The Ringer NBA Show - Annual NBA Broadcast Power Rankings | Real Ones

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

The most anticipated pod of the year has made its return: Yes, the Real Ones x Press Box collab that you’ve all been waiting for. Logan is joined by Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson to break down the NBA broadcast partner power rankings. Find out where the guys ranked the NBC, Amazon, and ESPN studio shows and in-game broadcasts. Plus, Logan, Bryan, and Joel create their dream studio show! Intro - (00:00) NBC - (02:20) Amazon - (22:23) ESPN - (35:38) Creating a studio show - (50:43) Hit the mailbag: [e-mail] Host: Logan Murdock Guests: Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson Producers: Victoria Valencia, Clifford Augustin, and Jeff Shearin Production Supervision: Ben Cruz and Conor Nevins Additional Production Support: John Richter and Chris Wohlers The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines Buy any two Ferrero Brands and you could win $1 million. Visit GoAllInAndWin.com to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Wayfair, every style, every home. 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 grade all of the streamers

and networks on their first season under the NBA TV deal. And then we're going to 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 Bueno with an irresistible chocolate wafer and creamy hazelnut filling,

or Keebler Chips Deluxe cookies with indulgent and rich. chocolatey chunks or Ferreiro Rochay squares with crunchy hazelnuts and milk chocolate wrapped in iconic gold. Go All In. Buy any two Ferreiro brands and you could win $1 million. Official rules apply. Learn more at go all in and win.com. We are back for real ones. 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. 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. So I'm just honored that you would have us on. Yeah. We usually prefer the dream team to the Avengers, just FYI, but we're good with that too. Oh, okay. Okay, Avengers is more of my generation. That is, that's 2024.

You guys are 92. I forgot. I apologize. We are. We are. All right. All right. Let's get right into it, man.

Let's talk about NBC first, as our, as our, as our, as our, as our, we are. our first studio segment show and our power ranking. Let's start with the studio show, right? We got Maria Taylor. They have combined her with Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady. Let's start with Joel. What have you been 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 there was some sort of ranking of like the coolest players of like the aughts or whatever, they would probably be it. You know, like Vince Carter, who, you know,

was the dunk champ, Tracy McGregor, who, I mean, the only guy I've ever seen throw the ball off the backboard, 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 what I think I do is that I want to listen more to Vince's and Tracy's podcast. Because sometimes I listen to, 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 there's not a lot of enthusiasm. It's just like they always got to be like, are you guys awake? You know, you guys, are you guys excited about this at all or what? Maria is a pro. Like, I mean, and she's been doing this forever. But of the, I mean, I don't think, are we doing rank? 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 feel like 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 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 Nets team that got KG and Paul Pierce

and all those veterans and just like, we're just going to roll it out and see what happens. Yeah. What if we got the 2008 Celtics, but like, as they're old? 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 count Maria Taylor, We got three scores on this show. And I'm just kind of like, these are all kind of the same person. You know, 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 listened to them, game four, they were at halftime. They were on the court, game four, 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 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, 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 I think that's why I like his podcast so much, right? Yeah. Because it's not, 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 in the 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 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 at each other. there's opposed to talking to each other, Jill. Yeah, see, I get to, I think that I, and to 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, like, even on his podcast, like, he can get, Merrill on there to talk about DECIS. I hadn't heard Meryl talk about DECIS 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 what the problem is right now. One thing I heard in 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 Stephen 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 Sham Shirani type character who is making the show about something Janus might or might not do in a month rather than the game that's going to start in 20 minutes. So let's not do that. 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 Amma Farid 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 Farid's 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 gonna if I have a critique or a note it's like get them doing that get them playing or you know or maybe get them actually get them active and you know you see that on the 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 get off of a break when you're trying to when you're a wide out 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 McGready. I want to be around and you see that. But I think that the producers can kind of bring that out more. Maybe just like maybe that's more on court stuff.

We'll see. Okay. Let's talk about. Oh, go ahead. Oh, no. I just want to say the thing that I think about the show and you will be able to appreciate this slogan as a guy. It actually goes to games.

