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It’s unclear whether or not Falk’s declaration is hyperbole, but there’s no doubt he believes that competition was better in Jordan’s era.

Though he believes players shouldn’t be compared across eras, Falk said that there are only “four or five” current superstars compared to 25 superstars in Jordan’s career.

Falk’s discourse about today’s player-driven superteams has obvious merits (although the League has re-established the competitive balance it’s been missing for a decade).

His belief about today’s players having diminished skill levels is an uncommon one. To the contrary, many analysts believe players are more skilled now than ever before because of the emphasis on positional versatility, perimeter shooting and guard skills.

The post David Falk Compares Michael Jordan’s Era To Current NBA appeared first on SLAM.

GRAB YOUR COPY OF JORDANS VOL. 5

“I have no interest in going with Nike. I don’t even know what Nike is. No way I’m going.”

Those are the words that David Falk remembers Michael Jordan uttering to him when he approached MJ about hopping on a flight to Beaverton, OR, to meet with the sportswear brand to discuss an endorsement opportunity in the summer of 1984.    

Falk, a 33-year-old sports agent at the time who had served as a junior agent for the legendary tennis star Arthur Ashe and had also repped No. 1 draft picks like John Lucas, Mark Aguirre and James Worthy at the ProServ sports agency, had arranged the meeting.

“He didn’t know anything about Nike. He wanted to go with adidas. He had a friend named Gary Stokan, who had played at NC State and was [now] the local adidas rep in the southeast. He supplied Michael with adidas,” recalls Falk. “He couldn’t wear them in the games because they were a Converse school—Carolina. But he loved adidas.”

ProServ actually had a really good relationship with adidas. The sports agency had become known for representing some of the biggest stars in tennis who also happened to be adidas endorsees, including Ashe and Stan Smith (who has one of the most famous signature sneakers of all time with adidas). The agency’s relationship with the German company, though, went deeper than just representing athletes who had deals with the Three Stripes.

“Ironically, we had represented the owner of adidas—named after Adi Dassler, who is the founder of the company. His son Horst Dassler had run the company for 15 years. Probably the most powerful man in the world of sports, and we actually represented him. I didn’t, but there was a gentleman in our firm that represented him,” recalls Falk, who aside from the aforementioned names, has also represented Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Allen Iverson, Moses Malone and Dominique Wilkins, among many other NBA superstars. “They were just not in a position to execute a deal of that level—they told us that. The head of international marketing for adidas said to me, Hey, we really appreciate Michael’s interest. There is no way we could make this deal.”      

As a result, an official meeting between adidas and Jordan never ended up happening, says Falk.    

The agent had grown close with a few Nike executives over the years. At the time, adidas had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar while Converse had the likes of Dr. J, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas and Aguirre. Although Nike was relatively new to the sportswear business, Falk had a few of his clients sign with the Swoosh in the years leading up to Jordan, including Moses Malone and Phil Ford. Falk had specifically developed a good relationship with Rob Strasser, who was the head of marketing for Nike at the time.

“So, I told Nike, Look, I think [MJ] can put you on the map in basketball single-handedly. He’s really exciting. Nobody knew he’d be as good as he is. But we all knew he’d be a very exciting player,” says Falk. “I told them, If you want to sign him, I want him treated like a tennis player. I want his own line of shoes and clothes. And they were open to that.

“We wanted to treat him like a tennis player. Tennis players and golfers typically use their own line of products. That’s the way it works in golf. That went against the grain of what everybody was thinking in 1984 in the NBA. Everybody thought that was a bad idea. Rod Thorn, who was the GM of the Bulls, said to me, ‘David, we love Michael, but if you try to treat him like a tennis player, you’re going to separate him out from the rest of the players.’ I said, ‘Exactly, because he is different than the rest of the players!’”

And so, while Falk had been able to talk Nike into considering giving Jordan his own line as a rookie, his new client didn’t seem to have any interest in a cross-country flight to the West Coast to meet with the brand. Frustrated, Falk went to Jordan’s parents to explain the situation and eventually got a Don’t worry, he’ll be on the plane, from the them. Jordan, forcibly, boarded a plane to Oregon.

At the meeting, Falk recalls Nike having prepared a music video-type presentation, featuring songs like “Jump” by The Point Sisters and “Jump” by Van Halen. But that was only after Nike execs struggled to get the video to play for what seemed like forever.

“The problem was that Strasser, who was about 6-3 and 350 pounds, could not get the machine to start. So, he’s sitting there and he’s trying to get the machine to start and it won’t start. And Michael is sitting there watching, not very happy. And Strasser is sweating like you wouldn’t believe. Like in the movies. He was sweating like a river,” recalls Falk. “There was only one African-American executive from Nike that was supposed to come to the meeting—it was Howard White, who ultimately became Michael’s service representative and who I had known for years; he was the point guard at Maryland before John Lucas. Howard shows up, like, 40 minutes late, and the machine isn’t working. You could have not scripted a worse start for an important meeting.”  

