SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Spike Lee got a photo with Larry Bird and a technical foul from a Hall of Fame referee.
Not a bad first trip to basketball's birthplace to pick up an honor he didn't know existed.
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Film director Spike Lee, upper left, speaks at a superfan ceremony at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. Lee, actor Jack Nicholson, comedian Billy Crystal and businessman Alan Horwitz are being added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Michele Timms speaks during her enshrinement at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Doug Collins speaks during his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Seimone Augustus, right, slaps hands with Lindsay Whalen, left, during her enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Larry Bird, top, sits in the audience during the Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
A sign flashes to wrap now as Doug Collins speaks during his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Vince Carter reacts while talking about his mother during his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Film director Spike Lee is honored at a superfan ceremony at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. Lee, actor Jack Nicholson, comedian Billy Crystal and businessman Alan Horwitz are being added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
The film maker was added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's superfans gallery. He had been to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and loaned some items to basketball's, but never made his way to it until being told he was being honored for his passion for his New York Knicks.
“Here’s the thing, though. I didn’t even know this thing existed,” Lee said. “So it was a complete shock when I got the phone call.”
Lee joined Jack Nicholson, Philadelphia businessman Alan Horwitz and Billy Crystal in this year's additions. During a ceremony a few hours before the 2024 class was enshrined, Crystal, a Clippers fan, told Lee that he's already in a Hall of Fame.
“I’m in Cooperstown, too, you know. They put my movie in the film archive, ‘61(asterisk),’" Crystal said, referring to the film he directed about the 1961 home run chase between the Yankees' Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.
Dressed in Knicks-colored orange throughout the weekend and telling anyone who would listen that this is their year, Lee said he enjoyed getting to interact with people he has been talking to for so long from his front-row seat at Madison Square Garden.
“I got to take a picture with Larry Bird, standing between Larry and Artis Gilmore,” Lee said. “I got into a fake argument with Dick Bavetta. He called a ‘T’ on me and pulled a whistle out of his pocket and blew it. Dick Bavetta and I go way, way back. He’s from Brooklyn, too, so we got that love, but it was just great seeing all these guys. I see them in action sitting courtside.”
Vince Carter was in a room full of Hall of Famers when he came upon one dressed in what appeared to be the familiar shade of Tar Heel blue.
"Congratulations, dog!” Michael Jordan said, standing up to shake hands Saturday night before asking Carter how he was doing as they embraced.
Carter then introduced his family to Jordan, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame 15 years earlier.
Carter drew comparisons to Jordan early his career. He had also played at North Carolina, won a Slam Dunk Contest and quickly became a nightly producer of NBA highlights and a perennial All-Star. It was during one of those All-Star games, in 2003, when Carter gave his Eastern Conference starting spot to Jordan, so the six-time champion could start in his final All-Star Game.
Jordan also had a warm embrace for Doug Collins, who coached him in both Chicago and Washington.
“I know he told you a bunch of lies!” Jordan told the group around them, while patting Collins' stomach.
Actually, the story Collins told about Jordan during his induction speech appears to check out.
It was his first game coaching the Bulls. Collins said he had been nervously chewing gum while his team played the New York Knicks and when he called a late timeout, it was smeared around his lips.
“I was soaking wet with sweat and I had a headache and I started to look up and I saw this Black hand reach out like this,” Collins said, imitating Jordan reaching forward. “He said, ‘Coach, take a drink of that water, clean that (stuff) off your mouth. I’m not going to let you lose your first game.’”
Collins said the Bulls did win and Jordan scored 50. And indeed, Chicago beat New York 108-103 on Nov. 1, 1986, behind 50 points from Jordan.
Collins was about 25 minutes into a speech that would last nearly a half hour when he mentioned the importance of story telling when broadcasting games. That was advice Dick Ebersol gave him when he joined NBC.
Collins sure told a lot of stories.
He had a lot to cover while being inducted as a contributor, from his four All-Star appearances as a player with the 76ers, his memories of playing in the U.S. loss in the controversial 1972 Olympic gold-medal game, his two coaching stints and his time on television.
But he had gone on long enough for event organizers. A clock inside Symphony Hall read: 0:00 WRAP NOW!!!
Collins said felt like former North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano, who during his famous ESPY's speech as he was dying of cancer refused to be rushed off stage.
“Do I care about that red light? Are you kidding?” Collins said.
When he finally finished, he was followed by former Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, who immediately made clear he would be no Collins.
“I’m not a story teller,” he began. “I have former players back there that are doing the over/under on how many minutes I’m going to take.”
Michele Timms played in the WNBA's inaugural season, one of the original players picked by the Phoenix Mercury. That's all the way back in 1997, so of course the game looks different now.
But she's blown away by just how different.
“Wow,” the Australian said. “Proud.”
Attendance was up nearly 44% from last season, with 37 WNBA games in the regular season drawing crowds of at least 16,000. Six different league television partners set viewership records this year for its highest-viewed WNBA game.
Much of that was due to the popularity of Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark. Timms, who cheers for her Mercury and supports the New York Liberty, coached by friend Sandy Brondello, is a fan.
