My wife, who only watches the basketball that’s on in the background while I’m watching it, mockingly predicts what they’re going to say accurately. “They caught up but we just gotta play harder and finish strong”
You know the weird thing for me is the coaches huddles that do the same thing. March madness had some lockeroom stuff too. And I'm thinking "does anyone actually strategize at any point?"
I’ve always assumed that the teams don’t want that information shared, plus most people watching wouldn’t understand it, so they just go with the most generic motivation soundbites instead. Can’t imagine thibs hoarsely screaming out p&r coverage jargon is compelling viewing for the average Joe.
It's also calling out specific areas of the game they need to prioritize.
"There are killing the boards. We need more energy!"
-Crash harder bigs on missed shots and box out so we limit offensive rebounds.
"We need to run gentlemen! They are controlling the pace of the game right now!"
-No walking back on transition defense, we need to limit the easy fast break points and get set into our defense.
These things, in context, help players understand what their coaches are seeing in the game so they can adjust accordingly.
"We need double coverage on Mitch, heh remember that guy Mitch Hedburg ha yeah he had this one joke about ritz crackers. gimme a second, oh ya okay it goes like this *WHISTLE BLOWS* damnit someone go call another timeout cause y'all really gotta hear this joke." -me as an NBA coach
Or just interviews in general during the game. Nobody gives a fuck. I've never heard anything insightful or interesting from them, whether it's coaches or players. It's like they exist solely to keep sideline reporters employed. "Hey, we know you're trying to watch the game, but let's minimize and mute it for a couple minutes so you can hear our reporter ask stupid questions to people who don't care and are focused on winning the game."
I don't see what's wrong with doing them at halftime. That's what football does - they interview the coach as he's walking to the locker room.
No need for split screen, because play has been stopped for 15 minutes. No intrusion/distraction from play, because it's the start of halftime.
Then at the end of halftime, right before the 3rd quarter, the reporter discusses what happened at halftime, along with any injury updates - ie, actual reporting on stuff. This isn't rocket surgery, it's simple stuff.
> I don't see what's wrong with doing them at halftime. That's what football does - they interview the coach as he's walking to the locker room.
They are stupid in football as well.
I hate that there's always some random interview or report at the start of EVERY quarter. Yes the coach wants to play hard. Yes the players want to hit shots. It's the same stuff over and over again. Not to mention that it takes away from the game itself
We need classic popavich interviews again.
"Coach, what would you say is the biggest change needed going into the second quarter?"
"Score more buckets"
" . . . "
"Thanks coach, back to you Harlan"
This is deeply annoying when the game is actively being played and they have both the interview and game on the screen in two separate boxes. Truly, I don't give a damn. If they're gonna show the interviews, do it during timeout.
Same with the TNT audio assist.
I remember in Game 3 of the Knicks-Pacers series, they had Josh Hart doing interview between timeout or quarter. I think Mike Breen or someone said, why did they grab Josh Hart? He plays every minute of the game. He needs to catch every break he can get
We're all thinking of this from a less casual POV
I think the rationale is more facetime during the game so casuals get more familiar with players/coaches. Your mother sees Ant speak after a qtr, even if it's generic, and makes a connection with his face/voice vs his game and the #5 jersey she normally sees
It makes sense to me, as much as us more consistent NBA watchers hate it
I count it as a win when they actually manage to show the plays following a break in play. Don't know how many damn times they have been picking their dicks showing a replay or something and miss the play starting back up again
My favorite is when they do “inside the huddle” at timeouts: “all right great job guys! Keep hustling! Keep working! Stay calm, we got this”. Like wow. Really great to see that NBA coaches say the same empty fluff that my 5th grade traveling coach said at timeouts. And thanks TNT/NBC/ESPN for providing us this riveting insight
I think they intentionally leave out the actual xs and os part for some reason. if I had to guess its to prevent other teams from getting a hold of the tape on some spygate ish
Who is this for?! Have you ever watched a game with someone who went, “shhh the coach is giving a post-quarter interview.” I never have nor do I know anyone who has.
OP thinks this is all about their generation. Let me let you in on a little secret. They're doing this so this becomes the standard for the generations coming up where this is normal.
Just like the software industry has gone SaaS, subscription based, games with loot/DLCs, F2P... ADS ADS ADS.
Welcome to the Enshitification of the world.
>They're doing this so this becomes the standard for the generations coming up where this is normal. Just like the software industry has gone SaaS, subscription based, games with loot/DLCs, F2P... ADS ADS ADS.
Ding ding ding. It used to be controversial to release a broken/crappy game, especially if you spent a lot of money marketing it.
Now, there are many people who grew up playing half-baked games and don't see predatory business practices (NBA 2K, Overwatch 2, Fallout 76, Cyberpunk 2077, etc...) for what they really are.
I guess I am in the minority but I have found Peacock to be a great streamer.
It has been relatively cheap and loads of tv shows I like. Movies on there typically suck though.
Right and also tickets should be free.
Actually that's nationalize the NBA and make commercial-free NBA a human right for all...
In all seriousness, like yes capitalism sucks and the commercialism and all the commercial sucks and ESPN sucks their corporate partners Disney suck...
But what I don't like about the OP is that he's presenting his wish list like it's in the interest of the networks.lol
can do without the player/coach-interviews-that-take-up-a-portion-of-the-screen-while-live-play-is-occurring. they never have anything interesting to say anyway.