“They finally got the video going. Michael never cracked a smile. Then we moved it to the boardroom and Strasser made a presentation about a line of shoes and clothes that would be Michael’s line. And he still didn’t crack a smile. And I know that when this is over, he’s going to curse me out for making him fly six hours to Oregon to sign with a company he didn’t want to be with.”

Falk and the Jordan family went to dinner afterward before their flight back to North Carolina. During casual conversation at the restaurant, Falk tried to get MJ to give his thoughts on the meeting. It was then when the super agent saw that the Tar Heel star had what it took to become the business mogul he has transitioned into today.

“He looks at me and goes, I don’t want to go anywhere else. This is it. I almost fainted. And I realized at that time, which was my first business meeting with Michael Jordan other than meeting to present our services, this man is really smart—for a 21-year-old young athlete, he kept all his emotions in check. He’s at the table playing a big stage game of poker, not letting on what he has. It blew me away. I was stunned.”

GRAB YOUR COPY OF JORDANS VOL. 5

Throughout the years that followed, Falk looked at his role as that of a teacher instead of an agent. He set out the mission of teaching MJ the business—teaching him how the game was played off the court. Not only was MJ receptive to the knowledge, he sought it out himself. Falk has countless stories of the times Jordan would come up to his office or hit his line inquiring about the strategy behind certain deals. And eventually Falk wasn’t the only one that MJ approached with those questions.  

“He soaked it all in. That experience of managing his own brand as long as he played from 1984 to 1999—he met tons of corporate executives at very high levels, including Warren Buffett. I think that was all part of his ongoing business education. He took it very seriously,” says Falk. “On the investment side, he would sit down with the people in our office who managed his money and they’d give him a book that was an inch thick. He had studied that book and he would ask questions. Like, The return on this is supposed to be eight percent [but] looks like it’s only seven percent? It blew me away how prepared he was. But he took it all seriously because he’s a very intelligent person. He was very involved.”

The next three marketing deals after the Nike partnership were Chevrolet, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. Although MJ was known for his ultra-assertiveness on the hardwood, in the boardroom his approach was a bit different, according to Falk. He was more of a poker player, showing no emotion. In many occasions, he didn’t really say much during meetings, says Falk. He’d listen. He was very analytical. He simply had a good sense of what he was looking for in partnerships.

Despite MJ’s status and Falk’s extensive network and relationships, landing marketing deals for NBA stars on a national scale back then wasn’t as prevalent and easy as it is today. There were still racial prejudices and stigmas that the League dealt with.  

“[Back then,] no one had a brand in basketball. No one had any endorsements in basketball, basically. Magic Johnson—who had played five years in the NBA and was the Rookie of the Year, the [Finals] MVP as a rookie and an NBA champion—the only deal he had outside of Spalding and Converse shoes was a one-year deal with 7UP. One year and then it went away. Dr. J didn’t have deals. Bird didn’t have deals. Jabbar didn’t. Nobody had national deals because at the time, the feeling on Madison Avenue was that the NBA had two big problems—one, it was too black, and two, they thought it was too drug-infested. They estimated that 75 percent of the players were taking some sort of illegal drug. So it was not the darling of Madison Avenue that it is today.”

Just as influential as Falk and Jordan became in opening doors for NBA players through unprecedented off-court marketing opportunities, they also made waves by implementing clauses (or opt outs) in basketball contracts. They chose not to partake in the union’s group licensing program—betting on themselves that they could garner much more money doing their own marketing deals. They also added a unique clause in MJ’s first professional contract that allowed him to participate in competitive pick-up games during the offseason—which at the time wasn’t permitted.  

“We did some very controversial things early in his career. We opted him out of the NBA Player Association group licensing program. Only two players in history have ever done that—Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing—and then they changed the rule. We changed the contracts—created the Jordan ‘Love of the Game’ clause—that a player didn’t have to get permission to play basketball [during the] offseason. How do you stay in shape if you’re not playing? He had his own line of shoes and clothes. Almost everything we did, people said, You can’t do that; what you’re trying to do, it will never work. That’s what they told us with the shoes. You’re going to create a line of shoes for a rookie? It will never work! That’s what they told us,” recalls Falk. “And the first year Jordan sold $126 million worth of product. It outsold every other shoe company in basketball—as a rookie.”

It was then when Falk realized that they had built something historic by choosing to go with Nike through the golf player approach that ultimately allowed MJ to have his own line as a rookie. That’s something that rings truer today than could have ever been imagined back then.  

