Draft Express closing, Givony joining ESPN

[EddieJonesFan]

nbadraft.net sucks, they're rarely on point with their analyses. And they often just rank players in a way that will distinguish them from DX, not based on actual merit.

[AGAVE]

Competitor to watch:

The Athletic.

Real GM's own Danny Leroux writes for the San Francisco Region of the company
They just hired Tim Kawakami (SJ Merc columnist, formerly covered the lakers) and Marcus Thompson.
They are building up region specific sites

I stumbled upon this one a few weeks ago :
sportsoutwest.com

Its farther along than the athletic.
Maybe not as hour to hour current but appealing to regional content, the idea is already there

[radeonboy]

I`m surprised a lot of you guys are having issues with Person A etc joining ESPN.

Maybe its the younger crowd who's posting and doesn't know what it takes to run a website with free content for that many years...ad streams can only take you so far, and tons of people have ad-blockers on as well these days...

It does not mean whoever jumps ESPN etc are sellouts for doing jumping to a larger company, they`ve earned the right to finally get a big pay-check and take care of themselves and their family, and frankly I'm shocked it took 14-years? to finally get there. You would turn down a big pay-check as well? due to principle etc, not liking ESPN?

Maybe the complainers in this thread should open up their own bball website and see how tough it is to pull it off, instead of wondering where they will get their free content next...

[JohnWillow]

Just go to nbadraft.net if you don't want to pay.

[OptionZero]

I`m surprised a lot of you guys are having issues with Person A etc joining ESPN.

Maybe its the younger crowd who's posting and doesn't know what it takes to run a website with free content for that many years...ad streams can only take you so far, and tons of people have ad-blockers on as well these days...

It does not mean whoever jumps ESPN etc are sellouts for doing jumping to a larger company, they`ve earned the right to finally get a big pay-check and take care of themselves and their family, and frankly I'm shocked it took 14-years? to finally get there. You would turn down a big pay-check as well? due to principle etc, not liking ESPN?

Maybe the complainers in this thread should open up their own bball website and see how tough it is to pull it off, instead of wondering where they will get their free content next...

This topic has been on twitter the past few days among writers:

Folks don't want to pay for good content. They want it for free, and expect it to be good. It's amazing.

On the other side - how the hell are good writers supppose to make money? ESPN, Fox, etc are FIRING writers and shutting down writing departments

So what the hell? There's really no reason to hate on anyone for getting a job, even with "evil" ESPN, if they're quality. And we all agree Woj, Schmidt, Givony are worthwhile reads.

I have joined Duncan and Leroux's Patreon page, and i just signed up for The Athletic. I also gave $1 to Jared Dubin on Patreon for his offseason guide. Its pretty cheap, only a few bucks a month, and its helping people i WANT material from

Part of the problem is that there are lots of people on twitter that DO have good analysis, and twitter is free. Related to that is . .. talking hoop is fun, so people don't mind doing it for free, at least at the beginning

but doing it full time? how can you possibly survive?

Thats why I respect Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux, who are both ****'n lawyers, and basically walked away from those careers to do hoop analysis full time. I have no doubt they're grinding to get it done, but they're succeeding (thus far!). Ditto for Coach Nick

Its kinda sad that so much effort has to go in to "brand-building" just to be able to get paid for hoop analysis work, but this is the game these days

[Spintown]

Always preferred nbadraft.net anyways

[24istheLAW]

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.

Yep.

Producing good sports content is not a profitable endeavor.

And it won't be, even marginally so, at least until people start paying for it.

Why do you think Fangraphs sticks around? The readers subsidize it.

Fans want this stuff for free and they want it to be good. No sports site worth reading will be a growth asset. The least you can do it throw them a little every month to reward the labor of love.

[Veggamattic]

I find him to be unlistenable. People with lisps should be mimes.

[youngthegiant]

I find him to be unlistenable. People with lisps should be mimes.

So ugly people should wear masks? I hope you are still a teenager, otherwise grow up.

[Tai]

I`m surprised a lot of you guys are having issues with Person A etc joining ESPN.

Maybe its the younger crowd who's posting and doesn't know what it takes to run a website with free content for that many years...ad streams can only take you so far, and tons of people have ad-blockers on as well these days...

It does not mean whoever jumps ESPN etc are sellouts for doing jumping to a larger company, they`ve earned the right to finally get a big pay-check and take care of themselves and their family, and frankly I'm shocked it took 14-years? to finally get there. You would turn down a big pay-check as well? due to principle etc, not liking ESPN?

Maybe the complainers in this thread should open up their own bball website and see how tough it is to pull it off, instead of wondering where they will get their free content next...

Seriously, as young guy myself, even I acknowlege the grind isn't respected as much as people claim it is. They'll knock the hustle to serve their narrative anyday.

