Annual NBA Broadcast Power Rankings | Real Ones

What's popping? Real ones, special crossover edition with press box on the way we got Joel Anderson, we got Brian Curtis, we got vibes, we're basically going to braid all of the streamers and network networks on their first season on the NBA TV deal and then we're going to, you know, create our dream roster of TV personalities. All that and more next on the real ones. This episode of the Ringer NBA show is presented by Ferreiro. The world is watching. Go all in for your team this summer with Ferreiro. Enter for the chance to win a range of prizes just by purchasing your favorite treats like kinder Boino with an irresistible chocolate wafer and creamy hazelnut filling or Kebler chips deluxe cookies with indulgent and rich chocolatey chunks or Ferreiro Rocher squares with crunchy hazelnuts and milk chocolate wrapped in iconic gold. Go all in by any two Ferreiro brands and you could win one million dollars. Official rules apply. Learn more at go all in and win dot com. We are back for real ones every the moment everyone's been waiting for the real ones press box crossover that we seem to do every year. I got Joel Anderson, I got Brian Curtis we are here to give our first ever power rankings of NBA studio shows. I'm very excited and we have another segment that we're going to do at the end where we create our own studio show. I got the best in the business, the Avengers of media journalism and media criticism. How are you guys doing? I mean, I'm flat. You know, I don't normally get to get on Netflix man. This is a big deal for me, you know, my I'm going to tell my mom, my mom may engage in some of this content because you know, she's got that netflix subscription though. I'm just honored you would have us all. Yeah. We usually prefer the dream team to the Avengers just FYI, but we're good with that too. Okay. Okay. Okay. Bridges is more of my generation that is that's 2024. You guys are 92. I forgot. I apologize. We are. All right. Let's get right into it, man. Let's talk about let's talk about NBC first as our first studio segment show in our power ranking. Let's start with the studio show. All right. We got Maria Taylor. They have combined her with with Carmelo Anthony Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. What if let's start with Joe, what have you been to your thoughts on that pairing and give me a little bit of your power rankings and how you feel about them and the best out of 10. So it's interesting because those three players you mentioned are probably if I if there was some sort of ranking of like the coolest players of like the odds or whatever, they would probably be it, you know, like Vince Carter who, you know, was the dunk champ Tracy McGrady, who I mean, the only guy I've ever seen throw the ball off the backboard and dunk it in a regulation NBA game. And Carmelo could just get buckets. But I just I feel like they're still figuring it out. Like and I would I think I do is that I want to listen more to Vince's and Tracy and Tracy's podcast because sometimes I listened, I see clips of it and I'm like, they still like for being cousins or whatever it just hasn't translated yet. And I don't quite know what that is. And like Carmelo is always just very chill in a way that I'm just like he doesn't project a lot. So it is. So there's not a lot of enthusiasm. It's just like they always got to be like, Hey, you guys are awake. You know, you guys what are you guys excited about this at all? Or what? Maria's a pro. I got me not and she's been doing this forever. But I of the, I mean, I don't think are we doing ranked, we're not ranking them yet. Are we? Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Okay. It seems like you're giving it away, but we're not quite yet. Not yet. Okay. Yeah. Well, I mean, but I I feel like it has, it has a ways to go. I don't think it's bad. I think the idea of pairing Vince and Tracy cousins who have already a rapport with each other is a, as a solid one. I guess I'm just interested to see like what happens with Carmelo because even on his own podcast again, clips, I'm just like. He seems like a fun person to hang out with, but not necessarily somebody I got to listen to talk on TV. Is that fair, Brian? I think it is. That show kind of reminds me of that net's team that got KG and Paul Pierce and all those veterans. And just like, I'm just going to roll it out and see what happens. Yeah. What if we got the 2008 Celtics, but like, is they're old? Like exactly. And you know, studio shows are kind of like basketball teams where you need people that play different roles. And we got three scores. And I guess four, if you can't reattell it, we got three scores on this show. And I'm just kind of like these, these are all kind of the same person. You know, where, where's the guy who's playing a different role, who played a different role in the NBA could bring that to TV. And I mean, first of all, I listed them game four. They were at halftime. They were on the court game for the Western Conference Finals. And I couldn't hear them. Like they're on the court talking. They're all talking very, very softly. The audio wasn't great. And Joel hit on a great point, which is that we've now hit in 2026, which is like, what if these guys are better on their own podcast than they are on the network studio show? And what is their podcast getting out of them that NBC isn't getting out of them? And that totally feels like what's happening on NBC right now. They're just not, they've got interesting people. It's an interesting idea, but they're just not maxing it out. Well, I think the interesting point that you just, that, that Joel put out and, you know, Brian, you kind of put the exclamation point on is, I mean, they're really just as, it's crazy to see a former player actually act like themselves as during their playing days when they're behind a mic, right? Where they have to get theirs. And I feel like when we talk about Carmelo, he is a guy that you have to build a world around. And that's why like his podcast so much, right? Because it's not mess. It's, it's Carmelo's world is that he is controlling, as opposed to him wanting to fit into a system, which is a bit poetic, considering his basketball career and backstretch of his basketball career, right? And you, whenever I see them, you know, even in game four, I, there was also, I believe it was game five as well, when they had a segment on the court with Chet Hongren. And they were all of the guys were trying to get their points across over each other or trying to make themselves seem like what they think and former NBA player is supposed to be on a show like this. When honestly, it's not rocket science. All you really have to do is just be one of the guys. You just want to, you just got to be somebody that people want to hang out with. And I feel like this group doesn't really hang out with each other and it shows because they're always just trying to like get talk over each other and try to figure each other out and then try to outwit each other. But they're not, they're talking, they wind up talking to each other as opposed to talking to each other. Yeah. See, I get, I think that I, into your point, I think it's a great idea. They're just like, oh, they're homies. Like, you know, these are, their cousins, they're very similar. I bet they like have great, great conversations off air. So I get that they're like, well, maybe we can have their personal chemistry and it will translate on TV and it just hasn't happened. And to your point about Carmelo, I bet Carmelo throws a fantastic party. I bet you can, you like, even on his podcast, like he can get Mero on there to talk about DCs. I hadn't heard Mero talk about DCs anywhere else, right? He can get people to come on there and they're excited to meet him. But on a show where he's like, got to do more than just like show up and be cool. I feel like that's kind of where the problem is right now. One thing I heard and talking to somebody from NBC before the season started is when they were thinking about, what are we going to do on our studio show? They thought about it like this. They