Episode Nine | Kate Scott and Shake Milton

Welcome back to The Big Niang Theory! On Episode 8, Georges Niang and Lauren Rosen go in-depth with 76ers Play-by-Play Announcer Kate Scott alongside guest co-host Shake Milton to discuss confidence, balance, life in the NBA, and Women's History Month.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to the Big Kniang Theory. Thank you, George.
Joel Embiide is in the building is the one. The
way he tells me that I suck. Think about where
you were and like, where are you right now? Thank
you for making time for the Big Niang Gary, I
appreciate you have me bro Welcome back everybody to the
Big Niang Theory. I'm George Niang with my co host

(00:23):
Lauren Rosen. Today we have a unique situation. We have
a returner to the Big Kniang Theory. Shake Milton, thank
you for coming back on. But the real woman of
the hour on this show is the great Kate Scott. Kate,
thanks for joining. It's great to be here. Say how

(00:45):
much did George have to pay you to come back
to that? To take out a loan charge. We're gathered
to do two things. We want to hear Kate's life
story the same way that we've heard so many of
your teammates life stories. We're also celebrating Women's History Month
in the month of March. Kate someone who has made
regular history and women's history I suppose, and plays a

(01:08):
huge role in all of our lives. So Kate apologies
for being here, and I think somewhere interesting maybe to start,
is that you guys have a really beautiful relationship, and
I'd love to hear sort of how that got going
and the bond that you have with these players As
your first nbat, I'm trying to think how did that
get I feel like we just kind of just shot
the breeze, like when she was around for shoot around,

(01:29):
we did, and one of these strange good things to
come out of COVID. I still don't know how to
phrase it correctly, but so my first year was obviously
last year, and you guys were still having to sit
out for portions of the season when you contracted the virus.
So that forced you to have to sit at home
and listen to me, because I'm sure most of you

(01:51):
were like, who's this chick that's at our shoot around
sitting up there on the balcony looking down at us.
So George Aculey actually sent me a message while he
was out with COVID saying, oh my gosh, I heard
you call a game last night. I freaking love your energy.
Man here. So obviously George was drinking or something, but

(02:12):
it was really nice that he reached out because he
didn't have to do that, he's an NBA player, but
it meant a lot that he took the time to
send me a note. So when he got back and
was healthy, we just started chatting and things took off
from there. Where did you look at that? Now she's
rocking the mini van hoodie. So for all of you
that don't have a minivan hoodie, go get one, Go
get that. George Bang dot com, you got one yet? Shake?

(02:34):
Not yet. I'm still waiting on my man like he's
supposed to ask for, you know, the sizes they're having
trouble making that the factory die the high demand. I'm
waiting on pe Read too, man, I asked for you know,
I know we're getting off track here, but pe Read
will actually make his teammates pay for those hoodies. So
everybody's like, man, a hundred dollars is a lot, Like

(02:56):
he's not even giving us. It's like a hundred dollars
no matter where where you're from, A funny story. That's
a smart business man. Can we can cut this out
if it doesn't really feel But you know, we were
talking to Paul and Tobias, who is basically like a
money savant, right, you know, he's always giving advice on

(03:17):
you know, how to save here, how to you know,
incorporate different things, you know, the Crumble ambassador himself. Um,
so he said to Paul. He was like, Paul, how
about for your demographic you lower the price so that
you know people can't afford, you know, because one hundred
dollars is a lot for a hoodie that you know,
a lot of money out the mud. Yeah, and he

(03:38):
said Tobias, like, if they can't pay a hundred dollars
for it, then they ain't getting it out the mud.
Oh that was so funny. But that just tells you,
like how like innocent to the world Paul Reid is
and just he's just an innocent human and just a

(03:58):
great person. I think it's so funny that he's taking
his slogan and putting it, you know, on a hoodie
multiple colors. I saw pink one yesterday. Shake. What do
you I mean you're real big with fashion, So tell
me what you think about that. Yeah, man, pauliad is,
he's a different character, you know what I mean. He's
somebody who likes to push the boundaries in anytime. I
have a conversation with him. I'm leaving with a different,

(04:20):
different perspective, so I always enjoy being around my man.
We have some shake coming. Do we have some sniper shakeyer? Oh? Yeah,
we gotta. We gotta have that on the way. I've
already started working on it. I gotta. I don't know
if it's going to be quite one hundred dollars, Gee,
how much you sell yours for mine? Or half of that?
Half that fifty? You know what I mean? So budget?
Paula over here, Yeah, you know, Lauren is always good

(04:43):
at you know, coming at me. But it's all right.
You know, we work through it. Hey, Shake, As you know,
you got to work through some problems. Shake almost gotten
a physical I know. I didn't want to bring that up,
but since you did, I'm glad to see that you
guys are chatting again. Well, I just want to shed
some light on that. No, well, I mean we could
talk about it. I think it was just funny because
Shake is like the most mild manners and that's why

(05:05):
I love it. And everybody knows I'm like so emotional.
So it's really like Shake was caught in the crossfire
because I think I was just ready to blow pretty
much anybody, like where it could have been Tyreese, it
could have been Joel, and I just would have stumped
my feet, like if you watched the replay of me
jumping up and down, like my mom was like, could
you act anymore like a twelve year old? I think

(05:25):
the cool thing is now that we've incorporated you know
what I mean that little scuffle into our pregame handshake,
So the best you're going to shed a little light
on how oh so before so before every we always
high five each other and hug So now I incorporate
or shake incorporated like he's putting his hands up and
then we high five and shake hands. So it's been

(05:48):
kind of cool. But you know, obviously, you know we're
teammates and that comes from a different kind of perspective
where you know, we're on the court, like we're grinding together,
where for U Kate, it's totally different where I've kind
of had a perspective where you know, when you hop
in the booth with someone that you don't really have
chemistry with, like you kind of have to work through that,

