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July 16, 2004/Tamuz 27 5764, Vol. 56, No. 43
New Suns owner has big plans
DONALD HARRISON
Special to Jewish News
In what is clearly an understatement, banker, real estate trader and new Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver says, "I'm kind of an impatient guy." He recently persuaded Dallas Mavericks point guard Steve Nash, a two-time National Basketball Association all-star, to agree to a five-year contract for a reported $65 million.
Sarver isn't simply hoping that last year's young Suns squad will mature together into a better basketball team. "I'm going to try as best as I can to turn it around faster rather than later," he says. "I look at it as a long-term investment, but that doesn't mean I have the patience to wait for five years to have a winning team. I mean I want to see a winning team next year."
Sarver, interviewed July 6 at his offices at a Torrey Pines Bank branch in San Diego, was in something of an awkward spot. There had been news stories about how he and Suns' chairman Jerry Colangelo paid $15 million more than Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was willing to spend to keep Nash. But under NBA rules, Sarver could not comment on the deal until July 14, the first day such agreements could be formally signed. Nor could he comment on any future deals he may have in mind.
If Sarver, 42, is quick to make a decision, especially for a banker, he attributes his business style to his mother Irene and his late father, Jack, whose photograph sits on a credenza behind his desk.
Jack Sarver, who had owned American Savings and Loan in Tucson, died when Robert was 18 years old, but they spent enough time together for the father to teach the son "how to trust in my feelings and not to be afraid to go in a different direction that what other people are doing," he says.
Sarver adds he "used that many times to make decisions - buying and selling things maybe at different times than other people were doing then, and being a little more contrarian in some of my views. Dad was also one that wasn't afraid to do things, and was willing to step out on a limb and take risks.
"I think even though I am in a conservative business - banking - I tend to be a risk taker," Sarver reflects. "I'm not afraid to put my money into something and go after it. I like to focus on a few things and put all my eggs in those baskets. So I am not a conservative person by nature."
Sarver's mother, who is now 84, "always has a positive attitude regardless of her situation," he says. "She always thinks positive, acts positive, exhibits a lot of energy and has been very supportive me when I started my first business (at age 23, creating the National Bank of Tucson) and throughout my business career."
Furthermore, he said, he learned from his mother commitments to "philanthropy, positive outlook, energy and trying to treat everybody the same - not treating people differently based upon their financial situation or where they are."
In Tucson, the Sarvers were members of and financial contributors to the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox congregations - Temple Emanu-El, Congregation Anshei Israel and Young Israel respectively - but "we spent most of my upbringing at Temple Emanu-El," Sarver recalls. "I went to Sunday school; I got bar mitzvahed there ... and then I didn't go any more because it started to conflict with my tennis schedule - I was playing in tennis tournaments."
Does he remember his Torah portion?
"No," he grins. "All I remember is that about a week before, they called my parents and said, 'Your son is not going to be able to chant his Torah portion; we're just going to make him read it.'"
Another grin, and he adds: "I won't be singing the National Anthem at the basketball games."
If he didn't attend synagogue much, he later became a regular in the boardrooms of various Jewish organizations - serving at age 25 as chairman of the Major Gifts Dinner of Tucson's United Jewish Federation. He also visited Israel on his own.
Sarver and his wife, Penny, have three boys under 7, Max, Jake and Zach. As his family grew, "I started to donate more of my money and less of my time," he says. "When I was younger I was donating more of my time and less of my money." Another smile: "You know, organizations will take either one!"
Although he joined in pick-up games as a boy, the 5-foot-11-inch Sarver never played competitive basketball - his interest in the game really sparked after two friends of his family, Don Pitt and Don Diamond, both of Tucson, founded the Phoenix Suns franchise.
"They used to give me tickets," Sarver says. "I became a big basketball fan at the University of Arizona when (Coach) Fred Snowden came to Tucson when I was a teenager, and my dad became friends with him. We got season tickets when they were playing at Bear Down gym, and I've been a big Arizona Wildcat fan ever since."
American Savings and Loan, where Sarver had worked after school, was sold soon after his father died, and Sarver initially thought of a career as a certified public accountant. But with his mother's blessing and help from Payless Shoe Store owner Louis Pozez, Sarver started the National Bank of Tucson (now the National Bank of Arizona) with $4.5 million in capital. When he sold the bank a decade later to Zions Bancorporation its assets had grown by approximately $60 million.
