From a 1987 Philadelphia Inquirer story about Cunningham taking over for Tommy Heinsohn as the lead national analyst at CBS: Upon leaving the coaching ranks, he took to broadcasting local and national games. When she is true to herself and her style, she’s downright fantastic.Ĭunningham was a longtime player and coach for the Sixers. I felt putting her in an all-time list would be making a statement I didn't want to make, and frankly, over the last few years, her cadence and pacing have become a bit sensationalized when calling games.īurke is a great studio analyst and a solid interviewer, but she allows the emotion of the game-certainly in her college basketball assignments-to gin up the excitement, almost in an effort to sound more like Dick Vitale or Bill Raftery than herself. She is fantastic, an absolute trailblazer for women in broadcasting and one of the nicest people I've had the chance to meet-many moons ago when she was doing high-level women’s college basketball games for ESPN. He had a few stints nationally with both NBC and ESPN, and he currently works as the vice president of communications and as an in-game announcer for the Indiana Pacers.īurke’s star is rising, and some might suggest she deserves to be in the Top 25 ranking. Bender was the play-by-play announcer for the Phoenix Suns for nearly 20 years.īuckner was a solid NBA player in his career and has proven to be just as solid as a broadcaster. Aldridge and Sager do the job very differently, but each is great in his own way.īender began his broadcasting career in the 1960s working football, baseball and basketball, including the first NCAA tournament on CBS and the 1981 NBA Finals with Rick Barry and Bill Russell. The nature of basketball-smaller playing surface, ability to listen to the huddle and hear chatter on the court and access to players and coaches usually willing to talk (Pop) during and after the game-makes the basketball sideline reporter a useful role, not just window dressing. and Sager, we felt it was important to recognize the role in a telecast and how it can be done right. This is also the first time, in any ranking we've done for any sport, that a sideline reporter is mentioned, but with both D.A. This is the first of many times B/R's partners at Turner will be mentioned. This is a brief acknowledgement of some of the names that deserve recognition in some way and that I couldn't fit in the final 25. Sorry in advance, Joe Tait fans.Īs with most of these historical lists, there were more than 25 names I wanted to include. Or they did, and I picked someone else instead. It probably just means that the list of industry experts I asked for help didn't mention him. As with any of our rankings, this is a purely subjective exercise, and if your favorite announcer or local legend didn't make the list, it doesn't mean he wasn't great. This is a look at some of the most memorable announcers in the NBA, with a strong focus on national television broadcasters, many of whom are still working today. Previously featured: NFL announcers, MLB announcers, and college football announcers. It's part of a series of announcers rankings from Bleacher Report. This list is confined (almost) to play-by-play announcers and color analysts. The NBA has a strong tradition of color analysts as well, some of whom became more known for their work calling the game than playing it. So who are those announcers? Like most professional sports, the NBA has had the fortune of being associated with some of the industry’s best play-by-play voices. The biggest moments, many of which come accompanied with the call from some of the industry’s best announcers, are etched in our minds forever. We love the game for the action on the court, the drama of a tight contest late in the fourth quarter and the excitement of a budding superstar having a career night on the brightest stage. Who among us doesn't dunk a crumpled piece of paper into the recycling with "no regard for human life"? What kid didn't grow up shooting hoops in the driveway and mimicking Marv Albert’s “Yesss.and it counts” every time the imaginary clock in his head wound down to one second to go with the game on the line? Is it possible that Charles Barkley is more important to the game of basketball as a studio analyst than he was as a Hall of Fame player? Where would Chick Hearn rank in terms of important members of the Los Angeles Lakers organization? Perhaps in the NBA more than any other major American sport, the announcers have been as much a part of the game as the players. The NBA has long been a star-driven league, from the days of Wilt and Russell, to the era of Larry, Magic and Michael, to more modern times of Shaq, Kobe, AI and the current generation of King James’ reign.
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