Media Figures Take Issue With Excessive Lakers Coverage

Also in Traina Thoughts: Mad Dog’s mad notes; Aaron Rodgers loves awful TV show; Cubs manager makes honest claim about NL Central; and more.

1. The Nuggets are headed to the NBA Finals after sweeping the Lakers, but when it comes to sports talk shows, Los Angeles is still the main focus. This is not sitting well with some prominent media figures.

Denver coach Michael Malone whined last week about his team not getting enough coverage, and he has some backup in ESPN’s JJ Redick and TNT’s Charles Barkley.

Redick complained on Tuesday's First Take that the Stephen A. Smith–led show, as well as other programs, didn’t talk enough about Nikola Jokić and focused too much on the Lakers.

"We don't do a good job of selling what the NBA is which is 30 teams, 450 players, multiple superstars. The fact that people are now being like, 'Oh, I didn't realize Nikola Jokic was good.' Let's put him on TV more! Let's talk about him!"

— JJ Redickpic.twitter.com/7eLHQ8GS9i

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 23, 2023

Later in the evening, Barkley shared his disgust that the talk after Denver’s sweep was on LeBron James’s future and not the Nuggets.

I'm a huge fan of both Redick and Barkley (even though I can't seem to get either of them on my podcast), but it was odd to me that they'd have this take. They both know how this business works.

The Lakers getting swept is going to be a bigger topic than the Nuggets sweeping. Fans and media are going to dissect LeBron’s “retirement” comment more than dissect the success of the Nuggets. 

It’s not the job of the hot-take shows and networks to prop up the Nuggets and Nikola Jokić. Their job is to generate ratings/engagement/interest.

This is the perfect case of “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

The game has been like this forever. It’s not going to change now.

2. One of the great things about Chris “Mad Dog” Russo is that he refuses to change with the times. He doesn’t use the internet. He still reads newspapers. And he still uses a pen and paper. Here are his “notes” from Wednesday’s episode of First Take.

3. Aaron Rodgers revealed Tuesday that he’s a big Jersey Shore fan. But that wasn’t even his biggest revelation. Apparently, Rodgers was so enamored with the show that he went to see Pauly D in person. 

4. I don’t know anything about FTX and crypto, but I know that Shaq is in some kind of trouble over it and I know that Steph Curry did a commercial for FTX, so when Shaq dropped this line on Curry on Tuesday night, the Warriors star was highly amused.

5. We always love it when an athlete or manager is honest and doesn’t try to b.s. us, so we’d like to shout out Cubs skipper David Ross.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with NFL VP of broadcast planning Mike North on putting together the 2023 schedule.

Just some of the topics covered: Which game did networks want the most? What’s the philosophy behind ESPN having staggered doubleheaders instead of straight doubleheaders? Is it true the league doesn’t want to waste great matchups on days when it’s guaranteed to have a huge rating? Will the league consider a team to be a permanent fixture on Black Friday? Why does the NFL feature the Raiders in prime time so much?

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I had no recollection of this 1996 Astros-Expos brawl until I saw it on TikTok on Tuesday night, and it’s an absolutely doozy.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.