The Press Box - ESPN's Marc J. Spears on Melo's Arrival, a Practice Boycott, and Other Tales from the Nuggets' Locker Room

Episode Date: May 16, 2023

Bryan is joined by ESPN’s Marc J. Spears ahead of the Western Conference finals to discuss his time as a Denver Nuggets beat writer starting back in 1999. They reflect on past moments, from players boycotting team practice to covering the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy while in town for work, to Carmelo Anthony being drafted third overall, and more! Host: Bryan Curtis Guest: Marc J. Spears Producer: Erika Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello, media consumers. Welcome to Press Box Final Edition. Brian Curtis of the Ringer here, along with producer Erica Servantes. Our guest today, Mark J. Spears is a senior writer for ESPN and Anscape. He has won the Kurt Gowdy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame. But with the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, I wanted him to jump into a time machine and tell us some stuff. about his years as the Denver Post Nuggets Beat writer.

Those teams did not win any rings, but they made a ton of news. Mark, welcome to the press box. Boy, oh boy, yeah, I got to dig in the crates of my brain, baby. I got to dig it. Thanks for having me. All right, you got the Nuggets Beat job in 1999. Yeah. Before we dig into any of this, what kind of reporter were you at that point in your career?

I was a general assignment reporter for the Louisville Courier Journal. And at that time, I was doing a lot on the University of Louisville football and basketball beat as well as the University of Kentucky football and basketball beat. Tubby Smith was coaching at Kentucky. Denny Crum, who just recently passed, was the head basketball coach at Louisville. And I broke the news that Tim Couch. was going pro, like one of the first big stories in my career, or Lisa was big in Kentucky. And I was happy.

I was good, man. We had a woman covering Louisville at the time named Ashley McGahey, who now is Ashley McGahey Fox, who went on the cover of the Sixers. And I remember them telling me like, yo, you're about to be the U of L beat writer. this is your job. And I was like, cool, because general assignment, college rider was cool, but one of my friends

said, when you're a GA rider, you're generally assigned to do whatever the hell they want you to do. So I was like, I mean, to me, like, Ashley, like, was the homie, but I was like, she can't leave quick enough, man. I want to cover this U.S. B. And then one of my

mentors that I met from the National Association about black journalists, was a guy by the name of Neil Scarborough. And he just really had been following me for years. And he was the sports editor at the Denver Post at the time. And Neil called me out of the blue. I still remember I was driving somewhere. I don't know why I remember this call.

But I picked it up. And Neil was like, how's everything in Louisville? Because I've been there for almost two years. I'm like, man, it's great. I think I'm about to get the U of L beat, man. I'm really getting my feet wet. Got a good group of friends. getting acclimated.

It's like, oh, okay, we got this job covering in Denver Nuggets. I'm like, when can I leave? And I just remember a little bit being conflicted because Louisville, like, matched, I think, the money or came close to them. And they were like, you know, the cost of living is cheaper here.

You could be one of our top college riders. And, but I talked to Brad Turner, who's a long time, you know, reporter at the L.A. Times. And friend of mine, he's like, bro, we had a, it's funny, we just had a moment about it the other day. Because he talked about me making the Hall of Fame. I'm like, dude, you're the one that was telling me to cover the NBA when I was like thinking back and forth about it. And so I ended up taking a job, man.

And I remember, like, coming there around like Halloweenish of 1999, which is really hard to jump into an NBA beat. Like in the midst of the season, like around Thanksgiving, actually. But, yeah, man, Dan Eiffel was a coach, Nick Ranexel and McDyce were their star players. And it was just like a really, really, and he had a young player by the name of Rayflefremence, if you remember him. And an injured young guard named Chauncey Billups. So it was the first year at a Pepsi Center. I still have a little mini model of the Pepsi Center that probably is worth some money because it's inaccurate. now because Stan Cronkey built a house on top of the Pepsi Center, which, Dan, if you're listening,

I still haven't been into being in the house yet. And I would love to at least get a tour. But yeah, man, that's a long story to tell you how I got the job, you know, covering the Denver Nuggets for the Denver Post. What did Nuggets players make of you that first year on the beat? You know, it was interesting because then I was still in my basically four years removed from college, four or five years removed from college and had a non-memorable college basketball career. But I think I fit in well because I was pretty much the same age as the players. McDice, who I loved covering, is one of the greatest athletes I've ever seen. He once told me,

I could tell you used to play by the questions that you asked. I remember, like, that meant a lot to me that he said that. And so, you know, I think that kind of helped me ingrained with the guys a lot. And it was just me and the, you know, the beat writer from the Rocky Mountain News, and I had full travel. and we could go to practice, believe it or not. We could go to practice at that time, and our seat was right next to the bench.