The idea, it seems like, what if we had the postgame handshake where the guys are covering their mouths and we made that a studio show? Like, it feels like that. It's just like, oh, man, I want to with, I want to with Braun and Duane Way of Sand to each other. And it's just like, maybe they will show all that on there. And it just hasn't happened. That's the other thing that frustrated me. There was a one part where, where, and this is, this goes into the argument of, like, players thinking that they can do our jobs. And there was a McGrady clip when he was.

he was talking about Jalen Brown a couple 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 want to step on his toes, but I want to say something, and it wound up being like a very awkward, stale segment, right? And if you're going to be that, like,

if you want to 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, this is what they have to say. You got to fully do it. You got to 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 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 WMBA version of NBC's coverage of the W, she's great with Sue Byrd. I also think she's great on NFL. But it seems like those guys are the NFL. 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's on. I'm just too much for all this. Whereas 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?

conference finals team was Mike Tariko, Reggie Miller, Jamal Crawford, Zora Stevenson, and Ashley. What did you guys think of that team so far throughout the conference finals? Jamal Crawford's funny because he was a sixth man in the NBA for so much of his career and he still feels like a sixth 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. Because Reggie, you know, Reggie's a volume shooter. And by the way, Mike Toriko is a volume shooter too. Having said that though, I think that team's been really good. You know, Toriko's just like, and 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 like, 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 Tariko and Joe Buck for me. So to hear Tariko doing play-by-play, doing the Western Conference finals, it's been awesome. I think that, I think that whole crew's been great. I want to stay on Tariko real quick, Brian, because I was reading your great piece on Tariko. Mike Tariko has a note for that. And you basically start with his preparation in your lead.

You're pretty good writer, Brian. I've stolen some things. Thank you. But one of the things, the anecdotes, you start with an opening anecdote about a play in which he has to find a player that 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 him 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 Breen was talking, I read the GQ article that Howard motherfucking Beck wrote back when he had a Q&A. with Mike Breen. And one of the things that they were talking about was just how hard it is to talk during blowouts or talk during dead time. And Mike Tariko 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 Wemby

or a challenge to see whether it, it was an upgraded for a flagrant foul or his elbow on Nas Reed. And you, Tariko 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 them back, Joel.

Yeah, no. I mean, Micah's a pro, man. And, you know, without. How'd I said, 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 cut with basketball in a while. And he just goes in. 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 going to make me And one of Brian and I's mutual friends Hit us up about this

I don't mind Reggie Miller I don't I don't get why everybody Hates Reggie Miller so much I really don't Why is that Brian? Why is that Brian? Why do you think that 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 they were really bad last year When he was announcing important Nick games You know they were like This is just biased This is unbelievable. Oh, by the way, Mike Breen is doing play-by-play. That's all cool. But Reggie doing it.

That's an enemy of the state. We can't possibly get that. It was like Warrior fans whenever Mark Jackson would call the Warriors game. I lived that life. 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 like trying to be offensive. If anything, what 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 it conveys to me. And 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, I'm like, well, what? You know, I'm looking around to see what's going on. And I appreciate that about it. Because it could be real easy to just get bored by the NBA. And I 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 the 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 Shadmati, who have been great. But I think that's a great wrinkle that NBC specifically is doing where you have silent reporters in two different locker rooms, which is the best. Because you juxtapose that when you have one for a big, a big time match. the silent 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 because all the networks used to do that. I don't know where we stopped for basketball. And I'm really mad that we stop now that I see it again. The idea of having two is great. But I want Brian to answer the question. Do you think they've been great, Brian, the sideline reporter?