said, okay, we don't want a Steven A character on our pregame show creating an international incident with somebody in the NBA. So let's not do that. We also don't want a shomsharaniate type character who is making the show about something Yannis might or might not do in a month rather than the game that's going to start in 20 minutes. Now we can all three agree. Those are both good things not to do. But the problem is what are you going to do? What is this show about? What do you remember? And when I watch that show a lot of the times, it's all like he talks and he talks and she talks and here we go. And at the end of it, I'm like, I don't remember anything you just said. Yeah. The best moment I feel like from them wasn't even them talking. It was, I believe it was in Portland a few weeks or a few months ago when they were just all shooting around. I don't know who I saw this segment, but I'm off for read was basically just took a handheld mic and just interviewed them as they shot around. And I think that was like that was I was riveting like just to be able to see somebody do that both from for read standpoint where he's actually because that's really hard to do to actually make television while you are in a non-controlled setting. And he was able to do that. But I think if I'm going to, if I have a particular notice like get them doing that. Get them to land or maybe get them actually get them active. And you see that on NFL a lot where there's a lot of you know, Richard Sherman's going up against Randy Moss in a studio and like how do you actually you know get off of a break when you're trying to when you're a wide out of versus a cornerback? I would like to see more of that. I think that can unlock something. Because they you know they definitely in their individual capacities have an aura like oh man I want to be around the grade. I want to be around. and you see that, but I think that the producers can kind of bring that out more and maybe just, like maybe that's more on court stuff. We'll see. Okay, let's talk about, go ahead. - Oh no, I just wanna say the thing that I think about the show, and you will be able to appreciate this Logan as a guy, it actually goes to games. The idea seems like, what if we had the post game handshake, where the guys are covering their mouths, and we made that a studio show? Like this feels like that. It's just like, oh man, I wanna we, I wanna we're brawnin' and we ain't way to sand to each other. And it's just like, maybe they will share all that on in. And it just has to happen. - That's the other thing that frustrated me. There was a one part where, and this goes into the argument of players thinking that they can do our jobs, and there was a migrating clip when he was talkin' about Jalen Brown a couple of weeks ago, where he was like, I talked to Jalen Brown, and it was a whole lot of nothing being said, right? Where he's like, I talked to him and he's my friend, and I don't wanna step on his toes, but I wanna say something, and you wanna be in like a very awkward and stale segment, right? And if you're gonna be that, like if you wanna be the guy that is like, I'm friends, like the Dwayne Wade, for instance, like, hey man, I know this guy, these are all my pals. It's what they have to say. You gotta fully do it. You gotta actually sell it. And I don't think that this show knows what it wants to be yet. And they got a long ways to go. Maria's great. And the reason why I think, is why I think it's not Maria's fault is because we've seen Maria in other situations where she's thrived, because of the people around her, right? I think in the WNBA version of NBC's coverage of the W, she's great with Super. I also think she's great on NFL, but it seems like those guys are, the NFL co-stars are more engaged with what she's doing, right? These guys are a little bit, yeah, man, I'm cool. I got my Cartier is on. I'm just doing a throw this, where it's like the NFL guys are like, I have spent this whole week studying this matchup and all the ramifications around it. And I'm going to give you my 110%. And I think that's also the difference between football and basketball players, right? But let's get to the play-by play. What do you guys think about the play-by play? The conference finals team was Mike Tureco, Reggie Miller, Jamal Crawford, Zora Stevenson, and Ashley. How did you, what did you guys think of that team so far throughout the conference finals? Jamal Crawford's funny because he was a six-man in the NBA for so much of his career. And he still feels like a six-man on that broadcast. He's like, I'm going to get two shots up and they're going to be really good. And then I'm not going to shoot for 20 minutes, you know? Yeah. Because Reggie's a volume shooter. And by the way, Mike Tureco is a volume shooter, too. Yeah, they're talking about that. Having said that, though, I think that team's been really good. But Tureco is just like, again, we have not heard him do the NBA in a really long time. A lot of people don't remember it at all because he was back at ESPN when he was doing it. But if I think of announcers now who felt like they were touched by the hand of God, meaning they have the great voice and the ability to just go at any time, it's Tureco and Joe Buck for me. So to hear Tureco doing play-by-play, doing the Western conference finals, it's been awesome. I think that whole crew's been great. I want to stay on Tureco real quick, Brian. Because I was reading your great piece on Tureco. Mike Tureco has a note for that. And you basically start with his preparation in your lead. You're pretty good writer, Brian. I've stolen something. Thank you. Thank you so much. Wow. One of the things that anecdotes you started with an opening anecdote about a play in which he has to find a player that wasn't on his sheet, I believe, and he has to, like, in real time talk about the game, get his iPad, get a note from his iPad, look at the iPad, and figure out the name. And I'm over here, like, watching this. And I'm like, oh, I don't even see Tim break a sweat throughout the whole time. His preparation is something that really takes him over the top. And you see it right now, because Mike Breene was talking, I read the GQ article that Howard Motherfucking Beck wrote, but back when he had a Q&A with Mike Breene. And one of the things that they were talking about was just how hard it is to talk during blowouts, or talk during a dead time. And Mike Tureko has had a couple of times where it was dead moments. And instead of just having a dead air, he's actually giving you, he's giving you anecdotes. He's giving you, I think it was during the challenge during the Minnesota Timberwell San Antonio Spurs series where there was a challenge on Wimbee, or a challenge to see whether it was not ready for a flagrant foul or his elbow on Nas Reed. And you Tureko is setting the scene. He's telling you, oh, this might not be good for the Spurs. And he's giving you a play-by-play of what's supposed to happen next. And there's not a lot of guys that can do that. First of all, for one sport, but he could do it for like three or four or five different sports. And I'm saying all this to just say, I'm really glad to have him back, Joe. - Yeah, no, I mean, Mike is a pro, man. And you know, without how they say, he has to be as good as he is to have made it back and to be in this position. Like, he has to be as excellent as he is to be in that role right now. And yeah, so when you listen to him, it's just very seamless. I'm like, you kind of forget. Oh, Mike hasn't been calling basketball in a long time. I haven't heard Mike call me back in a while. And he just goes in and it's like, oh, you would think that he'd been following the NBA and doing this for the last decade or so, right? I'm one of those people, and I know that this is gonna make me and one of Brian and I was mutual friends hit us up about this. - I don't mind Reggie Miller. I don't get why everybody hates Reggie Miller so much. I really don't know. - Why is that, why is that, Brian? Why is that, Brian? Why do you think the people hate Reggie Miller? - I mean, I think first of all, half the