Zach Lowe out at ESPN

[sikma42]

Lowe's talked pretty openly that a bigger part of his drop off in quality analysis is just that he doesn't watch as must ball anymore due to his kids. Which seems reasonable enough. To be a true basketball nerd, you kinda gotta put in crazy hours.

How is that reasonable? I like Lowe and not familiar with the statement, but having kids isn’t really an excuse for not producing quality content.

With that said, I don’t really see any drop in analysis and I never thought he was good at understanding game film.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Lowe was basically watching every single game of the season in his 20's. He isn't anymore. Nobody else was putting in the work he was, why wouldn't he drop off some, to have a normal human life?

You don't need to watch every same of the season to have valuable insights. Usually, more experience allows you to draw deep insights without having to grind watching games.

It's not like he is the only person with kids working a demanding job either. A lot of people successfully balance the two. I know it's hard (I'm currently balancing it now) but it's not really an excuse for a drop off in work product.

[Lalouie]

I've used espn for 20ish years as my daily site to check for sports updates. I load it 20-30 times a day. With how brutal they've been in getting rid of the only talent they have, I'd like to move my viewership elsewhere.

What online sports news sites do you guys use? What would you suggest?

around the horn and pti give you bite-sized news with amiable people commenting on them. but they're at the end of the afternoon, not throughout the day.

most shows comment on what has happened the day before. the first NEWS OF THE DAY is sports center at 6pm

[phanman]

I don't think I've ever heard of NBA Today. Is it like a daytime ESPN show? Sorry, I haven't had cable or watched ESPN in nearing 20 years. I just follow Lowe from pods and what he writes. I'm not sure I've seen more than a few clips of him on air ever.

Yeah it's a daily NBA show on ESPN. Hosted by Malika Andrews usually, with a panel of Lowe, Perkins, RJ Jefferson, Shelburne and several others. It's not good.

I don't know Malika, but the rest sound terrible. Jefferson and Perk being on tv is mind blowing to me sometimes. I still will never forget Jefferson talking about how he didn't know Manu's height until he joined the spurs...despite losing to Manu in the finals. Like...when people ask me if players know more than fans. I think of that. Like you'd think player height...on guys they guard...they'd at least be way better than us at. But no...

To be fair, that's exactly RJ's personality. He likes to play around a lot and dance around the truth for entertainment. His work as a color analyst next to Ryan Ruocco is top notch.

The worse part of his departure is that we're going to see more Tim Bontemps being featured

[dhsilv2]

How is that reasonable? I like Lowe and not familiar with the statement, but having kids isn’t really an excuse for not producing quality content.

With that said, I don’t really see any drop in analysis and I never thought he was good at understanding game film.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Lowe was basically watching every single game of the season in his 20's. He isn't anymore. Nobody else was putting in the work he was, why wouldn't he drop off some, to have a normal human life?

You don't need to watch every same of the season to have valuable insights. Usually, more experience allows you to draw deep insights without having to grind watching games.

It's not like he is the only person with kids working a demanding job either. A lot of people successfully balance the two. I know it's hard (I'm currently balancing it now) but it's not really an excuse for a drop off in work product.

Lowe doing his 10 things I like and dislike where he'd bring out obscure plays he's seeing off the bench on a team is just not happening without the level of viewing that he was doing. There's a reason lowe stood out for so many of us as an outlier. It's not that he had a demanding job. It's that he created a space in the NBA world that didn't exist.

So no...to do the job he was doing, requires an amount of time that isn't realistic to sustain. And that's OK.

[dhsilv2]

Yeah it's a daily NBA show on ESPN. Hosted by Malika Andrews usually, with a panel of Lowe, Perkins, RJ Jefferson, Shelburne and several others. It's not good.

I don't know Malika, but the rest sound terrible. Jefferson and Perk being on tv is mind blowing to me sometimes. I still will never forget Jefferson talking about how he didn't know Manu's height until he joined the spurs...despite losing to Manu in the finals. Like...when people ask me if players know more than fans. I think of that. Like you'd think player height...on guys they guard...they'd at least be way better than us at. But no...

To be fair, that's exactly RJ's personality. He likes to play around a lot and dance around the truth for entertainment. His work as a color analyst next to Ryan Ruocco is top notch.

The worse part of his departure is that we're going to see more Tim Bontemps being featured

I'm pretty confident he's just an idiot.

[AbeVigodaLive]

He did the podcast with Simmons and mentioned hoping that their coverage isn't all-Lakers, all the time. Apparently, that gets you the chop. This is a dumbass company.

Yep. I came here to mention this.

I think Simmons brought it up... and Lowe just went with the curt "no comment" approach.

Considering how the guy built his reputation in the industry, his addition to the ESPN hot takes panel seemed like a bad fit for everyone.

[MoreyWins]

ESPN is pushing their chips on the TV and social media end, but I don't pay attention to either of those things if it doesn't involve a reputable person. If I check ESPN's Youtube for instant coverage to a game or a news that broke, I don't click on it for people like Kendrick Perkins or Stephen A. Smith. Twitter impressions mean jack **** to me when any sixteen year old can spit out the same bait and get a million views.

