STEPHEN A. Smith’s rant during ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Draft didn’t go down well with fans.
Some viewers claimed that even Smith’s co-star was ready to walk off set.
Stephen A. Smith’s rant during the NBA Draft apparently left Bob Myers dropping his head[/caption]
The 76ers selected VJ Edgecombe while the ABC feed was focused on Smith’s rant about Ace Bailey[/caption]
The NBA Draft was given top billing by ESPN across the network on Wednesday night.
And that meant an appearance for First Take star Smith, who recently signed a mega new contract.
Coverage on the main channel ABC featured a different narrative and angle from the more sports-focused ESPN feed.
Smith featured in the ABC studio alongside Bob Myers and Kevin Negandhi.
And the First Take personality was asked what the Philadelphia 76ers should do with the No. 3 overall pick.
“Forget what they should do,” he yelled.
“Let’s talk about what they shouldn’t do!
“What they can’t do, which I teased on SportsCenter.”
Myers seemed to drop his head while Smith began his rant about the 76ers.
Smith said, “This guy Bailey, who refused to work out for anybody.
“We don’t know, we don’t want to blame him. But in the end, you are a young man.
“Your representation is telling you not to work out for people.
“You can’t be the team that had The Process and were throwing seasons for years.
“You can’t be the team that had Ben Simmons, that you spent the number one pick on. We all know his story.
“We’ll be nice tonight, because it’s about the NBA Draft, it’s about these kids, it’s not about him.
“But the kind of stuff that happened with him, you can’t then turn around and then turn around and tell the Philadelphia public, ‘We’re going to take a kid that we didn’t work out.’
“That can’t be who you spend the No. 3 pick on. They might do it, but they shouldn’t.”
The ABC feed then cut to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announcing the 76ers’ pick.
The NBA boss announced that Philadelphia was selecting VJ Edgecombe.
And viewers were left wondering why Smith had just talked passionately about a prospect who they didn’t even select.
While others claimed his ABC partner for the night Myers was about to leave set.
“Bob Myers is fed up,” one fan wrote.
Another said, “Bob was ready to walk off the stage, they couldn’t pay me enough.”
While a third posted, “Surely ESPN is starting to get the message about this guy.
“Completely turning people off of ESPN over and over.”
And a fourth commented, “All he does is rant. It’s so boring.”
