Disney cleaning house. JVG, Jalen, and Max all fired.

[Kblaze8855]

Currently unknown if they just go with Mark Jackson and Breen alone.

There was a team I don’t remember trying to get Jeff as an assistant recently though I bet he just takes some time off.

[Proctor]

Yikes.

High level NBA games on ESPN and ABC just became unbearable. Breen trying too hard to ham it up and Jackson is a dumb lame. JVG was the only one who made it listenable.

TNT please....FFS.

[1987_Lakers]

I don't get it, JVG added alot of humor to these games, was enjoyable to listen. Mark Jackson is awful and they let go of JVG?

[bison]

Heard jalen rose got let go too. But Kendrick Perkins is still employed :lol

[bison]

ABC/ESPN has always sucked. Lame personalities and boring presentation. They never matched the seriousness of big games as NBC did with their dramatic intros and commentators. JVG was at least interesting and a great foil for mark jackson. But what does Disney care.

[tpols]

I don't get it, JVG added alot of humor to these games, was enjoyable to listen. Mark Jackson is awful and they let go of JVG?

Van Gundy probably didn't kiss ass enough. He's known for having unpopular opinions and speaking his mind.

[ShawkFactory]

This is...really weird. I wonder if there was something going on behind the scenes because he was very good at the job.

[tpols]

Heard jalen rose got let go too. But Kendrick Perkins is still employed :lol

Perkins is ultimate house. He'll say or do anything to keep employed.

[bison]

He will get replaced by a diversity hire. Most likely a woman. And I say that as a huge fan of Doris Burke but we know who runs all the executive boards now. Libtards call the shots.

[Kblaze8855]

Damn they cut Kellerman and Jalen too.

Somebody joked that they’re making cap room to give Shannon the Supermax.

[Kblaze8855]

This is...really weird. I wonder if there was something going on behind the scenes because he was very good at the job.


Disney just cutting big contracts where they don’t see value. It’s across the company but we only notice tv personalities.

[ArbitraryWater]

Disney just cutting big contracts where they don’t see value. It’s across the company but we only notice tv personalities.

please, the value was / is very obviously there and the people in charge know it.

[Im Still Ballin]

Could Jalen Rose be right for the Undisputed job alongside Skip? They have history.

[Kblaze8855]

I was listening to John skipper(former president of espn) talk about this issue a while back and he said there is no discernible difference made by having a prestigious broadcast team or team that people love. That there’s no real difference in the bottom line when you send the number one team or the number six team as far as ratings or fan engagement. The way he explained it the big money prestigious booths are really there so when you sit down with the NFL or the NBA to negotiate a new deal, you can honestly say you have the best and most prestigious people to put their game in the best light.

A sport just seems more consequential and prestigious if Bob Costas is calling it. Or at least used to. it won’t get extra viewers, but it allows you a little more leverage arguing with the league. You can say you spend big to give them the best product and make them look significant. You give us the Super Bowl because we have Al Michaels calling it not some upstart nobody ever heard of. Makes you look like a big deal. That’s why Amazon is paying Ludacris money to Al Michaels, who none of us even want to hear call those boring ass Thursday night football games. They get to leech off his legitimacy, which helps establish them as a serious destination for sports coverage.

it’s purely for the prestige because complain as they may, there is no evidence that the fans actually disengage when they don’t like the broadcast. Not in a meaningful number. That makes me think this is more about the NBA not liking Van Gundy‘s constant complaints. If him being there doesn’t help you in the new rights negotiations? I can see why you make that move.

[HylianNightmare]

Dudes the absolute best commentator

[Im Still Ballin]

I was listening to John skipper(former president of espn) talk about this issue a while back and he said there is no discernible difference made by having a prestigious broadcast team or team that people love. That there’s no real difference in the bottom line when you send the number one team or the number six team as far as ratings or fan engagement. The way he explained it the big money prestigious booths are really there so when you sit down with the NFL or the NBA to negotiate a new deal, you can honestly say you have the best and most prestigious people to put their game in the best light.