So being that there was only two of us covering the team, it was inevitable that you got to get to know the players really fast. But even though I didn't go to training camp and missed a portion of the season, just being around them all the time. I got to know all the guys. And, you know, I would say this. Denver was so small that in terms of like the black night clubs

or the predominantly black night clubs that I would go to, the dudes would be in there too. Right. And I remember they're a little skeptical seeing me there. And I'm like, man, y'all ain't got to worry about me as long as you don't get arrested. I'm hanging out like you hanging out, man. Just act like you don't see me. But so I think going there at that time at my age and being around them all the time,

it wasn't really that hard. You know, at first, me and Dan Nessel love each other now. but we like had a hate relation. He didn't really like me at the time. And so covering Dan Essel was like perhaps the toughest thing in the moment. But Nick Van Exo, me and him are really cool now, but Nick will tell you he didn't like me. He probably didn't like me at first. But yeah, man, it, for the most part, I got along with everybody else when I got there.

I was looking up some of the stories you covered. December 2000, Nuggets Players Boy, Boy, caught it a team practice. Yeah. What happened there? Oh, dang, that was my second year covering the beat, right? Yeah. That was the scariest story of my career because I remember I had like the flu and we had just

gotten back from a road trip out east. And I remember the Nuggets played Boston and got like drilled in Boston. And I don't think that Boston team was any good. And I just remember hearing a lot of noise and yelling and screaming, you know, in the locker room from outside in the hallway. And apparently, Dan Essel was so upset. And this was like a five, six, seven game road trip. On the way home, you know, he said that they were going to have to practice the next day. And you don't do that after a long trip, right?

and they also had to like stop in Des Moines, Iowa, I believe, to refuel. So you leave Boston late at night, you're exhausted from this trip, you had this bad loss, and they had to refuel. And so they landed in an early morning in Denver and Dan's like,

I'll see you guys for practice in the morning. At that time, Nick Van Exo and George McLeod were the captains. And there was this decision to not practice the next day. They were like so upset that they didn't practice the next day. And so I think that Tariq Abdulahad was on the team and Ryan Bowen, who's an assistant coach now, they showed up. And somehow Nick Van Exel tells me this isn't true, right?

But I was told that they were driving around the Pepsi Center parking lot, making sure nobody showed up. So instead of practicing, they drove around making sure. people didn't come to practice. Wow. Which had to be tiring to do that. Like, they're already there. Last one was just walking the building. So Nick said that wasn't totally true, but we, you know, you need to get Dick

on the podcast to give us side of the story on it. But I was told they were basically driving around telling guys not to come in. Bowen and Abdulahad got through. Somebody basically told them when they got in, hey, man, the guys aren't showing up. So you might as well leave too. and then Dan told us Tommy Shepard recently the DM of the Wizards Tommy was a PR guy for the Nuggets at the time

and basically they told the PR staff that they canceled practice to tell the media that which I thought was odd because I remember them hearing that they were going to practice the next day but they didn't cancel practice the players the coaches staff didn't cancel practice the players did that which is really unheard of like that you don't just show up the practice, right?

I called around after I got a scoop, a source told me what happened, which was nerve-wracking at that time because the internet was in its infancy. There was no Twitter. There was no way for me to just like get it out. So if a local news had it, then they could put it up that day. But this is the age of newspapers still. So you had to wait till the next morning. So I was sitting on this like scoop all day.

and I basically had some players tell me on the, off the record, that they didn't want to practice to their amount of Dan and James Posey. He ended up giving me a quote on the record about it, which I think he later regretted, because I think he thought everybody else talked about it too. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have did that. So the next day, like my story comes out that, you know,

that they had decided not to practice, which was just groundbreaking. I don't think it's ever happened in NBA history. And I get to shoot around, and they're playing like Miami the next day, I think. And CNN's there. All the local newscast is there. And I'm like, oh, this is a really big deal. And they were all off of my, coming off of my story. And I guess Dan Essel said that I lied and made the story up and that none of it was true.

and but it ended up being, it was true. And they ended up admitted to it being true. And the players ended up practicing that day, but it was quite damaging for the organization that the players had decided to do that. I think if all those guys could go back in time, they would have handled that situation differently. Maybe, you know, Nick and McLeod would tell Dan,

like, Dan, you can't do this. man, don't do this. The guys are really, really tired. And I think that was just the player's way of standing up to Dan, just like, look, man, we're not going to do this. We're tired, and you're not going to bully us like that, you know.

