The NBA Has a Media Problem – Saving the NBA Step 4

The NBA Has a Media Problem – Saving the NBA Step 4

Have you noticed a problem with NBA media? You got analysts caring more about the next blockbuster trade or big free agent signing. Former players turn podcasters competing to see who can say the dumbest thing into a mic. National platforms creating egos so large that they believe they’re the biggest draws in the sport. We moved away from talking about actual basketball, which sucks because the actual basketball is really awesome right now. And the longer we go down this road, the more toxic it all becomes, the worse off the game is. We need a change. So, if you’re as interested in saving NBA coverage as I am, watch this entire video and let me know what you think in the comments. It’s got to change. It It’s got to change, man. Like, like the the discourse around the NBA is so bad right now. Whether you turn on First Take and during the finals they’re talking about who has had the better career, Giannis or Jokic, you turn to player podcast and most of them are just saying outlandish stuff just to say it. inside the NBA, they openly talk about how they don’t watch basketball and they talk about how pretty much they hate this era of basketball. Like, it is just so beyond bad and and it needs to change for the good of the game. Like, on the one hand, I get it, right? Because if you’re a show, a podcast, anything right now, like you’re just trying to get views. That’s the ultimate thing that you care about. You are trying to grow your platform. And unfortunately, the best way to grow a platform right now is to say outlandish, controversial, hot takes, right? It is to say the thing that is going to get clipped on social media and go viral. It is to talk about the same three or four players or teams because that’s what the ratings unfortunately dictate. I get it. But as a basketball fan, it bothers me to no end that the game that is right now, I think, in such a beautiful place where you have so much talent and the parody is so great and there’s just so much fun to watch about. Like we’re just not talking about that. Like like I it needs to change. I don’t fully know what Adam Silver can do. I mean, scratch. I guess I’ll put it like this way. Adam Silver can’t necessarily go to these player podcasts and say, “Hey, you need to shut this down.” Although, let’s be honest, David Stern 100% would have tried, but like when it comes to the broadcast partners, like you need to fix this. Like, you need to get guys who it’s sort of a two-pronged approach. You need to get guys who actually want to talk about basketball, who want to talk about the game of basketball itself. It is beyond mind-blowing how you turn on ESPN for football coverage and it is so detailed. It is so specific, its X’s and O’s, its coverages, its strategies, its game plan, whatever. And then you tune into halftime of an NBA game on ESPN and it is maybe one minute of barely talking about the game followed by so many ads and talks about you know this guy’s free agency your trade deadline blah blah like all that stuff and like inside the NBA like I’m glad it’s gone because I think it is absolute stain on the league that one of the pillar you know um national television programs right it’s ESPN and it was TNT the fact that you have those guys talking about how they don’t watch basketball and fans hear that and think that’s okay and acceptable. You have Shaq openly hating on everyone, you know, from this era just like you glass half empty on everything. Like I my biggest example is always this like you know when the Rockets beat the Warriors to get to the semi-finals of the NBA Cup. So they beat the Warriors on national TV. They they they earn a spot in Vegas in the semi-finals and it’s such a big win because it’s on national television. It’s Rocket team. It’s young. It’s up and coming. It’s such a good win for this young team that hasn’t really done much. You know, they I think they had lost the last 16 straight to the Warriors. It was just like a big win for a young team. And what’s Shaq’s first thing that he says in the postgame? Doesn’t matter. They’re not good enough to win a championship. Like how is that good for the sport where you’re just so negative? Like when I say that I want guys to be more positive, I don’t need I don’t mean that in like a, you know, like blatant like you always have to say something nice about something like if even if a guy shoots eight of 32 be like, “Oh well, at least he was aggressive.” Like no, it’s not about like unconditional support, but it’s about slanting positive, right? Like can we focus on the good of the game? Can we focus on everything that’s awesome? Yeah, Shaq, I know they don’t post up like they used to. Guys aren’t as guys. You know what? Guys don’t shoot the way they did in your era. Not even close to the way they do now. And that’s cool. That’s worth celebrating. We need people