Hoops

RIP Les Murray

What about Brian Kerle, he did heaps of media, on top of playing and coaching and administration.
Andrew Gaze has done a lot of media at Olympics and NBL finals etc..

Nice mention of Don Lane. Totally forgot this one. If there was longevity he could have been it.

Problem is that soccer has always had a profile on sbs I believe for decades and Les was a fixture. Basketball has bounced around so many times there's never been longevity in an announcer, Carfino has probably been the longest back to the heights of the 90s.
Going old school, can anyone else remember Don Lane presenting NBA and College on Friday nights on ABC, from memory at about 10pm. Always loved tuning in, no breaks and getting to know the college game which previously had no idea about.

Correct SJ but he was never known later on as an ex-player if you know what I mean. Old state leagues and NSL later on - man those were the days!

Well ....

Technically Les WAS an ex player.

He played for my mighty St George Budapest in its early years when it was still a part time State Comp in the 60s.

Just that part was not well known. Not even to me who knew a decent amount about Les Murray.

My question was about a media personality like Les who wasn't an ex-player so scrap Carfino. But yes if you went the player route it would clearly by Gaze.

The problem is even with John Casey there is no longevity, only started in 1995 when Fox launched and bought NBL rights.

We don't have anyone on screen, in print yes Boti and he is only regional really.

We don't have anyone comparable basically.

Exactly.

Hence why on a public level nation wide Casey would have a higher overall profile when it comes to basketball.

The real face of bball in Australia would be Andrew Gaze.

In SA, sports fans who are not core NBL followers tend to know Boti from reading the sports news over the last 10-20 years. Doubt he has a profile outside of basketball interstate.

I think there's 2 aspects to the OP's question to consider.

We as a basketball following community know Boti as the closest to a Les Murray for basketball. Outside of that, what non or casual fan would know who Boti is ? (Apart from any SA people who see his name in the papers you have over there).

As a general public, Casey would be the closest to recognisable because of his distinctive style & voice. I would dare say that anyone hearing him call other sports may just simply ask, " Hey. Isn't he teh dude that used to call NBL matches?"

None of the NBL options have an avenue to hit the public quite like soccer's World Cup. That routinely gave his name and voice national exposure. There is no equivalent for NBL contenders like Carfino or Casey.

Outside of Boti, no other identity has had the longevity/persistence with written coverage. It's a big step down to someone like Roy Ward - and who else after that? It helped that Boti was singularly focused on basketball which is a rare thing within Australia and I don't know that we'll see it again in modern media.

Everyone seems to be forgetting about John Casey.

He had his own thread on many forums for his "Caseyisms" such as " 2 pieces of the iron", "Puts the lid on 2 more" , & of course the classic , " Shot clock now down to single numbers"

Practice in the sense of commentating somewhere else before covering NBL.

It was pretty primitive and simplistic back then re: knowledge of commentators. But then again even today it's hard to listen to most NBL commentators. To be fair though there is no outlet for them to practice their craft.

John Gardiner (RIP) had such a soothing voice, and was a lifelong basketball devotee to top it all off.

Steve Carfino does not count. He is no where near at the level that Les Murray was.

John Gardiner (RIP) had such a soothing voice, and was a lifelong basketball devotee to top it all off. These types of personalities fell away when Channel 10 canned free to air coverage. Such a shame. Dog act Ch 10, dog act. It goes back to your point about their not being a stable broadcaster for talent to have long basketball media careers.

^ thanks anon! I guess from a local point of view (Perth) someone like the late John Gardiner comes to mind. He basically covered all Wildcats home games from their inception through to the late 90s and his background was all about basketball. He probably wasnt that well known though unfortunately.

Dennis Cometti possibly too, though he will obviously be remembered for football first and foremost.

Haz great post, basically the perfect answer I was looking for!

I will add that Boti did occassionally make appearances on the last NBL panel show Fox had (early-mid 2000s). He was a natural personality on TV and well researched.

The problem basketball has had with the media is that any coverage the sport has gotten throughout its history, its had different people head up the coverage. And its mostly football personalities that work on the network and have been assigned the basketball gig, as part of their contract.

So, no there has never been a Les Murray equivalent to basketball. Because basketball has never had the stability to be on one channel over the last 35 years or had the respect to have its own people covering it. Boti would be close but hes never been on TV (as far as im aware)

Steve Carfino does not count. He is no where near at the level that Les Murray was.

It's not Boti but me.

When he cameoed on the NBL studio shows on Fox Sports back in the day he was legit. Blew anyone else away. Helps when he actually researched the league unlike Carfino.

993 above

Thanks for the input Boti

Boti Nagy if he was on TV.

John Casey?

Game 2 could well set up the rest of the series...

- Can Dirk's finger stand the Heat?
- Will Dallas shoot as badly as they did in game 1?
- Can the Heat shoot as well from beyond the arc as they did in game 1?
- Will the Mav's bench stand up and provide the scoring that was missing in game 1?
- If the Heat out-rebound the Mav's again will that translate to another win?

Looking forward to the game!

Starts 11am AEST.