A thread to talk about NBA Podcasts / Personalities / Announcers / Shows / Broadcasters / Commentators

kellerman seems like the one guy out there in the espn cinematic universe who consistently produces actually good controversial takes

I always liked Kellerman, seemed like a good guy to keep Stephen A. in check

stephen a kicks ass but also if you're watching ESPN at like 10 am or whatever time that show is on there's bigger issues at play

that's when I work out usually which is pretty much the only time I watch ESPN. I assume this is like half their viewership.

I like Stephen A Smith but he's also kind of a moron. he's an incredible showman though

do i need to tell my charles barkley story for the 100th time

― Clay, Wednesday, August 18, 2021 5:15 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

yes

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, August 19, 2021 2:08 AM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

back in the mid-90's when ballboys were still *children* and not, like, college kids, i spent a season as a ballboy for the blazers, i was probably 14 or so? i worked maybe a quarter of the games that year, sitting under the hoop, mopping up sweat for the players and whatever other little duties we had. a truly wonderful thing to get to do when you're a kid who worships basketball players! rebounding and passing the ball to THE GUYS in pregame and at the half! getting yelled at constantly!

anyways, i think this was a year or two after chuck won MVP, 94-95. the suns are in portland and someone is shooting a free throw and i'm on the right side of the hoop, and in first rebounding position next to me is ol' chuckster. I'm staring off into the middle distance and daydreaming, as i still do too often when i should be paying attention to my surroundings, and i eventually realize someone is trying to get my attention. it's barkley, he's almost waving at me now. "HEY, KID, GIMME A TOWEL." I do the "who, me?" gesture and he says "YEAH YOU, THE UGLY ONE, THROW ME A TOWEL". so i throw this man, a living legend, a towel, and he wipes his disgusting dripping head clean of sweat and then tosses it back to me and says "THANKS STUPID, THANK UGLY. PSSSH."

https://www.landofbasketball.com/box_scores/1995/0409PHXPOR.htm
^ i think it was this game but not 100% positive

lmao how do i not remember this story????

back in the mid-90's... i was probably 14 or so?

(silently calculates Clay's age)

pretty sure ive said this before but we need to track down some clay game footage

Yah that’s a good story must secure footage

aimless if you do the simple math there it comes out to 22 years old, probably should have said that in the first place

a fun addendum to the story is that around 2011 or so this woman i had been dating for many years was working catering for some events group and ended up waiting on at a table near barkley's at a charity function. according to her story, he tried to flag her down for a drink refill and she told him she could not refill his drink because he wasn't in her section, and furthermore she would not because he called her boyfriend (that was me) ugly when he was a teenager. barkely responded "probably because he was ugly!" and then hit on her in a really gross fashion (ten years ago was a different time!)

I detect a stubborn insistence that you are not ugly, despite Chuck's eyewitness testimony!

sir charles was right, as usual!

barkley's go-to insult for women and children is "ugly"

tbf it is a classic

He meant your soul

pod listeners should check out windhorst's interview with the guy who wrote the new book about KD, kyrie, and the nets. i'm definitely picking that book up now.

there was an interesting discussion on — i believe — the most recent hollinger & duncan podcast about summer league from the front office perspective, how/why teams get put together etc. first 15-20 mins or so of the episode, i thought it was interesting

xp nice, ill check it. also the draymond sit down with KD was cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x6DjeJNd64

xp yeah i enjoyed that summer league roster construction discussion, very educational

to revisit the jackie talk above, she went on simmons pod and explained her retiring. she was one year into a three-year contract but between wanting to have time to care for aging parents and feeling like doing longform writing was getting harder while also being deemphasized by her employer, she was just kind of done.

the whole simmons angle vis a vis ESPN didn’t feel accidental to me, at least on his side

strauss is leaving the athletic to maybe not talk about the nba anymore?

https://houseofstrauss.substack.com/p/the-fleshy-part-of-the-thigh?r=11111&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter

i kinda feel that middle part

another step on the path to going fully right wing

yeah he might, he's always straddled the fence. maybe he joins up with bogut or something

can't wait to not pay for it lol

otm

always been wack and annoying

i thought he did some interesting stuff as a nerdy oddball beat writer, i like him much much less in his current form

the fact that he would admit to several ppl telling him “you’re the type of person who could reasonably say something stupid and get fired for it” …. why would you say this publicly

yah that part was dumb, the whole opening was dumb

"You got a dude, Ethan Strauss, who comes in here and just gives his whole opinion on stuff, and makes it seem like it's coming from me.."

Kevin Durant’s press conference, forcefully pushing back against the Knicks rumor and the media’s treatment of him pic.twitter.com/aqqbK7APh2

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 7, 2019

kd roasting him is still one of the highlights from that weird kd season.

i'm glad for his wide and child that he isn't sociopathic enough to do light racism to get fired from his job though i take him seriously that he absolutely thought about it

*wife

TIL that ethan has been on jesse singals podcast to talk about wokeness ruining sports!

i thought this would be coming in a year or two, delighted that we are ahead of schedule.

lol wasted NO time

people think the right wing grift is easy, and i mean it is but also theres a ton of churn, if i had a solid sportswriting job id stick with that

wow this is big!

Breaking News: @espn takes Rachel Nichols off @NBA programming

ESPN has taken Rachel Nichols off of all NBA programming and will cancel her weekday afternoon show “The Jump,” the network confirmed today.

Read the story: https://t.co/NP6wtWVL9h pic.twitter.com/0254ayg667

— Sports Business Journal (@sbjsbd) August 25, 2021

yikes! so they're basically firing her w/o firing her

Nichols has a year remaining on her contract and will still be paid, but won't be on-air.

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) August 25, 2021

wow. does she have other transgressions besides getting caught on a hot mic whining about someone getting an assignment over her? that has already sort of blown over, i thought?

leave it to espn to handle this in the stupidest way possible

the surprising part here to me is cancelling the jump at the same time, i thought it was pretty well-regarded.

i liked it for a time but way too much perk in recent months

wow. does she have other transgressions besides getting caught on a hot mic whining about someone getting an assignment over her? that has already sort of blown over, i thought?

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Wednesday, August 25, 2021 12:50 PM (fifty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

nothing public that i know of

Got to create a whole show and spend five years hanging out with some of my favorite people ❤️ talking about one my favorite things 🏀 An eternal thank you to our amazing producers & crew - The Jump was never built to last forever but it sure was fun. 😎
More to come… pic.twitter.com/FPMFRlfJin

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) August 25, 2021

maybe she goes back to NFL coverage for a bit?

kill me

NEWS: Stephen A. Smith wants to team up with Magic Johnson on ESPN, The Post has learned.https://t.co/w3vQSzOACR

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) August 26, 2021

haha noooo

i think stephen a. is just looking for the ultimate challenge. trying to imagine cutting to the classic brand of stephen a. reaction shots after one of magic's non-takes. unintentional comedy of the kind i never want to see

in reading the article i guess the new head of nba content (the last one got bounced over the taylor/nichols thing) is tight with stephen a. and stephen a. is currently the network's biggest star, so it sure sounds like this is going to happen.

we already know how bad magic was at this why bring him back in

ESPN will launch 'NBA Today' - a new @ESPNNBA studio show - Monday, Oct. 18

Hosted by @malika_andrews with @KendrickPerkins, @mrvincecarter15, @chiney, @ZachLowe_NBA, @wojespn & @ramonashelburne

Mon-Fri | 3p ET | ESPN

*Debut episode to air on ESPN2*https://t.co/79uhFW5Wh3 pic.twitter.com/F5l6iQs34d

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 20, 2021