(06:10):
and you kind of being like a pioneer a woman
in a kind of a male dominated industry. How did
you overcome some of those challenges because that you can't
go home and be like, oh, I just don't measure
this person like I need a new match. It's like, no,
you need to figure it out. Yeah, and make yourself
look good, but also make this whole production look good. Yeah.
I think you hit the nail on the head by

(06:31):
just saying figure it out like that has been my
entire life because too, and I'm sure Shake as well,
and Lauren too. Because I was never trying to be
a pioneer. I was never trying to be a trailblazer.
I didn't set out to try to be a first.
I loved sports from the time I was a little girl,
and my mom still tells these stories about when I

(06:51):
was five and six at recess at school. It was
me and all the boys playing soccer, and I was
the one who was like the coach and the referee.
If somebody picked the ball up, I'd be like the handball,
put the ball down, free kick for this team back
up ten yards. Like that was me when I was
six years old. And then when your parents could kind of,
you know, allow you to make breakfast or pour your

(07:11):
own bowl of Cereal on the weekends so they could
sleep in maybe a little bit longer. They would never
wake up and find me watching Saturday morning cartoons. I
was watching Sports Center on Loop a half hour sports Centers.
Maybe maybe those had turned off by the time. You
guys get annoying after you watch it third. So so
sports has been my life since I was a little girl. Um,

(07:34):
and then as I got older, I started to realize
that a lot of the stuff that I wanted to
do when I was drawn towards was stuff that only
guys had done. Like, uh, when I got to cal
I went to UC Berkeley for college out in the
Bay Area, and I went to football game my freshman
year and it was awesome because they were actually good
when I was there, and they were they were like
three or four dudes down at the front of the

(07:54):
students section leading cheers, and they were in khaki pants
and blue button down shirts and blue and gold time
because those are the school colors. I was like, that's rad, man,
how do I get to do that? And everybody looked
at me. It was like you got to try out
in front of the student section, and like, no chick's
ever done that. And I was like, great, that's cool.
Can I try. Everybody kind of like looked at me like,
oh my gosh, she's gonna food off the stage. Yeah,

(08:16):
who is this crazy chick? Right? And then I did it,
didn't get boot off, people cheered for me. I was
a yell leader for three years at Cal when we
had Aaron Rodgers and the basketball team was getting to
the NCAA tournament every year, so traveled with a football team,
got to hang out the basketball team anyway. So long
story long, My whole life has been about figuring it out.

(08:38):
And I credit playing sports when I was a little girl,
as I'm sure you guys can relate to. So many
times you experience failure. Right, You're not making your shots,
your defense sucks, there's just something that's not going right.
You're not doing what your team needs at that moment,
and the coaches or your teammates are challenging you to
figure it out. And you either do and you succeed

(08:58):
and you get better and you move on to the
next level, or you're done. So I've had to run
into that a ton of times as a sideline reporter
and as an anchor, and then when I started doing
play by play and I'm just kind of continuing to
figure it out. So it's awesome to not be here
figuring out with all of you. Yeah, you know, the
crazy part is, you know, we're together so much, and

(09:18):
it's almost like you take for granted everybody else's journey,
but we are like one percent of the one percent,
and I constantly have to remind myself of that. And
I feel like the one thing that all of us
can have a commonality and can get along with is
that we've all had our own unique journey of figuring
it out. And I always tell people that are like,
what do you think makes a successful person? And I'm like,

(09:38):
it really is like grit, Like it's how long can
you withstand like the pressure, the trials and tribulations. And
I mean we look at all of our careers. You
just touched on yours, Lauren. I know you have your story,
but even like you shake, like coming in signing a
two way, you know, having injury, then like this offseason
is like going to be like the real time, you know,

(10:00):
for you to like reap all those rewards of everything
that you've had to go through and being in the NBA. Yeah, man,
I think you know, for myself. You know, life is
just it kind of goes in waves, right, you know,
you're being up, you're down the highs and lows of it.
And I feel like earlier and my career, at times,
I would just kind of be drawn by those things,

(10:21):
so like just the way I feel, my mood or
whatever would just kind of go up and down with
those highs and lows, you know. But as I got
a little older, I just you know, started to find
ways to kind of just maintain a certain level of
steadiness and tranquility and not being so so so much
on that roller coaster anymore, you know what I mean.

(10:43):
I'm able to just kind of look at things, take
things for what they are, and then kind of pivot
and adjust how I need to. And you know, ultimately,
I feel like that has just taken not only my mindset,
but just my life to a whole other level. And
I'm sure, you know, Kate, you can expound on just
having to pivot, uh, you know what I mean, and

(11:04):
continuing to elevate and grow, you know, through just the
whole process of this whole thing. Can I just give
a shake a hard time by saying, as he got older,
what are you twenty six right now? Shake, I'm serious,
we're going to professional athlete years, so that years you
like time to buy two three, expand on that, because
I think that's totally true because the wisdom that I

(11:26):
think you guys have and I mean that, and you
guys are both still very young men to me, is
it because you've been thrown into things at such a
young age when it comes to professional sports. I mean,
I'll say it first, I mean year, what year did
you first GIVEBA? Like twenty two, twenty one, twenty three
in the league? Yeah, twenty eighteen, So how was I

(11:47):
was twenty twenty one? Yes, so I was. I would
just turned twenty three, and like the responsibility. I remember
looking at my first paycheck and I'm like, who is Fika?
And why are they taking all this money? Right? You know?
So it's just like it's true, you just have to
grow up so fast. Whereas like, and I hate saying
this because I always look at myself as a normal person,
Whereas like other young adults, they have chances to like

(12:08):
mess up and like be able to pick themselves up.
It's like when I mess up, it's like they're like,
how could you possibly do that you have your whole
life given you. And it's like when I was first
in the NBA, like I didn't know like what to
expect or that, you know that what people expected of
me outside of basketball, like being an adult, like in
college and like all these other places, you're kind of

