azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Suns' Sarver balancing roles of owner, No. 1 fan
Craig Harris
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 22, 2005 12:00 AM
"Who are you, really?"
The question Jerry Colangelo posed to Robert Sarver before selling the Phoenix Suns to the Southern California banker and real estate millionaire still can't be answered fully.
All season long, Sarver has waved his purple foam "No. 1" finger vigorously and delighted fans with his unbridled courtside excitement and out-of-the-blue stunts. Yet the rookie owner's behavior at times has raised eyebrows within the Suns organization and the league.
An episode in America West Arena last month against San Antonio, when Sarver clucked like a chicken to mock the Spurs for resting two top players, upset National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern and prompted apologies and assurances that such a display would not occur again.
"At times, I think I'm a fan first and an owner second," said Sarver, whose Suns have secured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, which begin Sunday against Memphis. "And I shouldn't be that way. I probably need to remember I'm the owner all the time. But sometimes when I'm out there, and I'm cheering for the team, I don't think of myself as the owner."
As Sarver has become a fixture with the team, attending nearly every home and road game, he has become linked with Mark Cuban and others in a new group of younger NBA owners whose style is more frat house than country club.
His business background also has brought a CPA style to this NBA team, which has the best record in the league. Some within the Suns organization chafe over what they see as high-handed management: Sarver has his opinions and doesn't listen to many others.
Some have mixed feelings about cost-conscious changes, such as limiting the roster to an NBA-minimum 12 players, that he is bringing to an operation that has run in a more financially generous Colangelo fashion since the late 1980s.
A new love
Sarver loves being an owner, rubbing elbows with players, hosting friends and sponsors on the team plane, taking the reins of the business operation. He relishes the wins and has gotten physically ill after losses. And much like his banks and real estate deals, where Sarver said he has never lost money, the Suns have become golden under his direction.
After winning 29 games a year ago and missing the playoffs for the second time in three years, this season, the Suns posted 62 wins, tying a franchise season record, and are among the favorites to win the NBA title.
Sarver has not played a role in basketball decision-making, although he signed off on steep financial commitments before the season to acquire starters Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson, who have helped fuel the Suns' success.
Sarver, as part of his acquisition last year for an NBA-record $401 million, also assembled a group of investors who have pumped new life into the franchise while bringing in additional sponsors and enhancing the bottom line. The Suns expect to post a profit this year after struggling financially the past few seasons.
Sarver's new eyes on the NBA experience have resulted in fresh ideas for sponsors and fans.
One of his new programs is called "Coach of the Day," where a major sponsor gets to spend the day with coach Mike D'Antoni and sit behind the bench on a road trip at no extra cost. So far, about a half-dozen sponsors have participated. He also has loaded up the team plane, sometimes at the last minute and to the chagrin of some employees, with sponsors and prospective sponsors of the team.
"Some people, when they have been in the business for a long time, take for granted how cool it is for people who are not in the business to have some exposure to it," said Sarver, who lives outside San Diego and often commutes to games in his private jet.
Sarver, who has three young boys, and his partners also have made a commitment to build a new play area for kids in the arena's upper bowl by next season to enhance the fans' experience. He and his partners also are committed to building a boutique hotel next to America West Arena.
But in the last months of the season, on occasion, the volatile fan in him emerged.
• On March 9, Sarver was goading San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich by clucking like a chicken and flapping his arms when the Spurs coach didn't play two of his best players, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, who were fighting injuries. The loss of star power dulled a game billed as a showdown between the Western Conference's two best teams. Sarver said he apologized to Popovich, Duncan and Ginobili by e-mail.
• On March 28, Sarver booted three Colorado Rockies players from the arena because they were mocking him, including calling him a "suit," during a game against the Denver Nuggets. Pitcher Shawn Chacon, who was wrapping up spring training, said Sarver told them, "You can get on all the players you want, but this is my house."
• On April 9, Sarver initially fired and then reassigned two veteran arena security guards from their plum courtside posts after one guard told Sarver he couldn't sit in an NBA-restricted area.
