March 6, 2026

Eric Collins on NBA Broadcasting and "Choose Your Own Playoffs"

Eric Collins on NBA Broadcasting and "Choose Your Own Playoffs"
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Season 1

What if the best teams got to choose their own playoff path?

Nick Elam talks with Eric Collins, play by play voice of the Charlotte Hornets and NBA on Prime, about NBA broadcasting, calling his first NFL game, finding a unique voice, preparing for broadcasts, working with Dell Curry, learning from Michael Jordan, and why the Elam Ending still has room to grow in basketball.

The innovation segment explores Choose Your Own Adventure playoffs, a format where top teams would select their playoff opponents instead of being locked into a standard bracket. Then the next to last segment revisits Alex Gordon’s near dash home in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, one of baseball’s most unforgettable what if moments.


What You’ll Learn:

  • Why Eric Collins believes broadcasters improve through accumulated reps

  • How avoiding other broadcasts helped him protect his own voice

  • Why playoff seeding may not always reward the best teams fairly

  • How Choose Your Own Adventure playoffs could create better storylines

  • Why Alex Gordon’s 2014 World Series at bat still fuels debate


Episode Highlights:

  • 00:00 Episode preview

  • 03:00 Eric Collins joins

  • 06:40 First NFL broadcast

  • 11:50 Hornets, growth, and style

  • 21:30 Cleveland roots and broadcast lessons

  • 35:10 Michael Jordan and NBA memories

  • 48:20 Choose Your Own Adventure playoffs

  • 01:05:10 Alex Gordon’s World Series chance


Guest:

Eric Collins is the play by play voice of the Charlotte Hornets and a member of the NBA on Prime broadcast team. His career spans NBA, NFL, college football, baseball, sideline reporting, and TBT broadcasts featuring the Elam Ending.


Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

  • Choose Your Own Adventure playoffs: A playoff format where top teams choose their opponents and bracket path as a reward for regular season performance.

  • Playoff draft: A related concept where playoff teams are selected in a televised draft style format to create matchups and storylines.

  • Elam Ending: Nick Elam’s basketball end game innovation designed to create more natural, competitive finishes without late game clock manipulation.

  • Costanza effect: Eric’s way of describing how a broadcast style can grow more distinct over time as confidence and freedom expand.

  • Honest mistakes over cruel perfection: A career lesson Eric learned from Warner Saunders about why natural, human moments can resonate with viewers.

  • Innovation segment: Sports Rule Pod’s recurring segment for scrutinizing sports rule changes and innovations at different stages of implementation.

  • Good idea scale: Nick’s recurring evaluation lens for deciding whether a sports innovation is practical, useful, and worth adopting.

  • Next to last segment: Sports Rule Pod’s recurring segment that revisits the overlooked moment before a famous ending.


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