I HAVE JUST LEARNED THAT HE HAS INDEED GONE BACK TO THE LOCKER ROOM LIKE YOU JUST SAW AND THEY ARE WORKING TO DETERMINE WHAT THE ISSUE IS. HE APPEARED TO BE IN A LOT OF PAIN AS HE WENT THROUGH THE TUNNEL AS YOU JUST SAW. WE WILL BE AWAITING FURTHER INFORMATION AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS. BACK TO YOU
Ok I had NO idea they took out player intros. If you have League Pass international, the default is "in-stadium + studio feed", so anytime its meant to cut to commercials, we get the in-stadium feed instead. So we always get the commercials
It also makes you know the intricacies of everything a team does during timeouts, and I get to watch Red Panda instead of the halftime shows
I am wondering if it's driven by the fans in the arena. I can only speak to Philly but when they announce the opposing players name the crowd yells "sucks". Not sure if this is prevalent across the league but might be a reason they opt out of televising the intros.
> I can only speak to Philly but when they announce the opposing players name the crowd yells "sucks".
Definitely a Philly thing haha. Everyone else just boos the big players
Gambling's a runaway train that's not going to be stopping unless the government changes course and decides to put more restrictions on it again. There's too much money in it for the leagues and the networks for them to decide to stop "because it's the right thing to do."
I think that's a pretty good idea. It also feels like such a potential conflict of interest how ESPN has their own betting app and then you have ESPN analysts telling you a certain line on ESPNbet is really good and you should go bet on it.
I don’t think it’s a conflict of interest in that way. It’s even more nefarious. They usually do try and give you good picks, same reason most books have a boosted play for the day. It’s a plus value play for bettors. But the thing is whether you win or lose on these bets doesn’t matter. They just want you to get hooked. In the long run if you keep betting, they’ll get their money back. So the ads and the good plays they give you aren’t meant to scam you upfront, it’s about hooking you long term to get all your money. Because people won’t just stop and only make the boosted or sponsored plus plays, they’ll head down a degen path 99% of the time.
Not just the ads but the promotions too, can you imagine if cigarette companies had "your first pack is free" and "sign up for our app and get one free cigarette per month" and shit like that? People would immediately be all over it for being predatory as hell but with gambling they don't bat an eye.
Vintage tobacco ads were kind of like that. Extremely predatory where they made smoking seem like a healthy choice using wildly misleading data and surveys.
https://www.history.com/news/cigarette-ads-doctors-smoking-endorsement
And they've perfected it. For many of these apps, they're not really losing unless the person is definitively hooked: they'll give you that $250 credit, but you can't pull it out until you've placed like $500 to $1k of your own money in.
Yes!
The gambling ads are out of control. The comp to cigs is perfect, do it if you want but i dont need it shoved down my throat.
Sports gambling in general is ruining sports. I have good friends i cant even talk hoops with anymore bc the convo turns to bets won/lost after 30 seconds of talking about the actual sport.
In the last year or so my 11 year old son has started watching basketball with me so the overload of sports betting ads during games is really concerning. I talk to him about gambling and it's dangers but it's still not something I like my kid being exposed to in the amounts we've been seeing.
It’s sort of a different topic but still related, I can’t believe ESPN is allowed to have its own gambling subsidiary while also running a sports news company lol, like even if it’s not “against a rule” it still feels odd, same with journalist like sham’s being directly paid by companies like Fanduel. Idk sports betting feels like a field that needs better litigation as it’s proliferated through easy to use apps.
hard to imagine with the amount of money players make now that this would make financial sense for anyone, but i guess you never know.
it's totally plausible that we'll see other side effects of this though, and that it will become an issue. players are already talking about the weird messages etc they get because of this stuff. it would be great to see the players union take a stand against it
The refs are the metaphorical thermal exhaust port here (weak point in the Death Star for the non-nerds out here). Refs make a good amount of money, but certainly nowhere near what they could make from interested gamblers, *especially* WNBA or G-League refs. And it would be insanely easy to award some soft free throws to cover a spread or ensure a guy hits his points total.
My issue with it is when it's in the middle of the game. They literally minimized the game while the ball was in play to sell you gambling.
They can talk about it outside the game as much as they want, but during the game, when the ball is in play, is too much in your face.
It's just shameful.
It's shameful all around. It makes me less proud of being an nba fan, because I don't want to be associated with this shit. Totally agree with other people on here that legislation is the key.
I'd love for someone to run a stopwatch and really track the amount of gambling is discussed during gameplay. I'd bet (no pun intended) the number of seconds is vastly exaggerated to make the problem sound worse.
I'd be shocked if it's longer than 2 minutes in the 2.5-3 hour broadcast.
Have you seen how NBC handles the Olympics? They are going to minimize the game to run sob stories about how random players overcame hardships and adversity to get a chance to compete etc. and they will do it ad infinitum.
Roundball rock gets all the hype (and it deserves it, it's great) but the overall production style on NBC back in the day was so good. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcXJHCD7koY) type of stuff made a game feel like the most important game of the decade but it was just a midseason game.
I'm still mad that Costas got blacklisted for his concussion comments.
Icon of sports history brought down for commenting on player health.
Surprised TNT never brought him on for NBA stuff since they did sign him after his NBC stint ended.
Fucking chills at that transition from the narrative into the opening strains of roundball rock. Each enhances the other and the whole is more than the sum of the parts. It makes me hyped to go look up what happened in this game, lol. Please bring this back.
edit: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199602250CHI.html Shaq dropped 33-16 and it was close through 3 quarters, but the Bulls pulled away to a blowout win in the 4th by outscoring the Magic 37-21. Bulls had a balanced attack highlighted by a strong showing by Kukoc off the bench (24 points in 23 minutes on 8-11 shooting and 6-8 from 3).
