PDA

View Full Version : Everyone's favorite NBA analyst has a podcast... and JJ Redick was on it!



FerryFor50
01-27-2016, 09:14 PM
Of course, I'm referring to Adrian Wojnarowski

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-vertical-podcast-with-woj--clippers-guard-j-j--redick-142520273.html

huey
01-27-2016, 11:42 PM
Of course, I'm referring to Adrian Wojnarowski

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-vertical-podcast-with-woj--clippers-guard-j-j--redick-142520273.html

Mentioned it in the NBA thread but I agree it's big enough news to get it's own thread! Listened to it on the way back from work today. JJ was a great guest as always while Woj was deferential as always and getting the life story vs. the hard hitting questions. Thought I had misread about JJ getting his own podcast and thought it was just a nice interview but at the end they introduced his new Friday podcast. I think it'll debut next week.
They brought up several times that JJ is the first athlete of his caliber to have his own podcast during his active career. JJ described his training routine and I have no idea how he'll fit it in but I'm really looking forward to it. Love me some sports podcasts, and one by a fine former Dukie, even better. Hopefully he can get Blake on his first show!

Billy Dat
01-28-2016, 09:52 AM
Mentioned it in the NBA thread but I agree it's big enough news to get it's own thread! Listened to it on the way back from work today. JJ was a great guest as always while Woj was deferential as always and getting the life story vs. the hard hitting questions. Thought I had misread about JJ getting his own podcast and thought it was just a nice interview but at the end they introduced his new Friday podcast. I think it'll debut next week.
They brought up several times that JJ is the first athlete of his caliber to have his own podcast during his active career. JJ described his training routine and I have no idea how he'll fit it in but I'm really looking forward to it. Love me some sports podcasts, and one by a fine former Dukie, even better. Hopefully he can get Blake on his first show!

It would be EPIC for Woj to interview K, Polish Civil War!

As Ferry's note hints, many of us have a distate for Woj's anti-K pieces over the past few years, but I have been listening to his podcast since it launched and it is excellent. It is really interesting how the saturation of NBA coverage has led to different people carving out their particular lanes. Obviously Woj is at the top of the "insider breaking news" food chain where he catapulted to fame that year he tweeted every NBA draft pick before the names came out of David Stern's mouth. He has already had on a murder's row of front office guys and if you have any interest in how teams are run , how deals get done, the different approaches to player development and team building, it is really a must listen. True to his investigative nature, he also seems to be getting these guys to be extremely candid, the interview with Vinny Del Negro was especially interesting as Woj seems to be creating a space for guys to make known their perspective on some epic NBA hirings/firings and other incidents. Del Negro, for example, is kind of a "coach in waiting" and he was very candid about what happened at each stop along the way kind of in an attempt to clear his name. I think many of us who follow the NBA closely are Zach Lowe fans, and while Zach and Woj overlap with some of the front office interviews, I think Lowe's lane is a much deeper dive into Xs and Os and the mechanics of the salary cap and its impact on deals. Both guys are titans of modern NBA coverage and now that Woj is making a big splash with The Vertical (web site coming soon), it'll be interesting to see if a rivalry develops in terms of guests, positioning, etc. It feels like Bill Simmons' departure from ESPN created a pretty big NBA vacuum that has already been filled up. Simmons' lane is now squarely striding sports and entertainment and it kind of feels like he's given up trying to be the NBA guru because he doesn't have the bandwidth. In a lot of ways, he's becoming just another NBA voice when you compare it to the armada that Yahoo is building with Woj which is attempting to take on the ESPN army (Lowe, Windhorst, Haberstroh, Arnovitz, Elhassen, Stein, Abbott, Thorpe, Strauss, and on and on) not to mention the crews at Bleacher Report, etc. It's like the "Anchorman" battle of the various news teams.

But back to JJ - Woj and Chris Mannix were joking on the pod segment right after the JJ announcement that they are going to be putting big heat on him to deliver the insider goods - like the first Blake Griffin post-hand-break interview. It will be fun to listen to his evolution.

FerryFor50
01-28-2016, 10:30 AM
It would be EPIC for Woj to interview K, Polish Civil War!

