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Posted in: Sports, TV | Tagged: espn, nba, NBA on ESPN
ESPN Confirms Doris Burke, Doc Rivers Joining NBA Play-By-Play Team
Lots and lots of changes were announced to the NBA On ESPN coverage this week, from the countdown shows to the play-by-play teams.
ESPN has been going through it as of late, and after letting go of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, they have announced that Doc Rivers and longtime basketball coverage stalwart Doris Burke will join 19-year veteran Mike Breen on the play-by-play desk for the NBA Finals, Eastern Conference Finals, NBA playoffs, and the Christmas Day and NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC schedule. Ryan Ruocco, with analysts JJ Redick and Richard Jefferson, will also call games on Sundays and other marquee match-ups throughout the season and in the playoffs. Deadline had the news of the new teams, and that was not all.
ESPN Basketball Sees Biggest Shake-ups
Other changes: Malika Andrews will now host all NBA Countdown shows on ESPN and ABC, with Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, and ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski all joining her. Also on those shows and all over their coverage will be former Golden State Warriors executive Bob Myers. Wednesday and Friday editions of Countdown will see Richard Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, and Chiney Ogwumike join Andrews and Wojnarowski at the desk. Finally, returning to do play-by-play and commentary will be Mark Jones, Dave Pasch, and Hubie Brown.
Whew. That is a lot of fresh faces and new roles for broadcast. It will be a bit jarring not to hear Jackson and Van Gundy when the season starts in October, but some of these changes make sense. ESPN has always had a bit of a fit problem on their NBA coverage outside of the play-by-play roles, but this switch around on paper sounds good. Of course, their studio shows will never quite live up to the TNT and Inside The NBA, but this is a big swing to try and take them on. Of course, the many, many cuts at ESPN the last month or so led to most of this, and rumors abound that Disney may be figuring out a way to sell the network. We shall see, but one thing is for sure: basketball should be an interesting watch on ESPN this year.
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