Rich Paul, LeBron's associate and a key part of LRMR

Rich Paul in the offices of Klutch Sports Group in downtown Cleveland. Paul had a hectic summer in 2014, managing the return of LeBron James to Cleveland and the signing of Eric Bledsoe to a new multiyear contract with the Phoenix Suns.

(Lonnie Timmons III, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As you enter the headquarters of Klutch Sports Group, you're met with a collection of framed NBA action photos assembled across the wall: Phoenix's Eric Bledsoe, Cleveland's Tristan Thompson, Washington's Kevin Seraphin, Miami's Norris Cole, San Antonio's Cory Joseph and of course, Cleveland's LeBron James.

Rich Paul, CEO and Founder of the company, is talking on his cell phone while sitting on a black sofa inside of his plush, yet modest, downtown Cleveland office on the 25th floor. Directly behind him is a gorgeous panoramic view overlooking Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena.

In his office, there's a photo of Paul with First Lady Michelle Obama. On any given day he could be talking with anyone from hip hop mogul Jay-Z, to Beats Electronics co-founder Jimmy Iovine to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

The phone conversation is serious enough that Paul takes it into the conference room, where he has spent countless hours strategizing. For the past five months, that conference room and Paul were joined at the hip. The reason: The historic NBA free-agency summer of 2014, which was all about James' "Decision 2.0" and the contract tug-of-war between Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns.

He's come a long way from his younger days on the east side of Cleveland and in so many ways, it was that very neighborhood that prepared him for the most tumultuous summer imaginable for a sports agent. Critics had their say in print and social media.

Through all the noise, Paul stayed calm, measured and immersed in his business affairs. In July, he helped bring LeBron home and set him up for a huge payday now that the NBA has signed its new TV deals; and last month, after a drawn-out stalemate, he helped Bledsoe lock up a lucrative contract that nobody except maybe Paul and his camp thought was possible.

Has Rich Paul "arrived" as an agent? He doesn't worry about questions like that. In his mind, he's just a guy trying to do the best he can for his clients.

After 20 minutes or so, Paul emerges from the conference room and is ready to reveal what his summer entailed.

"Let's do this interview," he said.

LeBron James, talks with business partner Rich Paul, during a workout in July of 2010 at the LeBron James Skills Academy. James at the time was in negotiations with the Cavs, Miami and others interested in signing him.

Evolution of a sports agent

Before starting his own agency, Paul garnered a good feel for the profession while he was on the recruiting circuit.

He eventually picked up the nuances of negotiations and developed his contacts throughout the league. He thrived in his role because he spoke the language of the youth and knew exactly what many were going through.

Coming out of the Glenville neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Paul could relate to the struggle.

Having endured multiple childhood friends either jailed or murdered by the time he was 18 toughened him, but also made him the person he is today. He has a heart for making sure young men reach their full potential in life regardless of whether they play basketball or not.

He wants to make a positive impact in all walks of life and the only way for him to do that is to "keep it 110," as he says, meaning 110 percent of raw honesty.

"We come from an environment that has been created in our industry that's a 'yes' environment," Paul said. "Due to that environment, it has set back a lot of our youth that are not just basketball players, but young men who happen to be able to play the game of basketball really well. They grow into being young businessmen and now they're done playing the game at 35. They enter a world where that 'yes' environment that was created while they were at the top of their game, doesn't exist anymore. So now they're set back in life.

"What good is that doing? I'm not here for that. And because I come from where a lot of these kids come from and can actually relate to exactly what they're going through, I feel it's my duty to keep it 110. That's never going to change, and if people don't like it, I won't represent them. It's just simple as that."

LeBron James talks to the media during the Cavaliers media day at the Cleveland Clinic Courts on Sept. 26.

The handling of LeBron James' free agency

In a shrewd merger few saw coming, Paul enlisted the services of Mark Termini, a Cleveland-based sports agent with three decades of experience who is widely recognized for his negotiating tactics.

The team Paul assembled had some work to do this summer. James was considering coming back home, and it was up to them to make it happen as smoothly as possible.

The moment word got out in June that James would opt out of a six-year deal with Miami to become a free agent, the entire league was set on fire.

