GOOD FOLLOW - Michael Grady talks New York Liberty, The Face of The WNBA, Finding His Style & More!

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Speaker 1 to DraftKings Network.

Speaker 1 Hey, what's up, y'all? Welcome to Good Follow Show presented by DraftKings. I'm Ross Golden Wood, and I am coming to you from our New York York City studios.

Speaker 1 We have an exclusive interview with a very special guest.

Speaker 1 Now, if you love Hoot, then you probably already know this guy, but there's a chance if you don't, I'm going to introduce you to somebody that you are going to see and hear a lot of because he is one of the voices and the faces of the league.

Speaker 1 Actually, both leagues. I'm talking WNBA, I'm talking NBA on both the national and the local levels.
So he's going to be the voice and face for NBC, for Amazon Prime, NBA and WNBA.

Speaker 1 Locally, he is with the Minnesota Timberwolves and with me on the New York Liberty broadcast. So guys, I bring on, he's got all the jobs.
He is the man with all the momentum. My guy, Michael Grady.

Speaker 4 I appreciate you, my friend. You are missed.
I'm happy we can catch up and happy we can do this. Thank you for having me on.

Speaker 1 I'm so happy to have you on, Grady, and that you've made the time. I know like NBA season just started up.
You're probably so,

Speaker 1 so busy, right?

Speaker 4 Yeah, this is like a little bit of a calm before the storm. I got a few days before things really pick up with the Sunday, Monday back-to-back, and then another game on Wednesday.

Speaker 4 So this is like a good sweet spot. But even if it was a busy period, you know, always make time.

Speaker 4 It's fun to catch up, talk some hoop, and get into some other things. So excited about that with you.

Speaker 1 Absolutely.

Speaker 1 And, you know, Grady and I, we call games together with for the New York Liberty. He is the team's lead play-by-play.

Speaker 1 That's, you know, people always ask me, they're like, do you have a professional photographer? And I'm like, no, that's Grady's camera.

Speaker 1 And pre-game, we do our fist bump before every broadcast for good luck.

Speaker 1 And I, Grady, I like to call you Beyonce. I call you Beyonce.
So can you tell the people why?

Speaker 4 No, no, this is this is,

Speaker 4 you know, we have a good relationship. We don't fight, but we do have disagreements.
And this is one of the disagreements. I'd say that Roz Godanwude is Beyonce.

Speaker 4 Again, multi-so many different avenues, big-time brand.

Speaker 4 And,

Speaker 4 and, you know, I'm just, I'm Julius. And so I just make sure

Speaker 4 I just make sure that you're, you know, protected, good. Make sure you're good on the broadcast.

Speaker 4 You want to talk to her? Nope.

Speaker 1 Nope. You got to go through.
Oh, you got to go. This is Cap.
This is

Speaker 1 Cap. This is Cap.
I'm literally going to have to object here because if anyone is Julius, it's me. People are literally everywhere we go.
Grady, Grady, coming dapping him up. He knows everybody from

Speaker 1 the president to the players to the ushers.

Speaker 1 And actually, I do call you Beyonce, my friend, because, and I'm happy to be your backup dancer. Listen, B, okay? Because look at Grady, like, he's doing magazine covers and shoots now.

Speaker 1 My guy is glowing up. Look, they got the articles.
We got receipts, Grady. They got the articles.

Speaker 1 National Rise. He's doing cool photo shoots now.

Speaker 1 Oh my God. Look at the lighting.
My guy loves good lighting.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 you know, you're hanging out with the players. You've got, you've got, you get custom jackets for NBC coverage.

Speaker 1 Very, very, listen, you can deny it if you want.

Speaker 1 These are receipts.

Speaker 1 I am honored to be a background dancer for Beyoncé here. And I just, I'm just poking fun here, but I think the two things that you have that are so great.

Speaker 1 And I think one, this magical voice and talent, right? So like full stop, you are so talented. But I think another thing is you are a wonderful human being.
You are a great person.

Speaker 1 People love being around you.

Speaker 1 You are magnetic. You are fun.
You are like, and look, you hold people down. You pull up on my show.

Speaker 1 Man, you're doing everything right now for, you work for four different networks right now for the NBA just started.

Speaker 1 Like, and you're here. And so

Speaker 1 I think that's part of, you know, the glow.

Speaker 4 That's love. I appreciate you.
And it's a joy.

Speaker 4 It's a joy, as you know, to be able to be in this space.