(12:30):
like sheltered from the world. When you're in the NBA,
it's like, hey, we have an off day in this city.
You could do whatever you want. We'll meet you tomorrow
for a shoot round. And it's almost like when you're young,
you're like, oh, I have a day off, But now
that we've like four or five years in, we're like, no,
I have to get my treatment. I have to get
my work in because when the lights are on, they
expect me to perform it. And if I don't do
the stuff behind the scenes, yeah, then you know I'm

(12:52):
in trouble. And I know that Shake is one of
the most regimented on our team. Comes to that. When
did that? When did that shift happen? Or has he
always been like that? Since I've been here, I've always
like he always like shoot around off days like he
you and t Lash. I feel like have like something
that's just yeah, I don't know. Like I remember early
on they used to have to tell me to not

(13:13):
come to the gym, you know what I mean, like
just to go sit down, And even now they tell
me to watch it. But like, I don't know. I think,
you know, some guys are just super talented and can
just play the game and just be great, you know
what I mean. But I also just love the game too,
so like I always want to be out there hooping
and then just watching some of the greats and watching

(13:36):
interviews and things like that and talking about how they
go about their craft, and it's just it's just the
love that I have for it, really, so I want
to be great, and I just I feel like I
know what it takes. So I'm just trying to put
in as much work as I can really to tie
together two of our topics the way that you just
talked about having to figure out how to stay level

(13:57):
and not ride the hides and the lows. It's interesting
to be that George opened the conversation about your little
scuffle by saying that you're one of the most level people,
because I think that's a testament to your evolution, right.
I don't know if the first couple of years that
you were here, you would have considered yourself one of
the more level people. Really, Yeah, I mean probably not, Man,
I was just just just young, right, you don't know,
like you know what I mean, Like when things are

(14:19):
going great, you're just in a great mood, and then
when things are going bad, you're just like, oh man,
the whole world is coming down, you know what I mean.
But now just stayed of course, you know what I mean.
You've got goals in mind. You have just continue to
put intension behind them and continue to trust things and
you know things will always fall into place like they should.
I just think the fact that George called you that
is a testament to the fact that you're doing it

(14:41):
well right, that you have figured out what that balance
is and like what that level headedness is. Yeah, we
talk a lot. Balance is sort of like a theme
on our podcast, like how do you find balance in
your crazy life with these high standards and for UK,
you're of the four of us, the newest to the
NBA schedule and lifestyle and the demands that this life
eskus of you. How have you started to find your

(15:02):
balance in your role? Still definitely in search of it.
This is a grind well because this is the first Yeah,
so you had to find your nichel like out even
having relationships with like ye because we didn't start traveling
with you guys because of COVID again, back to that
on the balcony, but calling her first NBA games, which,

(15:24):
by the way, like I'm going to brag on Kate
for a second, there's so much pressure associated with the
role that she has, and she took over for someone
Mark Zumof, who's one of the greatest to ever be
a local play by play announcer for a team like
you guys. He's so well respected, and whoever came into
that role next was going to have tons of pressure,
even if it was a white man that had similar

(15:45):
qualities in style to Mark Zumof. Right, And then they
bring in this young woman from California whom no one
has heard of in the market. And it's not that
anyone set you up to fail, but the challenge was
greater based on your identity. Then they tell her Mark
was at every game meeting you guys on day one.
It's COVID. You can't go to every game. You're going
to call some of the games off of monitors, you're

(16:07):
not going to meet the players one by one. You're
going to just have to sort of go. So you're
already set up for this huge challenge, and then there
are all these extra challenges in place, and now we
ask you how you found your balance, Like, what was
it like to come in such a sort of volatile
environs start off off battle, But if you can figure
it out in that environment, maybe this environment actually feels
kind of stable. Well, And as I kind of referenced earlier,

(16:29):
my whole career has been a challenge. It's just been
figuring it out. There is no in broadcasting, and this
is one of the most frustrating thing for young kids
who are getting into this while they're friends or consultants
or lawyers or doctors. There's a ladder that they see, Right,
if I go to this grad school, then I will
have the degree that will get me that first job.

(16:49):
I know the name of that first job out of school,
and then after two years there I will get a promotion.
Like it is easy to see that progression in broadcasting.
I like to say, it's just this giant oak tree
with a ton of branches and you just got to say,
all right, I'm gonna pick that one, and you walk
out on it and you're like, Okay, I like it.
It's working, and then you try to hop to a
higher one, but it's just there's no ladder. It's really confusing.

(17:11):
So yeah, the balance. That's why I chuckled as soon
as you said it. I've been in this industry now
for twenty plus years and I'm still searching for it.
But when it comes to the NBA season, I'm considering
this kind of my first full season because I got
to start traveling with you guys and actually seeing you
face to face and talking to you back a training camp.
I got to go to training camp in Charleston. But

(17:32):
I tell people all the time, I think it's really
easy from the outside looking in. Oh, you guys travel
on your own plane, right, you stay at these fancy hotels.
But I tell people, Yeah, but we had four games
last week in four different cities, and two of those
cities we got into at two in the morning. I

(17:52):
don't know how the guys who were between you know,
six three and seven feet tall, you're still on a
plane after you played a game when you're actually wanting
to get like massaged or something. Because you just beat
the snot out of each other. Like I don't think
people understand the physicality of basketball because again I've called football,
I've called hockey. But comes in and if you can
somehow get a first ten rows at an NBA game ticket,

(18:14):
you guys beat the crap out of each other and
you don't have any pads on um, and then go
straight to the airport, get on a plane, change time zones. Yeah,
you get a nice bed and stuff, but then we
need you up at night the same size of the
beds that you and I are and and then do
it all again that night exactly. But I just it is,

(18:37):
it's so much for me just as a broadcaster. What
what day of the week is it? Like some nights
on the top of my board, because I have a
little eight by eleven board in front of me that
has pertain in information about you guys and our opponents
all literally right like Wednesday at the top, because I
won't know what day it is, and all right Indianapolis
because I won't know what city we're in either. Um,
So it's been it's a grind and I am still

(19:00):
adjusting to that because again this is just my first
full season traveling. But it just my respect for you
guys continues to grow because of the fact that I'm
calling your games and yeah, I have to do hair
and makeup, big deal, But you guys actually have to
get out there and do battle for two and a
half hours, yeah every other night. I mean the physical exertion.
I think we have that over you. But that brain

(19:21):
of yours definitely out Trump's us. I know, because she's
talking about a calling card and if people don't know
what that is. In broadcasting, you have a card and
I think it's with every player's name and where they're from.
Everybody's different. Yeah, well, so you want to have the
information about the players, whether if you tie in, you
loop in and say that they went to college with

(19:42):
this person. Which is why Kate is like, it's important
that she's around to ask all these questions because when
I first did like broadcaster, you where I was the
MBPA put it on and I got to get in
my experience, you know, calling a live game with someone
who does play by play. I was just doing color
commentary and you're doing color commentary. You really want to,
you know, show the audience what you know about the game.

