October 25, 2023 • 27 mins
On episode one of the Between Bites podcast with Nina Compton and Larry Miller, New Orleans Pelicans Vice President of Basketball Operations & Team Development Swin Cash drops in to talk about her career journey and how she came to work with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Swin talks about her first impressions of the city, her favorite restaurants, and what makes New Orleans special.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Probably big block big Hello there and welcome to Between Bytes,
presented by Caesars New Orleans and host it on your
Pelicans podcast network. I'm Larry Miller. That's Nina Compton. Hello,
and today big Time. This is when we're in season one.
(00:29):
We wanted to talk to her all year, and now
she's here for season two. We have Swin Cash Hello, Hello, Hello,
Vice president Basketball Operations and Team Development. High school All American, College,
All American at Utah, two time NCAA Champion, three times
(00:49):
w NBA champion, four time All Star, two time All
Star MVP, two gold medals for Team USA, won Feeboat
World Championship, but maybe most impressively on the resume, four
time Shooting Star champion.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
That's a big time. Now. Listen, if you talk to
Dominique Wilkins and Chris Bosh to Hall of Famers, they
will tell you that is a special time, those championships.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
As far as I grew up in Atlanta and I
went to Georgia Tech, so you could not have picked
a better team than me. But it brings up an
interesting point. You have had a i mean two now
obvious very important coaches in your life. Between Gino at
(01:39):
Yukon and Chris Bosh leading your team in the Shooting Stars.
That is four championships. That is more than anybody else
who has assembled your team together.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So I want to tell you a quick little story
about that. So we won four times, right, we were
so good. The changed the model and got rid of
the Shooting Stars competition.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
No way, that literally got rid of it. They didn't
do that for Jordan's They never shut down the contest.
Will They didn't say centers get out of the league.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
It was team Bosh and they literally said we have
to go. And if you talk to so many Wilkins,
he will tell you he wanted to have a conversation
with Adam Silver to understand why. What's wrong with great?
He said? He said, this error is too soft?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, that's funny. So in your role as vice president
of Basketball Operation, what does that entail? A high level
looking down.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
High level looking down. So one of the verticals that
fall under me is our player development. As far as
our team development, I would say a lot of teams
just focus on players, whereas for us, we focused on
not only on players but also on staff. What does
it look like, what does our culture look like? What
are the processes that we have in place for you know,
(02:58):
just everyone coming to New Orleans, the experience of New Orleans.
How do we get here? What is our drive? What
are our pillars? The other part of my job also
is the scouting aspect, so our roster development, our trade deadline,
our draft, all those things. Just being a part of
(03:18):
it and being able to be in the room to
understand the game and being able to give not only
my opinion of assessments to David Griffin at the end
of the day, who makes all the calls.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Well, and that's a really neat story of how you
and David Matt. We spoke with Griff in season one
and he's a fascinating guy and we're very happy as
Pelicans fans that he is with us. But how did
you and David meet?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, believe it or not, we both were working at
Turner and covering the NBA, but at different times and
on different platforms. And the magic about Turner, which I
loved working for them, is that whenever you're not on air,
you're literally in this big old You're in this lounge
where it could be shocked to your left and Charles
Barkley over here and Gary Payton and I are really closed,
(04:08):
and he was on a platform with me, and so
then there's Griff and there's the gms who may not
be at a team right now, and we would just
have conversations about Hoop. And I remember late night leaving
out of the studio and Griff says, hey, and I
turn around and he's like, you know, if I get
one of these jobs I'm interviewing for, He's like, I'm
(04:29):
gonna give you a call. And so I just turned
back and I said, Okay, cool, good luck. And it
didn't really register my mind because I was also in
I was living in New York but flying down to Atlanta.
So I'm in New York. It's basically we're sitting there.
I'm in studio at CBS, and all of a sudden,
you hear like, I mean, I get a ding on
(04:50):
my phone Dandad Griffin's been hired by the Pelicans. And
I was like, oh, I shoot him at text and
just like congratulations, and he's like, yeah, I'll be in touch.
I was like, oh, he was Serrien, and so we
just sort of having conversations from there. I took a
little sneaky trip down here under the radar and came
in and he was sitting at his desk with all
(05:11):
these construction and ideas and literally just said to me,
I have no idea what it's going to look like,
but I need you to wear a lot of different
hats and everything I've either heard about you through our conversations,
I feel you're able to do it. And it was
that level of trust and I guess just blank canvas
that really just drew me here to New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
So what was the first impression when you came to
this city.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The first impression I think were the people, like you
could feel New Orleans is just it's the fabric. It's
a little different. And like I said, my husband and
I we lived in New York and it's similar but
in a different way. Right, And when I came here,
I never forget. I was like walking down the street
and car was driving by, and literally just like they
jump out and they're like, walcome to the city. It
(05:59):
was so exciting, blah blah blah. But then they just
started saying like, we love the team, you guys, gotta
do this. You and they start giving you the history
and it was just so nice. And then you just
be walking or coming to a restaurant and people go
about their business so like, hey, so how you doing.
But it's just a different vibe because you're with us now, Yes,
And I felt that right away, Nina.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, people here are very they sharing, they're all and
they want to just give you a hug, like you said.