So it ended up being one of the craziest things I've ever covered. I believe it's the only time in NBA history that a team, like, didn't show up the practice. The players didn't show up. But that was par for the course for that crazy team at that time. You mentioned James Posey. I was reading an AP story and it said,

Posey denied making any such statement, although it was captured on tape, on the record conversation with the Denver Post. Yeah. So we weren't using the term receipts yet, but you had receipts. You know, and I'll tell that story too,

because as a young journalist, I think in hindsight, I wish I would have did Posey a favor and maybe just said, hey, man, you might want to be anonymous on this. he was a rookie i was a you know a young covering NBA and like i said i think after the fact he wished he didn't put his name on it think he assumed that everybody else did but he had uh

you know told the players that he didn't say that but i had it on tape you know i had tape the interview so i had i remember Tommy shepherd asked me to like play it for him and i did and so you know it ended up making Posey look bad because he told everybody he didn't say that when he did and I'm actually going to give Doc Rivers a shout out here. And going back a little bit, you know, my reputation was on the line. If I hadn't had that interview tape, that could have, like, destroyed my career because the players said I lied and made it up when I actually didn't. And so after the fact, after that, you know, Posey and I were definitely at odds.

And he didn't talk to me. I didn't talk to him. I would take his quotes off the quote sheet. But I didn't hold anything against him. If Posey had a great game, I would write that he had a great game. You know, I did my job. And years later, when I started covering the Celtics, Posey was on the team. You got to remember now, this is 2007.

This thing happened, what, would I say, 2000? Yeah, 2000. Yeah. And we weren't on good terms. And we had training camp in Italy. I just started covering the Celtics. first day of practice, Doc Rivers calls me and Posey and makes us sit down and talk it out. So we're in Rome, practicing some gym, and I'm sitting next to James Posey, who reluctantly did it,

and we ended up talking it out, and me and James been cool ever since. Seven years later. Yeah, and so that's an interesting thing about Doc. Like, Doc was like, nah, man, we got an important year. I'm not going to have the Globe Beat Rider and one of my key players be at odds all season, right? And I think we both realized we were young, real young at the time. And he made a mistake, and I probably should have did him a solid.

And we hashed it out, and me and James been cool ever since. It's an interesting story, right? Absolutely. And I tell you what's interesting about that is your point you made, too, that if the players had come back and denied it, And you had nothing on tape then. It would have, as you said, been very, very dangerous for you as a young reporter. Yeah, because, you know, nobody would have talked to me.

After that, I think Nick was a little, like, skeptical, you know what I mean? Or cautious or whatever. Even though I didn't do anything wrong, I just reported what happened. And I actually have an old junior college teammate by the name of Matisse Moore, not to be confused with Martiz. more, played in Colorado. But him and Nick were tight. And eventually, Matisse was like, man,

like Spears are good people, man. You could trust them to do the job correctly. And so now eventually since then, it took a minute, but me and Nick found a common ground. And as soon as we found a common ground, it got traded to Dallas. So that goodwill with Van Exel did last too long. But me and him were, we're,

We're definitely good friends now. Man, that's my guy. Let's talk about that. That's December 2001. So one year after the events we're talking about here. Well, it's tumultuous covering the nuggets. Who knew? There was this much news.

And Mello ain't even showed up yet, right? Van Axel's having 25 points a game. One of the best scores in the NBA. And he demands to be traded after a loss to Cleveland. How did you get win to that story? Oh, man. I kicked myself about this every time. And this is like journalism, like inside baseball stuff.

But I'm mined in psychology at San Jose State. So I kind of can sense when somebody's a little off or something's going on. And I just remember being in the locker room in Cleveland. And Nick was talking very cryptically at the time. And there was another writer there, Michael Bedan, who's a good writer from the Rocky Mountain News. And so, Nick was just like, just his comments were weird and he looked, sounded like he was unhappy.

And I should have waited to, but Dan left and got a one-on-one with Nick. But I asked him in front, I said, hey, Nick, there's something up, there's something wrong because just your, your vibe seems a little different right now. He goes, yeah, I asked for a trade. What? He's like, I asked for a trade. And I told him I want out of here. Wow. So my competitor got the story to after I asked that question, which like I said, I still kicked myself off of and kind of learn my lesson. Like, you really got something like

that. Wait, wait until you can get them alone if you can and then ask the question, man. It's not like blue chips where you go in there and ask all the big questions and, you know, like give it to everybody else. Here's another one for you. February 2003, you're covering a Nuggets game. at Dallas. Yeah. The space show Columbia disintegrates over that part of the country. Hey, you did your research, man.

