Draft Express closing, Givony joining ESPN

MC3 · Post #61 » by **MC3** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:34 pm

madmaxmedia wrote:

Now would be a great time to start 'NBADraftExpress.com' to fill that hole, and maybe eventually get acquired by ESPN in 2-3 years...

buy a domain. and then you sell it to NBA or ESPN. ESPNDraftExpress.com or NBADraftExpress.com. I would if I had any money.

Mirotic12 · Post #62 » by **Mirotic12** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:42 pm

DX has always been a really awful site in how they cover everything related to international, and especially European basketball. So much totally made up nonsense with anything that wasn't USA based basketball.

It created so many falsehoods and myths about European basketball, that people in USA just took as fact. I'm glad it's ending. As someone who follows European basketball, DX was doing it great harm over the years.

They belong at ESPN, where "analysis" is nothing more than pure opinion and speculation.

Teen Girl Squad · Post #63 » by **Teen Girl Squad** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:34 pm

Old Man Game wrote:
BlazersBroncos wrote:This is terrible news for draftniks like me, but I cant blame him. 14 years of pretty tremendous content, all free of charge. He deserves to cash in.

ESPN is doing all it can to scoop up the Woj's and JohnG's of the world in a futile effort to adapt to the growing amount of excellent alternative content. They will fail. They still cater to the lowest common denominator fan on their primary network, and with all their free online content. They understand that the non-casual fan doesn't need ESPN anymore and they are trying to paywall ransom us into using them.

I will never pay for ESP'TMZ'N

Agree with everything word of this. ESPN has fallen into a very tabloid sort of journalism. It is vapid, trash content and Givony will eventually be brought down to their level by the party line surrounding their corporate culture.

But hey, enjoy those checks while they last, Jon.

Yup. Thats where ESPN keeps failing. They find great talent but then market research it to death. Don't get me wrong, its a real skill to be compelling on TV but when they keep hammering the same niche (the generic, fairweather fan), its not sustainable as the only avenue. Its fine to have the Stephen As of the world, but as the collapse of CNN/Fox news has shown, vapid, hot take culture will no longer carry a network either. You need to serve various different tastes.

Daddy 801 · Post #64 » by **Daddy 801** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 9:51 pm

Paradise wrote:So, ESPN fired a ton of their long tenured staff just to buyout their competition? I hate this crap.

DX gave fans a real quality experience at analysis of prospects and excellent breakdowns. I'm glad Givony got a promotion, though.

ESPN is simply going to force folks to pay money to get the same things with more sports science videos and that also means more overhyping certain prospects. I'll see a 15 minute breakdown on Zion on SC but a 3 minute video for Romeo Langford.

Typical ESPN nonsense. Ugh.

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Can't force me to buy what I won't pay for. A ton of new great people will come around and fill the void in the market. I would never pay for such nonsense as sports videos or sports analysis.

Post #65 » by **magnumt** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 9:54 pm

Driguez wrote:Funny enough he was a poster on Orlando Magic under johng or something like that, maybe he still is. Either way I dont care for ESPN or any mainstream sport news outlet.

Heat I think. He was a Heat fan.

His account was banned from RGM IIRC or close to it for spamming and trolling.

--Mags :beer:

Ryoga Hibiki · Post #66 » by **Ryoga Hibiki** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:06 pm

nickhx2 wrote:someone who is smart and wants to parlay his draft site into the next big thing will step into this role. it just might take some time.

glad for givony. when dx first came out i always wondered where it'd go and if givony could ever quit his day job. i'm sure once sponsored ads and stuff became a thing he became very well off for some time, but now with an actual ESPN job you can't really do better.

Jonathan was 21 and a student when he started Draftcity (and he wasn't necessarily the one starting, I think it was Prerak).
It has always been his job.

Anyway, congrats to him.

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using Tapatalk

Post #67 » by **SOUL** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:06 pm

Until people start supporting good content, moves like this are going to happen. It's hard to hate on that. You can't expect quality content to be given for free for a long period of time.

Arguing Givony's worth to the NBA realm is subjective of course, but DX was/is a pretty widely used draft site.

NoBias · Post #68 » by **NoBias** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:15 pm

I wonder if i can buy the site off him. Anyone wanna work for me?

Ambrose · Post #69 » by **Ambrose** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:17 pm

Karate Diop wrote:
Ambrose wrote:
My Main Man wrote:Time for nbadraft.net to step up its game.

Aran may have to start shelling out some dough for that.

