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

i put drays pod on 2x speed and its still mostly unlistenable. he needs a host or partner badly. or just learn to be more succinct.

I'm higher on this guy than most, I'm lower on this guy than most, I am far from the consensus.

crying. they love doing this

my hierarchy is

1. windhorst/bontempts/macmahon

this has my fav mix of good basketball discussion w/ firsthand reporting & overall entertainment. i grew up riding in cars that played sports talk radio & they have the chemistry of a good sports radio show while also being very well sourced reporters. i genuinely laugh often listening to this.

2. hollinger/duncan

i like that because this podcast is less regular than the rest of these the topics are usually much more big picture -- best coaches, best franchises, extension candidates etc. i like hollinger's perspective on things & nate is a good host and knows the CBA well. they clearly have fun doing the show.

3. simmons/rusillo

bill says a lot of dumb stuff but rusillo does at least needle him & sometimes outright call him out. but bill is a good source of gossip these days & he does a lot of big picture discussion too that is his bread and butter that i like. he's prob the worst "i'm higher on this guy" offender of them all. rusillo can be obnoxious and they can be obnoxious together but he also knows basketball, has some sources inside the league, and knows the college game as well.

4. lowe

of all the espn ones that just recycle the same 5 guests over and over, zach's is prob my favorite just bcuz i've always liked him and all his writing is behind the paywall now.

5. bomani jones/vinnie goodwill

they do basketball pods i really enjoy but they're only once every few months at best

6. simmons/joe house

don't really love drunk house but sober house is my fav character in the simmons extended universe. their over/under pods and such are usually great.

7. dunc'd on

i don't subscribe but will usually check out the free episodes. some of the ones that are like deep dive scouting reports and stuff get a bit into the weeds for me. but if i need to fully disassociate from life those can do the trick.

8. windhorst early or midweek show

this is pretty guest dependent. sometimes it's an outright skip for me.

9. rusillo

solo rusillo gives me PTSD to sitting in traffic in the backseat of a car but sometimes if i have no better options i might check it out

**

and also kevin pelton who doesn't have a podcast of his own but if he's a guest on any of these podcasts that's a must play for me

good rundown. i never thought i would like solo russillo but he's such a deeply weird person i can't look away. and i think lowe i would have had higher in the past, but he's gotten more in his own shtick and i feel like he never lets the guests get much of a word in.

yeah I like russillo a lot, he’s a meathead but almost apologetic about it and just a genuinely curious dude who wants to learn which I appreciate. he’s also a chris paul stan and had him on his show recently which was hilarious because he was fanboying super hard

yeah that was a lot of fun.

and i agree, he is a curious person within his limits. his author interviews are always great and i've picked up a couple books based on them (if you like u.s. history even a little bit "astoria" is an extremely fun read). half of his podcast has turned into a side project with the thesis that the journey of adulthood is incrementally becoming less of an idiot over time, and he makes himself a living example of that.

agree with others that the player pods are generally awful, unfortunately most of them are narcissistic idiots, bad combination

I listen anyway, there’s usually some nuggets that only players can get out of other players

i get recommended gil arenas' pod on yt all the time and theyre always the most clickbaity poison-brained takes

He’s truly awful lol.

i'm a big lowe guy though it definitely depends on the guests. JJ gets some good stuff out of people but you have to wade through a lot to get to it. i've cut the cord on simmons/rusillo stuff, at some point i made the decision that bill's interests and perspective has taken up enough space in my brain to last the rest of my life. however, i have fallen into the hoop collective and end up listening to it more than i ever thought i would. but now reading everyone's recs i fear my bball pod listening is going to increase with duncan/hollinger...

while we're on the subject what podcast app do y'all use? i've been using pocketcasts for like a decade but i am really wishing there was a way to sort by topic area

6. simmons/joe house

don't really love drunk house but sober house is my fav character in the simmons extended universe. their over/under pods and such are usually great.

just wanted to call this back up and say you should seek out Bill's recent trade value list w/ House if you haven't already, j0rdan ... just a terrific example of their chemistry together, and so many funny exchanges / House dinging Bill when few others will.

also, as long as i'm here: Russillo's pre-Finals interview w/ Jeff Van Gundy was awesome. esp. JVG talking about Kyle Lowry.