Behind the scenes, the summer was just as important for Paul.

In 2012 when Paul launched his own sports management agency, James decided to join, becoming Paul's headlining client. Outside of Cleveland, critics had a field day. Most felt Paul wasn't qualified to represent the best player in the game, and it was viewed as James simply trying to empower his inner circle.

At the time, one league executive said his take on it was that James decided to run his own show and that Paul's presence would be used as merely a "front man."

ESPN quoted one agent anonymously: "How's he going to walk into a Fortune 500 sports brand company and negotiate a deal? You can't give a dentist a scalpel and say, 'Go do heart surgery.' "

Rarely has a player's choice of representation been so scrutinized and ridiculed. This was, after all, just a group choosing to walk an uncharted path.

Paul wasn't oblivious to the criticism, fair or not.

"I don't really like the word 'fair' because life isn't fair," Paul said. "But if you are committed to what you want to do and you feel like you belong, then the next best thing for you to do is to execute."

At the onset of free agency, Paul advised James to take a vacation with his family, and he did -- which revealed how much James trusted his agent to handle his summer affairs. After the backlash James received from "The Decision" in 2010, many anticipated he would be more involved with this free-agency process.

Paul was never comfortable with how things were done four years ago. Back then he was neither an agent, nor was he consulted on how to inform the public that James was exiting Cleveland for South Beach.

This time around, James placed his career in the hands of Paul and went to enjoy the time with his wife and kids.

"I told him if I needed him, I would call him," Paul recalled saying to James before he went on vacation. "He believed in me. I had a job to do."

Paul was hands-on in making sure the events leading up to "Decision 2.0" were done tastefully and respectfully. James had meetings with only two teams - the Heat and Cavaliers - during the summer.

Paul was considerate of not stringing teams along.

"I wanted to be respectful of all organizations involved and you can only pick one, but I think it was important for him not to have a play-by-play of what he was doing," he said.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert flew down to South Florida to make amends. Once both sides hashed out their differences, Gilbert assured James that if he returned, they would build a championship-caliber team around him soon.

A meeting with Heat president Pat Riley took place in Las Vegas soon afterward. The presentation: A winning culture and a proven track record of providing the resources to compete for championships year after year with James as their leader.

We know what happened from there. For the first time in his career, James would be the highest-paid player on his team.

From the exit strategy, to "The Letter," to winning back the hearts of Ohio, Paul executed his vision. The impossible was made possible.

But Paul's summer was far from over. His biggest and most career-defining challenge -- so far -- was ahead, as the Phoenix Suns and his client, restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe, locked horns to get a deal done.

Eric Bledsoe felt he deserved a multi-year deal from the Phoenix Suns after his strong play during the 2013-14 season. It was up to Rich Paul and his management team to help him land that contract.

Klutch Sports vs. the Phoenix Suns

The basketball world was watching.

Phoenix offered Bledsoe a contract of four years, $48 million, well below what he was asking. Paul sought the max for his client at five years, $80 million.

Last season, Bledsoe, 24, had his best year in his first season as a starter, averaging 17.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game. The numbers and his age backed Paul's request for a max deal.

But knee surgery in January limited Bledsoe to 43 games, the second operation on the knee in his four-year NBA career. Phoenix's hesitance to fork out max dough was understandable. His durability was in question.

The sides went months without speaking. It got ugly. A Phoenix sports-talk host wrote an "open letter" to Bledsoe, calling Paul "a joke" and urged Bledsoe to fire him.

The pressure was squarely on Paul to produce, given his "unreasonable" demands. That's not the way Paul saw it.

"Pressure is a terminology that doesn't align with my life," Paul said. "Where I come from, the pressures are totally different. But I did think it was an important summer. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. It was important for me from a personal standpoint and a company standpoint."

Months went by. The top free agents on the board were landing contracts and still Bledsoe remained on the market. Phoenix alerted the league from the jump that if an offer sheet were issued to Bledsoe, it would match.

Teams were not interested in tying up salary for a gamble. With no movement, the $3.7 million qualifying offer was in play. If signed by the Oct. 1 deadline, Bledsoe would have become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2015 and Phoenix would risk losing him without compensation.