Because Brian is the sideline reporter expert here. I mean, after game one with Wemby, I was just like, you know, we can't. We had to ask Wemby better questions than this. Like, we just seen one of the craziest, you know, game ones of the Western Conference Finals ever. But that's a whole thing. I will just say one thing before we wrap up NBC. I think that whole broadcast, when you talk about the game presentation, they've got a great

sense of humor, a sly 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 hot and then he gets a dunk like Luke cornett's one dunk and they go back to the nuns again and they're just all sitting stoically in the crowd of the Frostbank 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 it's a sensibility and it's fun

it makes it makes a game fun that one Brian and also like when Wimby is talking to Mitch Johnson and 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 telling a story. 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 our, 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. Brian. Oh, wow, that's nice. Okay. I think that's nice. What's here? It's kind of generic, it's kind of generic, you know, studio show product to me.

So, yeah, I was going to go four or five, four. Yeah. I mean, what would bad be then? Like, can we, can we actually? No, I said it's good based. That would be if Jason Garrett were on it. Okay. All right.

Jason Garrett, go come see you, Brian. I'm going to give it a four It's giving college television show That's what it's getting Wow So I'm going to give it a four out of ten What about What about play by play?

I think I'll start on play by play I'm going to give it a I'll give it a nine out of ten Which is pretty good I think they've been great Especially during the conference finals What do you think, Joel? Yeah I was going to say

8 and a half, nine I mean because I didn't even get a chance To bring up Jamal I like Jamal Crawford again Legendarily Cool player I want to hear every time he says something I find myself I want to 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 when they get more time and more reps with each other I think they're going to be like it'll probably be a nine and a half to ten next year once they get more reps absolutely right I'll do a nine too just because I think Tariko 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 a 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 got to give it a nine and a half out of ten.

I think that they present the game really well from the, we didn't even get to the nostalgia aspect of it where it's like, actually, Bob, 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 uh brian what is your game presentation score i feel there's been a few technical snafus so we can't go quite you know nine out of ten ten out of ten but i'll give them an eight for the storytelling for the just the sensibility they bring to the broadcast joel yeah uh storytelling a lot of fun i'm gonna go yeah i guess nine you know i think it's it's really really high i look forward to you know when you 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 on something else. And normally that's annoying or whatever sometimes, or I got to change the channel or 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.

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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, Mavericks fans saw his personality, go through this interesting transformation. You know, he was 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'd just been like, all right, time to eat all the Bena juries I want to eat. I mean, that's Dirk to me. Brian, are you doing okay? Are you triggered right now? Are you exercising some demons with that? About dirt coming back with love handles? Yeah, are you okay?

You have you... No, I'm good. I mean, look, the Maverick is. The Mavericks winning one time was like, that was it. I was all good. I didn't expect anything as that happened at that point. But, you know, to me, it's his sensibility infuses that show. It's very laid back.

But it's laid back in a way that works a little bit better 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? Yeah. You're kind of going into a bar to go watch the game, but it's not quite like a sports bar necessarily.

It's like a cigar bar. You know, I'm going to tap into cigar bar. It's like some OG, you know, 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've forgotten, you know,

there was a moment that, like, Blake Griffin was, like, doing comedy sets around L.A., and he was still going to be the next guy. And 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 you are? So I have to acknowledge that there is a conflict here.

I share an agent with Houdanus Haslam, okay, which is a weird thing to think about. Which, yeah. Well, I mean, when you work at ESPN. Oh, I got an agent. Well, when you work at ESPN, well, I want to let people know the conflict. And also, I used to work at ESPN and you got to have an agent there because otherwise you don't know what the hell is going on. What do y'all think of Yodontas?

Because I get what they want him to be. I just, I don't know. Wait, you confess the potential conflict of interest, but then you're not pleased with Haslam's performance. Was that a diss? Fake way. It wasn't a diss, but you kind of like set us up to dis him. That's what you happened.

Like, don't please don't. I was not trying to offend you, okay? Just so you know, so we have to see each other in public. I'm going to be honest, then. I like Eudanis on the broadcast. I actually do like him. I know you're trying to set us up to be like, hey, Eudanus is trash.

But like, no, I like, I like, 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 Eudanis 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, is the note like, yo, you're Eudanus has them. We already respect you.

Okay, it's all good. You could just lay your point out. But I think that that just comes out with reps. He's really, and 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've 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 Eudonis is really good. I do like Eidonis. 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, an ex-player.