As someone into games, I wandered into a panel at PAX where it was being discussed the best way to freelance write for gaming websites, and one thing made clear by a panelist was to get out of the "doing it for free" business, and have set rates, or you'll be abused forever. So it's not just sports journalism, but seemingly journalism these days in general.

If people really value the content Draft Express provided, then yes, someone else SHOULD look to take the helm, especially knowing the results. Something I always have to remind myself is that opportunity is always out there, if you're truly on the lookout for it, but you better actually be on the lookout cause chances are someone else is too.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

ESPN is going to ruin all the great writers.

[21/20/10/8]

He certainly put in his blood sweat and tears into something... from draftcity.com,then tx, and now the big time... ESPN.

Good for him.

[Veggamattic]

I find him to be unlistenable. People with lisps should be mimes.

So ugly people should wear masks? I hope you are still a teenager, otherwise grow up.

Sthorry about your impediment.

Sorry you still don't know how to engage in discourse like an adult. Strike.

- Sammy

[Veggamattic]

I find him to be unlistenable. People with lisps should be mimes.

So ugly people should wear masks? I hope you are still a teenager, otherwise grow up.

Sthorry about your impediment.

Sorry you still don't know how to engage in discourse like an adult. Strike.

- Sammy

What a bunch of nonsense. I bet you are really young aren't you? There was no personal attack here at all. I am sure this has to do with a message I made about lisps. I am allowed to have an opinion about reporter who lisps. It is exactly the same as not liking a basketball player who limps. The response I sent to the overly sensitive guy who decided to call me immature or whatever it was was not a personal attack. It was a joke. His impediment was not being able to get the nuance of what I said. You clearly have the same impediment. You are both the type of people that get your thrills by looking for comments to righteously demonize. You need to stop being a simple minded social justice warrior.

[Chinook]

I see DX aren't the only ones getting ready to close down.

[Hoopz Afrik]

There will be a void now that ESPN bought out a competitor. Maybe some posters from this site could make a new draft site to fill that void, I remember givony asking for writers on this board when he first started up.

I like the way you think

[-Sammy-]

So ugly people should wear masks? I hope you are still a teenager, otherwise grow up.

Sthorry about your impediment.

Sorry you still don't know how to engage in discourse like an adult. Strike.

- Sammy

What a bunch of nonsense. I bet you are really young aren't you? There was no personal attack here at all. I am sure this has to do with a message I made about lisps. I am allowed to have an opinion about reporter who lisps. It is exactly the same as not liking a basketball player who limps. The response I sent to the overly sensitive guy who decided to call me immature or whatever it was was not a personal attack. It was a joke. His impediment was not being able to get the nuance of what I said. You clearly have the same impediment. You are both the type of people that get your thrills by looking for comments to righteously demonize. You need to stop being a simple minded social justice warrior.

Your post mocks people with speech impediments, which makes it a personal attack by definition; a personal attack doesn't need to be addressed to the person to whom you're directly responding to fit the definition. As an example, if I write something derogatory about you in a post addressed to someone else, it's still an attack on your person.

You are most certainly free to have an opinion on a reporter who lisps, as you stated; RealGM's user conduct policies don't infringe on that right. Among those policies, we don't allow personal attacks against other people, and it is in the interest of that policy that I moderated your post.

I hope this will settle the matter, but if you wish to discuss it further, please send me a PM. Thank you!

[Veggamattic]

Sthorry about your impediment.

Sorry you still don't know how to engage in discourse like an adult. Strike.

- Sammy

What a bunch of nonsense. I bet you are really young aren't you? There was no personal attack here at all. I am sure this has to do with a message I made about lisps. I am allowed to have an opinion about reporter who lisps. It is exactly the same as not liking a basketball player who limps. The response I sent to the overly sensitive guy who decided to call me immature or whatever it was was not a personal attack. It was a joke. His impediment was not being able to get the nuance of what I said. You clearly have the same impediment. You are both the type of people that get your thrills by looking for comments to righteously demonize. You need to stop being a simple minded social justice warrior.

Your post mocks people with speech impediments, which makes it a personal attack by definition; a personal attack doesn't need to be addressed to the person to whom you're directly responding to fit the definition. As an example, if I write something derogatory about you in a post addressed to someone else, it's still an attack on your person.

You are most certainly free to have an opinion on a reporter who lisps, as you stated; RealGM's user conduct policies don't infringe on that right. Among those policies, we don't allow personal attacks against other people, and it is in the interest of that policy that I moderated your post.

I hope this will settle the matter, but if you wish to discuss it further, please send me a PM. Thank you!

I already tried to send you a private message but you disabled that function for some reason.

[-Sammy-]

I hope this will settle the matter, but if you wish to discuss it further, please send me a PM. Thank you!

I already tried to send you a private message but you disabled that function for some reason.

Sorry about that! I didn't realize it was disabled. It should work now.