hunter joined the bank's board of directors in 2007, the 2008 audit report says. Records show the bank's deterioration dropped stipends for board members to $12,000 per year in 2007. Todd Hunter did not return multiple messages seeking comment. Kaufman also didn't return a message.

The NBPA retained Howrey LLP, a New York law firm, to work as legal counsel on "banking projects," sources told Yahoo! Sports. During most of this engagement, Howrey employed Alexis Hunter, Billy Hunter's daughter.

Howrey received its first payment of $60,035 from the NBPA in September 2007 – the same month it hired Alexis Hunter as an associate. She stayed employed at Howrey until March 2011, days before the firm was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy by its creditors.

During Alexis Hunter's employment with the firm, the NBPA paid Howrey $316,550, according to U.S. Department of Labor filings.

After Howrey shut down in March, Alexis Hunter was hired as special counsel at the New York-based law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in April 2011 – within the same period the NBPA hired Steptoe & Johnson to take on a bulk of its legal work for the pending NBA lockout. Alexis Hunter appeared in the Southern District Court of New York in September and October on behalf of the NBPA requesting the court dismiss an antitrust claim by the NBA. Alexis Hunter didn't return a voicemail seeking comment.

"We made multi-hour presentations to the union before they eventually selected us to assist them in that case," Steptoe & Johnson labor attorney Lawrence Katz told Yahoo! Sports.

Asked when those meetings occurred, Katz said, "Oh, late spring … March or April of 2011."

When asked if Alexis Hunter's relationship with her father, Billy Hunter, had anything to do with her hiring or Steptoe securing the NBPA's business, Katz declined comment.

Asked whether the union's engagement of the firm that employed Hunter's daughter might represent a conflict of interest, Katz said: "I don’t see how. … I think the question is answered by saying the lawyers the union hired were very well-qualified to practice in this area. Between myself and Steve Wheeless [we've been practicing in this area] for over 60 years.

"So it's not as if we got the business as a gift."

Steptoe & Johnson has billed the NBPA more than $1 million for its work since April 2011, sources close to the firm told Yahoo! Sports.

Steptoe & Johnson and Hunter pushed forward on a legal strategy that called for filing unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the NBA in August. At the time, this was an unpopular choice with many prominent player agents, who wanted to decertify the union and file an antitrust suit in federal court against the NBA. Steptoe's attorneys and Hunter insisted to players the NLRB would hear the players' case in relatively fast order, but it never happened.

In December, the union finally dropped unfair labor practice charges and abandoned the case in preparation for disbanding the Players Association to reach a lockout settlement with the NBA.

Two more of Billy Hunter's family members – daughter Robyn Hunter and daughter-in-law Megan Inaba – have senior staff positions in the NBPA's New York office. Robyn Hunter made $86,198 from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, as director of benefits and concierge services, according to Department of Labor filings.

[Related: NBPA compensation by the numbers]

Inaba, the wife of Todd Hunter, was paid $180,444 from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011. Among her responsibilities are coordinating the union's All-Star weekend gala and summer meetings, as well as running the union's Twitter account and handling other social media responsibilities. In her position as director of special events, Inaba has averaged the sixth-highest salary in the NBPA over the past five years: $148,633 per year, according to the filings.

The NBPA's charter does not contain a nepotism policy, sources said. "There's nothing illegal," Billy Hunter told The New York Times on Monday, "and you're not going to find anything illegal, you or anybody else, if that's what you're looking for. I'm not afraid of that."

As NBA players lost $400 million in salary during last summer's lockout – and $3 billion over the course of the new 10-year collective bargaining agreement – Billy Hunter, his family and the entities that employed them made approximately $3,430,953 from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, according to labor filings.

"The real issue here is whether these potential conflicts were disclosed and the failure of someone who has a fiduciary duty [to union members] to make that disclosure presents a compelling question," Ronald Shechtman, managing partner and chair of Pryor Cashman's Labor and Employment Group, told Yahoo! Sports. "Not only is there a duty to disclose, there is a duty to explain the rationale for routing the business that way so that the fiduciaries [players] can make a judgment that the decision is based on good reason or good cause other than the fact that someone is a relation."