“Jordan sells $3 billion worth of product a year. He sells more product that if you took every player in the League that has their own shoes, and you added up all the sales together and multiplied it by three, they don’t sell $3 billion,” says Falk. “If I could do it again, and I knew exactly what was going to happen, I would have signed him with Nike for a dollar a year and a 50-50 royalty [split]. But I wasn’t smart enough to know that we were going to sell—when Nike told me their projections for Jordan sales were $3 million, between three and four, and they sold $126 million the first year, you realize that the guarantee is irrelevant.”

—

GRAB YOUR COPY OF JORDANS VOL. 5

Franklyn Calle is a senior producer at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @FrankieC7.

Photos via Getty.

The post Exclusive Interview With Michael Jordan’s Longtime Agent David Falk appeared first on SLAM.

MJ has the highest regular season (30.1 PPG) and playoff (33.4 PPG) scoring averages of all time, and no current player is “remotely” in his league, says Falk.

The renowned agent adds that he believes Scottie Pippen “has a certain level of jealousy” towards his former Chicago Bulls teammate.

Per NBC Sports Washington:

“With virtually zero defense, no hand-checking, I think if Jordan played today; if he was in his prime in today’s rules, I think he’d average between 50 and 60 a game. I think he’d shoot 75% from the floor. If you couldn’t hand-check him, he would be completely unstoppable,” Falk said. “Now that I watch [the documentary], I realize that, unless you’re legally blind, you can’t possibly think that there’s another player who ever played the game that’s remotely in the league that he’s in. Nobody.”

Falk continued.

“I hope personally, and I’m sure it won’t, that the doc ends all talk about like is Jordan competitive with LeBron [James]? He’s in a different league. If you don’t see that with your eyes, maybe the doctor’s office can help because you should have an eye test,” he said.

Falk has apparently seen the remaining episodes of “The Last Dance” and says some things he and others have known for a long time will come to light.

“Pippen has a certain level of jealousy towards Michael. He has said recently many times he thinks LeBron’s a better player. Now, if you’re Scottie Pippen, and Michael Jordan made your career, completely made your career; even if you think that, keep it to yourself,” Falk said. “Scottie’s problem, as the documentary points out in so many different places after the episodes you’ve seen, is that he wasn’t a great competitor. There were times for silly reasons. The migraine; you think that Michael Jordan [would do that] unless he had his leg amputated?”

Related Jeff Van Gundy: Michael Jordan ‘Would Average North of 40 Points’ Today

The post Agent: Michael Jordan Would Average ‘Between 50 and 60’ Today appeared first on SLAM.

After finding a seam in the Sixers’ defense, John Wall got to the hoop and tossed in a smooth 360-degree layup. Wall also sealed the win with a long jumper, and gave his nemesis David Falk a cold-blooded staredown.

The post John Wall Converts 360-Degree Layup (VIDEO) appeared first on SLAM.

David Falk, Michael Jordan’s former agent (who was one of the most powerful people in the NBA during MJ’s career), absolutely destroys John Wall in a bizarre, rant-filled interview with the Washington Post. Falk, a season ticket holder for the Washington Wizards, advises the team trade away their young, starting point guard, and makes it clear that he thinks very little of Wall as a ballplayer: “You guys are in dreamland. Because this team [stinks] so bad you guys want John Wall to be someone he will never be. Before Wall becomes Nene, I would trade him and get rid of him.’ Come on, really? ‘I’m serious. He doesn’t have a feel for the game,’ Falk said. ‘He only knows how to play one speed. Magic Johnson had a great feel, a court sense, by the time he was a sophomore in college. Chris Paul had it by the time he was a sophomore in high school. You can develop your jump shot all you want, but if you don’t know how to play more than an up-and-down game by the time you’re about 20 as a point guard, the chances of learning are very slim. I don’t see it happening.’ … ‘Let me ask you a question,’ Falk said, maybe 28 times over 30 minutes, often answering for you. ‘Who’s bigger, Kyrie Irving or John Wall? John Wall. Who’s a better athlete? John Wall. Who’s faster? Who’s stronger? John Wall. Now, who’s a better player? Kyrie Irving,’ he said of Cleveland’s all-star point guard who was rookie of the year in 2012. ‘John Wall will never be good as Kyrie Irving was in his first week in the NBA. You want to know the reason why just nine teams have won an NBA title in 40 years? Because if both of them came out today, 99 percent of all general managers would still take John Wall instead of Kyrie Irving. They’d take the athlete over the ballplayer. And they’d be wrong.’ It should be noted that it’s highly unusual for a working agent to eviscerate a current player. So I asked Falk, who often likes to be right instead of happy, why he has so much contempt for Wall’s stop-and-pop game? Is it because 76ers swingman Evan Turner, one of a handful of clients to sign with Falk since he got back in the agent game after handsomely cashing out on his company, went No. 2 behind Wall in the 2010 NBA draft? Does Falk yearn for the days when he was the game’s biggest power broker, not John Calipari or some Liaison to the Stars everyone calls Worldwide Wes? […] Either way, Falk picked an odd time to drop an anvil on a third-year player who’s been tearing it up lately. Since returning from injury, Wall has led the Wizards to 10 wins in 18 games and, more important, created real hope for a Wizards team that started the season an embarrassing 5-28.”