Eh... NBAdraft.net doesn't hold a candle to DraftExpress though... NBAdraft.net tends to just regurgitate a lot of what other people say about prospects into a nice and (kind of) neat format.

Correct me if I'm wrong - but I don't think they do their own scouting... At least not at the level and detail DX did.

They do their own scouting but it's done (for the most part) by guys who are/were respected members of the forums there. Definitely nowhere near as in-depth as DX. Aran would have to open up the checkbook to make it work better.

Post #70 » by **BBallFreak** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:23 pm

John Giovony aka, CheezDoodle, was a Heat fan. He and I met up at a bar in Plantation, Florida to watch the Heat play the Nets in the playoffs many years ago. Very nice guy.

Really happy for him...

Post #71 » by **Doctor MJ** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:46 pm

Driguez wrote:Funny enough he was a poster on Orlando Magic under johng or something like that, maybe he still is. Either way I dont care for ESPN or any mainstream sport news outlet.

Yup. I remember when the draft board on RealGM was called Draft City and he and prerak ran the Draft City website.

Then an agent threatened a lawsuit against, Draft City shut down, and Jonathan started Draft Express with an eerily similar look. At the time I honestly thought nbadraft.net was better, but Draft Express quickly surpassed it.

Glad to see another RealGM alum having success.

MaxRider · Post #72 » by **MaxRider** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:58 pm

that's suck
ESPN is killing all their competitor before they get bigger

Spens1 · Post #73 » by **Spens1** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:06 am

great, just great.

So its now a situation where its either nbadraft.net with their ridiculous comparisons or the scam known as nbainsider.

I am happy for him though, he did a very good job with draftexpress.

whitehops · Post #74 » by **whitehops** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:29 am

Mirotic12 wrote:DX has always been a really awful site in how they cover everything related to international, and especially European basketball. So much totally made up nonsense with anything that wasn't USA based basketball.

It created so many falsehoods and myths about European basketball, that people in USA just took as fact. I'm glad it's ending. As someone who follows European basketball, DX was doing it great harm over the years.

They belong at ESPN, where "analysis" is nothing more than pure opinion and speculation.

i think that's a little harsh. i'm not sure how they did their scouting but it's obvious they had limited resources to watch european players. i'm sure they would've expanded more towards international prospects as they progressed and now they might since they'll have better funding from ESPN, ironically.

there's no doubt their international coverage was weak, but i don't think it was intentional or due to a lack of effort.

Mulhollanddrive · Post #75 » by **Mulhollanddrive** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 2:07 am

Chad Ford and a future 1st to DX?

deanwoof · Post #76 » by **deanwoof** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 4:50 am

This is sad. Everything espn touching these days is going to crap. Woj isn't even trying anymore, except for the NBA draft. He's promoting his coworkers and getting clicks for their website more than anything.

I used to LOVE reading Zach Lowe. Now that he's fully espn instead of grant land, I find him neutered and not as enjoyable.

Old Man Game · Post #77 » by **Old Man Game** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 2:18 pm

MaxRider wrote:that's suck
ESPN is killing all their competitor before they get bigger

it's not dissimilar to an antitrust violation. Not applicable here but the spirit is the same. large competitor just buys out and shutters smaller competitor.

Post #78 » by **TyCobb** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 2:36 pm

He was his own business. :laugh:

nomansland · Post #79 » by **nomansland** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 3:32 pm

I can see why ESPN did this and I can see why DE would sell out.

Still a bummer though. Guess I'll have to find a new site for draft info.

nomansland · Post #80 » by **nomansland** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 3:35 pm

whitehops wrote:
Mirotic12 wrote:DX has always been a really awful site in how they cover everything related to international, and especially European basketball. So much totally made up nonsense with anything that wasn't USA based basketball.

It created so many falsehoods and myths about European basketball, that people in USA just took as fact. I'm glad it's ending. As someone who follows European basketball, DX was doing it great harm over the years.

They belong at ESPN, where "analysis" is nothing more than pure opinion and speculation.

i think that's a little harsh. i'm not sure how they did their scouting but it's obvious they had limited resources to watch european players. i'm sure they would've expanded more towards international prospects as they progressed and now they might since they'll have better funding from ESPN, ironically.

there's no doubt their international coverage was weak, but i don't think it was intentional or due to a lack of effort.

The truth is their analysis of prospects and mock drafting was only reliable up to a point like, maybe even just the top 20. It's hard though, when anyone gets into the 2nd round especially it's basically a crapshoot.