With the contraction of coverage in newspapers because of shareholder demands for Fact is, there has been a momentous decline in Warriors information -- again, every team for that matter -- in papers. That doesn't sit well with the NBA or its teams, which have lost big-time coverage in recent years. Or real fans, of course.The Warriors, Steinmetz writes, are doing it the right way: taking credential seekers on a case-by-case basis. A uniform policy for the league or teams doesn't make sense at this point with definitions up in the air. Teams should err on the side of cautiousness, in my opinion. Letting everyone in would be disastrous in many cases.
The logical progression, and solution, however, has been a monumental headache. What to do with those (us?) bloggers?
But by all means, a ton of dedicated team and general NBA bloggers deserve a spot at the table. Look at the fantastic work Britt Robson did for The Rake in Minneapolis last season. Robson basically served as an extra beat writer for the team (and its fans), even though most of his work appeared on the web only. Newspapers -- the Dallas Morning News most infamously -- are adding writers to specifically do web work, because that is where the potential ad growth is locked up. It only makes sense for teams to allow, and in some cases seek out, these writers. (And of course, I'm not unbiased in this matter as a writer who publishes 100% of his work online.)