friends...who is "mad dog" on espn and why does espn keep putting him onto clips of ppl talking abt shit, it sounds like this pup needs to be put to sleep!!!

classic sports radio talker of mike and the mad dog fame

ra...dio?

yeah mad dog is one of the most legendary sports talk hosts ever (derogatory)

lol

"don't tell me Jokic is the most dominant center of all time, you need to talk about Earl Birmingham!! - he led William and Mary to FOUR NCAA championships in a row from 1944-49"

Mad Dog more like Loud Boomer.

on the latest simmons rusillo sunday pod bill starts an extended conversation about how dame for KAT is the most sensible trade the blazers could make… i can’t get it out of my head how stupid it was

i overheard some guys talking re: KAT about how "an experienced shooting big is the best thing you can have next to scoot" and i was like lol

i mean if you squint really hard i can see the concept, but it ignores the fact that kat would come in on his ginormous contract and be like oh finally this is *my* team

some ppl just get hung up on players as on-court archetypes in their best-case scenario (kat=sharpshooting 5, ben simmons point center with 1-5 switchability on D) and forget that they might suck in some other way that negates what they do well

this is a god tier no-context graphic. i'm in awe. https://t.co/Xsv0r9jOpU

— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) June 28, 2023

Reaves has won zero dunk contests

incredible

oh my god someone in the replies said Mclung was "Westbrook 2.0"

like westbrook except very tiny

austin reaves post-westbrook (reg season and playoffs) was incredible, i would absolutely throw shitloads of money at him

lol they did an oral history of windys finger thing https://www.gq.com/story/brian-windhorst-very-strange-trade-oral-history

This is the kind of reporting we need. https://t.co/GDlA3bd2OP pic.twitter.com/UBJS0AmuTV

— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) June 29, 2023

Looking forward to the Netflix doc about the oral history of the meme of the talking head soundbyte

i love windy so much

Podcasts saved the rockets franchise

“[James Harden] caught wind of Jalen’s podcast with Paul George, and he wasn’t too keen on some of the things Jalen Green was saying... For [Jalen] to say ‘it could be good, it could be bad,’ [James] didn’t like that very much.” 😬👀

- @KellyIko on this clip. https://t.co/FrSLP45gfa

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 30, 2023

Paul George playing 4D chess

https://nypost.com/2023/06/30/jeff-van-gundy-let-go-amid-espns-big-name-layoffs/

the fuck man

this is completely crazy unless they bump doris up to the big chair but if it’s just mark jackson…. my god

Damn, Jalen too!

goddamn those are a couple huge names

i guess i felt like jalen's star was rising? i don't have a good feel for that stuff

jalen's kind of an affable clown imo, not really sure how much he ever added but jeff was my guy

perk still has a job somehow

perk probably works for a fraction of those other guys

jvg had his quirks and was never my absolute favorite but you generally felt like you were in good hands with him

this is off topic but can I say that Pat McAfee's twin affectations of always wearing tank tops and always standing up drives me up a fucking wall?

Keeping mark Jackson and letting JVG go is some kinda cruel joke

this is bs. jeff may land at tnt?

further down that article mentions doc rivers as a dark horse to fill jvg's chair. i'm sure that won't happen but just the thought of listening to doc's rasp for 2.5 hrs every week...

Tragic. He’s been the proxy for the skeptical (and sometimes cynical) basketball fan (e.g., us)! He is also way more appreciative of the strangeness of NBA culture than Breen or Jackson (and nearly everyone else at ESPN). He’s a perfect fit for TNT.

My reviews of the former professionals that I believe work for ESPN:

Richard Jefferson: charming, acceptable basketball takes
JJ Reddick: insufferable, decent (improving) basketball takes
Kendrick Perkins: disaster
Vince Cater: charming, bad basketball takes
Jon Barry: insufferable, decent basketball takes
Caron Butler: boring

i think jefferson’s boring

i think RJ is my single least favorite NBA TV personality, he’s just remarkably smug while having nothing insightful or interesting to say. but also if you told me that perk’s CTE level takes are the worst thing on TV right now i couldn’t argue with you

the list above is why i’ve consistently taken slings and arrows in my unwavering standom of inside the NBA