Around the League: The Offseason

[carey]

https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/857995242078785536

[Indy]

Good for the Pacers

[Mori Chu]

Pritchard ... Didn't he run the Blazers a while back?

[carey]

Pritchard ... Didn't he run the Blazers a while back?

Yep.

[ShelC]

They'll be fine with Pritchard on the day to day and Donnie overseeing things. Pritchard could be better for the Pacers right now since they're looking at a bit of a rebuild. He can draft and deal with the best of them.

[Shabazz]

Bird made some questionable decisions these last 2 years.

[Shabazz]

Crazy what's happening at ESPN. Among NBA-related people they just laid off: Marc Stein, Chad Ford (after the draft), David Thorpe, Henry Abbott, Ethan Strauss, Justin Verrier.

Their coverage will look drastically different going forward. At least they kept Stephen A Smith.

[carey]

Steven A is a rating monster as annoying and pompous as he is. I'm sad for Stein though. Genuine good dude. Don't care much about Ford because all his articles were behind a pay wall.

[Mori Chu]

Why so many layoffs? Did they lose a lot of money recently? I heard some dumb rumor that it was politics related, like as in Republican vs Democrat, but I think that sounds preposterous.

[ShelC]

Some of the anchors have come out recently and said it's hard to hold conservative viewpoints in Bristol and you need to toe the company line. There are also articles written and guys like Whitlock have called out ESPN for infusing liberal politics and viewpoints into their coverage and talk shows.

The bottom line is....the bottom line. They committed a lot of money to TV deals/rights and are cost cutting. It began last year and a bit before that and the general feeling was that they weren't going to start overpaying or getting into bidding wars for on-air talent. The brand is strong enough to move on with newer, younger, cheaper talent blah blah blah. We'll see. They're losing a lot of knowledgeable, credible and talented people (Stein, Werder, Abbott, Strauss, etc) but also cutting ties with behind the scenes type. Meanwhile, they're keeping the entertainers and personalities who don't necessarily provide insight or knowledge, but drive ratings. And they'll probably start hiring and putting on newer talent that may or may not be as good as the talent they let go.

A few good articles:

http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/colin-c ... ecade.html

http://www.espn.com/blog/ombudsman/post ... l-dynamics

[Indy]

Some of the anchors have come out recently and said it's hard to hold conservative viewpoints in Bristol and you need to toe the company line. There are also articles written and guys like Whitlock have called out ESPN for infusing liberal politics and viewpoints into their coverage and talk shows.

The bottom line is....the bottom line. They committed a lot of money to TV deals/rights and are cost cutting. It began last year and a bit before that and the general feeling was that they weren't going to start overpaying or getting into bidding wars for on-air talent. The brand is strong enough to move on with newer, younger, cheaper talent blah blah blah. We'll see. They're losing a lot of knowledgeable, credible and talented people (Stein, Werder, Abbott, Strauss, etc) but also cutting ties with behind the scenes type. Meanwhile, they're keeping the entertainers and personalities who don't necessarily provide insight or knowledge, but drive ratings. And they'll probably start hiring and putting on newer talent that may or may not be as good as the talent they let go.

A few good articles:

http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/colin-c ... ecade.html

http://www.espn.com/blog/ombudsman/post ... l-dynamics

So they are following the trend of less journalism, and more sensationalizing. They are basically the Fox News or MSNBC of sports 'news.'

[ShelC]

Yup, definitely going the way of the mainstream news organizations in that sense.

[jonh]

Yup, definitely going the way of the mainstream news organizations in that sense.

Thank heavens. I like my sports like I like my news--light on content and heavy on the hot takes.

I wonder why they kept on Zach Lowe.

[Indy]

Yup, definitely going the way of the mainstream news organizations in that sense.

Thank heavens. I like my sports like I like my news--light on content and heavy on the hot takes.

I wonder why they kept on Zach Lowe.

Did you forget the green font?

[ShelC]

I was watching NFL Live yesterday thinking...."They got rid of Marc Stein but Herm Edwards still has a job?"

[LazarusLong]

I was watching NFL Live yesterday thinking...."They got rid of Marc Stein but Herm Edwards still has a job?"

I have one word for it ... "Infotainment"

[Split T]

Yup, definitely going the way of the mainstream news organizations in that sense.

Thank heavens. I like my sports like I like my news--light on content and heavy on the hot takes.

I wonder why they kept on Zach Lowe.

Zach Lowe is the best thing they've got imo. The guy knows basketball

[Mori Chu]

I bet they kept Zach Lowe just to try to keep him away from Bill Simmons. You just know The Ringer would try to snatch him up the second he became available.

[Indy]

I bet they kept Zach Lowe just to try to keep him away from Bill Simmons. You just know The Ringer would try to snatch him up the second he became available.

He is better than anything they got, so yeah.

[Indy]

Yup, definitely going the way of the mainstream news organizations in that sense.

Thank heavens. I like my sports like I like my news--light on content and heavy on the hot takes.

I wonder why they kept on Zach Lowe.

Zach Lowe is the best thing they've got imo. The guy knows basketball

Exactly