The
Communicator
12
“...I can write anything I want, I can report any story out to its end,” Wojnarowski said. “That’s why I stay at Yahoo, that’s why I never want to leave Yahoo ..."
– Adrian Wojnarowski
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Wojnarowski believes the popularity of the site and himself is derived from quality reporting and the site’s lack of partnership with the NBA.
“I think it’s the kind of reporting we do,” Wojnarowski said. “We have great writing and great reporting on the site. We do a lot of stories that aren’t always done elsewhere. We don’t have the partnerships with the league that limit the kinds of stories we do. I just think people trust Yahoo to get the story behind the story and to get it first.”
Wojnarowski has no plans to leave Yahoo anytime soon, citing his freedom to approach any story in any manner he sees fit.
“I can write anything I want, I can report any story out to its end,” Wojnarowski said. “That’s why I stay at Yahoo, that’s why I never want to leave Yahoo. We have the biggest platform, I work with the best people and I don’t have the constraints on me. We’re not limited in what we can do. Our resources allow us to go out and invest in doing big stories.”
Some of the recent stories Wojnarowski has done include some investigative work on the NBA Players Union. He counts this among his most rewarding experiences at Yahoo and believes work like this is what helped to earn Yahoo its reputation as a reliable place to receive news on the NBA.
“I like that it’s a place that rewards your tenacity to break stories,” Wojnarowski said. “And when we started, we weren’t on the map. People knew Yahoo as a search engine and we’re known now, especially in the NBA, as the place where you go for breaking news and trades. I’m just proud of being a part of building what we’ve built here.”
Wojnarowski compared his experiences at Yahoo to those he had at the Bona Venture where he worked on a staff with Mike Vaccaro (N.Y. Post), Charlie Crème (ESPN) and Jeff D’Alessio (The Sporting News). Wojnarowski said he firmly believes working with such talented people was instrumental in the success he’s achieved in his field.
“The people I was around, working with (Vaccaro), the professors I had and the opportunities I had all played a role,” Wojnarowski said. “I just had so many opportunities to do things and I was around so many talented people that pushed me.
"What I have at Yahoo is the same pride I had in the people I worked with (at the BV). To me, it feels the same. It feels very collegial in that way.”
Watch
Adrian talk basketball with SI.com
Fall '13