With NBA free agency in full-on preemptive ballyhoo, a mania that has both top-flight players and ESPN talking heads holding serious-sounding summits, not unlike Yalta, to determine how the course of the league will be charted for generations to come, here is a teachable moment from a man who is well versed in the process. In a piece in Sporting News Magazine, Orlando Magic VP Pat Williams reveals his team’s biggest mistake in attempting to court Tim Duncan once upon a time.
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↵↵With Tim … we had a good read on him, and we knew he would have been highly offended if we had a ticker-tape parade through town or put him on a float and rolled him through Disney World with Mickey and Minnie. We wanted to have a situation that was more low-key, more suited to his personality.
↵We tried to take care of every detail. Hotel room, car service, all first-class. We had cold cuts out, for lunch. We had a buffet, and Tim didn’t like what we had. He really wanted Wendy’s. So we hustled to get someone out there for some Wendy’s. All the studying we did, we did not know he liked Wendy’s. You really have to know your target, I guess.
↵↵The result: Duncan returned to the Spurs and the Magic were forced to settle for Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill. The object lesson being, of course, that you must disregard your more extravagant overtures and just make sure you have the desired player’s inexpensive comestibles of choice. We already know LeBron has a deal with McDonald’s, so perhaps keep the Wendy’s out of sight.
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