But they're still figuring it out. So there's a really, you know, we saw us having Tom Brady in football. Like, you're two, Tom Brady would way better than you're one Tom Brady. So let's maybe cut Eudanis and, you know, Mermello and everybody else a little bit of slack. You know I think who's helping out the transition for all of these guys in television. Taylor Rooks, I think she's been great. I think she has been amazing. Joe, I don't know what you're going to do if you're going to hate Joel or not.

I don't know. I'm going to scare me here. 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 Ricks can get guys to do anything. Remember when she got J. J.L.

Dylan Brown to be like, yeah, we're going to win like five championships. John Morant, we fine in the West. You know, she can always get guys to do something. And I felt like she has a knack and it's charisma. It's the whole package of Taylor Brooks 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 stark with the exception of you guys. But these guys were stars and they're really cool.

I just want to say quick note, quick note, quick note. You got your black woman mixed up, Joe. That was Malika Andrews who said, who got the comment from John. that we're good in the line. That was John? Oh, man. Oh, wait. Okay. Okay. You know what Taylor did? Who is it? 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 guy's man? You know what I'm talking about? Tyler Hero. Tyler Hero. Man, Taylor Rooks had Tyler Hero wrapped around. He was just like cool. It felt like he was like trying to take her out on a boat vacation or something. But 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 her. 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 like 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 like all things considered, this has the potential to be. And we'll get to this to the end, the best NBA show that we have, Brian. When they have the Western Conference Finals next year, if I'm not mistaken. So, you know, that will be the spotlight you're talking about where it's like you'd be watching them, you know, even if it's an app. Are we at the point? Are you guys, have you guys gotten over the fact that like when you come home, you don't know where the game is? and it's on.

I still haven't gotten over that. It's frustrating to me. I'm like, fuck. I mean, and it's not really that complicated, but it's still just like an extra step. Sometimes I don't want to have to make up off scrow.

Yeah. It's like if I'm watching like, it's like if I'm watching NFL Sunday ticket during the playoffs, right? Like I want to, I want all the attention that I have on one particular game. But like if you're watching NBA, I would say NBA League Pass, but I think NFL is a better example where you're just like,

okay, they're on a studio show now or, are they doing a half time? Wait, they're doing a half time 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. Okay, let's,

let's move on to, uh, the game presentation. What do we, I, I like it. I like the mismatch icon and just like, it's like,

it's like, it's like, and it's also kind of fun and disrespectful. What have we thought about the game presentation of, um, Amazon? Well, the big asterisk is getting the sound right. 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. You're like, well, that's not much of a point. Well, it turned out to be a point. It turned out to be something. At the wrong time. Yes.

That 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 Ion Eagles driving the train. Like that's, you know, he's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a 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 Ian. He gets, it's a new, it's a new partner. He gets to be the number one guy.

He's doing it with Stan Van. Well, I've got plenty to say about it if you want to hear that. But like, to me, that's, when you get Ian, you not only get a great play-by-play guy, but you also get a sensibility to use that word. one more time. You know it's going to be fun. You know, he's going to be on it. You know, your broadcast is just going to have this looseness to it, which I really, really like. I love the season part of it. Go ahead, Joe. Okay, can you just say you're Stan Van Gundy? Because I'm, you know, on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what you have to say about Stan Van, who I'm a big fan of.

The nerd boys, and I mean, no disrespect, loves Stan Van, because he's teaching. He's always teaching basketball. 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, go 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 up. No, wait, here's what they were doing, and the pick is here, and the pick is here. And you're just like, dude, you just, wait, but did you have the same critique for Hubie Brown, though? Did you have the same critique for Hubie Brown? Because Hughie Brown would do the same thing. And he would, like,

whenever there's a, whenever there's a exciting play, he would just go, there you go. Oh, crazy. That's a crazy dog. It was more like, oh, that's the right way to do it. Hubby was grandfathered in, and I use that word advisedly. But I just feel with Stanvan, there's just like, he just doesn't have a sense of the media. You know, like, he's interesting. And it's better with him just being with Ian and not having Reggie in there because, man, 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, which makes him kind of great. Which, again, he's, he's 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 Eagle real quick. I know he's on Peacock, but I really, really impressed with him. I cannot wait to see how he is 10 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 just defer a lot to the older guys and kind of get their opinion on it. Um, and he's doing that right now. But there's this, there's this Chris Rock interview where he talks about, um, comedy and you don't really become a comedian until 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 just going to be like, he's like 95 overall now, but I feel like he's going to be like 90s. at some point.

