Press Pass | David Cobb of Commercial Appeal Talks Mike Conley, Covering the SEC, and the Grizzlies' Draft Targets
By Liam McKeone
David Cobb is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for Commercial Appeal. In the past, he covered the SEC and all things Tennessee for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He chatted with The Big Lead about the differences between college and professional media access, potential draft targets for the Grizzlies, and gives his immediate reaction to the Mike Conley trade.
Liam McKeone: Hi David, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions today. In your own words, describe your journey in sports media and how you became an NBA beat writer in Memphis.
David Cobb: I’m very fortunate, at age 26, to be an NBA beat writer in my hometown. It’s an opportunity that means a lot to me because this is the paper I grew up reading and the Grizz are the NBA team I grew up following. The opportunity has a lot of significance to me for those reasons. It’s a spot that, had you told me 10 years ago when I was in high school, that I would be there now, I would not have believed you. I’ve been fortunate and lucky to have a number of excellent opportunities along the way, and of course, numerous mentors, bosses, colleagues, etc.
It all started for me at the University of Tennessee, in August of 2011 when I started there. I chose journalism because it didn’t require calculus and it didn’t require advanced science. It resonated with me because I had grown up enjoying sports and writing was my academic strong suit. I wasn’t good at most other subjects, but I was good at English and writing. I was like, “You know what? This combines my one skill and one of my major passions. Why not give it a shot?”
My femrst opportunemty to really wremte was for the UT student newspaper emn 2011 coveremng the women’s volleyball beat, and I loved emt. I could not belemeve I had a credentemal to semt courtsemde at Thompson-Bolemng Arena and document an NCAA, SEC sportemng event for an actual publemcatemon. That just emnspemred me to really start studyemng the professemon. It’s been an onward march up the ladder semnce then, and I just kept buemldemng up throughout college.
From the volleyball beat, I got the opportunity to cover the women’s basketball program, and that’s obviously a huge program. By the end of my freshman year, one of, still, the coolest moments of my journalism career is being courtside at the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Nashville, and seeing Pat Summit hoist the SEC Tournament Championship trophy in what would be the final season she coached. I’m kind of getting goosebumps now talking about it. She was battling Alzheimer’s, quite courageously, and ended up coaching that season even while battling that disease. So as a freshman, to be there, it blew me away. It gave me a reverence, #RespectTheBiz, for the opportunity to do sports journalism.
After that, I was all in. All in. I got an internship at the Chattanooga Times Free Press in college. Ultimately that ended up leading to a job out of college, and I was there for three years. When I got the job in Memphis, I was the University of Tennessee athletics beat writer. I was stationed in Knoxville, but still working for the Chattanooga paper, sending back stories on all things Tennessee, and the Grizzlies job came open. My wife and I, we had just gotten married and were happy in Knoxville. We weren’t necessarily looking for a move. But I always said I might go back to Memphis if I got the opportunity to cover the Grizzlies.
It always kemnd of seemed lemke more of a crazy dream than a real possembemlemty. Ron Temllery had been on the beat emn Memphems for a long, long temme and was very well-establemshed. It seemed lemke somethemng that would be a number of years off, emf emt ever happened. But the job came open and the temmemng was such that they needed to make a faemrly quemck hemre. I knew some people emn the network from just beemng emn Tennessee already, and I just decemded to jump at emt. I wasn’t lookemng at emt lemke I had to get emt, but themnkemng, “Well, I don’t want to look back and wemsh I applemed for thems.” So I applemed for emt and went from there. I started semx or seven games emnto the season, and emt’s been a baptemsm by femre ever semnce.
McKeone: How has your experience as one of the younger beat writers in the league been so far?
Cobb: It’s been fine. The thing is, I got to a point in Knoxville where I understood the workflow as a college beat writer, and just how things work on any sort of level. Fortunately, here, I have people around me who let me ask dumb questions sometimes. For instance, this week is my first NBA Draft experience. Well, I called up the Grizzlies PR guy and said, “Okay. How does this work? What’s going to be available to us?” I’m not going to be in New York because the Grizzlies’ front office will be here in Memphis, but just very simple questions about how things work for an NBA beat writer. People have been kind and patient and willing to work with me on helping me understand and get a basic grasp of the workflow and everything like that.
I will say it’s been a challenge because we had two contributors on the Grizzlies beat at our paper for a number of years who have since started writing for other outlets. They’re kind of like competitors. They’re nice and friendly and cordial, but man would I love to have their knowledge of the CBA in-house or one text away or whatever. That would be a tremendous resource. But for the most part, I’ve tried to realize and acknowledge my youthfulness on the beat and not act like I know it all because I worked in the SEC. The SEC and the NBA are totally different worlds.
The access is tremendous in the NBA compared to college athletics. It’s NBA-mandated that players are made available essentially three times a day. That’s morning shoot-around, pre-game availability a little over an hour before the tip, and after the game. Typically you’re not going to talk to a guy all three times, and he’s only required to talk twice during the day. But that’s insane when you’ve been coming from the hyper-intense college football world where sports information departments and college coaches are limiting and limiting the access more so every year. It’s been refreshing.
