NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts officially assumed her new position yesterday, and her "first order of business is restoring faith in the union's leader, one constituent at a time," according to Stefan Bondy of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Roberts said, “My first goal is to establish credibility with the players. I trust that they have some concerns about whether or not they are in for another round of bad management. And the answer to that is, ‘Absolutely not.’ But the only way I can make that case is to meet them, make some promises and have them hold me accountable to those promises." She reiterated what she said last week at the Game Changers Conference in that her first goal is to "go out and meet" the players. Roberts, "I’m sure there are people thinking, ‘Ahh, another politician-like person coming in trying to sell us a bunch of bull.’ And that’s my job to win them over, to tell them, ‘No, this time it will be different or fire me. I want you to if I even dare replicate my predecessor.’” Bondy notes Roberts is "settling into a league with three years remaining on its CBA, but also embroiled in another racially-charged controversy," following the incident surrounding Hawks Managing Partner Bruce Levenson as well as GM Danny Ferry. But for now, Roberts "wants to keep her distance" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/23).
HARD ROAD AHEAD:In Boston, Gary Washburn wrote Roberts has "several arduous tasks to accomplish." She is inheriting an "uncomfortable situation in Atlanta," the commissioner’s office "wants to address the age-limit rule and raise the minimum age of entering the NBA Draft to 20; and there is speculation the NBPA will opt out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2017, which is likely because of the new television contract that is expected to earn the league billions" in '16. Former NBPA Exec Dir Charles Grantham: "The biggest challenge for (the NBPA) is the (potential) lockout. The question is for the last three times, there has been probably 15 or 16 givebacks or concessions that (the players’ union) made over this period of time that puts them at the bottom." He added Roberts' "challenge is to rally the troops and unite the troops and get them into a position of understanding the business side of the sport" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/21).
