Q&A With Capital City Go-Go General Manager Amber Nichols Part 1: Journey From Working The Ticket Office To Becoming A G League GM
In part one of a two-part interview, Capital City Go-Go GM Amber Nichols discusses her journey through basketball and the steps taken that led to her current role with Capital City
Note: this is the first in a two-part interview series with Capital City Go-Go General manager Amber Nichols. Part two, which will go into the current state of the team and their players will arrive in your inboxes on Wednesday morning. For full clarity, the interview took place on January 27th.
Dakota Schmidt: How did you get your start in basketball?
Amber Nichols: I played basketball as a child, it was the first sport that I played. My mom wanted to make sure that I was active so she always made sure to put me in like ballet or karate. So through that, I gravitated towards wanting to play basketball because I had family members and kids in the neighborhood that played. So naturally, I gravitated towards that and fell in love with it from there. I didn’t start getting serious with the game and working towards getting good until like 8th grade or early high school. In that 8th grade year, I started to play AAU, and then from there, I got good to the point where I was fortunate enough to get scholarship offers from a number of schools where I ended up choosing the University of Richmond.
DS: How did you make that transition from playing to looking for a role within a front office?
AN: Unfortunately during my college career I dealt with a lot of injuries as I had a torn labrum in my hip. Although I was sidelined, it gave me a different perspective as I got to see the game from the perspective of the scouts and coaches. I just fell in love with that part of the game so I began researching different avenues to get into basketball and the NBA outside of playing.
I also started to research the types of jobs and pathways that were available and I settled on scouting. I just became fascinated with the concept of building a successful team on and off the court, the culture, constructing a roster that’s cohesive with different types of players that mesh well together. I just became fascinated with that as it was like playing chess or solving a puzzle to me.
Just really liked that aspect of it because if something doesn’t go how you expect it to go then you can change it. I also just love scouting through seeing a player and what they’re going to develop into has always intrigued me. Also, I worked part-time in public relations at the University of Richmond while I was playing so I was able to get acclimated to the business side of the game.
Following that, I went to graduate school at the University of Georgia where I got my Master’s. That led me to Sacramento in ticket sales, where I used that opportunity to network and steam roll things into a front-office job.
DS: Who were her mentors that helped you along with that journey?
AN: I would say that my biggest mistake is that I wasn’t aware of who to network with when I was playing. I knew my eyes were set on the NBA but I didn’t have contacts that could get me there. My first contact with the league was Jelani Downing, who was the PR guy for Atlanta. He actually allowed me to come down to a Hawks game and sit press row to learn what PR does. That was my first exposure to the NBA at that level.
When I got to Sacramento, I was able to lean on Nancy Lieberman, who was their assistant coach at the time. She gave me insight into the coaches' and front office perspective while also allowing me to get my first crack at scouting and writing reports. Then it was more so advanced scouting than draft evaluation. But those are the two people that helped me get started. As I went through my journey, Chrysa Chin, obviously Tommy Sheppard, and then honestly Pops Mensah Bonsu was beneficial for my growth and development as a mentor because he was my boss during my time with the Go Go
DS: How did you make your way from working for the Kings to with the Wizards organization?
AN: When I was selling tickets with Sacramento, usually the way that they help first-time ticket sales reps get clients is they tell you to reach out to your alumni pool. That led me to do a basic Linkedin search for “ University of Richmond alumni, Sacramento” and I happened to connect with this real estate agent named John Hurley, who actually played football there.
While he wasn’t interested in buying tickets for the Kings but he still took an interest in me. Like, he asked “Is ticket sales your final destination of where you want to be” and “What is it that you want to be in the NBA?” When I told him that I had aspirations to being in a front office and that I played basketball at the school, he told me “You know my roommate when I was there was Kevin Eastman (former college and NBA coach)”.
After I made the connection with KE, he’s always been a mentor towards me as we interacted in Sacramento before games. He was the piece that connected with me to Tommy Sheppard to help me get an internship opportunity with the Wizards in 2016.
DS: From that internship, how did you make your way from that internship to being an assistant GM for Capital City?