people in my timeline who hate him are Nick's fans. And I really mad last year when he was announcing important Nick games, you know, they were like, oh, this is just biased. This is unbelievable. Oh, by the way, Mike Breene is doing play by play. That's all cool, but Reggie doing it. That's an enemy of the state. We can't possibly-- - Hey, it was like warrior fans whenever Mark Jackson would call a warrior's game. I live that life. - That's right, that's right, that's right. I mean, Reggie's not cuddly, right? I don't think Reggie goes out to be loved. He doesn't want that. - But even then, I don't even think that he's trying to be offensive. If anything, would I feel from Reggie Miller that maybe people don't think this is cool anymore, but he has like enthusiasm, like real enthusiasm for the game, and what is going on in front of him, and he conveys to me, so I will look up, you know, sometimes if I'm just got the TV on in the background and I'm doing something, and I hear Reggie Miller say something like, well, what, you know, I'm looking around to see what's going on, and I appreciate that about it, 'cause it could be real easy to just get bored by the NBA, to feel like I've seen it all, I've done it all, and he still manages to make it feel like an event. So I appreciate that about Reggie Miller a lot. - Speaking of like making an event, what I do love about this team is to go back to presentation, but to game presentation, which is the next one. I love the fact that NBC is doing two sideline reporters for the conference finals. You got Zura Stevenson and you got Ashley Shaw-Moddy who have been great, but I think that's a great wrinkle that NBC specifically is doing, where you have sideline reporters in two different locker rooms, which is the best, 'cause you juxtapose that when you have one for a big time matchup, the sideline reporter gets a little stretch too thin. When you have somebody embedded with both teams, I think that's great, and those two have done a great job as well. And I think that that's a wrinkle that NBC has brought back, and that we were really missing, 'cause all the networks used to do that. I don't know where we stopped for basketball, and I'm really mad that we stopped now that I see it again. - The idea of having two is great, but I want Brian to answer the question, do you think there's been great Brian, the sideline reporter? 'Cause Brian is the sideline reporter expert here. - Well, I mean, after Game One with Wimbee, I was just like, no, we can't, we had to ask Wimbee better questions than this. Like we just seen one of the craziest, Game Ones of the Western Conference Finals ever, but that's a whole thing. I will just say one thing for we wrap up NBC. I think that a whole broadcast, we talk about the game presentation. They've got a great sense of humor, a slice sense of humor that reminds me of old school NBA on NBC, of Marv of Bob Costas. Like they had that thing. Remember Luke Cornett was getting blessed by the nuns before the game the other night? And they show the, and then he gets a dog, like Luke Cornett's one dog. And they go back to the nuns again, and they're just also stoically in the crowd at the Frostbanks Center. And again, it's funny, but you don't linger on it. You don't hit people over the head with a mallet. You just kind of do it, and then you move on. I love that. It's a sensibility, and it's fun. It makes the game fun. - That one, Brian. And also when Wimby is talking to Mitch Johnson, and then they immediately cut to Greg Popovich and Tim Duncan, like that's television right here. - Yeah. - I feel like we got away from-- - Tellin' a story. - Basketballs, they're telling a story. And that's NBC's back. All right. - Let's give our power rankings for the studio. Let's give Joel, what's your studio show power ranking for NBC right now? Best out of 10. What would you say? - Wow. - Best out of 10? - Mm-hmm. - Man, okay. - Studio show, I would say four and a half. - That's pretty nice. - Oh, Brian. - Oh, wow, that's nice. - Okay. - Brian, what's your-- - It's kind of generic. It's kind of generic, you know, studio show product to me. So yeah, I was gonna go four or five. - Four. - Yeah, I think I'm gonna get four. - I mean, what would bad be then? Like, can we, can we, can we, can we, actually-- - No, I said it's good. - Let's just get out of the floor. - Bad would be if Jason Garrett were on it. [LAUGHTER] - Jason, I'm gonna give it a go see you, Brian. - I'm gonna give it a four. It's giving college's television show. That's what it's gonna be. - Wow. - So I'm gonna give it a four out of 10. What about play by play? I think I'll start a play by play. I'm gonna give it a nine out of 10, which is pretty good. I think they've been great, especially during the conference finals. What do you think, Joel? - Yeah, I was gonna say eight and a half, nine. I mean, 'cause I didn't even get a chance to bring up Jamal. I, like Jamal Crawford, again, legendarily cool player. I wanna, every time he says something, I find myself, I wanna hear what Jamal Crawford has to say about basketball. Like, he's just that kind of a person. And so like, I feel like when they get more time and more reps with each other, I think they're gonna be, like, it'll probably be a nine and a half to 10 next year if we want to get more reps. - Absolutely, Brian. - I'll do a nine too, just 'cause I think Toreco probably has levels to go to that we don't even anticipate now. And then a little bit of the, I give it a nine, just because I don't think you need three people to call basketball game. And I'll always think that I'll die on that hill, but let's go. I enjoy it. - The game presentation, I gotta give it a nine and a half out of 10. I think that they present the game really well from this, we didn't even get to the nostalgia aspect of it, where it's like, actually Bob, can you just do, Bob Cosses, can you just do this every week? I mean, you're in New York, can you just do this? Or I just love that the way the enthusiasm that NBC has brought to the NBA. And I can't wait to see. I think they're going for the finals. I think they want the finals in the next TV deal, and they're going to try to, they're going to try to, this is their audition for that. So we'll see what happens. But Brian, what is your game presentation score? - I feel there's been a few technical snuff foods, so we can't go quite, you know, nine out of 10, 10 out of 10, but I'll give them an eight for the storytelling, for just the sensibility they bring to the broadcast. - Joe? - Yeah, storytelling, a lot of fun. I'm gonna go, yeah, I guess nine. You know, I think it's really, really high. I look forward to, you know, when you're, when you're looking for the game on TV, on YouTube TV, and I'm like, oh, it's not on YouTube TV, it's not something else. And normally that's annoying or whatever sometimes, or I got to change channel whatever. But with this, I don't mind it. Like I'm like, okay, I'm glad it's on NBC. And it's not even that much a piece of nostalgia. Like it doesn't feel that much like it was when I was a teenager, but even still, it's great. I didn't realize how much I missed NBC being involved in the NBA. - Yeah. - Let's go to Amazon. The studio show, Taylor Rook's Blake Griffin, Dirk Nivinsky, Adonis Haslam, you can get a little Steve Nash in there, you can get some John Wall in there, but those are pretty much the people that are doing it. What have you guys thought of the Amazon studio show? - Dirk has been the interesting discovery for me, as a Dallas Fort Worth guy, I was looking forward to him being on there, just because, you know, Maverick's fans saw his personality, go through this interesting transformation. You know, he's always very, very laid back, sometimes too laid back for sports writers, never forget that he won an NBA title, he beat LeBron in the finals and then he came back, looking incredibly chunky the next year, like he just been like, all right, time to eat all the Ben and Jerry's I wanna eat, I wanna, I mean, that's Dirk to me. - Brian, are you doing okay? Are you triggered right now? Are you, are you exercising some demons with that? - About