These were central themes to Garrity's objections in February 2009 in Phoenix: Due process for hiring, and the appearance of Hunter's family ties impacting union business and finances. Garrity wanted answers about Hunter's motivation for investing into a small New Jersey bank that the Philadelphia Business Journal reported, "was a toxic mix of brokered deposits, construction and land development loans and questionable management."

Beyond the banking issue, Garrity raised questions about the process that led to the hiring of Hunter's daughter, Robyn, into a newly created staff position of director of benefits and concierge services. What was the human resources process? Was the job posted? Who else was interviewed?

League sources told Yahoo! Sports that the NBPA's health care provider, Cigna, had offered a premium service that would've afforded the Players Association access to a telephone concierge service to answer and assist players on benefits issues. Because the NBA was such an elite account for Cigna, the service would've come free of charge. Billy Hunter rejected the idea, sources said, and within months hired his daughter in a role with some duties similar to the ones that had been offered to the Players Association.

The pursuit of the $7 million to $9 million bank investment didn't end in the February 2009 meeting when Garrity raised questions with Derek Fisher, union lawyers and several members of the executive committee in the room. Despite ISN Bank officials sending dire shareholder letters over these same months, Hunter stayed on course seeking an investment from the NBPA. Four months after Garrity confronted Hunter, the push for investment into the failing ISN Bank was still alive at an NBPA meeting in Las Vegas in late June 2009, sources said.

The pursuit of ISN Bank eventually ended as ISN spiraled beyond revival in early 2010, sources said. The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance closed the bank in September 2010. The FDIC bailout of Interstate Net Bank cost taxpayers $23.9 million.

At least one banking executive who was familiar with ISN was concerned about the solvency and stability of the bank. Gerry Banmiller, CEO of First Colonial Bank in Collingswood, N.J., told the Philadelphia Business Journal that he received "more than one phone call" in 2008 asking whether his bank would be interested in purchasing ISN.

"But published information about the bank led me to believe that we couldn't have resurrected it," Banmiller told the Journal. "It was in the tomb to stay."

The network of Hunter family members in positions of potential conflict and influence with NBPA business has been a crux of Fisher's push for a review of the NBPA's business and financial practices, sources said. Washington Wizards guard Mo Evans, a member of the union's executive committee, told reporters in Washington the committee has addressed potential nepotism issues with Billy Hunter after Fisher's inquiries, and that Hunter addressed any concerns "to our satisfaction."

Hunter and the eight-man executive committee have pushed back on Fisher's desire for the audit, and the executive committee recently voted to ask Fisher for his resignation as union president.

"The allegations that are now being directed at me are defamatory," Fisher said in a statement on Friday. "But I urge our members to order an independent review beginning immediately and that will be proven along with finding out definitively if there are any issues with the NBPA's business practices and finances."

Before Fisher recently confronted Hunter and demanded a review of the union's business and financial practices, Garrity had been the last player in a position of power to truly challenge the union's executive director. As Garrity was shouted down, Fisher and his peers did nothing to back him that day, sources said. Fisher kept saying it wasn't the time or place for such a discussion, witnesses said. When Fisher wouldn't back him, witnesses said, Garrity seemed to understand it was pointless to keep pressing Hunter and Hall.

After Garrity left the 2009 meeting, sources said Hunter made a request: He told the executive committee he was owed several years of missed vacation, and that Hunter deserved $1 million in compensation. Eventually, the committee granted it.

Garrity and members of the executive committee had been aware of Todd Hunter's role with Prim Capital, an outside contractor to the NBPA. Todd Hunter had worked for Prim Capital of Independence, Ohio, since September 2002, when he was hired as a vice president for the financial planning and investment strategy company. Prim Capital had pitched Billy Hunter and NBPA leadership at the union's summer meeting in 2002 and entered into a signed agreement to run the union's financial awareness program for its 450 players in early 2003.

