A year ago, one of the head coaches in the NBA Finals began his opening news conference addressing the potential status of ESPN’s top booth for NBA games.The notable moment spoke to a few items, but one item was the enormity of who calls the biggest games of the NBA season — even coaches are paying attention.ESPN did go on to make a dramatic change, swapping out the historic trailblazer Doris Burke for longtime studio analyst Tim Legler, who joined incumbent play-by-play stalwart Mike Breen and relative newcomer Richard Jefferson on the network’s NBA Finals team.A year later, ESPN’s No. 1 NBA team sounds better. Breen works more smoothly with Legler than he did with Burke, while Jefferson provides some lightheartedness. This trio had a grand total of zero NBA All-Star appearances in their playing careers, and so the question now facing them is: Are they big enough for the primetime event of the NBA season?The Knicks and the Spurs will be their first NBA Finals together, and Breen, Jefferson and Legler are very likely to return next year. That said, Breen, a Hall of Famer, is never going anywhere until he wants to, while Jefferson and Legler are in a bit of a race against the clock.Can they meet the moment before ESPN executives have another move in front of them they can’t resist? This finals will give Legler and Jefferson a chance to establish themselves as a crew worthy of a long-term commitment. The cloud that was over last year’s finals booth is not as dark, but there are still shadows.The ESPN-produced finals on ABC have lacked the big-game feel for a while. Too often, they have felt no different than a November matchup. The league has brought back the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the court itself, which should help visually.As for the sound, while non-Hall of Famers can establish themselves as perennial No. 1 analyst – see where Cris Collinsworth is in football and where Greg Olsen is headed – it is simpler just to plug in a star who has consistently participated in the finals to give you the “Been there, done that” authority of it all.Until he reaffirmed his commitment to coach, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was a leading possibility. Kerr, with a Hall of Fame coaching resume and a strong history on TV, would likely have been able to take one of the top ESPN seats if he had walked away from the sidelines and wanted that role. Instead, he signed a new two-year deal with the Warriors.If a star player, like a LeBron James or a Steph Curry, retires, could such a player be next in line for a Tom Brady-like TV deal with a limited schedule that includes the biggest event on the NBA calendar?Last year at this time, The Athletic reported that the Breen-Burke-Jefferson team, calling its first NBA Finals together, could be doing their last one, as well. Burke was the one who was likely to be moved, inspiring Indiana Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle to say something during the NBA Finals. “It was so sad to see these reports leaked really unnecessarily before such a celebrated event,” Carlisle said. “Doris is a great example of putting herself out there.”Carlisle doesn’t know how sports stories are reported, but he did go on to say something more accurate, adding Burke earned her spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and is an inspiration. No doubt.A year ago, the ESPN TV team for the championship series included Doris Burke, along with Richard Jefferson (left) and Mike Breen. (Kyle Terada / Imagn Images)That said, the calculation that Burke was better in a two-person booth was the correct one by ESPN executives. Teaming with Dave Pasch on the No. 2 team this season, Burke sounded more like her Hall of Fame self than she had at a table with Breen and Jefferson. After being the first woman to be a TV analyst on the finals, she has returned to be finals analyst for ESPN Radio.Legler moved up and has most everything you would want in a game analyst, quickly describing unseen angles of games. His issue, though, is his playing resume. Over 10 seasons, Legler averaged 7.0 points per game and played so long ago he was a Washington Bullet.He is eighth all time in 3-point percentage and there is a pretty good argument that if he were on those ’90s Bulls teams instead of Kerr, he might have hit the game-winning finals shots. Alas, he played for bad teams and, fairly or not, his name doesn’t resonate for his NBA playing career. If anything, his notability with fans has come from his more than a quarter-century career at ESPN.ESPN has prepared the new trio correctly, so they are as ready as possible for the finals. Unlike last season, when ESPN hemmed and hawed on promoting Jefferson to the top team and then failed to consistently put him with Burke and Breen to develop their chemistry, it has consistently had Breen, Jefferson and Legler working together all season, and they have developed more of a groove heading into the finals.Legler comes across as the lead analyst, with Breen turning to him more than he does Jefferson in big spots. Jefferson chimes in and has undoubtedly loosened up the more strait-laced Legler, and the three genuinely sound like they enjoy each other. It’s been a long time coming.After the still-unfathomable firing of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson in 2023, ESPN tried to fill the void with Doc Rivers, who, to the surprise of ESPN executives (but few others), left for coaching just five months into the job.From there, J.J. Redick was given the analyst job on the No. 1 team with Breen and Burke, although a jump to coaching seemed very possible in his future. As with Rivers, ESPN thought it had Redick’s commitment to be a top analyst for a long time, but after half a regular season and the 2024 NBA Finals, Redick fled to lead the Lakers. A year later, ESPN cut Burke from the No. 1 team.So here are Legler and Jefferson, hoping to further cement their spot like Van Gundy and Jackson once did. If you have the big names, this transition can be accepted quicker. ESPN is going to try to win the finals on substance. It takes time to build, and Knicks-Spurs is their first big shot.