Not really. ESPN relegated anyone with thoughtful commentary to the d team. Whenever you had someone like Mark Jones sub in you wondered to yourself why he wasn’t the lead guy. NBA providers went all in on personalities that trash the product or are not fully invested in the players. It’s not that people don’t watch them - they’re just not of note. You had people all year complaining about how terrible the playoff commentary was without Jeff and Mark Jackson and a big part of them being gone was Jeff slandering the current product too much. 25 percent of local commentators for the teams are better than the national people covering the game. But again, that’s probably because they’re invested.The NBA has thoughtful commentary shows too, folks just don’t watch them.
Inside the NBA was on one night a week, on a damn Tuesday at midnight eastern. And yall acting like that is the only timeslot that thoughtful NBA commentary could possibly take place. Let me tell you right now, if the NBA is dependent upon the Tuesday at midnight time slot to be the leader on NBA commentary for the masses then it was way overdue that they rethink their strategy.
New NBA Media Deal: 11 years, $77B with Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC/Peacock), and Amazon. ESPN to license Inside the NBA
- Thread starter Anerdyblackguy
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ESPN puts people on who get ratings. They don’t care about being ambassadors for anything, they just want people to watch. People watch what’s entertaining.
The issue is the NBA and their super fans think they can get casuals to tune in to basketball versions of shows like College Gameday. First off for the most part college football and college gameday is ONE day a week, meaning it’s an event. They have 50 games they can discuss and they have a week to prepare for that one day. Every game seems important and relevant so people really get invested in everything. The NBA itself has conditioned fans to not give a shyt about any single particular game. That’s their fault. It’s not on the fans or the people covering the sport.
Second, the sport itself has devolved in complexity due to analytics. In football teams still play differently. Yes the passing game has been emphasized but different teams have different strengths they are playing to. As a fan you want to get some insight on what your opponent does and what to look for in the prime time games. I don’t have to watch any NBA team and I already know what they will do. They are going to switch hunt until they get a favorable matchup then drive and kick. Less than a handful of teams do something different than that. The shyt is boring. There is no reason for me to watch a pre or post game centered on analysis because the analysis from the first game can be taped and replayed for any subsequent game and hold true. So if you want folks to watch you have to lean HEAVY into entertainment and controversy.
And most of those shows aren’t doing well. Pat McKafee got paid all that money for a reason. You’re making the point - you need a very unique personality for people to care and there are only so many of those people. It’s what Stephen A can demand what he does. It’s why they re-signed Shannon Sharpe. Those unique personalities make those shows work - not the format itself. By comparison, you can put damn near anyone on NFL coverage on NFL countdown and it works.
I’m sure you believe this but you’re making the false assumption that being informative and entertaining are mutually exclusive. To the contrary, being both is the norm in every sport outside of basketball.
This point doesn’t make much sense because the ESPN doesn’t even attempt to cover most games. They only cover the big brand names and do a poor job of it. The NFL also has a bunch of games with bad teams that no one cares about. Particularly, a lot of those Amazon prime games. That doesn’t stop NFL commentators from finding an engaging way to discuss those games. Baseball also has a bunch of games that no one cares about, the same can be said for soccer - all those sports magically find a way to not trash the product while being engaging.
You’re speaking to your own lack of understanding of basketball. You don’t understand the game right now. Teams run more complex offensive sets than ever before. And more complex defensive coverages. You’re literally a product of what we’re talking about. You don’t appreciate what you’re watching because you don’t understand it. Amin spoke about this months ago - a lot of basketball casual fans are conditioned to think the game is more simplistic than it is and are resistant to being told about it. You basically have casual who don’t realize that they’re casuals lol. But the greater audience that watches the NCAA tournament, for example, would probably buy in if it’s explained to them. We literally saw first take ratings go up when they inserted JJ Reddikk and Tim Legler in the morning.
You don’t but you think you do. See what I said before. How you can watch the NBA playoffs and say this is astounding.
They have leaned into entertainment and controversy since the early 2000s when the Lakers, Spurs, Mavs, Warriors, Kings and Suns played nothing alike.
Chuck's definitely going to take the bait and engage in this back and forth
Stephen A is going to bring him on his podcast
Why this man hate Rudy so much?Him and Chuck about to be super petty this season
yeaht thats exactly what we want thats why we praised them for like two decades. Y'all weirdos want them to talk X's and O's so you can feel like youre actually in the nba or something lmao.
No, we praised them for being funny and joking on themselves and players from time to time. No one found it entertaining when Shaq told Jokic congrats but I thought Shai was MVP. Basically, you guys want first take at halftime. And everyone else is saying there’s a time and place for it. Those little viral funny videos mask the fact that most of the time they add nothing of value to the game and they’re just on in the background.
Seriously, go watch TNT back from last year - unless they have something to joke on or a beef, the show is just full of filler - which could be filled with actual commentary about the game. nikkas acting like other shows don’t have jokes too.
Monumental L by TNT. They should’ve never let this get out of that exclusive window.
People dont like basketball. They like Jordan or Kobe or whoever or better yet the ideal or character they represented. They like how they felt in 83 or 95 or 04 when watching those certain guys. They dont actually like or really care to understand the sport itself. Beyond that a lot of folks feel they were a growth spurt from going to the league so there is more bitterness among hoop "fans" than for any other sport.
People actually like football...the game. They will watch anyone play it and will listen to anyone talk about it. Basketball is Jordan v Bron and the past > the present talk because that's the prism most "fans" view the game through. Inside feeds that but it aint growing the game. It makes sense for Silver and co. to want to move away from that and try to broaden the audience. People resist change but as always will adjust.
I don’t disagree. But I think there’s no reason that all those people watching March madness can’t be converted to NBA fans - at least during playoff times. I agree with your notion of Silver trying to grow the game.
Listen how ignorant this shyt sounds "how dare you want basketball coverage to be about basketball coverage!!!"
you nikkas that wantNBA broadcasts to be comicview need to quit the fukking sport...it's clear your ass isnt here for basketball but the sideshow.... Love n Hiphop is that way nikka
