J.E. Skeets

Phil Elder – more famously known as J.E. Skeets – is well-known as the Canadian host of NBA TV show The Starters. He is also co-host of the No Dunks podcast for The Athletic and has written for AOL’s FanHouse, Deadspin, ESPN.com and Yahoo! Sports.

Previously known as The Basketball Jones, The Starters was a television show, blog and podcast that analysed the NBA with a satirical spin. Written by Skeets, Trey Kerby, Leigh Ellis and Tas Melas, the show was broadcast from 2013 to 2019 on NBA TV and could also be viewed on YouTube. Skeets was working at a recruiting firm when he started his blog in 2005, challenged by a friend to write a new blog post every day for a whole year. Named ‘J.E.Skeets’, his blog began as a mix of topics, but later that year he wrote a basketball post linked on Deadspin.com. The post was hugely popular and Skeets began to write all his posts about basketball, adding his own unique blend of humour.

Skeets had previous radio experience and approached Doyle and Melas to help him use the brand new medium of podcasts to create a talk show related to basketball. The show began with a half-hour show recorded at Doyle’s house once a week, but soon grew in popularity and the group moved to Super Sonic Productions in Toronto to produce the show. Skeets growing reputation as a writer boosted the show further, and he was hired to write the basketball blog Ball Don’t Lie by Yahoo! Sports. In 2010 The Basketball Jones joined Canadian multi-media sports network, and in 2011 made a deal with the NBA to create content for NBA.com and NBA TV. Since The Starters ended in 2019 Skeets has remained in demand as both a writer and host.