The 76ers, who have lost PG Lou Williams for eight weeks with a broken jaw, decided that Iverson was the “best available free agent guard” to take the place of Williams. Terms of the deal were undisclosed but the pro-rated share of the $1.3 million veteran’s minimum would be worth just over $1 million.

Reading his retirement statement, it was clearly apparent that he was not ready to hang it up.

I always thought that when I left the game, it would be because I couldn’t help my team the way that I was accustomed to. However, that is not the case. I still have tremendous love for the game, the desire to play, and a whole lot left in my tank. I feel strongly that I can still compete at the highest level

Now the bigger question is how much is still left in that tank, and how much longer can he compete at the highest level. Leon Rose, Iverson’s agent, will likely advise Allen to play out this year and try to parlay his performance into another contract at the end of the season. While Iverson can still be a dynamic scorer, he will likely have to prove that he can accept a lesser role next year, in order to secure another contract and avoid a situation similar to the one he experienced this year with Memphis.

• #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.

Yesterday, Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal tweeted that O.J. Mayo, the Memphis Grizzlies guard going into his sophomore season in the NBA, has dropped both his marketing agency and contractual advisor.  His representation for team contracts was Leon Rose of Creative Artists Agency.  Mayo’s marketing agency was LRMR Marketing, a company that has LeBron James on the board.

Mullen tweeted that CAA confirmed Mayo’s termination of CAA, but we still do not know exactly why Mayo chose to start fresh on marketing and contractual help.

O.J. Mayo had a terrific rookie season that included averages of 18.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 38 minutes per game.  And I am sure that many agents were in his ear throughout the year.  That would be a solid reason for why Mayo would drop smaller agencies for names like CAA and LRMR.  In this case, Mayo has dropped some big dogs, and we will wait and see who will be the replacements.

In case you have a short memory, Mayo was represented by BDA Sports before people found out about Rodney Guillory, a runner for BDA Sports and Calvin Andrews, gave money to Mayo while he was an NCAA student-athlete.  Andrews was suspended by the NBPA and Mayo started looking for new representation.  The rumor was that it was a race between Leon Rose and Andy Miller, with Rose winning out in the end.

And now we are once again left to wonder who Mayo will choose to become a part of his team of advisors.

Let’s look at CAA’s basketball division, first.  Before hiring Henry Thomas, CAA already boasted three strong basketball agents: Leon Rose, Andre Buck, and Steven Heumann.  Heumann mostly deals with the high profile overseas players and those born outside of the U.S. who now play in the NBA (think Omri Casspi).  Andre Buck is up-and-coming, and serves as the primary agent for guys like Jason Thompson, Aaron Brooks, and Renaldo Balkman.  Then there is Leon Rose, who has LeBron James, O.J. Mayo, Jonny Flynn, Allen Iverson, Richard Hamilton…the list goes on.  The key thing that I notice with Henry Thomas’s arrival is that LBJ and D-Wade are now under the same roof.  The two most marketable basketball players (you can throw Dwight Howard in at #3 in my book) are at CAA.  Interestingly, though, LBJ has his own marketing company, so CAA, the sports marketing juggernaut, does not reap rewards from that account.  D-Wade will bring in some nice profits, though.  He recently switched from repping Converse to the Jordan Brand (both owned by Nike).

In yesterday’s post, I alluded to Jason Belzer’s Sports Agency Power Rankings.  The list was created a year ago, and I think that he would agree with me that the pecking order should be changed.  I believe that the top 4 are now CAA, WMG, Octagon, and BEST.  WMG, Octagon, and BEST are not all that far from one another, but all 3 are a giant step below CAA, in my opinion.

A key question is: How does one compete?  One thing is sure, you are not going to beat CAA by playing its game.  The company does not have unlimited resources, but something close to it.  They have more connections to producers, directors, potential sponsors, etc, so you can’t out-promise Creative Artists Agency on providing more avenues outside of the field/court.  What you can beat CAA at (possibly) is personal care.  CAA is the largest sports agency in terms of quality of clients and track-record of agents, but they are not interested in players who are going to be taken Day 2 of the NFL Draft, beyond the 10th round of the MLB Rule 4 Draft, or un-drafted basketball players (for the most part).  In fact, even if you are a 2nd round NFL draft pick, do you want to be splitting time with Matt Stafford?  If you are a 4th round pick, will you get the same attention as Derek Jeter?  LeBron Jame and Dwayne Wade might get a few more phone calls then a 2nd round NBA draft pick.

