I liked Stone from the very beginning as compared to Morey. There were others too. Let's see what Hollins brings to the table.
The general consensus is to clown on Hollins because of his ESPN lowlights, but Hollins had to be whatever the script needed him to be. If the conversation was ever A versus B and the person across from Hollins was assigned A, Hollins had to take B, regardless of how bad the take would be. Hollins as a color guy is extremely different from those "this is my point, lemme defend it" type shows. Give him a chance.
THIS. If you already had the JYD in the building, why wouldn't he pick up the analyst duties? He's inarguably more Rockets-legendary than Bull was (K.O.D), has game / bench experience elsewhere, and he said it- in his heart it's his team4life. Not feeling the Hollins 'hot take' vibe...
Yeah, not sure we can draw a lot of conclusions from what he was paid to say on ESPN. Remember when ClutchFans fell in love with Max Kellerman? It's all scripted. I don't care what connections he has to the team or city, there's only one Bill Worrell. I just want him to not be annoying.
Why does the colour commentator - ridiculous term and outdated AF by the way - need to be a former player / coach anyway? Just hire someone who knows the game, ****, if it's a fan who's in that field who runs a radio show or whatever then interview those people.
At the risk of being pedantic, Harry Kalas was the PBP guy for the newly-renamed Astros from '65-70, so Houston was already in Todd's blood from birth (DOB 12/31/65).
There's fans of Rocket rival teams and there's general NBA fans; non Rocket fans, who may just tune in because they like bball or curious about JGreen, so not necessarily rooting for Rockets or the team they're facing that night. Listening to Net's Ian Eagle (who's pretty neutral) is very different than listening to Raptor's, King's or Celtic's broadcast, which is a lot more 'homer' than say our Matt Bullard; to the point of cringe. When Harden used to cook opponent teams, their broadcasters go into 'salty' mode. I don't need opponent broadcast to praise Rocket, but at least make it tolerable if opponent fans are listening. Hollins has good diction but his opinions on ESPN is doo doo. Who knows if he'll be good in the booth, but his analyst résumé is terri-bad. That's a turn off for Rockets or non-rockets audience who have seen him on ESPN.
Super random but I'm down with it. Was hoping for Francis but I'll give him a shot. He's said some crazy stuff over the years on ESPN and whatnot so hopefully he'll be entertaining at least.
"Someone who knows the game" is basically the play-by-play person. Without looking into it, I assume "color" commentator means they give the broadcast some color - as in, they flavor what would otherwise be a monotonous droll broadcast. I highly doubt it's a term that has to do with what you're thinking. The reason former players / people with firsthand experience are hired, is because they're able to give insight to certain things. Like, during a timeout where a last-second hopefully game-winning play is drawn up, Craig can turn to Hollins for insight, and Hollins can draw on his experiences as a player during plays like this. It keeps the viewer entertained. And, being that Hollins is more from this era than Drexler's era, he'd probably be more insightful than clubbing baby seals. So that's a plus. Heh heh heh.
I have no idea if Hollins will be good or not. But I don't give a damn if the color analyst is a former rocket or not. It is immaterial. What matters is if he can annunciate well and give good analysis. Like Drexler was absolutely atrocious. I don't think you should hold Hollins "debate schtick" against him. It is manufactured debate. Those shows are garbage. Give him a chance. Let's see what how it goes.
If Hollins is actually good then I won't give a damn if he ever played on the Rockets. I was actually dreading the idea of Stevie Franchise because I thought he'd be bad at that job and it would be painful to watch him fail with the Rockets again in another role. If Hollins fails, I do not care. Fire him. I won't feel bad at all. So that's a plus.
Bullard spoke up against bad officiating more often than not when it occurred. Is that why he got canned?
