Let's Talk About Willis

On the 50th anniversary of his retirement, I have a conversation with Ray Marcano about the great Willis Reed.

Good morning! Only 10 DAYS to go until media day! Woo Hoo! Expect the beginning of my NBA preview content next week before we dive in head first after media day. Almost time to giddy up.

News & Notes

On Wednesday, longtime NBA newsbreaker Adrian Wojnarowski called it quits, opting for a less strenuous life managing the college basketball team of his alma mater.

I know a lot of people have complicated feelings about Woj, so I figured I’d take the opportunity to share some of mine.

Primarily, it is one of admiration. I often wonder about what it must be like to be the very best at a particular thing, and the unique pressures that come with maintaining one’s spot on that perch. Frankly, I can’t imagine the toll it must take. How does one have a family life? Sleep? Take vacations? Hell, take a shit? Personally, if you put me in Woj’s job for a month, I’d probably waive the white flag.

And yet there he was, at the pinnacle of his profession - doing a job that arguably did not exist before him - for more than a decade. I’m shocked he didn’t call it quits earlier.

There is another part of me that has become all too familiar with the reality of the NBA reporting business, and about how much success in the industry is dependent on currying favor with important people, even if it might border on compromising your values from time to time. Woj wasn’t always above this. He also had some choice words about the Knicks from time to time that I felt were unfair (see: rudderless).

But in comparison to one or two of his peers who shall not be named, his sins seemed trivial. More than that, he almost never, ever got anything wrong (I’d say “never” as opposed to “almost never,” because frankly I can’t remember a single errant Woj report, but I may be forgetting something). Was he an expert at crafting language to give himself an out in case something changed at the last minute? Of course.

But that’s part of the job.

As was building up the level of trust required to get so many of those stories in the first place. No one gifted him his gig. He worked his way from the ground up, first to get it, and then redefine it. It is an incredible achievement by any metric.

For whatever faults he had, I’ll miss Woj. There was nothing like a Woj Bomb hitting out of nowhere, especially when it was good news for the Knicks.

Here’s hoping whoever fills his massive shoes delivers more good tidings in the years to come.

Let’s Talk About Willis

A few weeks ago, frequent contributor and noted Knicks historian Ray Marcano made me aware that we were coming up on the 50th anniversary of Willis Reed’s retirement, which passed two days ago. On that date - September 18, 1974 - Reed hung up his hightops for good. To this day, he remains the only player to have made an All-NBA team and have played his entire career with the Knicks. What follows is a conversation with Ray about what made Willis so special. Hope you enjoy.