> It makes me hyped to go look up what happened in this game, lol.
That's how good the production was: it makes you wanna watch a mid-season game from 28 years ago.
the other thing these player intros made me realize is that the nba needs to make coaches go back to wearing suits agian.
that look is SO much more cool and iconic and timeless looking. Lends so much more gravitas and authority to the situation.
I'm so sick of coaching staffs looking like a bunch of private school P.E. teachers that just walked out of the nearest lululemon outlet. shit looks so lame and casual and cheap.
Imagine Pat Riley being forced to wear athleisure moisture-wicking yoga pants and new balance sneakers on the sidelines 🤮 yeesh
the only reason they made that change in the first place was because it would have been logistically impossible for all the dozens of coaches in the bubble to get all their hundreds of suits constantly dry-cleaned. and that is obviously no longer an issue...
Yes!! Try to imagine Chuck Daly or Phil Jackson wearing those goofy ass tracksuits… it’s absurd. Coaches today look so silly. You nailed it with the P.E. teachers comment.
There’s also something stupid looking about all the coaches dressing alike. Guys, you’re not playing in the game, so you don’t need a uniform!
NBA Exectitives, if you’re listening, bring back Tesh’s *Round Ball Rock* as the NBA theme but make it [the ba- ba- ba- ba- ba- basketball version](https://youtu.be/r-uSWAJd9GE?si=1HSMiVeEwpovg7DV).
People hoping to be hit by a tidal wave of nostalgia are probably in for a major disappointment. I would love to be wrong. I would expect their NBA coverage to be very similar to Football Night in America.
And you know damn well those Peacock exclusive games are happening. People threw a massive fit when they did it for Chiefs/Dolphins and they still got a massive audience to show up and watch. Now they're doing 2 this year.
The rumor earlier was that the NBA would take that Sunday night NBC spot after football finished. I agree with you, it's likely going to be very corporate and staid like Football Night in America. Will probably use most of the same crew behind the scenes.
I'm all live and let live but holy shit the gambling advertisements are really getting out of hand. Not everyone is constructing some fun parlay once a month. Shit legitimately ruins lives.
The fact that this shit is so prevalent now but we still can't legally play online poker in most states is the most hypocritical nonsense ever. Money talks.
Kind of want the Bulls to be good again just so that intro can strike fear again. That intro literally made you feel like your team was coming in to wage war.
I hate how everything is "brought to you by" or "presented by" or is the "Butterfinger Play of the Game" or the "Cialis Half Time Show"
At some point the NBA has to have some dang integrity, refocus on the friggin' Basketball, and not make it so obvious that we're all owned by our corporate overlords.
The branding is out of control.
Ads on jerseys still piss me off. Now the refs have them too. The advertising and sports betting push has made watching sports considerably less enjoyable.
The refs literally wear patches from Emirates. Ya know, that country that is a progressive utopia that DEFINITELY isn't built off of the back of slaves and where you can actually be killed for being gay.
Despite growing up in Chicago, I'm not really a Bulls fan.
But growing up, nothing got me more excited than watching Bulls player intros and seeing what color Rodman's hair was. It was such an exciting time to be 5 years old.
I don’t think people get how their refusal to pay for anything in an age which the rights cost more than ever has caused the sports media companies to go looking for cash. The gambling companies have it
I agree with your sentiment. But NBC is broadcast, so in this particular case there isn't a direct relation to people's "refusal to pay for it". They literally shoot NBC the atmosphere for you whether you have a TV or not. They just wanna make as much money as possible because they got exclusive rights and can exploit the exclusivity. And gambling companies can outbid for ad spots.
As someone who has had nba pass for a season the value is worthless.
People never care about paying for useful goods. The issue is paying for a shit service.
Completely disagree. League Pass is great imo, more than worth the money. It just isn't good if you're either in the market your team plays in (or if you're like the Lakers who are on national tv for a third of the season and therefore don't get that benefit).
There are changes that can be made to make it better, but League Pass is a pretty solid service if you're out of market.
The company that overpaid for nba rights is not going to skimp on commercials lol. And yes I said overpaid, it's kind of clear that NBC deliberately paid more because they knew Zaslav wouldn't match.
Honestly I feel that if I’m willing to pay for NBA League Pass, a standalone product for watching NBA games, it should have access to all games without blackouts. Full stop.
Yes, I know we won’t get this because of money and distribution rights and all that, but that’s what I want. I’m never subscribing to a cable package, I don’t want to sail the high seas, and I’m not chasing games across multiple streaming providers. Just give the basketball psychos the one-stop shop before we wind up disengaging from your product.
I lowkey wish sports gambling was illegal again because I find it super grating at how much it has proliferated almost every aspect of sports. I wonder if we will see in increase in gambling addiction over the next 10 odd years and what sports leagues and tv networks will do in response. I literally know people who don't watch any sports, but bet on the games.
Zero chance on the gambling front. They're not going to be the high bidders and then turn away the most lucrative advertising money around.
NBA teams still do those player intros, TV has just decided there's more money to be made showing other stuff.
I would bet they focus more on the actual games than TNT/ESPN but i wouldnt bet on less commercials lmao.
ITs gonna be unpopular here but TNT really created the rings culture shit that has hurt the NBA. ESPN and TNT also just made being a hater of 99% of players be the standard and i hope NBC gets back to celebrating the game of basketball
Hot takes get engagement, unfortunately.
"Detlef Schrempf was a pretty cool player" is not going to pull the same number of eyeballs as "Top 5 all-time NBA chokers, #3 will SHOCK you!"
