I guess I have a more charitable view of parents and the handlers thing. For a parent, having a kid with this kind of talent is literally like holding a winning lottery ticket. You don't want to lose it before you can claim the winnings. So every decision probably seems like life or death. Factor in the socio-economic and educational context which is the typical case, and I'm sure it's overwhelming. So you have a group of men you have known for some time. Some are AAU coaches maybe that have been around for 6 or 7 years, others are more opportunistic and didn't enter the picture until it became clear just how talented your kid is, but either way, they have been around, been voices you have listened to for some time regarding your kid.
In all of that stew, it's easy for me to see how confusing the whole thing is, how you're not sure who to listen to, and get paralyzed by the whole thing.
That's at least one version of it. It's not necessarily as cynical as a parent being told by a leech where to send his kid in exchange for money.....