A lot of athletes crave attention.  They also want someone that they can relate to.  Personal relationships mean a lot in this business.  Just because CAA is growing by the day and seems like it is a company that is beyond competition, does not mean that it is immune to losing some big potential clients to a boutique firm that knows what it is doing and can connect with the athletes.  Don’t fight CAA at its strengths, find out what your own strengths are and use those to impress future clients.

All of that being said, CAA sure got a lot stronger with its latest acquisition.

This year’s draft class has seen many non-senior talents withdraw themselves from the draft, which has led many analysts to claim that this year’s pool is mediocre at best.  Writers are already frothing at the mouth in anticipation of next year’s class, which is supposed to be extremely deep.  Don’t forget your life preservers!

The most recent players to bow out of this year’s draft are: Tasmin Mitchell (LSU), Nic Wise (Arizona), and Dwayne Collins (Miami).

Here is the most updated list of agent signings that I have:

• Aaron Goodwin – Terrence Williams, Demar DeRozan
• Aaron Mintz (Priority) – Tyrese Rice, Jeff Adrien
• Andre Buck (CAA) – Dionte Christmas
• Andrew Vye (ASM Sports) – A.D. Vassallo
• Andy Miller (ASM Sports) – B.J. Mullens, Daniel Hackett, Eric Maynor, Alonzo Gee, Rudy Mbemba, Robert Vaden
• Arn Tellem – Wayne Ellington, Gerald Henderson, Tyreke Evans
• Austin Walton (Dynasty) – Terrance Woodbury
• Bernie Lee (Lee Basketball Services) – Patrick Beverly, Dmitris Verginis
• Bill Duffy (BDA Sports) – Brandon Jennings, Hasheem Thabeet, Darren Collison, Jordan Hill, Josh Akognon
• Bill Strickland (BEST) – Kevin Rogers, Curtis Jerrells
• Bob McClaren – Josh Carter
• Brad Ames (Priority) – Ben Woodside, Joe Ingles
• Brian Elfus (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Connor Atchley, Marcus Thornton, BJ Raymond, Kyle Spain
• Charles Grantham (Ceruzzi Sports) - Jeff Pendergraph
• Chris Emens (Octagon) – Lee Cummard
• Chris Luchey (CGL Sports) – Eric Devendorf, Dar Tucker
• Dan Fegan (BEST) – Earl Clark, Ricky Rubio
• Dan Tobin (WMG) – K.C. Rivers, Aaron Jackson, James Johnson
• David Bauman (DB Hoops Management) – Josh Heytvelt
• David Falk – Toney Douglas, Alade Aminu
• Doug Neustadt (The Neustadt Group) – Jerel McNeal
• Eric Fleisher – Chris Johnson
• Happy Walters (Immortal Sports) – DeJuan Blair, Kevin Rogers, Curtis Jerrells, Tasheed Carr, Tyrell Biggs, Robert Dozier
• Herb Rudoy (Interperformances) – Stefon Jackson
• Jamie Knox (Strategic Sports Management) – Courtney Fells
• Jeff Schwartz (Excel Sports Management) – A.J. Price
• Jeffrey Fried (Peake Management Group) – Ty Lawson
• John Hamilton (Performance Sports Management) – Garrett Temple
• Justin Zanik (ASM Sports) – Sergio Llull
• Keith Glass – Luke Nevill, A.J. Abrams
• Kevin Bradbury (BDA Sports) – Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill, Dominic James
• Lance Young (Octagon) – Lester Hudson, Jack McClinton, Wes Matthews, Sam Young, Stephen Curry, Brandon Costner
• Leon Rose (CAA) – Nando De Colo, Paul Harris, Jonny Flynn
• Mark Bartelstein (Priority) – Jeremy Pargo, Micah Downs, Leo Lyons, DeMarre Carroll, A.J. Abrams
• Marc Fleisher – Brandon Ewing
• Merle Scott – Nate Miles
• Michael Hodges (Rice Sports Management) – David Holston, Lawrence Kinnard, Courtney Pigram
• Michael Siegel (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Ahmad Nivins
• Michael Whitaker (REID Entertainment) – Jermaine Taylor
• Mike Naiditch (Naiditch EntertainmenT) – Joe Krabbenhoft
• Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency) – James Harden
• Sam Goldfeder (Excel Sports Management) – Blake Griffin, Taylor Griffin
• Sam Porter (Sportstars, Inc.) – Russell Hicks, Tony Gaffney, Marc Egerson, Chavis Holmes, Travis Holmes
• Thad Foucher (WMG) – DaJuan Summers

Have anything to add or information about a change? Email me.

