To quote our late 38th U.S. President Gerald Ford, our long national nightmare is over. After over two years without Mike Fratello and Marv Albert working together on TNT, it looks like the best NBA broadcast team on television will be reunited.
Today, Fratello was fired from his job as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies after a disappointing start for a team that has made the playoffs three straight years. Considering that ABC has already hitched its wagon to Mark Jackson’s star, TNT would be the most likely destination for Fratello, who would probably return to analyst work either by or shortly after the All Star break.
For just over one season, Fratello, Albert and Steve Kerr worked together in a three-man booth for TNT, with Fratello, Albert and Doug Collins working the NBA All Star Game and Conference Finals. If Fratello returns to TNT now, with Steve Kerr already having cemented himself as the network’s lead analyst, he would likely be the odd man out when it game to broadcasting TNT’s major events. Of course, this is all assuming that he will return to broadcasting at all; after a 6-24 start, Fratello might just want to take a few months off from basketball, period.
With Fratello canned, Doc Rivers is next on the chopping block. The critically acclaimed former Turner and ABC analyst is most likely to be the next coach fired; if he were to go anywhere, it would be to ESPN, where he could take over Greg Anthony and Tim Legler’s spots as the game analyst on the number three broadcast team (with John Saunders).
