Day Four of the 2020 Virtual Conference is now in the books! In addition to our day-to-day instructors, students received valuable insights from a variety of professionals in the sports industry.

Click below to each student’s name to read their experiences from the fourth day of the Sports Business Classroom Virtual Conference:

I want to thank my team the Orlando Magic for all the hard work this week. The Sports Business Mock Free Agency was amazing. This was the most educational experience any student can have! When I first saw the instructions I was completely lost and uncomfortable, but my team and I  fought long hours to get the results we wanted!

Probably the busiest of all the days we’ve had so far, Day 4 of Sports Business Classroom pulled back the entire curtain on the free agency process. A lot of preparation was needed to make our free agency a success. Most valuable was the importance of the entire team knowing their roles, which is easier said than done. Luckily, my team, the LA Clippers, had a great group on hand. In a short amount of time, we were able to divvy up responsibilities and manage our respective tasks. It was all overwhelming but proved well worth the trouble once we checked off our two biggest tasks fairly early into free agency. The preparation did highlight the need for as many contingencies as possible. It’s not always about what you can give but what you’re offering in comparison to others. I can only imagine the stress that comes from having to battle with 29 other teams compared to just 12 total with SBC.

Larry Coon’s CBA deep dive further emphasized how little I know about the CBA but in a good way. I’m excited to re-watch his lectures in the coming days and study through his famous CBA FAQ. Amin Elhassan and ​Warren LeGarie’s deep and thoughtful answers to my question during Amin’s AMA gave me some much-needed clarity and direction in the type of grind it takes to build a career in media. I’m looking forward to putting that knowledge to work moving forward.

In what might have been the best day of SBC yet, Larry opened as always with his introductory message. Afterward, we hopped into the CBA deep dive, which was inexpensive look at the inner workings of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The session was led by Larry, but he was also joined by Eric Pincus, Nate Duncan and Pete D’Alessandro. Next, we hopped into day 4’s SBC Summit. This time it was with Todd Ramasar, who represents many NBA players, including Pascal Siakam, Thomas Bryant and Kevon Looney. Then we got to the main event. The second SVA deep dive was the mock Free Agency, where we got to put so much of what we learned throughout the week to use. Everyone was split into teams, and those teams did their best to execute the plans they put together the day before. As always, Larry wrapped up the day up to that point with his nightly recap. We then got into the AMAs, which included Joe Branch, Mike D’Antoni, Warren LeGarie and Amin Elhassan. Wes Wilcox, Dave DuFour, Jeff Fellenzer, Larry Coon, Seth Partnow, Charles Dube-Brais and Beau Estes were available for office hours.

Sports Business Classroom. Wow. I’ve been trying to participate in this program, to enjoy these experiences, for over three years. Having friends I greatly admire and respect such as Simon Cherin-Gordon, Scott Levine, Kaan Erel, and Stevie Cozens over the years sharing their SBC  experiences can really get you excited, especially considering that I’ve never physically met them. Sometimes the bonds of friendship and connections can transcend distance. This was reaffirmed to me in this 2020 SBC class.

