Suns hire Brad Casper as team president

[Mainstreet]

The Suns hire Brad Casper as the new team president. He seems well experienced for the job although I do not know much about him other than presented in the article below written by Paul Coro at azcentral dated 10-10-11.

The Suns are entering "Project Refresh" to improve fan relations. Maybe they should visit our forum.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2011/10/10/20111010phoenix-suns-brad-casper-.html

 

[asudevil83]

he sold soap....now he's the president of our basketball operations.

he has no basketball experience, and i'm disgusted.

 

[Tyler]

When Brad Casper arrived in the Valley in 2005 to run Dial Corp., he wound up at his second NBA basketball game in two decades and was hooked.

Thats all I needed to read.
​

 

[Cheesebeef]

dude... could that guy's toupee couldn't look more ridiculous if he actually stapled a dead raccoon to his head.

 

[mojorizen7]

Umm...hasn't the Dial corporation been a huge sponsor for the Suns for years?
Sounds to me like another "Good ole boys hiring" that doesn't amount to squat in terms of helping put a legit team in place.

 

[BC867]

Umm...hasn't the Dial corporation been a huge sponsor for the Suns for years?
Sounds to me like another "Good ole boys hiring" that doesn't amount to squat in terms of helping put a legit team in place.

He is being hired to run the business side of the Suns.

He has nothing to do with the player side of it.

dude... could that guy's toupee couldn't look more ridiculous if he actually stapled a dead raccoon to his head.

That is an interesting way to evaluate a business manager's skills.

 

[SirStefan32]

He is being hired to run the business side of the Suns.

He has nothing to do with the player side of it.


That is an interesting way to evaluate a business manager's skills.

To most people here, Sarver is the devil. Sarver hired this guy, therefore he sucks. Sarver could hire Steve Forbes and most people here would hate it.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

Sounds like he was hired to convince us how much we enjoy the Suns. Put a product on the court and we'll buy it. Project Refresh is stale right out of the chute without a contending team to back it up....

 

[Superbone]

To most people here, Sarver is the devil. Sarver hired this guy, therefore he sucks. Sarver could hire Steve Forbes and most people here would hate it.

At this point, Sarver would have to hire Steve Jobs to turn his reputation around.

(Sorry, Steve. RIP. You've left a great legacy. P.S. I just ordered your new iPhone 4S.)

 

[BC867]

dude... could that guy's toupee couldn't look more ridiculous if he actually stapled a dead raccoon to his head.

That is an interesting way to evaluate a business manager's skills.

Now that I have seen this photo, I must admit that his "hat" doesn't quite fit.

You would think with his money, he could afford a weave.

 

[SunsTzu]

he sold soap....now he's the president of our basketball operations.

he has no basketball experience, and i'm disgusted.

He's replacing Rick Welts who had nothing to do with basketball operations. Sadly it's unlikely the Suns will address the basketball side of things(at least in a positive way). But hey, as long as the sponsorships are taken care of who really cares about the product on the floor.

 

[asudevil83]

You must be registered for see images

 

[Mainstreet]

Does anyone think he will be part of "Project Refresh" to improve fan relations? It was mentioned the article so I'm thinking this may be a part of his job. Fans are a huge part of the game no matter how one looks at it. IMO, Sarver has done a lot to tarnish the Suns image of the by his failure to openly communicate his vision for the team with the fans that was prevalent in the Colangelo era.

 

[Superbone]

Now that I have seen this photo, I must admit that his "hat" doesn't quite fit.

You would think with his money, he could afford a weave.

One of many guys with money and bad hair. Donald Trump and Bill Gates come to mind.

 

[Covert Rain]

I don't see how it's possible to "refresh" the fans without putting a quality product on the court. If they wanted to do that they should have hired a basketball guy. Just another front office hire to handle "business".

 

[Mainstreet]

I don't see how it's possible to "refresh" the fans without putting a quality product on the court. If they wanted to do that they should have hired a basketball guy. Just another front office hire to handle "business".

Let's hope Brad Casper is smart enough to know the Suns need more than a PR person and that the Suns need to sell a product. The question is can he influence Sarver in this direction... to improve the product. Fans can be patient if they know there is a plan and a relentless effort to get there.

Yes, this is blind optimism without merit. Stoudemire is gone and so likely will be Nash. Gortat is as close to a star the Suns may have.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

What concerns me is the term "best entertainment value" in the valley as opposed to "best product / winner"

Right now we have dancing hotties, frisbee dogs, and gorilla dunks. Be sure to drop your kids off at the playland / video arcade before you have a few drinks in our nightclub in the club level.

