According to ESPN.com, it seems as if Allen Iverson’s chances of making a difference in this year’s NBA season are dwindling even further than they had already. The New York Knicks announced this morning that they will not be signing the 10-time all star. The former MVP and scoring champion was waived on Tuesday after taking a leave of absence for family issues, or for what most believe to be, unhappiness with coming off the bench.

This past summer (when Iverson was an unrestricted free agent) marked a pivotal point in his career. He had two options: 1) Change his attitude and playing habits, or 2) Continue to act like the immature player we have all come to know.

Teams have been scared of what they were getting when singing Iverson, and they had every right to be. Very rarely in Iverson’s career has he helped a TEAM to succeed. He has always been a player with the ability to score at will, and be a great passer as well, but rarely has he displayed the ability to work as a team player for the greater good of the team. There was that one 2001 finals run, coached by Larry Brown, which brings many people to speculate that in this time of turmoil in Iverson’s career, Brown may take a chance on him.

The real issue in signing Iverson comes back to the same point every time: Can he sacrifice his love for having the ball in his hands to create a winning atmosphere? At the end of last season, knowing his time with the Detroit Pistons was coming to and end, he said that he was willing to do anything to win a championship. He wanted nothing more than to be happy and win. But like always, things are much easier said than done. He eventually signed with the one team that showed enough interest, and yet again, displayed his displeasure with a supporting role.

Allen Iverson has always been, and will most likely always be, a cancer to the teams he plays on. He will go in and ruin any type of team chemistry that team may have had. He was able to be successful on the Sixers for many years because they would give him the ball, and let him do his thing, but after 10 years, they grew tired of his selfish attitude. From there, he went to the Nuggets, a team with great potential, and a seemingly great situation for Iverson as he would be paired with a great scorer in Carmelo Anthony, but like in Philadelphia, the Nuggets just could not develop the type of chemistry needed to go deep into the playoffs. He then traveled to Detroit, where the team grew so tired of him so quickly, they milked his back injury for everything it was worth, and basically paid him to sit on the bench for the remainder of the year. And, most recently Iverson and the Grizzlies had to part ways after only 3 games, due to his unhappiness with coming off the bench.

In today’s NBA, chemistry means everything, and Iverson is the antithesis of a player with the ability to develop chemistry. Many analysts suspected that if his stint with the Grizzlies did not go well, that contract would be his last, and in my opinion, it most likely should be. If I were in charge of putting together a team, I don’t think I would want to take the risk of having him disrupt what chemistry has already been put together. Iverson now has two choices: 1) Mean what you say and play as a TEAM player, or 2) Leave the NBA on somebody else’s terms, but please, if you do leave AI, leave with dignity and class.

Allen Iverson’s Answer Is… from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

1. How much impact do the agents have this time of year?

This is their Mardi Gras, and they’re drunk with hubris. And any GM will tell you that the typical agent, with few exceptions, is a sleazy, repulsive, deceitful, supercilious maggot. But, of course, that is his job. More on that later.

In my brief stint thus far as a sports agent, I can guarantee that none of the GMs that I have had conversations with would consider me any of the terms below.  I would even go far as saying that a majority of the agents that make up this profession are well-liked by a majority of team GMs.  To say that a typical agent is categorized immediately as being sleazy, repulsive, deceitful, and a maggot is attacking our profession for absolutely no reason.  But okay, Dave, let’s wait for you to give us more on that later.

5. So where do these agents get the nerve to run interference for some of these kids?

Let them have their fun, it’s one of the few times they get to flex their … uh, whatever it is that 5-foot lawyers flex. But it does get silly after a time.

For example, the Bucks are picking eighth in Thursday’s draft, and they couldn’t get anybody to work out for them — just three kids who could be considered viable candidates for that slot (namely, Joe Alexander, Anthony Randolph and Donte Greene) accepted their invitation. Charlotte (at No. 9) experienced the same problem.

It’s reached the point where the new GM in Milwaukee, John Hammond, is suggesting an NFL-type combine, because the Bucks were also snubbed too often last year, when two kids on their radar (Joakim Noah and Yi Jianlian, whom they picked anyway) refused to show.

Next you go after our height.  It takes a true journalist to stoop to that level.  And Buzz Bissinger goes after bloggers?  Maybe, instead of blaming agents for being the impetus behind players bailing out of workouts with teams like the Bucks and the Bobcats, you should look to more viable alternatives.  It could possibly be based on the fantastic records that both teams have posted in the past decade.  Maybe it has to do with management.  Perhaps the player does not want to be signed there and the agent is left with the dirty job of making sure that the workout never happens.  There are many other potential reasons.

6. How long [h]as that been going on?

Since time immemorial, or at least since agents grew egos that reflected their oversized four-percent cut. Larry Brown told this story last week: In 1997, when he was holding the No. 2 pick with Philly, he got a call from David Falk. The agent said Keith Van Horn wouldn’t work out for the Sixers for a very specific reason: “He had a deal with a shoe company if he played in New Jersey or Boston,” Brown recalled. “He was trying to control the draft.” The Sixers took Van Horn anyway, before shipping him to the Nets.

4% is oversized?  I would beg to differ.  For those of us that actually dedicate our lives to this job, we are greatly undervalued.  Check out what a lawyer would bill his clients per hour for services like “research”.  The Larry Brown story reflects our huge egos?  I am going to email Dave right after I make this post to see if we can get an interview with him on this site.  I doubt he complies after this write-up gets published.  I’ll keep my hopes up, though.  Maybe he will notice that this agent is not a supercilious maggot.