AN: When I was an intern here, I was doing some simple basketball ops work like draft preparation and administrative responsibilities for the front office. Ultimately, I just focused on outworking everybody and like a lot of people that have been in this position know, it’s very hard to automatically get transitioned into a job when you’re done interning. After I interned, I made sure that I always stayed in touch with the Wizards front office and that if there was an opportunity for me to come back that they would welcome me back because of my presence here and how hard I worked.
Fast forward, I found an opportunity to intern with the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association). At the time, I felt like working for them made me into a more well-rounded candidate seeing what they valued and how they operated. It was another way for me to get experience that I didn’t have during my internship with the Wizards.
After being there for six months, I was fortunate enough to get my first full-time permanent job with the NBA/G League office. There, I was doing basketball and game operations, traveling, picking personnel for the G League evaluation events, helping put together the G League All-Star game in LA, Elite Camps, and Player Invitational. Also, I worked with the four expansion teams in 17-18.
When the Wizards announced that they would have an expansion team in the following year, I honestly didn’t know that it was a possibility to work with the Go-Go. Essentially I just went down to D.C. with the G League front office staff to do a one-on-one with Tommy about how a G League organization and things that he’d need to take care of. It wasn’t until after that meeting where Tommy called me to his office and told me about the opportunity to be a Director of Basketball Operations that was there for me if I was interested.
I interviewed for it with Pops Mensah Bonsu, Scott Schroeder, and Jarrell Christian, who were the GM, assistant GM, and head coach at that time. Fortunately, I ended up getting that role as the Director of Basketball Ops. After a year, I was promoted to being an Assistant GM. Again fast forward to a year and a week ago where I was promoted to being the GM of the Go-Go.
DS: When you were working as the Director of Basketball Operations and Assistant GM, what were the lessons and memories that you learned from Pops Mensah-Bonsu?
AN: When it comes to the memories, I guess that we were both new in this space. Pops was a long-time scout with the Spurs and had experience in the NBPA but doing the front office side for an expansion team was new for him. The fact that we both trusted each other and giving me the freedom through not being a micromanager allowed me to get things done and implement processes that I thought got things done more effectively. Also, watching him lead when things got difficult or when situations got tough prepared me for the role that I have now. But honestly, our best memory is seeing some of our guys get called up. For example, Chris Chiozza received a two-way and played in the playoffs along with Chasson Randle getting called up to the Wizards.
DS: What was the story of how you got promoted to being the GM?
AN: After the 2019-20 G League season was suspended due to the pandemic, I spent a lot of time helping the Wizards out with draft preparation, which included hosting pre-draft interviews virtually through Zoom, transcribing notes from those interviews and submitting them to our staff, and little things like that. I’ve always had a great relationship with the G League front office so I was trying to keep up on everything that was going on in terms of if/when we’re playing.
The opportunity became available when Pops moved on from his role to an opportunity that he felt was better suited for him. With that opening up the door for the GM role, Tommy and I said that he was impressed with me and my growth over the last two seasons and that this is what he had in mind for me. When he told me, I was surprised but ready. It was really weird because I was like “Man, I wasn’t expecting it to come this fast but I’m ready.”.
So we waited to make an announcement until there was a guarantee that there would be a bubble season. Although we didn’t send the Go-Go down there, the idea of us sending four G League affiliates and our two-ways to get reps and experience was big for me because it allowed me to get that leadership experience before taking on my first full regular season.
DS: What were your memories of your time down there in the G League bubble?
AN: Honestly, that was probably the best 60 days that I’ve had in my life. There were just no distractions as it was just all basketball. I was able to develop a routine, get in shape and focus on my physical fitness because you don’t have much to do outside of basketball. It just gave me a chance to build relationships with front office personnel of other teams. It helped you get to know who players were off the court by seeing them in passing.
It also helped me get experience in dealing with players of different backgrounds. We had players from two different organizations on one team so getting those guys to come together and building a culture from scratch for those two months was something that was really exciting for me. I just really miss the bubble and it’s crazy that it literally was a year ago today we were heading to Orlando.