And it's we felt the same.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Thing when we moved there where we didn't know anybody,
and people would be like, thank you for moving, and
we're just like what that's never happens, you know, people
would say, hey, how you doing, and it's just so
warmth and it's it's it's really the people that make
this city absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I think. I think that's the biggest thing for me
is like the people. And I feel like since we've
been here it's been four years, you're finding like new
people and new vibes and new conversation and different thought
leaders and so that's that's really inspiring for someone like me.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So why do you as a show, where do you
like to go out to eat?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
When if you do well, we're definitely gonna say how
much we love your food for sure. And being and
being pregnant, that was I was just you know, telling
a story before we got on her to you all,
but I would you know when you're pregnant. I'm standing
my husband out, like, Okay, this is what I want.
You got to go get it. I need to shrimp
in the air. I need the pasta saw something about it.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But we love to try a lot of different different places.
I think that one of the other ones is my
husband loves at Maryls. I think it's I don't know
if it's the short ribs with the pasta sauce. We love.
We love richness, and that's why we also have to
work out, but it varies. I love my family cooks,
(07:48):
but we're very Southern, right, so you get. I love
the coll it greens. But I also don't eat pork.
So that's another thing that we probably should understand about
New Orleans. I little you ask them. I could come
in and they're like, okay, here's a cup of water,
and I'm like, is there porking it?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, because you have to know, so right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I just love trying new restaurants, new things. And I'll
give a shout out to some of the chefs that
work with our players because sometimes we'll have them over
or ask for like male drop offs that are really good.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That's great. I love that that is. Food definitely brings
people together and it's easy to pack on ten.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Pounds, really easy. But it's it's it's you're packing on
and it feels good. Yes, and you're happy. Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
How do you travel with the team?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I do? I do?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So. Do you have your when you go to a
new city and say we have an extra day, you
have time to eat the do you have? Do you
go to your favorites that you always hit and you
only get to see twice a year, or do you
seek out new places?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
A little bit of both. It depends on how our
guys are doing in the season, because if they're on
my nerve, I may need to go to comfort and
you know, as you talk about food, I'm gonna go
to my spot. It's gonna be comfortable, and I'm on
in my head. But I would say a lot of
times I push it back on Trajan and Griff because
they are Griff is great at picking out the wine.
(09:16):
He has a secret weapon obviously you all know. And
his wife, so that's one, and then Trajan. I think
Trajan I both played overseas international, so we are open
to always trying different restaurants or different chefs, and he's
very healthy, so I get the best of both worlds.
But we like to try different things, and we like
(09:37):
to also eat together on the road, so we may
go out and have a meal when the players are
going in a different direction, which is really good for us.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yes, all right, let's let's talk about Team USA. Yes,
and representing the whole country in the Olympics. You're invited
to the tryouts. Obviously you're I'm guessing figuring out that
you're really really great at basketball at this point. What
is it like they're going in those tryouts? No, is
(10:05):
there any doubt of am I not going to make
this team? Am I going to make this team? Do
I really have to, you know, bust my rear in tryouts?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, that's that's a great question, and I'll say my past.
I think every player's journey is different. I think for me,
I didn't start playing USA basketball until I graduated college
because while I was in college, my summers, I would
go back home and work, and so I would get
invited for like the U sixteen or U eighteen. But
(10:39):
for me, it was about going back home, spending time
with my family, getting a job putting money in the bank.
So I didn't come from a lot of money, but
I had a work ethic. And whenever I graduated college
and I got the opportunity to be with the USA team,
I was like, Oh, this is this is something that's attainable,
like one, yeah, pretty good basketball player, but who I
(11:00):
have an opportunity to come from this small town and
represent our country And so that was a different motivation.
So I think it happened later for me than some
of the younger players now. And I think the special
part about representing Team USA is that when you look
at the people, it's not only the players, it's their backgrounds,
it's their stories, it's you bring all of that with you.
(11:22):
And I think every time I was on that podium
receiving gold, all those thoughts, childhood memories, people that sacrifice
for me, it just flashes like boom boom boom, boom boom,
and the tears come because it's such a pride and
a joy. And I will say this, that's the one
time I can say without it being a tragedy or
something happening or we're going to war, it's the one
(11:45):
time where I feel everyone that looks at that team
that won goal, that looks at that flag. They understand
that we're one team, one goal, and that's always been
the purpose. So there's a responsibility. I feel with it
as well.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
That's beautiful. So how did you know that basketball was
your passion?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It just basketball was always my passion, but baseball was
my first love. Okay, So I played on all when
I was young, girl all boys baseball team and there
wasn't a girls travel team or baseball team, and so
my mom was like, all right, she can play. And
so then they were like, oh she is she can't play.
She's not a girl. And I'm like, I very much,
(12:26):
So I am a girl. I can just play baseball.
And basketball was a strategy, to be honest with you.
When I got to eighth grade, I got my first
letter from Wichita State and it was like, oh, we
love to speak to you or have an opportunity to
fill out this questionnaire and potentially get a scholarship. And
(12:48):
when you talk about having real life conversations at fourteen,
having to sit down with my mom and basically her say, listen,
I can't afford for you to go to college. You
have an opportunity to get a scholarship, really good grades.
Here's what we need to do, and I had to
stop playing. I was playing the cello at the time,
I was playing the clarinet. I was also cheerleading, I
(13:10):
was doing all these other things, and so it became
a this is the sacrifice, and now this is the priority.
