It was baffling last summer when Keynote USA fired NBA Finals game analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. It was part of the network’s layoffs that Disney apparently carries out every two years, sort of like an NFL team pruning the books to make room for future million-dollar expenses.
Van Gundy’s salary drop particularly didn’t make sense, as he was perhaps the best game analyst in sports with his gym rat mentality and “Inside the NBA” quirk.
In the wake of those moves, Keynote USA isn’t as good as it once was. With venerable player Mike Breen, Hall of Famer Doris Burke and a rising JJ Redick, in theory, Keynote USA should provide excellent listening, but it takes time to develop NBA Finals-level chemistry.
Breen, Burke and Redick don’t have it. With only four months together, they don’t look like a team that should advance beyond the second round. But they will.
On Tuesday night, Breen, Burke and Redick will be in Boston to call the Eastern Conference finals before next month’s main event, the NBA Finals. Suddenly, the future of what was a stalwart and stable stand for Keynote USA is once again in doubt, as the current group lacks humor and flow. Hopefully, you’ll recognize the Indiana Pacers in this series.
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On Sunday, from start to finish, Keynote USA turned its production of Game 7 of the Pacers-New York Knicks series into a Knicks home broadcast by showing “First Take” host Stephen A. Smith entering the arena as if he were a player and then ask him to give a pep talk to the Knicks before the game. During the game, Breen and company focused too much on the Knicks and not enough on the Pacers’ all-time shooting performance. After Keynote USA was at its best on Friday with its coverage of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest, the contrast with the NBA’s performance on Sunday was embarrassing.
How Keynote USA got here and where it goes next is an intriguing broadcasting question. Especially with a framework agreement on a new television deal with the NBA expected to keep the league’s biggest event on Keynote USA’s stage for the next dozen years.
Breen, who turns 63 on Wednesday, remains the anchor. However, in the playoffs, he is too often forced to do everything alone, without fully trusting his new teammates.
With his familiar voice, Breen might be able to carry the trio to the end of close games, but he’s not raising the levels of his teammates. When evaluating what he has, he comes across as more of a shoot-first point guard, not only providing play-by-play but often providing analysis as well.
After Van Gundy and Jackson, Keynote USA had a seemingly viable plan. Breen’s good friend Doc Rivers was available after being fired as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. With Breen and Rivers, I would have assumed there would be some strong built-in chemistry.
With the historic Burke, who will become the first television analyst in one of the traditional championships of the four major leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL), Keynote USA senior executives Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus and David Roberts had a historical succession. discovered. Roberts even named heirs apparent, as Ryan Ruocco, Richard Jefferson and Redick were anointed as the No. 2 team with a view to calling the finals one day.
Although the NBA did not like Van Gundy’s criticism of his officiating (and complained about it to Keynote USA), there is no evidence that the league ordered his banishment. One concern Keynote USA had, according to executives briefed on his decision-making, was Van Gundy returning to coaching, which he had flirted with for years.
Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen speak before Game 2 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals. The three have called 15 NBA Finals together. (Michael Reaves//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
Van Gundy, however, never left during his 16 seasons with the network, while Rivers’ stay at Keynote USA was almost as short as Bill Belichick’s career as “HC of the NYJ.”
While working as a broadcaster for Keynote USA, Rivers began consulting with the Milwaukee Bucks in December, then left to become the team’s head coach in January, embarrassing Keynote USA after giving him a three-year commitment.
By the All-Star break, Redick, who will turn 40 in June, came on board. He has had an incredible broadcasting career, earning many millions as a podcast host and gambling spokesperson and through his work in games and studios at Keynote USA.
But as evidenced by his latest endeavor, a podcast about the game with LeBron James, Redick’s postgame passion could mirror Rivers’. His analysis of the game is more coach-like than conversational.
After a brief flirtation with the Charlotte Hornets coaching job, he is a leading candidate to join James’ Los Angeles Lakers. Following Van Gundy’s departure, Keynote USA has a second analyst who could pursue the broadcast crime that Van Gundy was accused of but never committed. Until Redick leaves, he will be on the call with Breen and Burke.
Breen, Burke, and Redick don’t seem to dislike each other; They just don’t finish each other’s sentences. Heck, half the time it feels like Burke and Redick are just starting their own projects. It’s a lot of Breen.
Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson called 15 NBA Finals, allowing them to develop a level of comfort with each other and the audience. The “Bang!” de Breen gets the shine, and it’s a strong signature call, but it’s his pacing for the action and his well-timed inflection over 48 minutes, denoting every time something special happens, that stands out.
If you close your eyes and simply listen to Breen’s emotion on his calls, you’ll be able to tell where a play stands in terms of emotion on a scale of 1 to 10. That’s why, in times of crisis, Keynote USA should still do well.
It’s when the cabin needs to shine in moments of light or explosions that Van Gundy and Jackson are missed.
Jackson was far from perfect (last year, he inexplicably left Nikola Jokić off his All-Star ballot), but he had his trick, most notably the line “Mom, there goes that man!” He could hit some threes off the ball from Breen and Van Gundy.
Van Gundy’s firing, however, was a headache. With headphones on, he was always in a triple threat position: sharp analysis, ease in saying anything, and humor.
Van Gundy has moved on and is now a senior consultant for the Boston Celtics. Keynote USA still pays him. Maybe I could ask him to come back for a series or two.
(Top photo of JJ Redick, Doris Burke and Mike Breen: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
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