During the summer, the prevailing NBA media style transforms from the thoughtful, long-form columns of the season to short-form, rumor-fueled tweets. It’s not necessarily a surprise, given that there simply is not nearly as much source material to pull from when putting together stories, and NBA fans often just want to hear about who their favorite team is targeting rather than a whole treatise on the virtues of one free agent.
In 2014, this competition to break news has reached new heights. The free agency of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and many others has created an environment where the many NBA writers rush to their sources in order to drop the latest piece of information. The immediacy of Twitter has fueled this climate of rampant anonymous sourcing, and it’s fair to wonder where all this information is coming from.
Sometimes, the “source’s” information is totally wrong. Sometimes, as in the case of Chris Broussard last Friday, it comes comically late. The question really is: which reporters can you trust? While these people are all excellent and very good suppliers of league-related intel, we’re Ranking The Most Popular NBA Writers and Their "Sources."
During the summer, the prevailing NBA media style transforms from the thoughtful, long-form columns of the season to short-form, rumor-fueled tweets. It’s not necessarily a surprise, given that there simply is not nearly as much source material to pull from when putting together stories, and NBA fans often just want to hear about who their favorite team is targeting rather than a whole treatise on the virtues of one free agent.
In 2014, this competition to break news has reached new heights. The free agency of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and many others has created an environment where the many NBA writers rush to their sources in order to drop the latest piece of information. The immediacy of Twitter has fueled this climate of rampant anonymous sourcing, and it’s fair to wonder where all this information is coming from.
Sometimes, the “source’s” information is totally wrong. Sometimes, as in the case of Chris Broussard last Friday, it comes comically late. The question really is: which reporters can you trust? While these people are all excellent and very good suppliers of league-related intel, we’re Ranking The Most Popular NBA Writers and Their "Sources."
15. Jeff Goodman
Affiliation: ESPN
Twitter followers: 121,495
ESPN's Jeff Goodman covers all levels of basketball, and as a result has sources in a wide variety of areas. His unique knowledge of all levels gives him an interesting perspective, but also dilutes the concentration of sources he has for NBA matters. He will usually be able to chime in with details on a major story, but is not often the one leading the way.
14. Brian Windhorst
Affiliation: ESPN
Twitter followers: 228,048
For a while, it seemed like Brian Windhorst's main role at ESPN was simply to shadow LeBron James and report on basically anything he did. And, honestly, that is just giving the people what they want. Fortunately for Windhorst, that role has expanded some, and he now is all over any news regarding the Miami Heat. He is still expanding his national profile, and with LeBron now in Cleveland he'll have at least two cities to report on.
13. Chris Broussard
Affiliation: ESPN
Twitter followers: 925,110
Chris Broussard is an excellent reporter. He breaks a lot of stories because of his "sources," and seems to be especially connected to the players themselves. But this moment after LeBron's Cleveland decision had already been published was pure comedic gold:
What do we think he was looking at on his phone? The SI story? Twitter? We'd love to know.
12. Ric Bucher
Affiliation: Bleacher Report
Twitter followers: 517,844
Now with Bleacher Report after a long run at ESPN, Ric Bucher lives in the Bay Area and is very plugged in with all the west coast teams. However, he also had a major "source" related gaffe a couple weeks ago when he erroneously reported that Miami and Toronto were set to sign-and-trade Kyle Lowry to the Heat, with Chris Bosh ultimately returning to the Raptors and Miami chasing Carmelo Anthony.
Obviously, that one didn’t happen, and the next day he took to Twitter to apologize.
11. Frank Isola
Affiliation: New York Daily News
Twitter followers: 78,265
Covering primarily the New York teams (and occasionally appearing on ESPN on Around the Horn) Frank Isola is very well connected when it comes to the Knicks. He has been on top of much of the Carmelo Anthony news, and has had a good sense of what Phil Jackson is doing as it happens. He doesn't do much in the way of national reporting, at least not unless the story somehow impacts the Knicks.