As Ferry's note hints, many of us have a distate for Woj's anti-K pieces over the past few years, but I have been listening to his podcast since it launched and it is excellent. It is really interesting how the saturation of NBA coverage has led to different people carving out their particular lanes. Obviously Woj is at the top of the "insider breaking news" food chain where he catapulted to fame that year he tweeted every NBA draft pick before the names came out of David Stern's mouth. He has already had on a murder's row of front office guys and if you have any interest in how teams are run , how deals get done, the different approaches to player development and team building, it is really a must listen. True to his investigative nature, he also seems to be getting these guys to be extremely candid, the interview with Vinny Del Negro was especially interesting as Woj seems to be creating a space for guys to make known their perspective on some epic NBA hirings/firings and other incidents. Del Negro, for example, is kind of a "coach in waiting" and he was very candid about what happened at each stop along the way kind of in an attempt to clear his name. I think many of us who follow the NBA closely are Zach Lowe fans, and while Zach and Woj overlap with some of the front office interviews, I think Lowe's lane is a much deeper dive into Xs and Os and the mechanics of the salary cap and its impact on deals. Both guys are titans of modern NBA coverage and now that Woj is making a big splash with The Vertical (web site coming soon), it'll be interesting to see if a rivalry develops in terms of guests, positioning, etc. It feels like Bill Simmons' departure from ESPN created a pretty big NBA vacuum that has already been filled up. Simmons' lane is now squarely striding sports and entertainment and it kind of feels like he's given up trying to be the NBA guru because he doesn't have the bandwidth. In a lot of ways, he's becoming just another NBA voice when you compare it to the armada that Yahoo is building with Woj which is attempting to take on the ESPN army (Lowe, Windhorst, Haberstroh, Arnovitz, Elhassen, Stein, Abbott, Thorpe, Strauss, and on and on) not to mention the crews at Bleacher Report, etc. It's like the "Anchorman" battle of the various news teams.

But back to JJ - Woj and Chris Mannix were joking on the pod segment right after the JJ announcement that they are going to be putting big heat on him to deliver the insider goods - like the first Blake Griffin post-hand-break interview. It will be fun to listen to his evolution.

Woj also recently did a hit piece on LeBron after Blatt was fired.

Billy Dat
01-28-2016, 10:56 AM
Woj also recently did a hit piece on LeBron after Blatt was fired.

The Woj phenomenon is really interesting. Among writers, he is revered. When he put out what I deemed a take down on K last year, the one where he said he intentionally released a photo of himself visiting Paul George after he broke his leg as a publicity stunt, I put out a tweet or two saying he had it in for K and Laura Keely of the N&O shot back something along the lines of, "If Woj writes it, it's true". Then, when he wrote what I deemed to be a fluff piece about Cal and his Rupp-hosted NBA combine, I tweeted back that I though he was in Cal's pocket and many big time college bball writers including Jason King of BR and Mike Decourcy of TSN replied back shooting down that idea and, again, defending Woj. It almost felt like their reactions were half based on respect and half based on fear, like appearing to be on the wrong side of Woj was dangerous to their careers. Maybe so. There is something that made him sour on K, though. I would love to know what it is. I have postulated on these boards that he probably requested an interview when he did the (great!) book about Hurley Sr. and St Anthonys and something went wrong because everything he wrote about K was positive up until then and very negative afterwards, starting with his, to me, over-reaction to K calling David Blatt "a Russian" when Blatt said he thought the 1972 olympic gold medal game ending was completely fair. We may never know, but he's been forced t endure a lot of K love talk via his recent interviews with Kyrie and JJ. The Kyrie interview is excellent, by the way, you should check it out.

Tom B.
01-28-2016, 12:06 PM
The Woj phenomenon is really interesting. Among writers, he is revered. When he put out what I deemed a take down on K last year, the one where he said he intentionally released a photo of himself visiting Paul George after he broke his leg as a publicity stunt, I put out a tweet or two saying he had it in for K and Laura Keely of the N&O shot back something along the lines of, "If Woj writes it, it's true".