Security guards Ron Motsinger and Harvey Brady said they have not been allowed back.
Team officials said they have been reassigned and could work at Bank One Ballpark, which uses the same security company. The company is owned by the Suns.
The guards said the problem with Sarver occurred late in the game when two young boys, who were with a season-ticket holder, were sitting in the photographers area near a basket. A different guard asked them to move.
Sarver, according to the guards, gave the boys his seats and then sat in an "escape lane," which players use if momentum carries them off the floor. Sarver confirmed the story but said he only was helping a season ticket holder.
Tim Frank, an NBA spokesman, said the league prohibits anyone from sitting in the escape lane.
"We were both told we were fired. He blew up. It was unbelievable. He got red in the face and jumped over me and Ron," said Brady, who has worked Suns games for 23 years and told Sarver he couldn't sit in the escape lane.
According to Motsinger, Sarver said, "You will never tell me where to sit in my arena."
Motsinger said he lost his position after Sarver told him to remove Brady. Motsinger said he told Sarver he didn't have that authority.
'An adjustment'
Stern, the NBA commissioner, said he appreciates Sarver's enthusiasm and views the former Tucson native as someone with enormous business skills who has a "competitive will to win."
"The funny thing is, on one hand, you want owners to feel a sense of pride and enthusiasm and really be a cheerleader for their teams," Stern said. "On the other hand, they suddenly come to realize that what they do or say gets excruciatingly analyzed and covered and followed. They maybe have to think twice sometimes."
Stern said Sarver, like some new NBA owners, is learning how to adjust as a public figure.
"My guess is in Season 2 there will be some things he does that he didn't do this year and some things he doesn't do next year that he did this year," Stern said.
Sarver, 43, said his actions against San Antonio were a mistake. As for the Rockies, Sarver said that he repeatedly warned the players to tone it down before kicking them out. He said that the dispute with the security guards was a personnel issue and that both men are still on his payroll. "Part of it is an adjustment," said Sarver, chairman and chief executive officer of Western Alliance Bancorporation, a holding company with banks in Arizona, Nevada and California. "It's new. So, it's a different situation and sometimes you think of things differently."
Arthur Marshall, a Western Alliance director and longtime friend of the Sarver family, said he is not surprised Sarver has moved into the spotlight.
"Robert has always been an outgoing person. He jumps into things with a lot of enthusiasm," Marshall said. "We see it at the bank with his management style. He's a doer and a go-getter."
But Chacon, one of the Rockies starting pitchers, said that if Sarver is going to sit courtside and wave his purple foam finger, he is going to open himself up for some ridicule.
"We get badgered every night. Fans get personal and even talk about your family," Chacon said. "It's all in good fun. We heckle him, and he got embarrassed. Obviously, he has never played sports in his life."
Sarver, a tennis player, said the baseball players also were harassing his friends and some of the Suns.
"Everyone deserves to watch a game without feeling threatened. That includes me and the people sitting around me," Sarver said.
Like Mark Cuban
Chacon and others say that Sarver seems to be following in the steps of Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Cuban, who has praised Sarver in the past, said recently that newer NBA owners are out in the open because that allows them to "communicate" with fans. But those actions also make it easy to fall under scrutiny.
"No question about it," Cuban said in an e-mail interview. "We are easy to write about, good or bad."
Cuban added that it has become common for him to get an earful from fans.
"I get heckled more than the players," Cuban said. "Sometimes, they get under my skin, but better they heckle me than the players."
Cuban also has gotten under the skin of Stern, who said he has seen his share of eccentric owners.
"We have had a number of owners who have been what you might call overexuberant on occasion," Stern said. "Without naming names, I can tell you at our request some owners have moved their seats and others have refrained from engaging with the crowd. I think that it takes awhile to sort of get your rhythm on how you will react or overreact to competitive situations."
Stern said that it's not uncommon for owners to attract attention, even though the league would prefer the focus to remain on the players.