Todd Hunter often runs seminars with each of the 30 NBA teams each season, and an NBA official present at the seminars offers a disclaimer on the league's behalf prior to Prim's presentation. "The disclaimer is specific to Prim as they are contracted by the union as opposed to other presenters who are contracted by both of us [the union and the league]," NBA spokesman Tim Frank told Yahoo! Sports.

Prim Capital's chairman and president, Joe Lombardo, worked with Billy Hunter and the NBPA in two previous employments at Merrill Lynch and Prudential, and started Prim Capital in 1997. For most of the 2002-03 NBA season, Prim Capital entered into an agreement with the Players Association to provide a "comprehensive investment portfolio analysis program." Lombardo didn't return a message.

Yahoo! Sports obtained the NBPA's 2002-2003 consulting agreement with Prim, which was an exhibit to a complaint in a lawsuit between CSI Capital Management and Prim. The agreement reads, "The NBPA believes that its members will benefit if they have an opportunity to engage in an objective company like Prim."

At the beginning of Prim's agreement with the NBPA in 2003, Prim performed financial reviews for players that included the chance to cut themselves into the monies purported to be recovered on the players' behalf. The agreement allowed Prim to share in 50 percent of the savings obtained through restructuring fees through existing money managers. If Prim lowered a player's fees, Prim shared in the savings.

CSI Capital Management of San Francisco disagreed with the idea the union was helping to provide independent audits. CSI sued Prim for unfair business practices, slander and that Prim's ostensibly "free and objective" audits were actually being provided in an attempt to encourage players to secure Prim's services. Prim filed a countersuit against CSI and eventually a settlement was reached.

Philip Scott Ryan, an attorney for CSI, wrote in a letter to Billy Hunter that "allowing Prim to do audits for your union members is equivalent to having an agent auditing other agent's work. The absence of objectivity and the pressure of unending conflicts of interest are obvious."

The NBPA and Prim changed the structure of agreements after the CSI lawsuit, and the union began to pay Prim a flat annual fee for the services, sources said. Prim has been forbidden to take the players as clients. Over the past five years, government filings show the NBPA paid Prim an average of $501,986 a year for its services.
Click to expand...

JuanValdez · Apr 26, 2012

All indications seem to be that Hunter is extensively engaged in nepotism to the detriment of the union, but I can't understand why the executive committee (besides Fisher) isn't willing to do anything about it. They say they are satisfied with Hunter's explanations, but I can't see how. Are they afraid they won't be able to find a comparably skilled person to take his place? Is there some retributive action that Hunter has in his pocket? I don't get it.

hotballa · Apr 26, 2012

JuanValdez said: ↑

All indications seem to be that Hunter is extensively engaged in nepotism to the detriment of the union, but I can't understand why the executive committee (besides Fisher) isn't willing to do anything about it. They say they are satisfied with Hunter's explanations, but I can't see how. Are they afraid they won't be able to find a comparably skilled person to take his place? Is there some retributive action that Hunter has in his pocket? I don't get it.
Click to expand...

to be fair, this is the same group of players that has people like Antonie Walker who is bankrupt after earning tens of millions in the NBA

DaDakota · Apr 26, 2012

Wow - seems like Hunter is using the union as his and his families own personal piggy bank.

How dare Garrity question Hunter....lol......

What is the makeup of that executive committee?

hotballa · Apr 26, 2012

I hate to be generalizing but if the players stayed in college a couple more years and took things seriously, they might understand things like finances much better.

DaDakota · Apr 26, 2012

This black on black crime is getting out of hand.

DD

ParaSolid · Apr 26, 2012

I agree with JuanValdez here. Hunter's abuse of his position is so apparent that any coherent individual should be able see it.