How much time did you have finding all this stuff? What do you remember about that day? Oh, man. We had a sports editor still there. Scott Montreux, the Denver Post. Shout out to Scott. I remember that morning. I was the Renaissance in Dallas.

and I got woken up to my phone ringing off the hook, pick it up, and it's Scott. And he's like, I'm half of sleep. I haven't had my coffee yet. And he's like, hey, turn on the television. Sure. Turn on the TV. And there was a video of the space shuttle had blown up. And I was like, like I said, I'm half of sleep.

I'm like, is this the anniversary of what happened in the early 80s? And he goes, no. Did that happen over Texas today? And I said, oh. And then I wake up and I said, I'm not covering a basketball game tonight, huh? I was supposed to cover the Nuggets at Dallas game. And he's like, no. You're the only journalists from the Denver Post in Texas right now.

And this happened in the Nacadocious area of Texas, about two hours out, doing some change. He's like, we need you to go out there. Hey, and I remember I had this rental car. It's not a Lincoln. It was like a Buick town car. And the rental car place used to always give it to me. And they had that GPS you could get on the screen.

The Garmin. You remember the Garmin? Yeah, the old GPS. And my uncle, Joe Neil Armand, aka Squeak, he lived in Mesquite, Texas. and one of my biggest fans and actually convinced me to intern at the Dallas Morning News

after I graduated from college and he called him Haas. I said, Haas, you want to come with me? Yeah, man, could pick me up. So I picked him up, got the garment going, and I just remember we drove like two and a half hours

and we get like close in the Nacadocious, Texas. And I see a bewilder, bewildered looking cop and like two people on the side of this two lane highway and i pull over my uncle doesn't get out and we i walk over to the cop i show him my NBA credential to prove that i was media and he goes um be careful be careful and i'm like why like there's a piece of the shuttle right i believe this is this is the challenger right oh the Columbia Columbia yeah he's like there's a piece of the shuttle on the ground. Don't touch it. Don't touch it. I was like, I'm not touching that. And he didn't know what to do. He was kind of freaking out. And I said, well, I'm a reporter from

the Denver Post. And they have me writing their story. He's like, well, you should go to City Hall, which is also the police department and the fire department. I think they're like all of the same building. And he said, it's about three or four, five miles in on the left side and just go there. I think they're going to have a press conference soon. So I ended up showing up. And I used my uncle, my uncle stayed in the car. I used my MBA credential to get into the press conference, being resourceful.

And I get in and it was, it was just a very devastating press conference. And I remember one of the questions being asked was, like, they found a helmet. And they asked them if there was a head in the helmet. Like it was, it was sad. It was terrible. Then we ended up going into like downtown after the press conference. And there was a big chunk of the shuttle in the middle of Times Square. So the explosion took place that I believe like sometime like around 6 a.m.

On a Saturday morning, Saturday or Sunday morning. And had it been during the weekday, it had been with people going to work and people moving and stuff and maybe it would have hit somebody. or hit something, a car or something. But luckily, at that time, people were pretty much sleep still or at home still. So it didn't hit anything. And so I remember I got an Airbnb, not Airbnb, I got a, because there weren't Airbnb at the time.

I got a bed and breakfast room. This is the only thing available. And the lady charged me $75. So I got all my information. I wrote a story. and then suddenly a reporter came in from the Denver Post who had flown in, and I gave him the keys to the room, and I left, and I just remember me and my uncle had this amazing seafood dinner

with like crawfish and shrimp and stuff. It goes, hauls. We just saw history. I just remember him saying that at dinner, and I admit to this now, Denver Post probably be mad about it, but it's so many years removed. I cover sports for a reason, man. I love sports.

I've never been interested in covering politics or news. You know, I'd write about a lot of politics now. But hard news, war stuff, you know, city stuff. No. So I made, I changed my flight to like six in the morning to get out of there, right? So I get in my plane. I get home. I gain an hour like 7.30 in the morning. I'm at my house. And the editor of the paper calls me, Greg morning, goes, man, Mark, that was an amazing story you did. I was like, oh, thank you. Made the front of the paper.

Oh, man, that's great. So today, you know, since both of you guys are in Nacadocious, I'm like, no, man, I'm home. You say, what's your home? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a 6 a.m. flight. I had to get back. nobody told me anything. I got ahead, man. I was like, I'm not I'm not staying here, man. I flew back and got out of that situation and did by one story and got away.

I got away. But my uncle, he passed away like two years ago and we talked about that for years, man. And I actually recently met an astronaut, an astronaut now, a black astronaut, his name's Leland. I get Leland's last name for you, but I told him that story,

and Leland was telling me that he actually at that time drove to a house of one of the astronauts that passed away and went to consult a family. Wow. And so he kind of tripped out when I told him that story because, you know, it brought them back to those days when that tragedy happened. So Leland Stanford, astronaut now. But, yeah, man, that was a horrible day.

