It is never outside the realm of possibility for a sports analyst to go on a rant about a player. Heck, it is part of their job when analyzing the player.In the case of ESPN analyst Dan Dakich, he may have gone over the line when talking about Duke basketball player Marvin Bagley III.
Bagley is projected to be a top pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. There is a lot to love about his game, but Dakich didn’t like his effort after a play where Bagley was rejected at the rim.
“Bagley is all about Bagley” pic.twitter.com/iYOqYTBcwU
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) February 27, 2018
Here is what Dakich said about Bagley during the small snippet:
“Bagley is all about Bagley. Honest to goodness, I can see in 18 minutes why Duke was able to go on a run when he was hurt. You hate to say that about a kid, but he is about himself. He gets the ball. It doesn’t come out. He doesn’t play defense. He’s a terrific talent, don’t get me wrong. But you could see real clear, real fast — and I’ll take all the shots that people want to give me — but you can see that he is about him.”
Considering that Bagley is very talented, the Twitter mob didn’t take kindly to the criticism.
If someone has an explanation for why Dan Dakich is employed, please share it with me.
— Duke Digest (@DukeDigest) February 27, 2018
While on one hand, people have every right to be upset about the Dakich tirade. On the other, this is precisely what Dakich gets paid to do. Stir up a little controversy while also trying to pick apart the inner workings of a player. This instance may have just gone a little bit over the line.
About Sam Blazer
Sam is a self proclaimed chess prodigy. He once placed seventh in the state of Ohio in Chess when he was in kindergarten. He will rarely if ever mention though that only eight people were entered in this tournament. Contact him at sblaze17@gmail.com