secret agent Wayward Ray

[Francis Hsu <francis@ai.mit.edu>]

What if Wayward Ray were an agen??

BOSTON, MA -- General managers, coaches, players, referees, David Stern..
you name it, NBA fans will blame them for their teams' problems.  Except for
one group that has enjoyed relative anonymity: the players' agents.  For
every unfathomable trade and draft pick, chances are good that an agent
played a crucial part.

Every once in a while, we get a glimpse of what goes on behind-the-scenes.
In the 2001 draft, Art Tellem was credited with engineering the 11th draft
pick of Juco player Kedrick Brown by the Boston Celtics.  While the impact
of this on the Boston Celtics has yet to be seen, the impact of agents'
meddling have emerged in other recent cases.  And in general, these agents
would prefer to remain anonymous to NBA fans.

"We really took one hard by Jerome Moiso's agent in the 2000 draft," recalls
Celtics GM Chris Wallace.  "First, this new agent tried to convince us that
Ernest Brown would be the next Shaq.  After that failed, Pitino insisted on
drafting Moiso.  It was only after the draft that we learned that Brown and
Moiso had the same agent, and that he and Pitino had met behind closed doors
after we refused to draft Brown."  Asked who this mysterious agent was,
Wallace replied bitterly, "I just remember it was some strange name like
Raymond Way.  Once we drafted Moiso, we could never get in contact with him
until we were close to an agreement with the 76ers to trade Moiso to them.
Then Mr. Way tried to convince us that he could put together a better trade
if we would showcase him instead.  I said thanks, but no thanks."  After
getting rid of Moiso, Boston has shown a dramatic improvement this season.

Asked if his agent was also the reason why he was traded to the Hornets
soon after ending up in Philadelphia, Moiso replied, "Oh, you mean Way Ray?
No, I got a new agent by then.  He didn't show any interest in me once I
left Boston.  But I can't complain too much.  He said that Rick Pitino would
make me a millionaire, and that I could be a starter if Boston had a terrible
season.  One out of two isn't bad."  (Moiso will make $7 million over the
next three years, but he never did make the starting lineup despite Boston
going 36-46 last season.)

"I was really disappointed in Way," said Ernest Brown, currently on the Heat's
IR for brain spasms.  "He promised that he would get me picked in the first
round [of the 2000 draft] by the Celtics, but when they didn't pick me he
didn't care when I got picked.  He said that I would be a perfect fit in
Boston, that they would build their team around me.  After the draft, nobody
would give me a chance.  I threatened to sue him, but then he got me into the
Heat this season.  Now he's trying to get me traded to the Celtics, for some
reason."  The Heat are probably hoping that Ray succeeds.  This season,
with Brown, they're 12-26.  Last season, they were 50-32.

We were unable to locate or contact agent Way Ray.