Teams are returning to pre-season camp, so may as well get a topic stated for the new season. As much interest as the on court holds, off the court there’s been massive change with regard to coverage of the sport. Here’s a list of names who have departed ESPN in the last 6-12 month, voluntary or otherwise:
Doc Rivers (left to coach the Bucks)
JJ Redick (left to coach the Lakers)
Jeff Van Gundy (laid off)
Adrian Wojnarowski (quit)
Zach Lowe (laid off)
Fair bit of talent there…
They lost their best guys!
I’m a huge JJ Redick. Gonna find it hard to hate him this year.
Just been listening to the Bill Simmons podcast about the Lowe firing and sports media in general, he said Lowe is the best basketball writer at ESPN, but that it appears as if they are investing further into the “hot take” media, where you can get a 70-90 sec clip, post that on social media and get clicks, and Lowe is not that guy. He’s not a former NBA player, he’s not a loudmouth/hot take guy like Stephen A Smith. I’m sure he will freelance or go down the podcast path but he was a really good analyst and ESPN’s coverage will be poorer for his absence.
Easy to hate anyone who is involved with the purple and gold clownshow.
Of course they are invested in the ‘hot takes’ media. These are the guys that get all the attention. Consumers have the power to turn these guys off, yet they keep returning (likes and haters) because they keep on the extreme side wild takes often enough. The early calls for sweeps, the ‘these guys are disastrous’, ‘this isn’t working trade them all’ type stuff is what fans absolutely love hearing.
They showed it through last year with Stephen A Smith and Wilbon showing up more and more on their studio broadcast. They can’t have a third ‘hot take’ guy as they need to balance them out so I think they’ve done well with Bob Myers.
They do have another guy who joins them here and there (he’s also on Windhorst’s podcasts), but there’s really only space for one non hot taker for their shows.
When they need some seriousness they can also add Bobby Marks (my favourite go to guy for all things technical about trading and signings), Tim Legler and also Richard Jefferson.
I actually like Lowe and think he’ll be fine with his podcast and the guys he gets there.
It’s actually amazing how much the proper analysts actually know about NBA (I mean details like set plays, player & coach tendencies, etc) yet they don’t really communicate it because it just doesn’t get people as interested as a rubbish hot take.
Some do, but I reckon as far as American sports go the NFL guys do it better. That’s probably because of the more structured way NFL is played. Still the good NBA guys (and girls) can really help my understanding of the game (which is otherwise very lacking). Although the language sometimes is a battle. I often find myself googling “what does xxxx mean?”
I’m looking forward to this season though.
There are a few things I’m keen to see develop.
In the West:
I’d like to put something about the Suns in there, but I’m not sure what more they can do with that roster.
In the East:
For me, the two guys I’m really looking forward to see how they progress are Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green. I think Jalen takes a big step this season and becomes more of a scoring weapon whilst getting his scoring average above 25 points. Cunningham is more of a watch to see how he goes after his second full year from his injury.
I’ll also give JJ one month to live through his honeymoon period. There’ll be some wins there early. But he’ll get hounded by media and there’ll be the obligatory ‘wasting Lebron’s legacy’ talk happening. But, the best he can do with that team is stay around .500 until December, see what trades are available, stick around .500 until Feb and see what trades can be found.
I hope they just ride through it all, don’t make any massive trades, let Lebron finish his career however he likes (be it Lakers or at another club) and see who they can pair with AD (if he wants to stick around). We went all out for a title and got it, now we pay for it and wait for our next opportunity.
Nothing beats NFL analysis. It is top tier for all sports.
You need people who can string a sentence along without say ‘he was elite or he was terrible’ for that sport.
It’s a real pity Kobe isn’t still with us. His Detail show was absolutely fantastic and is tough to replicate with other players. There’s a void there, but there are very few players with enough knowledge and willingness to teach the game on that level.
Maybe someone like Chris Paul can could pick this up when he retires.
Huge!!! Kat to the Knicks
https://x.com/shamscharania/status/1839851169968984211?s=46&t=Gv3IPTGF3rB4gS3x9lZv9g
Can Gobert and Randle play in the same team?
And the Nova Knocks have been split 
Sad to see Donte go but that’s a huge deal for us
WOW
I think that makes the Wolves a touch worse even though I think Randle is a better fit with Antman.
I actually thought KAT and Gobert worked as well as could possibly be. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gobert gets in Randle’s way.
I’m not sure how KAT goes in New York.
That spotlight might exploit some of his weaknesses that he showed in Minnesota.
It makes New York Brunson’s so it becomes more of a small ball game there which is when they were at their best.
Well we have no bench left so Thibs can play the starters for the whole game
Oh wait…………………
Totally agree with this.
Kats a notorious wilter
Just seen the trade. WOW!! Big move from the Knicks!
The move isn’t as bad as my first thought for the Wolves
If Reid progresses to a genuine starting Centre , then Wolves have cleared a tonne of future money off the books, have heavily increased their scoring power and can potentially space the floor better with DiVencenzo outside when Edwards drives at the ring. Defensively they’re maybe a bit worse , but so much of this probably hinges on how good Naz Reid becomes? My young bloke is a Wolves fan and he’s unsure about this whole thing.
The Knicks get a genuine Center whilst Robinson is injured, and who has also shown a willingness to shift his role to suit Edwards, and have avoided having to commit to Randle long term, who seemed to be leaning towards FA anyway.
And on the fringes of this deal, it sounds like Charlotte are going to accumulate more draft picks in return for helping the Knicks stay under the apron. We’ve become some sort of deal-financier this offseason due to a lot of cap space, lol. The question becomes, at what point do we use those picks for a big trade, and what type of player is it likely to be.