SportsAgentBlog.com | Sports Agent News » goodwin sports management

The Influencers Of Basketball

Darren Heitner — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:00:59 +0000

The website, Hoopsworld, is on a mission to list the top 55 most influential people/groups in the sport of basketball. Yesterday, the site began the rankings by revealing #36-55. Seven agents are listed in that group; however, the site does put Leon Rose and Henry Thomas in the same slot. Here are the agents who are bringing up the rear in this very exclusive group of “influencers”:

#51 – Lon Babby, Partner, Williams & Connolly
#49 – Andy Miller, President and Founder ASM Sports
#48 – Aaron Goodwin, CEO of Goodwin Sports Management
#45 – Bill Duffy, Founder, BDA Sports
#44 – Mark Bartelstein, CEO and Founder, Priority Sports
#38 – Leon Rose and Henry Thomas, Creative Artists Agency

Obviously this list is highly subjective. I have no problem with the way that the agents are ranked in this grouping. The only question I have is whether Duffy might deserve a higher spot. Like him or not, the guy has had a very strong influence on basketball.

2009 NBA Draft: Breaking Down The First Round

Darren Heitner — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:30:48 +0000

After 60 picks and 100,000 trades, we now know who was selected in the 2009 NBA Draft and what teams they may be playing for in 2009. I will let the other web sites debate over what teams were the winners and losers. Here, our main concern is sorting out the agencies that were popping champagne vs. those leaving Madison Square Garden with their heads down. This post will cover the first round. A second round post will follow.

First Round

Clippers - Blake Griffin PF/C – Agency: Excel Sports Management
Grizzlies – Hasheem Thabeet C – Agency: BDA Sports
Thunder – James Harden SG – Agency: Landmark Sports Agency
Kings - Tyreke Evans PG/SG – Agency: Wasserman Media Group
Timberwolves – Ricky Rubio PG – Agency: BEST
Timberwolves - Jonny Flynn PG – Agency: CAA
Warriors - Stephen Curry PG/SG – Agency: Octagon
Knicks - Jordan Hill PF – Agency: BDA Sports
Raptors - Demar DeRozan SG/SF – Agency: Goodwin Sports Management
Bucks - Brandon Jennings PG – Agency: BDA Sports
Nets - Terrence Williams SG/SF – Agency: Goodwin Sports Management
Bobcats – Gerald Henderson SG – Agency: Wasserman Media Group
Pacers – Tyler Hansbrough PF – Agency: Excel Sports Management
Suns - Earl Clark SF/PF – Agency: BEST
Pistons - Austin Daye SF/PF – Agency: BDA Sports
Bulls - James Johnson SF/PF – Agency: Wasserman Media Group
76ers - Jrue Holiday PG/SG – Agency: BEST
Timberwolves – Ty Lawson PG – Agency: Peake Management Group
Hawks - Jeff Teague PG/SG – Agency: BDA Sports
Jazz - Eric Maynor PG – Agency: ASM Sports
Hornets - Darren Collison PG – Agency: BDA Sports
Trailblazers – Victor Claver PF – Agency: Wasserman Media Group
Kings – Omri Casspi SF/PF – Agency: CAA
Mavericks – B.J. Mullens C – Agency: ASM Sports
Thunder – Rodrigue Beaubois PG – Agency: Comsport
Bulls – Taj Gibson PF – Agency: Priority Sports
Grizzlies – DeMarre Carroll SF/PF – Agency: Priority Sports
Timberwolves – Wayne Ellington SG – Agency: Wasserman Media Group
Knicks – Toney Douglas PG/SG – Agency: FAME
Cavaliers - Christian Eyenga SG/SF – Agency: ASM Sports

Notes:

Leading up to the draft, I really liked that Goodwin Sports Management was doing to get its clients connected on social networks. My man Nate Jones, a law student at UCLA, has been doing a great job helping out Aaron Goodwin and Co. on publicizing GSM client Twitter accounts and setting up Rookie Chronicles.
BDA Sports seems to have dodged any potential negative recruiting ramifications from the company’s involvement with the O.J. Mayo scandal. Three BDA clients were taken in the top ten picks of the draft. Four BDA clients went in the top fifteen. Six in the top twenty-one! Where WMG made the headlines last year, BDA definitely took over the 2009 draft.
Speaking of WMG, the company had three players taken in the top sixteen picks. And BEST had three guys selected in the top seventeen picks. WMG still dominated with five total draft picks in the first round.
The first Israeli player drafted was taken by the Kings. The fairly new GM of the Kings is a friend, Jason Levien. I am happy for him because I think Omri Casspi was a steal at the slot picked, and Levien is supporting the Jews!
One of my favorite players in the draft, Toney Douglas, was taken by a team who I think will really benefit from drafting him. Knicks fans should be happy with that pick.

