The broadcasting-to-coaching pipeline is ripe.
It’s even more ripe if you have zero coaching experience — looking at you, JJ Redick. But that doesn’t mean that pathway’s for everyone. This comes when we could see significant changes in the NBA broadcasting landscape, as Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT Sports are likely to lose their NBA media rights, with NBC, Amazon, and ESPN poised to be the presumed broadcasters.
That could mean someone like Reggie Miller has to figure out his immediate future. When talking about Charles Barkley’s recent retirement announcement, the former Indiana Pacers star quipped that it could be retirement for everyone at Turner Network following the 2024-25 NBA season.
That was said tongue-in-cheek and perhaps somewhat extreme, but Miller isn’t naive.
He knows that something will have to give one way or another.
The 58-year-old Miller recently participated in a Q&A with Sports Illustrated’s Liam McKeone and was asked about Redick’s ascension from NBA on ESPN broadcaster to Los Angeles Lakers head coach.
Here’s what he told SI:
“Think about it. Other than actually coaching or being an assistant coach, I think the role as a basketball analyst, your job is to break down film, break down tape, break down the game. From our standpoint we see all 30 teams if you’re lucky. You see all these coaches, different schemes, different gameplans. You’re seeing the game at the highest level. On top of that, you’ve played the game at the highest level. I think JJ is going to bring that expertise, having seen all these different coaches and elite teams. He’s a lifer in terms of basketball if you’ve listened to his podcast, was one of those guys who was kind of like me, stayed in the gym and worked on his craft. I think he’s going to bring that mindset.
At the end of the day, it’s nice to have the luxury of a LeBron James and Anthony Davis, two guys that have won championships to lean on. I think at times he’ll probably take his lumps. But he’s hired a very experienced coaching staff. He’s surrounding himself with guys with a lot of NBA experience. Especially Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan. Those guys have been around the block a few times. He’s going to lean on them as well and at the end of the day the basketball gods will have the last say on whether he’s ready or not, right?”
But perhaps Miller’s most intriguing answer came in the follow-up. McKeone asked Miller if that were a leap he’d ever considered taking, like Redick .
“No. I don’t think I have the temperament or the patience to coach,” Miller said. “I don’t have the patience. I don’t. I know I probably could, but I would invest too much in it. Very much the same in how I invest a lot in my two passions now, being an analyst and cycling. If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to go all in. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to do it.”
What could’ve been…
Could you imagine Miller coaching a game at MSG?
[ SI ]
The post Reggie Miller says he doesn’t have the temperament or patience to coach appeared first on Awful Announcing .
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