Al McCoy Removed from Courtside?

[GorillaShazam]

Hey all, longtime lurker,

Been curious what you all think of Al McCoy's courtside position being moved this season?


Arizona Sports posted an interview with Ish from last Friday night that shows more of Al's new vantage from up top:


This seems like pretty awful treatment of a true Suns legend after 51 seasons. He spent two pages of his book talking about how much he hates being high up. He also mentioned on the Dave Pasch podcast last season (around the 14:30 mark) that this is why he retired from road games. Says he doesn't want to end his career with people thinking he doesn't know who's shooting a 3 point shot.

Other than the pandemic restrictions he's been courtside for 50 seasons, since 1972, including all of last season:

[Superbone]

I noticed that in this interview. Pretty lousy. Are they trying to force him into retirement?

[GorillaShazam]

Yeah, in this 2019 interview he says outright that would be why he retires:
https://theathletic.com/889711/2019/04/ ... o-ratings/

“I would say if and when – and right now I don’t know what that will be – but when I do decide to end it, that would be a big part of it,” McCoy said. “Because we’re being put in areas where we can’t see the floor and when you can’t do the kind of broadcast that you want, it’s not good.”

[Shabazz]

I think that was the OKC game which was a national game. Maybe the ESPN guys bump the local guys up a few levels.

[Superbone]

I think that was the OKC game which was a national game. Maybe the ESPN guys bump the local guys up a few levels.

I hope that’s what it was.

[GorillaShazam]

I think that was the OKC game which was a national game. Maybe the ESPN guys bump the local guys up a few levels.

No, it's been every game. ESPN/TNT/National guys sit on the opposite side of the court, across from the scorekeepers. I noticed this in the beginning of the season but registration was closed at the time. Last season I used to like to watch Al when the ball was lagging being taken up half-court, he's been up top away from camera view all season.

Jon Bloom tweets a photo of the radio broadcast position before every game. Here's the Jan 30 Toronto game which had no national broadcast:


All his Twitter updates from this season have the same vantage. Bloom announced it as "a new view" for Al McCoy on October 2nd preseason game:


Al's new view:


Here's a photo of Al's view from last season/every previous season:


Al's seat last season was where EJ and Kevin Ray are sitting this season, next to the Suns bench. Last season the Bally's crew were up top:


Bally's doesn't broadcast every game, though. But even when the Bally's crew has the night off they don't let Al move down where he used to be. Here's a national game where the seats were empty at tip-off:


Last national game not on Bally's the people sitting in the seats were playing on their cellphones the entire game.

[JeremyG]

It's utterly disgraceful and disrespectful.

One last parting "gift" from Robert Sarver and Jason Rowley, I guess?

I would encourage everyone to join me in emailing Mat Ishbia about this, to see if he can rearrange things for the playoffs and let Al have the courtside seat he deserves.

His email address is:

Spoiler: show/hide

MIshbia@suns.com

[JeremyG]

Is anyone surprised that Mat Ishbia personally replied to my email himself first thing in the morning?

[wpmiller42]

Is anyone surprised that Mat Ishbia personally replied to my email himself first thing in the morning?

Wow! That's pretty cool. Makes me like him even more.

[TOO]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

[Superbone]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

The nightmare really is over. Congrats to us all for living through that! Such a load off to have a guy like Ishbia seems to be in charge.

[Cap]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

The nightmare really is over. Congrats to us all for living through that! Such a load off to have a guy like Ishbia seems to be in charge.

It’s still really early to be making judgments about Ishbia. At this point, we know fairly little about him except the fact that he’s not Sarver. Admittedly, that one fact is a very big deal.

[Superbone]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

The nightmare really is over. Congrats to us all for living through that! Such a load off to have a guy like Ishbia seems to be in charge.

It’s still really early to be making judgments about Ishbia. At this point, we know fairly little about him except the fact that he’s not Sarver. Admittedly, that one fact is a very big deal.

We know a heck of a lot more than that.

[TOO]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

The nightmare really is over. Congrats to us all for living through that! Such a load off to have a guy like Ishbia seems to be in charge.

It’s still really early to be making judgments about Ishbia. At this point, we know fairly little about him except the fact that he’s not Sarver. Admittedly, that one fact is a very big deal.

Cappie Downer.

[In2ition]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

The nightmare really is over. Congrats to us all for living through that! Such a load off to have a guy like Ishbia seems to be in charge.

It’s still really early to be making judgments about Ishbia. At this point, we know fairly little about him except the fact that he’s not Sarver. Admittedly, that one fact is a very big deal.

Although, so far, we've learned nothing but good things about Ishbia, I think there is a lot of truth here. We'll see how he navigates the job hires here in the future. How do the people working for the Suns feel about him and how they are treated, from the lowliest custodians to the star players and fellow owners?

[AmareIsGod]

I emailed him about a future job opportunity with the Suns someday at his UWM email address and he replied to me shortly after he started. Was really cool!

[Cap]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

The nightmare really is over. Congrats to us all for living through that! Such a load off to have a guy like Ishbia seems to be in charge.

It’s still really early to be making judgments about Ishbia. At this point, we know fairly little about him except the fact that he’s not Sarver. Admittedly, that one fact is a very big deal.

We know a heck of a lot more than that.

True. We also know that he likes high-risk high-reward moves. Whether that turns out to be a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

[AmareIsGod]

Ishbia seems like he gets it.

The nightmare really is over. Congrats to us all for living through that! Such a load off to have a guy like Ishbia seems to be in charge.

It’s still really early to be making judgments about Ishbia. At this point, we know fairly little about him except the fact that he’s not Sarver. Admittedly, that one fact is a very big deal.

We know a heck of a lot more than that.

True. We also know that he likes high-risk high-reward moves. Whether that turns out to be a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

I've got to admit this is the most excited I've been going into the postseason in quite a while with this team. I don't think my level of excitement and optimism would be as high if we had the same roster that we had before the Durant trade.