Speaker 4 We remember being young and being inspired by others and to have the privilege to have doors open up and our hard work be recognized and be in position where you can inspire someone, even if it's just one person, but that we can inspire someone is something that

Speaker 4 I don't take for granted. And

Speaker 4 we just have a lot of joy. And that's why we hit it off.
I hit it off.

Speaker 4 I connect with people who appreciate

Speaker 4 these opportunities, these moments, and want to cherish these things. And that's why I do have that camera with me because,

Speaker 4 you know,

Speaker 4 I want to remember these moments.

Speaker 4 I want to cherish these memories a year from now, 20 years from now. So

Speaker 4 a lot of joy. And

Speaker 4 I truly appreciate you saying that.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, it's from the heart, man. And I felt that joy too.
In fact, I think that bleeds into our broadcast for the New York Liberty. You know, year play by play.

Speaker 1 I'm analyst, color commentator. We're also joined by Tina Servasio, our sideline reporter.

Speaker 1 It's actually one of the great honors of my career to cover the New York Liberty, being a New Yorker, coming up through the the organization,

Speaker 1 and honestly, to get a championship ring from the New York Liberty for their 2024 championship. And you see the three of us over there.

Speaker 1 I mean, just hamming it up.

Speaker 4 Your reaction on the photo on the right is one of my favorite images of the entire season. Like you did, the joy.

Speaker 4 If you're not sure how much that meant to Roz, like that, that photo right there, that moment right there kind of encapsulates the energy, the fun, the joy, and how much this means to you and to us to be a part of this franchise.

Speaker 4 So to your question,

Speaker 4 you know, my first play-by-play professional basketball experience was with the New York Liberty. And I wish I could have gone back as far as you have.
And

Speaker 4 those MSG days,

Speaker 4 I can't even imagine. But my first opportunity to do play-by-play was when the Liberty played in Westchester at that little gym.

Speaker 4 And they were just, you know, figuring things out and

Speaker 4 sort of in limbo in terms of we're certainly not going to continue to play here, but where's the franchise going to go next?

Speaker 4 And for me, again, I was just happy to be able to call a game and to have that experience. And then the size step in, and then it's on to Brooklyn, baby.

Speaker 4 And the whole thing just dramatically shifted to where

Speaker 4 in a city like New York, you know, the premier city in the world, where all these things are going on, Yankees games during NBA season, you got, you know, we had a stretch with the nets with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and of course the

Speaker 4 Knicks are hot and you had the Rangers and so many different things going on, Fashion Week, all these things that you're involved with,

Speaker 4 these high-profile things.

Speaker 4 The New York Liberty has carved out a space to where it is appointment viewing.

Speaker 4 It is a space that you want to be, that you have to be, that you tell your guy, like, yo, we got to, we got to check the game out because you're not only, as you know, you're not only enjoying the basketball on the court, which culminated with the championship a couple of seasons ago, but you want to see Ellie.

Speaker 4 You want to see that show.

Speaker 4 So to be able to have that opportunity.

Speaker 4 to be able to call their games and to see the way that it's grown and blossomed or whatnot is is a is a is a true joy for me.

Speaker 1 Yes, yes absolutely oh my goodness first of all that's so beautiful and poetic the way you put it together it's as if you work with words for a living

Speaker 1 in your schedule you always are like yo i'm a slice of this i'm carving out a space for you know women's basketball as well and you own this really special piece of real estate historic piece of real estate in the basketball ecosystem but you mentioned ellie like the two of us on these broadcasts we're calling incredible basketball but we're also trying to stay serious and not crack up while Ellie the Elephant is literally carrying on.

Speaker 5 Angle screened by John Paul Jones.

Speaker 5 Daniel Nesco fired up.

Speaker 1 Let's come. And look at Ellie the elephant.
Ellie the elephant is having to be held off the court, y'all. They are dragging her down the tunnel.

Speaker 4 I love that you call it out in the moment because it took our camera. I don't know if the cameras on live television actually was was able to get to Ellie.
So I'm glad it went viral.

Speaker 4 Someone was able to get the shot and piece it together because it had to be referenced.

Speaker 4 And I'm so happy you referenced it because it was an emotional moment, you know, in the game, in this intense game. All New York Liberty games have this high energy and intensity to them.

Speaker 4 But that was like a pivotal moment. And, you know, we're talking about the seriousness of the call and Sabrina being upset.
And then we

Speaker 4 in the bright lime vest, oh, here's Ellie losing it. And that was that was that was certainly one of the highlights, top five of the season.