There didn't appear to be a resolution in sight. In the meantime, Bledsoe trained in Cleveland with James. After one of their sessions in early September, James sent out an Instagram photo of his and Bledsoe's workout and it included a message to Phoenix:

Loading Great work today lil bro @ebled2!! Future All-Star in this league in no time. PHX break bread. #Klutch #Work #GymRats #StriveForGreatness View on Instagram

Paul was perceived to be losing control, and the thinking was Bledsoe would either sign the qualifying offer or a deal slightly above the initial offer.

Neither would hold true. All of a sudden, talks resumed and before you knew it, Paul and Bledsoe were flying to Arizona in hopes of finalizing a deal.

On Sept. 24, they reached an agreement on a five-year, $70 million contract. On Sept. 29, Paul would have submitted a signed qualifying offer.

Not only did Paul get an extra year, he got more money for his client - a client who, again, only played in 43 games last year. To put the deal in perspective, point guard Kyle Lowry re-signed in Toronto for four years and $48 million this past summer; and Golden State's Stephen Curry is in the middle of a four-year, $44 million contract.

"My job is to do what's best for my client," he said. "I'm always going to take the same risk that they take. The beauty about this business is that I'm not a defense lawyer. So you don't pay me and I get you two years when you were facing 10, and I still get paid and you go to jail. That's not the way it works. When they do well, I do well.

"In Eric's situation, I believed in Eric and he believed in me. Everything we talked about and evaluated with him is dead on. He's an emerging star and I felt like he needed to be compensated that way. Anytime you're doing business, you're not doing it based on where they're currently at, it's about where they are destined to go. It was just about me doing what's best for my client. Again, I'm just doing my job."

To Paul, this is just what he is expected to do.

However, that didn't prevent James from weighing in by congratulating Bledsoe, and in the process, calling out all who doubted his agent:

Loading Congrats to my brother @ebled2!! Family stand for each other through the good and bad! I guess we still don't know what we doing yet huh Rich!?! #StriveForGreatness #Klutch #RWTW View on Instagram

Paul explained James' rationale behind his encouraging social media posts.

"That's just who LeBron is," Paul said with a smile. "LeBron is very passionate, genuine and authentic. That's why we love him. He never tried to step in the middle of the negotiations. It was more so his love for Eric Bledsoe.

"When LeBron said 'We,' he meant us. That being myself, LeBron, Eric and the rest of the guys I represent. No one is telling other players that they don't know what they're doing when they choose to sign with other agents, so why is it that way with us? Not to mention that we are producing results. So, that's all he meant. We're a family."

Paul is not one to be on social media, but if he were, he says the Internet cynics wouldn't inconvenience him one bit.

"They talked (badly) about Jesus and he created man. Think about that," he said. "If they talked about him, then who are we? Hey, people talk. And we live in a world today that because of social media, everybody has a say. I'm not on social media so if you're talking about me, who cares?

"I don't see it and if I were to see it, I would have no reaction because again, I'm just a different guy. It doesn't bother me. I don't care for people to accept me in a certain light. I'm just going to be who I am, do my job and go home to take care of my family."

As far as the credence of the 2014 summer being a make-or-break period for Paul, he disagreed.

"No, because people have ups and downs," Paul said. "The stock market crashes, people lose all that they have and then they come back around. I wouldn't necessarily say it was a make-or-break summer, but anytime you're doing something with the best guys in any business, it's big."

Paul doesn't look the part of your typical agent. He owns his share of tailor-made custom suits, but you'd more likely catch him sporting some high-end Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford attire. He marches to the beat of his own drum and doesn't apologize for it.

You'll also on occasion find him hanging out and socializing with his clients, something most agents tend to avoid.

"Well, that's what (agents) choose to do," he said while shrugging his shoulders. "There's an age and interest difference for a lot of them. It's not an agent-player relationship all the time. We're all young men that are in business together. That's how it is and it's unique. At the same time, I understand it, but again, there's no right or wrong way to represent a client.

"I'm 33 years old. If a guy is 24, chances are we listen to the same music and like some of the same clothes. We may do things together and hang out. It's a false perception of what that relationship should look like. That thinking has been set upon us to create this difference between players so that the player perceives the agent as all business. Other agents have fun, too. Players just aren't interested in doing the things they do.

