The long and short of it: I have accepted a position with the Los Angeles Sparks’ front office, thereby ending, in addition to my other public-facing work, my coverage of the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty on this site. I am thrilled. I am elated, I am relieved. But more than that, I do not have the words to describe how I feel about this opportunity, so take those clichés for more than what they’re worth. I did not always know I was working toward this position, particularly when I was cutting
and posting clips of Nets basketball from the back row of my most tedious college lectures. Nor when I started to cover the New York Liberty nearly four years ago.
And yet, I am not thrilled to be leaving NetsDaily. At some point, I set my mind to finding a full-time position in basketball, a goal that definitionally entails leaving NetsDaily. The day has come. But even as a Volunteer Blogger, I got far more out of this place than I ever put in. I was gifted a Vince Carter poster (visible in the background of any/all of my on camera-appearances) when I was six years old, and nearly two decades later, I was talking to him at the top of the Empire State Building. I walked alongside a parade down the Canyon of Heroes, covering New York’s first pro basketball championship in nearly 50 years. I got to talk about the Nets, which I would’ve done anyway, but on podcasts and blogs and in the media dining rooms at Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden and TD Garden and Accor Arena.
I owe the most to those here at ND. I was in Seattle in November of 2021 — technically for a college-credit-internship but really for the 4 p.m. start times — when Bob (Net Income) called me to ask if I had any interest in writing for the site. I was nervous to pick up that phone. That is very funny to me now, but I also know it was the proper emotion. Look at what writers for this little blog have gone on to do, with Bob as the common denominator. I am humbled to be to part of the list.
I will not name all my other NetsDaily colleagues here, but I cannot thank them enough. Likewise for my fellow Nets and Liberty reporters, or anybody that ever shared/edited/housed my writing or talking. Really. I feel the most gratitude for the smallest acts of kindness. As in, I can’t even scale how much support my loved ones have given me, I simply hope these relationships are at least somewhat mutual. But the acquaintances or mutual friends that have given me one compliment or one word of advice or edited one article, even professional contacts that did one ounce more for me than they were contractually obligated to, you may feel your contributions to my path were insignificant. Yeah, maybe. But we will never be able to prove that. It is easier to say a very sincere thank you.
But I am most obliged to you, the reader. There is no way I have this opportunity unless my game recaps about an unremarkable February loss have 250 comments on here. Every media person lives by the “Never Read the Comments” Axiom, completely understandable and yet unattainable to me as an aspiring zoomer blogger and social media poster. And I am glad I read all the comments. I am glad I argued with you about whether Spencer Dinwiddie could guard the point-of-attack or whatever. I am thankful my New York Liberty/WNBA coverage grew exponentially over the years on this site. The team here at NetsDaily, starting with Bob and obviously Pooch — who I did not name earlier but it would feel wrong not to single him out so now here I am wondering if I should single everybody else out but I instead direct you to the preceding paragraph — deserves credit, but so do you. Some of you also paid me very sincere compliments. (Some of you, the opposite, but I thank you too.)
The first time I was ever credentialed as a media member for any basketball game, Kyrie Irving gave that press conference after the buzzer. And yet, it does not feel like it has been a long time. Much has happened, sure, but this has been a constant, such that it is hard to break down my NetsDaily tenure down into time-marking events. I went to practices, I went to games, I watched games from home, I read back my work and cringed at typos, I met other media folks and talked about basketball, sometimes into a microphone and sometimes to myself, trying to figure out what I was seeing. I was right, I was wrong, I argued that I was right. And I loved all of it.
None of that was possible without you guys. None of that was possible without NetsDaily. My next step would not have been possible without NetsDaily. Cherish it.