Speaker 1 Absolutely hilarious. And,

Speaker 1 you know, as a broadcaster, you've got these quick decisions to make, right? So like, do I address this?

Speaker 1 And also, do I have a visual to support, you know, what I'm saying out of my mouth? And does this matter in the scope of the game?

Speaker 1 You know, like, is it trivial or, you know, is this worth bringing up? And also, you want to make sure you're respecting the energy of the game, right?

Speaker 1 Like where we are in the, like how serious the moment is. But like, so all of those decisions are happening fast.

Speaker 1 And actually the only thing that didn't match up was because our cameras are a little bit limited at times or whatever, like we, we weren't able to get the camera shot of it.

Speaker 1 But it was, there was so much carrying on happening and it was an extended period of time. And we saw it and were cracking up.
And it was like, we're going to talk our way through this.

Speaker 1 So we were able to be visual with our language so that, because people tweeted and hit me on threads after and was like, we were wondering what y'all were talking about.

Speaker 1 And then somebody pieced it together from the arena.

Speaker 1 And then you've got this viral clip. That clip went viral and it's still going viral.
And it's, and it also kind of speaks to like Ellie. Like, people are like, I knew Ellie was from Brooklyn.

Speaker 1 The best mascot your mascot could never.

Speaker 4 We're talking about the

Speaker 4 most authentic, true to the community and the franchise mascot in professional sports.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 4 so I love Ellie and the concept behind Ellie and

Speaker 4 the people

Speaker 4 that brought Ellie alive and made it happen. Ellie's how old now?

Speaker 4 Not that old.

Speaker 4 And now we've got some

Speaker 4 imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Speaker 4 We've got

Speaker 4 some

Speaker 4 channeling that Ellie energy.

Speaker 1 People are inspired. There are mascots that are inspired.

Speaker 4 Yes, yes. And

Speaker 4 we certainly welcome that, but

Speaker 4 don't forget the blueprint.

Speaker 4 So it's just another added element to what makes attending the New York Liberty game so much fun.

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Speaker 1 I want to zoom out real quick because, you know, obviously you do a great job on the local level with the New York Liberty, but on the national level, just recently, press release out of Amazon Prime,

Speaker 1 they've already announced their lead basketball team, you know, broadcast team for WNBA games. And it's you as the lead play-by-play and the legend, Candace Parker.

Speaker 1 And you'll see actually there's all these different announcements. Grady's part of the Amazon Prime group with the NBC group as well.
I mean, it would have been prestigious to have one of these jobs.

Speaker 1 And I'm not even trying to be funny, but the fact that there's, there's probably hundreds, thousands of play-by-plays out there.

Speaker 1 And, you know, the fact that both of these national networks, the new rights holders were like,

Speaker 1 listen, we'll make it work. We want Grady too.
You can have him too if we can have him. And they both were like, we're going to do it.
And then the Timberwolves were like, but you can't leave us.

Speaker 1 And so he's, he's, you're still, and also you're so loyal. You didn't say I'm out for national.
You're like, I'm still going to do the Timberwolves.

Speaker 1 And then you're like, I could take a summer vacation, but no, ball is life. I'm going to do the New York Liberty.
So like, it's just, first of all, kudos to you because ball is life.

Speaker 1 I mean, also, make sure you have time for like Pilates and peace. Okay.
But, but, but to come back to my question,

Speaker 1 to come back to it, you know, you were announced as the lead broadcast group for Amazon Prime's WNBA coverage. It'll be you and Candace Parker.

Speaker 1 What does it mean you have such a big footprint now in women's basketball, including with the new rights holders?

Speaker 4 It's, it's,

Speaker 4 it's everything. I'm still pinching myself.
It still hasn't quite sunk in.

Speaker 4 We've talked about this before, where I was like, the W really means something to me.

Speaker 4 I talked about my time with the Liberty and how that started, but I can go back further

Speaker 4 when

Speaker 4 I was in Indianapolis. And I was working at this big, big radio station.
I was still super young and the station had the Pacers, had the Colts.

Speaker 4 And once I got my foot in the door out of college, I was doing this small shift over the weekend. And then I got into this

Speaker 4 sports talk show that aired on the weekend.

Speaker 4 And I said, you know what, I'm going to use this sports talk show to get me credentials to some of these sports events because I really feel like I'm going to be talking to professional athletes on a regular basis.

