Billy Hunter's shady dealings

Former player Pat Garrity originally tried to bring the matter to light and Derek Fisher has recently butted heads with Hunter over all of this, with the details finally coming out.

On the weekend of the 2009 All-Star game in Phoenix, Pat Garrity, the treasurer of the National Basketball Players Association, walked into a conference room inside the Sheraton Phoenix determined to make one final stand in his decade of service to the union. Garrity had warned peers and NBPA executive director Billy Hunter prior to the '09 executive committee meeting that he planned to challenge Hunter on business practices, and several players purposely steered clear of the confrontational scene.

In the aftermath of the U.S. banking crisis in 2008, Garrity had grown increasingly suspicious of an investment bank project that Hunter had been pitching to the executive committee and player representatives. For Garrity and some peers in the NBPA, the investment made no sense.

Hunter had sought a $7 million to $9 million investment from the union into Interstate Net Bank of Cherry Hill, N.J., a financial institution that federal and state banking regulators had slapped with debilitating "cease-and-desist" orders, sources said.

Garrity discovered information online that left him feeling obligated to confront Billy Hunter: Hunter's son, Todd, had a seat on the board of directors of Interstate Net Bank.

It's a lengthy read but goes on to describe dealings that were made with benefits to Hunter's family in mind rather than the players. There's also this:

As NBA players lost $400 million in salary during last summer's lockout – and $3 billion over the course of the new 10-year collective bargaining agreement – Billy Hunter, his family and the entities that employed them made approximately $3,430,953 from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, according to labor filings.

Before Fisher recently confronted Hunter and demanded a review of the union's business and financial practices, Garrity had been the last player in a position of power to truly challenge the union's executive director. As Garrity was shouted down, Fisher and his peers did nothing to back him that day, sources said. Fisher kept saying it wasn't the time or place for such a discussion, witnesses said. When Fisher wouldn't back him, witnesses said, Garrity seemed to understand it was pointless to keep pressing Hunter and Hall.

After Garrity left the 2009 meeting, sources said Hunter made a request: He told the executive committee he was owed several years of missed vacation, and that Hunter deserved $1 million in compensation. Eventually, the committee granted it.

During the lockout, there was also an incident where Shane Battier's question of whether Hunter would sacrifice his salary along with the players was met with scorn. On the whole, I'd have to say Hunter doesn't come out looking very good, perhaps not so different to David Stern (and arguably worse). According to their charter he didn't do anything wrong, which is to say he didn't break any rules, but it's still not quite on the level.

It's a lengthy read

No it's not. Stop lying! Stop being Billy Hunter Andrew!



Chart in the article is amazing. That's how you present stats benji, with pies.

i guess we know who is going to win the Fisher/Hunter battle that's been building up

Yea I guess so

Great read. Thanks for the articles. Never had any idea what is going on in that side of the basketball world. I suggest everyone to read this though the topic might not interest you in the first place.

As I told shadowgrin, this is old news that the media only rediscovered and decided to poke their nose into (and do actual reporting) because of the Lockout and the coup against Fisher. The union has been horribly run (not surprising) and Billy Hunter has infamously been using it for his personal gain (again not surprising) for a long time, these stories came out back in 1999 but nobody gave a fuck because OMG THE SEASON HAS STARTED. KNICKS IN THE FINALS! KNICKS!

Because this is how unions work. Hell, it's the entire point of unions. Give a portion of your salary and limit your ability to advance via merit in order to enrich an elite "elected" class so they can reward the "veterans" they know who have been around for a while along with any other family members or friends.

Wait...that sounds like something else.

Yea I guess so

Great read. Thanks for the articles. Never had any idea what is going on in that side of the basketball world. I suggest everyone to read this though the topic might not interest you in the first place.

And yet we ban spambots.

Billy Hunter's a piece of shit. We already pretty much knew that but this news (it may be old news, but I started following NBA in 2000 and never bothered to research this particular matter) only helps confirm that.

But debating unions sounds like a good General Talk thread. Get on it, benji.

It remains to be seen if anything will come of it, whether it will actually help Fisher's cause at all. Since there's been no immediate resignation or anything like that, I guess he figures he can weather the storm and retain most people's support.

But debating unions sounds like a good General Talk thread. Get on it, benji.

Someone else should do it because I can't do the faux-objective questioning of the old timey debate threads on this subject. I have experience with a pair of unions and have read enough about others.

Works better when someone can make an argument in favor of the subject in the OP.

Billy Hunter's a piece of shit. We already pretty much knew that but this news (it may be old news, but I started following NBA in 2000 and never bothered to research this particular matter) only helps confirm that.

Sorry, I mean it as more of lamenting the media is finally covering this shit. Fisher was Hunter's crony and now he's crossed Hunter and Hunter is trying to force out Fisher for Chris Paul because Fisher LEGALLY YES BY LAW has certain powers that Hunter wouldn't want Fisher to have if Fisher is trying to start shit. That's why he got voted 8-0 against and that's also why he's taking the fight to the entire union.

I've brought it up before mockingly, but look at who the Exec Committee is and who the player reps are. Then look at how draftees are treated along with superstars.

I have nothing to base this on, but the fact that Chris Paul will be the next President seems to indicate to me that the union is hoping they can buy in players because they realize they are fucked.

On the bright side, John Candy and Eugene Levy once taught us that it's possible for two strong willed individuals to expose and clean up a corrupt union, complete with wacky hijinks set to 80s music.