UPDATE: David Falk has since apologized, via a statement issued to the WP: “I want to publicly apologize to both Ted Leonsis and Ernie Grunfeld for publicly expressing opinions that better judgment should have kept private. I also want to publicly apologize to John Wall. I hope he either ignores my comments completely or tacks them up on his locker and uses them as motivation. Ultimately, whether or not he becomes an elite NBA player will have far more to do with his dedication and commitment than  the opinions of critics, professional or amateur.”

The post NBA Super Agent David Falk Very Critical of John Wall (UPDATE) appeared first on SLAM.

… And so in just one day, no less! The former NBA super agent — who’s voiced his opinion on the lockout quite a bit this year — doesn’t think it’s that complicated an issue, this work stoppage. From SRI (via The Fan 590): “We’re right up against the deadline. Unlike ’98, when we had a 50-game season, I would bet a lot of money that if we miss one or two games, we’re going to miss the whole season. This is like Texas Hold’em; it’s all in. Everyone has to understand what’s at stake. It’s my understanding that the owners project if there’s no season, they’ll lose $1.5 billion and if there’s no season the players will lose $2.167 billion in salary, probably another $200 or $300 million more in endorsements.’ What would you do if you could get in that room and play the role of mediator?: ‘I volunteered. I’ve given both sides very, very specific suggestions on how to get over the hurdle. … I think that I could make this deal in one day, with either party. I really do. I know it sounds egotistical saying that, but I know all the owners well. … Obviously I’ve represented players for 37 years. … I’m disappointed that the young stars of the NBA today, the LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, those guys need to be involved full-time, not part-time. … I think that they are allowing other people to determine their future financial fortunes, which is a terrible mistake.'”

The post Agent David Falk Thinks He Can Single-Handedly End the NBA Lockout appeared first on SLAM.

With no end in sight for the NBA lockout, David Falk — once the most powerful agent in the League, by far — wants to bring peace among players and owners. From SRI (via 106.7 The Fan): “Does he not think that existing guaranteed contracts should be grandfathered in? ‘Well I think there will be guaranteed contracts. What they’re arguing about mostly is the percentage of the pie. The players are making 57 percent of the pie, the owners want to make it less. And I think there are many ways to solve it. In many ways, having done this for 37 years, and having owned a business that’s bigger than most of the teams, and having been an agent for so many years, I’d love to mediate the dispute because I think there are solutions that are acceptable to both sides. But at the end of the day, this is different than the football situation because the owners are printing money and the owners want a deal in football because they know if they start missing preseason games, for every game they miss, they’re going to be losing money. There are about 14 to 20 teams in the NBA, if they miss games they’re going to make money because the losses are going to stop.'”

The post David Falk Wants to Mediate the NBA Lockout Battle appeared first on SLAM.

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by Vincent Thomas / @vincecathomas

Let’s say you were tasked with making a basketball timeline for someone who had been living under a rock all his life. This timeline was to tell a linear story of the history of basketball from the time Naismith put up a peach basket until now. The rub is that you can only use, say, 20 plot points.

What goes on your timeline? Red Auerbach drafting Bill Russell? Magic and Larry meeting in the ’79 NCAA Championship? The ’72 Gold medal game between the USSR and the US? The NBA-ABA merger? The first time a ball bounced at Rucker Park? Do the Harlem Rens get on there?

This much we know: Michael Jordan, in some fashion, makes the timeline. And if you were to ask me which event during his career meant the most to the League and his legacy, I’d say it happened 20 years ago this month, when he won his first championship along with Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen and the rest of the gang.

To commemorate this watershed moment in NBA history, I talked to some principal members of that team and the folks around them, as well as researched old articles, to craft a sort of oral history of that season. They painted the picture of a desperate organization and a driven squad led by a transcendent talent, all on a quest to exorcise demons, slay a nemesis, save faces, make names and win rings.

—

The Bulls previous season ended with a 93-74 Game 7 Playoff loss to the Detroit Pistons. It was the third season in a row the Pistons bullied the Bulls into submission. Jordan had 31-9-8 in that hostile final game, while his teammates submarined. It was Pippen’s “Migraine Game,” after which Pippen said, “I had trouble seeing my teammates.” Jack McCallum, writing for Sports Illustrated, quipped, “Not half as much as Jordan did, Scottie.” So we start here, early in the season, with the Bulls (Jordan included) on Front Street.

RICK TELANDER (Basketball evangelist, revered scribe, writer for the Chicago Sun-Times): You can’t imagine what it’s like to be a competitor like Michael and start to see your career go by and wonder if you’re ever going to get there. The last scoring champ to win a title was Kareem back in the ’70s. It was becoming a mantra: You’ll never win, MJ—you score too much.

