Sager and Duncan Made Watching NBA More Enjoyable

This week belonged to two NBA figures. One was a TV sideline reporter. The other was one of the greatest players ever to play in the league.

Craig Sager died at 65 after a long impassioned battle with leukemia. Sager simply wouldn’t give up. He refused to. Until this insidious disease proved too much to handle.
Sager roamed the sidelines for TNT and TBS as it’s main reporter for NBA and MLB playoff games.
I worked with him many times. Not the most times, but enough times to see why he was the best ever.
I was never close to Craig. But when our paths did cross I saw why he was brilliant at what he did. What I remember about Craig Sager was the following: In college he was the student who paraded around as Willie the Wildcat at Northwestern football and basketball games. That told me he didn’t take himself seriously and liked to have fun.

When we worked on the same broadcasts he was incredibly professional and amazingly consistent.  He would run miles and miles during the off-days to stay in shape and would get ready for the broadcasts the same way. He would show up at the teams’ shootarounds on the mornings of the game and learn tidbits from players and coaches. Craig would carry around a mini-rolodex and would write items in pencil that he might use during a game. He was focused and purposeful and knew what he needed for the broadcast and how he wanted to use it.

The viewing public remembers him as a fun-loving guy who distinguished himself as a colorful figure who would dress in bizarre, wild outfits, down to the shoes. He wanted you to notice him.
We did. But not because of his clothes. We noticed him because his reports and interviews with the coaches were on the money and precise.
He was as generous as they came. For Craig Sager, it was not about “him.” Not about how many times he could appear on camera. It was about the broadcast.
He was the ultimate team player. He would come by the broadcast table at mid-court continually and give my analyst  a useful item he discovered during a time-out.

I didn’t know Craig Sager well. But when you read and hear about the countless, truly sincere, tributes that poured in from NBA players and coaches, you get the idea. Craig Sager was unique and special. In the NBA where family seems to resonate more than in other leagues. we lost a gem, who made the enjoyment of the game better.

The other salute is to Tim Duncan. His retirement ceremony in San Antonio was not ordinary. It wasn’t because he wasn’t. Duncan played in the NBA for 19 seasons, made the playoffs every year, and helped the Spurs win five NBA championships. You could see the emotion from those up-front, sitting on chairs while Duncan spoke. That, in itself, was unusual, because Tim Duncan rarely talked.
He let his performance do the talking for him. Those sitting near him were his college coach at Wake Forest, Dave Odom, two of his long-time teammates, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and his coach for all the seasons at San Antonio, Gregg Popovich.

What I knew about Duncan during the three years I broadcast many of their games, was that one of the key factors of Popovichs’ success was his ability to criticize Duncan in practice, often severely, and have the super-star accept the criticism and move on. If Tim Duncan could take it, everybody else could.

What Popovich said at the ceremony Sunday said it all: “That man is exactly the same person he was when he walked in the door”…

How many athletes who have lasted that long, and have won as many championships, and have remained humble and genuine can you name?

Neither can I!

This weekend, I will be in Chicago as the Bears take on the Redskins.

I will think of Tim Duncan, a Bears fan, if there ever was one.

In fact, I will think of both Duncan, and Craig Sager, Northwestern’s Willie the Wildcat, who made watching the NBA so much more enjoyable.

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“Keep an eye out for my podcast, “Stockton!” We’ll take a different perspective on the world of sports and share stories I’ve collected from my unique front-row seat. To learn more and sign up to be notified when it launches, visit www.StocktonPodcast.com.”

Sincerely,
Dick Stockton