[bkohler]

Kevin Oconnor just left the Ringer... wonder if they knew Lowe was going to be available. Shams to ESPN, KOC to Yahoo, Lowe to Ringer. Who says no?

[sikma42]

Lowe was basically watching every single game of the season in his 20's. He isn't anymore. Nobody else was putting in the work he was, why wouldn't he drop off some, to have a normal human life?

You don't need to watch every same of the season to have valuable insights. Usually, more experience allows you to draw deep insights without having to grind watching games.

It's not like he is the only person with kids working a demanding job either. A lot of people successfully balance the two. I know it's hard (I'm currently balancing it now) but it's not really an excuse for a drop off in work product.

Lowe doing his 10 things I like and dislike where he'd bring out obscure plays he's seeing off the bench on a team is just not happening without the level of viewing that he was doing. There's a reason lowe stood out for so many of us as an outlier. It's not that he had a demanding job. It's that he created a space in the NBA world that didn't exist.

So no...to do the job he was doing, requires an amount of time that isn't realistic to sustain. And that's OK.

There are so many ways to handle this. And the idea that this is some novel issue is well...weird.

I think Lowe stood out to many here is because you may view the game from a similar lens based upon your background. He doesn't have a background in stats. No hoops background as a player or coach. So his takes and the way he pulls together information likely resonates with you more because of that.

But if your value add is grinding the most hours then yea then eventually you will have to calm down if you can't scale. This is more a talent issue more than anything. Again, I liked Lowe but just take issue with the kids excuse since almost everyone is dealing with that. Imo if it was a quality issue (meaning unable to produce quality work in a reasonable amount of time) then it sounds like Lowe couldn't do it (but I'm sure many can and will do it).

[Pointgod]

Read on Twitter

[sikma42]

I don't know Malika, but the rest sound terrible. Jefferson and Perk being on tv is mind blowing to me sometimes. I still will never forget Jefferson talking about how he didn't know Manu's height until he joined the spurs...despite losing to Manu in the finals. Like...when people ask me if players know more than fans. I think of that. Like you'd think player height...on guys they guard...they'd at least be way better than us at. But no...

To be fair, that's exactly RJ's personality. He likes to play around a lot and dance around the truth for entertainment. His work as a color analyst next to Ryan Ruocco is top notch.

The worse part of his departure is that we're going to see more Tim Bontemps being featured

I'm pretty confident he's just an idiot.

Yea, it's wild to call RJ an idiot. RJ from what I've seen is one of the more intelligent people NBA media. He just gets that nobody cares about nuance and acts accordingly. But when needed RJ is able to break down games well and understands why things are happening on the court..simple ask but something guys like Lowe aren't usually able to do.

[dhsilv2]

You don't need to watch every same of the season to have valuable insights. Usually, more experience allows you to draw deep insights without having to grind watching games.

It's not like he is the only person with kids working a demanding job either. A lot of people successfully balance the two. I know it's hard (I'm currently balancing it now) but it's not really an excuse for a drop off in work product.

Lowe doing his 10 things I like and dislike where he'd bring out obscure plays he's seeing off the bench on a team is just not happening without the level of viewing that he was doing. There's a reason lowe stood out for so many of us as an outlier. It's not that he had a demanding job. It's that he created a space in the NBA world that didn't exist.

So no...to do the job he was doing, requires an amount of time that isn't realistic to sustain. And that's OK.

There are so many ways to handle this. And the idea that this is some novel issue is well...weird.

I think Lowe stood out to many here is because you may view the game from a similar lens based upon your background. He doesn't have a background in stats. No hoops background as a player or coach. So his takes and the way he pulls together information likely resonates with you more because of that.

But if your value add is grinding the most hours then yea then eventually you will have to calm down if you can't scale. This is more a talent issue more than anything. Again, I liked Lowe but just take issue with the kids excuse since almost everyone is dealing with that. Imo if it was a quality issue (meaning unable to produce quality work in a reasonable amount of time) then it sounds like Lowe couldn't do it (but I'm sure many can and will do it).

Lowe at his best was the most insightful basketball write in the world in terms of his DEPTH of knowledge of players and teams. You don't get to those levels taking weekends off let alone vacations. And you don't have time for kids when you do that either. And this is the same for anyone who's that hyper aggressive with their career. And by Lowes age...basically everyone drops off and they do less. 40 year old Bill Gates couldn't have done what 20 year old Bill Gates did. 40 year old Bill Gates knew what weekend off was.

We were lucky to have that version of Lowe, it made him insanely well off and well known. Now he can change who he is as a writer, producer whatever and work less hours. But we're not going to get the old, Lowe.

[dhsilv2]

To be fair, that's exactly RJ's personality. He likes to play around a lot and dance around the truth for entertainment. His work as a color analyst next to Ryan Ruocco is top notch.

The worse part of his departure is that we're going to see more Tim Bontemps being featured

I'm pretty confident he's just an idiot.