So we set our goals and that was the drive,
and I just kept chipping away, chipping away. And when
I got to my senior year and I decided to
go to Yukon. I ran track my senior year and
it was the most I had the most fun. And
(13:32):
everyone's like, but you're going to Yukon. But the best
thing about that story. I won Western Pennsylvania in the
hurdles in the state. I took third and I started
receiving letters from track and field coaches about it, and
I was like, actually, I'm going to play basketball in Yukon.
This is just kind of fun for me right now.
(13:54):
But it was. It was a really cool experience. But
that's life, right, That's so, I mean, you are.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Everything.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I mean, it's it's it's it's insane.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
It's like you're a superhuman. To know that you're playing
all these instruments and you just dabble in these sports
and you just crush it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It's amazing. It's a blessing. It was definitely a blessing.
But yeah, I love the game. The game has been
the game has given me so much.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
And as a woman in top of that game, how
what is your advice for women coming up? You know,
because it is a very macho s.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
It's actually you hosted your Women in Sports summit, yes,
and which has a lot to do that. That's a
pretty powerful idea to go out there and you did it.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, so thank you for asking. Uh So, last
year I had an opportunity and a blessing. If you
play basketball, you look at what's that next chapter? And
for me, getting inducted into the Naysmith Basketball Hall of
Fame was that like the final chapter of playing the game.
(15:01):
And so I wanted to be intentional about what's next.
I know, I'm working in sports right now and a
lot of times, I'm sure you do as well. You
get asked to do all these things philanthropically, and I
love doing it. But I wanted to be more intentional,
and so I took the last two months leading up
to the Hall of Fame to focus on what's next,
And for me, it was She's Got Time, and you know,
(15:24):
She's Got Time is a platform for women who work
in all fast as the sports, because sometimes we don't
see we see women behind the camera, women who are
in front of the camera, women who play the game businesses.
And I wanted to create a platform where there can
be a convening power, where we can share information, where
you can get different resources and professional development and feel
(15:47):
good about it. And so that's how She's Got Time happened.
Big shout out to the Saints and Pelicans and Miss
Gale Benson who whenever you know, we went and said
here's here's something we're trying to do. She was on
board and full support and actually showed up and everybody
was like wow, you know ms Bee walked into her room.
It's just like hey, right, but but you need that
(16:10):
And I wanted to create this platform also just as
a woman and as a woman of color in sports,
it can be difficult, and so I wanted us to
have these authentic conversations and places to help everybody reach
their full potential.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Uh, So that that that's what She's Got Time originated
from and I was super excited for it to be
here in New Orleans and next month, in a few
months here to come to people can go to She's
got time dot com and they'll see the app and
the platform in the community that we really created. And
so that's something that was near and dear to my heart.
(16:44):
And I'm excited for all of the women who stood
beside me and continue to want to do great work.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's amazing and thank you for doing that because it's
it's something we need, we need to with the conversation
and you know, give women a lift up.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yes, absolutely, And that's not something you came to just
after basketball, because you've always been socially active, Yes, like
five hundred bucks a game for wearing a Black Lives
Matter shirt back in twenty and sixteen.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
What was that like as you saw as we moved
from when that happened and there you didn't have all
the teams wearing socially social commentary on their uniforms or
warm ups. What was that like and how did you
see that progress to where we are now?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I think if you even look back at our history,
whether it's through the salel rights movement, women have played
a significant role in not only advocacy but standing up
for what's right. And I think if you look back
at twenty sixteen, whenever I was the vice president for
the Union of the WNBA, my colleagues and all the
other players decided to, like you said, Larry's stand up
(17:59):
and make a stand. And this is at a time
when our country was really hurting and trying to understand
what direction we're going. But you fast forward to to
today and you look at the WNBA women, and you
look at the NBA and how they've used their platforms
to create change. I mean, the WNBA women helped get
(18:22):
Senator Warmack Warnock in Atlanta into the Senate by using
their platform, by being intentional, and the best thing about it,
I think with our players, if you look at CJ. McCollum,
who is the president of the union, we had Garrett
Temple that was on our team as well, that was
the VP. They are intentional about doing what's right and
(18:44):
being on the right side of history. Doesn't matter if
you're a Republican, doesn't matter if you're Democrat. Are you
on the right side of history? Do you care about people?
And I think That's the one thing that sports has
is so powerful, is this convening power of people with
differences but coming together and being able to care about
issues that are bigger than you. And that's why I
(19:06):
love what we did back then, and I continue to
use my platform in that way.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
That's beautiful. That is amazing that sports can bring people
together and raise awareness for things we need to talk about.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Yeah, a lot of times people are fearful needed to
have those conversations, but you know this most of all,
like you put a good meal in front of somebody,
we convene to have feud, right, we convene to watch sports.
We have to figure out ways to convene people together
using the tools that we have instead of leaning into
the divide. Right. I think that's what sports right now
(19:41):
for me is, that's why it's so impactful and powerful.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
All Right, we're going to go back to your playing days.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Okay, okay, because you know I'm a little seasoned over here.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
How many different jersey numbers did you have?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
And the pros.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's there there we go. Why did you pick four
different numbers?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Because thirty two was always my number. That was that
was that was me, that was who I was. I
love thirty two. I loved magic. I mean I think
as I changed and I was going through different times
in my career, every number represented something different.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but
I was thinking that there might be a story. Why
would you have four numbers?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, yeah, well if you look at eight, that was
the time when I was trying to if you flip
it and you think about the infinity and it continues on,
and that that for me was was a transition for me.