Dirk coming back with Love Handles? - Yeah, are you, are you okay? - No, I'm having a problem with that, huh? - The Maverick, the Maverick's winning one time was like, that was it, I was all good. (laughs) - Excellent. - At that point, but, you know, to me, it's his sensibility and fuses that show. It's very laid back, but it's laid back in a way that works a little bit better than the NBA, than the NBC show, you know, like somehow, I think they've caught a little bit of something. It's a little bit like their NFL Thursday night show in that way, I think too. But what do you think? - It's a bit of a speakeasy vibe, right? Like, you're kind of going into a bar to go watch the game, but it's not quite like a sports bar necessary. It's like a cigar bar, you know, I'm going to tap into the cigar bars, like some OG type of vibe. It seems like a place that Joel would go to, right? - Yeah, I mean, yeah, absolutely. You know, I don't think I'm cool enough for them, because I mean, one thing about, and I had forgotten, you know, there was a moment that like Blake Griffin was like doing comedy sets around LA, and he was still going to be the next guy. And I still, I think he's been really, really good this year, but also I'm like, man, just imagine him next year or the year after that, like I feel like Blake Griffin could be really, really good. What do y'all, so I have to acknowledge that there is a conflict here. I share an agent with you, Donas Haslam, okay? Which is a weird thing to think about. Which year? - Well, I mean, when you work at ESPN. - Oh, I got an agent. - Well, when you work at ESPN and you gotta have an agent there, 'cause otherwise, you don't know what the hell is going on. What do y'all think of you, Donas? 'Cause I'm, like, I'm, I get what they want him to be. I just, I don't know. - Wait, you confessed the potential conflict of interest, but then you're not pleased. - Then you did some? - Haslam's performance. - Was that a diss? - Thank you. - It was a diss, but you kinda like set us up to diss him as well as we were having. - You done it, like don't, please don't. I was not trying to offend you, okay? - I'm gonna say you know, so we have to see each other publicly. - I'm gonna be honest, man. I like you, Donas, on the broadcast. I actually do like them. I know you're trying to set us up to be like, "Hey, you, Donas, it's trash." But like, no, I, um, I like, I like you, Donas. - I think he's been great. Like, you know, it's, it's, we were just talking about in the last segment of like get former players on TV, really give you an insight to what they were in locker rooms. And I see why you, Donas was so respected in a locker room. He's a respected voice on that panel. I think that like, sometimes when I see him talking like, really, really fast, this is the note, like, "Yo, you're your Donas hasn't, we already respect you." Okay, it's all good. You could just get your layer point out. But I think that that just comes out with reps. He's really, it's also post-career. He was more podcasting, right? Where you have chances to get your thoughts out and wax poetic like we're doing right here. But when you go on TV, we've all done TV before. You got to get in and out of your point. I think he's suggesting to that. But in terms of like charisma, Brian, I think that, I think you Donas is really good. I do like you Donas. This is the one thing, Joel and I have a concept on the press box called Secular Grace, where we give Secular Grace to people. And almost everybody we're talking about here. This is their first year on television. Right. Yeah. Like, they have podcast reps maybe in a way that they wouldn't have had 10, 20 years ago in X Player. But they're still figuring it out. So there's a really, you know, we saw this having Tom Brady in football. Like, you're too Tom Brady, but way better than you're one Tom Brady. So let's maybe cut you Donas and, you know, air mellow and everybody else a little bit of slide. You know, I think who's helping out the transition for all these guys on television, Taylor Rook. So I think she's been great. I think she has been amazing. Joel, I don't know what you're going to do if you're going to take Joel. No, no, no, no, I'm going to say it. Just let me just let me, I'm going to scare you. You said everybody, I mean, look, man, everybody can look at Taylor Rooks and understand that she's a beautiful woman or whatever. But the funny thing about it is that people say, there's this joke on the internet about how Taylor Rooks can get guys to do anything. Remember when she got Jalen Brown to be like, "Yeah, we're going to win like five champion chips." "Jama Rant, we find in the West." You know, she can always get guys to do so. And I feel like she has a knack in its charisma. It's the whole package of Taylor Rooks that can make them sometimes get outside of themselves and be silly in a way that maybe they never got a chance to be. Because right, these are all star, like with the exception of you, Donas. But these guys were stars and they really-- I just want to say quick note, quick note, quick note. You got your black woman mixed up, Joel. That was Malika Andrews, who got the treatment from job that we're good in. That was John. Oh, man. Oh, wait. Okay. Okay. You know what Taylor did? Who is it? Oh, man. Who's-- Oh, man. This is going to be an embarrassing way to say it. Who's the white guy that plays for the heat? What's that guys, man? You know what I'm talking about? Tyler Hero. Tyler Hero. Man, Taylor Rooks had Tyler Hero wrapped around. I mean, he was just like cool. It felt like he was like trying to take out on a boat vacation or something. And anyway, Taylor Rooks has an ability to get guys to step outside of themselves. And I think that's great. Like I'm just like put her in there and make guys do stuff around there, please. I think she's going-- ultimately, I think she's going to make Amazon this Amazon NBA show, the best one on television. I truly believe that. I think the only thing that I would-- I'm curious to see is the fact that Amazon is just still an app, right? Where it's not like something-- and I don't know how big you can get in the streaming era when you're just an app. So I'm curious to see just how big this Amazon show gets with the constraints of that. But I think all things considered, this has the potential to be-- and we'll get to this to the end of the best NBA show that we have, Brian. When they have the Western comments finals next year, if I'm not mistaken. So that will be the spotlight you're talking about, where it's like you'd be watching them, even if it's an app. Are you guys gotten over the fact that when you come home, you don't know where the game is? And it's frustrating to me. I'm like, fuck, I mean, it's not really that complicated, but it's still just like an extra step. It's sometimes I don't want to have to make that stuff scroll. It's like if I'm watching, like, second from watching, NFL Sunday ticket during a playoffs, right? I want all the attention that I have on one particular game. But if you're watching NBA, or I was saying maybe a league pass, but I think NFL is a better example, where you're just like, OK, they're on a studio show now, or are they doing a halftime? Wait, they're doing a halftime for this one. But like, no, it's the playoffs. This is supposed to be one continued thing. We'll stay up for you. You don't have to like-- you don't have to put stack these games this way. So that's frustrating. OK, let's move on to the game presentation. [BLANK_AUDIO] I like it. I like the mismatch icon and just like it's like some video game shit where it's like and it's also kind of Fun and disrespectful. What have we thought about the game presentation of Amazon? Well, the big asterisk is getting the sound rate You know, I remember when Amazon started with the NFL a couple years ago somebody over there was like it has to work the thing is it just has to work and You know, it sounds like really simple and really stupid and you're like, well, that's not much of a point Well, it turned out to be a point and turned out to be the wrong time. Yes, it pissed everybody off The actual