Speaker 4 I feel this is going to work out. at some point in my career.
And I just want early practice on being able to interview professional athletes.

Speaker 4 And so I remember it was the start of the Pacers season and I sent an email out to Pacers PR

Speaker 4 and

Speaker 4 asked to cover Pacer games. And they wrote back immediately and said no.

Speaker 4 I said, okay.

Speaker 4 And then here comes the summer and I reach out to Indiana Fever PR. Shout out Kevin Messenger.
And it's like, yeah, come on.

Speaker 4 And so I go to an Indiana Fever game, watch the game, study the game, and then I go in the locker room and I have a conversation with Tamika Ketchings. I have a conversation with Katie Douglas,

Speaker 4 Tully Bevalakwa, Breon January.

Speaker 4 I'm talking to all these great players on this roster. A few years later, I become the PA announcer for the Pacers.
And they say, well, before, and I was hired right at the start of the summer.

Speaker 4 And so they say, well, before you do Pacers,

Speaker 4 You're going to do the, you know, Indiana fever and kind of get your get your feet wet and that whole thing. And I was excited about the opportunity.

Speaker 4 And now I'm sitting at the scorers table and I'm announcing Tamika Ketching's name in the team during player intros.

Speaker 4 And,

Speaker 4 you know, at the time, the W was in a, in a different place than what it is right now,

Speaker 4 but it meant everything to me to be able to have that opportunity. And I'm telling you, for anybody in your audience who did not have the privilege of seeing Tamika Ketchings play,

Speaker 4 she was one of the best two-way players the game has ever seen. She was a menace on the basketball court.

Speaker 4 She was just a joy to watch. And then, of course, that team eventually won a championship.
And I was able to be there and present and working that game when they won a title on their home floor.

Speaker 4 And so.

Speaker 4 It's it professionally, it's held a special place in my heart. I remember being front and center watching the very first WNBA game with the Liberty and the Sparks.

Speaker 4 And it just, I couldn't wait to watch that first game. And I think a lot of it was just my upbringing and being around,

Speaker 4 you know, strong, amazing women. And my mom was an ultra competitor.

Speaker 4 You know, I played some hoops in her day.

Speaker 4 She would beat me and talk trash, which I did not like when I was young. I didn't understand it.
And

Speaker 4 so

Speaker 4 to go from watching that first game to working a little bit in the league, first as a PA announcer, then doing play-by-play, and then to have an opportunity to work with, you know, you, and then now to

Speaker 4 have,

Speaker 4 um, to be honored with calling games on Amazon as well and working with Candace Parker. And Amazon will have the WNBA finals in a few years.

Speaker 4 It's a long way around the question, but it's just, it's, it's still sinking in,

Speaker 4 but it means, it means a great deal to me. And I don't take it for granted.
And I cannot wait to get to calling games again.

Speaker 1 That's a really beautiful journey you described. Also coming back to your kind of roots from Indiana.
You know, it's not like you just got plopped into women's basketball.

Speaker 1 This has been a long brew, you know, and journey and rise to this opportunity.

Speaker 1 So it's, it's really dope. And like, so One of the things that I'm curious about is like, how would you describe your voice and style as a play-by-play?

Speaker 4 I like a little bit of variety, but I do like a signature, something that people can look forward to in those clutch moments. And mine is just simply cash.

Speaker 4 So that's kind of been, that's been my thought. Cash.

Speaker 1 Give me an example of using cash.

Speaker 4 You just nailed it. You just nailed it, but I'll throw it in the first half, though.
If we're in a sequence and the game is moving and a team is on a run and

Speaker 4 there's what looks like a backbreaker three that leads to a timeout and the other team's got to get themselves together, I'll throw a cash in the middle of a big run.

Speaker 4 Sabrina had some cash moments

Speaker 4 over the course of this past season too. So that was when I started doing play-by-play for the Timberwolves going back to 2022.

Speaker 4 I didn't have anything in mind, but I sit down every game and I have maybe

Speaker 4 20 to 30 different ways to say a May basket, 20 to 30 different ways to say this is a missed basket, pass, you know, different ways to describe passes, layups, blocks, like different, you know, it's just so I can vary my language.

Speaker 4 And so I went into my first season with the Timberwolves. I was like, I'm just going to mix it up.