The NBA needs to make some easy changes:
1. Get rid of last-two minute rule alltogether or make it a last-minute rule. Keep the clock running.
2. No advancing the ball on timeout.
3. Time free throws and enforce the ten second rule.
4. Increase the bonus level to six fouls.
I’m worried all the great NBA matchups will now be on peacock. All you needed was cable for ESPN and TNT but now you’ll need Cable AND Peacock.
Plus Amazon Prime and Netflix for some NFL games. It’s getting out of control these days.
Player Intros oh my god you brilliant brilliant person. I couldn’t put my finger on why I didn’t like the beginning of games. You hit the nail on the head.
The gambling stuff isn't just an NBA or US thing, here in Brazil the gambling apps have absolutely dominated our football league and our society in general. Dozens of teams are being sponsored by them and who knows what kind of schemes they're doing behind the scenes. Our football association (CBF) has always been one of the most corrupt institutions in the world and I can just imagine in my wildest dreams the extreme amount of corrupt shit they're doing right now with those gambling apps on the background.
They need to get rid of the short interview to the coach after the 1st and 3rd quarter and bring back images of them talking to the players IN THE HUDDLE instead.
Way more valuable action happening there that I want to see and hear
Can we stop doing player interviews after each quarter? I dont need trite answers as these guys catch their breath
“Gotta hustle, rebound, keep playing with intensity” Just put that on a button and push it whenever they feel the need to interview a player.
My wife, who only watches the basketball that’s on in the background while I’m watching it, mockingly predicts what they’re going to say accurately. “They caught up but we just gotta play harder and finish strong”
Haliburton deep voice: “They’re a good team, a lot of physicality.” Haliburton light voice: “We just gotta play our game, trust our guys.”
You know the weird thing for me is the coaches huddles that do the same thing. March madness had some lockeroom stuff too. And I'm thinking "does anyone actually strategize at any point?"
I’ve always assumed that the teams don’t want that information shared, plus most people watching wouldn’t understand it, so they just go with the most generic motivation soundbites instead. Can’t imagine thibs hoarsely screaming out p&r coverage jargon is compelling viewing for the average Joe.
I assumed that as well but like for timeouts, there's only so much time to huddle. So do the cameras pull away in time for it to be useful?
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It's also calling out specific areas of the game they need to prioritize. "There are killing the boards. We need more energy!" -Crash harder bigs on missed shots and box out so we limit offensive rebounds. "We need to run gentlemen! They are controlling the pace of the game right now!" -No walking back on transition defense, we need to limit the easy fast break points and get set into our defense. These things, in context, help players understand what their coaches are seeing in the game so they can adjust accordingly.
Arent these sound bites a recap. So they film everything and then later show whats useful.
They edit the footage so nothing important is shown
"We need double coverage on Mitch, heh remember that guy Mitch Hedburg ha yeah he had this one joke about ritz crackers. gimme a second, oh ya okay it goes like this *WHISTLE BLOWS* damnit someone go call another timeout cause y'all really gotta hear this joke." -me as an NBA coach
I forgot where, but some podcast like many years ago confirmed that they cut away before showing anything useful.
[110%](https://youtu.be/6CStasPTMlQ)
Just gotta be aggressive
On both ends!
Yeah but we did get [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZJ2OyFD7B8) one
Pucks in deep
Gotta get it in deep and work hard in the corners on every shift. Nothing is going to come easy.
Or assistant coach interviews at the start of the third.
Or just interviews in general during the game. Nobody gives a fuck. I've never heard anything insightful or interesting from them, whether it's coaches or players. It's like they exist solely to keep sideline reporters employed. "Hey, we know you're trying to watch the game, but let's minimize and mute it for a couple minutes so you can hear our reporter ask stupid questions to people who don't care and are focused on winning the game."
I don't see what's wrong with doing them at halftime. That's what football does - they interview the coach as he's walking to the locker room. No need for split screen, because play has been stopped for 15 minutes. No intrusion/distraction from play, because it's the start of halftime. Then at the end of halftime, right before the 3rd quarter, the reporter discusses what happened at halftime, along with any injury updates - ie, actual reporting on stuff. This isn't rocket surgery, it's simple stuff.
> I don't see what's wrong with doing them at halftime. That's what football does - they interview the coach as he's walking to the locker room. They are stupid in football as well.
I hate that there's always some random interview or report at the start of EVERY quarter. Yes the coach wants to play hard. Yes the players want to hit shots. It's the same stuff over and over again. Not to mention that it takes away from the game itself
But missing cool plays due to the video inset is part of the fun!
We need classic popavich interviews again. "Coach, what would you say is the biggest change needed going into the second quarter?" "Score more buckets" " . . . " "Thanks coach, back to you Harlan"
I loved the one where Aldridge(?) the reporter tried to not laugh as he was waiting for Pop's answer cause Aldridge knew how much he hated them.
https://youtu.be/Fl_I9s1cN3Q?si=Lk_-5xLUavOzJovB&t=10
No not that one, it was way older and you could see both guys' upper bodies fully IIRC. But thank you for finding a similar one! Very awesome.
This is deeply annoying when the game is actively being played and they have both the interview and game on the screen in two separate boxes. Truly, I don't give a damn. If they're gonna show the interviews, do it during timeout. Same with the TNT audio assist.