game I think when it I think it's been very good and I think it's been very good You know largely because I and Eagles driving the train like that's you know, he's it's it's Ion's first-ever Number one job in the NBA You know Turner when they were looking for a number one guy. They picked Kevin Harlan over him And so here's Ion he gets to it's a new it's a new partner He gets to be the number one guy. He's doing it with stand van Well, I've got plenty to say about if you want to hear that But like to me That's when you get Ion you not only get a great play by play guy But you also get a sense of ability to use that word one more time. You know, it's gonna be fun You know, he's gonna be on it. You know, there's gonna your broadcast is just gonna have this looseness to it, which I really really like I love the season part of it. Go ahead Joe. No, it was okay. Well, okay Can you just say your stand van gun because I'm I'm you know on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what you have to say about stand van Who I'm a big fan of the nerd boys and I mean no disrespect love stand van because he's teaching He's always teaching basketball that the television boys if I may include myself in that small category Because there's like five people that actually care about sports television as a thing by itself It's cool like this. He never stops teaching. It's like hey Can you have just a sense of the medium once in a while? We're like that was awesome the end Okay, we're playing to bring no, we have to do it in the pick is here in the pick is here and you're just like dude You just wait, but you have the same fatigue for hubey brown No, did you have the same critique for hubey brown because hubey brown would do the same thing and you would like Whenever there's a whenever there's a exciting play he would just go there you go there you go Oh crazy, that's a crazy dog. It was more like oh, that's the right way to do it He was grandfathered in and I use that word But I just feel with stand van There's just like he just doesn't have a sense of the medium, you know Like he's interesting and it's better with him just being with iron and not having Reggie in there because man Then they would just talk all the time Yeah, but I feel like he's a really interesting announcer who has this flaw about him Which is that he makes some kind of great Which he is interesting in an old school way. Yeah, and hubey is probably a good comp, I think yeah I want to talk I want to talk about Noah you go real quick. I know he's an on peacock, but I really really impressed with him I cannot wait to see how he is ten years from now, right because in this point when And I you know being young in this business you can't when and I remember doing this early on Real ones where like you've just a fur a lot to the older guys and kind of get their opinion on it And he's doing that right now, but there's this there's this Chris Rock interview where he talks about Comedy and you don't really become a comedian till like your late 30s 40s, right because you have kids and life experience And I feel like Noah with life experience and maybe some kids is this gonna be like he's like 95 overall now But I feel like he's gonna be like 99 at some point. I really I just really impressed by him And I didn't want to go by go out to show it out like shouting him out. I think he's been amazing. I think he's like a young Bobcastis Oh, it's funny. I almost think you know, this is this is a controversial opinion, but I think football might turn out to be his best sport Hmm, I could see that I could see that out to be Joe's best. I think if I had a weird prediction I would say like football turns out to be Noah goes best sport Okay, what attributes would show you that that football would be his better the better school Well, we just we've had side by sides now right with him doing the NBA and him doing the big big 10 game of the week for NBC on Saturday nights And I'm watching it. It's just like I don't know something about Football's a little more relaxed at times. There's a little bit you know time between plays and I don't know what it is about his I wouldn't you know his dad is good at both, but I would say basketball's definitely his dad's go to mode But with Noah, I could see football being something. It's just something about the match between the voice and the and the sport Yeah, I and you go always had trophies in my house because he was the voice of NBA I think it was voice of NBA live or NBA no NBA shootout 2000. He was a voice of NBA shootout Shootout was down. Yeah, was that on my first basketball video game. That was on PlayStation. That was my first ever NBA game first Your first game was PlayStation young. Yeah, yeah, I'm right. Oh anyways Let's get let's quickly do power rankings studio show for Amazon I'll go seven and a half room to grow Man, I think it's a good seven and a half to I think it's a good seven and a half. It's a positive seven and a half Yeah, you took my score, Brian because I was gonna go seven and a half. I ate felt I mean, yeah, I feel like in three years, they could be nine You know, yeah, but yeah seven and a half for now. I think I'm gonna go I think I'm gonna go seven But it's a good seven. It's like I'm really excited to see what they do. I'm excited to see how they grow Okay, let's get to our faves or at least my faith. Um, let's go to a to ESPN Their studio show Which is inside the NBA on some nights, which is NBA today on other nights, which is NBA countdown Which is I don't know if they even know what it is on a given night But during the postseason. It's been inside the NBA um Joe, what have you thought about inside the NBA during this postseason? It's interesting because my criticism echoes what our bosses was Which is that I just don't think they have enough time to lay out and play like they did on TNT Right, and I think ESPN is doing the best possible version of that like it has been so much better This what I sort of expected like I just thought a lot of the mischievous and the Going right up on the edge kind of stuff would disappear with Chuck check and Kenny They can't help themselves like they're just going to be themselves Wherever they are, but I kind of feel like all the commercial breaks and all the other stuff like just it just feel like it Bricks up. The conference finals the other night when they had the game for like the reason why I watch all the game for in a sweep And so I can see inside it. I feel like it was done after 30 minutes. I was yeah, I was it was very anti-climactic It's so short. It's so short. I just feel like I feel like I was like man. I missed them I don't I don't see them as much as I used to like they come by and don't stay very long So yeah, I I love the show I respect the fact that ESPN has maintained a lot of the chemistry and the bells and whistles that they had that made them great over TNT But I'm just like I just kind of wish there was a way to let them stretch their legs out a little bit more Brian What have you thought of the the criticisms of this show this season because it feels like largely when they're on television They are the same. They're just in a new medium in front of a new audience But it seems like they have criticisms that were level beforehand But like I still think they're they're I don't think they've lost the step necessarily I don't I just don't think that we see them as much. I think all those criticisms are fair Like it does feel weird because like they moved into a new house and and they're people are judging them Like I've been this way. It's all time like what do you do? Yeah They seem like mildly unhappy in ways that they kind of show every once in a while But don't really show with it with the new place and not being on Turner sports anymore I guess they are on Turner sports being least ESPN But I tell you what game four the Eastern conference finals the calves are trash. They're completely done Everybody in America is turning off the TV except Except ESPN because we paid tons of money for this week We need to get the rest of this game out of the way and it goes to halftime and Charles is like