There must be some dirt on Fisher or he must be an insufferable *******. That 8-0 vote against him does not make sense otherwise.

francis 4 prez · Apr 26, 2012

ParaSolid said: ↑

I agree with JuanValdez here. Hunter's abuse of his position is so apparent that any coherent individual should be able see it.

There must be some dirt on Fisher or he must be an insufferable *******. That 8-0 vote against him does not make sense otherwise.
Click to expand...

yeah, i'm trying to figure it out as well. even if hunter's kids are qualified, i'm guessing so are many other people. the fact that the needle just happens to keep landing on "relative of billy hunter" for each position, one of which is basically the party planning committee and another which appears to have been created out of thin air, is just too shady. and the part where the firm that hired his daughter immediately got union business and then the firm she went to next immediately got that old business was probably the most damning part to me.

and yet the 8-0 vote by the executive committee against fisher. the players on the committe seem to be a fairly disparate group of players. it's hard to imagine them deciding to form a conspiracy against fisher for no particular reason. and if hunter is behind it, it's hard to see what sort of money or power (or taking away of money and power) he could be using to entice them to be against fisher. i think chris paul was one of the members and the sum total of all the benefits mentioned in the article comes out to about 1/3 of his yearly salary i think so what would paul really have to gain?

the article doesn't seem to leave much doubt that hunter is dirty so it will be interesting to see what comes out about fisher or the deliberations of the executive committee.

hotballa said:

I hate to be generalizing but if the players stayed in college a couple more years and took things seriously, they might understand things like finances much better.
Click to expand...

instead of missing out on millions of dollars for a couple more years of history 101 and advanced basket weaving to go with a financial course here or there, the ones who really want to know more about finances could use any of their summers off to take an introductory financial class, the kind which i'm sure is offered at all sorts of locations around the country.

gambingo · Apr 26, 2012

This is too funny. This whole situation just make both Hunter and Fish look bad. Why did Fish waited until now to expose Hunter? He could have done this years ago, where was his "character" then when he could have backed Pat Garrity?

JuanValdez · Apr 26, 2012

hotballa said: ↑

to be fair, this is the same group of players that has people like Antonie Walker who is bankrupt after earning tens of millions in the NBA
Click to expand...

I don't know if I'd call that 'fair.' I don't think of those 8 guys on the committee as being particularly dumb, for one. For two, these guys have access to sharp financial minds through their agents. For three, the journalists are laying out all the information on a silver platter. Somebody must have told all these guys by now that Hunter's nepotism is inappropriate and to the detriment of union resources. So, they either are afraid of Hunter, or they love him and his family so much, or they know they will be in a worse spot without Hunter.

RocketRaccoon · Apr 26, 2012

basketball use to be a sport

Forums

Bill Hunter Slime Ball

Air Langhi Contributing Member

JuanValdez Member

ferrari77 Member

Patience Member

da1 Member

JuanValdez Member

ROXTXIA Member

intergalactic Member

JayZ750 Member

hotballa Contributing Member

JuanValdez Member

hotballa Contributing Member

DaDakota Balance wins
Supporting Member

hotballa Contributing Member

DaDakota Balance wins
Supporting Member

ParaSolid Member

francis 4 prez Member

gambingo Member

JuanValdez Member

RocketRaccoon Contributing Member

Share This Page

About ClutchFans

Rockets Content

Support ClutchFans!

Bill Hunter Slime Ball

Air Langhi Contributing Member

JuanValdez Member

ferrari77 Member

Patience Member

da1 Member

JuanValdez Member

ROXTXIA Member

intergalactic Member

JayZ750 Member

hotballa Contributing Member

JuanValdez Member

hotballa Contributing Member

DaDakota Balance wins Supporting Member

hotballa Contributing Member

DaDakota Balance wins Supporting Member

ParaSolid Member

francis 4 prez Member

gambingo Member

JuanValdez Member

RocketRaccoon Contributing Member

Share This Page

DaDakota Balance wins
Supporting Member

DaDakota Balance wins
Supporting Member