I'm just really impressed by him. And I didn't want to go by, go out this show without like shouting him out. I think he's been amazing. I think he's like a young Bob Costas. It's funny. I almost think, you know,

this is a controversy opinion, but I think football might turn out to be his best sport. Hmm. Joe Buck was a baseball guy, and football turned out to be Joe's best sport. I think if I had a weird prediction, I would say like football turns out

to be no eagle's best sport. Okay. What attributes would show you that that football would be his better, the better sport. 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 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 is definitely his dad's go-to mode. But with no, I could see football being. There's just something about the match between the voice and the,

and the sport. Yeah, Ion Eagle 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 It was the voice of NBA Shootout NBA Shootout 2000

Was that on PlayStation? Basketball video game That was on PlayStation That was my first ever NBA game Your first game was PlayStation Young guys Damn right Anyways

Let's let's quickly do Power Rankings Studio show for Amazon. I'll go seven and a half for them to grow. Man, I think it's a good seven and a half, too. 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 going to go seven and a half. I felt, I mean, I felt like in three years, they could be nine, you know? Yeah. But yeah, seven and a half for now. I think I'm going to go, I think I'm going to 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 fave. Let's go 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. Joel, what have you thought about inside the NBA during this postseason?

It's interesting because my criticism echoes what I bought. bosses was, which is that I just don't think they have enough time to lay out and play like they did on T&T, right? And I think ESPN is doing the best possible version of that, like, it has been so much better than 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, Shaq, and Kenny, they can't help themselves. Like, they're just going to be themselves wherever they are. But I kind of felt like all the commercial breaks and all the other stuff. Like just, it just feel like it breaks up the flow of the show.

Bro, the conference finals the other night when they had the game four, like the reason why I watched all the game four in a sweep is so I could see inside and it felt like it was done after 30 minutes. I was, I was very anticlimactic. Like, let them go. It's so short. I just felt like I felt like I was like, man, I missed them. I don't see them as much as I used to.

Like they come by and they don't stay very long. So, yeah, I love the show. I respect the fact that ESPN has. maintained a lot of the chemistry and the bells and whistles that they made them great over T&T. But I'm just like, I just kind of wish there was a way to lift them stretch their legs out a little bit more. Brian, what have you thought of 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 leveled beforehand. But like, I still think they're, I don't think they've lost the step necessarily. I just don't think that we see them as much. I think all those criticisms are fair. Like it does feel weird. It feels like they moved into a new house and they're... People are judging them like, I've been this way this whole time.

Like, what are you talking about? Yeah, and they seem like mildly unhappy in ways that they kind of show every once in a while but don't really show with the new place and not being on Turner Sports anymore. I guess they are on Turner Sports being leased 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 ESPN because we pay tons of money for this.

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 show a 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 spreading the news because the Knicks are in the finals. 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 jokes are particularly novel. But for a studio show to be like, this game is over, one of these teams has 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 inside's 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 there's somebody that they're just like, oh, okay, you guys don't care. you're embarrassing them and you're wasting. Like in Chuck, you're like, man, I could have been doing something else tonight. Like, you know what I mean?

They just, 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 roll my eyes at. 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 Shaq and Charles Barkley who 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 the game. Like, I think we all suffer if we just, because it feels like as a BDA avarad, as we're trying to run them out of the building, right?

Like, and that's the sad part. Like, we're going to miss them when they're gone, no matter when they leave. I completely agree. And I think the whole 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.