All this happy stuff you bring it up, man. There's a ton. Here's something happier. Same year, 2003, Carmelo Anthony just tears through the NCAA tournament. Yeah. Gets drafted third overall by the Nuggets. What do you remember about Mello coming to Denver? No, the first thing I remember is the draft lottery.

Because I go to the draft lottery. It was in Sycoccus, New Jersey at the NBA, had their studio out. And it was it East Secaucus? Is that how we say it? That's my memory, yeah. Because there was a Sycoccus, right? Yeah. I go out there.

Remember, this is the LeBron draft lottery, right? And so they have this practice for TV. and then Stan Cronkey's up there from the Nuggets and I think Gordon Gunn was up there for the calves and they do this practice, TV practice, the Denver Nuggets get the number one pick in practice. And Stan went like this, like, oh. Like he felt like that was the kiss of death

that the Nuggets got the number one pick. The member was like Denver, Memphis, and Cleveland had a shot at it. So Cleveland gets the number one pick. Memphis gets the number two pick, but they had to trade it to Detroit as part of a trade when they were in Vancouver. And then the Nuggets get the third pick. So obviously LeBron is going number one.

On TV after that, David Aldridge goes on TV and says, Pistons are taking Dark Old Millisick, folks. They'll remember that after talking to Joe Dumas. And so that means the Nuggets are going to get Carmelo Anthony. and man, Stan Cronkey was just so devastated about not getting LeBron James. Understandably so. Like imagine if LeBron would have went to Denver instead of Cleveland, like how different things could have been, right?

And I just remember telling Stan, I'm like, hey, man, Paramello Anthony guy is pretty good. I think you guys are going to be okay. And he's like, yeah, yeah, you're right. but I think Stan like knew even as good as good as Mello potentially could be like the impact of having

LeBron James in your franchise like you know that might be a story idea I had to write about like what would have LeBron went to Denver right but um it seems like a pretty good one for this week

by the way right and and so looking back now I always remember this and I told Dwayne Wade this story that Mello came to work out for Denver on a Sunday. I don't know why I remember these days. Dwayne Wayne came in the day before, right? So we're going to practice, Jeff Buzdelix, the coach, and Dwayne Wade apparently had one of

the most amazing workouts ever, like this unbelievable workout. And so afterwards, we're asking Jeff. about Melo coming in the next day. He's like, yeah, yeah, you know, I'm excited about Carmelo Anthony, too. But I'm telling you guys, this Dwayneway kid, really good. He's really, really good, man. So, you know, we'll see what happens tomorrow. But Dwayne Wade is really impressive, really good.

I think this kid's going to be a star in the sleep. We're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but what about Carmelo? What time does he get in today? What do you guys do? I'm telling you, he kept telling us that Dwayne Wade was going to be good. And if you go look at my story, there's like whole Sunday preview about Mello coming into Denver and like one paragraph at the bottom about Dwayne Wade coming in. And I wonder if Jeff Muzdalik went back and told the Miami Heat because he used to work for the heat.

And obviously, Dwayne, I heard that a memorable workout with Miami as well. but I'm sure that Jeff talked to him about Dwayne Way because it wasn't really any conflict of interest because Dwayne, he knew they were taking Carmelo Anthony. But I remember, you know, Carmelo being pretty disappointed because he wanted to go to Detroit and Detroit was, you know, bully on bringing Darko in. And so I don't think he came to Denver in the greatest of shape or the greatest of like excitement and you know kiki van deway and calvin andrews mellow's agent at the time we talked about it a lot like mellow didn't have a great workout at all but like they're like shoot it's

carmello anthony the college champion superstar a lot of talent and uh kiki told calvin he said i don't i don't care what he does in that workout we're taking them and the nuggets strapped at Carmelo Anthony. How'd you and Mello get along? I loved him. I loved him, man. It was so cool. It's probably the coolest player I ever cover. It was just exciting being around him. And, you know, obviously he had a lot of, like, off-the-court drama first couple years, but everywhere we went, man, and the Nuggets brought out these, like, new cool, like, powder blue uniforms, you remember them? Yeah. Those are sweet, man. They should bring those back. Like, they had those.

and they had the whites and then they had this dark blue. Like they had some cold uniforms back then. And like Mello had like the hottest selling jersey. And I still remember like at that time, there was this expectation of this rivalry between him and LeBron James. And I still remember the first game in Cleveland. And they played against each other. The Nuggets won.