Speaker 4 And then the first feedback that I started getting from, you know, I really like it when you say catch. And so I was like, oh, okay, I'll

Speaker 4 let that ride a little bit and save it for some bigger moments. And it's kind of, it's kind of stuck.
And so it's worked for me on a regional level. And now I'll get to introduce it slowly, but surely

Speaker 4 on a national level.

Speaker 1 I love the fact that you're not afraid to use the cash early, too. You're not going to save it for the end of the game.

Speaker 1 You was like, if there's a cash money moment that happens in a sequence and it's the first quarter, you're getting cash because you don't think you're going to hear a bang in the first quarter of the game.

Speaker 1 I don't know if you're going to get that, right? But you're like, I'm dropping a cash. You'll drop a cash.

Speaker 4 Yes, yes.

Speaker 4 If it's a hot sequence and a momentum building, you know, moment um that was i just had a the uh the timberwolves and the portland trailblazers and clark goes down and sharp got a shoulder into his chest clark diving on the floor honley scoops it up edwards for three tens

Speaker 4 if there's a good moment in the first half you know and it goes to on social media.

Speaker 4 Like you want to, when people see the clip, they don't, you know, they're not necessarily going, oh, was this first quarter? Was this whatever? No, it's a play.

Speaker 4 It's a good play right and you want to play fall behind it so i like that cash is that am i saying that right yeah yeah you got

Speaker 1 you have developed a very nice relationship with anthony edwards as the play-by-play for the minnesota timberwolves some people are are trying to proclaim him as the face of the league we're not even here to debate that more i want to take it back to women's basketball and say on the w nba side let's talk face of the league who's the face of the league in your opinion right now And who do you think got next?

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Speaker 4 Love the question.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 4 I love having this debate in the game.

Speaker 4 Although right now, Roz, I don't think this is up for debate. If anybody says the face of the league is not Asia Wilson, we have a problem.

Speaker 4 She is, you've talked about this. We've texted about this.
She has a GOAT resume

Speaker 4 pre-30 years old. Like the things that she's able to do and the things that she's accomplished already on the basketball court.

Speaker 4 And all of her championship runs with the Las Vegas Aces have been unique. But this one that she just had was really special with the start that they had.
And I love the sequence

Speaker 4 during the celebration and

Speaker 4 they're taking photos. They're obviously feeling good and buzzed.
But I think it was Asia which shot out, we just lost about 53 points. And they all laughed, like, ah,

Speaker 1 500 team.

Speaker 4 Like throwing all these different criticism and things that were thrown out and said about the team during the season when they were really struggling and people were questioning, oh,

Speaker 4 they're falling off. And just

Speaker 4 never doubt. never doubt Asia Wilson.

Speaker 4 She played out of her mind down the stretch. They went on that incredible run, won another chip, the MVPs, the player of the year awards.
She's a special player and should be appreciated.

Speaker 4 Like, I'm running out of fingers.

Speaker 1 I feel like she won every award this year. And the Aces, they kept receipts, to your point.

Speaker 1 Yes. And I love that.

Speaker 4 And you should.

Speaker 4 And to find something to have a chip on your shoulder about, and especially when you've accomplished everything that you could want to accomplish already and say, no, I'm still hungry for more.

Speaker 4 That's aspirational. So it's definitely

Speaker 4 Asia Wilson. obviously we want to see caitlin healthy uh next season i i had so much fun watching paige hoop

Speaker 4 and um i'm in minnesota right now where she where she came up and and and honed her skills and she was such she's she's

Speaker 4 She's just got a different energy when you watch her play. And

Speaker 4 she can, I mean, she can put you in a blender with her handle. She's got a great mid-range game.

Speaker 4 She's a three-level scorer.

Speaker 4 And I'm excited to see if Dallas can continue to put a team around her um to where we can we can really see her uh shine in in big moments but i'm a fan of so many so many players around the league um and there and there's a lot of hungry players who are saying who are who are ready to take the mantle and say i got i got next and i love that yeah yeah and you're going to be on the call for all of that on every level as well so we can't wait to hear some cash from you grady um and you've been you were cash on this and you're used that all day cash

Speaker 1 I love it. But, Grady, thank you.
Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 1 You know, good luck this NBA season. We'll catch you in the sub summer for W.
Keep crushing it. And, you know, look, Beyonce, we're just, we're just, we're just living in your world.

Speaker 1 No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 4 It says Julia. And thank you so much for having me, Beyonce.
I'm just happy to be a part of the Beehive. Thank you.
Hopefully, we can do this again soon.

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