DAVID FALK (Jordan’s agent, who, over the next 10 years, would become one of the most powerful men in sports): There were observers, including myself, that thought [Bulls general manager Jerry] Krause was trying to increase the degree of difficulty for Michael. I used to say that if you took Michael and Scottie and then you took three brandy sniffers and put the names of all the guards in one, forwards in one and centers in another and made 13 blind picks, you could come up with a better team than the one Krause constructed. He always wanted credit, so he’d take the long shot. The fact that they won those championships didn’t mean he crafted a great team, it was just that Michael was such a transcendent player. Michael had to convince himself that the team was good enough to win. I use this as a compliment when I say that he would con himself into thinking he had a great team.

—

The Bulls start 15-8. They show promise with a 20-point win over Boston and seven-game win streak, but the team, specifically Jordan, still hadn’t bought into what would become its signature Triangle Offense.

PHIL JACKSON (Bulls coach and eventual Zen Master, on his quest for the first of a League-record 11 rings, as quoted in Sports Illustrated): No, Michael doesn’t need the offense. It limits him, no doubt about it. But we’ve let Michael clear out and try to win it by himself and we’ve come up short. So let’s see if we can get other people involved, let the offense help them get their shots. It’s not like we’re saying Michael absolutely cannot win the scoring title. We’re just trying to reduce his points a little and bring our team total up, get better balance.

MICHAEL JORDAN (Bulls guard and the consensus pick for greatest player in NBA history, as quoted in Sports Illustrated): I fight the offense when we lose close games and I haven’t given the output I could’ve given because of the system. On the nights we win, obviously, it’s fine. I only want to win. I think the offense can work. But one of the problems is that the offense takes time to perfect, and we still make a lot of mistakes. Theoretically, this offense should never be stopped if you have the right guys in the right places. But that doesn’t always happen.

—

One early season loss was a 105-84 whipping to the Pistons. Jordan had his typical 33, 6 and 5, but the rest of the starters scored just 26 points combined. Jordan was frustrated.

WILL PERDUE (Third-year center, Phil’s and MJ’s somewhat frequent whipping-boy): Personally you would feel like, Hey, I’m working my ass off, but yet, this guy is never happy. One of the reasons he was such a different person when he came back from baseball is because he realized that no matter how hard he practiced, he was never going to be as good as he wanted to be. That changed him. His expectations, earlier in his career, were a little too unrealistic. We were in their scrapping and trying to protect him. He didn’t always appreciate that, and he didn’t always voice his frustration in the most eloquent way.

CRAIG HODGES (Reserve guard, three-point marksman, Metro Chicago native): We understood the media was gonna make it Michael and the Jordanaires. But we had just as much say as to what was going down. I had no problem saying, Hey man, pass the damn ball. There were times he’d score 50 and we’d lose and I’d say, Hey man, you’re not the only one. In January I really think things started to kick in. We started working the system, the Triangle. And MJ realized the 45 or 50 percent of the energy he was using, he didn’t have to. The system would support what he was doing. And that’s also around the time I started seeing Scottie’s confidence on the rise. He was as skilled as MJ and he was starting to understand that.

SCOTTIE PIPPEN (Bulls do-everything forward, Hall of Famer, Magic stopper): It was just me maturing physically and mentally. I had a back injury my rookie year, which kind of slowed my progress. It took me until about my third year to really be there physically and be able to handle the 82-game grind. By the championship year, I was ready physically and my confidence had grown.

—

Managing all these egos and tenuous relationships was Jackson, in just his second season as Bulls coach after replacing Doug Collins.

TELANDER: Phil was a completely different coach from Collins. Doug was very intense. The way he was wired was almost obsessive. He was a very good coach, but not particularly what Jordan needed. Perhaps Krause’s best decision as a GM was to make this hippy guy the coach of the team. At the time it was just astounding. Phil was almost out of the League. And he was the type of person who could never get along with a guy like Krause in regular life, but he was that last ingredient. Everybody was under this immense pressure of not wasting the greatest singular talent basketball had seen, and Phil was the last ingredient.

—

The Bulls would finish the regular season 61-21, earning the top seed in the East. MJ won his second MVP. Portland may have won the most games that season and both Boston and L.A. were still contenders, but only one team was on Chicago’s mind as the Playoffs opened.

SCOOP JACKSON (Chi representative, Bulls fanatic, SLAM legend): That Joe Dumars Sports Illustrated cover (the one from the previous season with a fictional depiction of Detroit’s Dumars as a giant, leaning on top of a miniature Jordan like he was a toy) was the topic of hood conversation for a while. To put him on the cover smushing MJ…we were like, “Damn! Is it really like that?” Nobody in Chicago was focused on winning the title; we were focused on beating the Pistons.