Of course, in that case, it turned out not to be true. My recollection is that George's family subsequently confirmed that they had released the photo, not K.

robed deity
01-28-2016, 12:38 PM
This article is old, but there may be something to the "fear" amongst other reporters theory.

https://newrepublic.com/article/120572/adrian-wojnarowski-how-basketballs-reporting-machine-gets-his-scoops

Billy Dat
01-28-2016, 12:59 PM
This article is old, but there may be something to the "fear" amongst other reporters theory.

https://newrepublic.com/article/120572/adrian-wojnarowski-how-basketballs-reporting-machine-gets-his-scoops

I had never seen that article, great find, and it suggests that his beef with K may be lack of access. It's like he misreports about someone/team as a way to try and get access, "You want the real story out there, talk to me!"

Owen Meany
01-28-2016, 02:31 PM
This article is old, but there may be something to the "fear" amongst other reporters theory.

https://newrepublic.com/article/120572/adrian-wojnarowski-how-basketballs-reporting-machine-gets-his-scoops

Thank you for finding this article. I remembered reading that many of his peers questioned his methods, but could not remember the source. I also remember 1 NBA reporter on record, basically saying Woj got his scoops by acting as a mouth piece for disgruntled players or coaches.

Wojnarowski was also responsible for the piece on Danny Ferry. I know Ferry generated less sympathy because he contributed to his own downfall, but I was no fan of Woj's piece on Ferry either, particularly when he stated that the questionable comments seemed to be Ferry's own interjections despite "Ferry's clinging to the story that the racially charged words belonged to someone else". I think Gearon used Woj in his attempt to take over the Hawks - although in the end I doubt he got the exact story he expected as it is clear that

Interestingly, as I looked back for the article I had read, I came across Woj's article when Popovich was named USA coach. In it, Woj adds the following (unmitigated bs) to his ongoing screed against Coach K

"Krzyzewski will finish his third tour as the national coach in 2016, and stay on as a "special adviser," which loosely translated means this: Krzyzewski will still have the access and influence to use USA Basketball's junior national teams to leverage his Duke recruiting. High school players committing to Duke understand they have a preferred path to making those under-18 and -19 rosters competing in international tournaments."

"Krzyzewski will no longer be able to get a Mason Plumlee on the World Cup team with Popovich as coach, but rest assured that Krzyzewski was fully behind the appointment of an NBA coach as his successor. Out of loyalty to Krzyzewski, Colangelo would've never afforded another college coach that influence as long as Krzyzewski stayed at Duke."

I made my feelings clear on Woj and his USA comments about Coach K in an earlier post discussing his article, so I will refrain from repeating my thoughts here - other than to say he is a dishonest shill who makes knowingly false statements up out of thin air and states them as fact. He dishonors his profession by doing so, and certainly deserves no accolades for doing so. He is a man with a vendetta, whether real or bought, who unfortunately has a platform to broadcast it. But that does not make him a great reporter. In fact, it makes him quite the opposite - he's a glorified gossip columnist who rents himself out to the highest bidder.

By the way, did he ever apologize for his slanderous comment about Coach K and Paul George that he made up out of whole cloth once it was debunked as absolutely false? Was he ever asked to?

KandG
01-28-2016, 02:41 PM
I go along with the general consensus that Woj is an excellent reporter on the ground who loves the NBA. His old school columnist tendencies and (self-professed) need to have a "take" on a story, however, means the worst of his articles are recklessly splattered with venom that is out of proportion to the actual facts he reports.

I'm genuinely looking forward to the Vertical to see what Woj has cooked up, and am thrilled that he's hired JJ. I've enjoyed his podcasts, even if he's a bit stiff as a host early on. I recommend listening to Katie Nolan's podcast from earlier this week where Wojnarowski was a guest -- Woj opens up about his background and how he reports. No matter what you think of him, it's a fascinating look at how an old school East Coast journalist evolved to become the force that he is now, and his thoughts on the profession are pretty interesting. (He also defends colleagues like Brian Windhorst, though he can't resist taking subtle shots at ESPN)

For those who occasionally need a cleansing reprieve from Woj's attitude toward Coach K, these old articles taking down Woj's hit piece on K are always an enjoyable read and worth revisiting (they were posted on a DBR thread after K led the last USA team to the FIBA World Cup):

Three Problems With Woj's Team USA Coach K Takedown (http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/9/15/6151651/3-problems-with-wojs-team-usa-coach-k-takedown)

A Live Reading of Woj's Latest Opus (http://www.grizzlybearblues.com/2014/9/15/6152751/live-tweet-reading-wojs-latest)