MoxDash

When I first walked into the Atlanta Hawks’ practice facility in the 2018 offseason to interview Justin Anderson, I had no idea what I was doing. I also had no clue how I even landed the job.

I remember telling Anderson, who was just traded to the Hawks, the same thing: I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully, Anderson is one of the nicest people in the NBA and couldn’t have been more patient and understanding that I was figuring out how to do everything on the fly.

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The story I wrote on Anderson and the trade to Atlanta was the first basketball story I had ever written. Prior to covering the Hawks, I was writing about University of Alabama high school football recruiting, and now here I was covering the NBA. I have to thank our Bay Area columnist Marcus Thompson II first. Without him, I have no clue where I would be. The day I was laid off from my previous job, Marcus, whom I didn’t personally know, told me The Athletic was hiring reporters in Atlanta, and he recommended me. Several interviews later, I was covering the Hawks and Georgia Tech.

This is my final story as a Hawks beat reporter and my final week as an Atlanta resident. Starting next week I will be joining Lindsey Adler to cover the Yankees for The Athletic.

I grew up in the Bronx, but Atlanta has been my home for the past eight years, and I’m truly going to miss this place. I first fell in love with the city as an intern for 680 The Fan during my junior year in college, and I knew this was where I wanted to be. I’m glad I got to experience so many major life events here.

I’m truly going to miss covering the Hawks. This organization could not have better people inside of it. From all the way at the top with Tony Ressler to the game-day operations staff working for State Farm Arena whom I would always fist bump on the court before games. Work is always so much better when every single person you interact with is a quality human. The public relations staff of Garin Narain, Jon Steinberg, Jelani Downing, Billy Hartman and Holden Sawyer were all incredible to deal with on a daily basis. They always made my life as easy as possible, even when they couldn’t make an interview happen on occasion.

All of the Hawks’ front-office executives were also always great to deal with. A special shout out to Steve Koonin, Travis Schlenk, Landry Fields, Rod Higgins and countless others with whom I’ve interacted.

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I feel like I started covering the Hawks at the perfect time for a young reporter with no experience covering the NBA because the franchise was just starting its rebuilding process. That allowed me to meet almost an entirely new roster of players every season for my first couple of years. Kent Bazemore, Jeremy Lin and Vince Carter taught me so much in my first year. I can’t thank them enough. Alex Len, DeAndre’ Bembry and Taurean Prince were always gracious and thoughtful with their time. Evan Turner and Dewayne Dedmon constantly made me laugh.

Watching Trae Young, John Collins and Kevin Huerter grow and establish themselves in the league has been the coolest part of this job. I had a front-row seat from the beginning, and watching each of those guys have their moment on the biggest stage in the 2021 playoffs was something I’ll never forget. I can’t wait to continue watching each of them grow from afar.

I’m going to miss the honesty of both Bogdan Bogdanović and Clint Capela. They’re two of my favorite people I’ve ever interacted with in this business. Even when I had to be critical of them sometimes, they always understood where I was coming from. In this job, you’re never going to make 100 percent of the people you come across happy. It’s a hard lesson to understand as a young reporter, but the older I got, the more I realized how all of the best reporters are respected for passing along the truth whether or not it upsets people.

I have to mention Lloyd Pierce and Nate McMillan, the two people I’ve spoken with more than just about everyone in my life for the past four years. Coaches talk nearly every single day from training camp until the end of the season. It’s a lot to put up with, especially when things aren’t going well or a game is lost. I’ve always approached this job with the understanding that hard questions need to be asked sometimes, and I know they’re not always easy to answer publicly, so I appreciate Pierce and McMillan for putting up with my countless questions.

And I can’t forget about Hawks fans. What a passionate group you all are. Once I was hired, you all quickly showed how much you care about this franchise by subscribing to read about a team that clearly wasn’t going to win many games for a while. When I was asked if I wanted to solely focus on the Hawks just a few months into the job, the answer was an easy one. Don’t let anyone tell you Hawks fans don’t care about their team; it couldn’t be more false.

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The interactions I’ve had online with you all and those I’ve met at the arena have always meant so much because you all believed in me and my work. I’ll miss you all. My No. 1 goal was to provide all of you with information and insight on your favorite team that you couldn’t get elsewhere, and I know I’ve accomplished that.

I’ll leave you with this: I hope I made you feel something over these past four years. If you get that reference, thanks for rocking with me for so long.

(Photo: Dale Zanine / USA Today)

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