Gary Washburn, the national NBA writer and columnist for the Boston Globe, has covered the Boston Celtics for over 15 years. In this episode of Kwani Has Questions, he shares who inspired him to get into sports journalism, and dishes on his new book that documents the Celtics from the team's conception to their 2024 championship win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Ahead of the 2024-25 season, he also shares what he thinks Boston should do to win again and solidify themselves as an NBA dynasty.
Read lightly edited excerpts from the interview below, and watch the full interview above.
NBC10 Boston: When did you know (being an NBA reporter) was something you wanted to do?
Gary Washburn: When I was a kid, there was a guy who used to do the NFL games from the football field, like on NBC Sports. His name was Bryant Gumbel. TODAY show and Real Sports (with Bryant Gumbel) and went on to amazing things. But he was an on-the-field reporter and he looked like me. He had Afro and everything. I was like, "OK, I want to do something like that." So I knew from a teenager, probably younger than that, I wanted to be in the media. Then I started writing for the school paper in college, and once I found out I could be a full-time sportswriter, but I could do nothing but sports, I could watch the games for a living and get paid for it. I was I was all in.
I know you grew up in the L.A. area, which naturally would have meant that you were a Lakers fan
I grew up being, like, a pretty big Laker fan. I mean, everybody loved the Lakers back then. It was the Showtime era, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all the greats, Michael Cooper. So, yeah, it was interesting. And then, you know, you learn to hate the Celtics. So obviously they they met in the finals three times in the four-year period. And you get your impressions of Boston. You see the the you know, the day, the cold days and the garden and all the fans screaming and yelling and you're like, I hate that place. I hate that city. I hate that team. And then to work here, obviously now for 15 years and to cover the Celtics for 15 years. Yeah, ironic.
U.S. & World
People that end up in sports journalism, you would imagine they were a fan at one point. When did you realize that there was a need for separation of your fandom and really having that, hopefully, a biased perspective?
Once you get to journalism, you can't cheer and that was the golden rule. Like you can't you can maybe privately support, privately be a situation where you you root for them. When you cover a team, you get to know them. You know, you want good things for them.
The way you cover the team has to be unbiased. You cannot be a fan. You can have your pompoms. You can't give, take it easy or give them a break. There has to be a level of journalism that happens. I think now that that's a little difficult because obviously with social media, everybody's an expert and everybody's a fan. Everybody can do what you do. But you have to keep your unbiased opinions. You have to just tell it like it is and I think hopefully the readers respect that.
Let's get into your book. As you've already established, you've been covering the Celtics for years. How did this book come together - The Boston Celtics: An illustrated timeline?
I decided to research the history of the organization from the beginning of the franchise to who was the first owner, where they first played their first games all the way to the 60s. I think we kind of look at the Celtics and we think, "Well, it was Bill Russell and Cousy, they won all those championships and then it was Bird and them and then it was Garnett and Pierce and now Tatum and Brown." Like there's so much in between.
There are so many players and even in the 60s that contributed to those changes, the Frank Ramsey's and (Jim) Loscutoff's and Tom Heinsohn's. Before he was a great announcer and a coach Heinsohn was no joke as a player, a Hall of Fame player. KC Jones, It was like, so what I wanted to do is research those guys and kind of bring those guys to life again in terms of their playing career and describe how they won all those championships.
The book is perfectly timed because it documents the most recent championship, Banner 18. What are you looking forward to from this upcoming season being the reigning champs, but also somehow still having a chip on their shoulders?
Well, you're right. Like with Jayson Tatum, with Jaylen Brown, Team USA, they're going to come in there with something to prove but this will be a tougher year and you could say last year was tough...They were dominant, 16-3 in the postseason but without Kristaps Porzingis the first few months they're the hunted now. The Knicks and the Sixers and all these teams are coming after them. This will be a much more difficult season just trying to maintain that high level of play because they're going to be everyone's Super Bowl. As we know here about championships with the Patriots and the Red Sox that year after is hard, regardless of how you approach it.
I know the Celtics are approaching it the right way. You know, Joe Mazzulla trying to come up with this kind of like, hey, last year, last year we're chasing, too. We're trying to make history and they are. Now you're trying to turn yourself into a dynasty.
Well, we've seen that they can do it. But what do you think needs to be done for them this season to start building-- What you're saying could be a dynasty?
I just think the focus of it (is) don't have any lulls, that last year's team never lost more than two games in a row. Like they bounce back from adversity quickly. They did not let losses turn into ruts, turn to long losing streaks. They were a team that was like locked in. "OK, we lost. Now let's go get the next one." That type of focus
The best thing is get the ring not out of the way, the opener on the 22nd. All the fans are going to be excited. The rings, the banner is going to be raised. It's going to be emotional. Get that out of the way. Just get back to basketball. I just think that's the whole thing.
You've seen a lot of basketball over the years, not just with the Celtics themselves, but what do you think is the key to building a dynasty? Because again, this is something that the Celtics are known for having great basketball, but it's been a few years since
It's been 1969 since a Celtics team has repeated. When you look recently at the Warriors, sometimes it's just luck. It's putting together with what the Warriors do. (Stephen) Curry, (Klay) Thompson, (Draymond) Green you know like they put together a corps that learned and knew how to win. [Andre] Iguodala... That's what the Celtics are doing. Derrick White winner. Jrue Holiday winner. Al Horford winner.
All those guys know what it takes now to win a championship so you keep those guys together. Ownership, and I know that's about to change, but they invested enough money to sign everyone long-term to where they can make 2-3 runs in it. But it also takes good luck, good health, good fortune, the bounce of a ball to have that happen. I do think they have the right coach in Joe Mazulla he's going to come up with different ways to motivate these guys. He's not satisfied. And if he's not satisfied, they're not satisfied.
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