Kevin Garnett, known tall person and enjoyer of hoodies that stick to the back of your head, traveled to Denver for the latest episode of his “KG’s Area 21” feature to hang out with Sue Bird, the hoops legend who recently joined the Denver Nuggets front office as a basketball operations associate. Bird, who has maintained her desire to continue to play point guard for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm next season, has spent the last few months learning the ins and outs of scouting and preparing herself for life when her playing career ends.
She opened up to KG about what her experience has entailed, including some of the more unique parts of the job that requires using a regular pregame shootaround as an opportunity to scout.
KG sits down with 3x @WNBA champion @S10Bird to learn more about her new front-office job with the @nuggets! #KGArea21 pic.twitter.com/TTt7UxYIsj
— KG's Area 21 (@KGArea21) January 18, 2019
“One of the first games I went to, I was like, ‘Oh, this is interesting!’ A lot of the GMs, a lot of the scouts, they go sit courtside. That’s nice. They just like to say hi to their friends and whatnot,” Bird said. “And then I was like, oh wait a minute. This is intel time. This is like, let me watch the 10th man on the bench who might not get in tonight, let me see how his workout is.”
Bird said she’s also gotten to sit in on a handful of meeting surrounding the looming NBA trade deadline, which she said has been her favorite part of the front office experience so far. She also expressed her total awe over the Nuggets unearthing of Nikola Jokic, who they snagged in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft.
“The difference between some players is so small,” Bird said in response to Garnett asking her what the most surprising part of being a scout has been. “Being able to spot that? When you have a GM or a scout or whatever who can pick that out, that difference out.”
Bird will continue in her role until the WNBA season begins again in May, when she will resume her point guard duties. Until then, she’s soaking up as much as she can in Denver.
“I very much feel like the door’s open for me to explore whatever I want to do.”