(20:05):
But tie it into the game and how the relationships,
you know, how they all work, and get getting back
to your calling card. You know, you you want to
have information on there that's important that the audience will
understand and you don't have to go on like these
ten minute rants on because the play by play person
is trying to call the game and nobody hear you
there tell a story. So here I am taking ten
minutes to tell my story. I mean, well, they've gone

(20:27):
back and forth across the court like four times. We're
getting prepared physically and mentally, but like for you to
dial in and take time out of your day to
find information that, frankly, in Philly there our fans would
actually give a shi t about is important, you know.
And the fact that you know you can do that

(20:48):
and tie all that in to have people you know,
drawn to that, I mean credit to you. You say
that we have to physically do it, you know, but
mentally I would be stressing myself. That's like a whole
different game that you're playing, and all the while you're
still on national TV too, So like that's there's no recredits,
don't mess it up. But it's I think there's so

(21:10):
many tie ins between what I do and what you
guys do right, So much of what makes at least
in my opinion, a good broadcaster is the amount of
effort you put into your preparation. Like we were just
talking about, the majority of my work is done before
or the game tips off. When the game starts, that's
the fun part for me. But it's as George was
just talking about, have I put in all the time

(21:31):
I know I needed to so that when the game starts,
I know, man, I prepped on the opponent, I know everything.
I'm I'm rarely going to even have to look down
at my board because I'm so prepared for this one.
I know our guys like the back of my hand,
obviously because we've been together most of the year, but
also because I'm reading and I'm listening to podcast and
I'm doing everything I can too, because as you said,
Philly fans are so intelligent and follow their teams because

(21:54):
they're so passionate about that. It's different calling Philly sports
versus calling another team in another city where maybe the
fans don't care as much. You might not have to
try as hard because they're not paying as much attention.
They don't know as much. But that's one of the
challenges I give myself, Like, Okay, I think in other
cities people wouldn't know this, but I know Philly fans do.
How can I find that next level nugget that fans

(22:14):
are going to say, well, I don't know, shit, Wow,
it's been that long since Shake did that. I didn't
know this about George. So I'm always trying to find
something a little cooler than what you can just read
on the internet. You won't say it. But Kate also,
at least in my experience, does a lot more preparation
than a lot of folks that do what she does.
And I don't want to make everything about your gender

(22:36):
or the obstacles that you've overcome because of your gender,
but I do wonder sometimes when you are putting in
that preparation. I've certainly here I'll make it about me.
I've certainly found in my career that if I say
something about one of you guys, I'm infinitely more likely
to be asked if I'm sure, or to have someone
go look it up just to make sure what I
said was true, especially if it's a stat especially if

(22:57):
it's an encourt thing to double check because people aren't
as likely to trust. This is where you ask so
many questions. Well but oh well, actually, to be fair like,
maybe it is though, right, because for me, it's really
easy to tell a story when it comes directly from you.
George said this shake did that. No one can question

(23:17):
me if I'm getting it directly from what you guys
say or do. And I'm curious for you when you
do your preparation or over the years as you've done
your preparation, do you think that you feel like you
have a little something extra to prove or am I
just crazy a million percent? And you know that. I
it's hard for me to talk about all this because

(23:38):
obviously the end goal for me is just to be
looked at as an NBA broadcaster with all the other
stuff coming second. I'm sure the same thing goes for
you guys. You just want to be known as great
basketball players, with everything else that you identify as falling
behind that. But I know right now, I'm young and
new when it comes to NBA, so a lot of
people see me as the gay chick from California who's
also calling games for the Sixers, and the broadcaster thing

(23:59):
is kind of flast but yeah, what you said. I
mean so many people have questioned why I want to
do this, Why do I think I can do this?
You know, when I got the Sixers job, I was
calling a national college football package, a national game of
the week with Mike Golok Senior. It was the biggest
gig I'd had up until I got this job. So

(24:19):
thirteen straight weeks, that's why I had to miss five
of our games last fall. We went to Alabama and
Georgia and Oklahoma State, and we were syndicated on over
one hundred and twenty radio stations across the country. And
when you call football, you usually have somebody who keeps
your stats, and then you have a spotter because you
usually like eight or nine stories up in the football stadium,

(24:39):
right you're not courtside or close to the basketball court.
So I have a bigger board when I call football,
and a good spotter is supposed to if number twenty
makes you know, the catch point at number twenty on
my board, just to kind of confirm hopefully what I
could already see and know. But not just once twice
in that season, as I'm calling a na A package

(25:00):
with Mike Golik, the spotter walked in and was like, Hey,
can you introduce me to the play by play because
obviously it's not you and they and I knew, right,
and you guys are kind of both kind of rolling
your eyes and that's what are you doing? But but

(25:21):
I didn't. As much as I wanted to punch them
in the face, I knew. I knew that I was
probably the first woman they had ever seen calling a game,
So the best thing I could do was to have
prepped my ass off and then go out there and
kick the you know what out of the broadcast so
that four hours later they would never again, moving forward,
walk into a booth sea a woman, and not, at