"Our view is owners should probably set an example, and the example should be a good one," Stern said. "The enthusiasm of the owner can translate to the crowd and the players. . . . But you never want to become a distraction. That is the fine line you have to walk."
Fans, meanwhile, say they have been pleased with Sarver.
"Jerry Colangelo is a hard act to follow," said Dan Martinez of Gilbert, a season-ticket holder. "Sarver seems to have a lot of enthusiasm, and he's very visible at the games. It's a younger, fresher approach."
Karl Huff of Phoenix, another season-ticket holder, said that he, too, likes Sarver's fervor but that Sarver needs to learn when to tone it down.
"He needs to be like the players and know what the limits are," Huff said. "There are certain limits that have to be learned."
The commissioner added that if Sarver needs some advice, the Suns already have a "professional structure" in place with Colangelo, who has remained as chairman and chief executive officer; President Rick Welts, whom Stern previously recruited to work at league headquarters; and General Manager Bryan Colangelo.
However, many in the Suns organization say privately that Sarver listens only to one person: the elder Colangelo.
'Quick study'
Sarver said the mentoring from Jerry Colangelo has been different than he thought it would be.
"He's letting me do my thing, but he's being supportive and constructive," Sarver said. "It has worked out better than I thought it would."
Colangelo, who will relinquish his role as CEO in two years when Sarver and his partners complete the acquisition, said it has been his responsibility to break in Sarver.
"He is certainly a quick study. He is very bright, and he really likes the business," said Colangelo, who has been in the NBA nearly four decades.
"I'm his elder, and I'm the one with experience in this industry. I want to prepare him the best I can when I do step down."
Colangelo also added that he is not afraid to let Sarver know when he has made a mistake.
"My job is if he steps over the line, like some people thought he did in the San Antonio game, we have a conversation about that," said Colangelo, who declined to elaborate.
Sarver, the team's majority owner, said he expects future NBA owners to have the same passion as him and Cuban.
"You will see a lot more of those (owners)," said Sarver, who also runs Southwest Value Partners, a real estate firm that has offices in San Diego, Los Angeles and Tucson. "It takes so much money to buy one of these teams, and they really don't make a lot of money.
"You have to do it because you really want to do it. You aren't going to find too many people wanting to buy in at $300 million or $400 million who think they really want to do something, but when they get in, they say, 'I'm not that interested.' "
Assembling a winner
Sarver quickly learned how interested he needed to be to assemble a winner.
Days after making a 65 percent down payment on the Suns on June 30, Sarver signed off on free-agent contracts for Nash ($66 million, six years) and Richardson ($44 million, six years).
Sarver decided to hold off on giving an extension to starter Joe Johnson, who could leave the team after this season as a restricted free agent. The two sides were about $5 million apart as Johnson was looking for $50 million for six years, while the Suns held firm at $45 million.
"The decision at the time was still the right decision because we were building a new business," Sarver said about Johnson.
"How much do you commit to the long term without knowing how successful you will be? . . . Now, if you ask me in hindsight today had I known how successful we would be, then yes, I wish we would have signed Joe."
Bryan Colangelo said the team plans to have Johnson "in a Suns uniform" next season.
Although the team says it will go after Johnson, Sarver also has reined in spending within the entire organization.
Sarver held the line during the season to keep the roster at 12 players, an anomaly in the NBA where most teams stockpile up to three extra players on the injured list. Having those additional players gives a team flexibility in playing time throughout the year, and it allows star players to rest in practice.
But Bryan Colangelo said each additional player could cost the team roughly $300,000 to $1 million apiece if they are making minimum salaries based on experience.
The Suns, who have not had any major injuries, have one of the lowest payrolls in the NBA at just more than $45 million.
"It would be nice to have extra bodies around for practice," Colangelo said. "But it's a business, and you have to run it like a business."
Forward Shawn Marion, one of the Suns stars, puts it all in perspective.