The post The First Ride appeared first on SLAM.

Weaving through cars on the Hollywood freeway, the topic of conversation is Allen Iverson.

Since being drafted by the Sixers in June, Evan Turner has heard his share of stories about The Answer. On our drive back to West Hollywood from his Li-Ning commercial shoot, Turner gives us some of the best. He’s animated as he recites stories from the back seat, all ending with an incredible punch line. Practice, money, relationships with coaches—the young man has some gems.

Brian Cupps, Li-Ning’s Director of Brand Initiative for Basketball, smiles as he steers the Lincoln Navigator through L.A.’s hectic traffic lanes. He teases Evan a bit. “Give it a year and we’ll see how you change on us, Evan,” he jokes.

Evan laughs it off. “You know I’m never going to change.”

**

Since joining the Li-Ning team a little over a year ago, Cupps and his family have lived in China. The experience has given him a ground level POV to witness the passion for the game of basketball in China. He believes that the game is more of a social vehicle in China, a result of the nation’s one-child policy. “The NBA has done an amazing job of branding themselves there and continuing to invest resources and time and energy to show more games,” he says. “I’ll walk into the office at 9:30 in the morning and there will be games on during the season. The speed of the Internet and the digital media age is important. All those kids are online, they’re blogging about it, they’re reading about their favorite players. They genuinely love the sport and social aspect of it. They’re as educated as the fans here and more in some instances. I think that is exciting and shows the upside of basketball from a global perspective. You bring a guy like Evan to China and see how many people know about him already, know his teammates. He hasn’t even really started to build himself or his brand over there yet.”

Following several decades of success in China, Li-Ning is hoping to build its brand in the US. In the past couple of years, they have inked several NBA players, including Baron Davis, Hasheem Thabeet and Shaquille O’Neal. The brand opened a flagship store in Portland, OR early this year and followed that up with the signing of Turner, college basketball’s top player last season and one of the most coveted prospects in the 2010 NBA Draft.

Turner and his agent David Falk connected with Cupps early on, helping smooth some of their concerns about partnering with a foreign company. For Turner, a trip to China helped reassure his decision to sign with Li-Ning. “I checked out the Li-Ning campus and met the owners,” Turner says. “I liked it all. I think it helped make me feel that everyone is going to work hard to make this thing work. It was super cool and everyone was really nice. Some cities feel like America and some spots seemed foreign to me. It’s definitely a blessing when you think about it. You grow up playing basketball and then end up in China doing a shoe deal.”

**

While he will clearly be marketed in China, Li-Ning is also hoping that Turner can help the brand break into the $2.4 billion US basketball footwear market. Much of that will depend on Evan’s NBA success and the brand’s marketing ability. Turner’s signature Li-Ning shoe will be available next season and the brand plans on using him in print and television advertising. Li-Ning recently dropped a hilarious viral video targeting US consumers starring Donnell Rawlings of Chappelle’s Show.

So far this season, Turner has started 12 games and is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds per. He has struggled in his past three contests, scoring 5 total points while averaging 20 minutes per game in that span. The Sixers are currently 5-13, good enough for last place in the Atlantic. Prior to the start of the season, Falk insisted that Turner would be on a major learning curve through the All-Star break. “I want him to take the first two and a half months to really work quietly behind the scenes to integrate himself,” Falk says. “It’s not his team—he’s a rookie. Evan’s got to pick his spots. He has to be respectful of his teammates. Even though he was player of the year, he’s going to have to earn it the old fashioned way.”

Turner is extremely humble and committed to getting better. He chose to live a few minutes from the Sixers facility so he can spend the majority of his time there. When we visited in October, he was a few months removed from the flashing lights surrounding his brilliant college career and the NBA Draft. He told me that it wasn’t too long ago that he was in high school, hoping the cafeteria ladies at St. Joe’s would let him have some milk despite the fact that he had no money, having spent it on his daily commute to school.

Cupps believes in Turner and has a clear vision for Li-Ning basketball. “We want to be pursued,” he explains. “We want our products to speak to the level of performance and premium that the brand can be and wants to be. I think that will be the greatest testament to when we’ve made strong inroads. There are players hopefully similar to Evan and Baron and guys like that who truthfully sought out the brand because they recognize what we stand for and the products that we make for players that can enhance their performance. I don’t think we’re there yet today but that’s ultimately where we can get to. Seeing young talented ball players saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to strike a different path. I’m down with this company Li-Ning and their products.’ Making that distinction on their own, up front. That would be a great step forward.”