Yea, it's wild to call RJ an idiot. RJ from what I've seen is one of the more intelligent people NBA media. He just gets that nobody cares about nuance and acts accordingly. But when needed RJ is able to break down games well and understands why things are happening on the court..simple ask but something guys like Lowe aren't usually able to do.

Maybe I've missed stuff with him. But he seems about average among the ESPN people...which I couldn't mean in a more insulting way.

[slick_watts]

meh. lowe will catch on someplace else and still be able to share his thoughts and probably podcast. who cares. espn's coverage of the nba is just consolidating itself into hooper shouting matches making it easier to find the good stuff elsewhere.

[165bows]

The whole media industry is in dire straits right now. My company had a lot of layoffs this week and all the other legacy media companies have been firing people all year. Woj’s “retirement” screamed cost cutting to me when it happened and this kinda confirms it to me. When my company lets go of top talent they usually say they’re moving onto other projects or will have some new role at the company and they’re never heard from again. Can’t fire Woj cuz it be a PR disaster but you can let him find some new role that doesn’t compete with what espn does. It sadly makes sense too cuz Woj’s breaking news tweets probably doesn’t get too many people to turn on espn and neither does Zach analysis to warrant their salaries. I’m sure bill Simmons will hire him as soon as his no compete is up and he’ll be fine but it’s sad to see these networks falling apart and unable to retain talent people.

Nah espn is awful and an embarrassment, them falling apart is a good thing.

Anyways he really seemed like he had jumped the shark by the finals, if not before. So maybe it’s his kids or maybe they wanted him to say certain things he didn’t want to get behind so it was an easy call for everyone involved.

We will see.

It’s easy to hate on the higher ups and the faces of the network but there’s a lot of normal people that crew/ produce those shows that don’t deserve to have their jobs eliminated as the network falls apart along with the rest of the industry.

Well yes normal people can see things for what they are, and would be able to see where things are going just by looking around them. I'm sure it was a dream for many but big issue is people hang onto the past too much which prevents seeing the reality of the situation.

[cupcakesnake]

I'm pretty confident he's just an idiot.

Yea, it's wild to call RJ an idiot. RJ from what I've seen is one of the more intelligent people NBA media. He just gets that nobody cares about nuance and acts accordingly. But when needed RJ is able to break down games well and understands why things are happening on the court..simple ask but something guys like Lowe aren't usually able to do.

Maybe I've missed stuff with him. But he seems about average among the ESPN people...which I couldn't mean in a more insulting way.

I like RJ and think he's one of the bigger talents at ESPN. He's a goofball and isn't consistent in terms of offering high-end basketball analysis. He started off bad as a clear troll, but if he talks with someone who's being serious, he rises to the occasion. He's a bit of a charistmatic people pleaser and morphs from troll, to former player, to serious basketball analyst. I think he's shown a lot of potential, but ESPN will likely ask him to lean into his worst self.

[dhsilv2]

Yea, it's wild to call RJ an idiot. RJ from what I've seen is one of the more intelligent people NBA media. He just gets that nobody cares about nuance and acts accordingly. But when needed RJ is able to break down games well and understands why things are happening on the court..simple ask but something guys like Lowe aren't usually able to do.

Maybe I've missed stuff with him. But he seems about average among the ESPN people...which I couldn't mean in a more insulting way.

I like RJ and think he's one of the bigger talents at ESPN. He's a goofball and isn't consistent in terms of offering high-end basketball analysis. He started off bad as a clear troll, but if he talks with someone who's being serious, he rises to the occasion. He's a bit of a charistmatic people pleaser and morphs from troll, to former player, to serious basketball analyst. I think he's shown a lot of potential, but ESPN will likely ask him to lean into his worst self.

I have sadly not seeing the better sides of him i guess. Even in some pods I've heard him in...he was just lacking any depth to anything he said or did. If he's actually capable of insight that's great. If I'm gonna be wrong about someone, I'd rather they prove to have more depth and insight than the other way. Just means we live in a better world

[dhsilv2]

meh. lowe will catch on someplace else and still be able to share his thoughts and probably podcast. who cares. espn's coverage of the nba is just consolidating itself into hooper shouting matches making it easier to find the good stuff elsewhere.

As a basketball fan, I think we all should care. The worse converge ESPN gives us the less future NBA fans we have.

[One_and_Done]

I used to be a fan, but he's gone down hill and doesn't get GM interviews anymore. He doesn't really compare to top notch analysts like Nate Duncan.

[DirtyDez]

ESPN Wokecenter

Gotcha, Zach Lowe is not only not 'woke' but it so not woke that he was fired.

The ringer or Substack?

My guess is he has a no-compete clause but McShay works around that and goes on Russillo's pod every week. Wouldn't be shocked if Bill devotes one pod a week with Lowe during the NBA season.

Isn't Simmons' whole thing to kinda underpay his writers and also make them produce a lot of content? Feels like that's his business model, never get into any bidding wars etc.

Simmons runs The Ringer like a shrewd GM. He’s not overpaying for guys like KOC, Chris Vernon,’Ben Solak and Kevin Clark.