Hoops

NBL Commentators

Hearing Corey Williams for the first time. Agree with the general sentiment on this thread - He's terrible!

Needs to pick it up as a professional because some of the commentating from him is crigny.

Dwayne Russell could be okay, but with lines like, "Worthington, bounce pass to Craig".

Really unsophisticated stuff right there...

What about retired players who were characters in the change room, weren't stars, had to work hard and have a good understanding of the game to stay in the league. I remember hearing Rupert Sapwell commentate a few years back and thought he went ok. A couple of those types may be ok. Only issue is they will not have high profiles but for non basketball people so has everyone else but Gaze, Patty Mills, Delly and a select few others

What about retired players who were characters in the change room, weren't stars, had to work hard and have a good understanding of the game to stay in the league. I remember hearing Rupert Sapwell commentate a few years back and thought he went ok. A couple of those types may be ok. Only issue is they will not have high profiles but for non basketball people so has everyone else but Gaze, Patty Mills, Delly and a select few others

And it's pissing him off

Wayne Russell is hopeless, I can actually do a better job than him

re haz

Basketball is a progressive sport

Go to any court, and its played by Chinese people, they wont make the pros, but theyre drawn to it, like heroin :D

Wouldn't mind a female sideline commentator from time to time. You know, to show that the NBL is a progressive league.

What's good about the footy commentators is that they do put some emotion into things with their pronunciation of players names and how they get excited about things.

It's just when their lack of basketball knowledge/terms surfaces it gets cringeworthy.

That said all the emotional calls like "Worthington for THREE!" will make the highlights clips which sells the product better.

Lets not forget the aussie guy last night called a block by jawai a slam...

Also I don't watch cricket but I do notice when it's on the director/camera people always find good looking ladies in the crowd. The NBL needs to do this - find attractive/interested people in the crowd. Not a grandad with their 3 year old who is falling asleep.

I wouldnt mind being a commentator


I would incorporate the American style commentary and have a 10 minute conversation with my colour commentator rather than talk about the action

Me: "Dwayne Russell, what do you think the prospects for these teams are in this upcoming season?"

Dwayne Russell: "You just missed an almost spectacular 360 dunk attempt by that young man, the score's 18 to 16, 2 free throws'

Me: "Jawai was on leave after the first game of the season when the wildcats won'

*action on court* Swish on free throw 1

Dwayne Russell: What a magnificent free throw, that was by Wagstaff! he showed all the technique and calm and composure, the score's 19 to 16, one to come, this game sure is close!

Me: 'we go to our sideline commentator who will provide an insight of the talk of scouts investigating the possibility of signing up Chris Goulding to a 10 day contract with the San Antonio Spurs, which is well within the realms of possibility now given that the injury list has increased and how they've waived a couple of backup shooting guards'

BOGAN FANS WATCHING: CALL THE FARQ'N SCORE YOU CARNT! I WANT 12 MINUTE QUARTERS! MORE SCORING! STRAYA MATE!

I didn't like how the aussie commentator would call the player has "showing some dance moves" when he was simply handling the rock.

It's this type of lack of knowledge of how the game is played that belittles the sport.

These "dance moves" are standard dribbling techniques.

To me, the term "dance moves" is almost derogatory ( i know that sounds outlandish) but it brands that type of play as "show off-ish" but it's not. It's a part of the game. It's something the Aussie AFL/NRL commentators don't get coz their sports lack that type of showmanship/finesse.

I thought of a solution last night.

Homicide would work perfect in a situation where there were three commentators.

He'd say the least of course and save his big moments down the stretch.

You'd utilize him for his zingy one liners like "The biggest man in Australia", "You rebound, you win"

I didn't like Homicides commentating one bit. My opinion is that he was unprofessional and rather annoying. He didn't as any insight to the gane apart from his gotta box out and get those rebounds which he repeated over and over and over.

I can deal with him being bias but honestly I think of rather commit suicide than listen to homicide again. Or even worse , listen to CJ Bruton.

I really enjoy Derek Rucker and James Harvey. Both give a great insight to the game and educate the audience.

its called 'on the nose' commentary

eg->
"He has the ball'
"He passes it to the centre"
"the centre passes back to the point guard"
"he almost loses it"
"the defender has dived in there"
"hes using all his might to not lose the ball there, you can see how hard hes really trying!"
"and the referee says Its going to be a jump ball! great competitive basketball all around there!"


^ Pretty ordinary

Although the 'NBA style' can come off as cold, clinical, distant, apathetic to the action on the court, nobody knows what the score is if they arent watching.

Calling every single thing is what the problem is. Even talking about every free throw. Do these AFL guys ever watch the NBA and see how they do it?

So, what we want, if I am not mistaken is this:

Commentators who are entertaining, know the game, the players, the coaches and all their systems, idiosyncrasies and history, don't annoy us but at the same time have a cool US style basketball accent, don't keep repeating themselves or referring to each other like we have the attention span of a gold fish, don't swear, have respect and show some class, but at the same time have passion and an independently unbiased view of the game and every team in the NBL?

Shouldn't be too hard to find at least one of those in the time frame the new NBL has been delivered one would think, now would it...

#BEREALISTICANDHAVEPATIENCE

Any casual fan tuning in who's unaware of the street style language that can be associated with basketball would be quickly turned off.

Also, do we need to be referring to a commentator as "Homicide" over and over? Any young children watching may be a little confused as to what is going on there.

Unfortunately an unprofessional display last night in my opinion. Dwayne Russell did well under the circumstances.

Homicide swore a couple of times during last night's call which is not ideal and he can leave the "I'm tellin' ya" being said over and over at home. It's like he was in some battle with dwayne Russell.

The street punk rap trash talking style of commentating isn't really needed in a game that is striving for further credibility and relevance.

How many games has Homicide called?
If that was one of his first then I'm happy to cut him some slack. Yes he was certainly too repetitive on some things, but that type of thing can be ironed out. Had some entertaining moments too I thought. I didn't mind at all that he got a bit personal at times. He still called the action in front of him as he saw it.

If their aren't any play-by-play specialist then why are you asking the question?

Which basketball play-by-play specialists do you think should be doing it? There aren't any.

It went pretty much how I expected it to go, which wasn't well. He, Bruton and Robbins are pretty bad. Heal's been alright, Rucker's been fantastic, Greer has been really good when he doesn't have to say "Hadziomerovic". Rosen wasn't great but was an improvement on last year.

I didn't really warm to him unfortunately. Though he definitely had passion, he was a bit of a repetitive soundtrack even if United can't grab a rebound to save themselves.

The AFL & NRL boys club on the other hand are doing a fine job for mine, generally a big step up in professionalism.

Who cares if a commentator is biased.

U can clearly tell when a commentator is obviously biased.

What does it matter.

If u can tell they are being biased then congratulations on not being stupid and thinking they aren't.

Enjoy them for the character they are being on screen.

The league needs more antagonists and protagonists to promote rivalries.

Without emotional investment there's no interest. People like homicide create that tension and draw a line in the sand. It's good. The league needs characters.