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ESPN says Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Artis Gilmore, World B. Free, Robert Parish, Jim Gray, Luke Walton, Jamal Wilkes, Brent Musberger, and Bob Ryan have all been interview subjects for the story. The documentary will be directed by Steve James, who also directed Hoop Dreams, as well as Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. No release date was revealed by ESPN.
For those who happened to be in the building when James sat uncomfortably in that purple and white gingham shirt across from reporter Jim Gray – engaging in tedious small talk and empty platitudes before turning the league on its head – the moment still resonates a decade later. They’ve had visitors walk onto the court looking for the place where James became a meme. They recall the awkward silence when the mystery team was revealed, the boisterous sound of angry New York Knicks fans outside smashing bottles in frustration with James coming so close to their home to deliver a rejection. They remember that the only time James expressed any joy that night was when he was waving at kids and smiling during commercial breaks.
Tim Reynolds: Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal going in as Gowdy winners as well in a new category -- Transformative Media. And Jim Gray goes in as well, in another new Gowdy category: The Insight Media Award.
With all the changes surrounding the Sacramento Kings, at least a few things will remain the same. The longtime broadcast team of Gary Gerould, Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds are back and they are joined by a familiar face, former fan favorite Kayte Christensen. Christensen will resume here role as sideline reporter that she held with the Kings from 2007-2010. Christensen was replaced before the 2010-11 season by Jim Gray, a friend of the Maloof family. A source has confirmed to Cowbell Kingdom that Gray will not return for the 2013-14 season.
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The Lakers beat the Kings last night behind 23 points and 18 rebounds from Dwight Howard and 18 points and five rebounds from Ron Artest. After the game, Jim Gray spoke with Artest about DeMarcus Cousins. Since Artest has had his fair share of “issues,” he offered advice to Cousins to deal with his issues. I don’t think he actually gave any sort of advice that anyone could really use, but at the end, he asked Jim Gray to go pop some bottles and party in Sacramento.
Shaquille O'Neal: Just before the start of the ’03-’04 season the coaching staff called us in and said, “No more public sparring or you’ll get fined.” Everyone knew it was simmering, but Mitch [Kupchak] never came down. Magic Johnson, who was around all the time, never said anything. But Phil was tired of it. Karl Malone and Gary Payton were sick of it. I said, “All right, I hear you. I’m done.” So what happens? Immediately after that Kobe runs right out to Jim Gray and does this interview where he lets me have it. He said I was fat and out of shape. He said I was milking my toe injury for more time off, and the injury wasn’t even that serious. (Yeah, right. It only ended my damn career.) He said I was “lobbying for a contract extension when we have two Hall of Famers playing pretty much for free.” I’m sitting there watching this interview and I’m gonna explode. Hours earlier we had just promised our coach we’d stop. It was a truce broken. I let the guys know, “I’m going to kill him.”
Jim Gray joined The Dan Patrick Show to talk about how he feels about The Decision on year later, how the whole thing came about, whether or not he knew where LeBron was going before the announcement was made, if he had a gut feeling where he was going when he saw him that night, and if he would do it all over again if he had the option. How the idea came about: “I was with my wife and I think it was game two of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Lakers in Los Angeles at the Staples Center and I was sitting in the stands and walked down at halftime to say hello to Maverick Carter, who was sitting in the front row with Ari Emanuel. We just got to talking and David Geffen, one of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s and Steven Spielberg’s partners was sitting with him as well and we just got to talking and I said to Maverick it’s going to be an interesting summer and I would like to do the first interview with LeBron when he decides on his team. He said you know we can think about that, that’s not a bad idea.
Jim Gray: I had a history with LeBron. Interviewed him when he was in high school, did his first game when he played against the Sacramento Kings, was there the night that Gordon Gund won the lottery for the Cleveland Cavaliers, interviewed him on the night of the Draft and so on and so forth.
Jim Gray: I had known LeBron for some time so he said he would consider that. Then I said better yet why don’t we announce his decision live on television and go buy an hour of air time on a network and just explain it to all the fans at one time where he is deciding to go. Ari jumped in and said that’s a brilliant idea.
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Jim Gray on if he could tell by his body language what LeBron was going to do: “I could tell by the time he sat in the chair he was not staying in Cleveland. That was just my impression. He did not tell me and I did not ask.”
Jim Gray on what rumor bothers him the most: “That I was paid by LeBron. That’s just ridiculous and that’s just insanity for someone to totally fabricate and for it to become a life of its own that LeBron James would pay an interviewer to interview him. That damages journalistic credibility to say the subject interviewing you is paying you like you’re in their pocket, well that couldn’t be further from the truth.” Whether or not he would do the show all over again: “Would I do the show again? (Host: Yeah.) Yes. We’d all make it better.”
Gray went on the Dan Patrick Show (see the video below) and, as reported by CSN Chicago, and first he wanted to clear up the rumor he was paid by LeBron James to be part of the event. Gray said that he’s upset people lie about him. Especially when they say that LeBron paid Gray to do the interview. Gray said that he didn’t get paid at all … it was for charity. “I wasn’t going to be the only going to be paid,” Gray said.
Gray also said he was surprised by the backlash, especially because this wasn’t easy for LeBron. Dan asked Gray what LeBron’s mood was like before. ”You could tell this wasn’t something was easy for him,” Gray said. “It wasn’t jovial. There wasn’t any champagne or any corks going off. … I think it was a tough deal for him.” Gray thinks it was harder than people realized for LeBron to leave Cleveland. “I think he tried his best to stay a Cavalier,” Gray said. “I think it was hard for him to recruit anyone….” Dan asked if he could have a mulligan, what would he do differently. Gray said he wished that he explained why they were at the Boys’ and Girls’ club.
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