I’m fairly certain that Kevin Harlan‘s head actually contains an entire universe. I have no other way of explaining his unbelievable ability to retain such a wide swath of information. Harlan is a play-by-play announcer for CBS’ NFL coverage, CBS’ college basketball coverage, Westwood One’s college basketball and NFL radio coverage, as well as, of course, the other primary play-by-play man for TNT’s NBA coverage alongside Marv Albert. So, you know, he’s kind of been around. And he manages to maintain an intimate knowledge of those three sports while bringing a unique style and voice to the broadcast, which has led to him being considered one of the best all around sports announcers in television and radio history. Perhaps no more so than in the NBA, where his famous calls are both numerous and classic.
And of course:
Harlan was kind enough to spare a few minutes on the phone with me Friday afternoon to talk about his hometown and mine, Kansas City, the infamous “no regard for human life” call, and a few things about the NBA Playoffs. My thanks to Kevin and Turner Media for their time and consideration.
MM: How much prep work goes into a playoff game versus a regular season game?
KH: We’ve figured, much as I’m sure ESPN has, that you’re getting a large portion of new viewers who haven’t watched for the duration of the regular season. Much as it is with college basketball, the NHL, or even MLB, the interest rises once the postseason starts. So you can’t assume they’ve been with you, following the storylines or learning about the players. So part of our focus is to provide some background, set the characters early.
On the other hand, we know that there are viewers that have been with us the whole season, and we certainly don’t want to insult them, so it’s a fine line to walk. Usually one line can get it done for a player, often enough, though. How many years they’ve been in the league, All-Star, etc.
At the same time, we don’t limit things that Doug and I have been talking about all season. We’ll set the table in two ways. 1. We’ll bring people up to date on the latest information about particular players they may not know about and 2. We’ll refresh story lines to give context to what we’ve been talking about all season.
MM: I know you started with the Kings here in Kansas City, then did some time for your Alma mater at the University of Kansas for Football, and then returned to the NBA with the Timberwolves. I was curious as to what led to your decision to return to calling the NBA?
KH: Well, I was with the Kings for years out of college, and I wanted to stay here. My wife and I met out of college and both loved the area. I was lucky enough to get a job with the Chiefs, and I was there for 9 years. And in, I think it was ’89, I was in Dallas for Missouri basketball in the NCAA tournament for a second round game. And at that time, the Missouri radio network was huge, with stations all over. And it just so happened that at that time, Tim Leiweke was driving from Kansas City to Minnesota to take the job with the expansion Timberwolves. He was listening to the radio coverage of the game, and spur of the moments, his associates and he decided to consider me for the announcer position.
It just so happened that one of the Sweet 16 sites that year was… Minneapolis at the Metrodome. So they invited me to lunch while I was in town, and at the time I just thought it was one Kansas Citian being nice to another, but it turned out to be a job offer. So I debated it with my family, which was tough at the time. We’d just had our first child and were pregnant with another. So I called Bob Costas to get his thoughts on the matter. And the kicker in his mind was that the job included 25 TV games as well as a number of radio games. He told me that I needed more television exposure and because of that I should take the offer. So it was a combination of a little luck, some Kansas City ties, and the strong recommendation of Bob Costas. And it’s fortunate because from there I went on to ABC for a year, and then ESPN for 2 years, and then Fox. So it was a great decision.
MM: As a Kansas City native, I wanted to touch base with you on the prospect of Kansas City as an NBA city. I spoke with Byron Scott and a few of the Hornets when they were here in November for a preseason game, and they were all stunned by the Sprint Center. I wanted to know what you thought some of the challenges would be for an NBA franchise in Kansas City, and it’s viability.
KH: I think the big thing would be the need to lure companies to buy blocks of tickets, given the economic picture not only of the country but of Kansas City specifically. You’d have to do some extensive research to consider what they’d be facing. There’s growth in Kansas City, though I’d say it’s smaller, and it’s more south, away from downtown. Then you’ve got to consider the impact of there being three major league sports teams (the Chiefs, Royals, and Wizards), plus MU 2 hours away, KU an hour away, and KState nearby. You’ve got minor league hockey now. So you’d have to consider if the market can support that kind of volume of sports fans. But you never know.