“I mean, you can’t talk about the WNBA unless you talk about Caitlin Clark and she is absolutely phenomenal,” Timms said. “I mean, I’m a Phoenix girl and I love Phoenix and I love New York — well, not love them, I like New York — but I’ve watched every single Indiana game this season and it’s just an exciting time in women’s basketball and it’s grown and evolved since my time.”
The Liberty and Minnesota Lynx are tied 1-1 in the WNBA Finals. Seimone Augustus helped the Lynx win four championships while playing from 2006-20. She sees the growth since then, the future teams arriving in Golden State, Portland and Toronto, and said she couldn’t ask for much more that what the league has become.
“To be honest, they’ve checked off a lot of stuff that I wished I had when I was playing. Obviously charter flights, increase in pay, taking care of the mothers in our league,” Augustus said.
“So I mean, just continuing to head in the direction and put these young ladies in places that we haven’t been and be able to use their voices in ways that we have never been able to.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Film director Spike Lee, upper left, speaks at a superfan ceremony at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. Lee, actor Jack Nicholson, comedian Billy Crystal and businessman Alan Horwitz are being added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Michele Timms speaks during her enshrinement at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Doug Collins speaks during his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Seimone Augustus, right, slaps hands with Lindsay Whalen, left, during her enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Larry Bird, top, sits in the audience during the Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
A sign flashes to wrap now as Doug Collins speaks during his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Vince Carter reacts while talking about his mother during his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Film director Spike Lee is honored at a superfan ceremony at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Springfield, Mass. Lee, actor Jack Nicholson, comedian Billy Crystal and businessman Alan Horwitz are being added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Susie Wiles will be the latest occupant of the hottest hot seat in Washington — Donald Trump's chief of staff.
It's a tough job under the best of circumstances, responsible for networking with lawmakers, administration officials and outside groups while also keeping the White House running smoothly.
But it's been particularly challenging under Trump, who has a history of resenting anyone who tries to impose order on his chaotic management style. Four people served as chief of staff during his first term, and sometimes things ended on acrimonious terms.
Will past be prologue? It's impossible to know. So far, Wiles has fared better than most in Trump's orbit, and she just steered his presidential campaign to victory.
Here's a look at who came before her.
Priebus chaired the Republican National Committee while Trump ran for president in 2016, and he became Trump's first chief of staff in the White House. Priebus was symbolic of the awkward alliance between the party establishment and Trump's insurgency, and he struggled to balance the two.
The White House was plagued by infighting and failed to advance legislative goals such as repealing the Affordable Care Act. Priebus was sometimes viewed as untrustworthy by various factions vying for Trump's favor. Anthony Scaramucci, who memorably but briefly served as Trump's communications director, profanely attacked him for allegedly leaking information to the media.
Six months into his first term, Trump pushed out Priebus on July 28, 2017. The decision was announced on Twitter, which was par for the course in those tumultuous years.
Next up was Kelly, who had been Trump's first Homeland Security secretary. Trump liked the way that Kelly, a former four-star Marine general who had served in Iraq, led his immigration crackdown.
But he soon became frustrated by Kelly's attempts to impose military-style order on the chaotic White House. Kelly clashed with the president and some of his allies, ultimately becoming more isolated and less influential.
Trump appeared so eager to get rid of Kelly, he announced his departure on Dec. 8, 2018, without having a replacement lined up.
While Kelly served longer in the role than anyone else, his break with Trump was ultimately the most acrimonious. He described his former boss in acidic terms last month, saying Trump met the definition of a fascist and once praised Adolf Hitler as having done "some good things.”
It took days for Trump to settle on a replacement for Kelly, an unusual delay for a such a critical role. He chose Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman who was running the White House budget office at the time.
The decision came with an asterisk — Trump called Mulvaney his “acting” chief of staff, suggesting the position would be temporary.
Mulvaney abandoned Kelly's strict management approach and decided to “let Trump be Trump.” Instead of managing the seemingly unmanageable president, Mulvaney focused on overseeing the staff and working with lawmakers.
He held the job for a little more than a year, departing on March 6, 2020, after Trump was acquitted in his first impeachment trial.
Trump turned to Meadows, a North Carolina congressman and leader of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, to serve as his fourth chief of staff. It was a challenging time, with the coronavirus spreading in the United States and around the globe.
Long viewed as one of the roadblocks to congressional deal-making, Meadows played a leading role in negotiating pandemic relief legislation. He also proved himself as a loyalist as Trump was running for reelection against Joe Biden. Meadows oversaw a White House awash in conspiracy theories about voter fraud as Trump tried to overturn his defeat.
A former aide said Meadows frequently burned papers in his office fireplace during this time. Meadows refused to cooperate with a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and he was indicted in election-related cases in Georgia and Arizona. He's pleaded not guilty.
FILE - White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speaks with reporters outside the White House, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is pictured in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Nov. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - White House Chief of Staff John Kelly watches as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus attends an event in the East Room at the White House in Washington, June 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
The hardest job in Washington? A look at those who have served as chief of staff for Trump
The hardest job in Washington? A look at those who have served as chief of staff for Trump
FILE - Trump co-campaign manager Susie Wiles is seen at Nashville International Airport as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives, July 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)