We’re back with a review of the fifth episode of the NBA 2K League’s bi-weekly Twitch show, The Post Up. Check out the fourth review to situate yourself before diving into this week’s.
After a poor showing in the fourth episode, viewership numbers rebounded for the league in episode 5. The show collected 3,720 unique viewers and hit a peak of 1,919 viewers, both numbers ranking second in the show’s five-episode history. The stream also earned the league 39 new followers.
The show changed locations for this episode. Previously live in the NBA offices in New York City, the show went live from the NBA 2K League studio in Long Island City. With new Head of Content/Media Matt Arden in attendance, Erin Ashley Simon and Phil Visu hosted season one MVP/DPOY OneWildWalnut of Blazer5 Gaming and took a call from Pistons GT GM Adam Rubin and Coach of the Year Duane Burton.
The Pick-and-Roll segment once again featured Comp and Frank, with Walnut replacing Frank in-studio since Frank, lucky guy, was on vacation in the Caribbean. Nonetheless, he Skyped in for one of the most memorable takes of the offseason: Hurn, savior of Jazz Gaming as the No. 1 overall pick. In all honesty, the Skyping in doesn’t exactly work. I’ll give it a pass, though, since it was an aberration rather than the customary setup. League Managing Director Brendan Donohue sailing through the background with a whiteboard declaring Dirk the Caster (commentator Jame “Dirk” Ruiz) the No. 1 pick was priceless. A little hilarity, especially from the widely beloved commissioner, goes a long way.
Adam and Duane’s Skype appearance went smoothly. It’s always good for The Post Up to have insight from league front office personnel. It offers real league analysis and discussion that isn’t always present. Watching combine streams and gameplay footage is a potential segment that deserves serious consideration for next season; while the league need not divulge their own process on The Post Up, insight from managers (some of whom have their own scouting streams) would be good viewership material for future episodes.
The league’s big announcement came early on when Erin announced that the next episode of The Post Up would take place in London next week. For more on that, read our article here. News items such as these are really useful for the show since they drive promotional material and encourage people to tune in.
With Matt Arden now in charge and the league with a chance to reset and prepare for season two, we’ll see how The Post Up changes going forward. I still don’t think this formula is the answer. The show is too long, misses Jeff Eisenband even with good hosts in place and still makes some easy-to-fix mistakes (always remember to turn off the audio when players are playing, please). This episode flowed better than episode four and provided some good information. As the league knows, there’s still much to improve, especially with excitement building for season two.
But those improvements will have to wait. We’ll see what next week’s special episode is like when it heads across the pond to London with Wizards District Gaming.
