Press Pass | Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe Talks Kyrie Irving, His Favorite Interviewee, and His Go-To Boston Restaurant

Gary Washburn is the national NBA reporter for the Boston Globe. He has 20 years of experience in the industry, and took the time to chat with The Big Lead about his personal journey as a journalist, his thoughts on the Celtics’ offseason plans, and more. 

Liam McKeone: Hi, Gary, thanks so much for joining us today. You’ve been in this industry for a long time. How would you describe your journey from your college days to a national reporter for a big brand like the Globe?

Gary Washburn: Well, I started out at U.C. Berkley. I always wanted to pursue something in journalism, so I ended up writing for the school paper there, the Daily Californian. I wanted to do more play-by-play; that was kind of my goal when I was a kid, to be a Bryan Gumbel type. I wanted to do play-by-play with the radio station, and [they said] “Yeah, you can work for us. That’s great, no problem, but we don’t pay. You work here for free.” And the newspaper paid, so of course I took the newspaper job,  and found I liked doing sports.

When I found out it was something I could do for a living, I was sold. I knew I wanted to do something in the media. I wanted to be a sportscaster initially, so when I found out about sports writing, I was there. After graduation I worked briefly at the Long Beach Press Telegram, which is near where I’m from. I did high school sports and saw some pretty amazing athletes during that time that were from that area.

Close to a year later I got hired by Los Angeles Daily News, where I did prep, then I did USC, then the Clippers, eventually. That was another good experience, covering a lot of athletes, especially in baseball, before they made the major leagues. A guy I covered was Gabe Kapler, who’s now the manager in Philadelphia, which makes me feel old… I worked with a guy named Eric Sondheimer, who was a prep guru, a high school guru to this day in Los Angeles, and I learned a lot from him.

Then I went to the Contra Costa Times. I was supposed to write a media column and be a GA, but ended up covering the Athletics and the ending of the post-McGwire era… I watched the early stages of the Moneyball era with Giambi, Tejada, Chavez… I covered them for four years, saw them win two division championships. Obviously, the movie came out, and it was interesting being a part of that. Watching these guys, Billy Beane, being real intimate and a part of that experience.

I moved on to Baltimore where I covered the Orioles for MLB.com. It was a great experience but I think every reporter needs to cover a really bad team. It adds to your resume, adds to your experience. The Orioles were really bad during those years, and it was a good experience to see a franchise that really tried [but were still bad]. They weren’t the Kansas City Royals or the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Marlins where they were literally not spending any money and fielding AAA teams. They were really trying to spend money to compete with the Yankees and the Red Sox and it just never worked. To see a franchise that had once been proud fail miserably, and as not good as it was for Baltimore fans, it was a good experience to see what the mismanagement was like.

From there I moved to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to cover the Sonics and when I got there, everything seemed okay. They had just come off a Western Conference Semifinals where they lost to the Spurs, who went on to win the title. So things seemed on the up-and-up, but they literally got decimated by free agency and they changed coaches.

Suddenly the signs were of a franchise on the brink and here comes the stadium issue. So I walked right into a franchise in upheaval. The fans started to hate the infamous Howard Schultz; he made a lot of promises but he wanted a new arena and then he put the team up for sale. The team sold in five months, which was unprecedented for a professional sports franchise. Then here comes Clay Bennett and the Oklahoma people and they draft Kevin Durant. That was a sad situation for the city, but it was also partly the city’s fault. To be part of a franchise that was in its final days, it was interesting.

Washburn: The Sonics ended up relocating, but I stayed at the PI for about nine months until they announced they were transitioning to a website and were going to lay off 85% of the staff, so I was one of the victims there in March of ‘09. I did some freelancing. I actually got my license to sell insurance as a backup. Then the Globe called with the job I have now. I’ve been here for ten years and it’s been a great experience to cover one of the storied franchises in sports history.

The fanbase, the city of Boston, it’s a great sports town. They’re into it. They live and die by the game. Sports in the Northeast is very important, as opposed to other areas like LA, where sports is important but there’s so many other activities for you to do that the focus isn’t on every game every night as it is here. It’s a great environment in which to work, because people are completely into what you write. They criticize what you write, they think they know more than you, which is fine, I get it! I’ve been here for ten years, writing the national column and the Sunday column.

