Party is a relative term. ESPN is using Dan Patrick, Mark Jackson and Michael Wilbon on NBA Shootaround this week; the team will broadcast from American Airlines Arena, where the Sacramento Kings will play the Dallas Mavericks. Jackson will team with Breen on the telecast, making this essentially an ABC game.
Patrick, Jackson and Wilbon were fairly boring last season. Maybe a second season together will help the team gel. Breen and Jackson are the ones to watch; this is essentially a nationally televised practice game. Jackson works fairly well with the gold standard, Marv Albert, on YES Network telecasts. Breen, the voice of the NBA Finals, was (and still is to some degree) subservient in many respects to Hubie Brown, the veteran basketball analyst who was essentially the star of the broadcast team. Jackson, much less established than Brown, is likely to share more of the focus with Breen, who will have more of the spotlight this season.
The wildcard, in my opinion, is Wilbon. Does ESPN do what they have done with Monday Night Football, pairing a very good, under the radar play-by-play man (Tirico, Breen) and a love him or hate him color man (Theissman, Jackson) with a sportswriter? Korheiser has been a disaster on MNF, but Wilbon is much more well spoken and seems to be more into sports (not to say TK isn’t, but let’s face it–he’s shilled more for Man vs. Beast than he has for televised sports recently). Wilbon could do quite well on NBA game coverage as a third, supplemental analyst; he knows basketball in terms of the game itself, and could put some life into what figures to be a very boring broadcast (Breen is very good, but its hard to listen to Jackson sometimes).
ESPN has until Christmas to make any changes to its ABC game coverage, but any changes are more likely to come at either midseason or playoff time, considering the network’s recent track record.
