Could the Jazz Milk Washington if The Ace Saga Sours?

[NAOS_pt2]

When your "business partner" tells you he’s getting you to Washington or Brooklyn I’m sure he was a little surprised to say the least.

The stupidity is deep here, though. When was the last time that Washington was a good landing spot for "business"?

 

[Miggs]

This guy represents three people evidently. Counting Ace. Another one is his son who is represented so well the kid has bounced around to like six teams in six years…kid was awesome as a frosh at Auburn, was supposed to be a 1st rounder…fell to 2nd…been in Europe for years now. Great agent.

Also, I’m not sure if it’s true but my buddy said he think he’s heard he’s an ex-con too.

 

[HadAnEffectHere]

bailey seems like a very loyal kid. which could be good for the jazz in the long run assuming he stays that way as he gets older, but perhaps not great as it relates to omar cooper.

Jazz drafting two extremely "coachable" guys back to back (Filipowski and Ace)

 

[whatthe]

Lots of people's dreams are tied to a player making it in the NBA. Who am I to judge who gets a part of that dream? Let the player be who they want to be and help who they want to help.

 

[Elizah Huge]

The stupidity is deep here, though. When was the last time that Washington was a good landing spot for "business"?

Good spot for business for Omar potentially.

 

[Miggs]

Also, he’s not a certified agent but Ace could have real representation. So my guy Omar is perhaps trying to be WWW meets Suge Knight since “Kevin Armstrong of NJ Advanced Media reports that Cooper had legal issues in his past, as he was charged with attempted murder and possession with intent to distribute cocaine on or by school property in the 1990s, and indicted in 2003 for possessing a machine gun and black short-clip Uzi. As a result, Cooper served six months for the cocaine conviction, while the other charges were dismissed.”

Who is Ace Bailey's agent? Meet Omar Cooper, the mystery man behind NBA Draft concerns | Sporting News

Bailey's agent has been at the center of scrutiny throughout the process.

www.sportingnews.com

 

[Miggs]

Just curious, is this speculation, or do you have inside info?

Lord knows that the world is full of bad faith actors who behave similarly as your describe or much, much worse. Many of them may be player agents.

Thsi story has the potential to go off the rails quickly with wild speculation stated with undeserved confidence, if it hasn't already done so.

Eat a dick, Omar. Go peddle your ******** elsewhere.

 

[slc]

Also, he’s not a certified agent but Ace could have real representation. So my guy Omar is perhaps trying to be WWW meets Suge Knight since “Kevin Armstrong of NJ Advanced Media reports that Cooper had legal issues in his past, as he was charged with attempted murder and possession with intent to distribute cocaine on or by school property in the 1990s, and indicted in 2003 for possessing a machine gun and black short-clip Uzi. As a result, Cooper served six months for the cocaine conviction, while the other charges were dismissed.”

Who is Ace Bailey's agent? Meet Omar Cooper, the mystery man behind NBA Draft concerns | Sporting News

Bailey's agent has been at the center of scrutiny throughout the process.

www.sportingnews.com

GSE Worldwide needs to tell Cooper his services are no longer needed and please keep your big mouth shut

 

[The Midnight]

Also, he’s not a certified agent but Ace could have real representation. So my guy Omar is perhaps trying to be WWW meets Suge Knight since “Kevin Armstrong of NJ Advanced Media reports that Cooper had legal issues in his past, as he was charged with attempted murder and possession with intent to distribute cocaine on or by school property in the 1990s, and indicted in 2003 for possessing a machine gun and black short-clip Uzi. As a result, Cooper served six months for the cocaine conviction, while the other charges were dismissed.”

Who is Ace Bailey's agent? Meet Omar Cooper, the mystery man behind NBA Draft concerns | Sporting News

Bailey's agent has been at the center of scrutiny throughout the process.

www.sportingnews.com

You’re about 20 pages behind on this brah…

 

[George W]

Lots to love in this post.

But I think there's an additional dimension to add here: inserting "family or important mentors" into key functional roles when they have no experience in that role AND, together as a team, trying to change the system yall are just entering........... If I bust out my Bayesian calculator on this scenario, it comes back with some pretty bad probabilities. If raising up your family and important mentors were some of your primary objectives, then the probabilities and rationality favored a different sequence of behaviors here.

In terms of Ace's professional trajectory, Utah should never have been seen as a bad place for him to land. The Jazz are not a dysfunctional program, and Ace's team should have seen that he has a good chance of being 'built around' in Utah. The wider local culture isn't great in some ways (no doubt about that; I myself no longer live there for a reason) but the area does love its team. And it isn't the same adjustment for everyone. The idea that Washington is a much juicier fit is just bananas.


Also, additional side note:
The cocaine stuff isn't a total shrug off for me. I'm a very drug-positive guy, and I've experimented with this drug a few times. —Experimented enough to know that it's one of my least favorite out there. And anyone who is using it while trying to maximize leverage in their business dealings is pretty much trying to be insufferable in my book. I'm not sure if that's what's going on here, and I'm sure this kind of thing is rampant in sports management anyway, but, yeah, it's not just a shrug off.

End rant.

In Mr. Cooper's defence, he *does* have experience -- his own son made it to the NBA. It's not like this is his first time. Of course, he's probably amongst the least experienced in both rounds but we can't say he has 'no' experience (a small tidbit, but just trying to be a bit fair). I completely agree -- * a lot* of the time, in these circumstances, adults who groom minors can be predatory and I would say the odds are not tilted in Ace's favor. I also agree from a franchise-specific lens, if you just look at front office, athletes, culture, staff, Utah imo is the best fit from teams 4-10.

