DeMarcus Cousins Signs With John Greig

Yesterday, I discussed a phrase that is regularly used around this time every single year – testing the waters.  But testing the waters is not right for everyone.  In fact, college basketball players who know that they definitely will not be returning to school should not test the waters.  It only delays the inevitable, and has the potential of allowing the player’s name to slip on some draft lists.

While not every player from this past year’s extremely talented University of Kentucky basketball team has made a decision on whether to stay or leave to play professionally, DeMarcus Cousins has made a decision – he will be going pro.  DraftExpress.com currently has Cousins being drafted third overall to the Detroit Pistons.  With that type of draft grade, you might assume that he signed with a big name like WMG, BDA, CAA, or BEST.  But that is not the case.

Cousins selection = John Greig.  Longtime readers of SportsAgentBlog.com will remember the name.  Greig is the owner of SportsTalent (which does not have a working website – c’mon Greig!), a company based in Sammamish, WA.  Hopefully the commissions earned on Cousins is enough to keep Greig warm in the winter months.

How did a guy like Greig land DeMarcus Cousins?  I absolutely love it, because it gives rising agents hope that they can compete against the “big boys”.  That said, his biggest American client is Pops Mensah-Bonsu, and most of his practice is based on representing players overseas.  I would have thought that his first big NBA client would be a player from one of the schools in his state.  Washington can’t be heavily recruited.  And Cousins was probably approached by at least 50 agents.

As stated above, if you have read this blog for a while, you know the name John Greig.  I did an Agent Spotlight on him back in August 2009.  In that spotlight, I even mentioned that he needs a website!  Greig tells me that he has had a website, will have one again, but that he thinks websites are more beneficial to the agent than they are to the player and that websites are overrated.  That said, Greig does have a Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace page.  I am a little bit confused, but I will move on.  In the piece from August 2009, I also gave Greig huge props for managing a fairly large agency by himself.  In his playing days, Greig had a short stint with the Seattle SuperSonics, and played in Spain, France, and Switzerland.

So how do you think Greig signed DeMarcus Cousins?  I bet that there will be a lot of big agents talking to Cousins in an attempt to pry him away in the future.  Let’s see if Cousins stays loyal to his original selection – I hope he does.

In response to asking Greig for something inspiring for you all, Greig said, “Maybe inspire your readers by telling that perhaps sometimes good guys do finish first !!!”