"I'm going to keep doing it all. One day I may be in Chuck E Cheese and the next day I'll be in Monaco. To each his own."

Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports Management represented James as a rookie and currently represents All-Star Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers. At one time he also had Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant as clients.

"What Rich was able to do this summer was mighty impressive," Goodwin said. "The sky is the limit for him."

Rich Paul's office overlooks the Cleveland skyline. A Cleveland native, Paul says his late father's honesty and devotion to community helped shape the person and agent that he is today.

Living up to a legacy

As the 2014-15 NBA campaign approaches, Paul can look back on the summer and reflect on $116 million worth of negotiated deals between James, Seraphin (signed $3.8 million qualifying offer) and Bledsoe.

He refuses to take all of the credit and prefers that the spotlight be on his management team and his clients, and the one common theme he keeps referring to: "I'm just doing my job."

"If LeBron and I disagree on something, he's going to know it," he said. "I'm going to be open and honest with him regardless of his stature or how much money he makes being the best player in the world. The same goes for Eric [Bledsoe], Kevin Seraphin, Tristan Thompson, Corey Joseph, Norris Cole or any other kid I recruit, that's who I'm going to be. No one will ever say, 'Rich didn't give it to me straight.'"

His principles can be traced back to his father, Rich Paul Sr. His father, who succumbed to cancer in 1999, always stressed education, work ethic and accountability. He was also known as a straight shooter.

Sound familiar?

His father owned a neighborhood store, R & J Confectionary located on 125th and Arlington in Glenville. Paul and his siblings lived above it in a one-bedroom apartment. In serving a neighborhood infested with drugs, crime, poverty and single-family homes, on a daily basis Paul Sr. did his best to help out the people of his community, even if it sometimes meant not turning a profit.

That foundation of aiding those less fortunate was instilled in Paul's heart from the time he was a child. His pop is also responsible for shaping his strong business sense.

"The area I grew up in is a beautiful sight in an ugly picture," Paul described. "At 13, you're 18. At 18, you're 25, and the reason being is that the streets raise you. You have to grow up really fast. The decisions you make could be one of life or death. There's a lot of stress. Kids are born with envy inside their bone marrow because that's all they hear inside the womb are struggles, stress, and arguing.

"But there are geniuses inside of those mile radiuses, and hopefully I can show kids that you don't have to be the player. You can represent the player. I wear that on my sleeve because growing up, I was able to see a lot of things at my age that no kid should be forced to see. That's where I got my tough skin."

That skin was tested this summer. He needed every layer of it. Every negotiating roadblock was thrust at Paul, and he found a way past them. After James lost his first NBA Finals, Paul told him the dents in a man's armor show that he's battle-tested.

Paul received his dents this summer.

It is well documented that Paul never graduated from college. But what he's doing is applying practical, hands-on experience he received growing up. No institution can teach that. He's built for this.

Paul says he's still soaking up what he can from people in the business, adding that his clients deserve that from him. No one is a finished product and in order to continue that pursuit of greatness, one must be willing to listen.

"I have the opportunity to represent the best players in the business and in doing so, with them believing in me, I have to come through," Paul said. "It wasn't about doing my job to get the accolades or the ovations from others. It was about doing the right job for my clients and I think that's what I was able to do."

As of now, Paul just wants to focus on growing Klutch, one guy at a time. He knows he still has a lot of work to do and says complacency will not be an option.

It will be interesting to see what will become of Paul 20 years from now. He's a trendsetter with unconventional approaches to both life and business. Wherever this path takes him, he hopes to be remembered for his honesty, integrity, character and work ethic.

He's off to an extraordinary start.

"I hope at the end of the day my legacy is that I built an agency where the client's needs are first and that I was able to prepare young men into being successful businessmen beyond their playing days," Paul said. "I think that's all you can ask for, that you advise guys the right way and do your due diligence when it comes to representing clients.

"We've been blessed. We had a great summer. I'm appreciative to the Suns, the Heat, Wizards, and Cavaliers. But again, I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm just doing my job."