We Are Supercilious Maggots from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

While the NBA’s off-season is still about a week away (or less), the league has already seen some significant moves. However, these aren’t player trades or free agent signings, but rather a changing of the guard (no pun intended) in coaches. As usual, there are no new entries to this elite fraternity of NBA coaches, but it’s safe to say that several agents who represent coaches are enjoying the summer. Even though the NBA season is still in session, teams have signed new coaches (Dallas, Milwaukee, New York, Charlotte, and Phoenix, Chicago, Detroit). That doesn’t include newly promoted Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who took over the reins from Pat Riley after an atrocious season. These changes have already passed last years, when only seven organizations started the ’07-’08 season with new coaches. To be sure, as of now only eight new coaches will lead teams next year, but technically the season is still going on. Who knows what will happen between now and opening day?

I think we can assume that Avery Johnson will land somewhere, and perhaps Doug Collins who almost began his second stint as the Bulls’ head last week will find himself a head coaching job. Flip Saunders, Larry Krystkowiak, and Sam Vincent will also keep their agents looking for new opportunities after being let go by their former teams. What does this all mean? It means that being a coach’s agent could be just as fun as a player’s this off-season. Some assistant coaches will make moves, and possibly make the jump to become another team’s head coach. The first one was Vinny Del Negro with the Bulls. Mike D’antoni accepted an offer of $24 million for 6 years to take on the task of guiding the disastrous New York Knicks, becoming the third highest paid coach in the league behind Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich and Rick Carlisle signed a four-year deal in May to become the Dallas Mavericks new head coach. What do these two coaches have in common? They are both represented by Warren LeGarie, just one of several coaches’ agents who will have their hands full this summer trying to find their clients new jobs and competitive contracts. LeGarie was able to move D’antoni into the top three of highest paid NBA coaches, and get the Mavs to shell out more for Carlisle than they had for Avery Johnson. Other agents making moves recently include Joe Glass, agent of newly appointed Bobcats’ coach Larry Brown, and his son Keith Glass, agent of new Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles. Head coaches on the move also mean that many of their assistants may be changing scenery, keeping the agents of these assistants busy with plenty of new contract negotiations.

To be sure, this is not a year to sleep on the long list of free agents, which include Allen Iverson, Jermaine O’Neal, Gilbert Arenas, Ron Artest, and a multitude of veterans and rising stars…but make stay aware of the movements in the world of coaching. The agents of several head coaches and assistant coaches will be working around the clock to secure new deals and promotions. Coaches’ agents are a different breed from players’ agents, as the NBA Player’s Association prohibits player agents from representing coaches or anyone else holding a management position. Be sure to stay abreast of these important management changes throughout the league. Joe Torre made the move from New York to LA and is now featured in a State Farm commercial that uses the move. Perhaps Mike D’antoni can make a commercial about his move from Phoenix to New York, and there just might be an agent behind the creation of such a deal.

Forget the Players, Coaches are Keeping their Agents Busy from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Both Keith and I would agree that the NBA and basketball, in general, are great. Even though Keith is a fan of the game, he discusses how he cannot stand the $100+ tickets to see two teams play backups and the way that the NBA has prioritized marketing its product above everything else. His style of writing is witty and sarcastic, making Taking Shots a pleasure to read. The rich content helps, too. Topics include: Negotiating Scott Skiles’ contract with the Orlando Magic on paper napkins at a spring training baseball game, the disgusting looking 2004 Olympic Basketball Team, Keith’s natural ability to represent players above 7 feet tall, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (the only guy who wouldn’t stand for the national anthem), Keith’s man-crush on Larry Brown, and a bunch about why agents are necessary for basketball players. While Keith believes that agents are necessary, he feels that they should go back to being solely advocates and representatives for their clients and quit creating new roles for themselves.

Keith sets the stage strong with his Forward. When you kick off your book with a short piece by Tony Kornheiser, you instantly get my approval. He follows up Tony on the first page by telling you exactly what he will go on a tirade about throughout Taking Shots:

The NBA is too powerful. Players make too much money. Teams charge too much money. The league sells too many products. Many coaches and administrators seem to have all the answers, and yet the game itself has become a selfish, tedious, and colossal bore.

You may be thinking to yourself, Is this guy trying to commit professional suicide? The first time I read that excerpt, I could not believe that it came from the pen of an agent. Keith does not beat around the bush in Taking Shots; he gives you his dry opinions on the state of basketball and the NBA and does not hold back sharing his feelings on any issue.

I believe that right now is a particularly good time to pick up Taking Shots. We are less than three weeks away from the 2008 NBA Draft and right in the middle of the 2008 NBA Finals. You could say that it is NBA Season. Keith gives some insightful information regarding this “season”. He opines that a player who is projected to be a top 20 pick should not play in an NBA pre-draft camp and that by September or October, most of your clients should be signed either in the NBA or overseas. Also, remember the recent discussion about the NBPA claiming it would take a stronger stance on enforcing its rule against an agent representing players and coaches? Keith’s father is a rare example of an agent who was suspended prior to the recent edict.

If you are a loyal reader of this blog, I give you my personal guarantee that you will enjoy this read. I leave you with a final excerpt from Taking Shots that put a smile on my face:

I actually believe that one hundred years from now when they study our culture, future generations will have two basic questions: The first will be what did men do to the women back then that prompted the courts to force them to pay sums of money to get away from them, and second, what was up with the salary cap?

Book Review: Taking Shots from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules