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Speaking with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on The Pull Up with Scoop B, Gill recalled being in the room with agent Arn Tellem while the Nets debated using the No. 7 pick on Bryant. Tellem also represented Bryant and strongly opposed New Jersey drafting the teenage guard directly out of high school. “I was right there when they were thinking about drafting Kobe,” Gill said. “Arn is on the phone with John Calipari and he’s saying, ‘Look. We’re going to take Kobe at the 7th pick…’” Gill explained that Tellem warned the Nets that Bryant would go overseas rather than play for the franchise. According to Gill, the Lakers already had a deal lined up with the Charlotte Hornets involving Vlade Divac and Bryant’s draft rights.
Arn Tellem was on vacation in Africa when he got a message from Jason Collins saying he had something important to discuss. Tellem thought his client was going to tell him he was leaving for a different agent. The NBA player’s news was a bit different: he was gay, and he was ready to come out. “I’ll never forget, it was a profound moment in my career and really was an incredibly powerful moment in our relationship,” Tellem said in an interview with The Athletic this week.
Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson: What was the situation with Jerry Krause and the Chicago Bulls? Tracy McGrady: You don’t know the type of obsession Jerry Krause had with me. It was ridiculous. He used to tell my agent, Arn Tellem, “Krause says he’s coming to get you when you’re a free agent.” He must’ve seen something in me. He tried to make things happen the night before the draft and again in 2000. Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson: What if that trade went through and you played with Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman? Tracy McGrady: [shaking head] Nah. You’re talking about trading a Top 50 player [Pippen] for a rookie who’s not ready. It puts too much pressure on an 18-year-old. To be alongside MJ? Not a good look.
Rival executives speak highly of Trajan Langdon, who just completed his first season as Detroit’s president of basketball operations, and of his staff—in particular Dennis Lindsey, a veteran team executive who played a key role in the Dallas Mavericks’ rise. The Pistons also have strong leadership bridging the basketball and business sides, with former superagent Arn Tellem running the club as vice chairman.
Coty M. Davis: #Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem and coach JB Bickerstaff surprising election workers and voters with lunch at Bunche Preparatory Academy.
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Detroit Pistons PR: The following statement was released by Arn Tellem, Pistons Vice Chairman and former agent to Kobe Bryant, on the passing of Joe Bryant. pic.twitter.com/toHeD6l82Y
The following statement was released by Arn Tellem, Pistons Vice Chairman
— Pistons PR (@Pistons_PR) July 16, 2024
and former agent to Kobe Bryant, on the passing of Joe Bryant. pic.twitter.com/toHeD6l82Y
Vice chairman Arn Tellem has been involved with the franchise since 2015 after being one of the most successful power brokers in basketball. He’s made an imprint with the business community, helped spearhead the Pistons' move to downtown Detroit and later its new practice facility, and the Pistons have taken on many of the clients he’s been connected to, but it hasn’t borne much success. A league source told Yahoo Sports recently, “There’s four factions in that building,” and getting on the same page should be the first objective.
“What's amazing about the service was just to see, which we knew, was the incredible impact that Earl had on this community, this city that he loves so much,” Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem said with tears in his eyes. “And his whole mission in life was to improve the lives of young people here. And he touched so many along the way. I think we're all in mourning — it's incredibly sad — and hopefully, I think we all leave here inspired by his incredible good deeds to continue his mission, to continue to make an impact here and make a positive mark on this city.”
The Pistons are on a 24-game losing streak, and Dumars admitted the franchise’s pain has hit a little bit differently from that of all the others. “I would feel for any team that’s going through it; any of the other 29 teams, I would feel disappointed for them,” Dumars said. “It’s the Pistons — I feel for the organization, for the fans there. … I spent my whole career there. And so it’s tough to watch the guys go through that. And I’m close with a lot of people there. With Monty (Williams) and Troy (Weaver) and Arn Tellem and (Tom) Gores and all those guys. It’s tough to watch. I hope they can end the slide sometime soon.”
The decision tree that governs the Pistons’ roster adjustments will stand as one of the more intriguing leadership constructs across the league, born out of Detroit’s coaching search that resulted in Williams’ lavish hiring this summer. General manager Troy Weaver was known to be a proponent of former UConn head coach Kevin Ollie, league sources told Yahoo Sports, while vice chairman Arn Tellem, formerly a longtime agent at Wasserman, was backing longtime NBA assistant Jarron Collins, with former Bucks assistant Charles Lee considered to be the finalist who served as a middle ground. Yet after none of those candidates ultimately satisfied the wishes of ownership, it was governor Tom Gores who was credited with opening his checkbook and persuading Williams to come aboard after he was fired in Phoenix and was initially set on taking this season off.
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Mayor Mike Duggan was in attendance at the ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, along with Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem, players Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson, city councilmember Scott Benson and students from nearby Cornerstone Jefferson-Douglass Academy. The event took place nearly five years after the team unveiled two of its first courts, at Littlefield Park on the city’s west side in October 2018.
Mark Medina: Agent Mark Bartelstein said Joe Harris has spoken w/ Pistons GM Troy Weaver, coach Monty Williams & executive Arn Tellem after Nets dealt him & two 2nd round picks to Detroit. Bartelstein added Pistons have wanted Harris "for a couple of years" & "he'll have a great role there."
During the initial conversations in which Williams told teams, including Detroit, that he was leaning toward taking next season off — Phoenix owes him roughly $21 million over the next three years — he did mention that the Pistons, along with another team, would be a job he’d consider taking if he were to come back to the sideline next season, per league sources. The heavy pursuit from Weaver, Arn Tellem and Gores, along with a lucrative commitment and fondness for Detroit’s young core, ultimately, was too good for Williams to pass up.
It's early in both Houston's and Detroit's coaching searches, but there is consistent buzz circulating about Pistons GM Troy Weaver's fondness for both Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee and former UConn coach Kevin Ollie, whose playing career intersected with Weaver's front-office stint in Oklahoma City. The expectation nonetheless persists in various corners of the league that the call won’t solely be Weaver’s, with Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem also believed to wield considerable influence in the search.