I knew I was somewhere that was temporary, but I
knew like that I had to this transition was happening
(20:55):
from being the younger player into the next season of
being a veteran and what that was looked like number two,
number two. It was my second go round, it was.
It was. It was my second chance after after leaving
Detroit and uh going to Seattle and uh.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Why do you want to get out of Detroit?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
That's it, You're just kidding.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
And I don't blame you. I wouldn't have even gone
there until he left.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I would say, literally, if you if you want to
know more of the answer, you can go. I actually
wrote a book called humble journey, more precious than gold.
That talks a little bit about that, But I mean, look,
at the end of the day, I have a very
soft spot for Bill. I think he's gotten a lot
softer since he got a little older and tell him.
But yeah, it was a transition for me there. So
(21:41):
number two was that second chance for me, and number
four and number four I was only there for a
quick minute. It was like see you later, I see you,
and so yeah, I picked four. We doubled it up
and I knew I was getting back to thirty two.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
You found something good in Atlanta that I did. Your husband,
my husband. How'd y'all meet, do you?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
They said, okay, I'll give you this short cliff note version.
I met my husband when we were seventeen, and I
met him on an AAU trip. And on this AAU trip,
he was playing My husband played college basketball for him,
but he was on the team from New York called Riverside,
AAU team, and it was a bunch of other guys
(22:29):
that played in the pros as well. And we were
in the hotel and you know how kids are like
just all hanging out. And this was the summer where
I was trying to decide between Tennessee or Yukon. And
so he just was a really nice guy and I
it was like throwing up all this, like I can't
believe about Tennessee. Should I go to pat you know,
go to Gino, my family? All this first time I
(22:51):
met him, this court, seventeen year old guy sat there
and listened for me for twenty minutes, just go on
about like this huge decision I had to make. When
I went back home, and literally I gave him my
number and he never called me. Oh I'm just scared
him away. He never called. But you know, as the
(23:12):
story goes, when he played at Fordham, they came to
play Yukon. We were practicing in the gym and he
was waiting outside for the opportunity because they said, oh,
the women always come out this way because their locker
room is right here. I at that point in time
went out the other way for whatever reason. Never never
even saw him write. Fast forward ten years later, our
(23:35):
team in Seattle was going to Atlanta, and he reached
out like, hey, I do these huge events in Atlanta.
I see your team is coming here. I don't know
if you remember me, but I like to invite you
all out, and I looked at my phone. Mind you,
I just got out of like a four year relationship,
and I was like, y'all, you're not gonna believe me,
so you never called me. Fast forward, my teammates they
(23:58):
aren't anything. And if they're listening to his podcas Casts
and Super Ashley Robinson, uh Tanisha write Camille, all of
you are still terrible friends. They were like, call him,
call him, we want to go to the event, but
you literally use me. Oh we want to go. We
get off the bus. Everybody it's like somebody turned on
(24:19):
the lights and they just scattered. They were like, oh no,
I have to do something. This poor guy's waiting downstairs.
They're like, take us to go have some food. I
was like, I'm going to text him and tell him
we're not coming. He could be a serial killer. I
haven't seen him since we were seventeen. Long story short.
One of my friends, Ashley, she did go with me.
We went out, had a conversation. They make jokes to
(24:42):
this day. At my wedding, they were killing us, like your.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
First date was the three people.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
So from that point on, we just you know, became
friends and started dating and have have been together ever since.
So yeah, Mary fifteen, Yeah, thanks, Yeah, So yeah, he's
pretty lame. He didn't call me back, but you know,
he tells all when he tells this story. He always
tells people if I would have called or met her back,
then we would not be married. And I'm like, lord,
(25:08):
thank you. I don't want any part of you from
college your twenties. Beating in our thirties was perfect.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
The kids, are you the kind of parents I'm guessing
you have the little tight Uh? Is that what it's called?
The basketball goal?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Little hoop?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah? Do you smack them? You block them?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
They got to earn, yes, buckets and listen. I'm gonna
do our kids the same way my uncles and aunts
and my mom did me. Until you are of age
and big enough where I know that you can beat me.
Then I will pull up with like a handshare that.
Until then, Yeah, my kids are going to get work.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
You can play who can you take one on one
on the current ros?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
You know what I will say this, I cannot beat
any of them in a one on one game right now,
but you give us one possession and I want Shrey Murphy. Yeah,
because he'll want to block my shots so bad and
for women, that's the one thing that he has. Yet
(26:13):
he's going to jump to a roof. He's gonna fly
by and babe up and under is going to get
him smiling. So I want all the smoke from Murphy.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
It's out there. Pray that nobody tapes it because Nina
and I have a going to go viral.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yes for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Well, thank you so much for catching up with us,
and we look forward to seeing what the Pelicans would
bring this season.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Oh, thank you so much. And we look forward to
having you got a game too.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yes, Oh we can't wait.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yes, And thank you for all you do for the city.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yes, appreciate you, and.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Really I mean bigger than that, but we love our
little city here, and and to have someone as important
as you doing the job that you're doing with a
team that we love, it's just awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
I love it. I have one request. We have to
come here at some point and cook with you.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Oh yes, let's do that.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's let's do good because labor is a little tough
and hells are loaded, but we need to cook. If
anybody else's listened, for sure, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Well we do we do cooking classes here every month,
so maybe.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
We'll yes, count me in, my husband and I for
the season brawling.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
We'll get to you with them. It's fun.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Well, thank you all, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Thanks big. Wait for the yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Wait yeah great, wait for big.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Way through the Reek, wait for the big play for
the burn back up. Everybody was wrong.
