Poor Man’s Commish is a long-time credentialed reporter following the Warriors behind the scenes for years. This and the last couple of DubNation Diaries follows him as he travels to the East Coast, meeting the Warriors on their recent road trip.
More From Brooklyn, NY. Feb 5, 2020.
I noticed that Draymond skipped his routine — he would later miss the next game with lower back tightness — and Steph happened to take the floor just as the arena dimmed the lights for some kind of pregame activity.
That made his yellow-colored uni (seemed like he was fully dressed for the game underneath) and similarly matching “MLK” Curry7’s a nice contrast to the darkness.
After filming him, I still hadn’t figured out where press row was, so I made a beeline back to the media room to check the seating chart. Heading back to the court, I bumped into none other than KD and his crew: Randy Williams, Devonte Young, and Antoine the security detail.
I’ve often conversed with Randy and Devonte and Antoine on the regular while KD was still with Golden State, as they were always hanging nearby and waiting for him while I was also waiting to film guys. But KD? Never. Hardly ever.
So it was really, really nice when we dapped as if we actually had hung out all those times. I genuinely missed the guy and missed filming his elite workouts and I told them all that. I also mentioned how Kerr reminisced on those very same workouts and it was really cool to hear him say that he saw my post on Twitter.
In fact, the whole reason I came to New York, with the road trip’s twists and turns to Washington and Cleveland after Philly and Boston — making it not very cost-effective for me to attend unless I skipped it all except for NYC — was to potentially film the interaction with Curry (more on that below). And here I was, partaking in it.
Durant was on the way to his seat on the Nets bench, so the exchange was actually extremely brief, and I do regret not getting a chance to show him my mimicking his “Next Chapter” photograph, muscle shirt and European timepiece and all, but perhaps another time (like when the Nets put their visit to Chase Center coming up).
That visit is going to be special, just like the Andre Iguodala one was this past week — I’ll have a #latepost on that one as well. Despite what certain vocal minorities of #NBATwitter will have you believe, DubNation all-in-all is grateful for Durant’s tenure in the blue and gold and this type of camaraderie among all NBA teams and players, this goodwill, is what I hope brings new perspectives to being a fan.
DubNation at New York University. Feb 6, 2020.
With airfare being cheaper if I stayed a couple more nights, I spent the next day mostly indoors away from the rain then finally braved the cold and headed down to the World Trade Center, something I hadn’t done ever since the towers came down.
As I mentioned in my “Next Chapter” piece, 9/11 had a profound effect on my life and career path leading me here to LGW. It was surreal to see all the names etched in the stone around the waterfalls that now occupy the foundations of the two towers.
None of the Starbucks near there were well-equipped with WiFi so my reporting of the Bob Myers Q&A back at a Chase Center was a little haphazard. I finally made my way to Essex Market in Lower East Side, then headed up to NYU at Union Square to meet with former LetsGoWarriors livetweeter extraordinaire, Rebecca Licht.
Rebecca is now a Sports Management student at NYU and, incredibly, David Kahn is one of her professors. You know, David Kahn as in the guy Bill Simmons makes fun of with the Star Trek II GIF of William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk yelling, “Khannnn!!!” into the communicator. The one who drafted two point guards not named Stephen Curry in the 2009 NBA Draft.
One of Licht’s goals is to ask her professor about that moment. Or really, those two moments.
So Rebecca and I cranked out a podcast (click here: iTunes, Spotify, or other) to get all caught up on all the Warriors trades and the new one involving Andrew Wiggins for D’Angelo Russell.
You can tell, Licht is well on her way with her future career. Not only does she have a coveted sales position at the NBA Store presently, but she’s the co-host of her own sports show on the university’s radio station.
We had a meal at nearby Big Daddy’s, a very nostalgic diner. I took a picture of a young Sean Connery, signed by him too, and texted that to my parents. He was an icon for them back in the day.
Back home
Our pod sesh was a late night thing, done on purpose by me — also, the city (and college students) never sleep — so as it turns out the directions to JFK from mid- to uptown Manhattan are a whole lot easier than anywhere else, and my oh my is JetBlue not only a breeze, but they also have free WiFi!
Not that I used it. I’m able to sleep on airplanes, luckily, and was out for about 4.5 of the six-hour flight. I woke up, hammered out an edit of the podcast with LakerCentral365 (click here: iTunes, Spotify, or other), and immediately headed to Chase Center for the showdown against the Los Angeles Lakers. Pro tip: travel lightly! And learn how to sleep on planes.
I’ll be back soon with updates from the Laker and Iguodala games, and I have a podcast lined up with Casey Manuel, my media replacement for All-Star Weekend with Eric Paschall.
DubNation Diary 6: Brooklyn, Steph, KD and other reunions
Interesting read
Man, I know you're breezing over the tedious bits, but I really wish I had a chance to work in your profession for a week and see these behind-the-scenes moments.
Thanks for bringing them to life for us all here, PMC. One question: is that podcast featuring EP? Or about him at ASW? I'm fairly certain but the grammar is just a bit confusing.
P.S. You're especially lucky that you can sleep on planes. I rarely can and that makes flying from Saigon to California, New York, or Europe a boring, occasionally brutal, experience.