McKeone: Were there any major changes you had to make transitioning from writing about baseball to basketball?

Washburn: Baseball players, especially before they hit arbitration, are still very much underpaid. Their sensitivity is higher. But this is before social media, so I can’t really say how it is right now. You can say “Kevin Durant is sensitive,” and yeah, that’s true. Basketball players can be sensitive also.

But baseball players are lower paid because they don’t get the big paycheck until their sixth season, so they’re more sensitive [to media coverage]. A lot of them never went to college, so they’re not as savvy on how to deal with the media and a lot of them are influenced by veteran players who told them, “Don’t trust the media.” There were other guys who were great and open with the media.

The difference with baseball players is they’re taught by their older brethren not to trust us and they make sure to draw the line between themselves and the media… I’ve found baseball to be a lot of numbers, analytics. Baseball is a numbers game. Basketball can be that way, too. Definitely the analytic phase in basketball has emerged over the last decade, but baseball was like that before. So that’s the difference there. 

McKeone: Now that you’ve covered both sports for a similar amount of time, do you have a preference between baseball and basketball?

Washburn: I learned to love baseball. It’s an acquired taste. I like basketball because, logistically, the season is during the winter and you have the summer. Covering basketball, it’s exciting, it’s fast-paced, it’s an exciting sport with dunks and three-point shots and all that. Baseball is an acquired taste. It’s like jazz. You have to listen to a jazz song many times to learn to appreciate it. Baseball is more of a chess match in terms of the managers. They have much more to do with the success of their teams.

I enjoyed covering baseball, but I’d say I enjoy covering basketball more, because of the fast pace. I grew up a huge basketball fan. I was a huge baseball fan growing up too, but just the excitement of the sport, you’re right next to the fans, you’re not cooped up in a press box, just the atmosphere.

McKeone: Let’s talk Celtics. This year was a massive letdown for Boston. If you had to pin their struggles on one issue, what would it be?

Washburn: Just lack of chemistry. People will blame Kyrie Irving or Gordon Hayward, I think it was just a lack of chemistry. I don’t know if you remember when the Lakers added Karl Malone and Gary Payton in 2004 and they were supposed to win 80 games and sweep through the playoffs, but they ended up losing in the finals because they couldn’t quite get it together. It’s the same thing. They had all this talent and just couldn’t find ways to play together. It was no one’s particular fault, it’s just a testament [that] good chemistry [matters], guys have to be on the same page, get along, have the same agenda. That just wasn’t the case. Just poor chemistry.

McKeone: Does Kyrie Irving stay or go this summer?

Washburn: I think he’s gone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed. I have no idea what makes Kyrie happy. He’s one of the more mercurial athletes I’ve covered, in terms of you just don’t know what he’s thinking at any particular time. His attitude, his personality is sometimes great. Sometimes he’s happy, other times he’s surly, so I could not tell you what’s going on in his head… If I knew that answer, I’d go to Las Vegas.

I have no clue as to what he’s thinking, what makes him happy, what pleases him, whether he was completely done with the Celtics after the season or if he was upset with himself, I could not tell you where his thinking is. I think he’s gone, because there’s something in him that wants to go back to New York and play for his hometown team and be part of the New York scene and New York sports history. I don’t think Boston can bring that.

McKeone: Let’s entertain the possibility he does stay. What’s a realistic package for Anthony Davis?

Washburn: Well, you’re talking about dealing with David Griffin who’s very savvy. Realistic is probably Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, that first-round pick from Memphis next year, and you have to match up the salaries, so you’d probably have to throw in even a Marcus Smart. It might be a 3-for-1, with a draft pick, and you gotta match the salaries. You can’t trade two guys on rookie contracts for Anthony Davis, that’s not gonna work. You gotta include a Marcus Smart, a guy who’s going to make a good deal of money to match the salary. So I’d think that kind of package- Smart, Tatum, and Brown, plus the Memphis pick- for Davis.

McKeone: Now let’s flip to the other side of things. If Kyrie leaves, what direction do you see the Celtics taking?

Washburn: I think they try to compete. They have enough talent to still be a pretty good team. They go into free agency and sign a stop-gap point guard, a guy who maybe isn’t top-10 or 15 in the league… Then you might add another player in free agency and try and go from there. You also have three first-round picks to deal with, where you could make a trade or acquire someone else to trade. I think Danny Ainge will become creative, in that sense. I think they’re fully prepared for Kyrie Irving to leave, and they’re probably coming up with alternative plans.