As I said, the road to SBC has been three long years for me, each of which saw me bow out of the experience early. The first year,  I just didn’t have the means financially to make it happen, and while that was a bummer, it happens. Last year, my mother suffered a stroke and it was all she had to pull through, and my family and I dropped everything to support her, a decision I don’t regret for a minute. This year though…this year was hard.
First, my great-grandmother-my best friend, someone who basically raised me growing up- she passed away suddenly, in her bed. I was sitting right next to her. We were watching the 1988 NBA ECSF, the series with the Larry Bird Celtics vs ‘Nique and the Hawks. My granny always loved Nique. One minute we were watching together, with her starting to doze off. The next time I noticed, she was gone.
Her loss gutted me. She was my world. I lost the desire to watch, discuss, or even think about my first love, basketball. I had just gotten admitted to SBC and was on hold with the rest of the world as COVID-19 ravaged everything I  knew. I fell into a funk and considered moving on from SBC and my basketball goals as a whole. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. The original goal was to pick the brain of the closest thing to a basketball media idol I had in Dave DuFour (hey, everyone’s idol is different) and all of a sudden the entire program, the entire goal, seemed meaningless.
It took a long time to get in a better headspace, but I am very fortunate that I was eventually able to.
I tried to dig deep and remember what my granny would have wanted me to do, which, as cliche as it sounds, would have been to never give up. She knew I loved basketball, it was my favorite thing to talk about and whole she never gave me cutting edge analysis, I was able to listen to her and say why, yes, Chris Paul is mean granny, and yes, Harden should shave that rug on his face. I knew that I owed it to her and to myself to continue to try. I was well aware of how big of an opportunity SBC was and now I realized I had to follow through, whether it was virtual (because with 2020, of course) or not, it didn’t matter. I was doing this in honor of my granny, but I was also doing this for myself.
I apologize for what I am sure seem like rambling but I felt that I needed to provide some background. SBC has been a literal godsend to me. Forget the amazing resources and connections, forget the educational and insightful lectures, the office hours with industry leaders, forget all of it. Don’t get me wrong, it is all extremely important, but forget about that for a second.
To me, the most important thing about SBC is the people. From the great Larry Coon and Beau Estes on opening morning to Dave at night and everyone in between, from the amazing people that you get to converse with and learn from every day to the aspiring individuals you get to go through the program and learn aside of. All of these experiences and the connections I made through them are what will stick with me and helped to make this week one of the best I’ve ever had (and I’ve had some pretty decent weeks).
 I mean, I got to share a story with Nate Duncan about my little blue mp3 that I have packed with all of Duncd On’s mock offseasons/trade deadlines/extensions! How cool (and admittedly corny) is that?
For people who are ever interested in SBC, I can’t sing its praises enough and I hope that this has formed some type of compelling argument to experience it for yourself. If you are in some way associated with the program or have attended it in the past, I want to thank you. You all have either directly or indirectly set the path that I have been able to follow to experience this myself, and you have my heartfelt gratitude. 
That’s all I got. I have to start making plans for SBC next year.

“THERE’S MORE WAYS TO GET IN THE HOUSE THAN THE FRONT DOOR.”  Warren LaGarie dropped so many gems tonight that I could literally fill up this page.  But it was great to just here such brutally honest conversation from a guy of his stature.  There is no substitute for hard work and that will eventually guide you in the right direction even if it’s not what you planned.  That could be the backdoor!  The CBA deep dive really forced me to focus in on the inner working of how business is conducted in the NBA.  The deep dive was really a DEEP dive.  I feel much more familiar with the CBA than I ever have and I’m happy we went through this as I try to get more knowledge under my belt.  Scouting and Analytics is my strong suit, but CBA is a welcomed addition to the tool belt. 

Integrate, Communicate, and Advocate.  This is the takeaway for Day 3 and it directly related to our speaker Peter D’Alessandro’s message.  He said something to me that really stood out which was “to be a successful GM you really need to have relationships with the players and staff.”  That makes total sense because I think in order for a team to perform at optimal levels then you need to have everyone on the same page. 

Joe Branch was gracious with his time as well!  Listening to him tell his story was inspiring especially considering I’m trying to transition my career from film to sports.  His reply to a great question was “when sitting down with him for an interview show energy and enthusiasm.”  That’s important because you want to display an amount energy that shows how invested you are in a potential opportunity.  People don’t know what you don’t show!  Todd Ramasar had a great story about how he created his path as an agent but letting us know to be “proactive and not reactive” is a big note to live by.  If at all possible, it is greatly beneficial to get ahead of things and be helpful in ways maybe haven’t been seen yet.  Showing that type of initiative speaks loud to your character and drive, so it is no coincidence he is thriving in his career.

The most anticipated event of the day!  The mock free agency exercise was a great way to get more familiar with the inner workings of the NBA, communicate with classmates, and feel a simulated version of the heat that many execs handle.  Our team did an excellent job filling their roles and coming together to formulate an excellent plan.  We felt really good about our progress today.  Can’t wait to present and hear the feedback tomorrow.

Amin and Warren gave such a candid conversation it was just a joy to listen.  They answered all of my questions without me having to say a word.  Amin detailing his interview at ESPN and how they weren’t sure what he did because he did EVERYTHING was golden.  Being able to wear many hats is a plus and been told to us throughout this week by great people that know the game.  Tomorrow is the final day of SBC but I can’t wait to dive in once again.  On to Day 5! 