Probably big block big Hello there and welcome to Between Bytes,
presented by Caesars New Orleans and host it on your
Pelicans podcast network. I'm Larry Miller. That's Nina Compton. Hello,
and today big Time. This is when we're in season one.
(00:29):
We wanted to talk to her all year, and now
she's here for season two. We have Swin Cash Hello, Hello, Hello,
Vice president Basketball Operations and Team Development. High school All American, College,
All American at Utah, two time NCAA Champion, three times
(00:49):
w NBA champion, four time All Star, two time All
Star MVP, two gold medals for Team USA, won Feeboat
World Championship, but maybe most impressively on the resume, four
time Shooting Star champion.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
That's a big time. Now. Listen, if you talk to
Dominique Wilkins and Chris Bosh to Hall of Famers, they
will tell you that is a special time, those championships.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
As far as I grew up in Atlanta and I
went to Georgia Tech, so you could not have picked
a better team than me. But it brings up an
interesting point. You have had a i mean two now
obvious very important coaches in your life. Between Gino at
(01:39):
Yukon and Chris Bosh leading your team in the Shooting Stars.
That is four championships. That is more than anybody else
who has assembled your team together.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So I want to tell you a quick little story
about that. So we won four times, right, we were
so good. The changed the model and got rid of
the Shooting Stars competition.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
No way, that literally got rid of it. They didn't
do that for Jordan's They never shut down the contest.
Will They didn't say centers get out of the league.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
It was team Bosh and they literally said we have
to go. And if you talk to so many Wilkins,
he will tell you he wanted to have a conversation
with Adam Silver to understand why. What's wrong with great?
He said? He said, this error is too soft?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, that's funny. So in your role as vice president
of Basketball Operation, what does that entail? A high level
looking down.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
High level looking down. So one of the verticals that
fall under me is our player development. As far as
our team development, I would say a lot of teams
just focus on players, whereas for us, we focused on
not only on players but also on staff. What does
it look like, what does our culture look like? What
are the processes that we have in place for you know,
(02:58):
just everyone coming to New Orleans, the experience of New Orleans.
How do we get here? What is our drive? What
are our pillars? The other part of my job also
is the scouting aspect, so our roster development, our trade deadline,
our draft, all those things. Just being a part of
(03:18):
it and being able to be in the room to
understand the game and being able to give not only
my opinion of assessments to David Griffin at the end
of the day, who makes all the calls.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Well, and that's a really neat story of how you
and David Matt. We spoke with Griff in season one
and he's a fascinating guy and we're very happy as
Pelicans fans that he is with us. But how did
you and David meet?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, believe it or not, we both were working at
Turner and covering the NBA, but at different times and
on different platforms. And the magic about Turner, which I
loved working for them, is that whenever you're not on air,
you're literally in this big old You're in this lounge
where it could be shocked to your left and Charles
Barkley over here and Gary Payton and I are really closed,
(04:08):
and he was on a platform with me, and so
then there's Griff and there's the gms who may not
be at a team right now, and we would just
have conversations about Hoop. And I remember late night leaving
out of the studio and Griff says, hey, and I
turn around and he's like, you know, if I get
one of these jobs I'm interviewing for, He's like, I'm
(04:29):
gonna give you a call. And so I just turned
back and I said, Okay, cool, good luck. And it
didn't really register my mind because I was also in
I was living in New York but flying down to Atlanta.
So I'm in New York. It's basically we're sitting there.
I'm in studio at CBS, and all of a sudden,
you hear like, I mean, I get a ding on
(04:50):
my phone Dandad Griffin's been hired by the Pelicans. And
I was like, oh, I shoot him at text and
just like congratulations, and he's like, yeah, I'll be in touch.
I was like, oh, he was Serrien, and so we
just sort of having conversations from there. I took a
little sneaky trip down here under the radar and came
in and he was sitting at his desk with all
(05:11):
these construction and ideas and literally just said to me,
I have no idea what it's going to look like,
but I need you to wear a lot of different
hats and everything I've either heard about you through our conversations,
I feel you're able to do it. And it was
that level of trust and I guess just blank canvas
that really just drew me here to New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
So what was the first impression when you came to
this city.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The first impression I think were the people, like you
could feel New Orleans is just it's the fabric. It's
a little different. And like I said, my husband and
I we lived in New York and it's similar but
in a different way. Right, And when I came here,
I never forget. I was like walking down the street
and car was driving by, and literally just like they
jump out and they're like, walcome to the city. It
(05:59):
was so exciting, blah blah blah. But then they just
started saying like, we love the team, you guys, gotta
do this. You and they start giving you the history
and it was just so nice. And then you just
be walking or coming to a restaurant and people go
about their business so like, hey, so how you doing.
But it's just a different vibe because you're with us now, Yes,
And I felt that right away, Nina.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, people here are very they sharing, they're all and
they want to just give you a hug, like you said.