Have anything to add or information about a change? Email me.

Octagon (unsure of primary agent) – Sam Young, Wes Matthews, Brandon Costner, Jack McClinton

Have anything to add or information about a change? Email me.

When people think about agents, they often think: football (Rosenhaus), baseball (Boras), basketball (Falk/Tellem), hockey (who cares?).  Meanwhile, CAA, with its prominent agents (Condon, Dogra, Close, Brisson, Barry, Rose…) really run the sports agent industry.  Funny thing is, CAA is an entertainment agency that only recently entered into the space of sports.  Hold onto that thought.

On July 16, 2007 (almost 2 years ago), I wrote a piece titled, An Industry Of Conglomerates.  Since then, IMG has completely removed itself from representing athletes other than the world’s best tennis and golf players.  The New Guard consists of CAA, WMG, and BEST (the sports and entertainment wing of Blue Equity).  It does seem as though the door has been closed for a while on potential conglomerates.

What will the future hold?  Will two major entities like a Rosenhaus and Boras ever team up to battle against the New Guard?  Or will other competitors of CAA in the entertainment space pick up on CAA’s business model and join forces to compete with Creative Artists Agency?  Could we ever see a company like Endeavor enter the world of sports.  May it possibly come about after a potential merger between Endeavor and another massive entertainment agency?

Over the past few months, I have heard many rumors about the potential merger of Endeavor and William Morris Agency (WMA).  The two companies are rivals (CAA is also a rival), but their merger would put over $300 million in under one entity (fun for its accountants!).  This new company, if created, would have all of the television and entertainment connections as CAA (if not more), and would be in a situation to take a huge chunk of the money out there in the world of sports.

If this new merged company were to create an athlete representation division, who would run it?  Would they hire the best, brightest, and most ambitious young minds who have shown a proclivity for success or would they model the division after CAA’s, prying some of the most respected names in the industry from other companies and paying top dollar salaries for their services?  Maybe it will be a mixture of the two.

The character Ari Gold on Entourage is based on Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel.  Might we see Emanuel/Gold representing sports clients in the future?

Bill Neff

Neff recently stated that Jonny Flynn would be signing with Leon Rose of CAA after being told to do so by Lebron James (a Rose client).  In fact, Neff said that Arn Tellem of WMG was hot on Flynn, but that Lebron’s testimonial would be enough to persuade Flynn to sign Rose.  His statement was true.  Yesterday, Flynn announced that he is signing with Rose and CAA.

Neff was not done talking, though.  He also said that Eric Devendorf will sign with Chris Luchey of CGL Sports, who represents Wilson Chandler.  The article says that the agent is Chris Grier-Lukie and that he represents Tyson Chandler.  I believe that those names were an error.  Correct me if I am wrong.

Draft Express has done a great job of compiling information thus far, and will continue to provide valuable nuggets of knowledge leading up to the 2009 NBA Draft.  I have extracted the confirmed underclassmen and senior agent signings from the web site:

• Andy Miller (ASM Sports) – B.J. Mullens, Daniel Hackett
• Brad Ames (Priority) – Ben Woodside (good write-up on Woodside here)
• Brian Elfus (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Connor Atchley
• Chris Emens (Octagon) – Lee Cummard
• Dan Fegan (BEST) – Earl Clark
• Dan Tobin (WMG) – K.C. Rivers, Aaron Jackson, James Johnson
• David Bauman (DB Hoops Management) – Josh Heytvelt
• Keith Glass – Luke Nevill, A.J. Abrams
• Lance Young (Octagon) – Lester Hudson
• Leon Rose (CAA) – Nando De Colo
• Mark Bartelstein (Priority) – Jeremy Pargo, Micah Downs
• Michael Siegel (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Ahmad Nivins

Right off the bat, it looks like WMG is racking it up again.  Interesting to note that it is Dan Tobin making big moves with the underclassmen instead of Arn Tellem or B.J. Armstrong.  Priority has some nice names, as does Octagon.