A sport just seems more consequential and prestigious if Bob Costas is calling it. Or at least used to. it won’t get extra viewers, but it allows you a little more leverage arguing with the league. You can say you spend big to give them the best product and make them look significant. You give us the Super Bowl because we have Al Michaels calling it not some upstart nobody ever heard of. Makes you look like a big deal. That’s why Amazon is paying Ludacris money to Al Michaels, who none of us even want to hear call those boring ass Thursday night football games. They get to leech off his legitimacy, which helps establish them as a serious destination for sports coverage.

it’s purely for the prestige because complain as they may, there is no evidence that the fans actually disengage when they don’t like the broadcast. Not in a meaningful number. That makes me think this is more about the NBA not liking Van Gundy‘s constant complaints. If him being there doesn’t help you in the new rights negotiations? I can see why you make that move.

I feel like a lot of jobs/positions are overpaid and don't provide meaningful value to the bottom line. I wonder if we'll ever get AI-powered robot umpires or commentators.

[rawimpact]

None of those guys have personalities I tuned in for so whatever

[FultzNationRISE]

I was listening to John skipper(former president of espn) talk about this issue a while back and he said there is no discernible difference made by having a prestigious broadcast team or team that people love. That there’s no real difference in the bottom line when you send the number one team or the number six team as far as ratings or fan engagement. The way he explained it the big money prestigious booths are really there so when you sit down with the NFL or the NBA to negotiate a new deal, you can honestly say you have the best and most prestigious people to put their game in the best light.

A sport just seems more consequential and prestigious if Bob Costas is calling it. Or at least used to. it won’t get extra viewers, but it allows you a little more leverage arguing with the league. You can say you spend big to give them the best product and make them look significant. You give us the Super Bowl because we have Al Michaels calling it not some upstart nobody ever heard of. Makes you look like a big deal. That’s why Amazon is paying Ludacris money to Al Michaels, who none of us even want to hear call those boring ass Thursday night football games. They get to leech off his legitimacy, which helps establish them as a serious destination for sports coverage.

it’s purely for the prestige because complain as they may, there is no evidence that the fans actually disengage when they don’t like the broadcast. Not in a meaningful number. That makes me think this is more about the NBA not liking Van Gundy‘s constant complaints. If him being there doesn’t help you in the new rights negotiations? I can see why you make that move.

I can see this being true of playoff games where the outcome is the most important factor. I cant imagine it being true of the regular season, where depending on the matchup, an enjoyable broadcast could make the difference for a fair amount of people including myself whether to tune in or not.

The larger point here tho is that most of the stuff big companies provide is not actually profitable. They raise money for it by selling stock and taking out bank loans, because as TR Malthus famously pointed out, our economy is built on the idea of continually selling things back to new generations with successively greater numbers. And for all of history that's never been a problem.

As birth rates started declining in the developed world in modern times, we leaned on developing countries to keep our bank and business system afloat with successively greater numbers of consumers. But theres an ecological limit to how much THEY can keep reproducing, and we've basically reached it.

The transformation of the global economy in the next 10-15 years is going to be DRAMATIC, and in fact catastrophic for a great many people around the world. It's not a joke. The whole paradigm is going to change to something humanity has never seen before, and has no real guarantee of even working without collapse. Those who adapt early will at least have a chance to prosper, those in denial will be ****ed.

[bison]

I feel like a lot of jobs/positions are overpaid and don't provide meaningful value to the bottom line. I wonder if we'll ever get AI-powered robot umpires or commentators.

If it makes someone rich they will do it.

[Kblaze8855]

I feel like a lot of jobs/positions are overpaid and don't provide meaningful value to the bottom line. I wonder if we'll ever get AI-powered robot umpires or commentators.


he was pressed a bit about why if it doesn’t matter a network will pay $35 million to have Romo and Joe Buck call games and his explanation was you pay the 35 because it helps you get a bigger piece of the $10 billion rights deal. The leagues never have more influence over who calls games and covers things then while negotiating a rights deal which the NBA is doing right now. They know the networks don’t care and it’s all just a show for their sake. If the league wants ref complaining VanGundy out then he’s out.

I suspect Silver gave the order.

[Jasper]

I was listening to John skipper(former president of espn) talk about this issue a while back and he said there is no discernible difference made by having a prestigious broadcast team or team that people love. That there’s no real difference in the bottom line when you send the number one team or the number six team as far as ratings or fan engagement. The way he explained it the big money prestigious booths are really there so when you sit down with the NFL or the NBA to negotiate a new deal, you can honestly say you have the best and most prestigious people to put their game in the best light.

