HoopsHype.com Rumors

Whether it's during the initial recruitment process as a player prepares to enter the NBA or part of a poaching ploy, the willingness of so many agents to, as Termini put it, "do side deals" has made an already-challenging landscape nearly impossible to navigate for those who simply won't go that route. Veteran agent Bill Strickland said it's a significant reason why his NBA client list has dwindled in recent years, from a time when he represented "13 or 14 players" to his current lot of two (it was three until Boston's Rasheed Wallace retired after last season). "(The illegal tactics) are just an unfortunate reality," said Strickland, who entered the business in 1983. "And the environment is so wrought with this stuff that some people are afraid to throw stones because they're standing in a glass home. "Right now I represent the fewest number of players that I have in my entire career, but that's because it has become increasingly difficult to sustain relationships and do it the right way." FanHouse.com

Agents, Mark Termini, Bill Strickland