Are you OK with Grant and Jerry seeming to favor the other team and the refs over the Kings?

[IfAt1st]

I caught the Pistons game on DVR, and I'm gonna take this opportunity to try to start a discussion about our "home-team" announcers:

What the hell is wrong with Grant and Jerry?
Not only are they the most anti-homer announcers I know of in the NBA (they regularly gush over the competition and obsess/nitpick over their own players), but their incessant crony support of the refs is reaching absurd levels.

With 1:30 left in the game and the Kings only down 7, their own player (Rudy Gay) drove past his man for the layup and was blocked at the rim by Aron Baynes.
Now, normally people watching the #2 team scorer drive for the layup and see the back-up big man flying over at the last second, will assume there was contact.
Remember, this was the Kings smooth near-All-Star level driver getting past his man and only having to negotiate the back-up big man because Demarcus had forced 5 fouls on Drummond (the opposing starting big man). This should have been seen as the Kings applying pressure on the weak link of the opponent and succeeding in getting them out of position and getting within 5 points with 1:30 left to go.

Nope - Grant immediately called it a blocked shot, and Jerry then started narrating the play "See, watch Rudy drive for the apparent lay-in but here's Baynes coming from off the ball and gets a lot of leather..."

Mind you, Jerry didn't see the replay before he started this wording/narrative.

Jerry continues as the replay shows the contact, "That looks like he does get the ball before he gets Rudy, so that's a legit block."

Problem here is: it was a clear foul. The replay that Jerry is talking over (but apparently not bothering to watch critically) shows Baynes slapping Rudy's hand and NOT getting any of the ball.

Your Kings announcers are not even bothering to call a fair, remotely-objective game - they are simply acting as mouthpieces for the league, for the team, and for their biases to grind whatever axe they want to by focusing on the good plays of some players and on the bad plays of others.
They weren't watching the true game or action on the court - they were narrating a story the way they wanted it to be perceived/remembered.

Because the officials called it a block, they immediately (and instinctively) reacted by framing their sentences to simply narrate how the call happened.

I don't know if there was a league directive that went down to the local NBA team announcers that told them to cut out the harping on officials when they make bad calls against the home team, but Grant and Jerry are the absolute first to jump on top of the grenade for the officials on almost every single play, game after game after game. This isn't an isolated incident.

What do you guys think of Grant and Jerry being one of the least homer announcers in the NBA, forever tearing down some of our team while constantly assuming the opponent played it right and that the refs "got the call right - as almost always"?

 

[KingsFanGER]

Supporting the Refs for me is part of Grants Anti Cousins agenda.
And Grant is actually a symptom of what is wrong with this franchise.
Yes more so than Demarcus Cousins.
No sports franchise, that has a healthy hierachy and solid leadership by owners and Fo guys would allow their employed colour analyst to run a radio show, where he constantly rips the Kings players and most of all the Kings star player, further fueling the “Cousins is a cancer“ narrative.
Not only does it hurt the chemistry within the franchise. This kind of behaviour hurts the Kings by diminishing their players market value.
In fact Grant hurt this franchise more than Cousins ever could. And he is allowed to do so.
So no I'm not even mildly suprised by our announcers sidelining with the refs even on obvious missed calls or raving about the other teams players.
It's just another sympton of the unbelievable missmanagement of this organisation from top to bottom.

 

[Siranthony]

Dude, what are they supposed to do? This team gives them nothing. The games have become a total farce.

I have noticed that Jerry just goes along with Grant most of the time for obvious reasons.

 

[New Era]

Constant bad mouthing the refs is boring and sheepish. I don't have a problem with them. Over the years, I think they've been pretty fair when it's come to critique of the officials. When we got screwed in the Lakers series 10 years ago, Grant went off on some of the referees involved, including calling Bob Delaney "gutless."

I think you are just looking for someone to blame other than the players. We stink. That's the bottom line.

 

[KingsFanGER]

Constant bad mouthing the refs is boring and sheepish. I don't have a problem with them. Over the years, I think they've been pretty fair when it's come to critique of the officials. When we got screwed in the Lakers series 10 years ago, Grant went off on some of the referees involved, including calling Bob Delaney "gutless."

I think you are just looking for someone to blame other than the players. We stink. That's the bottom line.

