This Boot Camp is for NBA Hot Takes

Alan Williams was the first to defy the anchor desk, tucked away on a chilly set at the University of Southern California that was darkened except for the spotlight on Williams in his black suit and blue-striped tie. Almost involuntarily, he lifted a hand from the glossy surface of the desk and nervously scratched his face.

Williams, a former NBA player, read from a teleprompter, his deep voice booming like a robot in the nearby control room, where USC students monitored his volume and made sure the camera was level. He bobbed his head up and down, much like the aliens that inhabit human bodies in the 1990s movie “Men in Black.”

“Hello everyone!” he said, looking into a camera. “Welcome to ‘Sport Extra.’ I’m Alan Williams. The Miami Heat tied the series against the Denver Nuggets. The toughness of the Miami Heat is really led by Coach Erik Spoelstra. And their identity really proves the heat culture. Bye.”

The camera stopped panning and Williams let go of his shoulders.

“Oh god, did I go too fast?” muttered Williams. He looked around the set. Five other current and former professional basketball players lingered quietly in the corners. After a woman on the side assured Williams that he was fine, he responded with relief, “Man, I was about to say.” Silence?”

This drew laughter from the set and scattered applause from the players, who, like Williams, wore freshly pressed, stylish suits. Williams did another, smoother take, which caused one of the men in suits to yell, “That boy’s good!”

Williams, 30, and the men were at USC’s journalism school this month for a two-day NBA players’ union camp called Broadcaster U., now in its 15th year. They learned how to host a studio show or podcast, provide color commentary, and quickly dish out hot takes for an on-camera sports debate. Former NBA players like Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Shaquille O’Neal have gone through the program.

While superstars typically compete for more than a decade, the average NBA player only lasts a handful of years. Dozens of players will start Thursday’s NBA draft at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, but most of them will eventually have to find a new way to make a living. Moving into film and television has proven to be a viable and often lucrative alternative path, even for players who weren’t big stars.

With a new NBA television deal on the horizon, and streaming services and social media changing the way fans interact with the game, there will likely be more money-making opportunities for players.

Williams played for the Nets and the Phoenix Suns from 2015 to 2019. Last year, while playing in Australia, he occasionally provided color commentary for the National Basketball League there.

“I know my time is coming to an end soon,” said Williams. “I want to be as prepared as possible for the next step.”

Brevin Knight, a former NBA point guard who went through the program in his freshman year in 2008, is now a color commentator for the Memphis Grizzlies.

“When you’re done playing, you want to take a moment to take a deep breath,” said Knight. “But I’ll tell you, the spending pattern continues and you always need something coming in.”

Some camp participants have already taken pursuits out of court. Norense Odiase, 27, plays in the NBA’s developmental league, the G League, and has a self-help podcast called “Mind Bully.” Will Barton, 32, has been in the NBA since 2012 and has been released multiple albums for his singing career under the name Thrill. Craig Smith, 39, spent six seasons in the NBA and has done so wrote a children’s book.

Smith was next to the anchor desk after Williams, and he bounced off his seat. The words on his teleprompter were all capitalized, though they weren’t meant to be read with such enthusiasm. Someone must have forgotten to tell him.

“Hello everyone!” Smith almost screamed. “Welcome to ‘SPORT EXTRA!’ I’m Craig Smith! About 24 HOURS left until Game 3 of the NBA Finals!”

He even stamped his feet a few times.

Smith said he was inspired by the many players who started podcasts, especially LeBron James and Stephen Curry, who used their fame to create production companies.

“It affects me a lot because I feel like we have a real voice and I feel like we have the power that comes with that because we’re more than just ‘shut up and dribble’ players,” Smith said. “We have meaning and people want to hear what we have to say.”

Hours later, Rob Parker, a Fox Sports host and an adjunct professor at USC, gathered the players for what could be called Hot Take O’Clock to show them how to throw verbal bombs. He shared guidelines like “Don’t get stuck in the middle of the road” and “Make stuff you can take out – ‘Meme-able’.”

“It’s okay to be wrong,” Parker said, adding that if they could always be right, they’d “make money in Las Vegas.”

Parker regularly debates with Chris Broussard, a Fox Sports host, on their radio show, “The Odd Couple.” Williams asked Parker if he had ever disagreed with Broussard, just for the sake of discussion. Parker said no, and that he and Broussard are discussing topics for their show. They use the one they don’t agree with.

“If we all agree that LeBron is the best player ever, what conversation are we having?” Parker said. “You know what I mean? There’s nothing going on here and no one will look at it.”

Parker led the players in mock debates, as if they were on ESPN’s “First Take” or Fox Sports’s “Undisputed.” Those belong to the most watched programs on their networks and have made their hosts household names.

Odiase and Smith feuded over whether Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler had to win a championship to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Odiase said no; Smith said yes.

“How many guys took a team of seven undrafted players, the eighth seed, to the NBA Finals?” said Odiase.

“Is it Jimmy or is it Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley?” Parker interjected, referring to Miami’s longtime coach, Spoelstra, and its president and former coach, Riley.

Odias paused.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did they win before Jimmy got there without LeBron?”

“Yeah, with Shaq and D-Wade,” Smith replied, referring to O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, who won a championship in 2006 with Riley as coach.

This refutation, undermining Odiase’s argument, caused laughter in the control room. Parker ended the segment, complimenting Odiase and Smith for their lively debate.

“I don’t believe anything I say,” Odiase told Parker afterwards. Later, in an interview, Odiase said he was “very uncomfortable” arguing a point he did not support, though he believes it happens “a lot” in sports media.

For current and former players, participating in the hot take culture means criticizing players in ways they might not like if the comments were directed at them.

Barton said he sometimes gets frustrated when analysts “go too far on a player, especially if you haven’t played or don’t really know what the guy is going through.”

He continued, “I feel like a lot of guys are trying to do that so they can go viral or feel like they’re a bigger asset to the company they’re working with because it’s entertainment.”

The players also pretended to be analysts for an NBA Finals game. Jordan Moore, the radio voice for USC men’s basketball, did play-by-play. But first he had some advice.

“The worst broadcast is when I say, ‘Oh, what a shot from Jimmy Butler!’ And you say, ‘Man, what a shot!’” said Moore.

He added: “You have all played in this competition. You played with these guys. You have insider knowledge. That’s what you have to respond to. I could never get your job.

The most serious session was about podcasting. In blocks of 15 minutes, the players exchanged stories about their lives: playing on the road, interacting with fans, growing up.

Shelvin Mack, 33, who played in the NBA from 2011 to 2019, asked Robert Baker, a 24-year-old in the G League, what it was like to play for Harvard. Baker remembered a game against Kentucky.

“My nerves were cool,” he said. “Tip, I was warming up well. I hit shots, and then they played the intro type song, I said, ‘Oh.’”

Mack said, “You froze?”

“Yes, mate,” Baker said, adding, “Tough day.”

The players receive scrolls with their best moments from the camp that they can send to networks in the hope of being hired. Williams said the potential financial rewards of broadcasting appeal to him, although he is “comfortable” financially. Odiase said this alternative career is a way to tap into his skills and interests other than basketball.

“It’s all aspects of learning yourself to grow after the game,” he said.