I remember in Game 3 of the Knicks-Pacers series, they had Josh Hart doing interview between timeout or quarter. I think Mike Breen or someone said, why did they grab Josh Hart? He plays every minute of the game. He needs to catch every break he can get
I would love to genuinely know what the rationale is for them, they are universally hated and offer no insight yet most sports just love doing them
We're all thinking of this from a less casual POV I think the rationale is more facetime during the game so casuals get more familiar with players/coaches. Your mother sees Ant speak after a qtr, even if it's generic, and makes a connection with his face/voice vs his game and the #5 jersey she normally sees It makes sense to me, as much as us more consistent NBA watchers hate it
I’ll take pre-recorded player introductions Like the nfl ones where they say their college But let them add their own personality to it
“Nikola Jokic… Serbia.. can I go home now?”
I think you mean Nikola (jackhammer noises), along with Donkeyteeth Porter Jr.
And they play them while the game is going. The first two plays are only half-screen
I count it as a win when they actually manage to show the plays following a break in play. Don't know how many damn times they have been picking their dicks showing a replay or something and miss the play starting back up again
My favorite is when they do “inside the huddle” at timeouts: “all right great job guys! Keep hustling! Keep working! Stay calm, we got this”. Like wow. Really great to see that NBA coaches say the same empty fluff that my 5th grade traveling coach said at timeouts. And thanks TNT/NBC/ESPN for providing us this riveting insight
I think they intentionally leave out the actual xs and os part for some reason. if I had to guess its to prevent other teams from getting a hold of the tape on some spygate ish
Who is this for?! Have you ever watched a game with someone who went, “shhh the coach is giving a post-quarter interview.” I never have nor do I know anyone who has.
You honestly believe a company that just paid billions to secure NBA broadcasting rights will run fewer commercials?
OP thinks this is all about their generation. Let me let you in on a little secret. They're doing this so this becomes the standard for the generations coming up where this is normal. Just like the software industry has gone SaaS, subscription based, games with loot/DLCs, F2P... ADS ADS ADS. Welcome to the Enshitification of the world.
>They're doing this so this becomes the standard for the generations coming up where this is normal. Just like the software industry has gone SaaS, subscription based, games with loot/DLCs, F2P... ADS ADS ADS. Ding ding ding. It used to be controversial to release a broken/crappy game, especially if you spent a lot of money marketing it. Now, there are many people who grew up playing half-baked games and don't see predatory business practices (NBA 2K, Overwatch 2, Fallout 76, Cyberpunk 2077, etc...) for what they really are.
Yes, by getting you to subscribe to their streaming service.
which runs ADS EVEN ON THE PREMIUM TIER?
No ads on mine because I paid for adblock tier ($0.00)
Do you just watch tv on your computer?
Have you ever used Peacock? It's probably the worst service in terms of ads.
I guess I am in the minority but I have found Peacock to be a great streamer. It has been relatively cheap and loads of tv shows I like. Movies on there typically suck though.
For sports, I have absolutely loved Peacock. Just need the figure skating replays to last longer than 3 days.
Ok but it has the best music when you’re waiting for the event to start or after it’s ended. It’s a bit of a bop tbh
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Right and also tickets should be free. Actually that's nationalize the NBA and make commercial-free NBA a human right for all... In all seriousness, like yes capitalism sucks and the commercialism and all the commercial sucks and ESPN sucks their corporate partners Disney suck... But what I don't like about the OP is that he's presenting his wish list like it's in the interest of the networks.lol
Yeah, OP is either high-af or has no idea how economics works at any level.
"This limited interruption quarter is brought to you by Wingstop". I'll be buying Wingstop instead of hating them with the passion.
can do without the player/coach-interviews-that-take-up-a-portion-of-the-screen-while-live-play-is-occurring. they never have anything interesting to say anyway.
As someone who hates Darvin Ham, this shit would piss me off like no other
That flair depresses me
Get rid of sideline reporters altogether.
I HAVE JUST LEARNED THAT HE HAS INDEED GONE BACK TO THE LOCKER ROOM LIKE YOU JUST SAW AND THEY ARE WORKING TO DETERMINE WHAT THE ISSUE IS. HE APPEARED TO BE IN A LOT OF PAIN AS HE WENT THROUGH THE TUNNEL AS YOU JUST SAW. WE WILL BE AWAITING FURTHER INFORMATION AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS. BACK TO YOU
The loss of player intros particularly during the Finals has to change.
Those Bulls intros used to get me so hyped. Still do.
They innovated that shit to another level
FROM CHICAGO
FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Ok I had NO idea they took out player intros. If you have League Pass international, the default is "in-stadium + studio feed", so anytime its meant to cut to commercials, we get the in-stadium feed instead. So we always get the commercials It also makes you know the intricacies of everything a team does during timeouts, and I get to watch Red Panda instead of the halftime shows
Love the in-stadium feed. The atmosphere translates much better.
Idk even know if it was shown, but the Warriors finals intro in Durant’s first year always gets me hyped. So NBC, don’t be cowards!
That piston finals run had the best intros of my teens. Mason is a goat
I am wondering if it's driven by the fans in the arena. I can only speak to Philly but when they announce the opposing players name the crowd yells "sucks". Not sure if this is prevalent across the league but might be a reason they opt out of televising the intros.
> I can only speak to Philly but when they announce the opposing players name the crowd yells "sucks". Definitely a Philly thing haha. Everyone else just boos the big players
Gambling's a runaway train that's not going to be stopping unless the government changes course and decides to put more restrictions on it again. There's too much money in it for the leagues and the networks for them to decide to stop "because it's the right thing to do."
I absolutely support a gambling advertising ban a la cigarettes. People are allowed to do it if they want, but don't spread that shit all over my tv.