Now, on the positive, people here follow college basketball so closely, it’s built into the culture for them to follow those players when they go to the NBA. Not just from the Big 12, but all college basketball. So it has that going for it. I would just be concerned about how thin the dollar is.
One thing, though, is that unlike the Royals or Chiefs stadiums, which are kind of out on their on, the Sprint Center is right downtown. And that would lead to people being able to do things they can’t do for Royals or Chiefs games. You can go downtown, have dinner with a business associate or your family, go catch a game, and then afterwards go for a drink, or a late dinner or dessert. There really hasn’t been a test of that. But that’s something I’d be very interested to see some studies about.
MM: I consider your “No regard for human life” call for LeBron in the ’08 playoffs to be one of the best basketball calls of all time. I know you used the line before with Kobe, I was kind of curious as to where you came up with it.
KH: You know, it was actually with the Timberwolves. It was a regular season game, some Tuesday night game, and the Timberwolves were just turning the corner with a young Kevin Garnett. They were finally stating to come around a bit. I was doing radio, it wasn’t television, and he came down with such a violent slam dunk, that the people in the lane defending him, or trying to defend him were so… scared of what was going on, he came down, and just gave this look. This completely menacing look.
And you know during those games, the regular season radio games, we were pretty loose, and we’d come up with silly little sayings to entertain ourselves, and it just kind of came out of that. It was one of those spur of the moment sayings.
And then later, Kobe came around a corner and delivered a devastating dunk on Sprewell, and it had the same feel to it so I used it again.
And with LeBron, you know, he had the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Kevin Garnett defending him, or trying to. And he came into that dunk with such a devastating force, Garnett couldn’t even have hoped to defend it. His arm extended, and it was almost what seemed a telescopic extension. And he came down, with this such menacing, violent, overpowering force, that it just kind of came out. It was one of those unexplained, “use your gut” type calls. And while I don’t think it’s one of my best, people such as yourself have certainly told me they liked it, so I’m glad it kind of came together the way it did. I probably won’t use it again, just because it came together so well.
MM: I know you’ve recently started Twittering, I wanted to check in and see how that’s going. Are they pushing you to do more of that?
KH: They’ve said they’d like for us to, I know they have several of us doing it, like I know Kenny uses it quite a bit. And you know, they told us that people want to read things like “Eating a cupcake” or whatever and I just can’t believe anyone wants to read about that kind of stuff. But what I will do, is if we come out of a meeting and have some information on an injury, I might share that, or some information of behind the scenes. My wife always tell me that people love the behind the scenes stuff, that they want to see what happens behind the curtain so to speak. And also, if I speak with a scout, I might share some of that information. I’ve been fortunate to build up a pretty good series of relationships with scouts both in the NFL and NBA, and they are such a great source of information. They’re not really gossipers, but they just always have their ear to the ground, and know what’s circling around the league, so whenever I can, I try and check in with them. And that’s the kind of thing I would share on Twitter.
MM: Okay, I wanted to ask you a few questions about the playoffs. You’ve seen Amar’e Stoudemire quite a bit over his career and in the last few weeks. To me, since the All-Star break, and really since the trade deadline, he’s been a different player, almost back to where he was in 06 and 07, and he just seems to have a different attitude. Do you get that sense, having watched him and spoken with him?
KH: Absolutely. I think he might be the MVP of the league since the All-Star break. He’s doing all the things that he’s been criticized for not doing, like rebounding, and defending, and getting back at both ends. I think a lot of it is that he’s back in shape. You know, after that eye injury, it was months and months for him to recover with limited activity. It was s pretty significant period of downtime, and that takes some time to recover from.
The other thing is he’s a young kid that’s gone through a lot. You know for someone with his personal life, whose father died when he was young, and whose mother was in and out of prison, for being in that situation, he hasn’t gotten into a lot of trouble. He’s definitely matured. And I think this team wants to see him succeed, and to end his career there. I think they’re asking themselves this season, can this guy be someone we depend on down the line.
I think part of it is he’s buying into this being home for him. It’s a confluence of all those story lines. And scouts and coaches will tell you, when he’s involved mentally, his offense will open up. I think there are basketball reasons as well. They needed shooters to open up things for him, and they’ve gotten that. Especially with Channing Frye. They shot 41% from three this year, second for a record as a team. I think with Robin Lopez developing, that takes away some of the attention for him and gets him more space. But I think it’s exciting to see him playing like this. You know he can re-sign there, or he can do a sign-and-trade, or go elsewhere and I think that’s part of this as well.
