She turned down $5 mill and wants Stephen A money?! She’s got not gimmick that is as good as Stephen A and she doesn’t have Max Kellerman @Os Trigonum @Reeko
ABC/ ESPN has yet to have the success of the TNT crew because no combination of personalities has had the chemistry that Ernie, Kenny, Barkley and Shaq have. Honestly it doesn’t matter if it’s Nichols, Taylor or Burke...they just need to hit the reset button over there.
And how did Maria Taylor turn down $5 mill and want $8 mill? that's insane. The only person on ESPN NBA that should be making that much is JVG.
Bill Simmons isn't an unbiased perspective when it comes to ESPN's NBA coverage, but he made a good point on his podcast about one reason why the ESPN show has always felt so stilted (aside from the personalities): they allocate less air time to the show which gives panelists less time to develop chemistry and retain viewers. He mentioned that ESPN sells more halftime ads than TNT and that creates a more constrained show where the host (Taylor, Sage Steele, etc.) has to set up segments and throw it to commercial faster than Ernie does on TNT. ESPN doesn't allow for longer segments like Kenny's Pictures or organic conversation.
Despite being the least famous of the four, I tend to think Ernie carries that crew and they would be lost without him. Otherwise it just devolves to Barkley **** talking Shaq, Shaq not being able to take a joke at his own expense despite being the most successful of the 3 former NBA players, then threatening a round of fisticuffs that he then retracts as a joke and Kenny re-writing his contributions to a championship team while publicly pitching himself to be the next HC or GM with his "amazing" insights that no team wants a part of their franchise. You can tell Kenny wants to follow Kerr's footsteps as TV analyst to GM or HC yet no one wants any part of that. Ernie is the glue that holds that mess together.
Not the word choice I'd use. I'd say he's good at mediating clashing personalities that by themselves can't carry a show, but together have some cohesion that draws in enough of an audience to warrant attention.
Maria Taylor is generic. I don't even notice her when she is on the show which means she doesn't deserve the money. She's not a bad hire, but she is nothing special. She's the NBA player that is the borderline starter who really isn't missed that much when they are injured unless your team lacks depth.
Jeremy should never be a starter unless people are injured. She's Austin Rivers. Belongs on the court, but you should never hand him the ball to him and tell him to run the show.
she clearly is better than Michelle Beadle, effectively Taylor's predecessor, whom ESPN has been paying ~ $5M to do nothing
She's not as annoying but that is about it. They are interchangeable. No one would really notice, if you switched one for the other. No one would watch a Maria Tyler segment on youtube like they would for Nichols.
