Who is new NBPA executive director Michele Roberts?

National Basketball Players executive director Michele Roberts is no stranger to the game.

"When you have two older brothers and one television, you watch a lot of basketball," Roberts, who grew up in the Bronx, told USA TODAY Sports. "I was a captive audience originally but basketball is the kind of game when you watch it, you love it."

She's a longtime Washington Wizards season-ticket, and according to friend, colleague and mentor Charles Ogletree Jr., Roberts likes to express her opinion.

"She's cheering players, giving grief to the referees and telling the coach who to play," Ogletree, a Harvard law professor, said Tuesday, hours after NBA players elected Roberts to the position, making her the first female union leader of the four major professional sports leagues in North America.

Roberts, a prominent attorney who will finish up her work for the prestigious law firm Skadden, Arps, does not have an extensive background in labor or sports but through work or pleasure is familiar with both. Ogletree is not at all concerned about her ability to do the job.

"Her background is in negotiation, it's in changing minds and it's in listening ability and all of those skills will be very important to the union," Ogletree said. "People will have a chance to see a woman who is well-prepared, willing to push for what's right and has the ability to understand what it means for the long haul."

All those factors are very important for the NBPA, which has struggled since the 2011 lockout and resulting collective bargaining agreement. Former executive director Billy Hunter was fired during All-Star weekend in 2013 after it was discovered he mismanaged union business, and the union has been without a permanent director since.

She sold the players on two key points: her personal story (growing up in a Bronx project) and her basic vision of a union.

"The players' vision of the union is that it belongs to them and it should exist to promote, protect and advance their interest and not any other stakeholder or any other person," Roberts said. "What they wanted in an executive director was someone who understood that and would not consider any deviation from that vision."

Based in Washington, D.C., Roberts, who will turn 58 in September, has worked at Skadden, Arps for the past three years. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1977 and California-Berkeley's law school in 1980.

She is known as an outstanding trial attorney and praised for her profound connection with jurors.

"It's not hard if you start with respecting the jury," she told the Washingtonian in 2011. "You become a juror. They're reasonable and they're smart and they're honest. Don't BS them. Don't think you can avoid answering. You can't ignore bad evidence. You can't talk down to them. You can't impress them with fancy language. You have to speak to them honestly and simply."

Ogletree told Legal Times that Roberts is "the 13th juror, capable of seeing the case as the jury sees it, and therefore able to revise strategy, as necessary, mid-trial to address the jury's concerns."

Roberts' interest in law began as a kid, when she and her mother attended criminal trials at the Bronx Supreme Court.

"I thought it was a play," said told the Washingtonian. "I didn't understand the significance of it. Much of it was her translating for me. I just thought it was great. I loved it."

One day, a family friend appeared in court for a bond hearing and eventually pled guilty and spent time in jail.

"I said, 'Where'd he get that lawyer from?' " Roberts said. "My mom said, 'Well, he can't afford another one.' I said, 'I'm going to represent poor people charged with crimes.' "

She was a public defender in Washington before joining the private sector and specializing in white-collar litigation.

But after years practicing law in a courtroom, she decided to make a career change, something she said it not unusual for many people her age.

But why the NBPA?

"If I didn't love basketball, I wouldn't give it a second thought. My love of basketball got me to first base," Roberts said.

She recalls watching a player talk about the union shortly after Hunter was dismissed and saying they wanted to re-build a better and stronger union.

"When I saw that player make that statement with such passion, it reminded me how much I loved these guys," Roberts said. "I admired their resolve to take back their union. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be just great to be a part of that?' … I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I started exploring it."

The union has made slow progress – it elected Chris Paul NBPA president a year ago – and it was time they found a leader, distanced themselves from the Hunter era and looked forward to a new era.

Roberts, who will relocate to the NBPA's New York headquarters, faces immediate challenges. Getting on the same page with the players is first and foremost. That's not an easy task with varying agendas from powerful agents. But she answers to players.

"Before meeting them, I completely endorsed that concept – that a union exists for its members and not for anybody else," she said. "We were on the same page, and I was very clear in expressing that. First and foremost, that's what they needed to hear from me as a fundamental."

Roberts must also build and foster a relationship with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. It's possible players and the league will need to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement after the 2016-17 season and the more the relationship between Roberts and Silver, the better chance at avoiding a prolonged work stoppage.

Also, players and the league split basketball-related income 50-50, and that split is unlikely to deviate drastically. The best way to increase player salary is to increase BRI. While there is a collective-bargaining agreement to hammer out every six years, there is labor peace in between in which the two sides can collaborate and prosper.

"I'm anxious," she said, "to get to work."