MM: One thing I’ve noticed from interviews is that the Suns seem to not have the same kind of expectations they’ve had for years during the height of their run in the mid-2000′s with Marion. I almost feel like they’re playing better without expectations. Do you get that sense, and do you think they’ll think to themselves now, “Hey, we have a real shot at winning a championship, especially with the Lakers being vulnerable?”
KH: You know, back at the start of the season, Nash said the key for them is to stay humble. And then they started off hot, and then hit a slide. Then right after the start of the year, they spun their season around with a win over Dallas, and since that they’ve really turned it around. They had a phenomenal close to the regular season. They beat Denver who was playing for a division title, and then turned around and went to Utah the next night, a very hard place to win, and shredded them. And Utah was also playing with a chance for a division title!
They’re coming into the playoffs as good as any team in the league. Nash looks rested, he played the fewest minutes he has in years. Dragic if playing at the top of his game. They’ve managed to stay healthy, which is huge. And Jason Richardson, who is really a barometer for that club, is really playing very steadily. They’re more of a defensive group than they have been, and they have a bench. And that’s really Alvin Gentry’s calling card, is the development of their bench.
MM: So about Portland… have they got any chance without Roy?
KH: Well, you know, they’re used to playing without superstars. They lost Przybilla, and they lost Oden. Now they lose Roy, and he’s their leader in points and second leader in assists. So they lose a lot with him. But they’ve got better play from point guard with Andre Miller, LaMarcus Aldridge has really developed, and Camby has been a Godsend for them. They had all this guard depth, and then they lost their bigs, so they used that depth to trade for Camby and that’s how they’ve stayed above water. Camby has just been gigantic for them on and off the floor.
One thing people around the league will tell you is the veterans they’ve brought in, Camby, Juwan Howard, they’ve been so good at leadership, and tutoring, and professionalism. And with all that they’ve got a balanced coach in Nate McMillan who has weathered the storm. Camby gives them a chance, but without Roy? It’ll be tough. We’ll see.
MM: Last question, Who’s the one team you think is being overlooked in the playoffs right now?
KH: Well, I think everyone was so hung up on the Lakers early on, that they really ignored what’s happened with them. To me, the Lakers are as vulnerable as anyone headed into the playoffs. Kobe when I saw him had almost no lift on his jumper, the finger’s still bothering him…
MM: Yeah, I read today that they’re considering taking the splint off, which is interesting.
KH: Have they? I’ve got that game on Tuesday so we’ll be digging into all that stuff. But you know Bynum’s still a question mark, they don’t know if he’ll be available. And that kid has just had so many problems with staying healthy. Fisher’s really struggling. He just gets physically spent, or out-quicked. Westbrook’s going to give him a time in this series. I’d expect a lot of Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown. And they’ve been so uneven, it’s very un-Phil-Jackson like.Their bench is also a major problem.
Meanwhile, Dallas has just steadily built in, and they’re finally on the same page. They would be a team I’d watch. But if the Lakers go down, and I’m not saying they will in the first round, it wouldn’t be that surprising at this point. Bynum’s such a huge issue for them. If he comes back, then Lamar goes back to the bench, and that kind of creates a bench for them. But even then, they’ll want to ease Bynum in, playing him maybe 15 minutes here and there, because you know, they’ve got their eye on the Finals. That’s when they want him healthy. But with the West being so tough, so many teams within so few games of each other, you know, outside of a 1 versus 8, I don’t see any surprises coming from the lower seed winning any of the first round series in the West. The West is going to be something to watch this year.
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I came away stunned at how Harlan, who manages working for three entities covering three sports, can have such an intimate knowledge of the game, all while having a family he’s devoted to and all the other things he’s involved in. I guess that’s what makes him Kevin Harlan.
Again, my thanks to Kevin for his time and graciousness in answering my questions, and to Turner Sports for their help with conducting this interview. You can follow Harlan on Twitter. He begins his NBA Playoff coverage Sunday night for the Portland Trailblazers meeting the Phoenix Suns in Game 1, then next week will cover Thunder-Lakers games 2 and 3 in LA and OKC, respectively.
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Okay, one more time.