I don't exclude the players when it comes to responsibilty for our lost season. A lot of this is in fact on the players.
But what I can't stand is the classless act of Grant Napear, who preaches values but doesn't live up to them himself.
And it's not about blaming the refs or constantly bad mouthing, it's about pointing out missed calls and not constantly raving about the great jobs NBA officals do. I'll take biased but loyal guys like Heinsohn and Mike over the disloyal, backstabbing, cancerous Napear all day every day.
Ok I admit I don't follow Heinsohn much outside his announcing, but I never heard a bad word from him about any Celtics player. Yes he calls out bad plays, but usually he shows great support for his team. And even as he called out Rondo for slowing things down and being too ball dominant in Brad Stevens offense, he met with Rondo personally and offered advice. Grant Napear just goes on air in his radio show and rips the players apart in his usual "everybody be a good soldier" way, while he has only a friction of the basketball knowledge of Heinsohn. And what's even worse is the level of disrespect he shows towards anyone who disagrees with him. Napear is a fan with a job inside the franchise - nothing more. And Jerry sadly just turns to "funny" sayings like Quincy with the Doucy.....

A local broadcasting crew should show some support for their team and their players even under rough circumstances. That's the way it should be. Otherwise we can just turn to the national annnouncers of TNT....

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Dude, what are they supposed to do? This team gives them nothing. The games have become a total farce.

And yet, Gary Gerrould seems to be able to figure out how to be critical of the Kings, without verbally fellating the other team. So, why can't Napear and Reynolds?

... I have noticed that Jerry just goes along with Grant most of the time for obvious reasons.

What are the "obvious reasons," other than Reynolds not being good at his job?

 

[whozit]

Dude, what are they supposed to do? This team gives them nothing. The games have become a total farce.

I have noticed that Jerry just goes along with Grant most of the time for obvious reasons.

The team gives them nothing this year? Last year? Or the years before that? This isn't new with this TV broadcasting team. When the fans are fed up, why make the paying customers feel like even bigger fools for their continued support of this franchise? It's almost as they're so afraid of being called homers that by default they take the other side.

It got old a long time ago.

 

[New Era]

I don't exclude the players when it comes to responsibilty for our lost season. A lot of this is in fact on the players.
But what I can't stand is the classless act of Grant Napear, who preaches values but doesn't live up to them himself.
And it's not about blaming the refs or constantly bad mouthing, it's about pointing out missed calls and not constantly raving about the great jobs NBA officals do. I'll take biased but loyal guys like Heinsohn and Mike over the disloyal, backstabbing, cancerous Napear all day every day.
Ok I admit I don't follow Heinsohn much outside his announcing, but I never heard a bad word from him about any Celtics player. Yes he calls out bad plays, but usually he shows great support for his team. And even as he called out Rondo for slowing things down and being too ball dominant in Brad Stevens offense, he met with Rondo personally and offered advice. Grant Napear just goes on air in his radio show and rips the players apart in his usual "everybody be a good soldier" way, while he has only a friction of the basketball knowledge of Heinsohn. And what's even worse is the level of disrespect he shows towards anyone who disagrees with him. Napear is a fan with a job inside the franchise - nothing more. And Jerry sadly just turns to "funny" sayings like Quincy with the Doucy.....

A local broadcasting crew should show some support for their team and their players even under rough circumstances. That's the way it should be. Otherwise we can just turn to the national annnouncers of TNT....

Maybe the NBA officials do a pretty good job? Have you ever officiated basketball? It's the toughest sport to referee. What has Grant said that is factually incorrect? It's not his job to be a "homer" about everything. In fact, I can't stand announcers who are like that. The fact is, our franchise is a complete mess from the owner down to the star player. We are all frustrated. Is he supposed to act like a North Korean citizen and have a smile on his face about everything when everything around him is a joke?

 

[whozit]

Maybe the NBA officials do a pretty good job? Have you ever officiated basketball? It's the toughest sport to referee. What has Grant said that is factually incorrect? It's not h'sis job to be a "homer" about everything. In fact, I can't stand announcers who are like that. The fact is, our franchise is a complete mess from the owner down to the star player. We are all frustrated. Is he supposed to act like a North Korean citizen and have a smile on his face about everything when everything around him is a joke?

