When Steve Kerr left the TNT booth to coach the Golden State Warriors, it left a vacancy for the network’s top analyst position next to Marv Albert.
Turner Sports has plenty of options in house for a new lead analyst, including moving up Reggie Miller from his tandem with Kevin Harlan, or going with someone like Chris Webber or Grant Hill for a fresh perspective. They could even take a bit of a radical step and move Charles Barkley to the broadcast booth from his position as the best studio analyst in sports.
So who has Turner selected as their new lead analyst? Well, the answer is all of the above. Details from Richard Deitsch in Sports Illustrated:
“We have a really deep talent roster and we plan to dig into it and use everybody,” Turner Sports senior vice president Craig Barry told Sports Illustrated last week. “We are in a unique position to be able to work through a rotation with A-grade talent. We are looking at it from a perspective that each guy brings something to the table.”
Barry said that Reggie Miller will continue to pair up with Kevin Harlan on a second announcing team, but Miller could occasionally do games with Albert. Hill and Webber could also work with Harlan in a mix-and-match scenario. Inside The NBA host Charles Barkley will also call some games with Albert and Harlan as well. Barry said the plan is to match analysts based on geography and the matchups of individual games. Turner executives will also make weekly decisions on when a booth should be two or three people.
Turner says it’s not an open competition necessarily, but what else would you call a rotation of analysts to see who performs the best and has the best chemistry with Marv? The network could ultimately settle on any combination of analysts for a three man booth or wait and see which current players or coaches might move into the media world.
“In the past we had Doug Collins and Steve and they were earmarked for that role,” Barry said. “Now if three months into the season we feel like there is a great chemistry forming with one team or something comes to the surface, we will definitely look at it. But we also will leave the door open for players and coaches next year that might want an opportunity. It keeps us in a place for options, but we are not starving for analysts.”
It’s a unique decision from Turner Sports, but one that makes a whole lot of sense. Why rush to name someone as a lead analyst before the season when you’re faced with a high-profile vacancy? Why not let someone earn the position with their work during the regular season and let your best combination work the playoffs together? More networks should take this more malleable and flexible approach to broadcast pairings and assignments. Instead of going with a rigid hierarchy, these analysts (like the athletes they cover) will now earn their spots.
As far as the competition goes, this website has been a fan of Webber’s work for some time, often as a utility player for the NBA on TNT. Hill has expressed his desire to do more games, as he told us in a podcast last season. You know what you’re getting from Miller. The Wild Card though is definitely Barkley, who seems like he’s been itching for some new challenges in the television realm.
This will be one of the more interesting media storylines to watch throughout the season. Something tells me there could even be a new face not being mentioned that could become involved depending on how the season plays out.