I looked up quit in the dictionary and they showed graphic and it says Cleveland Cavaliers And then they go to the screen and Kenny and Shaq have top hats and are just singing start spread in the news Because the nixer and the finals like they're like this game is over one two three cancun It's all and you're just like that is so crazy for a studio show to do something like that Like none of those walks are particularly novel But for a studio show to be like this game is over one of these teams is quit That's not something you reveal in television At all right like that it's just and we almost take that for granted because insights been doing that so long Didn't the show better I feel like the show is at its best when they get to clown somebody like when they're somebody that they're just like Oh, okay, you guys don't care. You're embarrassing them and you're wasting like and checking like man I could have been doing something else tonight like you know, I mean they just when they when when when they're on that kind of a kick I think that's when they're at their best I think the other thing is like they get so much criticism for You know what degrading the game however you want to talk not talking nice about the game is pretty much their biggest criticism Is that they don't talk nice about the game 100% of the time which I romance that But I think that the NBA needs that there's no other show like it. I still put the number one I still put them as the best because they are the authority on the NBA right now like what other show Yeah, other show has legends peacock has legends on their show Amazon has legends on their show But if you look they have shack and Charles Barkley who are the are literally in every NBA history book Talking about the game and actually giving their critique on the game and they are an authority that if we lose that We lose a big thing if we lose that authority Brian on on the game like I think we all suffer if we just are 'Cause it feels like as a media apparatus, we're trying to run them out of the building, right? Like, and that's the sad part. Like, we're gonna miss them when they're gone. No matter when they leave. - I completely agree. And I think the criticism that they're too negative, which you just hear so many people say now, it's like, we need somebody that celebrates the game. It's like, dude, this is one of the greatest, maybe the single greatest studio show of all time. - Yeah. - Who cares? Like, them talking about the NBA the way they talk about it has made them famous and popular. Right, it has, it's easy. - And it's grown the game. - Yes. - And by the way, it's easy to hire legends. You just write a check. It's harder to get legends to do a great show. And that's what it's like. - And also, man, what they have that other studio shows don't have, maybe Amazon will have it at some point, they're fucking rock stars. You go see them in all-star weekend and they come to a building, they're fucking rock stars. And you don't wanna lose that. You do not wanna lose that. - Absolutely not. - And I think, and I will say this too, 'cause I remember we talked about this before, when Shaq first came on the show, I was so frustrated. I was like, man, he stopped, he's a ball-stopper. They used to ball him and he shuts down and he wasn't, you know, playing along enough. And I feel like Shaq doesn't get enough credit for just catching on, just getting on with the vibe. Like he's, you're not gonna go to him for like the most, you know, the most analytical takes or anything like that. His big man critique is always gonna be like, well, he really needs to go and get 35 and 20 tonight. You know, like, I know that's his, that's, Shaq's best advice to other players is you need to be more like Shaq, okay? - That's not a bad thing to do as a big man. - Can you be Shaq, okay? If not, you're messing up tonight. But I really think that he doesn't get enough flowers for moving into that show and not taking anything away from it. I just feel like that's, and when he's not there and you see other people in the role, you can see it's like, oh, it's a little, it's not bad, but it's just a little off. Like Shaq is the guy, like he's officially the third guy there. And yeah, I think you should get ready for it. - To that point, and maybe this is a hot take, probably not a hot take. I've seen the timeline a little bit, but I would love if Jayman just, that they just had a specialized role for Jayman and he didn't have to be on that desk when he comes on, man. - What a person. - It really just kind of, to your point, Joe, like really takes away from a lot of that stuff. Like it's just the grievances we've seen. We don't have enough time to talk about all of that. But it just, it doesn't seem like, it seems like the mayor just kind of stale at this point. It's just like, I know he has to be there. He's contractually obligated to be there, but it just feels like pulling teeth when he's there to your point about like just other people coming on, Joe. - Yeah, no, I think it's, so I'm sure you all have seen this clip of him talking about, on his podcast, about how the calves, like everybody was like, hard and was horrible the night. He's got, you know, the, the Jalen Brunson abused him in the pick and roll. And Dremond is like, no, this is terrible team defense. And like it was like, it was just like a really great two minutes of break it down. Like, no, there's no help. Like why are you letting him get the straight of free run at the, through the lane? And so like, if they could distil that Dremond, like I think that is always the hope that there's like, - He's so smart Dremond. - Yeah, we're gonna hit that. - He's so smart. - You know what I would love, Brian? If like, Dremond was like, the Zara, the illustrator. 'Cause I think he could be amazing at that. If he just specialized at just like, I'm going to show you what he should have did. This back cut here. But he, the grievance is always kind of, you know, overtake his, you know, his hubris always overtakes like his, his smartness, you know, I feel like. - And the show is about chemistry. That, that shows great because it's about chemistry, right? People say it's about Barclay. It's about this, no, no, no, it's great because everybody's friends in chemistry. And when you come on and you don't have chemistry with the other people, which he doesn't, it stinks. It's no good. - Yeah. - All right, what do we think about the, um, let's talk about play-by-play and game presentation. Mike Brin, Richard Jeffs and Tim Legler. I personally think this is the best cast that Mike Brin has had since they got rid of Stan Van Gundy, not Stan Van Gundy, Jeff Van Gundy, excuse me. And Mark Jackson. I think the chemistry is there. I think they're, they're doing the best of what they have. They've had four, they've had a sweep and they, I think they did a pretty good job. What do you guys think about the studio show? Brian, I'll start with you first. - And they go on with the game presentation as well. What have you thought about the studio show and the game presentation? - I think it's the best on paper. I would disagree with you on chemistry because I think Richard Jefferson feels like he's doing his own broadcast all the time. - He's doing like this. - Do you think, do you think Richard Jefferson knows that Legs is sitting there on the broadcast table next to him? I mean, but just think of the different way. - But he thought it's bad if he was with Doris though, right? 