Ben Golliver

I’m thrilled to share good news: I’ve joined ESPN as a senior NBA writer. I hopped on Substack in February after The Washington Post disbanded its sports section because I wanted a creative outlet while I proceeded through the job search process. For the past three months, this site certainly served that purpose, and I was delighted to see stories about moose and Lego garner as many clicks as my hoops analysis. I truly appreciate everyone who supported this project.

My first sunrise at Bryce Canyon National Park. I’ve spent the past week trekking through the glorious Mountain Time Zone, venturing into “No Service” territory by day before returning to the grid to keep up with the NBA playoffs at night. My trip began with another pilgrimage to My Favorite Place On Earth: Bryce Canyon National Park. From there, I crisscrossed through Utah and veered north into Idaho, hitting stops that had been on my checklist for some time.

The Wizards landed the No. 1 pick in Sunday’s NBA Draft lottery drawing. (ABC) There are few things in professional sports that get me more excited than a bonanza trade. I was too young in 1989 to comprehend the Herschel Walker blockbuster as it happened, but I spent most of the 1990s lapping up the lore about how the Dallas Cowboys were able to parlay the famous running back into eight draft picks.

From what I can gather, most people fit into two categories: 1) They are completely obsessed with trains, or 2) They don’t really care about trains. The first group is represented well by Francis Bourgeois, an excitable “Railway Enthusiast” from England. Bourgeois seemingly knows everything about trains — names, numbers, routes, paint schemes, back stories — and visiting a station can move him to tears or prompt yelps of glee.

The first time I saw my book on the shelves. I had to write a decent chunk of a novel to complete my creative writing degree and graduate from Johns Hopkins University. I say “a decent chunk” because I graduated without ever finishing the novel. How far did I make it? Fifty pages? One hundred pages? Somewhere around there. I really can’t recall. I do remember that I had no idea how the book would end and never thought about it again once my diploma was in hand.

Tyrese Maxey after Philadelphia’s Game 7 win over Boston. (NBC) Sportswriters and sports fans are conditioned to fixate on the final chapter. As the saying goes, “the two best words in sports are Game 7.” Fourth quarters garner much more scrutiny than third quarters. Nothing earns a basketball star more acclaim than coming through in the clutch.

The majesty of Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. When I first moved to Los Angeles from Oregon in 2015, I received a comprehensive guide to hiking in California as a gift. I was overwhelmed by the size of the book and the depth of the Golden State’s bounty.

Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets lost in the first round for the second time in his career. It’s always a bad sign when an NBA great loses in a manner that feels completely foreign. After watching Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets crumble against half of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, I woke up feeling disoriented and a little bloodthirsty.

Reed Sheppard picked LeBron James’ pocket in Game 5. LOS ANGELES — Sometimes there aren’t even murmurs of concern. Sometimes it’s just silence. The Los Angeles Lakers were all teed up to eliminate the Houston Rockets in Game 5 on Wednesday, but a dreadful offensive showing had them playing uphill throughout the second half. When their latest attempt at a valiant comeback fell short and the Rockets officially sealed a 99-93 victory, Crypto.com Arena sounded empty.

CJ McCollum at Las Vegas Summer League in 2013. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Terry Stotts looked like a parent who wanted his overcaffeinated children to hold on just a darn second and calm the heck down. Stotts, a basketball lifer then in his mid-fifties, declared at media day in 2013 that his Portland Trail Blazers were shaping up to be the best team he had ever coached.