 
What is Nirvana?
 
Be it at ease, borne along the echoing undulations of an endless lake?
Or the indulgence of avaricous ambition of every abhorrent appetite?
Nay, I say it the satisfaction of strenuous but significant stresses, struggling against the salacious seducement of sleep.
The trials and tribulations undergone with tried and true companions, though but transient and temporary our troop may be.
For by day’s finale, our efforts to further our fields of friendship and forging a fitter future for our fellowship is our foremost feat.
And if the probability of any of our party pursuing their preferred profession proliferated, then our plurality-plus is pleased and have produced perfect peace.
 
And that…
 
is Nirvana.
 
So anyway, that was getting through the signing phase of the Mock Free Agency. The rest of the day was pretty good too. Team Heat rep!

Day 4 was full of excitement and fun! It started out with Larry Coon and guest speakers Eric Pincus and Nate Duncan, three of the best salary cap experts in the business. They took a deep dive into the salary cap with all of us. It was long, but still very informative and full of great details. In between the breaks, Eric and Nate were kind of enough to answer some of our questions we had from what we’ve learned in the lecture so far and gave us their thoughts, which was very insightful.  

Then assistant GM of the Orlando Magic, Pete D’Alessandro spoke with us where he talked about his experiences as a GM and trying to understand the CBA a lot better and told some great stories. He also gave praise to the league for how they have been able to handle the coronavirus in the Orlando bubble. And just like Eric and Nate, he was kind of to answer some questions we had for him at the end.
 

Next up was power agent (and Pascal Siakam’s agent), Todd Ramasar. He shared his experience on being an agent and why he wanted to do what he’s doing now and what took him to get to where he is today and told some great stories . He was very kind enough to answer some questions we had for him at the end.

 

After hours of listening to the lectures, it was back at it in the war room since today is the first day of mock free agency! This was the real fun part! Felt so cool to try to recruit players to join our team and speak with their “agents” to persuade their clients to join our team. A lot of back and forth in terms of coming to an agreement for the dollar amount and years, but it was all worth it! So great to have that kind of experience of what these professionals do in real life. It did actually feel like we were doing this for real!

 
Through 4 days, this conference has exceeded my expectations and it hasn’t been a downer! From all the guest speakers that have partake in this event, they’re speaking the same language using the terms our instructors do without even knowing, which is mind boggling! So sad it’ll be all over after tomorrow, but I still hope to be connected with the people I have met through this conference and stay in touch!

I know there are people who can fear this program because of the price point. Especially if you’re someone who isn’t yet ready to fully pursue your career in this industry. If that’s you reading this, I can make you a promise. If you pay ANY level of attention you will get your money’s worth. I personally paid $699 USD for this program, and I will say I would pay that amount of money for any of these INDIVIDUAL experiences in this program.

  • A full scale rebuild of my resume and interviewing habits from Jeff Fellenzer
  • An introduction to thousands of different job opportunities, showing me my path my could follow going forward that will put me in the best possible position to be in the league.
  • A full intensive break down of the CBA from Larry Coon the same expert many NBA teams rely on. I thought I had a strong knowledge base coming in, but now I realize I could study it for 10,000 hours and still only know about half.
  • The opportunity to from relationships in this relationship business. I now clearly have a leg up.
  • The incredibly in-depth mock free agency period. With all the insane amount of work that was thrown into this experience I’m not sure if there is a more fun learning experience that exists.
  • The friends I’ve made within this group. It’s pretty rare for me to find someone to have an intelligent NBA conversation with, and now I have 5 people I consider my friends I can do that with whenever.

SBC has been one of the great experiences in my life and I can’t thank you all enough for this experience and opportunity.