And it's we felt the same.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Thing when we moved there where we didn't know anybody,
and people would be like, thank you for moving, and
we're just like what that's never happens, you know, people
would say, hey, how you doing, and it's just so
warmth and it's it's it's really the people that make
this city absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I think. I think that's the biggest thing for me
is like the people. And I feel like since we've
been here it's been four years, you're finding like new
people and new vibes and new conversation and different thought
leaders and so that's that's really inspiring for someone like me.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So why do you as a show, where do you
like to go out to eat?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
When if you do well, we're definitely gonna say how
much we love your food for sure. And being and
being pregnant, that was I was just you know, telling
a story before we got on her to you all,
but I would you know when you're pregnant. I'm standing
my husband out, like, Okay, this is what I want.
You got to go get it. I need to shrimp
in the air. I need the pasta saw something about it.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But we love to try a lot of different different places.
I think that one of the other ones is my
husband loves at Maryls. I think it's I don't know
if it's the short ribs with the pasta sauce. We love.
We love richness, and that's why we also have to
work out, but it varies. I love my family cooks,
(07:48):
but we're very Southern, right, so you get. I love
the coll it greens. But I also don't eat pork.
So that's another thing that we probably should understand about
New Orleans. I little you ask them. I could come
in and they're like, okay, here's a cup of water,
and I'm like, is there porking it?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, because you have to know, so right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I just love trying new restaurants, new things. And I'll
give a shout out to some of the chefs that
work with our players because sometimes we'll have them over
or ask for like male drop offs that are really good.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That's great. I love that that is. Food definitely brings
people together and it's easy to pack on ten.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Pounds, really easy. But it's it's it's you're packing on
and it feels good. Yes, and you're happy. Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
How do you travel with the team?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I do? I do?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So. Do you have your when you go to a
new city and say we have an extra day, you
have time to eat the do you have? Do you
go to your favorites that you always hit and you
only get to see twice a year, or do you
seek out new places?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
A little bit of both. It depends on how our
guys are doing in the season, because if they're on
my nerve, I may need to go to comfort and
you know, as you talk about food, I'm gonna go
to my spot. It's gonna be comfortable, and I'm on
in my head. But I would say a lot of
times I push it back on Trajan and Griff because
they are Griff is great at picking out the wine.
(09:16):
He has a secret weapon obviously you all know. And
his wife, so that's one, and then Trajan. I think
Trajan I both played overseas international, so we are open
to always trying different restaurants or different chefs, and he's
very healthy, so I get the best of both worlds.
But we like to try different things, and we like
(09:37):
to also eat together on the road, so we may
go out and have a meal when the players are
going in a different direction, which is really good for us.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yes, all right, let's let's talk about Team USA. Yes,
and representing the whole country in the Olympics. You're invited
to the tryouts. Obviously you're I'm guessing figuring out that
you're really really great at basketball at this point. What
is it like they're going in those tryouts? No, is
(10:05):
there any doubt of am I not going to make
this team? Am I going to make this team? Do
I really have to, you know, bust my rear in tryouts?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, that's that's a great question, and I'll say my past.
I think every player's journey is different. I think for me,
I didn't start playing USA basketball until I graduated college
because while I was in college, my summers, I would
go back home and work, and so I would get
invited for like the U sixteen or U eighteen. But
(10:39):
for me, it was about going back home, spending time
with my family, getting a job putting money in the bank.
So I didn't come from a lot of money, but
I had a work ethic. And whenever I graduated college
and I got the opportunity to be with the USA team,
I was like, Oh, this is this is something that's attainable,
like one, yeah, pretty good basketball player, but who I
(11:00):
have an opportunity to come from this small town and
represent our country And so that was a different motivation.
So I think it happened later for me than some
of the younger players now. And I think the special
part about representing Team USA is that when you look
at the people, it's not only the players, it's their backgrounds,
it's their stories, it's you bring all of that with you.
(11:22):
And I think every time I was on that podium
receiving gold, all those thoughts, childhood memories, people that sacrifice
for me, it just flashes like boom boom boom, boom boom,
and the tears come because it's such a pride and
a joy. And I will say this, that's the one
time I can say without it being a tragedy or
something happening or we're going to war, it's the one
(11:45):
time where I feel everyone that looks at that team
that won goal, that looks at that flag. They understand
that we're one team, one goal, and that's always been
the purpose. So there's a responsibility. I feel with it
as well.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
That's beautiful. So how did you know that basketball was
your passion?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It just basketball was always my passion, but baseball was
my first love. Okay, So I played on all when
I was young, girl all boys baseball team and there
wasn't a girls travel team or baseball team, and so
my mom was like, all right, she can play. And
so then they were like, oh she is she can't play.
She's not a girl. And I'm like, I very much,
(12:26):
So I am a girl. I can just play baseball.
And basketball was a strategy, to be honest with you.
When I got to eighth grade, I got my first
letter from Wichita State and it was like, oh, we
love to speak to you or have an opportunity to
fill out this questionnaire and potentially get a scholarship. And
(12:48):
when you talk about having real life conversations at fourteen,
having to sit down with my mom and basically her say, listen,
I can't afford for you to go to college. You
have an opportunity to get a scholarship, really good grades.
Here's what we need to do, and I had to
stop playing. I was playing the cello at the time,
I was playing the clarinet. I was also cheerleading, I
(13:10):
was doing all these other things, and so it became
a this is the sacrifice, and now this is the priority.
So we set our goals and that was the drive,
and I just kept chipping away, chipping away. And when
I got to my senior year and I decided to
go to Yukon. I ran track my senior year and
it was the most I had the most fun. And
(13:32):
everyone's like, but you're going to Yukon. But the best
thing about that story. I won Western Pennsylvania in the
hurdles in the state. I took third and I started
receiving letters from track and field coaches about it, and
I was like, actually, I'm going to play basketball in Yukon.
