New NBPA Executive Director

ferrari77 · Jul 29, 2014

First off let me have y'all read this article from prior to the vote

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...more-finalists-search-nbpa-executive-director

LAS VEGAS -- Even as the National Basketball Players Association is holding a meeting to elect a new executive director, top agents are urging their clients not to vote and pushing for other candidates to be considered, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

The players gathered at a hotel Monday to hear presentations from three finalists: Washington attorneys Michele Roberts and Dean Garfield and veteran Dallas Mavericks executive Terdema Ussery. The three were selected through an exhaustive process that has stretched on nearly 18 months after the firing of former union head Billy Hunter. But earlier in the day, prominent agents held a conference call in which they expressed their displeasure with the choices to the players' executive committee and urged that the finalist pool be expanded.

One agent told ESPN.com the situation is "a joke." Another said "none of these candidates are the right candidate."

Many veteran agents, sources say, are concerned that the group of three finalists includes two lawyers (Roberts and Garfield) with no institutional knowledge of the NBA's inner workings and a third (Ussery) who has a longstanding relationship with former NBA commissioner David Stern from working in the Mavericks' front office for nearly two decades.

In a memo last week to players throughout the league, which was obtained by ESPN.com's Marc Stein, NBPA officials outlined the 45-minute presentations scheduled for Monday afternoon in Las Vegas for each of the three finalists, with a formal vote to be conducted by the American Arbitration Association some 90 minutes after the last presentation.

But sources briefed on Monday's behind-closed-doors discussions told ESPN.com that some of the players gathered were, in consultation with their agents, urging union leaders Monday night to delay the vote and broaden the search again, despite that the NBPA already has gone so long without a replacement for the ousted Hunter.

Amid a rising perception that the owners trounced the players during the latest, Hunter-led labor negotiations, from July through December 2011, sources told Stein some agents were rankled that the NBPA's memo also outlined plans for a post-vote party Monday night at a nightclub in Vegas, as opposed to focusing on the serious nature of the task at hand.

In an interview with USA Today published Monday, union secretary-treasurer James Jones of the Cleveland Cavaliers dismissed suggestions that the field of finalists was hastily assembled and told the newspaper the union contacted 300 potential candidates to replace Hunter and interviewed 70.

But questions about that effort, led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, were raised around the league Friday night when word began to spread that he was abruptly cutting ties with the union.

According to union bylaws, one of the three finalists needs a two-thirds majority from the NBPA's executive committee and team player representatives -- 25 votes total -- to be installed as the new executive director. It was unclear, as of 9 p.m. ET Monday, whether the vote scheduled for 11 p.m. would actually take place.

If the vote is delayed further, it would be the second significant interruption to the process in the past six months. The NBPA presented two finalists -- David White of the Screen Actors Guild and Roberts -- at All-Star Weekend in February in New Orleans but restarted the search process and brought in Johnson to lead the effort after numerous players and agents voiced concerns then.

"We heard their requests to slow the process down, make it more inclusive, hear what players and agents had to say, retired players as well, and enlist the help of qualified professionals to get different perspectives," Jones told USA Today. "Here we stand months later with candidates who the search committee has provided us and who we all feel good and excited about it."

Longtime NBPA attorney Ron Klempner, known for his collective bargaining agreement expertise, has served as the union's acting executive director since Hunter's ouster at the 2013 All-Star Game in Houston.

Roberts, who made a presentation to the players in February over All-Star Weekend, is a well-respected litigation specialist. Garfield is the CEO of a technology company and has held high-ranking positions at the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America. Ussery, who also has a law degree, is the longtime president of the Mavericks after a career as an executive with Nike.
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Dafuq???
I swear Cuban, Reinsdorf, Dan Gilbert et al must be giddy and geeing up for 2017.

ferrari77 · Jul 29, 2014

http://www.si.com/nba/2014/07/29/michele-roberts-nbpa-players-union-executive-director

The National Basketball Players Association has elected Michele Roberts as its new executive director, according to multiple reports.