Actually, Earl Boykins had an amazing game and won the game. And Mello and LeBron, like, that was one of the closest rookie races of all time. Mello went to the playoffs. LeBron didn't. And, you know, ended a long streak of never not being in a playoff. So at that time, I was like, yo, these guys are going to just like kind of go together

in terms of their stardom. And, you know, Mello still had an amazing career, but, I mean, LeBron had a, you know, debatable, greatest of all time career, depending on who you're talking to, right? So I do think Mello will end up. being in the Hall of Fame and you know I wonder how he looks back at his time in Denver like does he regret like leaving does he wish he would have stayed like as great as Joker is it's

still odd for me to see him wear that number 15 jersey the Nuggets should have never let anybody else wear that jersey and I don't I don't care how he departed he's not the first player to ask for a trade he's one of the top three scores in franchise history they should be retire in his jersey one day. And I think the Nuggets definitely lead to do something to repair that relationship. I don't remember the first time when Mello came back. He was playing with the Nix and they ran this video of thank you former Nuggets video, which was like Canvey, J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin, and Mello. Like, Mello deserved a video all by himself. And they kind of just like lumped man.

And so like my thing with teams, like when you have a superstar that leaves, always be the bigger man, no matter what happens, always be the bigger man. Because at some point, when their career retires, you're going to want them to be still a part of your franchise and a fabric of your franchise. And like you see how much pride Jack has talking about the Lakers, even though that trade was a really painful trade for them, right? They chose Kobe Bryant over him. Like now he associates himself as a Laker.

And so it always comes back around to fix itself at some point. But I do wonder if Mello and the Nuggets franchise will ever, like, there's going to be a day when Mello's in the Hall of Fame. Are you not going to retire his jersey, right? But you gave Joker 15 too. You're going to retire 15 twice. It's kind of an odd situation that I think, you know, in time will come back and maybe the Nuggets will wish they handle some things better. Tell me this. Mello comes to Denver. Broncos are the number one team in the city.

Yeah. Were the Nuggets even number two before he got there? No. They were laughable. I remember going to a comedy show and Mike Evans was the interim coach at the time. And Mike Evans just happened to be at the comedy show too. Comedy works on Larimer Square around the corner from Laramore Square. And this comedian said that he got pulled over and tried to give him Nuggets tickets.

It's like, no, no, no, give me the traffic ticket. I'd rather pay that, please. And I remember I turned and looking at Mike, shout out to Mike Evans. And he was like, man, that's cold blood, right? That's how bad it was. I still laugh with Ryan Bowen now because at one point before Mello got there,

they did a poll in the Denver Post about who is the most popular nugget. Rocky, the mascot, Rocky, the Mountain Lion finished first. Ryan Bowen was second. Wow.

But every time I see Ryan Bowen, I say, man, you were second, though. You were second to Rocky. the greatest mascot ever. It could be worse. Like, yeah, yeah, Rocky beat me out. So, no, it was, they were, they won like 19 games. You know, Broncos were good.

The Rockies were competitive, right? The avalanche were great. You got to remember the avalanche. So, no, they were like the distant fourth. And but when Melo came in, you know, all that changed. They turned things around. They ended up adding some really good players like Kenyon and Andre Miller, Marcus Camby, J.R. Smith, you know, Earl Boykins, Vashon Leonard.

They got some talent around him and got pretty good, pretty quick. You mentioned your competition with the Rocky Mountain News. Yeah. That's the scoreboard those days. Do they have the news or do I have the news? How much did that inhabit your thoughts every day you were on that beat? No, it was competitive. Very, very competitive.

I thought I did pretty well. I'll say that. I'll let the people who are around, the great Mike Monroe, maybe ask him. He should be in the Hall of Fame too. He was my big-time mentor when I, you know, got in there and took me under his wing and introduced me to everybody.

And I'm always, like, grateful to, Mike Monroe, who's now in San Antonio, was retired because he didn't have to help me out, and he did. And I always remember that. And I think about that when I'm somewhere and a new writer comes in and they don't really, you know, you could tell they could, you know, need a helping hand, you know. So shout out to Mike Monroe. And Mark Kisla, still there, great columnist, phenomenal journalists, one of the greatest,

those two guys, two of the greatest journalists I've ever been around. these days a lot of scoops go through players agents to what degree were reporters like you involved with agents 20 years ago um oh no a lot i remember when iverson got traded to denver leon leon rose called me and i leon rose wouldn't call me for nothing now but he he called me then and uh he called me i was waiting on this call when I was doing a live report on sports center with Mike Hill. And I hung up the phone with ESPN because I'm like, Leon is calling me. I got to take this.

