De’Aaron Fox and Lonzo Ball are two of the top players in the 2017 NBA Draft. (Getty)
For the second straight year, Yahoo’s The Vertical will offer their own NBA draft show. It is only available via live stream which can be watched either on your desktop or phone.
Here are the details for Woj’s Yahoo draft show.
How to Watch The Vertical’s NBA Draft Show With Woj Online
There are a couple ways to watch the The Vertical’s draft show. It is important to note the live stream does not start until 6:30 p.m. Eastern. The Vertical will be offering a live stream on their homepage. Draft Express will also have the same live stream along with lots of data including a list of trades, draft order and draft clock. Here’s a preview of what the Draft Express page will look like:
What to Expect from Woj & The Vertical’s Draft Show
Last year’s show had unprecedented success, and rivaled the ESPN ratings for the television broadcast. According to Awful Announcing, last year’s show had 3.7 million total views with 2.8 million unique viewers. ESPN’s broadcast averaged 2.9 million viewers.
Wojnarowski spoke with Awful Announcing about why last year’s show was successful.
“I think the numbers are a reflection of the quality of the content, of the quality of the production of the show, and the great reach and brand that we have on the NBA and the reach that The Vertical and the reach that Yahoo has,” Wojnarowski told Awful Announcing.
The Washington Post was also complimentary in its assessment of The Vertical’s venture.
The depth of the coverage, plus that it was announcing selections before the televised broadcast, made it an instant hit with viewers, while fans grew increasingly dissatisfied with ESPN’s slow and, at times, inaccurate coverage. At one point, ESPN broke down the Orlando Magic depth chart that included Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova despite the fact they had already been traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier in the night.
The show will feature Wojnarowski providing live updates and trade rumors. Chris Mannix will serve as the show’s host. Draft Express’ Jonathan Givony will breakdown the prospects after they are drafted. The show will also feature former coach Tom Crean, former Nets front office executive Bobby Marks and the rest of the Vertical team. Here’s a preview of the show:
Coming soon: @TheVertical Team. @DraftExpress. Tom Crean. The Vertical Draft Show coming June 22nd
Unless Yahoo changes the format from last year, the show will not offer a live look at the actual draft like ESPN. It is a studio broadcast.
Should You Watch the ESPN or The Vertical NBA Draft Broadcast
The answer to whether you should watch The Vertical’s show or the traditional ESPN television broadcast depends on what you are looking for. If you are hoping to be surprised when Adam Silver walks to the podium to announce your favorite team’s pick, do not watch The Vertical’s live stream.
The show is often a few picks ahead of the TV broadcast meaning it will spoil the picks if you want to be surprised. If you are simply looking to get the information as fast as possible, The Vertical is your best option. From a content standpoint, The Vertical provided a better experience last year, but you miss out on the live visuals ESPN provides.
Last year, I tried to use The Vertical’s draft show as a companion to the live broadcast. However, this was difficult as there was no rewind button to allow users to watch the stream on delay to avoid spoiling the television broadcast.
Where The Vertical shines is when trades break. Last year, they had the Serge Ibaka-Victor Oladipo trade well before the ESPN broadcast. Wojnarowski and the rest of the crew were already breaking down the deal, while ESPN had yet to announce it had happened.
One way to compromise would be to watch the lottery picks on the ESPN broadcast then turn to The Vertical live stream to breakdown some of the lesser known prospects.