Today, Sarver is chairman and chief executive officer of Western Alliance Corporation, which he describes as a "$2 billion bank holding company with three subsidiary banks." Torrey Pines Bank, with a downtown San Diego address and two suburban offices, is one; another is Bank Western Nevada with five offices - "the largest independent bank in the State of Nevada" - and Alliance Bank of Arizona, with offices in Tucson, Scottsdale and Phoenix. "We also own an investment management company and a trust company," Sarver comments.
Can any of this experience be of help to the struggling Phoenix Suns?
"I learned about trying to recruit and motivate and retain the best people you can in senior management positions," he responds. Another strength will be "my finance background and being able to analyze numbers because, after all, the Suns is basketball, but it is also an operating business with $100 million or more in revenue."
He figures he will commute one day a week to Phoenix, where he lived from 1991-1995, and his home in the Rancho Santa Fe area of San Diego County, and stay in close telephonic touch with Colangelo; his son Bryan Colangelo, the general manager; and part owner Steve Kerr, a former San Antonio Spurs player.
Sarver agrees that in the past the Suns made some poor trades; for example, in the 2001 trade when Jason Kidd was sent to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury, and earlier this year, when Marbury, Anfernee Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski were dealt to the New York Knicks for Howard Eisley, Charles Ward, Antonio McDyess and Maciej Lampe.
However, he says, they worked hard at trying to correct their mistakes and get themselves out of some poor contracts.
Like Marbury?
"Exactly," he says. "Marbury's contract, (Tom) Gugliotta's contact." Gugliotta was traded earlier this year to the Utah Jazz for Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten, future draft choices and some cash.
Sarver says he thinks the NBA's salary cap this year will be about $46 million and that the cap is beneficial. "Unlike baseball, where you have the Yankees with a payroll that is three times what someone else's payroll is, basketball is much more competitive," he says.
"Everyone kind of has a chance because the salary cap allows each team to pretty much have two superstars, one almost-superstar, and put everyone on a fairly even footing."
Last season, the Suns finished sixth in the seven-team Pacific Division, compiling a won-loss record of 29 and 53 - 27 games behind the division champion Los Angeles Lakers. Sarver says that the Suns' young team and McDyess' knee injury (he hurt his knee while playing for the Knicks and wasn't able to play well for the Suns) were factors in the team's poor showing. "But," he says, brightening, "if you look at the last, say, 10-15 games at the end of the season, they played pretty good. So I hope that can carry on to the next season."
Attendance has been dipping at Suns home games. Would he consider taking a page from the playbook of Anaheim Angels owner Arte Moreno and lower the cost of tickets and refreshments, to get the fans back?
Sarver says, "We don't have any plans for that, but what we've done is finished investing $70 million in the arena, and we are now going to have a state-of-the-art sound system, a new scoreboard, and we've enclosed the whole ticket area into a new pavilion, so we have taken a lot of steps to make it a better experience for the fans."
Sarver is asked about a comment by former Boston Celtic superstar Larry Bird that the NBA may need more white players to attract fans.
"Well, not necessarily white players," he responds, "although I do think diversity is good, regardless of what kind of diversity it is. I think it's good that we have more foreign players playing. You look at Yao Ming (of the Houston Rockets) now and what he has done to turn on basketball in China; all of a sudden there are a bunch of kids in China playing basketball, fans in China, and you've got players from Argentina and Africa and all over the place. To me, the more the better."
Politically, Sarver is a Democrat. He is supporting John Kerry for president. However, he also has voted for Republican Sen. John McCain, and considers him a friend. "I have voted Republican as often as Democrat," he reveals.
Although he lives now in California, Sarver says he shares many of Jerry Colangelo's values "in terms of his dedication to the community of Phoenix. I will try to do the right thing for the community and reinvest in the community and really be a team that is a big part of the community," he says.
He says he expects to be involved in real estate ventures in downtown Phoenix near the arena and that the Suns Charities will remain active under his ownership.
Sarver also says he will take an active interest in two franchises that came to him in the $401 million purchase of the Suns - the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's NBA.
Sarver says he will give careful attention to the impact of the Rattlers' television contract on the team. "The hope is that their ratings will go up and that TV contracts will be very valuable," he says.
He describes the WNBA, particularly with a personality like Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi attracting fans, as "fun entertainment for the kids - it amazes me why more families aren't at the game."
Donald Harrison is the former editor-in-chief and co-publisher of the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage.
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