A sport just seems more consequential and prestigious if Bob Costas is calling it. Or at least used to. it won’t get extra viewers, but it allows you a little more leverage arguing with the league. You can say you spend big to give them the best product and make them look significant. You give us the Super Bowl because we have Al Michaels calling it not some upstart nobody ever heard of. Makes you look like a big deal. That’s why Amazon is paying Ludacris money to Al Michaels, who none of us even want to hear call those boring ass Thursday night football games. They get to leech off his legitimacy, which helps establish them as a serious destination for sports coverage.

it’s purely for the prestige because complain as they may, there is no evidence that the fans actually disengage when they don’t like the broadcast. Not in a meaningful number. That makes me think this is more about the NBA not liking Van Gundy‘s constant complaints. If him being there doesn’t help you in the new rights negotiations? I can see why you make that move.
Jeff von Gandi was the master of bball TechKnowledge and could break down any team , offensively or defensively.
He was linked to the Kings as a feeble idea of him being an assist./ coach lmfao

trust me if the Bucks could of landed him as a head coach.. search would of been over.

I have a mute button on my TV and it will now move forward with music in the background watching games.

[RogueBorg]

They kept the racist Mark Jackson, who didn't give Jokic a single 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place vote because he's the wrong color.

[Im Still Ballin]

he was pressed a bit about why if it doesn’t matter a network will pay $35 million to have Romo and Joe Buck call games and his explanation was you pay the 35 because it helps you get a bigger piece of the $10 billion rights deal. The leagues never have more influence over who calls games and covers things then while negotiating a rights deal which the NBA is doing right now. They know the networks don’t care and it’s all just a show for their sake. If the league wants ref complaining VanGundy out then he’s out.

I suspect Silver gave the order.

Sounds like Silver is The Godfather. The Caporegime. But how do the owners play into the equation? If Silver's the Don, I suppose they're like the police, feds, and politicians they got to pay off. Is it possible for the owners to oust Silver?

The power structure of the NBA is interesting.

[rawimpact]

I was listening to John skipper(former president of espn) talk about this issue a while back and he said there is no discernible difference made by having a prestigious broadcast team or team that people love. That there’s no real difference in the bottom line when you send the number one team or the number six team as far as ratings or fan engagement. The way he explained it the big money prestigious booths are really there so when you sit down with the NFL or the NBA to negotiate a new deal, you can honestly say you have the best and most prestigious people to put their game in the best light.

A sport just seems more consequential and prestigious if Bob Costas is calling it. Or at least used to. it won’t get extra viewers, but it allows you a little more leverage arguing with the league. You can say you spend big to give them the best product and make them look significant. You give us the Super Bowl because we have Al Michaels calling it not some upstart nobody ever heard of. Makes you look like a big deal. That’s why Amazon is paying Ludacris money to Al Michaels, who none of us even want to hear call those boring ass Thursday night football games. They get to leech off his legitimacy, which helps establish them as a serious destination for sports coverage.

it’s purely for the prestige because complain as they may, there is no evidence that the fans actually disengage when they don’t like the broadcast. Not in a meaningful number. That makes me think this is more about the NBA not liking Van Gundy‘s constant complaints. If him being there doesn’t help you in the new rights negotiations? I can see why you make that move.


To a certain extent I agree. I enjoy watching Shaq and Chuck partly because I watched them both throughout their career but more importantly they know how to entertain.

But I do think a good balance is needed with commentators. You need a players perspective in addition to a regular joe. Certain moves I just do not understand, ex. Perkins... like wtf... the center position isnt even the same role anymore.

Completely unrelated genre but Startalk with neil tyson for example has an astrophysicist paired with a comedian.

[Im Still Ballin]

If it makes someone rich they will do it.

True. I wonder if the umpires would go on strike? Lol.

[Real Men Wear Green]

I always thought Jalen Rose was entertaining but I don't know how they evaluate such things.

[Kblaze8855]

Sounds like Silver is The Godfather. The Caporegime. But how do the owners play into the equation? If Silver's the Don, I suppose they're like the police, feds, and politicians they got to pay off. Is it possible for the owners to oust Silver?

The power structure of the NBA is interesting.


Silver is an employee. Internally when someone says “NBA” they mean the owners. Silver was one of Sterns minions. Both of them were employees not bosses but they’re powerful because you need I think 23 owners to remove them. And you’ll never get it. A commissioner just has to keep his closest few owners happy, and he has near unchecked power after that. You can only punish him with a super majority vote. None of them are going to **** up bad enough to get that many owners against them on the same issue.

[PistolPete]

How do you keep Mark Jackson over JVG?? And you keep Doris Burke??


