Former NBA GM on how media coverage, false narratives impact players

This article was originallypublished on BasketballNews on June 1, 2021.

Pete Babcock is a former NBAexecutive, who served as the general manager of the San DiegoClippers, Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks. He also worked in avariety of capacities -- from scouting to coaching to playerpersonnel -- with the New Orleans Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers,Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers over a42-year period. In his final two seasons, with the Denver Nuggets,he also served as president and minority stakeholder.

After my most-recent article(“After 20 years of public degradation, KwameBrown is fed up”),Babcock replied on Twitter: “Greatperspective Etan. It is sad how these false narratives gain a lifeof their own around the league. And even sadder that we all(mostly) bought into them.”

In the article, I wrote: “Thepublic degradation and the false narratives perpetuated by themedia actually hurt Kwame financially, as NBA teams listened tothose narratives regardless of whether they were factual orunsubstantiated… They began broadcasting a false narrative that wasdetrimental to Kwame when it came time for teams to sign him. Itlowered his market value. They remembered what was said. It didn'tmatter that there were no facts or proof; the rumors that werecreated by the media impacted these decision-makers.”

The response to the article hasbeen great. However, some members of the media and other naysayerspushed back on how the false narratives perpetuated by Stephen A.Smith, Skip Bayless and others could have possibly affected Kwamefinancially.

In response, I followed up withPete Babcock so that he could go into a little more detail abouthis comment and how the media influences NBA front offices. Hespoke from personal experience about how false narratives hurt twoother prominent players, and the regret he feels for allowing thesenarratives to affect him. This was a very honest and opendiscussion.

Etan Thomas: Mr. Pete Babcock. How are you doing,sir?

Pete Babcock: Fine. How are you?

Etan Thomas: I'm doing good. You are a former NBA GM and youworked around the league over a 42-year period. That's animpressive resume. You've been in the game for a longtime.

Pete Babcock:I've “been around a long time,” just means you're old. It doesn’tmean anything special (laughs). But I was very fortunate and got achance to do a lot of different things in the league and work witha lot of great people over the years.

Etan Thomas: Great, great. You made a comment undermyarticle on Kwame Brown,saying, "Great perspective, Etan. It is sad how these falsenarratives gain a life of their own around the league and evensadder that we all (mostly) bought into them." Tell me a little bitabout what you meant. Go into a little bit more detail because Ithought it was very interesting.

Pete Babcock:Well, my experience was that there were certain players that maybegot labeled one way or another. I'll tell you the two that jumpout, that I feel the worst about in the sense that I listened tothe rhetoric that was out there... Craig Hodges and Mahmoud[Abdul-Rauf], both of them. The rhetoric out there... the messagefrom their teams basically was they were washed up, that [they]lost a step and they couldn't play any longer. And I bought intothat rhetoric, which I think most teams must have because nobodywas signing those guys. Both of those guys could shoot the ball.Even if they'd lost a step, everybody's looking for shooters,especially coming off the bench. And I should've known betterbecause we drafted Craig Hodges with the old San Diego Clippers. Ihad a relationship with Craig. I knew Craig. We got him in, Ithink, the third round. It's back when we had 10 rounds of thedraft. And Craig was a really good player for us. Then, he goes onand obviously has the success he had in Chicago.

If I had to do it over again,knowing what I know today, I think I would've signed both of thoseguys. Partially because we needed shooters, but probably I would'vealso done it just because I think it was the right thing to dobecause nobody was signing them and they deserved an opportunity tocontinue playing. But my point is whether they lost a step or not-- and I don't know the answer because we never brought them in --but from my perspective, I can't speak for other GMs, but I wish Iwould've given them an opportunity to come in and play for us andsee if they could help us win games.

Etan Thomas:It's interesting. We had this situation pop up recently, and Imentioned it in the article, with Carmelo Anthony. The word aroundthe NBA was that he couldn't play anymore, that he was atroublesome player, that he caused trouble -- all of the differentthings that were put out there by different sources. And it wasjust amazing to me how everybody believed it, and he was out of theleague for a year!

Pete Babcock:Yeah. And sadly, that's why I commented. I think it happens toooften, where management buys into what they hear and it scares themoff a little bit or they just… It's not like an official“blacklist.” It's not that you're blackballed from the NBA. There'snothing sent out saying, "Don't sign this player." But people buyinto the rhetoric that's out there. And they assume that it'saccurate or they don't want to take a chance.

And, like I said, if I could goback and do it over again, both Craig and Mahmoud, I would'vesigned them both. Not just one of them; I would've signed themboth. And I was wrong in not doing that. And then I could find outfor myself. And, as I said, it's extra sad for me because I knewCraig really well because we had drafted him. I knew what kind ofperson he was; I wasn't concerned about that at all. I was justconcerned that the word out of Chicago was he couldn't playanymore.

Etan Thomas:You said that there's not an official blacklist put out and nobodytells you, “Don't sign this player.” But do you think it's possiblethat baseless things are intentionally put out by whoever becausethey know this will have an affect on teams and they don’t wantthis player signed? It seems too calculated for all of thesedifferent cases to just happen by accident.

Pete Babcock:No, that's a fair point. I don't know if I have a good answer toit, but [when] something happens, whether it's a politicalstatement like Kaepernick or if it's [something else] that developsa life of its own, then people are afraid. They're going, "Well,gee, what do we do? If we bring this guy in, our fans are upsetwith us; a certain segment of the fan base is upset." I don't knowif there's a good answer to it, but these things take on a life oftheir own.

And I never knew Kwame Brown,but I heard stories about his work ethic being questioned, hismotivation to improve, [that] he just didn't have the burningdesire to maximize his potential that he had as an NBA athlete. AndI listened to those things and I figured, "Well, it's probablyaccurate," because you figure that the word coming out ofWashington was the reality.