The World Wide Leader in Sports known as ESPN globally established themselves with past legends and media personalities who covered the NBA.
From the late Craig Sager to Stuart Scott, one man defined NBA coverage under the radar getting an in depth exclusive to the realm of Michael Jordan’s Bulls Dynasty in the 1990s’.
Former ESPN sideline reporter and current Director of Sports Journalism at Northwestern University J.A. Adande sat down with us to speak on his podcast with Jack McCallum entitled The Dream Team Tapes: Kobe, LeBron & The Redeem Team.
Adande who was inspired by five-time NBA champion Earvin “Magic” Johnson pursued a career in sports journalism leading to his coverage of the NBA in the early 90s’.
Not only did Adande get a chance to draw closer to Magic and learn about the NBA Finals through his lens, he spent time with him watching NBA games in the NBA suite getting insight.
If it wasn’t for Magic’s style of play, we wouldn’t see Adande dish out post-game questions to NBA players like Magic dished out assists to his teammates.
However, one moment Adande cherished was the 2008 U.S.A men’s basketball Olympic team recovering from the 2004 loss in Athens to Argentina.
It wasn’t the 118-107 win over Spain led by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony which intrigued Adande.
“The Nike commercial with the Marvin Gaye version of the National Anthem. It shows them running around the court, training and preparing…and something about that just captured me.”
Four-years after 2008, the U.S. A. men’s basketball Olympic team found themselves in London with LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant as the dynamic trio defeating Spain once again for the gold. If the 2008 team lost and they captured the gold in 2012, the assessment by media of the 2008 roster would be criticized worse than the 2004 team.
“It would’ve been the delayed redeem team (2012). It’s funny because they were calling it the redeem team even before they won it. That was a label put on the 2008 team and that was their mission (redemption). They all bought into and they embraced it…it certainly was a byproduct of the 2004 team. You wouldn’t have seen this team in this formation had it not been for the loss in Athens in 2004. That caused wholesale changes.”
No man on the U.S.A. team was destined to redeem himself like the late Kobe Bryant. After a devastating 2008 NBA Finals loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 6, Bryant went on to fulfill his legacy capturing back-to-back NBA titles in 2009 and 2010.
Adande broke down the mindset Bryant had in the early 2000s, Game 7 Western Conference Finals vs. the Portland Trail Blazers and his relationship with former Lakers head coach Phil Jackson.
“It’s more symbolic than significant because they were going to win that game regardless of those two points Shaq scored on a dunk. The fact that Kobe given the opportunity he could’ve shot it himself but he passed to Shaq.”
Bryant struggles alongside Jackson stemmed from an internal battle of Bryant hesitance to put others over him and the nasty 2004 NBA Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dream-team-tapes-kobe-lebron-the-redeem-team/id1498713408
Adande personally knew Bryant and covering him only solidified Adande’s greatness with delivering stories captivating fans on every decision, emotion and idea Bryant delivered.
Since Adande’s time as a panelist on ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption, he enjoys giving back to his Alma mater Northwestern University in Chicago.
“It was a chance to do something for my Alma mater. It was a chance to help other people pursue their dreams. I’ve gotten everything I could’ve imagine out of this career and more. I would love to see other people be able to say the same thing 20-25 years from now that it started at Northwestern.”
Without Adande’s contribution to the sports world, what would consistency look like had he not emerged as one of the premiere talents to grace media coverage?
Some ESPN legends say goodbye for good but it’s personal for Adande who’s proven you can give back to the youth.