Be sure to check out the feature on Evan Turner and Li-Ning in SLAM 144. For more information on Li-Ning, visit li-ningusa.com

The post Turner, Li-Ning Rise Together appeared first on SLAM.

by Nima Zarrabi / @NZbeFree

In 1984, Nike was gaining little traction in the basketball shoe market despite its collection of 120 NBA players representing the brand. Converse was making a bigger impact with far less talent under contract thanks to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas. The realization led the Nike basketball team to transition into a new model. A strategy was put into place that began with cutting cash payments to many of their basketball players and the brand practically challenged its players under contract to leave for their competitors.

When it came to basketball, the key players for the Nike brass were Rob Strasser and Sonny Vaccaro. Strasser is known as one of the men who helped build Nike and was one of Phil Knight’s closest confidants until the late ’80s. He had an incredible impact on the brand especially when it came to Nike basketball.

Vaccaro’s role in the basketball culture has been well documented and his work for the swoosh was critical—Sonny was the best foot solider in the Nike army. He knew all the players, the coaches and fully understood the art of the basketball hustle. Vaccaro didn’t agree with Strasser’s idea to cut ties with most of Nike’s talent, but was overruled. Strasser wanted one basketball star that the brand could make a marketing push behind. Someone fresh, talented, healthy, charismatic—an athlete who fit the Nike brand image. They immediately took notice of Charles Barkley of Auburn, who had both talent and flair—Nike liked that.

But Vaccaro had another person in mind. Someone he would pound his fist for: Michael Jordan. Vaccaro described Jordan as the best player he had ever seen, claiming he could practically fly through the air. But he was a self-proclaimed adidas nut at that time who had never worn Nike. That didn’t faze Vaccaro. Jordan was about to begin his junior season at North Carolina and Vaccaro believed he would leave school early to enter the Draft. He warned the powers at Nike that they had better have an action plan in place. When asked if he was willing to bet his job on Jordan, Vaccaro said yes.

Strasser went to work. In a quarterly meeting with an agent by the name of David Falk, a man Strasser had negotiated 50 prior deals with at the time, he brought up Jordan. If anyone could sign Jordan, Strasser felt Falk would be the guy. Falk told Strasser that players from North Carolina didn’t leave school early. Strasser told Falk, “You never know. Let’s stay in touch and see how things develop.”

As predicted by the Nike team, Jordan came out early for the 1984 Draft and chose Falk as his representation, who immediately laid groundwork for meetings with Converse, adidas and Nike. Falk was working for Pro Serv, a powerful sports agency founded by Donald Dell that had represented numerous star tennis players such as Arthur Ashe, Yannick Noah, Ivan Lendl and Stan Smith. Through his experience, he understood that tennis players had signature shoes and were paid royalties on products that carried their names. Falk wanted Jordan to be treated like a tennis player, not a basketball player. Nike agreed with Falk. They would allow Jordan to have royalties and his own sub-brand. The next step was to figure out how to market Jordan’s image to the American public.

The post David Falk Q + A, Pt. 2 appeared first on SLAM.

Evan Turner has arrived at his first commercial shoot and he has yet to see the cool set. He’s busy staring at a food truck outside.

“Will this be here all day? With food?”

His agent David Falk laughs. Falk tells him the truck will be at his service throughout the day.

Turner is here for a commercial and print shoot for his shoe and apparel endorser, Li-Ning. The Chinese athletic company is hoping Turner can help introduce their product to the US market. It’s a creative and unique deal that both Turner and Falk are extremely excited about. While Falk and Turner sit at the back
of an open moving truck enjoying some breakfast, a crispy black Maybach rolls through the lot in slow motion. Will Smith.

“Aren’t you supposed to have someone driving you in that kind of car,” Evan jokes.

He mentions something about wanting to meet Smith who is here to shoot a music video with Will.I.am next door. Falk knows him—no surprise. He walks over to the Maybach as Smith gets out. Within a minute, Falk and Smith start walking back toward the truck. Evan gets up and meets them halfway. Falk smiles as he makes the introduction.

**

I had no idea Falk was going to be in attendance. Earlier that morning, I arrived at the W in West Hollywood to meet Turner and Li-Ning Director of Brand Initiative for Basketball, Brian Cupps. It was mid September and the hotel was a complete zoo. Entourage was set to shoot on location later in the day, so I arrived as cars and crews blitzed the venue. Falk came to support and overlook the production for his talented rookie client.

I was here to work on a piece for the magazine on Turner and his relationship with Li-Ning. When Falk and I met, he immediately took notice of my attire and gave me some shit—rocking an adidas Muhammad Ali track jacket wasn’t a smooth move. Falk told me that if I was here to see MJ, he would refuse to speak with me if I showed up in a competitor’s gear.

I knew he was right. I made the mistake of rocking a pair of Chuck Taylor’s when I met up with Allen Iverson five years ago for the cover of Kicks 8. AI could not believe that I had come to see him in my “flat-ass Converse.” Dude was witty as hell. And like Iverson, Falk wasn’t being mean about it. He was teaching.

