Green Valley’s Sullivan fixture on NBA sideline

Molly Sullivan woke up in San Francisco in late December, the hotel room looking like so many others.

And the city, well, what city was this?

That's the life of those who follow the NBA professionally. They understand the old Grateful Dead song "Truckin'," where Chicago, New York and Detroit all are on the same street.

And those cities are stops on the road for Sullivan, a Green Valley High School graduate who is in her first full season as the 76ers' courtside reporter for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

"You look at the college season, and I've already probably done more games than I did in five years with The Mtn.," said Sullivan, who covered UNLV athletics for that network. "So that part's pretty neat, because at the end of the day, my office is a basketball court. I'm pretty grateful."

A big break came in April when CSN offered her the chance to cover the end of the Sixers' regular season and first round of the playoffs.

The experience was crucial but didn't guarantee she would be offered the chance to cover the Sixers full time. But CSN asked Sullivan, 33, back in September, and she was more than happy to make Philadelphia her new city.

It was the second major crossroads of her career. Sullivan split time six years ago as a sports and entertainment reporter in Las Vegas, and she had to decide which path to take.

The former University of North Carolina distance swimmer knew in her heart the right choice and pursued it.

"I never looked back," Sullivan said. "Fortunately, my hometown is a place where entertainment and sports are uniquely intertwined, so I was able to do them both. At the end of the day, sports are in my blood. They're my passion. I could never see myself going back to entertainment. I wasn't good at it (laughs), to begin with.

"When I left the entertainment world, it's the best move I ever made."

As a member of the Sixers' broadcast team, she is in a sometimes difficult position of being a journalist and providing news and being an extended member of the basketball club.

Sullivan reports from courtside but receives access to practices other journalists don't have. And she travels on the team's chartered Delta jet.

She acknowledged it's a fine balance but one she has managed.

"(Players) know I'm a journalist at the end of the day, but they also know I'm on their team," Sullivan said.

Such access gives her a unique perspective into the players and coaches.

Sullivan sees how hard they work, even on flights right after games. The players up front watch game video while the coaches in the middle of the plane confer on what just occurred and the strategy moving forward.

Plenty of work is to be done for a Sixers team that is 17-25 and would not be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

But, Sullivan said, even with the struggles, the players and coaches have been excellent to cover.

Sixers coach Doug Collins used to be on the TV side when he served as an NBA analyst and was inducted into the media wing of the basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Sullivan said he might provide the NBA's "best sound bite."

"I love covering Doug Collins," she said. "The sports writers just eat him up. They can't get enough of him and rightfully so. He surrounds himself with good people, and his assistant coaches are an extension of him."

Sullivan misses Las Vegas and looks forward to returning in the offseason.

But Philadelphia now is Sullivan's home, and she doesn't have to guess where she is when she wakes up there in the morning.

"They always say Philadelphia is a city that will love you back, and that's really how I feel here," Sullivan said. "They've embraced me.

"Here's this kid from Vegas - a tomboy in heels, as I like to put it - and they know I'm in it for the right reasons."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.