CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, host Ethan Sands interviews Mike Curtis, the Dallas Mavericks beat reporter. They discuss Mike’s impressions of covering Kyrie Irving and his growth as a leader since he was with the Cavs.
Takeaways:
Mike Curtis shares his journey as a journalist and the whirlwind experience of transitioning from covering the Detroit Pistons to the Dallas Mavericks.
Mike Curtis shares his journey as a journalist and the whirlwind experience of transitioning from covering the Detroit Pistons to the Dallas Mavericks.
Curtis discusses his impressions of covering Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, highlighting their leadership qualities and playoff performances.
The hiring of J.B. Bickerstaff by the Detroit Pistons is seen as a positive move for the team’s player development and culture setting.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ needs and potential trade options are touched upon.
The upcoming National Association of Black Journalists Convention is highlighted as an important networking opportunity for journalists in the industry
Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Ethan Sands
What up, Cavs Nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk Podcast. Today, I’m joined by your favorite beat reporter’s favorite beat reporter, a Tennessee state and middle Tennessee state grad, and the newest Dallas Mavericks beat reporter, Mike Curtis. Welcome to the pod, Mike. How’s your summer been?
Mike Curtis (00:31.15)
Appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me. It’s been a short summer just because the MADs went to the finals, but things have slowed down here since free agency and summer league. So I’m getting a little bit of a break. So I’m starting to enjoy that a little
Ethan Sands (00:46.444)
I mean obviously you had a quick turnaround when it comes to a lot of different things Mike We’re gonna have to get into your story a little bit as a journalist I I know I gave a brief look and where you’ve been and where you are now But that small intro doesn’t really do you justice to the amount of work that you’ve done to get to where you are You’ve covered Syracuse sports for nearly four years and then we’re on the Detroit Pistons beat for almost two
Takeaways:
Mike Curtis shares his journey as a journalist and the whirlwind experience of transitioning from covering the Detroit Pistons to the Dallas Mavericks.
Curtis discusses his impressions of covering Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, highlighting their leadership qualities and playoff performances.
The hiring of J.B. Bickerstaff by the Detroit Pistons is seen as a positive move for the team’s player development and culture setting.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ needs and potential trade options are touched upon.
The upcoming National Association of Black Journalists Convention is highlighted as an important networking opportunity for journalists in the industry.
Listen using the player below:
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Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
The video version of the podcast is on YouTube as well.
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Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Ethan Sands
What up, Cavs Nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk Podcast. Today, I’m joined by your favorite beat reporter’s favorite beat reporter, a Tennessee state and middle Tennessee state grad, and the newest Dallas Mavericks beat reporter, Mike Curtis. Welcome to the pod, Mike. How’s your summer been?
Mike Curtis (00:31.15)
Appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me. It’s been a short summer just because the MADs went to the finals, but things have slowed down here since free agency and summer league. So I’m getting a little bit of a break. So I’m starting to enjoy that a little
Ethan Sands (00:46.444)
I mean obviously you had a quick turnaround when it comes to a lot of different things Mike We’re gonna have to get into your story a little bit as a journalist I I know I gave a brief look and where you’ve been and where you are now But that small intro doesn’t really do you justice to the amount of work that you’ve done to get to where you are You’ve covered Syracuse sports for nearly four years and then we’re on the Detroit Pistons beat for almost two
before transitioning to covering the Mavericks right before the playoffs last year, what has it been like for you and your journey to see it grow and all the things that you’ve kind of manifested kind of take shape in the last five years?
Mike Curtis (01:28.844)
Yeah, man, that’s a really good question. And some of my, kind of think about a lot. I still remember those days when I was covering high school sports at Syracuse, in Syracuse for Syracuse .com. Obviously during the pandemic, I was able to get a promotion to cover the collegiate level and that propelled me on my path to cover the NBA. But when I think about my journey, especially over the last, I want to say four to five months, it’s been a whirlwind.
especially going from covering the Pistons to the Mavericks in the same season. For those who don’t know, I used to cover the Pistons for the Detroit News. I covered them all the way up until the last week of the regular season, and I transitioned to a new beat to cover the Mavericks for the Dallas Morning News. And that was an insane transition. I don’t recommend switching beats in the middle of the season, let alone the last week of the regular season to get ready for a playoff run, but…
It’s something I’ll never forget and never take for granted. I think I learned a lot during that process, but most of all, I had fun, man. It was super fun seeing basketball played at the highest level.
Ethan Sands (02:43.26)
Mike, mean, you talked about it, right? The transition from Detroit to Dallas. You didn’t even move apartments fully until what was it, the second round? Like, you walk us through what your timeline looked like going from Detroit to Dallas.
Mike Curtis (02:59.758)
Yeah, so I essentially, aside from the job and having to do that every single day, I had three phases of my move. In early April, I drove down from Detroit to Dallas in my car with just clothes and a TV. I stayed at a hotel for the first 11 days and then I transitioned to one of my best friends. He owns a home here, so he let me stay with him until my apartment was ready.
which I literally just moved into this apartment, I want to say two to three days ago. So it’s still boxes everywhere. But that was the third phase. So the second phase was at the beginning of the Western Conference Finals when the Mavs played the Timberwolves. I missed games going into them in Minnesota because I had to go back to Detroit to get all of my stuff out of that apartment or they were going to charge me for another month. So it’s been crazy,
