Frazier, Anthony, Smith and Legler were the studio team through ESPN's coverage of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals.ĪBC retooled much of its NBA coverage after bad ratings during its first season. Laimbeer left early in ESPN's coverage of the 2004 NBA Playoffs due to his duties as coach of the Detroit Shock, and was replaced by Tim Legler. Nearly all of the features from the first season were discontinued, while several were added (including Fortune Tellers, in which the three analysts, Anthony, Laimbeer and Smith, would dress as psychics and predict the outcomes of several NBA teams). The program was moved into its Times Square home, and Frazier and Anthony were joined by then- Detroit Shock head coach Bill Laimbeer and The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, Stephen A. Prior to the start of the 2003-04 season, major changes were made to the ESPN version of NBA Shootaround. This was unlike NBC's NBA studio show, NBA Showtime, for the first ten seasons of its existence between 19. This ABC version ended up not having much consistency, going through five names in five seasons, and several analysts in each season (see below).

Tirico and Elliott were joined by a guest analyst for each game of the Finals. Tolbert was dropped from the pregame show starting with Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Starting with Game 1 of the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals, Walton was replaced in the pregame show by Sean Elliott. Unlike most network pregame shows, Shootaround did not take place in a studio, and instead traveled to a different site each week (much like ESPN's College Gameday). The ABC version was hosted by Mike Tirico, with analysts Bill Walton and Tom Tolbert. Frazier and Anthony were the tandem for the pregame show throughout the remainder of the season. Midway through the inaugural season, widely criticized and panned analyst Tim Hardaway was replaced with recently retired NBA guard Greg Anthony. Some of the features the first edition of NBA Shootaround contained were Walton's World, in which NBA analyst and legend Bill Walton would speak about matters related to the NBA, and Need to Know, in which host Frazier would go over the headlines of the night's upcoming NBA action. The original program was broadcast out of one of ESPN's Bristol studios. The ESPN version was originally hosted by Kevin Frazier, with analyst Tim Hardaway. Initially, the NBA pregame show was known as NBA Shootaround. At the time, ABC Sports operated as a separate entity from ESPN even though both were owned by Disney. ESPN2 or another ESPN network may also be used as an overflow channel for the show.ĪBC and ESPN gained rights to air NBA games prior to the start of the 2002-03. Typically, the program airs 30 or 60 minutes prior to the game. The networks have aired NBA games since 2002. NBA Countdown, branded for sponsorship purposes as NBA Countdown Presented by DraftKings Sportsbook for ESPN editions and NBA Countdown Presented by Papa John's for ABC editions respectively, is a pregame television show airing prior to National Basketball Association (NBA) telecasts on ABC and ESPN.

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