This is just kind of fun for me right now.
(13:54):
But it was. It was a really cool experience. But
that's life, right, That's so, I mean, you are.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Everything.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I mean, it's it's it's it's insane.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
It's like you're a superhuman. To know that you're playing
all these instruments and you just dabble in these sports
and you just crush it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It's amazing. It's a blessing. It was definitely a blessing.
But yeah, I love the game. The game has been
the game has given me so much.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
And as a woman in top of that game, how
what is your advice for women coming up? You know,
because it is a very macho s.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
It's actually you hosted your Women in Sports summit, yes,
and which has a lot to do that. That's a
pretty powerful idea to go out there and you did it.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, so thank you for asking. Uh So, last
year I had an opportunity and a blessing. If you
play basketball, you look at what's that next chapter? And
for me, getting inducted into the Naysmith Basketball Hall of
Fame was that like the final chapter of playing the game.
(15:01):
And so I wanted to be intentional about what's next.
I know, I'm working in sports right now and a
lot of times, I'm sure you do as well. You
get asked to do all these things philanthropically, and I
love doing it. But I wanted to be more intentional,
and so I took the last two months leading up
to the Hall of Fame to focus on what's next,
And for me, it was She's Got Time, and you know,
(15:24):
She's Got Time is a platform for women who work
in all fast as the sports, because sometimes we don't
see we see women behind the camera, women who are
in front of the camera, women who play the game businesses.
And I wanted to create a platform where there can
be a convening power, where we can share information, where
you can get different resources and professional development and feel
(15:47):
good about it. And so that's how She's Got Time happened.
Big shout out to the Saints and Pelicans and Miss
Gale Benson who whenever you know, we went and said
here's here's something we're trying to do. She was on
board and full support and actually showed up and everybody
was like wow, you know ms Bee walked into her room.
It's just like hey, right, but but you need that
(16:10):
And I wanted to create this platform also just as
a woman and as a woman of color in sports,
it can be difficult, and so I wanted us to
have these authentic conversations and places to help everybody reach
their full potential.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Uh, So that that that's what She's Got Time originated
from and I was super excited for it to be
here in New Orleans and next month, in a few
months here to come to people can go to She's
got time dot com and they'll see the app and
the platform in the community that we really created. And
so that's something that was near and dear to my heart.
(16:44):
And I'm excited for all of the women who stood
beside me and continue to want to do great work.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's amazing and thank you for doing that because it's
it's something we need, we need to with the conversation
and you know, give women a lift up.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yes, absolutely, And that's not something you came to just
after basketball, because you've always been socially active, Yes, like
five hundred bucks a game for wearing a Black Lives
Matter shirt back in twenty and sixteen.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
What was that like as you saw as we moved
from when that happened and there you didn't have all
the teams wearing socially social commentary on their uniforms or
warm ups. What was that like and how did you
see that progress to where we are now?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I think if you even look back at our history,
whether it's through the salel rights movement, women have played
a significant role in not only advocacy but standing up
for what's right. And I think if you look back
at twenty sixteen, whenever I was the vice president for
the Union of the WNBA, my colleagues and all the
other players decided to, like you said, Larry's stand up
(17:59):
and make a stand. And this is at a time
when our country was really hurting and trying to understand
what direction we're going. But you fast forward to to
today and you look at the WNBA women, and you
look at the NBA and how they've used their platforms
to create change. I mean, the WNBA women helped get
(18:22):
Senator Warmack Warnock in Atlanta into the Senate by using
their platform, by being intentional, and the best thing about it,
I think with our players, if you look at CJ. McCollum,
who is the president of the union, we had Garrett
Temple that was on our team as well, that was
the VP. They are intentional about doing what's right and
(18:44):
being on the right side of history. Doesn't matter if
you're a Republican, doesn't matter if you're Democrat. Are you
on the right side of history? Do you care about people?
And I think That's the one thing that sports has
is so powerful, is this convening power of people with
differences but coming together and being able to care about
issues that are bigger than you. And that's why I
(19:06):
love what we did back then, and I continue to
use my platform in that way.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
That's beautiful. That is amazing that sports can bring people
together and raise awareness for things we need to talk about.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Yeah, a lot of times people are fearful needed to
have those conversations, but you know this most of all,
like you put a good meal in front of somebody,
we convene to have feud, right, we convene to watch sports.
We have to figure out ways to convene people together
using the tools that we have instead of leaning into
the divide. Right. I think that's what sports right now
(19:41):
for me is, that's why it's so impactful and powerful.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
All Right, we're going to go back to your playing days.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Okay, okay, because you know I'm a little seasoned over here.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
How many different jersey numbers did you have?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
And the pros.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's there there we go. Why did you pick four
different numbers?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Because thirty two was always my number. That was that
was that was me, that was who I was. I
love thirty two. I loved magic. I mean I think
as I changed and I was going through different times
in my career, every number represented something different.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but
I was thinking that there might be a story. Why
would you have four numbers?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, yeah, well if you look at eight, that was
the time when I was trying to if you flip
it and you think about the infinity and it continues on,
and that that for me was was a transition for me.
I knew I was somewhere that was temporary, but I
knew like that I had to this transition was happening
(20:55):
from being the younger player into the next season of
being a veteran and what that was looked like number two,
number two. It was my second go round, it was.