Yeah. Who cares? Like, like, them, them talking about the NBA, the way they talk about has made them famous and popular, right? It's easy to hire legend. 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 ends up. 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 an All-Star weekend and they come into a building. They're fucking rock stars. And you don't want to lose that. You do not want to lose that. You do not want to lose. that absolutely i and i will say this too um and because i remember we talked about this before when shack first came on the show i was so frustrated i was like man he's stopped he's a ball stopper

they get to ball stop him and he shuts down and he wasn't you know playing along enough and i feel like shack doesn't get enough credit for just catching on just getting on with the vibe like he's you're not going to go to him for like the most you know the most analytical takes or anything like that his his big man critique is always going to be like well he really does he really do you you just need to go and get 35 and 20 tonight. You know, like, I know that's just, that's, that's,

the, best advice to other players is you need to be more like Shaq, okay? That's not a bad, that's not a bad thing to do as a big man. Can you, can you be Shaq? Okay.

If not, you're, you're, 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 felt like that's,

and when he's not there and you see other people in the road, 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 he should get paid for it to that point maybe this is a hot take probably not a hot take I've seen the timeline

a little bit but I would love if Jermont just that they just had a specialized role for Dremont and he didn't have to be on that on that on that desk when he comes on and like I 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 we don't have enough time to talk about all of that but it just it doesn't seem like it seems like the marriage is kind of stale at this point you know 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 joel yeah no the thing is 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 tonight he's got you know the the the Jalen brunson abused him in the pick and roll and Draymond's 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 this straight of free run through the lane? And so, like, if they could distill that Dremont, like, I think that is always the hope. He's so smart, John.

Yeah, we're going to get that. He's so smart. You know what I would love, Brian? If, like, Dremont was like the Tsar of the Telestrator. Because 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. his back cut here. But he,

the grievances always kind of, you know, his hubris always overtakes like his, his smartness. And I feel like. And the show's about chemistry. 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, let's talk about play-by-play-playing game presentation. Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, Tim Legler. I personally think this is the best cast that Mike Breen 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 doing the best of what they have. They've had a sweep. And I think they did a pretty good job. What do you guys thought 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 then the game presentation? I think it's the best on paper. I disagree with you on chemistry because I think Richard Jefferson feels like he's doing his own broadcast all the time. He's doing his own stand-up show. Do you think Richard Jefferson knows that legs is sitting there on the broadcast table next to him?

I mean, just think of the difference. But he thought as bad if he was with Doris, though, right? Because I felt like with Doris, he was like aggressively. He sounded disdainful of Doris. That was bad. But I don't know if it's his sense of humor, which is a little hard-edged

and sometimes on TV just kind of comes off the wrong way. But I feel like if you 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 saying his name, RJ just feels like he wants to do the broadcast by himself. You know, with him. I'm sure part of him does. Yeah, and maybe that's just his sensibility as a player and that's fine.

But 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 to critique, I think, no, one of the things, and we'll get to this like in our, in our final segment of like creating a specific studio show, I think that like Mike Breen has had a bit of a history of not bringing people all of 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 going to get mine. I'm going to give you 50, but like, I'm going to 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 Tarrico going to do? He's going to just, like, tell jokes as well. He's going to, like, build off of that. And Mike Breen 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-based media experts? No, I think that is a fair criticism. Like if it happens across multiple groups, right, then it's like, all right, is there something that you could be doing then 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 whatever. I'm like, hey, man, you might want to start making fun of that person because they're not, you know, so maybe I don't know if that's what Mike Brin needs to do with Richard Jefferson. Because 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. 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, whatever he's hilarious. 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 needs to peel it back a little bit. Game presentation, way too many oldies going to break. I always say this is just like, what are we doing, man? We're in the 60s and 70s.

Like, Sirius has already canceled those radio stations, guys. It's all over. the old pictures of like, hey, it's Cavs Nix, 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 that feel very stale to me. I'll just say that.