Day 4 was probably my best day of the program. As a big numbers guy entering the program, I really wanted to feel more comfortable with the CBA and try to put together everything that I initially struggled with upon the first few days of learning the CBA. Doing a deep dive into the CBA went a little too fast for me but I’m glad all the downloadable material is available to continue to learn everything. Once we got into the group to start free agency, I’m glad I was surrounded by other students in our group to help assist put everything together. Individually, I think we struggled but once we had a group of people together to assist others during the free agency problem it seemed to work very well! I’m looking forward to continuing the group discussions. After it all finished, I realized I have a lot more to do and a lot more to learn about deep dive into the numbers to complete the successful free agency period. The AMAs were great to talk with coach D’Antoni and other great speakers. Really looking forward to the last day and finish our project and continue to network!

On day four of SBC a test lied waiting for the participants, ready to test their knowledge of all they learned prior. This test came in the form of a mock free agency period. And no amount of planning could prepare myself for the beautiful chaos that erupted as the clock hit start. Our ability to understand the cap, statistics, team building, and player evaluation were put on the line. Now we patiently await our evaluation tomorrow.

Day 4 of SBC was an exhilarating experience.  First, as a Salary Cap enthusiast, I could not think of a better way to spend 4 hours than having Larry Coon, Nate Duncan, and Eric Pincus share their expertise on the CBA, even the most minute of details.  Their ability to breakdown complex concepts into clear concise explanations is remarkable and their use of real-world examples from actual UPCs really drove some of the lessons home.  The lecture integrated perfectly with the idea of raising the level of competence.  Closing the lecture with an expert and pioneer (and fellow St. John’s alum) Pete D’Alessandro was a real treat for the group.  Access to Pete’s knowledge, practical experience, and insight into what it feels like to be in a front office environment is something the entire group can deeply appreciate. 

At 6pm EST, Free Agency began.  I’m grateful to SBC for being able to create an environment filled with the adrenaline rush, excitement, and competition that I imagine closely resembles the real thing.  I was proud of my Heat teammates for being prepared and taking the task seriously, but also for being able to genuinely enjoy this unique experience. (on that point, the uniqueness of this exercise lends itself to great interview material as well).  It was exhilarating to negotiate with the SBC agents who graciously volunteered their time to elevate the look and feel and the assignment.  Having Adam Do (and his “Doj Bombs”) also added an exceptional nuanced touch and a bit of fun that really brought the whole experience full circle.  I would recommend this experience to anyone interested in the basketball industry.

Day 4 was mind blowing and actually draining, but in a way that I loved! Larry took us into a deep dive of the CBA and really blew me away with how many things were in there. And we just scraped the surface of it. Then hearing a great story and learning from Todd Ramasar. I didn’t know much about him and his career, and now I’d say he is someone I look up to and idolize in trying to get into this business. Then we had our team exercise of being in the GM room working to sign free agents. That was exhausting and a dream come true. Being able to work with that and work on the fly when plan A doesn’t work, or B, or C, but still coming out with a great result. I loved every minute of it. 

 
As the week winds down day 4 of SBC was nothing short of excitement. 
 
CBA deep dive was the first session of the day. My initial major was media & broadcasting, due to the virtual experience everyone became immersed in all majors. Takeaway- everything happens for a reason. Led by Larry Coon, Eric Pincus & later Nate Duncan they combed through each and every slide in detail, with topics from CBA 101/201. I found this course to be instructive, informative, and beneficial in learning the business of basketball.
Our afternoon summit with Beau Estes & speaker Todd Ramaser (Life Sports Media & Entertainment) who was gracious with his time and advice. But as he concluded the q&a portion he inquired if any women had questions. That stuck with me the whole night; my question had been asked but so what. It just drilled into me preparation is key! 
 
The AMA’s with Joe Branch (Assistant GM) ,Amin El Hassan (ESPN), Mike D’antoni (Houston Rockets Coach) & Warren LeGarie (WGL Management) all delivered great advice on maneuvering in the industry, creating your own path,  and most importantly it’s a relationship business. 
For the main event – free agency and there’s only one word to describe the process: stressful!!!  The night prior we were able to lay out contingency plans for all possibilities. However being in the pressure cooker , on the clock making decisions our team had to collaborate harder than ever. Of course mistakes were made but living with the decision that’s what this is all about. The simulation allowed us to see what front offices endure not only in free agency but in public relations. As tomorrow concludes the conference, I’m excited to apply what was taught, keep learning, and grow further.