Back in the building, and I hope y'all will come along for the ride

Here goes nothin'...

I first started covering the Spurs during Kawhi Leonard’s rookie season. At the time they seemed like a team that was clinging to the fringes of contention, trying to avoid being phased out by Father Time’s backhand, the inevitable LeBron James freight train in Miami, the Big 3 in OKC, and the rest of the rising young stars the NBA had to offer. But it didn’t matter. I was covering the NBA, a long way from the high-school sports world where I began my career.

Little did I know I had just strapped myself to the side of a rocket ship about to blast off again. It’s one thing to ease into that life, but jumping into that kind of environment with no experience at that level of the sport was a wild trip. It was unimaginably fun, and from then on there was no question in my mind what I wanted to do with my life.

But man can life change quickly. People get older, perspectives change, yada yada yada — you know how it goes. The last couple of years have seemed foreign. Many of the same people have been around the building, but what’s been on the court hasn’t been anything like what this city is accustomed to watching.

The 2022-23 Spurs feature the youngest roster Gregg Popovich has ever coached. There are five 19-year-olds on the team, which is two more than the University of Texas at San Antonio — a college team — has on its squad. The dichotomy between a 73-year-old Pop and this group of guys is something to behold, and the whole “starting from scratch” thing has brought with it a quietness that at times has been almost deafening.

And I’m loving every second of it.

Perhaps it’s the new faces and the fresh stories, or the fact all the young guys they’ve brought into the locker room are genuinely good people who fit the mold of what the Spurs have always looked for in a player. At the end of the day it’s the talent that’s most important when building a team, but the personality side of things matters, too — not just from San Antonio’s point of view, but selfishly, for someone like me who’s looking for a quote or an anecdote.

But more than anything for me, it’s just being back in the building. The last two years have been a difficult ride for my family and me, as they have been for many people reading this, I know. Any swing of the hammer life could throw our way, it did so without hesitation. I could write a book about the last 24 months, but that’s for another day.

Now, life seems (kinda) right again, and there’s a new-found energy to do this thing I love to do. I started this publication the summer after The Athletic’s pandemic layoffs, but I never really knew what I wanted to do with it, or even if I wanted to pursue the independent writing life. But after exploring a few different opportunities along the way, and slowly but surely appreciating more and more the benefits of not being tethered to an outlet, it’s become clear the best thing to do now is jump fully into this newsletter. And yet, I have no idea how this is going to unfold.

I’m a terrible self-promoter, I cringe every time I retweet compliments about my writing, I hate bothering people to read my stories and push my stuff, and I DESPISE asking people for money. Everyone reading this probably has in the neighborhood of 37 active subscriptions spread across their life, with about three or four they’ve totally forgotten about, and I’m asking them to add one more.

But here we are!

*buries head in hands*

Substack is for the people as much as it is for the pockets of the publishers — the more support from readers, the better the newsletter can be, and the happier everyone involved will find themselves. Whether it’s increased content frequency without sacrificing quality, better and more consistent access to players, coaches and other folks around the organization, the addition of new types of logos (that actually look good) and featured story art from people around the San Antonio community, A NEW PODCAST (I need some equipment!), and perhaps an inevitable dive into the world of video, there’s a ton of room for growth going forward at Corporate Knowledge. But I need your help.

My goal is to treat this as a beat, as I mostly always have. If you’ve followed my writing from my days at Pounding the Rock, 48 Minutes of Hell (RIP), the various national outlets along the way, and through my time at The Athletic — and it’s wild to still hear from and talk to all the people who have — you already have an idea of the style with which I cover this team. I wouldn’t exactly call it traditional.

While there will be plenty of interesting games to write about, my general focus will be on tracking the bigger-picture stuff with the Spurs, as well as the minutiae of player development and the fun stories a young team can produce. The way I see it: You can find a game story anywhere, and if I’m making the decision to put content behind a paywall, I want it to be different. It has to be worth the price.

But the main priority in general is to try the best I can to make this season enjoyable for anyone who subscribes. I’m telling you right now, there are going to be some rough stretches of basketball and some gloomy-ass days in the coming months, just so everyone is aware. But that does not mean we can’t have a good time sharing in the misery. It loves company, after all.

With your support, I believe we can mold a personalized storytelling experience at Corporate Knowledge, all while providing every bit of the vital day-to-day information and analysis our up-to-the-second world has come to expect. And even though the losses are coming like winter, there will be many important days ahead for this franchise. From the bottom-line performance of young players, to trade season, to the run up to the NBA Draft, there is still going to be A LOT going on.

I don’t know what to expect. Maybe this post brings in one more subscriber, or maybe it brings in 100 new friends. I genuinely have no clue. But I’m doing my best to make this idea palatable for anyone interested.

The price of admission will be $5/month or $50/year for several newsletters of different shapes and sizes per week (the NBA season is a long, winding one, so the exact number will vary); and if you want to become a Founding Member of this newsletter, you will have my unwavering gratitude and some extra perks along the way that, quite honestly, I have yet to decide upon. It depends on how many folks are willing to make that investment, but rest assured there will be perks for whoever does.

And if you’re only interested in a free subscription, that’s also great! There will be periodic public posts for everyone to read and share, and I am grateful for every single person who subscribes to this publication.

Special thank you to everyone who has already paid for a subscription without any sort of prompt, by the way. Can’t tell you how cool that’s been to see happen over the last several months…

Admittedly, it feels like a crazy time to be doing this. I’ve wondered how interested Spurs fans are actually going to be this season, but I’m all too often a cynical person. People don’t just stop loving their team, so long as said team is actually trying. And while the product on the floor may not immediately show it now, the Spurs are trying like hell to build something.

So I’m going to do the same, right alongside them, and I hope y’all will join me on the ground floor.