Hart Sports Management — Newark, NJ

Mike Hart is a strong agent with a lot of clients. I was interested in his camp in the summer of 2005 (before I had even gotten my first deal) and he took my calls personally to make sure I got there and was situated properly. Mike Hart is the only agent I’ve met in 6 years who handled things personally in that matter, and he runs one of the most successful agencies of any agent out there.

Hart’s camp is held annually in Vegas nowadays, but this one was held in Newark, NJ (and I still lived in Philly at the time). I drove straight to the hotel from the end of my work day at Bally Total Fitness on a Friday afternoon for the two-day event. One of the major selling points of any pro exposure camp is the agents/ coaches scouts from pro teams that will be in attendance; Hart’s camp surely delivered. The format of the games and teams was fairly loose — players jumped onto other teams at their own behest on the second day — the games were like a pickup game tournament.

2005 was back before the explosion of exposure camps that you see now, so things were much more grassroots, if you will. Games were played one at a time, there was a spread of club sandwiches downstairs from the gym (St. Peter’s in Newark) for a snack. There were many players there, who I can say now were on an entirely different level than I was, many of which are still active. I vividly recall sitting along the baseline as the last games were being played and realizing that I needed to do a lot of work, both on- and off-court, to make it here I wanted to be — which at the time, was an established pro basketball player.