I didn't work at ESPN at the time. So I didn't owe them nothing. And I just hung up on live television and took the call from Leon Rose about Iverson. and I think they were like years later or he later me and Mike talked about it and he's like yeah man it sound like we had a bad connection I'm like nah man I hung up the phone and I think he went back and told their producers

so they didn't use me for a long time I think they held that against me I don't know if any of the producers are still around but I still remember Master P when he was representing Ron Mercer like he had a guy coming in and he had an all white suit on with a white top hat, you know, from the no limit soldier representation, represent Ron Mercer.

But the two guys that seemed like they had the most influence was Tony Dutt and Andy Miller. You know, those two great agents had a lot of guys that were on the Nuggets roster. It was like Tony Dutt had half the guys like McDice and McLeod. And I think he had Posey. Then Andy Miller had like, you know, Van Axel. And I remember Dan Fagan had some guys too. So, no, I mean, I definitely talked to the agents a lot then. Calvin Andrews, Bill Duffy, they had Mello.

So when Mello came in, man, it was just everything changed. Everything was different. Like, suddenly I went from covering games and nobody came to on the road to, like when Mello and Iverson were together, incredible. Like, everywhere they went, it was like a. traveling show. Wasn't quite like Kobe and Shaq, but it was pretty exciting. And there were just always a lot of buzz and a lot of excitement from these two

cornroll superstars like, you know, coming into the building. And so like to, I remember like covering Allen, like still some of my greatest memories are also covering Allen Iverson. And it was interesting because he used to do his interview. right after the game. I've never seen any other player do that. Like immediately after the game at home, he'd go directly to the podium before the coach did. It's like he just, I don't know what he wanted to do in Denver that he was in such a rush to go do, but he just, it was like no cool down period or nothing.

Like, he would walk off the floor and directly to speak to us and they go take a shower and leave. Incredible. How did you and he get along at that point in his career? I love Alan Iverson, man. One of my favorite people I've ever covered. He's like a sweetheart of a person. But, you know, he knew who he was. He was a star.

My favorite, I think, Iverson-connected story was he, when Mello son was born, and maybe Mello's son hears his story. He might laugh at this. Mello, like, missed a couple days of practice and showed up, like, I want to say, like, 60 minutes before a game after Keon was born. And so he's in the locker room, kind of got word that Mello was going to come. So I kind of, like, hit out in the locker room. We could, you get like a half an hour now. Now he's then, he used to get like 45 minutes.

So Mello comes in the locker room, and it's just me, Mello and Iverson. the locker room. So I was like, Mello, can I just get a couple minutes ask you about your son? So about four minutes into it, you know, Alan goes, well, God damn, Mark, how long you're going take? I'm like, Dan, could I ask Mello about his son too? And I said, well, hey, Alan, do I go on the court and try to block your shot when you shoot? No, I said, well, man, why you bother me what I do at my job, man? Let me ask these couple questions. And Bellow, laughed and Alan kind of looked at me like jerk.

But it was funny. I felt like I had to get him back because the first year he was covered the team. I had asked him for his phone number. It's funny, I got his number now, but at that time he's like, Mark, why I need to give you my number, man? What are we going to do, Mark? We're going to go to

club together. We're going to go to dinner. We're going to hang out. Man, I'll see you next season, man. So I always remember that. So I felt like I had to get him back. And now he's just like, man, every time I see him, it's beautiful. He's just, I'm so happy that he's doing well. But like I've been around staff, obviously mellow, some really, really KG, Paul Ray,

some really, really great players. But, man, covering a shoot, Allen is something I'll never forget. You mentioned Stan Cronkey about the team in 2000. Yeah. Was he accessible to you as a reporter? during that period? Yeah, the Rocky Mountain News messed that up. How so?

Dan was great to me. I still have a note that he, he sent me a note during Christmas, like thanking me for my coverage and everything. And we get along great. I saw him, where did I see Stan? I saw Stan the season somewhere.

And we talked for a while. I still have a, you know, when I see him, still have a great rapport with Stan. But I had a good report. report with him, but a guy from another paper didn't. And so he started calling him Silent Stan because he couldn't get him.

I can get him, but he couldn't get him. So he started calling him Silent Stan and retaliation and unfairly that stuck. And that's what, you know, like now I'm an Arsenal fan now and

that even Arsenal people use it. But the reporter at the time was actually a very talented colonist, but I'm not going to say his name. He wasn't able to get the same access, so he made the silence Dan nickname up, and it stuck. But Dan Cronkey is an amazing, intelligent, brilliant of a guy

who I think has changed, not only changed the nuggets, changed the arsenal, kept the avalanche of flow, was brilliant in buying the property in Englewood and inviting the chargers to join. in that venue, like just brilliant, brilliant business mind. And that one thing I always remember by him, I saw him in Summer League one time, and he has some sandals on.

