Andy Katz - Agents and Coaches Battle for Prospects

[Soonerspiff]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=4479770

Really long, interesting ESPN article on the Agent/Client relationship in basketball. Worth the read.

A little part of note for all us Sooner fans:

Still, there are plenty of agents who say they aren't in favor of diverting from the traditional route.

Jeff Schwartz, who is Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun's agent, said he went through Oklahoma to get Blake Griffin, North Carolina to get Tyler Hansbrough and UConn to nab A.J. Price. He said the charge that he's a proxy for Calhoun is false and pointed out that he doesn't have a number of UConn players, like Duffy clients Hasheem Thabeet and Marcus Williams.

"I don't think much has changed," Schwartz said. "I still want the coach's input."

Yet the opinion on the state of how the agents deal with the players is mixed, even from within their own profession.

"It's bad," said Seattle-based agent John Greig, whose most recognizable client might be Pops Mensah-Bonsu of the Houston Rockets. "I do think the vast majority of agents are involved with AAU or high school coaches. When you go to these McDonald's or Jordan games, they'll say that this player is already going with this guy or that guy. Money is always used as the controlling part."

"The top guys know they're going to get taken care of," an NBA assistant general manager said. "But it's not all the time. Nobody was taking care of Blake Griffin's family because the family wouldn't allow it. The same thing was true of James Harden.

Nice to know our players and coaches are definitely going about things the right way, not that there was any doubt!

 

[MsProudSooner]

Nobody was taking care of Blake Griffin's family because the family wouldn't allow it.

That's the key. The player has to have a family that is of high enough character to resist the temptation. If they don't have that family backing them up, it would be very hard to resist the inducements from the slimebag agents.

Another interesting tidbit:

Donovan said the agent has the kind of offseason contact that is not allowed for college coaches. That may change in 2010 if a new NCAA rule is passed that allows college coaches to work with their players as long as they're in summer school for a required amount of hours.