And Stephen A. Smith is the sole reason they let Max Kellerman go. If he didn't bitch and moan about not liking Max, the both of them would still be on today.

[highwhey]

how tf they let go of JVG but keep Mark Jackson of all people? :facepalm

[Wardell Curry]

Damn they cut Kellerman and Jalen too.

Somebody joked that they’re making cap room to give Shannon the Supermax.


Probably not a joke, lmao.

[Street Hunger]

Via NY Post, ESPN today has fired these people:

Van Gundy, Kellerman, Johnson, Kolber and Rose were also joined by “NFL Countdown” analyst Matt Hasselbeck, NFL draft expert Todd McShay, college basketball analyst LaPhonso Ellis, “SportsCenter” anchor Ashley Brewer, “College GameDay” analyst David Pollack, radio host Jason Fitz, host Jordan Cornette and baseball writer Joon Lee.

[coin24]

And they’re keeping Perkins? Yikes.. he’s basically retarded, just a fat yes man.
Van Gundy made the commentating worth listening to, he’s hilarious, Jackson is just brutal. Such a boring salty loser..

[eliteballer]

Van Gundy was so annoying.

All he did was b!tch and moan and act like a pompous know it all.

[SaltyMeatballs]

Dammit I actually enjoyed listening to JVG. His random rants were hilarious

But how did ESPN not fire dumbass Mark Jackson and that idiot Perk?? ESPN is trash

[imdaman99]

I like Breen because he's a Knick guy but I LOVED JVG. He was different than all the rest and I liked that. Everyone knows about his rants, but he was funny as well and personable and even sort of likeable with his self deprecation

[PP34Deuce]

I see a lot of people who have been there 15+ years and probably were higher paid. It's clear the core for. is..

Richard jefferson
Stephen a
Malika
Dave McMenamin
Kendrick perkins
Woj
Wildhorse
Ramona

It's also clear all those people are cliq with each other. Plus they are bringing in pat mcafee

[tpols]

Dammit I actually enjoyed listening to JVG. His random rants were hilarious

But how did ESPN not fire dumbass Mark Jackson and that idiot Perk?? ESPN is trash

Affirmative action.

If you look at almost all of the guys getting fired it's all the white guys.

[Lakers Legend#32]

ESPN damn well better not fire Mina Kimes.

[Jasper]

Could Jalen Rose be right for the Undisputed job alongside Skip? They have history.

would be fun ... but I truly don't understand why Jalen was let go .. he seemed the face of ESPN/ABc

[Jasper]

Van Gundy was so annoying.

All he did was b!tch and moan and act like a pompous know it all.

dude he is the Gondi of bball... he knows more in his little finger than most NBA coach's.

[tomtucker]

Currently unknown if they just go with Mark Jackson and Breen alone.

There was a team I don’t remember trying to get Jeff as an assistant recently though I bet he just takes some time off.

sure as hell hope so ........ i will def stop wachting if they cram a bitch in there.

[tomtucker]

Affirmative action.

If you look at almost all of the guys getting fired it's all the white guys.

It's ESPN plan to look like a Nike commercial: only blacks, mulattos....and perhaps one white women seen far in the back.... but you are actually not 100% sure she's white.

[tomtucker]

How do you keep Mark Jackson over JVG?? And you keep Doris Burke??


And Stephen A. Smith is the sole reason they let Max Kellerman go. If he didn't bitch and moan about not liking Max, the both of them would still be on today.

burke is most boring old monotone hag ever.

and for ****s sake, no women commentators in men's pro sport! not hockey, not baseball, not NBA basketball !

sideline reporter, fine.... but play by play or color commentator? **** no.... no straight man can handle listening to a female voice japping all over their favorite sport for 3 straight hours!

[Jasper]

perk gets raise ??:milton

[kawhileonard2]

NBC and Bob Costas was the best.

[kawhileonard2]

would be fun ... but I truly don't understand why Jalen was let go .. he seemed the face of ESPN/ABc

Maybe because he and Molly were married. So makes sense for one of them to go elsewhere.

[kawhileonard2]

I see a lot of people who have been there 15+ years and probably were higher paid. It's clear the core for. is..

Richard jefferson
Stephen a
Malika
Dave McMenamin
Kendrick perkins
Woj
Wildhorse
Ramona

It's also clear all those people are cliq with each other. Plus they are bringing in pat mcafee

How has Kendrick been there 15+ years?