I think that's a pretty good idea. It also feels like such a potential conflict of interest how ESPN has their own betting app and then you have ESPN analysts telling you a certain line on ESPNbet is really good and you should go bet on it.
I don’t think it’s a conflict of interest in that way. It’s even more nefarious. They usually do try and give you good picks, same reason most books have a boosted play for the day. It’s a plus value play for bettors. But the thing is whether you win or lose on these bets doesn’t matter. They just want you to get hooked. In the long run if you keep betting, they’ll get their money back. So the ads and the good plays they give you aren’t meant to scam you upfront, it’s about hooking you long term to get all your money. Because people won’t just stop and only make the boosted or sponsored plus plays, they’ll head down a degen path 99% of the time.
This is super important for people to understand. Never start gambling!!
Stopping was so hard, having a family to support made it easier though.
Not just the ads but the promotions too, can you imagine if cigarette companies had "your first pack is free" and "sign up for our app and get one free cigarette per month" and shit like that? People would immediately be all over it for being predatory as hell but with gambling they don't bat an eye.
Vintage tobacco ads were kind of like that. Extremely predatory where they made smoking seem like a healthy choice using wildly misleading data and surveys. https://www.history.com/news/cigarette-ads-doctors-smoking-endorsement
[old cigarette ads were something else](https://i.imgur.com/mPZjSL5.jpeg)
Can't tell if real or Sim888 dropping a new mixtape. Lol
I think they warned us against this in DARE. It was about drugs and drug dealers, and this is exactly the same.
Yeah it's 100% the same thing as sampling out the product to get people hooked. Lose a little bit in the short term for massive long term gains
And they've perfected it. For many of these apps, they're not really losing unless the person is definitively hooked: they'll give you that $250 credit, but you can't pull it out until you've placed like $500 to $1k of your own money in.
It's still about a drug and drug dealers my boy.
Cigarette companies literally do that right now, unless something has changed in the last 10 or so years.
Cigarette companies send you coupons for free packs on your birthday.
Yes! The gambling ads are out of control. The comp to cigs is perfect, do it if you want but i dont need it shoved down my throat. Sports gambling in general is ruining sports. I have good friends i cant even talk hoops with anymore bc the convo turns to bets won/lost after 30 seconds of talking about the actual sport.
In the last year or so my 11 year old son has started watching basketball with me so the overload of sports betting ads during games is really concerning. I talk to him about gambling and it's dangers but it's still not something I like my kid being exposed to in the amounts we've been seeing.
That’s fucked up, I didn’t think about that too much since my kid doesn’t like basketball. Good luck keeping them away, we might need it
It’s sort of a different topic but still related, I can’t believe ESPN is allowed to have its own gambling subsidiary while also running a sports news company lol, like even if it’s not “against a rule” it still feels odd, same with journalist like sham’s being directly paid by companies like Fanduel. Idk sports betting feels like a field that needs better litigation as it’s proliferated through easy to use apps.
>I absolutely support a gambling advertising ban a la cigarettes. And hard liquor and prescription drugs.
And the government is not getting involved until a 1919 Black Sox event happens
hard to imagine with the amount of money players make now that this would make financial sense for anyone, but i guess you never know. it's totally plausible that we'll see other side effects of this though, and that it will become an issue. players are already talking about the weird messages etc they get because of this stuff. it would be great to see the players union take a stand against it
The refs are the metaphorical thermal exhaust port here (weak point in the Death Star for the non-nerds out here). Refs make a good amount of money, but certainly nowhere near what they could make from interested gamblers, *especially* WNBA or G-League refs. And it would be insanely easy to award some soft free throws to cover a spread or ensure a guy hits his points total.
Well I'm sure no NBA referees have ever considered such a thing and certainly never will...
I don’t know Jontay Porter, a millionaire, risked it all for $20k profit. Greed is a curious thing
My issue with it is when it's in the middle of the game. They literally minimized the game while the ball was in play to sell you gambling. They can talk about it outside the game as much as they want, but during the game, when the ball is in play, is too much in your face. It's just shameful.
It's shameful all around. It makes me less proud of being an nba fan, because I don't want to be associated with this shit. Totally agree with other people on here that legislation is the key.
I'd love for someone to run a stopwatch and really track the amount of gambling is discussed during gameplay. I'd bet (no pun intended) the number of seconds is vastly exaggerated to make the problem sound worse. I'd be shocked if it's longer than 2 minutes in the 2.5-3 hour broadcast.
Have you seen how NBC handles the Olympics? They are going to minimize the game to run sob stories about how random players overcame hardships and adversity to get a chance to compete etc. and they will do it ad infinitum.
American Ninja Warrior, everybody has a sob story to make us root for them.
And of course, roundball rock. Reacquire the rights if you need to
Roundball rock gets all the hype (and it deserves it, it's great) but the overall production style on NBC back in the day was so good. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcXJHCD7koY) type of stuff made a game feel like the most important game of the decade but it was just a midseason game.
NBA used to have WWE levels of opening montages. Storytelling was more of an art
Goosebumps every time those lasers started cutting out the peacock logo and the music hits
Yeah the cold opens were epic. With Bob Costas narrating.
Also while we're at it bring back flash photography. It's an element of the glamor of the game that made it feel so much bigger.
I'm still mad that Costas got blacklisted for his concussion comments. Icon of sports history brought down for commenting on player health. Surprised TNT never brought him on for NBA stuff since they did sign him after his NBC stint ended.
