My local (Southern California, Lakers) beat writer.
I thought this was an interesting take on the whole microphone issue.
http://www.ocregister.com/sports/pla...9-coaches-make
NBA players, coaches should step up to the mike
Giving the fans an insider's view of the game is good for the league.
KEVIN DING
Register columnist
The pregame locker-room camera could show the word "meat" next to a meeting time handwritten on the board, proof of how Lakers coach Phil Jackson quirkily likes to misspell words for his own amusement.
The halftime locker-room camera could reveal that Lamar Odom always changes jerseys midway through the game because he drenches one with sweat in just one half.
The in-game microphone on Kobe Bryant, aka "the Black Mamba," could make known the snake-like hissing sound he makes as a subtler way to tell his teammates to get him the ball.
The postgame locker-room camera could present Derek Fisher drinking grape juice, because that's what many players swear is the best thing to replace what has been lost in exertion.
And those are just little observational anecdotes of mine, with far more intimate and strategic insights available in what the players and coaches say for themselves. This is why the NBA's decision to add inside access to nationally televised games should be commended, even though almost all we've heard is whining from players and coaches who feel their privacy is being violated.
"For people to be in the inner sanctum, where emotions are high and things are happening, is threatening to us," said Jackson, whose Lakers get spotlighted again Thursday night in Cleveland by TNT.
Fisher, who is president of the NBA Players Association, said the league has made annual pushes to get players to wear microphones and always has been denied. The coaches don't have a union, so they don't have the leverage to refuse. As things stand, some players have accepted optional requests to wear them during games.
"I don't think that'll be something players will ever get wholeheartedly behind," Fisher said.
What the complainers are forgetting is that this league – and all the money being paid this league's players and coaches – doesn't exist without people interested. NBA commissioner David Stern is fully aware of this – just as he is aware that interest in his league these days isn't about arena attendance anymore; it's vested in online expansion. Games on TV aren't just about TV; they're increasingly watched via Internet, too.
Players and coaches who are afraid that access to them is getting out of control are really just afraid they'll look bad in this wide Web world if they're caught looking out of control. This was Denver coach George Karl's reaction to wearing a microphone during his halftime speech: "I tried not to swear as much as I normally do."
Let's maintain some perspective on this: If you put cameras and microphones on these guys when they were playing high school ball, they would've thought it was the coolest thing ever. They would've reveled in sharing their love for the game and the fun they were having as a team.
Now that they have positions of en lement in the world's premier basketball league, they think they're above sharing what they're doing? Jackson adds a mocking lilt to his voice when he talks about Stern's emphasis on the "partnership" they all have in the NBA, but Stern is right.
And along those lines, the league isn't trying to capture its coaches going Mike Gundy on someone or its players napping through supposed halftime adjustments. None of this stuff is going live, there's even a microphone off switch that can be used and NFL Films has proved for decades how fun this stuff can be. This is about the NBA wanting to make its product even more interesting and appealing, basically harking back to a previous era when the nationally televised game of the week really was something special.
Still, they don't get it.
"Red Auerbach would roll over in his grave," Golden State coach Don Nelson said.
The Auerbach-era NBA was not the global an that Stern's current NBA is. If you understand that, then you can make as much sense as Cleveland coach Mike Brown when he says simply: "I make great money. Mr. Stern has done a terrific job with this league. I will wear a microphone."
Adult film star Jenna Jameson sat courtside at Staples Center on Thursday night, when the Spurs-Lakers game was nationally televised. No doubt there were some snarky comments that if offered up for public consumption would prove rather troublesome – because there were plenty going up and down press row.
The idea that everyone could know what we writers were casually saying – and not just what we were typing into our laptops – seems an unnerving concept. But believe it or not, it has actually happened. And if it's interesting enough to NBA fans that Lakers beat writers have worn microphones as part of a film project, and if Lakers vice president Jeanie Buss is being tracked by cameras this season for a proposed reality TV show, doesn't it start to make some sense that the NBA is asking for a little more access from its people?
I've heard two F bombs on national television, one by Jerry Sloan and one by Tony Parker, and a shout of "bull " by Pop so clear that one might have thought Mike Fratello yelled it. The only thing less interesting than profanity is highly edited locker room sound bites. Good thinking, NBA.
Seriously, whoever does their marketing deserves a kick in the ing nuts.
Obstructed_View, what do you want as a fan?
I would like to hear the players on the court. No color guys, no fan noise if it makes it hard to hear the players. To me, that's the game. Hearing them talk to each other, work together.
NBA TV did it once last year, it was a Spurs game, I forget who we played. I admit it wasn't all I'd hoped for but it was a lot better than the color guys yacking at me all night.
I understand the invasion, I know that teams don't want other teams to know their game plans. But as a fan, that's what I'd like to hear. The locker room stuff I don't need, though it could be interesting. Again, it has great potential to have coaches clam up so their game plans aren't made public, particularly in-game adjustments.
The thing I took from this article was the NBA's efforts to keep fans interested. It's all about the money and if the casual fan loses interest, money gets lost. As a die hard fan, I'm going to watch no matter how badly the league's marketing team sucks.
What do fans want, both the die hard and the casual?
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