(25:42):
least for a second think before I ask her that
maybe I should look at my email and see the
name of the play by play who I'm working with.
So that was a long way of saying I've always overprepped,
and I always will continue to because now it's my
comfort zone. But I used to because I knew that
if I did a good job in any of the
things that helped me get here, there was a chance
that other people who didn't look and sound like the

(26:05):
zoom Offs and the people who had done it before
might get a chance as well, because I knew that
the people who were doing the hiring were watching, that
the next generation was watching. So yeah, I put I
put a ton of pressure on myself to always go
past what I know I probably should do, just because
I know the better I am, the more opportunities for

(26:25):
those that are coming behind me. Shake, you had a
strong reaction to her story that you just told, Yeah,
I mean, that's just that's crazy. I mean, it's something
I could definitely identify with myself, you know what I mean,
just being overlooked it But to see you, I could
just relate to that, you know what I mean, that
start feeling of just somebody just overlooking you and having

(26:47):
to continue to prove yourself to the point where it
just becomes like it's second nature. Like you don't even
react when it feels like you're back is against the wall,
you know what I mean, somebody is not giving you
the proper respect. You just like, all right, I'm gonna
take it for what it is and then I'm gonna
push it to a whole nother level on you. And
where are you going? What? What's what's your story that
you're flashing too I mean, we'll shoot. I have just

(27:09):
a bunch of stories. I mean, evenin me just being
in the league, being a two way, hurting myself in
the combine to where like I didn't really get you
know what, I mean, to do the things I wanted
to do, and then um getting in rotations, falling out
of rotations, having to fight my way back in, and
then being ready for playoffs and then making big plays
in the playoffs. M just it's just like a constant thing.

(27:30):
It's not ef We're gonna be just smooth selling. But
what I've learned is, like you said, just continue to
be overprepped, over ready, and when it's time for you
to step up to the play, you're gonna step up
and knock it out the ballpark every time. So I
definitely relate to that. And that's funny that you know,
this all comes back into like when we had dinner.
We had dinner as a team after the Dallas game,

(27:52):
and you know, Shake, it's obviously talking about having the
right balance, and you're talking about the pressures of that,
of like not losing your cool when someone comes in
into questions like why you're here and not making it
about like me proving them wrong and just keeping it
about like your process. And that kind of goes back
to what we were talking about. Um. You know, when
me and Shake and the team were at dinner, Shake

(28:14):
was kind of just talking about you know, some someone says,
Paul Reid is going to get dragged back into this, right.
Someone said something about visualizing, and Paul was like, how
can that be possible? Just because you like see it
in your mind doesn't mean that it's going to happen,
and Shake was like, no, it's like, Paul, like is
a real thing. It's like you visualize these things like happening,
Like there's an essences as if like you know this

(28:37):
can happen or this is going or that it's already happened.
Like I'm not going to get as deep as we went,
but I think it speaks volumes to like the both
of you, the fact that you can actually identify that
someone's disrespecting you, right, and I'm not gonna lose my
cool because George Niang would be like hey mother, you know,

(28:57):
and then and then get to the and then then
try to prove you were you guys like all right cool,
and then like now you guys are like, all right,
identified what's going on, and now I'm gonna show you why,
or now I'm gonna even prep even harder so that
when you do try to question me, I'm gonna be like,
look at the end result. And I think that's funny
because like we basically just talked about it, and like
you dialed into like visualization, and it's funny because the

(29:20):
last couple of games, I haven't been playing that well.
And when you said like just visualizing yourself like being good,
like doing the right things, getting it done, and it's
like it doesn't matter if you go out there and
play your best or have the best stats. You just
feel so much better, just f the effect of like,
all right, yeah, that shot didn't go in, but I
still see myself making that and feeling like I belong.

(29:44):
Confidence is like a through line as well. And we've
talked George and I a lot about each other sort
of confidence journey. I'm curious about your confidence journey because
I see you as an extremely confident individual with like
a very clear sense of self and even the story
you told about in college and being like a yell

(30:04):
leader and the confidence that it takes to be like yeah,
I'm going to try out in front of these people
as the first woman to ever do it, and yeah,
I'm going to be able to and then be the
first woman to do this and not even have it
be about being a woman, just have it being about
being great. There's so much confidence that goes into that.
And you guys have talked about it. You just shared,
you just shared. What is your confidence journey been like?

(30:25):
Because I don't know if you buyd this. Actually, I
want to add one more thing. When I talk to
young women that want to do what I do or
what you do, or be sort of in this sphere,
a lot of them do ask about confidence, about how
you find your voice and your sense of self, And
I think it's hard to grow to that place. But
you've done it. Yeah. But I was super fortunate that

(30:45):
Twitter and Instagram and all those things didn't didn't come
about until after I had started my journey. I wish
I could. I wish I could just rip the phones
away from everybody, because I think that, as George was
mentioning earlier about coming into the league and not getting
to make mistakes at twenty one and twenty two, I
wish everybody, not just you guys had that space to

(31:07):
do that. But my confidence journey, I guess again starting
when I was young. I'm really lucky to have in
an eight sense of self confidence, which I know is
not normal and I don't know where it came from,
but I just have it. But that doesn't mean that

(31:28):
on the journey that I don't struggle with confidence from
time to time. I think you guys do too, right,
because I am relentlessly self critical. I wouldn't be here
if I hadn't been harder on myself than anybody who's
listening to me call a game or anybody who I've
worked for, because I know that in order to be here,

(31:50):
I had to keep getting better, right, I had to
show that I was worth the risk of hiring somebody
who didn't look and sound like pretty much the majority
of everybody who'd come before me in any jobs I've held. Um,
so there's hard times, you know. In the fall last
year November December, we've crossed the country took this job.
My wife and my dog are still back in the

(32:10):
Bay Area where it was for the past twenty years. Um,
you guys are on the road. I'm calling games off monitors.
I'm living out of an airbnb. I don't have any
of my stuff and it's just right. And every day
I go on to social media because I want to
interact with people. I love the positive aspects of social
media because it makes people feel like they know you right,

(32:32):
and how cool is that? Like when I was a
little kid, there was none of that. So the only
time I would get to interact with the athletes I loved,
go to the game early for two and a half hours,
hope that maybe Shake or George would wave at you.
If you're lucky, maybe get a wristband or something. But
now you have a chance to interact with broadcasters and
athletes if you're not too much of a jerk, or
maybe if you are jerk, and that's who they interacted with.