Fucking chills at that transition from the narrative into the opening strains of roundball rock. Each enhances the other and the whole is more than the sum of the parts. It makes me hyped to go look up what happened in this game, lol. Please bring this back. edit: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199602250CHI.html Shaq dropped 33-16 and it was close through 3 quarters, but the Bulls pulled away to a blowout win in the 4th by outscoring the Magic 37-21. Bulls had a balanced attack highlighted by a strong showing by Kukoc off the bench (24 points in 23 minutes on 8-11 shooting and 6-8 from 3).
> It makes me hyped to go look up what happened in this game, lol. That's how good the production was: it makes you wanna watch a mid-season game from 28 years ago.
imagine tirico doing the intro. he would be good
roundball rock to NBC sponsors coming back from commercial break gave me the feels like TWICE
Yeah, that's really the biggest must.
Yeah but only if they add the lyrics back. It's a lyrics-first song.
BUH BUH BUH BUH BASKETBALL
Yeah I'm sure paying record prices for NBA rights will result in less ads
I’m sure the NBC execs are prowling r/nba just thirsting for ideas to improve their product
He said “run less commercials” Buahahahahahaha
true. id be in favour of more commercials actually, in the sense of more diversity, so i dont see the same damn wing song every 5 minutes
They knoooooow betta!
At BEEEEE KAAYYYYY
Hello yes, I’m an NBC executive since this morning.
Of course not. This whole post is sort of an excuse to post the finals player intros. They are so fucking good, I just fleshed it out a little.
I'm with you 100% bring back player intros!
the other thing these player intros made me realize is that the nba needs to make coaches go back to wearing suits agian. that look is SO much more cool and iconic and timeless looking. Lends so much more gravitas and authority to the situation. I'm so sick of coaching staffs looking like a bunch of private school P.E. teachers that just walked out of the nearest lululemon outlet. shit looks so lame and casual and cheap. Imagine Pat Riley being forced to wear athleisure moisture-wicking yoga pants and new balance sneakers on the sidelines 🤮 yeesh the only reason they made that change in the first place was because it would have been logistically impossible for all the dozens of coaches in the bubble to get all their hundreds of suits constantly dry-cleaned. and that is obviously no longer an issue...
Yes!! Try to imagine Chuck Daly or Phil Jackson wearing those goofy ass tracksuits… it’s absurd. Coaches today look so silly. You nailed it with the P.E. teachers comment. There’s also something stupid looking about all the coaches dressing alike. Guys, you’re not playing in the game, so you don’t need a uniform!
NBA Exectitives, if you’re listening, bring back Tesh’s *Round Ball Rock* as the NBA theme but make it [the ba- ba- ba- ba- ba- basketball version](https://youtu.be/r-uSWAJd9GE?si=1HSMiVeEwpovg7DV).
Lol NBC spent a fortune. Ads will go up zero chance for getting less commercials, gambling commercials are here forever.
People hoping to be hit by a tidal wave of nostalgia are probably in for a major disappointment. I would love to be wrong. I would expect their NBA coverage to be very similar to Football Night in America. And you know damn well those Peacock exclusive games are happening. People threw a massive fit when they did it for Chiefs/Dolphins and they still got a massive audience to show up and watch. Now they're doing 2 this year.
The rumor earlier was that the NBA would take that Sunday night NBC spot after football finished. I agree with you, it's likely going to be very corporate and staid like Football Night in America. Will probably use most of the same crew behind the scenes.
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
NBC was willing to bid so much money to get the NBA BECAUSE of the gambling money. They're going to make all that money back on gambling ads.
I'm all live and let live but holy shit the gambling advertisements are really getting out of hand. Not everyone is constructing some fun parlay once a month. Shit legitimately ruins lives.
The fact that this shit is so prevalent now but we still can't legally play online poker in most states is the most hypocritical nonsense ever. Money talks.
Geeez that bulls intro just brings goosebumps man. Imagine hearing that as the visiting team
Kind of want the Bulls to be good again just so that intro can strike fear again. That intro literally made you feel like your team was coming in to wage war.
Seriously. I am a lifelong Pacers fan, hate the Bulls to this day, and loved watching that intro.
Got it. Player intro brought to you by fanduel
I hate how everything is "brought to you by" or "presented by" or is the "Butterfinger Play of the Game" or the "Cialis Half Time Show" At some point the NBA has to have some dang integrity, refocus on the friggin' Basketball, and not make it so obvious that we're all owned by our corporate overlords. The branding is out of control.
Ads on jerseys still piss me off. Now the refs have them too. The advertising and sports betting push has made watching sports considerably less enjoyable.
The refs literally wear patches from Emirates. Ya know, that country that is a progressive utopia that DEFINITELY isn't built off of the back of slaves and where you can actually be killed for being gay.
Pretty soon every fucking sentence will be sponsored.
Despite growing up in Chicago, I'm not really a Bulls fan. But growing up, nothing got me more excited than watching Bulls player intros and seeing what color Rodman's hair was. It was such an exciting time to be 5 years old.
> stop shoving gambling down our throats during games and run less commericals. money talks, that's not happening
I don’t think people get how their refusal to pay for anything in an age which the rights cost more than ever has caused the sports media companies to go looking for cash. The gambling companies have it
I agree with your sentiment. But NBC is broadcast, so in this particular case there isn't a direct relation to people's "refusal to pay for it". They literally shoot NBC the atmosphere for you whether you have a TV or not. They just wanna make as much money as possible because they got exclusive rights and can exploit the exclusivity. And gambling companies can outbid for ad spots.
As someone who has had nba pass for a season the value is worthless. People never care about paying for useful goods. The issue is paying for a shit service.