"As long as he is happy and we are winning, that's all that matters," Marion said. "He can do what he wants to do. He owns the team."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0422sarver22.html
Craig Harris
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 22, 2005 12:00 AM
"Who are you, really?"
The question Jerry Colangelo posed to Robert Sarver before selling the Phoenix Suns to the Southern California banker and real estate millionaire still can't be answered fully.
All season long, Sarver has waved his purple foam "No. 1" finger vigorously and delighted fans with his unbridled courtside excitement and out-of-the-blue stunts. Yet the rookie owner's behavior at times has raised eyebrows within the Suns organization and the league.
An episode in America West Arena last month against San Antonio, when Sarver clucked like a chicken to mock the Spurs for resting two top players, upset National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern and prompted apologies and assurances that such a display would not occur again.
"At times, I think I'm a fan first and an owner second," said Sarver, whose Suns have secured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, which begin Sunday against Memphis. "And I shouldn't be that way. I probably need to remember I'm the owner all the time. But sometimes when I'm out there, and I'm cheering for the team, I don't think of myself as the owner."
As Sarver has become a fixture with the team, attending nearly every home and road game, he has become linked with Mark Cuban and others in a new group of younger NBA owners whose style is more frat house than country club.
His business background also has brought a CPA style to this NBA team, which has the best record in the league. Some within the Suns organization chafe over what they see as high-handed management: Sarver has his opinions and doesn't listen to many others.
Some have mixed feelings about cost-conscious changes, such as limiting the roster to an NBA-minimum 12 players, that he is bringing to an operation that has run in a more financially generous Colangelo fashion since the late 1980s.
A new love
Sarver loves being an owner, rubbing elbows with players, hosting friends and sponsors on the team plane, taking the reins of the business operation. He relishes the wins and has gotten physically ill after losses. And much like his banks and real estate deals, where Sarver said he has never lost money, the Suns have become golden under his direction.
After winning 29 games a year ago and missing the playoffs for the second time in three years, this season, the Suns posted 62 wins, tying a franchise season record, and are among the favorites to win the NBA title.
Sarver has not played a role in basketball decision-making, although he signed off on steep financial commitments before the season to acquire starters Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson, who have helped fuel the Suns' success.
Sarver, as part of his acquisition last year for an NBA-record $401 million, also assembled a group of investors who have pumped new life into the franchise while bringing in additional sponsors and enhancing the bottom line. The Suns expect to post a profit this year after struggling financially the past few seasons.
Sarver's new eyes on the NBA experience have resulted in fresh ideas for sponsors and fans.
One of his new programs is called "Coach of the Day," where a major sponsor gets to spend the day with coach Mike D'Antoni and sit behind the bench on a road trip at no extra cost. So far, about a half-dozen sponsors have participated. He also has loaded up the team plane, sometimes at the last minute and to the chagrin of some employees, with sponsors and prospective sponsors of the team.
"Some people, when they have been in the business for a long time, take for granted how cool it is for people who are not in the business to have some exposure to it," said Sarver, who lives outside San Diego and often commutes to games in his private jet.
Sarver, who has three young boys, and his partners also have made a commitment to build a new play area for kids in the arena's upper bowl by next season to enhance the fans' experience. He and his partners also are committed to building a boutique hotel next to America West Arena.
But in the last months of the season, on occasion, the volatile fan in him emerged.
• On March 9, Sarver was goading San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich by clucking like a chicken and flapping his arms when the Spurs coach didn't play two of his best players, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, who were fighting injuries. The loss of star power dulled a game billed as a showdown between the Western Conference's two best teams. Sarver said he apologized to Popovich, Duncan and Ginobili by e-mail.
• On March 28, Sarver booted three Colorado Rockies players from the arena because they were mocking him, including calling him a "suit," during a game against the Denver Nuggets. Pitcher Shawn Chacon, who was wrapping up spring training, said Sarver told them, "You can get on all the players you want, but this is my house."
• On April 9, Sarver initially fired and then reassigned two veteran arena security guards from their plum courtside posts after one guard told Sarver he couldn't sit in an NBA-restricted area.