'Cause I thought it was like, he was, it was like, aggressively. - He sounded disdainful of Doris. - Yeah. - That was bad. But I don't know if it's his sense of humor, which is a little heart-edged. And sometimes on TV just kind of comes off the wrong way. But I feel like we just look at the way Reggie is putting his arm around Jamal Crawford and bringing him in and asking him questions and just kind of like sing his name. RK just feels like he wants to do the broadcast by himself. You know, I'm sure in part of him does. - Yeah, and maybe that's just his sensibilities of player and that's fine. But like, it's like you have three people there. And I feel like Legs is doing gambling reads and like everything he says is smart. Like it just feels like it's two different parts that should be one part. - Well, I think one of the things that have I have to critique, I think, no, one of the things, and we'll get to this like in our final segment of like creating a specific studio show. I think that like Mike Marine has had a bit of a history of not bringing people all the way in, right? Where, you know, you've seen that ever since Van Gundy and Mark Jackson left where he was just kind of like, okay, I'm just gonna get mine. I'm gonna give you 50, but like, I'm gonna leave the other people behind and I wish like, maybe he can do a better job of integrating them or like, at least, okay, if Richard Jefferson is telling jokes, like, what's Mike Turego gonna do? He's gonna just like tell jokes as well. He's going to like build off of that. And Mike Marine is like, I'm going to be the legend. Y'all need to keep up with me. And I kind of want him to be a little bit more integrated. Am I off base media experts? - No, I think that is a fair criticism. Like, if it happens across multiple groups, right? Then it's like, all right. Like, is there something that you could be doing then to, you know, to, to, you know, to distribute a little bit better or help Richard? You know, it's like, hey, man, you know. And sometimes we, I mean, I've been on podcast with that, but I'm like, hey, man, you might want to start making fun of that person because you know, you know, so maybe, I don't know if that's what Mike Marine needs to do at Richard Jefferson, 'cause I don't think, I think to Brian's point, I don't think he's being mean. I don't think that, or he's like being selfish or anything. I just think he's just a sort of a dry, funny guy. And if you ever see his clips on the internet or, you know, wherever he is, he's a funny dude. He's a legit, funny guy. So maybe he's just in love with himself in that way and he just need to peel it back a little bit. - Game presentation, way too many oldies going to break. I always say this is like, what are we doing, man? We're in the six, we're in the 60s and 70s. Like, serious is already canceled those radio stations, guys. It's all over. The old pictures of like, hey, it's Kav's Knicks, but here's a picture of LeBron winning a title like 20 years, like 10 years ago, like, okay, well, that's random. I mean, the whole broadcast feels so, the aesthetics have feel very stale to me. I'll just say that. - Let me drive that hobby horse around the cruise. - That's good, it's kind of, that's funny. - All right, I'll start with this. I got a question for Brian into his power rankings. I'm gonna just do a power ranking for the entire broadcast, just the entirety of it from inside to the game thing. But I wanted to ask you really quickly, just about the future of ESPN for NBA. Because again, we alluded to it at the beginning of this. I don't know if ESPN knows what it wants to be with this, right? Like, when you look at Amazon, everything is flowing. There's a plan for everything. But ESPN just knows money and everything, right? They maybe didn't like what NBA today was. So they got, they bought inside the NBA, but that is just wrangled and they don't know what they do. And it's very unorganized. And I don't know who I'm going to see on a given night. What is the future of, do you think what they are going to be? Is it gonna be a lot, even a future of more disorganization? Or are we gonna find like some cohesion and then what is your power ranking? - I think they'd like to just collect stars of ESPN. That's the new thing. We got Steven A, we got McAfee, we got inside the NBA, we got Joe and Troy, let's just collect stars and figure it out. And, you know, to me, it was like if anything, you just have inside the NBA on more, right? If that's your show, then that's your show. - And let NBA today be its own show in the middle of the day. - Sure, yeah, just write another check. Like they, they're good, they're good writing big checks for big stars. Game presentation, to me, that's like a seven inside a nine, only for the awkwardness of just being in a new home. You know, otherwise it's a 10 out of 10. - Joe. - Yeah, I feel like the studio show, it's the one thing into NBA season that I know I'm going to watch a lot of, if I can. Like if I was like, if I'm going to miss something, it's probably going to try not to miss the studio show. So, nine, nine and a half, like it's the standard, right? That's everybody wants to do that. Play by play, yeah, I think seven, seven and a half. Like I don't mind it, I don't find it, I don't find it grating, I don't find it like, you know, the best show ever, but I get what they're doing in game presentation. It's just ESPN, like ESPN is like Hollywood. You know what I mean? It's just like they, they've got all the history, they don't have to do a lot for you to come in, come in there and be impressed. And they don't try, right? They don't try to do that, right? They're just like, this is ESPN, you came to us, bro. And so, in terms of game presentation-- - Yeah, it's been, I tried to impress nobody since like, 85. - Yeah, that's real. - Yeah, that's real. - Oh, one last thing, I would give presentation, I think inside nine and a half, I would give the studio, I would give, think the play-by-play, I give it like a seven, eight maybe. It's not home, nothing to go home to, but the other thing that was just funny is like, the show I'm sitting where, it's so funny, the difference between the NFL and the NBA. The NFL, they ride for each other, they're teammates, if we make an agreement, that's what it is. NBA is like, no, fuck that, we're all for ourselves. (all laughing) - Okay, if I stop-- - What you got? Oh, okay, how much money do you pay? We go, we've got to undercut all of that, bro, we are competing. Okay, let's get to a, to build your dream team of network, studio show, play-by-play, and game presentation. Game presentation is what, who's going to produce it? Now, there was one wild card, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna do both, they have to be living and currently working in within this media space right now, but the wild card could be somebody who's either retired or is passed away from us. So I will give my first list, and you just to give a blueprint of what we're doing, and then I will throw it to you guys. So my studio show, I think it's gonna be Ernie Johnson, who is the guy that is just stirring the pot. I think, I'm gonna put Zraymon with the illustrator. He's just gonna go, he's gonna go in a corner. God, it's gonna be like, Zraymon, just go in the corner. You're, you're illustrator. I think I'm going to, I want Sue Bird in there. I think, I know she's, she's done WNBA, but I think like for a studio show, she could both do behind the desk, and she can also do some storytelling, which is great. She can, she does her, her, her, I think it's for NBC. She does, she'll go to a certain place, like similar like Michael Strahan or somebody, they go to a certain place, and they do like a TV package for, and not a lot of former athletes can do that, and she's a double threat in that way. And I think that she can banter with the guys too, I think, and they respect her. So I think I would want her on the desk. Blake Griffin. Really? She's gonna be hilarious. And I think Steve Nash, I'll put Steve Nash, she's my studio, she's a big studio show. Play by play, Mike Tariko, because I just think that he can just work with anyone. Charles Barkley, because I miss him as a, as a play by play guy, like I wish I could have him more. Every time I see him, it's what, when it feels like an event, and when I see him, he's always has jokes, like him and Dick Byteau were amazing on television, and it has nothing to do with the game. You just want to hear what they have to say, like certain guys, like Bill Walton, you just want to hear what they have to say. I will put Doorsburg back in my play by play. I think that like, 'cause I think with her and Charles and Tariko, that they would invite her a lot more in a lot more than the other guys did. Like Mike Breen just didn't work out, 