(32:54):
If you're a jerk, you'll get a reaction on exactly.
But but I go on to social media because I
wanted to start conversing with Philly fans and Sixers fans
and letting them get to know me and understandably. I
knew it was going to be really hard at the start,
and it was just awful message after awful message. Right,
go back to California, we hate you. Bring back zoom off,
and I again, I knew that all of this was

(33:16):
going to be there. As Lauren referenced, I've been a
first in a lot of places before here, but that
didn't stop it from occasionally affecting my confidence and making
me think. As you're sitting alone without anybody you love,
without any of your creature comforts, right, and you're like,
maybe they're maybe they're right, Maybe I maybe I should
go back to California. Maybe this is too much, you know,

(33:38):
and then somehow having to find your confidence again waking
up the next morning because I got to go back
and make up and call the game again to the
best of my ability. So so yeah, it's a it's
a day by day thingum. But as I'm sure you
guys do, I have my friends outside of the industry
who I check in that's important. I have my friends

(34:00):
in the industry who I really respect and care about
their opinions, and I know that those are the opinions
that matter because they understand the broadcasting industry. They know
what good is, they know what bad is. They know
how to offer constructive criticism things that can actually help
you get better versus people just saying you suck. You
should never play basketball again. Yeah, those little selve year

(34:21):
olds in their basement hiding behind their Twitter. I'm gonna
find you a right. So, yeah, it's a journey. But
but how fortunate that for the most part, I have
a lot of self confidence because I know that, as
you said, especially for a lot of young women, it
is a is a real big time struggle. I was

(34:44):
not like that. I was not born with the confidence
that I have now at all. Like I had a
very different journey, and for me, a lot of it
is what you were actually just saying about visualization and
like imagining myself doing something that I'm not sure I
can do, and convincing myself, like tricking myself into thinking
that maybe I could, and then just like trying it.
I'm not scared of anything, so I'll try anything, right.

(35:04):
But the confidence for me wasn't there right away. So
it's cool to hear that you can arrive whether or
not you're born with it, you know what I mean. Well.
And and fear, And I'm sure you guys have talked
about this before and would love your thoughts on it.
But fear is present. And I don't think anyone who
says like fear doesn't exist, or just look past the

(35:24):
fear that that didn't work for me, because fear is
very present and very real. But but somebody told me
a number of years ago, fear is a liar. It's
gonna it's gonna tell you things that are not true.
It's gonna try to make you believe stuff that that
you shouldn't. But you can also ask it to just
kind of sit with you, because the harder you work

(35:47):
to write, the more energy you spend trying to push
it away, probably the bigger it's gonna get. But if
you just say, hey, fear, Wow, I'm I've been invited
to be the TV voice of the Philadelphia is seventy
six ers. This is terrifying. Come on, Fear, get on
the plane with me, like we're going to do this together,
and no, you're not going away. But it kind of
takes some of the the overwhelmingness out of it, and

(36:10):
it lessens the fear for me. So I've learned the
things that I'm most afraid of have forced me to
do the most growing in my broadcasting career, and at
the same time, the fear has never gone away. So
now it's just kind of like it's just chilling here.
There's an empty seat. What's up? Fear Like I'm talking
to George and Shake. There's probably going to be at
least a couple of people listening to this podcast. This
is this is I mean George's mom speaking of moms.

(36:38):
Let's pivot into part of how Shake ended up at
the table today, we talked about doing some special content
for Women's History Month, and just for those listening that
don't really understand how the NBA season works, when we
do content Day and media Day with you guys, at
the beginning of the season, we sort of run through
like the whole calendar of this season, right, so we
want to bank content for everything that's coming in the
next seven months, including Women's History Month. So, long story short,

(37:00):
everyone sits in the chair, everyone talks about women that
inspire them. And Shake really stood out this year because
of how specific you were about who inspires you and why,
and because you were so good, and because not everything
that was recorded that day makes it to air or
to Twitter, to Instagram or wherever people see stuff. I
was hoping you'd share a little bit more or at
least repeat yourself. Even I remember specifically you talking about

(37:22):
Serena Williams and Angela Davis. I don't know if there's
anyone else you want to highlight, but just because it
is Women's History Month and you were so eloquent about it,
why are those women and maybe who else so inspiring
to you? Uh? Well, I mean you look at somebody
like Angela Davis and all she's meant to my people,
and just you know, her just sort of story, just

(37:44):
the type of courage and the type of strength that
she has to have to go through the certain things
that she went through, the type of strength and courage
that Serena had had to have to kind of fight
her way to the top. It's just it's really just inspiring.
And for me, I'm gonna pivot a little bit, but
I think, you know, the most inspiring person is my mom. Honestly,

(38:06):
she's just like, without a doubt, she's my rock and
she's just just growing up and watching the way that
she kind of maneuvered and handled the situation with my
little brother and my little sister as well, It's just
like I know that I can turn to her for
anything and she's going to be there. I have the
type of mom that's just so supportive. Like I could

(38:27):
tell her that I want to quit basketball today and
I want to become a comedian or I want to
be a lawyer or you know, a garbage man or anything,
and she would support me one hundred percent. So like
I hope everybody in their lifetime as somebody who supports
them the way that my mom supports me. But it
just continue. When you're able to see things like that,
you just become inspired and it just rubs off on

(38:51):
you in a way that like you shine differently than
everybody else is able to kind of react and fell
off of the love that you're pouring out. And I
think a lot of that just comes straight from my
mom and straight from other women influences that you're able
to see through day to day life. I don't want
to stretch it too much, but I remember something you

(39:11):
said on media Day about Serena is that she's not
just an inspiration to young women, she's an inspiration to
young men as well. And like, when you think about
your family story, right, your mom has had to play
a dual role for a while. Yeah, how much of Again,
I don't want to like overstretch my comparison here about
like watching women be able to handle both needs or

(39:35):
the needs that any gender could provide, whether it's for
children or for fans like Serena. How much do those
things sort of play together when you think about the
people that inspire you, Um, they definitely play together. Um.
It's just it's it's hard to even describe because I
feel like even for myself as a man, it's even different.
But just being able to see how they act and

(39:59):
how out women are able to not only you know,
take all the outside forces that are coming their way
and still find a way to maneuver and um, um
just to shine with their influence and how strong they
are and how they able to just continue to to persevere.

