When NBA awards voting was announced, one voter had left Anthony Davis entirely off of their All-NBA ballot. Today, with ballots being released publicly, we learned it was ESPN’s Maria Taylor. She immediately took to Twitter to note it was an accidental mistake on her part:
Wow it’s been a long week. But if everyone would now like to take away my voter privileges because of a CLEAR mistake. Please feel free.
— Maria Taylor (@MariaTaylor) September 19, 2020
Considering Davis made the first team anyway, it’s hard to look at it as anything that consequential. And considering the week Taylor has had, dealing with the fallout from a gross, sexist comment about her appearance that led to Chicago radio host Dan McNeil getting fired, you’d think people would have been inclined to let this one go. Sure, Laker fans on Twitter were going to get their stupidity in, but when it came to people actually in media, it hardly seemed worth mentioning.
Enter Doug Gottlieb.
Why does Maria Taylor have a vote? Real question. She is a studio host/sideline reporter in her first year covering the NBA. She works a ton, not just on the league. No reason for her to have a vote https://t.co/Sy2M2jW9Pb
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) September 19, 2020
Taylor, understandably given her week, wasn’t having it:
Because I PLAYED basketball…I COVER the league. And I DESERVE everything I’ve worked hard for. https://t.co/JwLjk6dsb9
— Maria Taylor (@MariaTaylor) September 19, 2020
Players like Donovan Mitchell and other members of the media agreed:
Because she knows what she talking about … and worked hard to get where she at… and hooped…. y’all really gotta stop trying @MariaTaylor its corny! https://t.co/p9g6pSIftB
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) September 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/ThisIsJMichael/status/1307440128445554694
this was from the last moron, but evergreen advice here: @MariaTaylor ain’t the one to try. not now. not ever. pic.twitter.com/lieLzLPFuZ
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) September 19, 2020
Honestly
— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) September 19, 2020
Gottlieb, meanwhile, decided to double down while also insisting he wasn’t being sexist and that it was instead about ethics in NBA awards voting, or something.
.@MariaTaylor these feelings are reserved to you or women. Hosts are there for opinions. Ernie, Kurt Menafee, James Brown are all great at what they do.. but they aren’t analysts paid for their opinions. https://t.co/oG4rrdpnrs
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) September 19, 2020
It ain’t sexist. Don’t care that she is a wonderfully talented woman. In covering the NBA – to be a host, one who is working all over the place, she is being asked to do something she isn’t the most qualified to do. Period https://t.co/eZXn1LVwv3
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) September 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1307414359950336000
It should be noted that Taylor played college basketball at Georgia, which apparently isn’t enough for Doug. It’s almost like he’s making a disingenuous point for the sake of getting attention! Let’s see if there are any other clues that’s what’s happening…ah, yes:
.@rachelbonnetta you are hilarious, I like the show, enjoy your skits. But this is like you giving gambling advice(@ClayTravis too). That would be ignorant https://t.co/eZXn1LVwv3
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) September 19, 2020
Gottlieb also attempted to hit Taylor over the Anthony Davis thing, which again, was clearly not a conscious thing. (And the rest of her ballot was totally fine, too.)
By the way. If you didn’t vote for Anthony Davis, the statistically best player (and a plus def) on the team with the best record in the West 1/2/3rd team all #NBA you have a pretty in-defensible position… but feel free to take shots at stance which most in my field agree w/.
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) September 19, 2020
Here’s perhaps the crux of Gottlieb’s attempted point, which he continued to attempt to make:
Studio hosts don’t give opinions. Analysts do. Panel of voters should be all former players, coaches, execs and current analysts. Doris yes. Maria No. this isn’t hard https://t.co/6hKt7p4mzm
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) September 19, 2020
The problem with that, of course, is that it’s incredibly difficult for a woman to get a job as an analyst covering the NBA. Gottlieb’s plan would essentially take awards votes away from all but Doris Burke and Candace Parker, and there weren’t that many women voting to begin with. A less diverse array of voices is never a good thing, but that’s what he apparently wants.
If you want to have a debate about the media voting on NBA awards, especially considering how All-NBA status and other awards have potentially huge contract implications for players and teams, that’s certainly a discussion worth having. But that’s not the discussion Gottlieb wants to have. Unfortunately for him, the conversation he ended up getting wasn’t the one he wanted either. There was never a good time for him to try to make this point this way, but this week of all weeks?
Not smart.