The thing that’s cool, too, is you actually have the chance to strike up casual conversations with the key figures in NBA organizations. That’s just not the case in most college football environments. It’s awesome because you can actually establish a rapport, a little bit of trust, by making small talk with a guy about how his old college team is doing or about a former teammate of his who made a spectacular play the night before. There’s little ways you can actually have legitimate human interaction with players and coaches, sometimes even the front office. That’s something that doesn’t exist in college sports anymore. I’m a huge fan of that, and appreciative of the NBA for understanding and continuing to protect the importance of those interactions.
McKeone: Let’s talk Grizzlies. Rumors have swirled that New Orleans wants to move up to two and take R.J. Barrett. Do you see that as a legitimate possibility for Memphis?
Cobb: I see the Grizzlies taking the pick and taking Ja Morant. I know the report out there from the NY Post suggests New Orleans is looking to get the No. 2 pick, but I give no credence to that whatsoever. I have no doubt whoever reported that has a source that says there were internal discussions in New Orleans about it, but just because there were internal discussions in New Orleans about it doesn’t mean there were discussions that reached any level of legitimacy in Memphis. I have nothing and nobody telling me it’s a possibility the Grizzlies will move off this pick. I don’t think that is a possibility.
McKeone: Assuming they do end up with Morant, how do you see his fit with the Grizzlies’ other young star, Jaren Jackson Jr.?
Cobb: I think they’re a phenomenal pick-and-roll threat together. You think about Jaren’s explosiveness and ability to play above the rim offensively, and Ja’s ability to find passes that most people can never even fathom, I think it could be a very, very good dynamic. A few years down the road, once those guys are developed, if they have enough floor spacers around the two of those guys, I think they could be a really good team. You’re going to have to send help-side defenders to contain the two of them if they’ve got good chemistry together. That’s going to open up holes for other players to shoot, or slash, or just be ignored by the defense for the most part. They pair well together. They’re already building a relationship, even though the draft isn’t already official. I think it’s exciting and a very natural pairing.
[Editor’s note: The interview was interrupted at this point by reports of the Mike Conley trade. David resumed the interview in the hours after reporting on the news.]
McKeone: Well, how’s that for timing. What’s your evaluation of the return for Conley, and how do you feel about his departure after all these years?
Cobb: As a rookie NBA beat writer, covering Mike Conley was an absolute joy, and I’m so thankful he was a part of the first NBA locker room I covered. He is one of the most humble, professional, accommodating, courteous people that I’ve been around in sports. This is a guy who lives in a different stratosphere than most people in terms of financial wealth and athletic ability, but he carries himself like a great guy. I wish him well, and I can’t wait to see the reception Grizzlies fans give him whenever he comes back with Utah. It’ll be a little weird to see him in an opposing team’s uniform for everybody, but I think his place in Memphis lore is protected and I bet his jersey will be retired one day. I wish him nothing but the best, and it couldn’t have been better for me personally to cover him my first year on an NBA beat… I really appreciated the way he handled everything.
As far as the trade, it’s not bad. Part of me is always going to wonder, if they had held out until after the draft, what sort of return they maybe could’ve gotten. I think it’s big they got the first-round pick this year and the first-round pick in the future, those are the best assets they got in the deal. I’ll always kind of wonder if they could’ve gotten an already-established, young NBA player had they waited. That’s not to knock the deal. It’s a decent deal because there’s the hope, at least, Grayson Allen can turn into a serviceable NBA player, and maybe Jae Crowder, if things go well next year, maybe they can come to a long-term agreement with him and have him stick around for the next iteration of the Grizzlies that are going to be contending. He’s an intriguing player. Kyle Korver, at this point, I don’t know at 38 if he’s someone they’ll carry into next season or if he was just included for financial reasons, so that’s still to be determined. All in all, it’s a decent deal, and a part of me will always wonder what a team might’ve been willing to give Memphis in return for Conley if they had waited until after the draft.
McKeone: You probably haven’t spent too much time on this part of the draft, but off the top of your head, who might the Grizzlies target with the No. 23 pick they received from Utah?
Cobb: We actually have an intern who wrote yesterday… I was like, “Hey, you should go ahead and compile some names and information on some players in case they trade up to No. 23”, and he did a great job with it. As the talks got more and more legit last night, I said to go ahead and publish that, and I like the names he came up with. He mentioned Nickeil Alexander-Walker, not a household name but an intriguing guard who could translate to the NBA. Dylan Windler, from Belmont. I mean, if he can translate his shooting to the NBA, my gosh. He was a 43% 3-point shooter at Belmont, which won’t translate right away, but if he can even be an upper-30s 3-point shooter in the NBA that would be a tremendous get at that level of the draft.