(40:22):
I find that a lot when I see when I
look at like somebody like Serena, one of the greatest
athletes of all time period, or somebody like Angela Davis
who's gone through what she's been through and um continues
to just be role a role model or an icon
for so many people. It's just like it makes it
inspires me to get up every day to be my best. Definitely,

(40:44):
So um, it's definitely always something that I looked to it.
I was actually just watching one of her interviews the
other day, um on YouTube, and I was just like, man, like,
I don't know if I would have that type of courage,
you know what I mean? So, um, it's definitely something
that stays with me. Yeah, I can't top that. So

(41:06):
please do you have well, I guess like in a
similar vein though, do you guys have women influences that
you want to shout out personal or historical? Yeah? I
mean to be honest with you, I obviously I the
woman that you know is most influential in my life
is my mom. But I think you know, having her,

(41:27):
how do I say this take care of me or
you know, developed me as a young man, as I
you know, was growing up at it helped me appreciate
the role of women in everyday life. And the fact
that you know, women you know, obviously you know Kate
like that are pioneering in different avenues or jobs where
it's just like, hey, like this may have been a

(41:49):
male dominated industry, but I can do this too, And
I think that's so cool because my mom was always
showing me how strong she was where to the point
where I thought we were rich when I was younger.
Because you want to know why my mom never told
me no. It was like can I play baseball? Can
I do this? Can I do that? And it was
always like yes. There was no like hey George, we
can't afford this, Like she was going to figure a

(42:10):
way out to do that. And it just made me
realize that, you know, for whatever messed up reason it
is that society thinks that men are the strongest or whatever,
it showed me that like women are, if not stronger,
just as strong. So the fact that you know, my
mom could raise me in a sense to where she
showed me what you know, strength and perseverance was. And

(42:32):
whenever I'd come home and be like I'm quitting, I'm
not there, she was like, no, you're not quitting, because
if it was easy, everybody would be doing it, and
just a strength to keep going. It allowed me to
respect women, you know, like Serena Williams who came from Compton, California,
and you think about what twenty years ago looked like
as a black woman in a sport that was dominated

(42:55):
by you know, Caucasian women, and you know, for her
to just get out there and be a sensation, you
think about what her resume looks like, it's like, and
she was still going. So I definitely, you know, my
mom definitely allowed me to see the strength and women
and respect it, you know, from whether if you're a lawyer,

(43:17):
a garbage woman, a doctor. You know, play by play,
the line is endless. Yeah, strong women make an impact,
don't they. I love that. You guys are right, it
doesn't matter that they were women that Shake and George
are both inspired by them and by Serena and Angela.
And at the NBA we have NBA broadcast meetings there,

(43:40):
just a couple of days at the beginning of the
season where all the different broadcasters get together, and I
was ms seeing a panel up on stage and speaking
of fear and confidence. We didn't have those my first year,
so this was my first time going. And I'm like, yeah,
I M seen things since I was in eighth grade.
And I'm up in this giant ballroom and it's just
all men. And I know that are out there, right,

(44:01):
I know that this is pretty much everybody who I'm
working with, But something about just being in a ballroom
with all of them at the same time, with all
of them staring at me, I was nervous for the
first time in a long time, emassy and anything anyway,
pass forward to the end, there's questions and it was
right after Serena played her last match at the New
York Open, I mean at the US Open in New York,

(44:22):
and just randomly, I think that some of the guys
just didn't know what to ask us. So one guy
raised his hand, He's like, what do you think about
Serena Williams. And we hadn't talked about Serena all during
our panel, and I could tell that the women who
were on the panel with me didn't really know what
to say. So I just decided to take it. Because

(44:43):
I played tennis growing up, and I loved playing tennis.
I was a soccer basketball player, but I loved the
individuality of tennis. Right I played team sports, but tennis
was a different mental challenge. And I also loved kicking
the crap out of rich girls at country clubs. Not
all of them were, but I like winning. I'm very competitive,

(45:05):
so I was usually this soccer player who didn't have
the right gear. I was usually out there in my
soccer shorts, not like a white skirt, and I didn't
train at a country club, and I was going to
beat the snot out of you. And then here comes
this chick from Compton who everybody's saying she doesn't belong.
And it sounds weird that a blonde, white girl in
the middle of California who was doing okay. You know,
we were lower middle income. We, like George said, my

(45:26):
parents never said no. I didn't realize till when I
got to college. Like, oh, that one San Francisco Giants
baseball game we went to as our vacation was because
they had to pay for all my travel sports, thanks Mama, Dad.
But but like I had Serena's red Puma shoes before
she was sponsored by Nike, because here was this girl
who didn't belong beating everybody. So I just love when

(45:47):
people who may may not look or sound like you,
or even be the same gender as you, can inspire
you just by their greatness and their drive to be great.
And just because I don't think I've ever talked about
her before, I'll say real quick things about my mom,
who's like five one tiniest human ever, But she taught
me three things as I was flying out here to
day to rejoin you guys five to one and full

(46:11):
of pisson Vinecker and I still remember so three things
she's taught me to stand up for yourself. My freshman
year in high school, I was running varsity track and
our four by one team made it to state, but
we were like gonna get last in the first team
and my soccer team and made it to regionals. We
had one state and we had a chance to be