McKeone: There’s been some talk about what Al Horford will do with his contract option this summer, especially in light of the Irving situation. How do you see that unfolding?

Washburn: I don’t think he leaves. I don’t think Al wants to jump into the foray of free agency. He likes Boston and wants to stick around. Now the question is, do the Celtics want him around for, let’s say, three more years? I think Al would be open to opting out, but then signing an extension in the range of $60 million. He’ll have the security of three more years because he’ll be 33 in June,  and he’ll make decent money, but I don’t think he’ll go out on the market and be a max guy.

Some team could pay him the max, but as a 33-year-old guy, do you pay him 4 years, $130 million? I don’t think so. That’s an interesting topic, though, because some team might. But the Celtics value him, value his leadership, his consistent and steady play, so I think he’ll be back and they’ll make some type of deal.

McKeone: What’s your favorite arena to visit in the NBA?

Washburn: Oh boy… Let me think here… Favorite arena… I mean, I’ll say the Staples Center. I just love the environment, I love that every game seems like a big game. That’s hometown for me. Staples Center is always a very neat place to go and cover a game. They still seat you close to the floor, unlike a lot of teams that now seat you in the rafters. But you’re right there, you see celebrities walk by on their way to their seats. You got Lawrence Tanter, the PA guy, the best probably ever, that environment is just great.

McKeone: Who was your favorite player to interview throughout your time covering the Celtics?

Washburn: To interview? Evan Turner. He’s such a creative guy, very comfortable in his own skin. A guy who was the second overall pick many years ago, there was a lot of pressure on him in Philly and he never really lived up to that expectation. He’s made a good career for himself, he’s a solid player.

Washburn: But you could see the transformation in him, becoming comfortable in his own skin and understanding, “Hey, I’m never going to be that super-duper star, but I can be a solid player in this league, and I have to live and be okay with that.” He was open with us, very approachable and open. Definitely a creative guy who would say anything off the top of his head. Very good guy.

McKeone: Do you have a go-to food spot in Boston?

Washburn: Uhh… Wow… There was a spot called Darryl’s that we used to go to after games. Good food, good atmosphere. There are a lot of people who think there aren’t a lot of African Americans here in Boston, and I would take my colleagues there and we’d get some good food and culture and be able to be in a good atmosphere. I would say there, just in terms of atmosphere. Maybe not the greatest food, but there’s plenty of restaurants that have amazing food. Just for the culture aspect of it, and a good place to feel comfortable.

McKeone: What’s one thing you wish other people, the people who tweet at you like they know better, knew about being a sports journalist?

Washburn: Several things. One, we don’t write the headlines for our stories. Two, we don’t sit there and eat popcorn and watch the game and just kick it. We’re writing during the game, we’re on deadlines, we don’t get a chance to go home and take a deep breath. Now, I work at a newspaper, and I’m sure guys who are online can do that now if they don’t have to write after the game. We don’t get a chance to go home and figure out what to write and think about it. We don’t get a free ticket.

McKeone: Finally, what’s one thing you wish you knew when you were just getting started in the industry of sports media?

Washburn: How much of a people business this is. How much of a relationship business this is. I worked with Marc Stein at the LA Daily News, and Marc told me, “You have to act like you know these guys.” It took me a long time to learn that. That’s what makes relationships. I’m not saying, you know, B.S. them or try to act like you’re buddies. Just call them by their name. If someone calls you by their name, you say, “Okay, you know who I am.” You’re probably a little more impressed with that, as opposed to, “I don’t know you… I’m going to treat you as if we never met.”

I just think that, as a young reporter, it’s a people business, and it’s a relationship business. It’s building relationships, talking to people. Even though there might be a tremendous age difference or you might be talking to someone who’s old enough to be your grandfather. When I covered the Clippers, the coach was Bill Fitch. He was 68 years old, and I was 26. So he was literally old enough to be my grandfather. I had to build a relationship with him and talk to him about basketball, even though, as they say, he forgot more than I knew about basketball. That was important to me. I would tell my younger self to be good at building relationships, talk, and don’t be shy.