Ever seen the movie Eddie? This is what this reminds me of.

 

[Superbone]

What concerns me is the term "best entertainment value" in the valley as opposed to "best product / winner"

Right now we have dancing hotties, frisbee dogs, and gorilla dunks. Be sure to drop your kids off at the playland / video arcade before you have a few drinks in our nightclub in the club level.

Ever seen the movie Eddie? This is what this reminds me of.

That's the thing. This guy has nothing to do with the quality of the basketball on the court. It's not his job.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

That's the thing. This guy has nothing to do with the quality of the basketball on the court. It's not his job.

You would have to have a very poor understanding of corporate structure to believe that.

For instance, in my company I am in charge of corporate operations. I have a counter part in charge of field operations.

Two different titles, both of us have the responsibility of determining the overall success of the company. Any significant acquisition or loss of corporate assets will involve both of these men as well as Sarver.

His title will more determine who reports to him as much as what he actually does. He is still Team President and have a lot to do with the Suns, just like Welts did

 

[carrrnuttt]

That's the thing. This guy has nothing to do with the quality of the basketball on the court. It's not his job.

You'd still need someone that's at least familiar with basketball operations, if not savvy at it. You don't want some oaf that creates promotions that interfere with basketball operations because he saw a marketing opportunity but doesn't have context to put it in.

And yeah, the fact that this guy used to head one of the Suns' biggest local sponsors is very fishy at best. ****ing $aver at his finest.

 

[AzStevenCal]

You would have to have a very poor understanding of corporate structure to believe that.

For instance, in my company I am in charge of corporate operations. I have a counter part in charge of field operations.

Two different titles, both of us have the responsibility of determining the overall success of the company. Any significant acquisition or loss of corporate assets will involve both of these men as well as Sarver.

His title will more determine who reports to him as much as what he actually does. He is still Team President and have a lot to do with the Suns, just like Welts did

I believe it and up until now I thought I had a pretty good understanding of corporate structure. One thing I do know, they are not all shaped the same way. You can't take the organizational structure of a bank, for example, and superimpose that chart over the structure of a sports franchise and expect it to match up.

Steve

 

[Superbone]

I admit I don't have a strong understanding of corporate structure but I still don't think this position has much, if any say in the basketball product on the court.

From the Warriors press conference article upon Welts arrival:

http://www.nba.com/warriors/warriors_name_rick_welts_president.html

During his tenure in Phoenix, the Suns enjoyed success on all levels, including on the court, where the club registered five (5) 50-plus win seasons and advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2005, 2006 and 2010. Welts’ responsibilities in Phoenix included the supervision of all business operations for the Suns and overseeing the team’s interest in the management of US Airways Center and the WNBA Phoenix Mercury. The Mercury won the WNBA Championship in 2007 and 2009.

And based on the articles about Casper, he has virtually no basketball knowledge. He hadn't even been to his first NBA game until a few years ago. I sure as hell hope he doesn't have anything to do with team personnel.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I admit I don't have a strong understanding of corporate structure but I still don't think this position has much, if any say in the basketball product on the court.

From the Warriors press conference article upon Welts arrival:

http://www.nba.com/warriors/warriors_name_rick_welts_president.html



And based on the articles about Casper, he has virtually no basketball knowledge. He hadn't even been to his first NBA game until a few years ago. I sure as hell hope he doesn't have anything to do with team personnel.

I'm pretty sure I agree. My small but persistent doubt arises from the fact that we seem to have made bad decision after bad decision for several years now. Maybe we'd be better off with a clueless soap peddler making all the calls.

Steve

 

[BC867]

I sure as hell hope he doesn't have anything to do with team personnel.

If he does, the fault will be Sarver's ignorance of how to run a sports franchise.

Welts’ responsibilities in Phoenix included the supervision of all business operations for the Suns and overseeing the team’s interest in the management of US Airways Center and the WNBA Phoenix Mercury.

Managing business operations (including the Mercury) and the arena. Not the on-court personnel.

That describes how it should be. But then, you wouldn't expect the owner to be close enough to the court to argue with the refs.

 

[Gaddabout]

If any of you can give me a list of things Rick Welt did that negatively impacted the product on the floor, I'll worry about this hire. Otherwise, I think this position is not much more than "corporate handler." It's not like he can do hiring/firing in basketball ops without Sarver's permission. Sarver's still in charge there. He was hired to make sure Sarver doesn't have to make day-to-day decisions on non-basketball ops.