Do big men have an advantage as basketball announcers and commentators? ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins believes so.
Ahead of the NBA Finals, which will begin in Boston on Thursday, June 6, Perkins did a media conference call. One of the questions was, “Why are big men good as analysts and commentary? What’s your take on that?”
Perkins responded, “Well, because one, big men just have better personality than guards do,” he said (H/T Ronce Rajan, espnpressroom.com). “That’s it. That’s number one. We’re authentic.”
He then explained it in more detail.
“I think when you think about big men, we have to have a certain type or level of personality because every room since a kid we walked into, we always get these unwanted conversations. We get these conversations about oh, man, you’re tall as hell, how tall are you, and then you vibe into these conversations with strangers that you don’t know. So eventually you learn to have this personality because a lot of guys that are big and tall, like you’re shy. Like they’re usually shy and they have to grow out of it.”
Perkins specifically named TNT stalwarts Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley but also cited the work of relative newcomers like Udonis Haslem, Brendan Haywood and Channing Frye.
“But it also shows that we also know the game, as well. I think that’s also a problem that we have in the coaching space when it comes to head coaches in the NBA because if you look at it, you don’t see big guys walking up and down the sidelines being head coaches. They don’t really get a fair shot. All it is is like shooting guards and point guards. Like they’re the only persons that know the game of basketball.”
[ESPNPressRoom.com, Photo Credit: ESPN]
