First of all, I did not file suit as an individual, but on behalf of the NBA Players Association of which I was president at the time. We wanted more freedom for players in structuring their careers. Back then your team owned rights to you in perpetuity, which was illegal. It was totally their option to renew your contract whenever it expired. There was no such thing as free agency. We wanted the right to negotiate with other teams once a contract was up. Your team would have first refusal, that is, the right to match the best offer made by another team, but you would be free to accept whichever offer you wanted. This is what became known as the Oscar Robertson Rule. The case was decided in Federal Court in New York in 1979 and was the beginning of free agency as we know it today. Actually, our legal counsel, Larry Fleisher, had been negotiating with the owners for years, so it wasn’t as much a court decision as a negotiated settlement which the court approved. That became our new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The owners knew the settlement was coming and started signing their better players to long-term contracts. The CBA also included improvements in travel, training and medical care, plus a licensing agreement for use of players’ names and likenesses which in the long run was extremely unfavorable. That was part of our growing pains. We knew a settlement was inevitable; when you’re held down so long, the pendulum has to swing. So we were going from 0 to 10, and everything was wide-open for negotiation. We weren’t as well-informed on all the issues as we could have been; we were focusing more on free agency and working conditions.

29. Are agents are a positive or negative influence on the NBA and pro sports in general?

They can be both. I don’t think rookies need agents if they’re going to sign for a minimum which is already established. What I mainly object to is agents sitting in on meetings of the Players Association. They’re not members. I don’t know of any other professional sport which allows that.

I think the Players Association has allowed the agents which control certain players to become too strong. Now they’re dictating who will play where and so on. Another thing that concerns me is the double standard as far as college kids who are about to turn pro. A college player cannot have an agent and still be eligible for college sports, but a college coach can collect a referral from an agent for referring a player to that agent.

30. Do you think professional athletes have a responsibility to act as role models?

I think everyone, not just athletes, has a responsibility to set a good example. Our society is sports-crazy and hero-oriented, so if you’re considered a hero, certain people will emulate you even if you don’t behave properly. So you have to be conscious of that. Also, I think the media puts a lot of pressure on you to be a role model. You may not think your behavior off the court is anyone else’s business, but in reality many people think it is, so how you behave in those circumstances may determine whether you are considered a role model. However, I think the public has wised up - they recognize that athletes don’t always behave as we might wish, and in fact they often behave rather poorly. So if you’re looking at an athlete as a role model, you do so at your own risk. I also think parents have to take the responsibility and help their kids make a distinction between how someone performs as an athlete and his or her conduct overall as a civilized member of society.