Grant is more likely to point out a bad call against the other team, "one the Kings got away with" rather than point out where the Kings got jobbed. Ask yourself what is Grant's default position with a certain player and what is his default position with the refs? Next time they are reviewing a call, listen to what they have to say and the position they stake.

 

[KingsFanGER]

Maybe the NBA officials do a pretty good job? Have you ever officiated basketball? It's the toughest sport to referee. What has Grant said that is factually incorrect? It's not his job to be a "homer" about everything. In fact, I can't stand announcers who are like that. The fact is, our franchise is a complete mess from the owner down to the star player. We are all frustrated. Is he supposed to act like a North Korean citizen and have a smile on his face about everything when everything around him is a joke?

North korean citizen? Really?
Hey to each their own. If you like the way Grant handles his job paired with his radio show - go ahead. I'm here long enough to realize, that there are different factions, who will never admit anything that isn't fitting their agenda.
We all know that there is a lot of unnecessary turnmoil with this franchise.
If Grant would actually point out things that we could improve on with solid arguments I could have respect for the guy. But instead he is on "lets blame all on Cousins" train and his basketball knowledge is not exceeding the "Cousins is such a cancer and therefore we are not winning" area.
With his constant bitching, disrespectful behaviour against Kings fans, that don't agree with him and childish rants he is part of the turnmoil of this franchise and I have lost any respect for this guy.
And I didn't ask him to be a homer - I asked him to point out obvious missed calls. And let's not start the NBA ref's debate. We would never agree.
And yes I played, officiated and volunteered as a trainer in youth basketball. I'm by no means an expert, when it comes to this sport and I would never act like I am, but I like to think I'm not completely clueless, even though I have to take into account, that my basketball days are long gone and there are differences in the way basketball is played and officiated in the NBA in regard to german amateur youth basketball

 

[rhythmless]

These guys were ranked third best for pbp and color? And you have a problem because they're not biased enough for our crap team? You want them to lie to fans and make a whole generation of idiot Kings fans that can't tell what a foul is? No thanks. I'm embarrassed when fans boo a great call because they don't know the rules or they don't care. I don't need more of those people.

Btw third best is the best we can get in any nba type category, so maybe appreciate that they're good at basketball instead of complaining that they're bad at babying us from reality.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

The definitive answer, for me anyway, is to bring Gary Gerould back to TV. At one point years and years ago, they had G-Man on TV and Napear on radio. At the very least, go back to that. G-Man has been with the team since the Sacramento beginnings and is a fantastic play-by-play guy. He's passionate about the Kings yet still neutral enough to not appear so overly biased one way or the other. I'd be ok with Jerry Reynolds as the color man, but if they didn't want to split up the pair, move Jerry over to radio with Napear and give Kayte Christensen the color chance that many here have been yammering for.

Regardless, the Kings have their best commentator on radio and need to bring him back to TV. I believe G-Man has even retired from doing autoracing, or at least reduced his workload significantly so that there shouldn't be as much of a conflict as there used to be.

 

[KingsFanGER]

These guys were ranked third best for pbp and color? And you have a problem because they're not biased enough for our crap team? You want them to lie to fans and make a whole generation of idiot Kings fans that can't tell what a foul is? No thanks. I'm embarrassed when fans boo a great call because they don't know the rules or they don't care. I don't need more of those people.

Btw third best is the best we can get in any nba type category, so maybe appreciate that they're good at basketball instead of complaining that they're bad at babying us from reality.

With all due respect, but after reading this thread again I really don't know, how you can come to the impression, that anyone wants our announcers to lie to Kings fans.
And where is the point in having local announcers, if they must be clearly objective in anything they say?

Once again let me use an example of the Celtics announcer team. When Sully came into the season and there were once again concerns about his weight, they did mention it in a light hearted and kinda funny way and ultimately came away with "hey if he always runs the floor like this, his weight doesn't seem like a huge problem and chances are he will lose it anyways by playing like this". Is this biased? Of course it is, because his weight is holding Sully back quite a bit from being a really superior player (although it helps him to carve out space as an undersized center). But I still prefer this style of dealing with those issues, instead of the announcers crapping all over the "fat" guy, who is so unprofessional, that he can't even handle his eating routine, only to cause fricition within the organisation, because the player surely wouldn't be happy to be treated that way.
Now ask yourself, what Grant would have done.....


