Former Griz CEO Jason Levien interested in buying Hawks

[Guest]

Ronald Tillery: Rumor mill is saying that former Griz CEO Jason Levien is trying to put together a group to buy the Atlanta Hawks Twitter @CAGrizBeat

Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Jason Levien, Owners

- See more at: http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htm#sthash.uRR0F7od.dpuf

[Guest]

Uhhh...this guy is f***ing crazy. Like, he has no money and is a con artist for making people think that he understands a lick of basketball. He should be avoided at all costs and anyone doing business with him is surely a sucker.

Personally, the first time I’d heard from Levien was back in 2004, when he was a low-level agent trying to break into the NBA business. He had left the firm of Williams and Connolly, the agency with clients such as Tim Duncan and Ray Allen, to start his own agency. At least, that’s how it has been portrayed in the media — in reality, a source said, Levien had been fired from Williams and Connolly.

...

Eventually, Levien achieved success as an agent, landing guard Kevin Martin and getting a $71 million contract for Luol Deng. But shortly after getting the Deng deal done, Levien met with the Maloof brothers, owners of the Kings. In November of 2008, he was hired by Sacramento, tabbed as the eventual successor to longtime team president Geoff Petrie.

That experiment barely lasted 20 months. Petrie had long run one of the most hush-hush organizations in the NBA, priding itself on its unanimity and discretion. But by the 2009 draft — just seven months after Levien was hired — a rift had developed between Petrie and Levien.

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By November 2010, Levien was on to a new venture — trying to put together a group to buy the Sixers. According to a court document, Levien had lunch with Bob Whitsitt, former Paul Allen adviser who ran the Blazers and the Seahawks, and Reebok executive Tom Shine.

That pair had a deal in place with Comcast, owner of the Sixers, in which they would be paid a finder’s fee of $2 million if they found a buyer for the team.

Levien didn’t have the money to buy the team outright, but he met with Comcast’s Ed Snider, and eventually, brought in private equity investor Josh Harris to spearhead a deal to buy the Sixers. When the deal was struck in July 2011, Levien was listed as part of the ownership group, but Whitsitt and Shine were not paid their finder’s fee — Comcast claimed that Levien was not a “controlling owner.” Whitsitt and Shine sued.

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Not a problem. By then, Levien was already deeply involved with yet another potential owner — Pera, founder of Ubiquiti Networks. That deal, too, moved quickly, with Pera agreeing to a deal to buy the Grizzlies for $377 million June 2012. The deal became official in October, and Pera installed Levien as CEO in November. Just weeks after that, the Barones were so unceremoniously jettisoned.

Here we are, 17 months after Levien was installed in the job running the Grizzlies, and he is gone. It is almost the exact match for his timetable in Sacramento. Sources said tension between he and Pera had been building for months, and when Pera conducted player exit interviews after the season — usually the purview of the coach and general manager — he did so to figure out what the perception of his players were in the wake of the Hollins firing and general upheaval around the team.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2014-05-22/grizzlies-ceo-jason-levien-fired-front-office-kings-sixers-robert-pera-barry-hecker-dave-joerger

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Grizzlies have parted ways with team CEO Jason Levien and director of player personnel Stu Lash. The front-office shake-up comes after the Grizzlies were eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The Grizzlies announced the moves on Monday.

General manager Chris Wallace assumes interim responsibility for basketball operations. Jason Wexler, the Grizzlies' chief operating officer, remains responsible for business operations.

Grizzlies owner Robert Pera said in a team statement that, "We are confident that when the new season begins our fans will be excited about both our roster and the direction of our organization."

The Grizzlies went 50-32 and lost in seven games to Oklahoma City in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2014-05-19/memphis-grizzlies-front-office-shakeup-levien-lash-fired-playoffs

And here is a bit more of "who'da known?" type of stuff. Levien was born in 1973 and graduated with his BA at Pomona College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Levien). Ya know who else graduated around then? Coach Bud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Budenholzer). Are they friends or anything like that? Who knows.

[Admin]

Man that must be one charming mother f'er to be able to con all these guys into getting into bed with him. Keep him the hell away as we've already had enough headaches in Belkin and Gearon Jr to last us a lifetime!

[HawkItus]

Man that must be one charming mother f'er to be able to con all these guys into getting into bed with him. Keep him the hell away as we've already had enough headaches in Belkin and Gearon Jr to last us a lifetime!

Read this in his voice for some reason lol

[Admin]

Read this in his voice for some reason lol

Haha that's exactly what I was thinking when I typed that, thinking of him talking about Arnold the pig.

[DrReality]

If he's  crazy, he'll probably end up the new owner.  We sure seem to attract them.  Please..............no

[Randy]

So where are the "multiple billionaires" we were told about?  So far the names they are coming up with sound closer to David McDavid, and the Pizza King than Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or even Oprah.....