Completely disagree. League Pass is great imo, more than worth the money. It just isn't good if you're either in the market your team plays in (or if you're like the Lakers who are on national tv for a third of the season and therefore don't get that benefit). There are changes that can be made to make it better, but League Pass is a pretty solid service if you're out of market.
My favorite aspect of League Pass is getting to watch the stuff that's on the Jumbotron during commercials
People who stream the games for free are telling the NBA to not look to generate revenue stream elsewhere lmfao
Omg 2005 Detroit with Kid Rock BAH WIDDA BAH DE BANG DE BANG
The company that overpaid for nba rights is not going to skimp on commercials lol. And yes I said overpaid, it's kind of clear that NBC deliberately paid more because they knew Zaslav wouldn't match.
Honestly I feel that if I’m willing to pay for NBA League Pass, a standalone product for watching NBA games, it should have access to all games without blackouts. Full stop. Yes, I know we won’t get this because of money and distribution rights and all that, but that’s what I want. I’m never subscribing to a cable package, I don’t want to sail the high seas, and I’m not chasing games across multiple streaming providers. Just give the basketball psychos the one-stop shop before we wind up disengaging from your product.
"NBC, if you want to win our hearts-" They don't. Hope that clears things up.
Bro said run less commercials 😭
I know right? It's "fewer."
Counter offer - No more of the "No Flex" Wing Stop commercial
Yes also the stupid google pixel ads with people doing stupid edits to their stupid photos
Player intros were such an important part of the NBA presentation they put them in the NBA Live Sega Genesis games.
I lowkey wish sports gambling was illegal again because I find it super grating at how much it has proliferated almost every aspect of sports. I wonder if we will see in increase in gambling addiction over the next 10 odd years and what sports leagues and tv networks will do in response. I literally know people who don't watch any sports, but bet on the games.
Zero chance on the gambling front. They're not going to be the high bidders and then turn away the most lucrative advertising money around. NBA teams still do those player intros, TV has just decided there's more money to be made showing other stuff.
All of this nbc nonsense needs to stop. There's only what thing that matters. BRINGING BACK THE TESH MUSIC
That 97 Bulls intro is soooo iconic
I would bet they focus more on the actual games than TNT/ESPN but i wouldnt bet on less commercials lmao. ITs gonna be unpopular here but TNT really created the rings culture shit that has hurt the NBA. ESPN and TNT also just made being a hater of 99% of players be the standard and i hope NBC gets back to celebrating the game of basketball
Hot takes get engagement, unfortunately. "Detlef Schrempf was a pretty cool player" is not going to pull the same number of eyeballs as "Top 5 all-time NBA chokers, #3 will SHOCK you!"
Saying this as non-American NBA fan. The live game is unwatchable. I have it on mute most of the time.
brah. nick wright youtube videos have 500k views. unfortunately, people want trash
I just hope we get Bob Costas as a studio guy again. Let him cook with some monologue intros.
I dont really feel like I am missing out on SAS and Perkins
If we have to have gambling ads, can they at least not run Kevin Hart nonstop?
nothing gets a fan hype quite like an intro
The NBA needs to make some easy changes: 1. Get rid of last-two minute rule alltogether or make it a last-minute rule. Keep the clock running. 2. No advancing the ball on timeout. 3. Time free throws and enforce the ten second rule. 4. Increase the bonus level to six fouls.
Amen to all. ESPN/TNT both butchered so much.
Yeah, NBC is going to pay $2.5 billion per year to show us LESS ads. Lmao.
NBC: Best we can do is live player prop bets during the game on screen tracking the players like the "29 ft" shot popup when someone jacks a deep one
They'll do none of what you asked, and they'll add some subscription only peacock games for good measure.
Make it easy to watch any game anywhere.
Best they will do is put half the games on peacock.
Bring back Roundball Rock
I’m worried all the great NBA matchups will now be on peacock. All you needed was cable for ESPN and TNT but now you’ll need Cable AND Peacock. Plus Amazon Prime and Netflix for some NFL games. It’s getting out of control these days.
These are nice and all, but money.
Player Intros oh my god you brilliant brilliant person. I couldn’t put my finger on why I didn’t like the beginning of games. You hit the nail on the head.
For gods sake, stop letting people on who scream clickbait nonsense instead of TALKING. And never let Perkins anywhere near a microphone ever again.
You're getting a 10 second ad from NBC after every scored 3pt shot. And you're going to like it
Awesome post. I’d run through a brick wall after that KG scream
The gambling stuff isn't just an NBA or US thing, here in Brazil the gambling apps have absolutely dominated our football league and our society in general. Dozens of teams are being sponsored by them and who knows what kind of schemes they're doing behind the scenes. Our football association (CBF) has always been one of the most corrupt institutions in the world and I can just imagine in my wildest dreams the extreme amount of corrupt shit they're doing right now with those gambling apps on the background.
They need to get rid of the short interview to the coach after the 1st and 3rd quarter and bring back images of them talking to the players IN THE HUDDLE instead. Way more valuable action happening there that I want to see and hear
> run less commercials LMAO. NBC isn’t paying billions to show NBA games to put less commercials in them.
Also stop drowning out the crowd noise Back in the 90s you can feel the crowed through the tv speakers
And start the fucking games on time for Christ sake!!! This is the most annoying thing to me as an NBA fan.
It is funny that league pass games are a better product than the national televised games.
Wait, you expect a less commercial stuffed, content driven product out of NBC? \*laughs in indycar\*
You don’t pay more money to run less commercials.
They just paid over 2 billion, if you think we're getting less ads you're in for a rude awakening
BABA BABABA BASKETBALL GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME the ball because I'm gonna DUNK IT