**

On the set, I sat and conversed with Falk while Evan did his work. We spoke for hours. I found him to be brilliant in many ways and very open and willing to discuss any topic I brought up. I have always viewed him as the most impressive agent in the history of the game. His record speaks for itself.

But what I found in my discussions with him is that David Falk is not an agent. He’s a creative. He has ideas, concepts—a vision. And his experience in the game is unrivaled. After a few hours passed, I asked if I could record our discussions. Falk agreed. I decided to break up our Q + A into two parts. In part one, I focused on some of the hot topics from the offseason: LeBron and The Decision, ongoing CBA talks and of course, Worldwide Wes.

SLAM: Mark Cuban came out and said LeBron James lost $1 billion in brand equity by participating in The Decision and making his exit in the manner he did. Do you agree?

David Falk: I think in the short term he has lost a lot of brand equity. I’m a big LeBron fan. The challenge will be to build it back. I’m not sure he has $1 billion worth of brand equity in his brand, so I think that’s probably a little bit of an exaggeration.

SLAM: Were you surprised at the level of anger from fans and comments from people within the League following his decision?

DF: I wasn’t surprised at all. I was disappointed that it wasn’t handled better. I really like Maverick Carter. Maverick is not his NBA agent. In any situation when you’re going to exit, I think you have to stand up and tell the person in advance, ‘Hey, I’ve made a decision. You haven’t created an environment that is conducive to my success, so I’m going to leave.’ He has every right to leave. I just think there’s a certain level of respect, consideration and professionalism. And LeBron is a very professional guy and I don’t think he received very good advice in how to handle that situation. I think the show was a disaster.

SLAM: But everyone watched it.

DF: Everyone involved in the show, from Jim Grey, to the agencies that created it, to LeBron — everyone came away with a black eye. You do the thing first, and then you talk about it. When reporters call me and ask me ‘Is Jeff Green going to re-sign in Oklahoma? Is Roy Hibbert going to sign an extension?’ I tell them to stay tuned. Let me do my job and when it’s done we can talk about why we decided to do what we did. If LeBron had gone to Miami and then did a show and said he didn’t think he could win in Cleveland and wanted to be with his buddy DWade— be Batman and Robin like Michael and Scottie, that would all be cool. To do it simultaneously is a little too modern, a little too social media. You lose the flavor. This is basketball. This is not television. We’re not talking about why you’re taking a role in one movie as opposed to a role in another movie. It’s basketball.

SLAM: It was a crazy time. Reporters angling for scoops, rumors by the hour on Twitter—

DF: But it wasn’t really news. Everyone I knew told me a month before that he was going to Miami. It wasn’t a surprise. What I think is interesting and the League will have to deal with this with the next agreement whether they choose to or not. This situation with Carmelo. He sees those guys teaming up, now he wants to team up, whether it’s with Chris Paul or Amar’e. I actually tried to do that in my own day in my own way, but I never did it publicly.

SLAM: What can you tell me about Worldwide Wes?

DF: I’ve known him since 1986. I really like him. He’s a fun guy. He has great talent in brokering relationships. I think he’s probably better under the radar than in the radar. I think he knows that. I think the job he just took puts him more in the spotlight.

SLAM: For a long time, many were unsure of his role in the basketball world. I know you’ve said that he is someone the players trust.

DF: I think Wes, early on in his career had a lot more influence than people gave him credit for and now probably doesn’t have as much influence as people give him credit for.

The post David Falk Q + A, Pt. 1 appeared first on SLAM.

During All-Star weekend, David Stern and Billy Hunter told reporters that, in light of the currently toxic economic climate, preliminary talks had begun between the League and the Players’ Union about re-negotiating the collective bargaining agreement — more than two years before its expiry.

David Falk doesn’t foresee the negotiations going over well. The NY Times caught up with the legendary player agent, and according to Falk, we should all prepare ourselves for the oncoming war:

The N.B.A.’s system is broken, Falk says, and fixing it will require radical measures that almost guarantee a standoff in 2011, when the collective bargaining agreement expires. “I think it’s going to be very, very extreme,” Falk said, “because I think that the times are extreme.”

How extreme? Falk said he believed Stern, the commissioner, would push for a hard salary cap, shorter contracts, a higher age limit on incoming players, elimination of the midlevel cap exception and an overall reduction in the players’ percentage of revenue. And, Falk said, Stern will probably get what he wants.

“The owners have the economic wherewithal to shut the thing down for two years, whatever it takes, to get a system that will work long term,” he said in an extensive interview to discuss his new book. “The players do not have the economic wherewithal to sit out one year.”

Of course, whether or not this is little more than a blatant attempt by Falk to generate interest in his new book, The Bald Truth, is anyone’s guess. But it would be wise to at least listen to the man’s warnings, as he has been around the NBA block a few times.

The post David Falk Predicts Labor Armageddon in the NBA appeared first on SLAM.