And I was like, oh, Stan, those are some nice sandals. Summer League practice at the Pepsi Center. He goes, yeah, man, I got him on sale and Vail. Like, see, that's why he got buddy, man. He got him on sale, but he just, he just really got. I always enjoyed being around Stan and Josh. I love the cronkeys.

And, you know, maybe this will be their year where they could finally taste the championship. And I'm sure if Stan and Josh can get it, man, there'll be a really emotional day for them because they certainly had a lot of heartache with this franchise. Covering all these stories we're talking about that raised your profile nationally as a writer during this period? You know what? It's funny when I got the job in Boston

next time I saw Mello, he's like, yeah, I helped you get that job. And he's true. He did. Because Mello was a big time superstar. And Nick Van Exel was good and McDice was good. But Mello was a superstar. Like that was like nationally and renowned worldwide and got a lot of attention. Turned the franchise around, got him to the playoffs.

So more people paid attention to me because of Mello. So he's right. That helped. Kevin Mello helped a lot. And, you know, I had kind of, covered them for 99 to 2007. And I actually had an opportunity to maybe go to the Miami Herald, covered the heat after they won, turned it down,

thinking I could potentially get a calmness job in Denver and didn't get it. Woody Page came back. And then I was like, ah, it's time to go. Time to go because I felt like there was no, if I couldn't be a calmness in Denver, where else was I going to go? And I kind of, you know, knew. it was uh it was eight years was enough and had the opportunity to uh cover the Celtics with Paul Pierce reall and Kevin garnett I'm like they're gonna win a championship I'm uh how could

I turn that job with the with the with the Boston Globe down so remember 2007 I left man and that was one of the best moves I've ever made my career one of the best coming to Antscape was the best, but to go cover the Denver, I mean, cover the Boston Celtics for the globe and also got to cover the Olympics there too. So that was a great two years in Boston. Last one for you, Mark. Since we're talking about stories that you got out of open locker rooms, locker rooms are open now in the NBA. But last year at All-Star weekend, Commissioner Adam Silver said it's a bit of an anachronism to have reporters in the actual room where players are dressing. What did you make of his comments?

I think if he, you asked him about it now, he probably regrets he said that. To Adam's credit, he's had a lot of conversations on and off the record with reporters about being in the locker room. And I'm glad that we got back to it this season. Because I think it's went well. I think it's went very well. I mean, because there's been better storytelling this year.

storytelling is back, the ability for the players to, you know, talk to us again and not just the stars, because, I mean, all the stars are going to talk, but I think where it hurts the most is the guy that's not the Mello, it's not the Iverson. Like, what if Andre Miller wants to tell his story, right? What if Earl Boykins wants to tell his story? There's the same two people going to the podium all a time. It's hard for them to tell their stories too. If locker rooms closed, maybe the franchise, it's not as, you know, doing as well. Maybe you don't write a story on them because you don't have the access. So I think ultimately, I think the NBA would have to agree that letting us back in the locker room has been a great thing. And it hasn't been a pain for the players.

I think today's media, as was, you know, when I first started very respectful, in the locker room. And I think the tier process has maybe calmed with the amount of numbers in there, which has probably helped the players have some breathing room and the respect that they feel like they need and deserve. And so I think it's worked out great.

And I don't think there's any reason to change it. It's been really, really helpful for me as a storyteller. And I was really adamant. about getting that back after the pandemic and so glad that we're able to get back in a locker room now, man. It's been extremely helpful. You could read Mark J. Spears on Anscape and ESPN where he more than just about anybody

will be able to tell you what a title would mean to the Denver Nuggets. Mark, thanks for coming on the press box. Thanks for having me, brother. Thanks for care. That's the press box. I'm Brian Curtis. Production Magic by Erica Cervantes with an assist from Devin Ronaldo. My story picked this week,

ran on page A1 of the Los Angeles Times on Sunday. The piece is called California created the nation's only pension for aging boxers, but it's failing many of them. It's by Melody Gutierrez, and it's a really good piece of investigative reporting because it not only does government watchdog reporting

in terms of its look at the California professional boxers pension plan, something I did not know existed, But Gutierrez goes around the state, visits with many of these retired fighters, so it's got a lot of good scene writing and ambiance too. Highly recommend that you check that out. Meanwhile, Shoemaker and I'll be back Monday. With more lukewarm takes about the media, enjoy basketball.

See you then.