Yahoo Sports and NBA.com both reported Monday that Roberts will take over the position, which had been vacant since former executive director Billy Hunter was ousted in Feb. 2013.

Roberts, a renowned Washington, D.C. trial lawyer, will become the NBPA's sixth executive director, and she will be the first female to hold the position. Her Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm biography notes that she graduated from Wesleyan in 1977 and the University of California at Berkeley's Law School in 1980, and that she currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Harvard Law School.

The NBPA's executive committee is currently led by Clippers All-Star guard Chris Paul, who replaced Derek Fisher as president in Aug. 2013. The organization conducted a lengthy and charged search for a new executive director as it prepares for the possibility of new Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations in 2017.

The decision to depose Hunter was made at a 2013 players meeting during All-Star Weekend in Houston, and it came in the wake of a damaging internal investigation into the players union's business practices which revealed a number of questionable business practices.

The internal investigation, sought by Fisher and conducted by the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm, produced a lengthy report that called into question the presence of Hunter’s family members on the NBPA’s payroll, the legality of Hunter’s contract, potential conflicts of interest and the possible misuse of NBPA funds.
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ferrari77 · Jul 29, 2014

UGH damnit. Would someone be able to help me change the title of the thread from "President" to "Executive Director"? Not even sure how I made that mistake.

It seems like Ms. Roberts was the best choice out of the three on offer.
Doesn't seem like she has much if any sports labor experience but at least she is an excellent trial lawyer and litigator.
Just don't understand how the other choices were so $hitty.
Terdema Ussery is a standup fella and I knew him from my time in Dallas but c'mon, you don't want someone with ties to the owners. You also want someone with Labor Law experience. How the heck does Garfield even get in the mix??

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Labor lawyer with a pro-player sports background whose livelihood isn't totally tied to union salary ... isn't THAT what NBPA needs at last?</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/493904526726807554">July 28, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

RV6 · Jul 29, 2014

Who's the rep for the Rockets?

Do WHAT? · Jul 29, 2014

The Wynn is full of NBA player and coaches tonight. From Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Jason Terry, Brian Westbrook, D Waiters, D Cousins, Coach K, Deron Williams and a ton more that I could get close to. I got a picture of KD, but security got heavy and started to move people away. If you know the Wynn, everyone was hanging out at the B Bar. Of course, all the other 'Vegas' folks hang out there as well. Will see if I can figure out how to post JD's picture.

saleem · Jul 29, 2014

Get Cuban's guy out of there. He will only represent the interests of the Mavs.

heypartner · Jul 29, 2014

Promising a night out at a Vegas strip club after an election is a political tactic to get the black vote out.

intergalactic · Jul 29, 2014

Ussery looked like someone with major conflicts of interest. Garfield's experience also suggests that he favors management over labor. You want someone not just smart but also ready to fight to the death for your team. Of the three, Roberts seems the most like that.

Experience in labor law is probably better, but if you're smart enough you can learn the important stuff quickly and then contract out the specific knowledge expertise. Vision and political savvy are more important than being a labor lawyer. It would be very interesting to know why Kevin Johnson quit, though. Could be all kinds of reasons.

mollamar · Jul 29, 2014

The last labor agreement was bad for the players, but probably good for the fans. It basically gave the owners of the tools (shorter contracts, smaller % of Basketball related income to the players, harder caps) to prevent a mediocre owner from destroying their team for long stretched at a time.

Air Langhi · Jul 29, 2014

mollamar said: ↑

The last labor agreement was bad for the players, but probably good for the fans. It basically gave the owners of the tools (shorter contracts, smaller % of Basketball related income to the players, harder caps) to prevent a mediocre owner from destroying their team for long stretched at a time.
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I don't think it changed anything just made the owners more money.

mollamar · Aug 6, 2014

Air Langhi said: ↑

I don't think it changed anything just made the owners more money.
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Personally, I think that anything that minimizes the impact of truly bad, long term, cap clogging contracts is good for fans.

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