Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Katz now lists Westbrook as one of his favorite players to have covered. He’s not alone. While Westbrook was criticized by many members of the media after his Kings rant, others quickly sprang to his defense. NBA reporter Cayleigh Griffin tweeted that Westbrook was one of her favorite players to cover while in Houston. Sideline reporter Lesley McCaslin echoed those sentiments, noting Westbrook’s intensity actually made her better at her job. And off-camera, he showed a rare personal touch. When McCaslin was pregnant, Westbrook surprised her by personally selecting a high-end stroller as a gift. "He’s more human than people would ever think," McCaslin told Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins in 2016. "He just doesn’t want you to know that."
Keith O’Brien on Larry Bird: I just loved that story of that summer that Bird spends with that traveling band of all-stars in Europe. There are some other big names on that team, including future NBA greats like Sidney Moncrief. That is the moment, in the summer of 1977, when Larry Bird really becomes Larry Bird, and it is really as a result of that summer traveling on that team, when Sports Illustrated decides to put Bird on the cover of the magazine in November of that year, which really is a turning point in his life. So I think that the entire summer and fall is just crucial to the narrative of Larry Bird. I believe the Larry Bird that we would come to know was born on a basketball court in Europe. I really do believe that. That is the moment when Larry Bird becomes Larry Bird.
Zach Lowe: I started at Sports Illustrated, then I went to Grantland. Bill [Simmons] was my boss for a long time. Made glorious fun of many people—including David Kahn. Some of those people took it well. Others did not. And some of those others liked to take out their rage against Bill… on Bill’s subordinates. At the Board of Governors meeting one year in New York, I was there. David Kahn was there representing the Timberwolves. Glenn Taylor was also there, but Kahn, I guess, was an alternate governor. I don’t know. I said, ‘You know what, there’s David Kahn. I’ve never met him before. I’m going to go introduce myself.’ Walk across the room. ‘Hey David, Zach Lowe, Grantland. Just wanted to put a face to a name, all that.’ I don’t know if I had made fun of him at some point, probably. He just looks me dead in the eyes and says: ‘Tell your boss he’s a f*ckin a**hole.’ And walks away. And I was like… ‘Okay. That’s how it’s going to be.’
Former ESPN executive editor Cristina Daglas has landed a new job with Monumental Basketball —which operates the Wizards, Mystics, and the G League’s Capital City Go-Go— the organization confirmed to Front Office Sports. Daglas’s title is head of research and identity. The role is similar to how the Clippers hired former Sports Illustrated writer Lee Jenkins in 2018, with the title of executive director of research and identity.
The NBA media arms race continues, this time with the NBA on NBC bringing on an insider for studio and digital coverage. On Monday, NBC Sports announced it has hired Chris Mannix as its NBA insider. The veteran Sports Illustrated reporter already works as a contributor to NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics coverage and now will cover the league nationally on NBC and Peacock broadcasts starting Oct. 21, when pro hoops returns to NBC for the first time in more than 20 years.
Advertisement
Chris Mannix: The Indiana Pacers team plane has landed in Tulsa, a team official told SI. The Pacers plane circled the OKC area before landing in Tulsa to refuel. A tornado warning is in effect in Oklahoma City.
Collins wrote the essay for Sports Illustrated, which was posted on April 29, 2013. It was the cover story for the magazine’s May 6 print edition. “We knew it was going to be online at 11 a.m. Eastern time,” Collins said. “I was living in Los Angeles at the time. There were people I felt should hear it from me first, so that weekend, there were a lot of phone calls that were being made.”
Unlike Wojnarowski, who worked as a beat reporter at local newspapers before becoming an award-winning columnist, and Charania, who started trying to be an insider while still in high school, Fischer began his career hoping to write longform magazine features. “I never wanted to be an insider,” he said. Fischer scored an internship at Sports Illustrated in 2015 and stacked his portfolio with human interest articles. He got coffee with an NBA coach obsessed with Starbucks. He chronicled the rigorous routines that two over-40 players went through to stay on the court near the end of their careers. “I made all these relationships around the NBA by writing these non-threatening stories,” he said.
Fans were excited to see Wembanyama face off against Kevin Durant on Thursday night in a matchup that never got to happen. After the Spurs defeated the Suns on Thursday, Durant gave some heartfelt words to Wembanyama. “I’m thinking about Vic. I’m sure the whole basketball world is thinking about it, but somebody like that who has a strong mind … he’s going to put his best foot forward," Durant said. “I don’t even know Vic well enough, but I can just tell.” Durant offered some unexpected advice when it came to what Wembanyama should do during his recovery time. "Go find some more Legos to put together, read some new books and then when it’s time to get back on the court…lock in," Durant said
The show’s core of host Ernie Johnson and analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith will presumably remain intact. But former ESPN president John Skipper said Friday he believes they’ll be joined “at some point” by Stephen A. Smith. Of course, the moment ESPN obtained rights to air the show last month, speculation began Smith might become part of the mix. ESPN content president Burke Magnus recently dispelled that notion. He recently told Sports Illustrated‘s Jimmy Traina that ESPN had “no plans” to add Smith to the show, adding, “We don’t want to change it. We don’t want to interject new talent into it. We don’t want to really do anything to it.”
Advertisement
Harden, who is expected to shoulder the offensive load with Kawhi Leonard sidelined, was ecstatic about the new arena. “It's crackin'! It's crackin' in here. Preseason game but just to see the screen and the fans and the lights all around the seats, it's gonna be a good season for us. It's gonna be fun to watch,” Harden told Sports Illustrated's Joey Linn. “Once we get in there a little bit more, get a little bit more comfortable. But I'm just excited about the whole atmosphere in this building. I think the city of L.A. is excited about it as well.”
And while Kerr, also Green's coach with Golden State, already said he felt like an "idiot" for the choice, his outspoken forward offered an opinion on the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show." “Not playing [Tatum] was wrong,” Green said (h/t SI.com's Kristen Wong). “We all know it was wrong. He should’ve played. He didn’t … What I don’t like about it is, now to me it feels like a covering my tracks, proving a point type of thing to where, oh now Joel [Embiid] is out of the lineup. And then [Saturday], Jrue [Holiday] didn’t play… From the outside looking in, it comes off as, ‘We made a mistake as a coaching staff.’ ”
The release on his jumper is crisp, to the point that talent evaluators agree that at the very least, he’ll be a lethal knockdown shooter. Sports Illustrated wrote that he “sees the floor extremely well for his size and has a natural feel for the game.” With his size and playing style, there are obvious comparisons to Kevin Durant. But Matas Buzelis lists Luka Doncic, Paul George, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as his favorite players to watch, before dutifully noting, “I don’t really want to be like them. I want to be my own player.”
Hall of Fame NBAer Rick Barry very nearly ended up joining the Boston Celtics late in his playing career according to the man himself in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s Eric Jay Santos. “I reached out to them because I wasn’t happy with what was happening in Houston,” related Barry of the contract dispute that would eventually lead to his retirement. But the ball club elected to cut back their roster by one player, which Barry blames for spoiling the possibility. “I was going to play with the Celtics, but they cut the rosters back from 12 to 11 players,” he explained. “I was really looking forward to it.” “I probably could’ve played (for) two (or) three more years,” continued Barry. “It would’ve been great to go play with the Celtics like so many other players did.”