Joel Bell Got Rung

Darren Heitner — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:00:19 +0000

Mid-day yesterday, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports broke the news that Michael Beasley dropped his agent, Joel Bell, and his advisor, D.C. Assault director Curtis Malone. Talk about some fun distractions for a rookie with a somewhat muddy past that should be focusing on meshing with his new teammates and learning how to play at the next level on a rebuilding squad. The Heat just finished hearing that their rookie point guard, Mario Chalmers, was thrown out of the NBA’s mandatory rookie transition program. Now the #2 overall pick is in the midst of choosing a new agent to handle what should be a shining career.

Besides worrying about the state of the Miami Heat, what will this move mean for the future of Joel Bell and Bell Management International? Beasley was definitely the staple of Bell’s client list, although he does have solid clients in guys like Jamario Moon and Steve Blake. But this year has definitely been a huge setback for Bell. Not only has he lost Beasley, after definitely putting a lot of time and money into the former Kansas State stud, but he also witnessed his other drafted client, DeAndre Jordan, drop him for WMG after Jordan was selected in the second round. Jordan was definitely disappointed at the position he was drafted, and Beasley seems to have been upset with Bell’s success in landing him strong endorsements (I am sure the shoe deal is a major part of that).

Wojnarowski hypothesizes that Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports Management has the best shot at landing Beasley. A lineup that includes Kevin Durant, Al Horford, and Michael Beasley looks pretty sexy.

Agents Using Overseas Option As Leverage

Darren Heitner — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:30:19 +0000

Honestly, agents would be silly if they did not use this opportunity that has presented itself to inflate their clients’ salary figures. When Josh Childress, a restricted free agent unhappy with his role with the Hawks receives an offer that is higher than what any NBA team was offering him and will additionally allow him to play more minutes, why wouldn’t he jump ship and travel to Greece? He is young, enjoys traveling, and is hungry for more money. I would bet that he is not the only NBA player who displays those three traits. Borderline NBA starters seem like the guys who are most likely to travel abroad with the Euro being as strong as it is compared to the dollar. In the past, I suggested that along with Childress, a guy like Ben Gordon would be a perfect fit overseas. He has the talent to be a starter, but the Bulls have not given him a chance to shine.

The NBA is scared. There is nothing to make league executives think that Childress is a rare blip on the radar. Thus, I was not surprised to hear that agents are now using that fear to their clients’ advantage. Delonte West, represented by Noah Croom of Goodwin Sports Management, has made some headlines recently as potentially being the next fringe player to leave his NBA team for a more lucrative offer overseas. In this case, Croom has suggested that Dynamo Moscow is interested in offering West a two-year deal worth about $10 million. If true, the offer would seem to be more favorable than the $2.76 million qualifying offer that West would likely receive from the Cavs for a year. West and Croom cannot be too happy about such a small monetary figure when his teammate, Daniel Gibson, is receiving $21 million over 5-years.

There really is nothing wrong with Croom trying to look elsewhere to drive up the price of his client. We do it all the time by leveraging teams in the same league against each other. In fact, in the early 1970s, agents drove up prices by pitting the NBA against the ABA. Now, there is a new option: putting in an NBA executive’s mind that one of his prized players is thinking about traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. Assistant Coach Manos Manouselis of Olympiacos (the team that recently signed Childress) recently expressed his feelings toward American agents using the potential of playing overseas as a negotiation tactic.

Our goal is not to be a factor in driving up prices in the NBA market, but rather to target players who we believe will help us win the Greek Cup, Euroleague and Greek League…We had many NBA officials that were more than generous with their time talking to us at the Summer League, and we would be more than willing to reciprocate with them in regard to any potentially false rumors associated with our club. We would like to maintain an excellent relationship with the entire NBA, because in the end we are all looking to promote the game of basketball.

With all of this camaraderie, maybe there is hope for a European division of the NBA eventually. I highly doubt it, but just thought I would link to the interesting idea. I think that the best plan is something that is actually not in the NBA’s hands. In fact, it has more to do with you. The Presidential election is less than one-hundred days away. If you want to see the NBA gain back strength against the international market, vote for who you think will turn around our struggling economy. The strength of the Euro against the Dollar has allowed teams like Olympiacos to sign players that we would have never imagined would leave the NBA for an Euroleague team a year ago. Till then, agents will rightfully pit NBA teams against potential offers from overseas.