And you are right --D.C. isn't NYC, but it's also not Utah (and more importantly in this regard, it is not *perceived* as Utah). Bailey has never set foot in Utah; neither have the majority of his inner network i'm willing to wager.

To be clear, the cocaine charge was from an offence in the 1990s. It's not a shrug off for me either -- but as human beings i'm willing to wager that someone with no legal involvement in twenty years since this (frankly minor) conviction has very likely charted out a different path. I haven't seen anything re: it being used as leverage in business dealings, maybe you've seen something I haven't.

--

All in all, I find this to be a sad situation. Sad that young marginalized men feel that they owe a lot to those who bring them out of the gutter, sad that the men mentoring them often lead them astray, sad that agents take disproportionate cuts for the services they provide, and sad for the mentors who feel like they're kicked to the curb as soon as their athlete makes it to the league.

When people act irrationally, often there is a wound or a sensitivity from which the erratic behaviour emanates. I sincerely believe that staying in Utah would be in Ace's best interests. I forgive him if he fears that living in Utah is not a cultural fit, and I hope that he gets a second opinion early in his career if he suspects that his agent is not doing right by him.

- George

 

[SojoDave]

I refuse to go down this rabbit hole, at least until Monday if Ace doesn't show up for the press conference.

 

[KqWIN]

bailey seems like a very loyal kid. which could be good for the jazz in the long run assuming he stays that way as he gets older, but perhaps not great as it relates to omar cooper.

Something I said before the draft is that if you associate Ace’s bad habits with his bad camp, that could be seen as an opportunity for a strong franchise. A team like the Heat, for example, would look at is an opportunity for them to imprint their culture and get a player who was made out to be worse than he is.

It’s not good for Ace personally, but good opportunity for a strong culture team hoping to get an undervalued talent.

 

[George W]

When the **** comes out you won’t want to be someone defending Omar.

with respect, the easy thing to do here is join everyone ******** on him. It's harder to ask ourselves 'why are athletes making these decisions to work with mentors as agents, and to what extent are their decisions valid in doing so'. I personally fear the NBA will proceed to an NFL environment whereby teams are clearly colluding against players with mentor-agents, making an example out of them. I find that **** toxic and disgusting, and ultimately anti-player.

 

[HadAnEffectHere]

The Jazz should make a fake compromise with Ace where they trade Clarkson and Sexton and frame it to Ace as "letting him be the guy" but they really wanted to trade those guys all along, lol.

 

[NAOS_pt2]

Good spot for business for Omar potentially.

Sure, but for Ace? How? You've talked about a business "partner" (i.e. "partnership"), right?

Look, I'm not trying to spring a gotcha on you. Ace is probably a little bit of a dummy in this process. And part of the evidence of his dummy-ness is that he appears to have bought into Washington as a good spot for him over a place like Utah. That makes very little sense, so he appears to have swallowed whatever nonsense Omar was feeding him.

 

[Miggs]

with respect, the easy thing to do here is join everyone ******** on him. It's harder to ask ourselves 'why are athletes making these decisions to work with mentors as agents, and to what extent are their decisions valid in doing so'. I personally fear the NBA will proceed to an NFL environment whereby teams are clearly colluding against players with mentor-agents, making an example out of them. I find that **** toxic and disgusting, and ultimately anti-player.

It protects the player. If I understand it correctly, the NFL has agents who have the academic and licensing credentials to legally be able to represent someone. Why would you want some wannabe like this ******* representing your young talent? It’s bad for the kid and ultimately bad for the league.

 

[George W]

Bartelstein would have got him where he wanted lol. But also Bartelstein would have likely been getting him drafted as high as possible to max his earnings.

Bartelstein was doing blow when no one knew who Bailey was, and when people like Cooper took him in and helped make him the player that he currently is.

Listen, like I said earlier -- good chance that Cooper ends up being a scumbag, and we'll probably never hear from him again. But I think y'all are blinding yourself to the reality of how young players find themselves in these situations. Be classy, trust the process, and be understanding if it doesn't all work out. At worst we're ending up with a nice trade package.

- George

 

[HadAnEffectHere]

Ace's delusional confidence is at least entertaining for what will probably be a pretty dull season next year as we tank again.

"Pass me the ****ing ball, I'm about to toast this bozo!" Ace in game 20 next year as OG Anunoby looks on in confusion before picking his pocket.

We'll see how everything goes as he gets older.

 

[Sean]

Ace's delusional confidence is at least entertaining for what will probably be a pretty dull season next year as we tank again.

"Pass me the ****ing ball, I'm about to toast this bozo!" Ace in game 20 next year as OG Anunoby looks on in confusion before picking his pocket.

We'll see how everything goes as he gets older.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

You seem to think I’m disagreeing with your take on Omar. I’m not. So I’m curious to what you think our disagreement is about?

I honestly am not sure I'm disagreeing with you. I'm trying to point you to the root of where this fiasco started and it has nothing to do with me upset we weren't the target. This whole fiasco is about what Omar wanted and why he wanted it... but you don't care about that. This is a unique relationship with unique motivations that are the driving force behind this thing.

The front office did the right thing if they had Ace top of their board. I have never stated otherwise. They also have strong enough leadership squash this.