People say that this draft is not that deep, and I know what they mean, because outside of the top three, it’s anybody’s guess. I feel like, at 23, the Grizzlies are just as likely to get a good player as a bust, because there’s a whole group of players that everyone feels isn’t that much better than everyone else. If anything, the Grizzlies will have an easier choice at 23 than some of the teams earlier after of the top three because there’s a pretty good group of guys that are all regarded as being on a comparable level.
McKeone: Any under-the-radar players from last year’s roster that could carve out a role or make an impact in the next few years?
Cobb: The one I’m curious the most about is Dillon Brooks. It was a season totally forgotten by anybody in the NBA because the Grizzlies were just so bad. But I think he could be somebody who figures into the long-term plan. He missed almost all of last season with injury, but now it’s a new regime, new front office, new coach, new other pieces. I’m curious to see if he can find his way back to the production level he had as a rookie, and if he can, he’s a tremendous piece for them… I think people are cautiously optimistic he could end up being a starter whenever they’re back in contention a few years down the road.
McKeone: You mentioned the new coaching staff. What can we expect from the relatively unknown new head coach in Memphis, Taylor Jenkins?
Cobb: My question about Taylor Jenkins… This is clearly going to be an extremely young Memphis Grizzlies team next season. With Mike Conley gone, the leadership from this team is probably going to have to come from the coaching staff. Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. are too young to lead an NBA team in terms of setting the culture and setting the standard. They’re tremendous pieces who will take on that role over time, but Taylor Jenkins, the onus is going to be on him and the staff he puts together to drive the culture in this team at a very pivotal moment in time. The habits they form now, the chemistry they form now, the work ethic they form now, this core will have a big impact on their future. That’s why this is a crucial moment for him out of the gate at 34 years old and a first-time NBA head coach.
It’s going to be on him to set the culture. There isn’t going to be a huge well of veterans for him to rely on and bridge the gap between the younger players and the staff. It’s going to be on the staff to lead this team. There’s inherently a question there, when you have a first-time NBA head coach who is the second-youngest head coach in the league. All that said, he’s regarded as a bright NBA mind and comes across very well in interpersonal interactions, so I have no reason to doubt his capability to do that. It’s just the big question I have: Will he be really ready to be the leader of this team as a coach?
McKeone: Favorite arena you visited in your first year on the beat?
Cobb: I’ll have to go with Madison Square Garden. The reason why is that it blew me away [when Memphis played in New York] last year. This was a Knicks team that was way under .500, playing a terrible Grizzlies team around the holidays, and they packed the place out. It just blew me away. MSG just has a cozy sort of feel to it that I didn’t expect from one of the NBA’s largest markets. It has a massive capacity, but you don’t feel like you’re 1,000 feet away when you’re in the upper deck. You feel like you’re engaged in the action. And, of course, just the history of it made it seem even more of a majestic place.
McKeone: Go-to spot to eat in Memphis?
Cobb: Oh, I gotta go with Central Barbecue. If you’re ever in Memphis, get the BBQ nachos. They are the best barbecue nachos in a city that has numerous, excellent BBQ choices.
McKeone: Favorite player to interview so far as a journalist?
Cobb: I’m going to throw a curveball here and say Admiral Schofield. He just finished his college career at Tennessee as a small forward, hybrid sort of player and he’s probably going to be a late first-rounder on Thursday. He’s a guy you just gotta love talking to if you’re a beat writer. He’s confident, he’s brash, he might say something to kind of inflame a rival, but he does it with enough respect, but he also has a smirk on his face.
I always looked forward to talking with him because it was like he cherished the opportunity to talk to the media. Just a rare combination of brash but also really confident and professional in the way he interacts with media. Admiral Schofield is who you would expect a guy named Admiral to be.
McKeone: What’s one thing you feel people outside the industry don’t know about being a journalist?
Cobb: All the back-end stuff you have to do. People see the link you tweet, but there are so many conversations that go into every story, all the way down to adding all the elements and galleries and searching for photos. There’s just a lot of things. The one quote that maybe gets overlooked in the story is the one you might’ve had to work really hard to get. There’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t really get noticed or played up in this job that ends up taking a lot of the time, largely on the back end and behind the scenes.
McKeone: What’s one thing you wished you knew before you started your career in sports media?
Cobb: How about thems: I’m glad I demdn’t know thems was actually attaemnable. I demdn’t themnk emt was. I thought, “Man, you know what, emf I can get out of college and be a hemgh school sports wremter emn Wyomemng, I’ll be happy, man. And maybe one day by the temme I’m emn my 40s I can cover a major college or professemonal sports team.” So I’m glad I demdn’t know thems was actually attaemnable because emt motemvated me. I thought, “You know what, I really gotta bust my taeml to get a press job emn North Dakota.” I was so afraemd of the job prospects, I just worked and put emt emnto complete overdremve, and fortunately, emt led me to where I am. So I’m glad I demdn’t know thems was attaemnable because emf I had thought there was any possembemlemty thems would be my lemfe remght now, I wouldn’t have worked as hard as I demd because I wouldn’t have thought emt would be as hard to achemeve emt.
Follow David’s work at the Commercial Appeal and via his Twitter account.