AA Q&A: Kevin Harlan

AA: You touched on Stephen Curry earlier. You call all these west coast games and broadcast a lot of Golden State games. What’s it like being front and center covering Curry and these Warriors?

KH: It’s doubly cool because I’m working with Reggie for a lot of those games. And, you know, he and Ray Allen, probably aside from Steph, are the greatest shooters that have ever stepped on a professional basketball floor. So to hear Reggie himself be mesmerized by what Curry is doing is so fun and pays such great tribute to Steph, but shows you that here’s a Hall of Famer like Reggie Miller, who’s in awe as well.

So you could imagine what someone like myself and fans in the stands must think when they watch Steph shoot and get on a roll. It’s amazing that he can shoot the ball so well. You know, a lot of guys can jam and do the dunks and do the alley-oops and all that stuff, but to me, the best part of the NBA is when you’ve got a shooter like Steph Curry, and he gets on a roll and picks different ways to get open or get his shot off with a quick release.

I love the great passing that you see from certain guys in the league. I love assists and love unselfish play like that. I really enjoy, I think, those things more than the dunks. The dunks are great and colorful and majestic and they’ve got all physical, athletic stuff. They’re like circus acts. You just can’t believe what you’re seeing. A guy can jump that high and from that far out and take off and float and then do whatever they do. But the skill of the game is, I guess, what is most intriguing to me.

So when you get a good shooter like Steph Curry and the way now that he has been not only a great shooter, but his handle is terrific, he’s a terrific playmaker, he’s developed other parts of his game. You’re seeing something that just doesn’t happen every day in this league. And he works at it so hard. And I guess that because I know he works at it so hard and you see the result, he can become a favorite player.

That’s why I like Kobe so much. Kobe probably worked harder than anybody in the league, as Michael did when Michael played. And then to see the result, that to me is the best part of the game. When you see the pro work so hard at getting better. Larry Bird did it before those guys, and on and on. And then to see the results with awards and wins and great individual statistics, that’s my favorite part of the NBA. That’s what sells me on the league.

And I know that every night I sit down at that TNT broadcast chair, I’m going to see something special. It’s not every night, and we get bad teams that we broadcast because that’s just the way the league is, and you see some guys dog it out there and you can spot them a mile away. But when you get those Curry games; those Kobe games; before that, the Michael games; LeBron games, certainly, and know how hard they work to be that good, that to me is the best part of the NBA.

AA: When fans go up to you in a public setting, is there a specific call that they tell you they remember or want you to repeat?

KH: They’ll say the LeBron dunk, and I’ve used it with Kobe too, the “no regard for human life,” which I don’t even know if it’s that great of a call, to be quite honest. But people seem to like that call.

Really where that came from was when I was doing the Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett was playing. And this was back in the mid-90s and they were just getting their brains beat in every night. It was hard to watch. But Garnett was the hope for the franchise, and of course they went on and were Western Conference finalists and lost to the Lakers, but they made it deep into the playoffs. And they did eventually turn the thing around.

But when we were trying to amuse ourselves, when they were losing by more than 30 points in the third quarter, we would come up with these silly sayings and stuff. And then when I went to TNT, I really kind forgot about all that stuff. It never really came up except when I would see this incredible Kobe dunk or a Garnett dunk or the LeBron dunk on Garnett in the playoff game, Cleveland against Boston.

The only reason why it came out was because I was working with Doug, and when LeBron went up and slammed the ball, Doug took his left arm and put it against my chest and he pushed the both of us back in our chair and I was falling with Doug in his chair next to me backwards. And that’s when it came out, like we were just so amazed. And to know that he was so incredibly impressed with that play, it just kind of popped out.

So they’ll talk about that one, or the “right between the eyes” shot. And that came from when I was doing the Timberwolves and Chuck Person was playing for the Timberwolves in the last part of his career and Chuck Person was “The Rifleman.” That was his nickname. So when he would hit a jump-shot, a 3-point shot, I’d say “ahhhh The Rifleman, right between the eyes!” And that’s where that came from.

So they’ll still sometimes say that. And actually, people are very nice. If they do recognize you in an airport or whatever, or you happen to be at a game and people come up, or if you’re on a plane, people are always very, very nice. And the great thing is, we all love sports. It just so happens that’s my job and it so happens that that’s what they like to watch or listen to. And so we all kind of share the same interest. That’s what makes it fun.

And it should be fun. It shouldn’t just be brain surgery. And if you see a great play, I’ve always thought a great play is a great play. It may be the first quarter and it’s a 12-6 game, but, my gosh, if a guy does something that you don’t see every day, I don’t know. I’m a fan first, and probably a broadcaster second, but that to me is exciting. And I still have that awe of watching these guys perform.

And so I think you’ve gotta have some emotion to be in the business. You can’t just be a robot. You’ve got to immerse yourself in that game. You’ve gotta feel the game. You’ve gotta feel the rhythm of the game. And that would involve a big play early in the second quarter that may not fit the context or the narrative of that broadcast of the game, but man was that a hell of a play [laughs]. A guy just pulled off a dunk, or a shot or a great pass or whatever it might be, you’ve gotta be a fan.

And I think I’ve gotten that a lot from Marv, listening to Marv. Marv, I think, even after the years in the broadcast that he’s put in, you can tell that at heart, he loves the NBA. He loves basketball. And he is never afraid to show his emotion on a good play. And I think that’s a great lesson to all broadcasters, young and old alike. That you’ve still got to be the fan, and the fan has to come out of you. You’ve gotta show the passion.

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