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Beck came up as a newspaper beat reporter himself, covering the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty around the turn of the century and then the scandal-plagued New York Knicks. He understands social media has reduced the need for micro updates from traveling reporters, but believes beat writers hold teams accountable over a season and capture a team’s essence better than any national voice can. “We have very specific jobs now,” he said. “The beat writer needs to be there to ask the question about, ‘Coach, why’d you make this substitution with two minutes left in the game?’ ‘Why did you run this particular play, why did this play not work?’ Somebody has to be there for all of that, and that’s the beat writers. “The folks working for the teams, they all have their own media arms; they’re not asking the tough questions or any real good questions at all. The beat writers need to be there for that. But also, it’s the rapport that you build up … you get a better feel for them than the person watching from home or the reporter doing overview stuff.”
“Shams is going to get like 90 percent of the scoops, including injury reports and trades when they happen, signings, coach hirings and firings. Fine,” Beck said. “The beat writers, once upon a time, in a more democratized environment … would probably be the first one to tell you, ‘This knee is actually going to require season-ending surgery,’ or, ‘This coach is getting fired tomorrow.’ That used to be the domain of beat writers. And now it is pretty much all going to one person.”
The latest project from Connor Schell’s Words + Pictures is a new content series not only starring future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul but also featuring Genius Sports’ data and technology. Paul launched his production company Ohh Dip!!! Entertainment with backing from Words + Pictures a year ago, and this new joint venture adds Genius to provide official NBA data and its visualization tech.
The initial plan is a digitally native program of 30-to-45 minutes launching later this year that’ll take viewers inside the strategy of basketball. Paul will host using the same Genius tech he used extensively in his playing career. Schell worked on the late Kobe Bryant’s “Details” while at ESPN, and that has been an inspiration for what is being planned here, said Nickole Tara, Words + Pictures’ COO and chief business officer.
Sarah Todd: Some very exciting personal news! I am overjoyed to announce that I have accepted the position as the new Timberwolves reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune! I'm so excited to be joining a staff of incredible journalists, to move to a wonderful city, and to cover a wildly interesting team!
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The 2026 NBA Draft was a memorable one for the Wolverines. Now, Michigan basketball fans will get a chance to relive it through Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade's new YouTube documentary series, "The Call: Hoopers," that will include Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara.
Episodes will be released weekly, and Johnson's episode is directed by Jess Speight, a former Michigan defensive lineman. The other four basketball players who will be profiled are Iowa's Bennett Stirtz, Texas Tech's Christian Anderson Jr., St. John's Zuby Ejiofor and Baylor's Cameron Carr.
Barstool Sports is bolstering its NBA coverage. Sam Vecenie, a senior NBA writer at “The Athletic” since 2017, is taking his “Game Theory Podcast” to Barstool Sports. Vecenie is moving to Barstool to partner with Ryen Russillo. He joined The Ryen Russillo Show on Friday morning to announce the move. Vecenie will continue to release “Game Theory” two days a week during the offseason. Once the NBA season begins it will move to a Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday schedule. He will also make regular appearances on the Russillo show. Steve Ceruti will be heavily involved in “Game Theory” in addition to his usual role producing and appearing on Russillo’s show.
Sam Vecenie: A few notes here from some questions already. Probably would have done this as a video but it's almost midnight here and I'm wiped. -Yes, I left The Athletic last Friday. Really appreciate my nine years there. I was one of the first 50 employees at the company. But I decided it was time to do something different. -No, I'm not planning on writing for now. Honestly, I feel like I need a break from it. I might feel differently in six months. What that means for a draft guide? IDK yet. I haven't made any decisions on that. We'll definitely be talking about the draft and prospects a lot on the show. -It's the same feed, same show as always. Nothing new there. Just three times a week in-season instead of two times per week like before. -Yes, Bryce will still be on the show, especially on Sundays. -No, Andrew is not coming with. Andrew told me post-Finals that he was stretched too thin and needed to move on. I am BEYOND grateful to him that he stayed on through the summer to produce the show. Again, can't emphasize enough: would recommend him to literally anyone. -Why team up with Ryen at Barstool? First and foremost, I've known Ryen for a while and trust him. Ceruti and Kyle are terrific producers. I also have friends at Barstool, all of whom speak highly of working there. I've been a fan for a while and really love how they empower and help their talent grow. -Now that this is announced, we move on to the most important thing this weekend, which is @OhioTate hopefully not dying from bed bugs while following around Mintzy in Oxford.
Brian Windhorst and The Hoop Collective are taking their podcast on a global tour in October, as the ESPN/Omaha Productions show will travel to Manila, Macau, and Melbourne. The ESPN NBA insider spoke to Front Office Sports about the impetus for the tour, if he was surprised that Adam Silver dropped the hammer on the Clippers, and several elements of LeBron James signing with the 76ers.
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Brian Windhorst: Unfortunately the war [in Iran] made Abu Dhabi not happen this year. And so I basically said, ‘Can I still do this because Macau—the Vegas Sands was interested in hosting—and ESPN Australia has NBA rights as legacy from the 20th Century Fox deal.’ So I’m going to go down and do one at a venue in Melbourne on a Friday night, October 2nd, and we’re going to be at this place called Courtside Melbourne. They have courts and shops and restaurants, and it’s like a basketball hub in Melbourne. And I’m going to attend a Melbourne United versus Cairns Taipans game, and I’m going to be a part of the broadcast. And then I’m going to go to Manila, and in Manila, where Disney+ has the NBA rights. We’re going to do a bunch of promotion in Manila and have a podcast on October 5th with some guests at all these places. And then we’re going to go to Macau. There’s two games in Macau on the 9th and 11th, and on the 10th in between, we’re going to do a live event at the Venetian in Macau. So I’ll have guests from the Rockets and Mavericks and other NBA people on.
Brian Windhorst: We’ve gotten really good response from live events in the U.S. and, to be honest with you, a few months ago, Pat McAfee was on an all-hands call and encouraged people to find ways to take their shows on the road because it’s been a great boon for his show. There’s so many positives with it and especially if you can get partnerships and I was already thinking of doing this but you know, there’s, McAfee, who has had a lot of success and so I definitely took his encouragement under advisement and we got this deal done.
"I am dying to know how Amazon year one went on the media side. Did you love it? Are you like, I am in this for a long time? How was the media side full-time?" Dirk Nowitzki: "It was hard at the beginning. I've been out obviously seven years out of the league, and so at the beginning, it was just trying to catch up. The players have turned over, the front offices, the coaching, and the style is all different. I played catch-up there for the first couple of weeks. I wanted to know all the teams that were on, so I was watching a lot of hoops and going back the next day and trying to analyze. I was freaking myself out a little bit there in the first couple of weeks."
Kyrie: Her name is HIND RAJAB💐🌷 🤞🏾🪶♾❤️ And She was more brave than every single one of you at ESPN