Robot sports writers are coming. In fact, some of them are on the job already. They get all of the statistics correct, they don’t pry their noses into players business, and their grammar is perfect.
I wonder if Kevin Durant will miss us.
This is the future he says he wants, isn’t it? When the Associated Press announced Friday it is using automated technology to write previews and recaps for thousands of basketball games per year, the timing was perfect. Just a couple of days earlier, Durant wondered aloud why the media couldn’t stick to writing about hoops.
I bet the robots will oblige him in that regard. As far as we know, nobody has programmed them to ask about the Knicks yet.
Look, it’s easy to sympathize with him. No world-class athlete enjoys being held accountable by doughy know-it-alls in rumpled khakis, and nobody dreams of standing in a room full of people asking for comments on rumors. It’s completely understandable why Durant would prefer to talk about the 23 points he scored against the Spurs on Wednesday instead of what he plans to do as a free agent this summer.
“Let us play basketball, that’s all I’m saying,” the All-Star Golden State forward said, bristling at questions about why he had declined to speak to the media for more than a week following the Knicks’ salary cap space-clearing trade of Kristaps Porzingis. “Now that I don’t want to talk to ya’ll it’s a problem with me? Come on man, grow up. Grow up.”
Again, this is not an entirely unreasonable position. It is at least a bit absurd that in the middle of a season in which Durant’s Warriors are in position to win a third consecutive NBA championship, more people are talking about what might happen in July than about the otherworldly Golden State lineup currently terrorizing the league.
But here is the catch. When Durant signs his next nine-figure megadeal, he will collect many of those millions precisely because of the public’s interest in the off-court stuff, not despite it. There’s a reason why the NBA has become a year-round sport, and why that league dominated much of mainstream sports discussion even during Super Bowl week, and it was not because Durant had improved the efficiency of his counter move in the post.
The league is popular because of the personalities, and because of the subplots, and because of the constant scheming, both by front offices hoping to assemble super teams and by players conspiring to join forces.
It is no coincidence that the NBA, the most open, media-friendly league in major professional sports, continues to surge in popularity while some of its counterparts encounter growing pains.
The NBA, more than anyone else, has embraced the spectacle, and many of the smartest members of the show understand why.
“We’re all actors in a soap opera,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr told reporters this week. “We really are. So we have to deal with that part of it. And also understand that that’s a big part of the revenue stream.
“The intense interest and passion that fans have for who’s going where, what team’s doing what. It’d be nice if everyone could just pay attention to pick-and-roll coverage, but gossip is more interesting sometimes and we’re all part of that.”
Do some reporters go overboard sometimes? Sure. There are a few muckrakers in this business, just like there are shady plumbers and callous teachers and unscrupulous accountants.
But the goal is to report the whole story — to provide as much context as possible — and this is where the human sports writers and Durant tend to come into conflict.
Let’s take the Knicks story as an example. If Durant had his way — if all of the coverage was just about basketball, and what happens on the court — then the media would have reported that New York traded Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee and Trey Burke to Dallas for two players and two draft picks. All of the stories would have mentioned only those players and picks, and how those two packages compared to each other.
But one cannot accurately or responsibly report on that trade without addressing why the Knicks did it. If coverage of that trade did not mention that the move freed up enough salary-cap space for the Knicks to sign a marquee free agent this summer, and did not mention that many league executives believe that they will use that space to pursue Durant, and did not mention that Durant has given no indication he plans to stay in Golden State beyond this season, then coverage of that trade would have been incomplete.
So yes, it was newsworthy when Durant blew off his contractually obligated media sessions for a week after that trade. It was appropriate to ask why he declined to talk. As Kerr said, it’s all part of the soap opera.
And if Durant wants someone simply to note his field-goal percentage, to chronicle his scoring runs and to note his assists, and to include that information in properly formatted sentences?
Well, the robots can do that now.
Twitter: @mikefinger
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