In regards to foul calls - well Heinsohns ongoing feud with the way the NBA is officiating is a thing one has to get used to, when watching the Celts via Leaguepass. It surely was kinda strange for me first. But I get it. He is rooting for the Celtics and he is not afraid to really show it. Now sometimes it's ridiculous, when Heinsohn starts one of his tirades against a call, only to take a look at the replay a bit later and backing out of his claims. But I don't view this as lying to the fans. And make no mistake, when listening to this guy you learn a whole lot about the game of basketball. I honestly don't think he is making a generation of idiot Celtics fans.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

These guys were ranked third best for pbp and color? And you have a problem because they're not biased enough for our crap team? You want them to lie to fans and make a whole generation of idiot Kings fans that can't tell what a foul is? No thanks. I'm embarrassed when fans boo a great call because they don't know the rules or they don't care. I don't need more of those people.

Btw third best is the best we can get in any nba type category, so maybe appreciate that they're good at basketball instead of complaining that they're bad at babying us from reality.

If you're a fan of another team, and you tune in to watch your team play the Kings, all you'll hear is Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds slurping your team, and denigrating the Kings.

Gee, I can't imagine why fans of other teams like them so much? It must be because of how "honest" and "real" they are.

 

[206Fan]

What makes Jerry and Grant so good is the fact that they're unbiased.

I have no problem with them at all. I hate watching other teams on league pass and getting homer crap. Cousins gets fouled and they're like "come on. Such a flop". It pisses me off.

So I respect Jerry and Grant

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Nah, G-Man is unbiased. Napear is just biased in the opposite direction.

 

[VF21]

We had almost this same conversation quite recently:

http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/do-we-have-the-best-commentators-in-the-league.64898/

 

[LPKingsFan]

Nah, G-Man is unbiased. Napear is just biased in the opposite direction.

Gerould has also been fairly critical of the team recently.

 

[peacelate]

Grant only seems biased because of is radio show. If he wasn't on the radio, people wouldn't think he had some axe to grind while criticizing players on the TV side.

 

[VF21]

Gerould has also been fairly critical of the team recently.

What Gary Gerould does is a lot different than what Grant does. Kayte is also critical, but she doesn't make it into personal attacks. Grant seems to revel in doing just that.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Gerould has also been fairly critical of the team recently.

Absolutely. And that's why he's a hundred times better than Napear. G-Man manages to be critical of the team, without making Kings Fans feel like we're the ***holes, for continuing to watch. Something that Napear has yet to figure out.

 

[LPKingsFan]

What Gary Gerould does is a lot different than what Grant does. Kayte is also critical, but she doesn't make it into personal attacks. Grant seems to revel in doing just that.

What Grant does on TV, or on his radio show?

 

[VF21]

What Grant does on TV, or on his radio show?

Both.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Both.

Fair enough. Can't really say that I've noticed it (on TV--never listen to Grant's show unless there's some major breaking Kings news) but then again I haven't been looking for it, or, quite frankly, paying that much attention at all lately.

 

[Jeremy Fraser]

Nope. It's a breath of fresh air from typical Kings fan victim syndrome.

Also, the rampant "COUSINS CAN DO NO WRONG, HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE A LAZY BABY AND TAKE 8 SECONDS TO GET BACK ON DEFENSE BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HAVE THE COACH HE WAAAAANTS!! ! !! ! ! !" crowd is every bit as awful as Grant's "anti-Cousins" stuff.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Not "every bit" as awful...

 

[New Era]

With all due respect, but after reading this thread again I really don't know, how you can come to the impression, that anyone wants our announcers to lie to Kings fans.
And where is the point in having local announcers, if they must be clearly objective in anything they say?

Once again let me use an example of the Celtics announcer team. When Sully came into the season and there were once again concerns about his weight, they did mention it in a light hearted and kinda funny way and ultimately came away with "hey if he always runs the floor like this, his weight doesn't seem like a huge problem and chances are he will lose it anyways by playing like this". Is this biased? Of course it is, because his weight is holding Sully back quite a bit from being a really superior player (although it helps him to carve out space as an undersized center). But I still prefer this style of dealing with those issues, instead of the announcers crapping all over the "fat" guy, who is so unprofessional, that he can't even handle his eating routine, only to cause fricition within the organisation, because the player surely wouldn't be happy to be treated that way.
Now ask yourself, what Grant would have done.....