Thank you, Joe, for let me ride that hobby horse around the crew. No, that's good. It's good. I love it. It's funny. All right, I'll start with this. I got a question for Brian into his power rankings. I'm going to 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 MBA, 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 throws money at 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 did. 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 there going to be a lot of, even a future of more disorganization? Or are we going to find like some cohesion? And then what is your power ranking? I think they like to just collect stars at ESPN. That's their new thing. We got Stephen A. We got McAfee.

We got inside the NBA. We got Joe and Troy. Let's just, let's just collect stars and figure it out. And, you know, to me, it was like, if anything, that 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're good. They're running 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 10-10. Joel? Yeah, I felt like the studio show, it's the one thing in the NBA season

that I know I'm going to watch a lot of if I can. Like, if I'm going to miss something, 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, I don't find it, like, you know, the best show ever, but I get what they're doing. And 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 got all the tradition.

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.

ESPN ain't tried to impress nobody since like 85. Yeah. That's real. Yeah. That's real. One last thing, though. I would give presentation, I think, inside nine and a half. I would give the studio.

I would give, I think the play-by-play. I give it like a seven, eight maybe. You know, it's not home, nothing to go home to. But the other thing that was just funny is like the Shams thing where it's so funny the difference between the NFL and the NBA. The NFL, they ride for each other. Their teammates, if we make an agreement, that's what it is. NBA is like, no, fuck that.

We're everything, we're all for ourselves. I don't care what you got. I don't care. How much money do you pay? We've got to undercut all of that, bro. compete. Okay, let's get to a, to build your dream team of network. Studio show play by play and game presentation. Game presentation is who is what, who's going to produce it. Now, there is one wild card. So what we're going to do is we're going to 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 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 going to be Ernie Johnson who is the guy that is that stirring the

that stirring the pot. I think I'm going to put Draymond with the Telestrator. He's just going to go, he's going to go in a corner. I'm just going to be like Draymond, just go in the corner. You're Telestrator. I think I'm going to, I want

Sue Bird in there. I think I know she's she's done WMBA, 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, I think it's for NBC. She does, she'll go to a certain place, like similar like Michael Strayhan or somebody. They go to a certain place and they do like a TV package for her. 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 that they respect her. so I think I would want her on the desk. Blake Griffin. I think he's just going to be hilarious. And I think Steve Nash. I'll put Steve Nash is my studio.

It's a big studio show. Play-by-play. Mike Tarrico, because I just think that he can just work with anyone. Charles Markley, because I miss him as a play-by-play guy, like I wish I could have him more. Every time I see him, one, it feels like an event. And when I see him, he's always had. his jokes, like him and Dick Vital 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 would put Doris Burke back in my play-by-play. I think that, like, because I think with her and Charles and Terrico, that they would, they would invite her a lot more in a lot more than the other guys did. Like Mike Bering just, they just, it just didn't work out because they just weren't inviting. And like, you know, she had her, her criticisms and things like that. But I think with a 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 Sileland Reporting. And who would produce it in game presentation? This is my wild card. I'm going with Dick Erbosol, the greatest producer in the history of sports television. Wow. So that is my, that is my created, um, uh, I love it. Studio show. All right. Uh, Joel, who is your, uh, your creative studio show?

Okay. So I'm from my studio show, I'm going to have Rachel Nichols. Come in. Hmm. Wow. Okay. Rachel Nichols was really good in her job, man. 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 going to be a little wild, okay? So I want Gilbert Arenas. Oh, that'd be great. I don't know, okay, but I don't know how long Gil is going to be

on the show just because 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 could incite people, but he also is just a funny guy. So he doesn't, He's a reverent in a way that's sort of like Chuck, but it's just like nasty it. 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, like he can do anything and he's such a smart guy and he knows the game so well. His interview with Darren Peterson the other day was great. Man, 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? Yeah. He's played with him. before he'd come in there if Gilbert gets out of line with my other guy. Okay. And again, this is just a snippet. Draymond Green, okay?