'cause they just weren't inviting, and like, you know, she had her criticisms and things like that, but I think with the better team, she would do great. And I think my silent reporter would be Taylor Rooks. I think that she is also someone that makes, when I go watch a game, she is someone that shows me, oh, this is a big game tonight, you know, when she's in the building, and she did great on Turner for silent reporting. And who would produce it in game presentation? This is my wild card. I'm going with Dick Airbusol, the greatest producer in the history of sports television. So that is my created, - I love it, studio show. - I like it. - All right, Joel, who is your creative studio show? - Okay, so from our studio show, I'm gonna have Rachel Nichols. I mean, wow, okay. Rachel Nichols was really good in her job. - She was great. - She was really good at her job. She's very versatile. She's a great reporter, great storyteller. And like, she can have fun. Like, she's a fun person. And you've talked to her personally, like, she can do that. So I really like her. So my studio show is gonna be a little wild, okay? So I want Gilbert Erenis. - Oh, that'd be great. I don't know how long Gil is gonna be on the show, just 'cause Gil always gets in Gil's head, but he's amazing talking the game and is also very interesting as a person. - He has so many interesting opinions about basketball. I love to hear him talk about it. And yeah, like, he can incite people, but he also is just a funny guy. So, and he does it. He's a reverent in a way that's sort of like Chuck, but it's just like nasty. Like, he's like nasty Chuck, you know what I mean? Jay Billis, okay? I think Jay Billis is one of the best people on TV period. Anytime I see a Jay Billis clip, he can do anything and he's such a smart guy. And he knows the day so well. - His interview with Darren Peterson the other day was great. - Man, great. I fuck with Jay Billis, heavy man. So I want him in there. Also, he's sort of like the locker room lawyer, you know what I mean? So he's played before he'd come in there of the Gilbert, gets out of line with my other guy, okay? And again, this is just a snippet. Dremon Green, okay? So if I can get the Dremon Green, of course he want Chuck. Like Chuck is, I think it's easy to say Chuck, right? But if you can get the Dremon Green, who is breaking down that video about how the calves allowed James Hart to get exposed. And then like just give him some more reps. I could see that being a really interesting guy, because he and Gilbert, they're kind of combustible in a way. I'd kind of like to see that that chemistry play out there. And then you got Jay Billis to the side, like, hey, hey guys, settle down. Okay, I also got ideas for two other segments on there. Storytime with Jeff Tee. - Oh, you can bring in Behan, you can bring in Behan if you want. I don't know if he's-- - That's going to be on the subscription service. That's going to be on the screen. - Yeah, you don't say that. - That's going to be on a paywall. (laughs) - Yeah, Behan might mess that back up. And also I would love a Q&A session with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. The knuckleheads was my favorite NBA podcast, right? And some of them is that they were interviewing guys like Mitch Richmond and Andre Mila, who is like Andre Mila, who is low key hilarious. Have you ever heard Andre Mila talk before? You would have never guessed it. He went to Utah. - Darius Miles, Darius Miles is talking to Anna's like, "Hey, when the first time somebody bus you away." (laughs) - Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying. We said such a great question. Yeah, I love that. So that's my studio show. - Oh, I can just play by point. - Yeah, who's your TV play by play show? Who's that? Who's calling the games? - So I'm also-- I want Marv Albert, Doug. I want Marv Albert. - I don't want now Marv Albert. I want Marv Albert from like 20 years ago. - Yeah, right. - I want late 90s Marv Albert. Well, early 90s Marv Albert, okay? And so I also want Chubie Brown back, okay? - Okay. - And now I'm going to use my wild card, okay? - Okay. - But bring in somebody back to life. Bill Walton, man. - Bill Walton. - I love Bill Walton. I just, you know, he could make anything interesting and fun to me. I just loved his approach to life. So Bill Walton. A sideline reporter, you know, I hadn't thought about Taylor Rooks when you said it like that because I had Lisa Salters, but, you know, the Taylor Rooks thing, that's a good idea, man. I don't know how I can still look from you in your production company because that's a good idea. - So, who would produce it? Do you know what would I, I'm a baby dick ever saw, but which, I don't know how much producers we know, but like, which presentation, who would, which, never presentation, would you give it? - I mean, like, you know, this is not fair because this, I'm just a victim of nostalgia, but like, you know, whoever produced the mid 90s NBA show on NBC, man. Like, I just, that, that is. - Dick ever saw. - Dick ever saw. - There you go. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, that's what I wanted. - Brian Curtis, I think Brian's just gonna blow us out of the water. So, who would you generate a studio show? - All right. So, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take the entire cast of inside the NBA. Okay. With one exception, instead of earning, no offense to earning, we're gonna put Bob Costas in the host seat. - Oh, shit. - Oh, shit. - That's your wild card. - Yeah. - It's a wild card. We're putting him in the host seat with everybody else. We're gonna go ahead and press pause on the Dremont experiment for the time being. - Are you pressing pause? - Are we expelling? Are we gonna expel it? - No. - We might be pressing stuff. - It's like, when they say you suspend the campaign, it's like, you're not gonna run that campaign back, but okay. - Yeah. - Then we're gonna have a seat on that, on that panel that we use once in a while, and we're kinda trying somebody out. We can call it the Six Man, or like it's the Fifth Man, whatever we wanna call it, but, hey, one week it might be Simmons. One week it might be Pat Riley, if he's got some time. We're just, we're bringing people in, we're seeing and how they get along with people. So that's the studio. The game is gonna be called by Mike Tureco. - Of course. - Color Analyst is gonna be Jeff Van Gundy. He's back. I don't know if that counts as a wild card. It might be Coach of the Trailblazers next year, but he's back. - Whatever you wanted to be. - Side line reporter is absolutely 100% Peter Vessi. We're going back to the wall. Yeah, he has like seven wild cards. He's not even back by the rules. Go ahead. - It's been all downhill from there. And then, yeah, special presentation. We're going AI, Bill Walton and Steve Snapper Jones as kind of this hammer and wall door for the broadcast. Just kind of making comments and being cranky old guys from the afterlife. - Brian, you gave me an idea. - Can I make Jim Gray my side line reporter? - He certainly can. - I want Jim Gray to be my side line reporter. - Okay, there we go. - Jim Gray, we get the news. - Jim Gray from a black woman, man. It's just a story of 2026. - Yep, man. You put a white woman at the top of the line. - The studio show. - I know, man. I have a lot of questions to answer to the next black community. - Yeah, man. This is the first real one to June 10th, Joe. - You got damn. - Oh, man, they're tripping. - Anyways, that has been another edition, our annual edition, let's just fucking do this every year guys, I'll just see you guys next June. - Of course. - That has been our annual power ranking edition of Realons where we talk about the media. You can guys go check out Joel, you guys check out Brian. Every week on the press box, my favorite show on the ringer, you guys know that, I love it. I love listening to you guys and never miss an episode. - Yeah, I believe you guys very soon. And Brian, I will see you very soon and Joel, it's fucking you. I'll see you guys next time. - Just 'cause I'll live in LA, Dan. - Good talk soon, bye. (upbeat music)