It was. It was my second chance after after leaving
Detroit and uh going to Seattle and uh.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Why do you want to get out of Detroit?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
That's it, You're just kidding.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
And I don't blame you. I wouldn't have even gone
there until he left.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I would say, literally, if you if you want to
know more of the answer, you can go. I actually
wrote a book called humble journey, more precious than gold.
That talks a little bit about that, But I mean, look,
at the end of the day, I have a very
soft spot for Bill. I think he's gotten a lot
softer since he got a little older and tell him.
But yeah, it was a transition for me there. So
(21:41):
number two was that second chance for me, and number
four and number four I was only there for a
quick minute. It was like see you later, I see you,
and so yeah, I picked four. We doubled it up
and I knew I was getting back to thirty two.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
You found something good in Atlanta that I did. Your husband,
my husband. How'd y'all meet, do you?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
They said, okay, I'll give you this short cliff note version.
I met my husband when we were seventeen, and I
met him on an AAU trip. And on this AAU trip,
he was playing My husband played college basketball for him,
but he was on the team from New York called Riverside,
AAU team, and it was a bunch of other guys
(22:29):
that played in the pros as well. And we were
in the hotel and you know how kids are like
just all hanging out. And this was the summer where
I was trying to decide between Tennessee or Yukon. And
so he just was a really nice guy and I
it was like throwing up all this, like I can't
believe about Tennessee. Should I go to pat you know,
go to Gino, my family? All this first time I
(22:51):
met him, this court, seventeen year old guy sat there
and listened for me for twenty minutes, just go on
about like this huge decision I had to make. When
I went back home, and literally I gave him my
number and he never called me. Oh I'm just scared
him away. He never called. But you know, as the
(23:12):
story goes, when he played at Fordham, they came to
play Yukon. We were practicing in the gym and he
was waiting outside for the opportunity because they said, oh,
the women always come out this way because their locker
room is right here. I at that point in time
went out the other way for whatever reason. Never never
even saw him write. Fast forward ten years later, our
(23:35):
team in Seattle was going to Atlanta, and he reached
out like, hey, I do these huge events in Atlanta.
I see your team is coming here. I don't know
if you remember me, but I like to invite you
all out, and I looked at my phone. Mind you,
I just got out of like a four year relationship,
and I was like, y'all, you're not gonna believe me,
so you never called me. Fast forward, my teammates they
(23:58):
aren't anything. And if they're listening to his podcas Casts
and Super Ashley Robinson, uh Tanisha write Camille, all of
you are still terrible friends. They were like, call him,
call him, we want to go to the event, but
you literally use me. Oh we want to go. We
get off the bus. Everybody it's like somebody turned on
(24:19):
the lights and they just scattered. They were like, oh no,
I have to do something. This poor guy's waiting downstairs.
They're like, take us to go have some food. I
was like, I'm going to text him and tell him
we're not coming. He could be a serial killer. I
haven't seen him since we were seventeen. Long story short.
One of my friends, Ashley, she did go with me.
We went out, had a conversation. They make jokes to
(24:42):
this day. At my wedding, they were killing us, like your.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
First date was the three people.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
So from that point on, we just you know, became
friends and started dating and have have been together ever since.
So yeah, Mary fifteen, Yeah, thanks, Yeah, So yeah, he's
pretty lame. He didn't call me back, but you know,
he tells all when he tells this story. He always
tells people if I would have called or met her back,
then we would not be married. And I'm like, lord,
(25:08):
thank you. I don't want any part of you from
college your twenties. Beating in our thirties was perfect.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
The kids, are you the kind of parents I'm guessing
you have the little tight Uh? Is that what it's called?
The basketball goal?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Little hoop?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah? Do you smack them? You block them?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
They got to earn, yes, buckets and listen. I'm gonna
do our kids the same way my uncles and aunts
and my mom did me. Until you are of age
and big enough where I know that you can beat me.
Then I will pull up with like a handshare that.
Until then, Yeah, my kids are going to get work.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
You can play who can you take one on one
on the current ros?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
You know what I will say this, I cannot beat
any of them in a one on one game right now,
but you give us one possession and I want Shrey Murphy. Yeah,
because he'll want to block my shots so bad and
for women, that's the one thing that he has. Yet
(26:13):
he's going to jump to a roof. He's gonna fly
by and babe up and under is going to get
him smiling. So I want all the smoke from Murphy.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
It's out there. Pray that nobody tapes it because Nina
and I have a going to go viral.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yes for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Well, thank you so much for catching up with us,
and we look forward to seeing what the Pelicans would
bring this season.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Oh, thank you so much. And we look forward to
having you got a game too.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yes, Oh we can't wait.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yes, And thank you for all you do for the city.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yes, appreciate you, and.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Really I mean bigger than that, but we love our
little city here, and and to have someone as important
as you doing the job that you're doing with a
team that we love, it's just awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
I love it. I have one request. We have to
come here at some point and cook with you.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Oh yes, let's do that.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's let's do good because labor is a little tough
and hells are loaded, but we need to cook. If
anybody else's listened, for sure, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Well we do we do cooking classes here every month,
so maybe.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
We'll yes, count me in, my husband and I for
the season brawling.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
We'll get to you with them. It's fun.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Well, thank you all, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Thanks big. Wait for the yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Wait yeah great, wait for big.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Way through the Reek, wait for the big play for
the burn back up. Everybody was wrong.
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