Skip to main content
SI

Traina Thoughts Mailbag: Steve Kerr, ‘Inside the NBA,’ MLB Network Gem and More

If the Warriors coach decides to move on, he will have plenty of broadcasting offers.
Jimmy Traina|
Steve Kerr called games for TNT for several years in the early 2000s.
Steve Kerr called games for TNT for several years in the early 2000s. | Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

Welcome to another all-mailbag Traina Thoughts. Thanks, as always, for the questions.

Kerr is still the head coach of the Warriors, but his future with the team appears to be up in the air, so this is all speculation at this point. If ESPN hires Kerr, he would absolutely be paired with Mike Breen on the lead crew. Kerr will demand a lot of money and networks don’t pay analysts the kind of money Kerr will get to be on a No. 2 crew.

There’s nothing wrong with ESPN’s current lead NBA booth of Breen, Richard Jefferson and Tim Legler, but it hasn’t set the broadcasting world on fire. If ESPN bumped Jefferson and Legler for Kerr, there would hardly be any backlash, unlike the situation when ESPN dumped Jeff Van Gundy a few years ago.

A lot has to happen, though, for Kerr to end up back in television. Even if he steps down as coach, he may want to take a year or two off to do nothing. However, if Kerr and Golden State part ways and he decides he wants to keep working, there will be a bidding war between NBC, ESPN and Prime Video. Kerr and Mike Tirico would become the best NBA crew if NBC could land him, although I’m sure NBC would just add Kerr to the current crew of Tirico and Reggie Miller.

The only thing any league cares about is money. Nothing will change that. The NBA just got $77 billion from NBC/Amazon/Disney. If those companies want to put the games on streaming services, the NBA is just going to nod in approval.

Brackets are why the NCAA tournament is so popular, and the unnecessary expansion to 76 teams just means that most people aren’t going to fill out brackets until the very last minute—right up until that noon tipoff on Thursday.

There is a zero percent chance that happens. Actually, there’s less than a zero percent chance.

I’m just going to answer this based on broadcasters from my time. For me, it’s John Sterling, Suzyn Waldman, Phil Rizzuto and Bill White. Jim Kaat was great for a number of years, and I loved Tony Kubek in the early ‘90s.

It is their year to get to the NBA Finals and then lose to the Thunder.

An absolutely impossible question to answer. If we’re talking episode, it might be the Curb when Larry trips Shaq. If you ask me this question tomorrow, it might be the Keith Hernandez two-part Seinfeld. The Bette Midler episode of Seinfeld is criminally underrated.

But if you’re asking for just a moment, just one singular moment, I choose this. Jason Alexander should’ve won an Emmy just for his delivery of, “In six games.”

I have no idea if these are considered underrated by the masses, but in my mind, the three for me would be:

Summer, Highland Falls
This Is the Time
All About Soul

I always used to say “Columbus Day,” when asked this question, but after rewatches, I don’t mind that episode manly because of the storyline where Bobby’s wife, Karen, was killed in the car crash. So, my least favorite would be “In Camelot.” That’s the episode when Tony finds his father’s old mistress at the funeral and then befriends her for the episode. I found that entire thing beyond boring.

And now some Instagram questions.

MLB Network’s Big Inning is one of the more underrated shows out there. Your take? – @biglouie16

You are 100% correct. I’m a huge fan of Big Inning. For those unfamiliar, Big Inning features four games at once in a quad box. The games rotate in and out and you get a taste of all the action that night. It’s also the perfect show for degenerate baseball bettors. It’s a must-watch for baseball fans who don’t have MLB.TV.

Is Inside the NBA done when Barkley decides to hang it up? – @johnkollom

Even if the show continued without Barkley, it would be done. This is no disrespect to Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, but Barkley is the heartbeat of that show. If he’s not there, Inside the NBA isn’t Inside the NBA. It’s a totally different show, despite the name staying the same. Think about the last two seasons of The Office after Steve Carell left. That would be Inside the NBA without Chuck.

Thoughts on Ryen Russillo going to Barstool? Big media story that I’d be curious for your take on. – @adamgismondi

I don’t want to disappoint you, but I don’t really have a take on this. Russillo left one massive sports media company for another massive sports media company. That tells me money was an issue. Maybe more creativity or control was a factor. I think it’s a “big media story” because Russillo is a very popular sports media figure and The Ringer and Barstool are big companies, but people jump ship all the time in this business.

What was your favorite John Sterling call? – itsameandyp

Which past sporting event or moment would you have wanted to watch in person? –@drew_nature_dogs

Tough question. Part of me wants to say that I would’ve liked to have seen a no-hitter in person. I can’t imagine what the build up is like in the ballpark.

Ironically enough, I had tickets to Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter in 1996, but ended up not going to the game because I went on a baseball stadium road trip with a group of friends. While Gooden was no-hitting the Mariners at Yankee Stadium, I was watching the Rockies play the Reds in old Riverfront Stadium.

As if missing the no-hitter wasn’t bad enough, I bet the over 8.5 in the Rockies-Reds game and the final score was 5-3.

If you want me to pick one game that I would’ve liked to have been at, I would say Game 4 of the 1996 World Series in Atlanta when Jim Leyritz did this.

Is there a current actor that you would watch in anything? – @amyroanne

No. No matter how much I like an actor, I would have to have interest in the film. I love Eddie Murphy, Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro, to name a few. Would I watch them in ANY movie? Absolutely not.

As a fellow Long Island bagel connoisseur, do you go toasted on your bagel orders? – @mikemarra_ny

If I’m in the mood for butter, I get the bagel toasted. If I’m in the mood for cream cheese, I get the bagel straight up with no toasting. And if the bagel is hot, I automatically get butter.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published | Modified
Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

Home/Media