Warriors TV broadcast team rated as worst in NBA by national fan poll

[sonnyhill]

Fitzgerald is awful, a homer. Azubuike is actually knowledgeable.

https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/bob-fitzgerald-kelenna-azubuike-worst-nba-fan-poll-19435695.php

[b]Warriors TV broadcast team rated as worst in NBA by national fan poll[/b]
By Gabe Fernandez
May 2, 2024

Golden State Warriors broadcasters Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike have made a name for themselves among basketball fans for all the wrong reasons.

Sports media blog Awful Announcing published a ranking of all 30 broadcast teams around the NBA on Wednesday based on a poll of hundreds of fans. Participants assigned teams grades of A through F (skipping E). Coming in at dead last was the Golden State duo. Of the 562 fans that graded Fitzgerald and Azubuike, nearly 60% gave them an F, by far the highest proportion of any broadcast team, and their GPA was 0.91. For context, only two other teams broke the 30% barrier of F’s: the Philadelphia 76ers (ranked No. 29, 37.26% F) and the Boston Celtics (ranked No. 27, 35.27% F).

This is the third edition of the blog’s quadrennial fan-sourced NBA rankings. The Warriors’ broadcast team received their highest rankings during the first ranking in 2016, when Fitzgerald’s partner was Jim Barnett, at No. 14. The second ranking came out in 2020, one year after Azubuike became the broadcast’s full-time analyst. They tumbled all the way to 27th.

It’s worth noting that fans could assign grades to any broadcast group, regardless of whether they support, or even follow, the teams those groups respectively cover. Even if disdain for the Dubs’ success over the last decade made its way into some grades, there’s hardly a conspiracy here: the reputation of Fitz and Buike precedes them. Their style of obnoxious homerism has even rubbed Warriors fans the wrong way, and whenever they’re on the call for viral moments, non-Golden State fans can’t help but recoil at the commentary regular viewers may have grown numb to.

There’s no incentive to change things given how things are going with the only performance metric that matters: Nielsen ratings. While numbers across the league aren’t great, the Warriors keep bringing in eyeballs at steady-at-worst rates.

However, even if these fan votes were to translate into poor ratings, this is likely just how things will be for Golden State games for the foreseeable future. As The Athletic’s Steve Berman reported in 2021, Fitzgerald has received support from Warriors star Steph Curry and owner Joe Lacob. Those are ultimately the only two sets of eyeballs that matter.

[dk1115]

I honestly don't care about how fans of different teams rate the broadcasters. It's supposed to be catered towards Warriors Fans.

[Jester_]

I honestly don't care about how fans of different teams rate the broadcasters. It's supposed to be catered towards Warriors Fans.

I'm pretty sure most Warriors fans would agree with this since Barnett left lol

[Smoothbutta]

Nah Kelenna and Fitz are totally fine IMO, they were a bit worse in the first year without Jim though

[Swift21]

No argument there. I miss Barnett.

[cdubbz]

Dubnation is split on Fitz and commentating.

I never minded Fitz and always thought he was a solid at his job and always made games entertaining for me growing up. A lot of the fans that dislike Fitz always say he's a 'homer' and 'corny'. He is 100% corny, but it's so weird to dislike a home team commentator a homer when the fans are big time....HOMERS! I've never tuned into a Warrior game hoping for Fitz to glaze over the opponenets or be fair in commentating. I want the Warriors guy talking about Warriors.

[floppymoose]

The weird part to me isnt that are rated as bad, its the homerism complaint. Fitz and Buke are always admiring the talent of the opposing team.

[DevinVassell]

If you remember Fitz from the Cohan days, he was a total company shill. His bias/cover ups were glaring as the product was so bad.

These days the comentary/broadcast is not to bad imo.... 30th? Nah, not even close.

[Old_Blue]

Azubuike strikes me as a really nice guy who's just not a very good color analyst. Fitzgerald strikes me as a weasel who's a mediocre play by play guy. One guy who really impressed me was Juan Toscano-Anderson when he was invited to join Azubuike and Fitzgerald last season. That guy has a very promising career calling games if he's at all interested.

[CDM_Stats]

If you remember Fitz from the Cohan days, he was a total company shill. His bias/cover ups were glaring as the product was so bad.

These days the comentary/broadcast is not to bad imo.... 30th? Nah, not even close.

yup thats when the homer stuff was readily apparent. Every team was getting lucky against the Warriors back then.. its much better now. In fact they even say negative stuff about the Warriors, which was unthinkable back in the 30 win days

If anything, I have an issue with their actual analysis in game. Its often just so wrong.. I just hate when simple basketball takes are repeated over and over. Fans often repeat it and point to them as making it credible. Havent noticed it as much lately to be fair though, I think it was worst right after the pandemic in the Wiseman/Oubre era

[whatisacenter]

While I do miss Barnett it's Fitz I can't listen to. Buke has improved.

[svart]

I agree, fitz is horrendous.

[Romulus]

Very deserving.

Both are bad.

[Chris Porter's Hair]

While I don't like either Fitz or Buike, I also don't put much stock in a poll that asks fans what they think of the broadcasters for other teams. I'd be mildly interested in a poll that figure out which team's fans love/hate their own broadcast team the most, and whether it correlates with the team's performance.

[danbanger]

I would guess to say that the Warriors (Curry) are the team most people watch after their hometeam. This can also be attributed to the TV networks giving the Warrior's prime time spots. Like how other teams/players targeted the Warriors during their dynasty and even now, for revenge, the other fans just don't like the warriors. I like them/think they're okay. I do miss JB.

[rcg]

This reminds me of the old adage that 'democracy is the worst form of government in the world....except for every other form that has ever been tried."

I used to dislike Fitz, not for his homer qualities but for his toadyism. I loved JB. I really like Buike. Whenever I hear another team's boring monotone announcers with their bland takes I realize we have it pretty good. I finally adapted to Fitz and now appreciate his enthusiasm. What other teams' fans think of our guys is irrelevant. Of course they don't like our homers. So what. Let them eat cake.

Why not bring back JB now and then and make it a three way hosting? This has worked for years with the SF Giants.

BTW Tim Roye is awesome!