who are going to like to talk about basketball, who want to talk about it, who again, you’re totally allowed to criticize it, but who are going to focus more on the positives. Like when a young Rockets team gets a nice big win, talk about how that’s such a great win for Rockets team that, you know, just fell short of the plan last year and they have a lot of young guys and it was such a big statement win on national television. When a lot of these young guys haven’t been on national television, focus on that. Like, let’s actually talk about the game of basketball. I know people like to think that people don’t want to listen to actual basketball talk, right? Cuz that is what the ratings dictate. Unfortunately, like ESPN’s First Takes ratings keep going up. So, there is something to be said about that. But you could also argue it’s cuz they’re not being exposed to that stuff enough. Like look at look at Mind the Game and how awesome Mind the Game is and how many people watch Mind the Game and listen to LeBron and whether it was JJ Reick, Steve Nash, like talk about actual basketball and how many people like that. And that’s just on a YouTube channel, right? That’s just on a podcast, right? You put that stuff on national platforms, people are going to love it. Yes, people love talking about the transactional side and all that stuff in legacies. And I’m not saying we have to get rid of that. I just think for the good of the game like we like Adam Silver like you, you know, we always talk about like or NBA players always talk about how, you know, you always want to leave the game in a better place than when you found it, right? You want to leave, you know, you want to do it justice. You want you want to improve the game. You want to further the game. Like Adam Silver right now in his tenure, like the media stuff is going backwards because now everyone’s so focused on the transactions, on the drama, you know, on legacies. And again, there is a place for that, but they’re not focused on the actual game. And as Pat Riley’s always said, you got to keep the main thing the main thing. And if it’s not, you have a problem. Pat Riley was talking about competing for championships, like if that’s not your primary focus, you got a problem. But here, it’s like we’re not talking about actual basketball. And it sucks because it has so many people thinking that the game of basketball that the NBA is just all about the trades and the drama and the legacies and the go talk. Like it’s not. Like the game itself is really beautiful and really fun. And like I I just think the game would be so much better served both in terms of like league coverage and also just like in like the purest aspect like you’d have so many more people getting into basketball if you show them why the sport itself is awesome, why what teams are doing is cool, why this era is cool. you can like a different era better, but to act like this era sucks and there’s nothing worth watching, like it’s just not true. And and I just wish the coverage, you know, did more to to cover that. And I think we’re seeing it now more and more with a Mind the Game. I’m so happy Zach Lo got a podcast now on the ringer, but I think there’s so much more work to do. And if I was Adam Silver, I would go straight to ESPN and I would make them change things. I would make them focus on basketball, right? I’m so excited for Amazon and NBC to come back because like the panel of analysts that they have, it really seems like they have guys who are gonna not only love basketball, but love talking about basketball and I I I think it’s going to be so great. And I think that’s a great step, but if I was Adam Silver, like the biggest thing I would do is like like you got you got to clean this up. You got to clean this up. Like I know like, oh, it’s a separate company. No, Adam Silver has the power to do that. He needs to do that. I think he needs people to see that the game is actually what’s cool about the NBA. And from there you get more people invested and it’s just like is it going to boost ratings? I don’t know. You could argue that ratings might go down, but I could tell you right now the quality of fans and the discussion and just like the, you know, the toxicity levels would go so down and just like the quality of the game and the conversation around the game would be so much better. Now, is that how much is that worth in, you know, at a time when, you know, all you care about is ratings and ratings lead to money and money drives everything? Maybe not a lot. Maybe I’m being naive, but it’s just as like a basketball purist who loves the game. Like it it’s just something I want to see cuz what we have now, it’s just it’s not it.

NBA coverage focuses on everything… besides the actual game. And if the league wants to not just grow but do so in the right way, that needs to change ASAP. Step 4 to saving the NBA.

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