In regards to foul calls - well Heinsohns ongoing feud with the way the NBA is officiating is a thing one has to get used to, when watching the Celts via Leaguepass. It surely was kinda strange for me first. But I get it. He is rooting for the Celtics and he is not afraid to really show it. Now sometimes it's ridiculous, when Heinsohn starts one of his tirades against a call, only to take a look at the replay a bit later and backing out of his claims. But I don't view this as lying to the fans. And make no mistake, when listening to this guy you learn a whole lot about the game of basketball. I honestly don't think he is making a generation of idiot Celtics fans.

I'm not a fan of the style in which the Celtics announcers conduct themselves. I consider myself a student of the game and like to not overreact to things like calls, especially before seeing replays. If I wanted to listen to emotional reactions about everything in a game, then I'd let a few of my buddies come over, watch the game, and drink a lot of beer. You don't find that annoying that an announcer would go off on a call and then back off after seeing a replay? Makes them look amateurish.

Also, I don't think that Grant is constantly complimenting the officials. I think he's pretty fair about it. I've heard him say "that was awful" plenty of times on plays. I just think he has a respect for the job that NBA officials do and there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[KingsFanGER]

I'm not a fan of the style in which the Celtics announcers conduct themselves. I consider myself a student of the game and like to not overreact to things like calls, especially before seeing replays. If I wanted to listen to emotional reactions about everything in a game, then I'd let a few of my buddies come over, watch the game, and drink a lot of beer. You don't find that annoying that an announcer would go off on a call and then back off after seeing a replay? Makes them look amateurish.

Also, I don't think that Grant is constantly complimenting the officials. I think he's pretty fair about it. I've heard him say "that was awful" plenty of times on plays. I just think he has a respect for the job that NBA officials do and there is nothing wrong with that.

Well obviously we are a lot different in the way we approach watching basketball and general fandom. To me it's all about emotions during a game. Yes I drink some beer occasionally, but usually not that much. I mean when watching football in germany it's one game per week, so it's ok to have a few beer during the game. But with basketball....you can't drink beer every two days
I'm fine with announcers that get hyped up, are sometimes biased and are not afraid to show, that they are the local announcers of one NBA team. No need to be to objective. And no I think a guy like Heinsohn can say many things and would never look like an amateur. And to me it has a lot to do with sympathy, when someone can admit, that he was wrong.
But I admit, what's mainly bothering me with Napear is, that I can't stand people that preach values, but don't live up to them themselves. I hate that.
I mean I'm not a local, but I listen to Grants podcasts sometimes. And you just can't ask Cousins to mature and stop complaining and stop being emotional and than go on air and treat your callers in such a disgusting way on top of dragging the whole franchise through the mud.
Moron, stupid and idiot are not terms that belong in a conversation between adults. If you preach respect, have some respect first.

 

[pshn80]

No problem with their call of the games whatsoever. I like the info they tell me about opposing players and teams. I don't follow our opponents otherwise.

As for Grant, whatever he is on his talk show, he is not on game shows. I've always enjoyed him in both settings meaning I only turn off his talk show once in a while.

 

[ESP47]

Trust me, you don't want homer announcers. As a baseball fan, I loathe the Nationals announcers. The Braves were playing them one day and the 3rd basemen made a terrible throw to the first baseman. Bryce Harper was running toward first and the Braves first basemen jumped up, caught the ball, did a 360 and tagged Harper out, all while being in the air the entire time. The Nationals announcer said "What an athletic play by......Bryce Harper to try and avoid that tag!". It gets nauseating quickly.

I have no problems with how our guys call the game. They call it like it is. The Kings are a terrible team so their criticism of the team is warranted. I'd much rather them crap all over the Kings all game than watch through rose colored glasses while trying to gloss over the fact that they're terrible.

A few times a game Jerry will see the game through his old man eyes and miss the call but that's to be expected. For the most part they do a pretty good job of giving whatever team or ref accolades when they deserve it and criticism when they don't.