The NBA Draft and its coverage were a double embarrassment – The Morning Call
The worst show in sports television history had just begun, and it was clear that any level of noise-cancelling earbuds would not hold up.
The NBA Draft, which aired on ABC 15 minutes ago, was essentially less a basketball show and more an opportunity for would-be pro athletes to sit on the couch with their parents answering useless questions. .
As if prompted by a chatbot, the conveners told how difficult the journey to get there had been, as if the Enlightened One did not know the truth. I mean, they’ve all been pampered since sixth grade, invited to travel to glamorous destinations to compete in AAU tournaments, booed as recruits, treated like royalty in college, and many paid hefty (and Even legal) NIL money was received.
However, it continued endlessly, and the players often shed tears. And few, if any, interesting questions were attempted. What kind of questions? Try these: What made you drop out of college so early? The NIL wealth I was able to make in (name of college) as opposed to the NBA What was the difference between the two? Did you ever put the team first so much that you wanted to stay and help the team win the NCAA Championship? Villanova freshman Cam Whitmore was drafted I wasn’t even asked how it felt to flow about 15 places deeper than expected. And what’s the point of asking his parent what he thinks of his child, as he did during the Little League World Series when it was rained out?
ESPN’s alternative was better, with panelists (JJ Reddick and Jay Vilas among them) providing student-like, no… well-reasoned, learned critiques of the players. It’s not their fault that less than two viewers were familiar with the second-round pick.
*ABC-ESPN’s entire coverage was not without revelations. The biggest is that the Kingmaker has decided to slam top pick Victor Wenbanyama, among others, at sports fans in the same style as LeBron James and other NFL quarterbacks. That’s how it’s done. They decide who matters and keep it on the level of comedy. That is why Wenbanyama is interviewed, featured, and even more interviewed and on screen than Adam Silver.
* The 7-foot-4-inch Frenchman has played well in several professional leagues, clearly below NBA level. Er. On a Tuesday night in February, at a packed Power 6 college arena, a referee on his back, a coach on the referee’s back, and students watching him on the road nagging him about personal things. It would have been even more impressive. As he fought for the NCAA bid, opponents thrashed him like a mixed martial artist.
* Nothing in sports has more natural appeal than the draft. It’s the only night any fan can claim the team was better afterward than it was when it started. When it comes to the NBA Draft, it’s become more of a hassle than a pleasure.
Too few draftees have been in college long enough for even the most obsessed draftnik to form a firm opinion. Too many players from G League elite shows. That means they’ve never been on TV, and even if they were, the ratings for the game would likely have been worse than Larry King’s Vitamin Hustle. Fans at the Barclays Center wanted to cheer, but Round 2 ended after midnight in Brooklyn, leaving little energy left to react to Oklahoma City – originally Dallas, Memphis and Boston. With the pick that followed. Miami – Kansas native Sam Guy was named No. 50.
* Speaking of the latest Spurs and ABC, showing strong pre-draft traits, the good guy may be obsessed with beefing up his legs. Could modern basketball shoes be overly cushioned and counterproductive? Might even have had fewer knee injuries? Should we incorporate some of Wenbanyama’s leg exercise elements into every sports fitness plan?
That’s something scientists debate, and it would be nice if such things could swirl beyond the $200 shoe lobby. In the meantime, it was good, or worse, that Wenbanyama took things into his own hands. And may his plan prove more valuable than load management in maintaining his health.
* And was it all a hallucination, or did the director of the draft telecast really, an H-list celebrity dancing on the San Antonio floor in jolts and cowboy boots win the nomination everyone expected? did you think it was a stupid celebration of It must have been a hallucination. No other explanation.
Please contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com
https://www.mcall.com/2023/06/23/commentary-nba-draft-and-its-coverage-was-double-drivel/ The NBA Draft and its coverage were a double embarrassment – The Morning Call