So if I can get the Draymond Green, of course he want Chuck, like Chuck is, I think it's easy to say Chuck, right? But if you can get the Draymond Green, who was breaking down that video about how the calves allowed James Harton 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 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 out. Okay, I also got ideas for two, two other segments on there. Storytime with Jeff T. Oh. You can bring him Bhan. You can bring in Bhan if you want.

I don't know if he's, you know, that's going to be on the subscription service. That's going to be on the screen service. Yeah, you know what I'm going to be on a paywall. Yeah, B.B. B.H. Yeah, B.B.H. 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. And some of them were interviewing guys like Mitch Richmond and Andre Miller, who was like, Andre Miller, who is low-key hilarious. If you've ever heard Andre Miller talk before, you would have never guessed that he went to Utah.

Darius Miles. Darius Miles is talking to Anna's like, hey, when the first time somebody busts your way. Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying. It's such a great question. I love that. So that's my studio show.

Oh, I need to do Play-by-Play. Yeah, who's your TV play-by-play show? Who's that? Okay. Who's calling the games? So I'm also,

I want Marv Albert, Doug. I want Mar-V-Albert. I want Mar-V-Albert from like 20 years ago. Yeah, right. I want late 90s Mar-V-Balbert. Well, early 90s, Mar-V-Albert, okay?

All right, and so I also want QB Brown back, okay? Okay. And now I'm going to use my wild card, okay, for bringing somebody back to life. Bill Walton, man. I love Bill Walton.

I love Bill Walton. He could make anything interesting and fun to me. I just loved his approach to life. So Bill Walton. 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 was, that's a good idea, man. I don't know how much distiller from you and your production company

because that's a good idea. Who would produce it? Do you know who would produce? I mean, baby Dick Eversaw, but which, I don't know how much producers we know, but like which presentation, who would, which network presentation would you give it? I mean, like, I, you know, this is not fair

because 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 is. Dick Ebersaw. That's Dick Everson. There you go. So, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that's what I want. All right. Brian Curtis, I think Brian's just going to blow us. out of the water. So who is here to create a studio show. All right. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take the entire cast of inside the NBA. Okay. With one

exception, instead of Ernie, no offense to Ernie, we're going to put Bob Costas in the host seat. Oh, shit. Oh, that's your wild card. That's your wild card. Yeah. That's a wild card. We're putting him in the host seat with everybody else. We're going to go ahead and press pause

on the Dremont experiment for the time being. Are you pressing pause? Are we expelling? Are we going to expel it? We might be pressing stop. It's like when they say you suspend the campaign. It's like, y'all, you're not going to run that campaign back, but okay. Then we're going to have a seat on that panel that we use once in a while and we're kind of trying somebody out. We can call it the sixth man or like it's the fifth man, whatever we want to call it. 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 it how they get along with people.

So that's the studio. The game is going to be called by Mike Tariko. Of course. Color analyst is going to be Jeff Van Gundy. He's back. I don't know if that counts as a wild card. Might be coaching the Trailblazers next year, but he's back.

It's whatever you wanted to be. Sidelined reporter is absolutely 100% Peter Vessie. We're going back to the wild. Yeah, he has like seven wild cards. He's not even playing by the rules. Go ahead, Curtis. 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 the stalwarted 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 sideline reporter? You certainly can.

I want Jim Gray to be my sideline reporter. Okay, there we go. Jim Gray would get the news. I took a job away from a black woman, man. It's just a story of 2026. Yeah, man. You put a white woman at the top of the studio show. I know, man.

Yeah, I have a lot of. questions to answer to the next black community. Yo, man, this is the first real ones of June 10th, Joel. God damn. Oh, man. You're tripping. Anyways, that has been another edition, our annual edition. Let's just fucking do this every year, guys.

I'll be see you guys next to June. Of course, me. That has been our annual power ranking edition of real ones where we talk about the media. You can guys go check out Joel. You've got check out Brian. Every week on the press box, my favorite show on the ringer. You guys know that. I love listening to you guys.

I never miss an episode. We talk to you guys very soon. And Brian, I will see you very soon. And Joe, fuck you. See you guys next time. Just as I live in L.A. Damn. Talk soon.

Bye.