Security guards Ron Motsinger and Harvey Brady said they have not been allowed back.
Team officials said they have been reassigned and could work at Bank One Ballpark, which uses the same security company. The company is owned by the Suns.
The guards said the problem with Sarver occurred late in the game when two young boys, who were with a season-ticket holder, were sitting in the photographers area near a basket. A different guard asked them to move.
Sarver, according to the guards, gave the boys his seats and then sat in an "escape lane," which players use if momentum carries them off the floor. Sarver confirmed the story but said he only was helping a season ticket holder.
Tim Frank, an NBA spokesman, said the league prohibits anyone from sitting in the escape lane.
"We were both told we were fired. He blew up. It was unbelievable. He got red in the face and jumped over me and Ron," said Brady, who has worked Suns games for 23 years and told Sarver he couldn't sit in the escape lane.
According to Motsinger, Sarver said, "You will never tell me where to sit in my arena."
Motsinger said he lost his position after Sarver told him to remove Brady. Motsinger said he told Sarver he didn't have that authority.
'An adjustment'
Stern, the NBA commissioner, said he appreciates Sarver's enthusiasm and views the former Tucson native as someone with enormous business skills who has a "competitive will to win."
"The funny thing is, on one hand, you want owners to feel a sense of pride and enthusiasm and really be a cheerleader for their teams," Stern said. "On the other hand, they suddenly come to realize that what they do or say gets excruciatingly analyzed and covered and followed. They maybe have to think twice sometimes."
Stern said Sarver, like some new NBA owners, is learning how to adjust as a public figure.
"My guess is in Season 2 there will be some things he does that he didn't do this year and some things he doesn't do next year that he did this year," Stern said.
Sarver, 43, said his actions against San Antonio were a mistake. As for the Rockies, Sarver said that he repeatedly warned the players to tone it down before kicking them out. He said that the dispute with the security guards was a personnel issue and that both men are still on his payroll. "Part of it is an adjustment," said Sarver, chairman and chief executive officer of Western Alliance Bancorporation, a holding company with banks in Arizona, Nevada and California. "It's new. So, it's a different situation and sometimes you think of things differently."
Arthur Marshall, a Western Alliance director and longtime friend of the Sarver family, said he is not surprised Sarver has moved into the spotlight.
"Robert has always been an outgoing person. He jumps into things with a lot of enthusiasm," Marshall said. "We see it at the bank with his management style. He's a doer and a go-getter."
But Chacon, one of the Rockies starting pitchers, said that if Sarver is going to sit courtside and wave his purple foam finger, he is going to open himself up for some ridicule.
"We get badgered every night. Fans get personal and even talk about your family," Chacon said. "It's all in good fun. We heckle him, and he got embarrassed. Obviously, he has never played sports in his life."
Sarver, a tennis player, said the baseball players also were harassing his friends and some of the Suns.
"Everyone deserves to watch a game without feeling threatened. That includes me and the people sitting around me," Sarver said.
Like Mark Cuban
Chacon and others say that Sarver seems to be following in the steps of Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Cuban, who has praised Sarver in the past, said recently that newer NBA owners are out in the open because that allows them to "communicate" with fans. But those actions also make it easy to fall under scrutiny.
"No question about it," Cuban said in an e-mail interview. "We are easy to write about, good or bad."
Cuban added that it has become common for him to get an earful from fans.
"I get heckled more than the players," Cuban said. "Sometimes, they get under my skin, but better they heckle me than the players."
Cuban also has gotten under the skin of Stern, who said he has seen his share of eccentric owners.
"We have had a number of owners who have been what you might call overexuberant on occasion," Stern said. "Without naming names, I can tell you at our request some owners have moved their seats and others have refrained from engaging with the crowd. I think that it takes awhile to sort of get your rhythm on how you will react or overreact to competitive situations."
Stern said that it's not uncommon for owners to attract attention, even though the league would prefer the focus to remain on the players.