10. Lee Jenkins
Affiliation: Sports Illustrated
Twitter followers: 34,064
Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins earns a ton of points for getting the LeBron James story. Quite simply, Jenkins nabbed the biggest NBA scoop of the year, and obviously has a source who trusts him. While Jenkins isn't necessarily in the business of breaking stories as they happen, his in-depth reporting leads to longer form pieces (like the LeBron letter) that nevertheless do give new information.
9. David Aldridge
Affiliation: NBA.com
Twitter followers: 379,318
Formerly of ESPN and now most often deployed as a sideline reporter for TNT and writer for NBA.com, David Aldridge has been around the league for a long time and has ears in a lot of places. He's all over the free agency rumors, and is quite adept at getting the sort of specific salary figures that armchair capologists love to pore over.
8. Chad Ford
Affiliation: ESPN
Twitter followers: 308,881
The master of the draft, ESPN's Chad Ford must exhaust himself creating mock drafts alone. His sources include front office types for both NBA and international teams, and more often than not he gets it right in terms of what teams are thinking before, during, and after the draft.
7. Howard Beck
Affiliation: Bleacher Report
Twitter followers: 82,797
Another popular NBA writer poached by Bleacher Report, Howard Beck has used his former gigs at the New York Times and the LA Daily News to amass sources on both coasts. He has been in lock step with the other big hitters on the huge stories like LeBron's return to Cleveland, Chris Bosh's dance with the Rockets, and seems to be able to collect little pieces of information that few others can.
6. Zach Lowe
Affiliation: Grantland
Twitter followers: 179,035
A long-form writer who spends much of his time breaking down the games themselves, Grantland's Zach Lowe has grown increasingly more plugged in to front office types in recent years. He seems to have been able to make a lot of contact with both coaches and GMs around the league, and was one of the first to predict big things for Indiana in 2012-13 even when they weren't playing at their best.
5. Marc Spears
Affiliation: Yahoo
Twitter followers: 236,711
Marc Spears doesn't always break huge stories for Yahoo, but what he does do exceptionally well is mine for new, interesting nuggets of information. Just yesterday, he got Chandler Parsons to tell him that the Rockets "offended" Parsons with the way they dismissed him as a potential third "star," and Spears has also been on top of many of the more minor free agent signings this summer.
4. Ramona Shelburne
Affiliation: ESPN
Twitter followers: 95,931
Ramona Shelburne was all over the Donald Sterling story, and for that alone she deserves plenty of praise; being able to report on that mess in a coherent, (relatively) impartial way certainly had to be quite a challenge. She is particularly plugged into the Los Angeles scene, and this offseason has had a lot of information regarding the Pau Gasol situation.
By nature of being tied to ESPN, she's also becoming more of a voice on the national scene as well, and was on the front lines of the courtship of Chris Bosh.
3. Chris Sheridan
Affiliation: Sheridan Hoops
Twitter followers: 105,729
Who exactly are Chris Sheridan's sources? We have no earthly idea, but as anyone who was closely monitoring the LeBron James situation can tell you, Sheridan was by far the first one to "confirm" the reports that he was heading back to Cleveland. A lucky shot in the dark, or does he have some very well-connected people? It's tough to say either way, but considering that he was right, it's hard to dispute that the former ESPN reporter sure is right a lot of the time.
2. Marc Stein
Affiliation: ESPN
Twitter followers: 458,072
ESPN's Marc Stein is at the front of a lot of news, especially surrounding the Texas teams. A former beat writer for the Mavericks, he's a go-to for any news surrounding Mark Cuban, Dirk Nowitzki, or any other current or former Mavs players. While he certainly has plenty of sources in Texas, he does an excellent job grabbing national stories as well, although not always on the biggest names.
1. Adrian Wojnarowski
Affiliation: Yahoo
Twitter followers: 751,075
If it seems like Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski gets the jump on everyone with big stories, that's because he almost always does. Woj is incredibly connected around the league, and right now is probably the quickest at getting a story published with all the pertinent details. His "sources" are at all levels of organizations, from ownership to GM to players. If you must follow one reporter for breaking news, it should be Woj.