While the NBA world not so patiently waits to see if Damian Lillard gets moved this offseason, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo is already sick of the incessant reporting on the superstar guard.
Russo was on ESPN’s First Take Wednesday morning where the A block featured Brian Windhorst. And although Russo didn’t mind Windhorst being on the show, he would have had a big problem if the NBA reporter was there to give the latest on Lillard. When it came time for Russo to riff and rant on First Take, he expressed his disdain for the overwhelming amount or coverage Lillard is getting this offseason.
Mad Dog is just learning how ESPN covers the NBA offseason pic.twitter.com/RhDi69oxog
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 28, 2023
“He’s a great player. Enough of Damian Lillard, will ya please?” Russo began. “And this is for Windy, I don’t need to have a report every five minutes of where he’s going for crying out loud! Wake me up when it’s over…oh it drives me crazy!”
“A lot of guys have ended up on bad teams and they’re hall of famers. Have you heard of Oscar Robertson? He played on the Cincinnati Royals forever. We’ll live if Lillard has to stay in Portland. It’s not the end of the world. The NBA is not going to cease! Gee whiz, I can’t take it! Next week, get it over with! I don’t want to read another story, another podcast, listen to another GM, or another ESPN reporter breaking down where Lillard’s gonna play next year. MOVE ON!”
Although Domonique Foxworth was in the background chiding Russo’s rant for bordering the “shut up and dribble” line of thinking, Dog’s gripe seemed to be more about the coverage of Lillard than it was Lillard himself.
But welcome to the NBA offseason, which is often more compelling than the regular season. And welcome to ESPN in the summer, where Russo will have to deal with the NFL and NBA offseasons taking precedence, even as his beloved Major League Baseball is in the heart of its regular season. If there’s an opportunity to give an “update” on an NBA superstar during the dog days of summer, ESPN will shrewdly relish creating those headlines.