"Our view is owners should probably set an example, and the example should be a good one," Stern said. "The enthusiasm of the owner can translate to the crowd and the players. . . . But you never want to become a distraction. That is the fine line you have to walk."
Fans, meanwhile, say they have been pleased with Sarver.
"Jerry Colangelo is a hard act to follow," said Dan Martinez of Gilbert, a season-ticket holder. "Sarver seems to have a lot of enthusiasm, and he's very visible at the games. It's a younger, fresher approach."
Karl Huff of Phoenix, another season-ticket holder, said that he, too, likes Sarver's fervor but that Sarver needs to learn when to tone it down.
"He needs to be like the players and know what the limits are," Huff said. "There are certain limits that have to be learned."
The commissioner added that if Sarver needs some advice, the Suns already have a "professional structure" in place with Colangelo, who has remained as chairman and chief executive officer; President Rick Welts, whom Stern previously recruited to work at league headquarters; and General Manager Bryan Colangelo.
However, many in the Suns organization say privately that Sarver listens only to one person: the elder Colangelo.
'Quick study'
Sarver said the mentoring from Jerry Colangelo has been different than he thought it would be.
"He's letting me do my thing, but he's being supportive and constructive," Sarver said. "It has worked out better than I thought it would."
Colangelo, who will relinquish his role as CEO in two years when Sarver and his partners complete the acquisition, said it has been his responsibility to break in Sarver.
"He is certainly a quick study. He is very bright, and he really likes the business," said Colangelo, who has been in the NBA nearly four decades.
"I'm his elder, and I'm the one with experience in this industry. I want to prepare him the best I can when I do step down."
Colangelo also added that he is not afraid to let Sarver know when he has made a mistake.
"My job is if he steps over the line, like some people thought he did in the San Antonio game, we have a conversation about that," said Colangelo, who declined to elaborate.
Sarver, the team's majority owner, said he expects future NBA owners to have the same passion as him and Cuban.
"You will see a lot more of those (owners)," said Sarver, who also runs Southwest Value Partners, a real estate firm that has offices in San Diego, Los Angeles and Tucson. "It takes so much money to buy one of these teams, and they really don't make a lot of money.
"You have to do it because you really want to do it. You aren't going to find too many people wanting to buy in at $300 million or $400 million who think they really want to do something, but when they get in, they say, 'I'm not that interested.' "
Assembling a winner
Sarver quickly learned how interested he needed to be to assemble a winner.
Days after making a 65 percent down payment on the Suns on June 30, Sarver signed off on free-agent contracts for Nash ($66 million, six years) and Richardson ($44 million, six years).
Sarver decided to hold off on giving an extension to starter Joe Johnson, who could leave the team after this season as a restricted free agent. The two sides were about $5 million apart as Johnson was looking for $50 million for six years, while the Suns held firm at $45 million.
"The decision at the time was still the right decision because we were building a new business," Sarver said about Johnson.
"How much do you commit to the long term without knowing how successful you will be? . . . Now, if you ask me in hindsight today had I known how successful we would be, then yes, I wish we would have signed Joe."
Bryan Colangelo said the team plans to have Johnson "in a Suns uniform" next season.
Although the team says it will go after Johnson, Sarver also has reined in spending within the entire organization.
Sarver held the line during the season to keep the roster at 12 players, an anomaly in the NBA where most teams stockpile up to three extra players on the injured list. Having those additional players gives a team flexibility in playing time throughout the year, and it allows star players to rest in practice.
But Bryan Colangelo said each additional player could cost the team roughly $300,000 to $1 million apiece if they are making minimum salaries based on experience.
The Suns, who have not had any major injuries, have one of the lowest payrolls in the NBA at just more than $45 million.
"It would be nice to have extra bodies around for practice," Colangelo said. "But it's a business, and you have to run it like a business."
Forward Shawn Marion, one of the Suns stars, puts it all in perspective.
"As long as he is happy and we are winning, that's all that matters," Marion said. "He can do what he wants to do. He owns the team."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0422sarver22.html