(46:32):
good at regionals. So we talked at four by one
team and we're like, okay, we're not going to go
to state because we're not even getting a place in
the heat and like this was a great run, amazing,
We'll come back next year. Our sophomore junior years and
our athletics director called me into his office as a freshman,
right like thirteen, fourteen years old, This big dude, very intimidating,
and he said, well, I heard you're choosing your travel

(46:52):
soccer team over running for our track team. So I
just want you to think about that because maybe the
other activities you like to do at school, like I
know you're in a leadership Kate, maybe maybe you won't
be able to do those in the years to come
because I'll remember that you didn't run track. And I
was like, okay, I was terrified of this guy who
had all this power. So I went home and told

(47:13):
my mom. She said, get your ass back in the car.
We're going straight back to school. She walked straight into
that guy's office. She goes, don't you ever threaten my
daughter again. You were lucky that she is a member
of this school. And four years later, I was a
student body president, was paying, had won a bunch of championships,
and he was. But mom taught me that at our

(47:33):
tennis matches we always had this food spread because we
were in one of the better off suburbs in the area,
and it was so cool that some of the kids
that we played may show up to play for three
hours and one hundred degree heat without water bottles. They
maybe they didn't eat lunch, but my mom and the
other moms on our team always made sure that there

(47:54):
was a giant spread, a cooler full of gatorade, sandwiches, carrots, hummus,
and it was for anybody, not just our team, because
we'd go to other schools and it would just be
for their team. And my mom said, you don't want
to beat people because you have more than them, like
you want an even playing field, and we want them
to be just as ready as you and then go
kick the crap out of the house like yeah, mom, okay,

(48:15):
and then just giving back again. We didn't have much
growing up, but every year my mom would make me
and my sister I have an older sister go through
our toys and go through our clothes and she say,
you got new stuff this year, you don't need it.
And there was a domestic violence shelter nearby, and my
parents explained to me. They didn't explain to me exactly
what that was, but they just explained, like sometimes kids

(48:35):
and parents have to leave everything they have just to
be safe. So wouldn't it be cool if you got
to this scary place if you had some clothes that
you'd be okay, we're into school and you wouldn't be embarrassed,
and like maybe out a couple of toys. So wouldn't
it be great if you could give some stuff to
somebody else? So my mom taught me to be resilient,
to always try to help people get on a level
playing field as far as opportunity was concerned, and then

(48:58):
to give back whenever I could. Um, so yeah, I
just want to say thanks mom. During this Woman's History Month,
I'm I'm here in large part because of you super women.
We always end with a question. Last year it was
advice to your younger self. This year it's been something
you're proud of. Shake. You came on last year, you

(49:18):
did advice to your younger self. Anthony hop In on
this last one too. Maybe he well, he participated already.
He was on the season from me here. But you
want to listen to Dancy Shake Milton, not season two?
Really long way to go to season two. I'm gonna

(49:43):
let you think. I'm gonna put you on the spot
something that you're proud of these days in the life
of Shake Milton. Can I go second? Is that possibility?
Can I go second? You're ready? Oh? Wait, George doesn't
have to answer. Yeah, No, I'll go. I'll go. Um.

(50:07):
Can I say two things? Sure, I'm proud of you? Okay, Okay,
what's the other one? No, I'm just I'm the next generation,
not all of it, but certain members of the next
generation of women who are in broadcasting who I can
tell are going about it the way that I went
about it, working really hard, putting in the extra hours

(50:27):
and the extra effort, lifting up those around them and
not tearing them down. You're all of those things and
your career is just getting started and I'm so excited
to see where it goes. And then yeah, I'm proud
of I'm proud to be a part of this organization.
Like how awesome are Shake and George. I had no

(50:47):
idea what I was walking into when I was like, yeah,
I'll be the Andy Anthony Melton who is off mic
but is listening. No, but you guys have you guys
have accepted me as a broadcaster who happens to be
a woman from this starts. So thank you for that.
And the broadcasting world is changing because of athletes like
you guys who were just looking at people as they

(51:09):
have these jobs for the same reasons that we did. Obviously,
they earned it and they deserve to be here. So
now let's talk about how we can all be great together.
So I'm proud of that you're turned. I'm supposed to
like top that you guys crazy Okay? Um No, I

(51:30):
would say just first off personally, like I'm proud of
my little brother, Um, just like he's growing up right now,
freshman in high school, having to kind of figure out
a lot of things on his own, and like, of course,
I'm on FaceTime and talking to him and stuff like that,
but he's still having to kind of navigate things, so um,
big shouts out to him. But then also I feel
like I'm just I'm proud of um being a part

(51:50):
of this group where you're continuing like it's it's you're
constantly having to learn and and and shift and grow
and it might not always seem like a smooth ailing
and there's a lot of ups and downs, but you know,
everybody in this group is obviously blessed to be here
in this position, and um, you know, we all have
goals and things in minds that we want to accomplish

(52:12):
together as a team but also together individually, and so
just being able to wake up and you know, know
everybody you know Lauren, you know KG teammates, you know,
like you got that big map back there, everybody working,
you know what I mean. So I feel like everybody
is just able to use one another to push each
other and continue to get grow and get better. And um,

(52:32):
you know, I'm blessing so happy to be a part
of that. So I'm thankful. That was beautiful. I mean, yeah,
I didn't see the real thing is shake said he
couldn't top that, like, I can't go above and beyond that.
And you know my name's on this, so therefore I'm
gonna make the executive decision that I we're just gonna
leave it at that, keep winning games. Last I was

(52:55):
so fun. I don't want to accidentally date this, but
we're recording this the day after a really fun one.
Congrats to you guys, Thank you for taking the time
to do this. As always, we appreciate y'all and you
crushed it. Thank you, Kate go sixers. Thanks for having me.
It was a pleasure. Yeah, you know, for for the
love of Kate's god, bang bang. Yeah, that wasn't bad.