We review the 1972 World Chess Championship and compare it to the 2016 NBA Championship.

We talk the Warriors, including some Kevin Durant drama and why more NBA teams should read the book "The Alliance."

We talk some MVP "darkhorses."

We talk a little bit about the Nuggets too!

Tune in!

Chris Yeh returns to checkin on his preseason prediction* that the Lakers could win 70+ games.

Unshockingly it's a Lakers heavy podcast including:

Underrated all-time greats that were Lakers.

The best actor/NBA player, who is also a Laker.

Why the Lakers are doing great, and how they might be better off without Kawhi.

A little more around the NBA stuff including Jimmy Butler, the Milwaukee Bucks, and Coach Fizdale's firing.

We talk:

The Warriors woeful start.

James Wiseman and why the NCAA is terrible.

Why a midseason tournament still doesn't fix tanking.

A little bit about Carmelo Anthony's Player of the Week award.

Also, fun tangent on how the "data-driven analytics managed X" is a myth.

We're back after a month full of sporadic life events. Brian says if we're a little off our game, it's akin to a James Harden hangover game!

We talk:

Some great user comments including: is the Big-Three Era gone? Are the Suns using bigs properly? Is Richaun Holmes good in Sacramento, and how the Pacers center looks alright.

A conspiracy theory about hand injuries in the NBA and if the Warriors are using it to help tank.

More Kevin Love trade rumors.

The Rockets finally correcting the mistake of signing Ryan Anderson.

A fun list of NBA Twitter debacles courtesy of Tyler Cowen.

Also plenty of tangents, so be sure to tune in to hear them!

We talk:

Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid's fight and why it was stupid.

RJ Barrett's huge minutes and why old-timers are wrong about modern load management.

Some disappointments this season including Curry's injury, Eric Gordon's contract, and the Jazz wasting Donovan Mitchell's great season w/ Jeff Green, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Mike Conley.

Some pleasant surprises including Luka Donvic's MVP start, Dwight Howard?? and Patrick being right about the Suns and the Clippers (rip to his Warriors take though).

Shout out to Erik Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler for encouraging taking time off for your family.

Why letting Malcolm Brogdon walk was unforgivable by the Milwaukee Bucks.

A little about WWE potentially unionizing over a bad overseas trip.

We talk:

Daryl Morey and China.

Big extensions! Did teams spend well on players like Bradley Beal and Buddy Hield?

Stat lessons using internet drama.

Is Klay worth the money?

Tune in!

We grade some of Patrick's grades from last week. Greg likes Patrick's Spurs bets but thinks that the Knicks could be alright.

Greg thinks Giannis hasn't hit his ceiling!

We discuss 538's Raptor and some issues we've had in analytical models and standard flaws we've seen over the years.

Greg makes a slam dunk point -- when you evaluate a metric or a model, look at the math and how the model is
constructed. While player rankings are what get clicks, it is not how you should prove or disprove
a model's output.

We talk Greg's offseason grades for the Lakers and why he likes DeMarcus Cousins more than us.

Tune in!

We talk Patrick's NBA preseason bets, Daryl Morey's Tweets, and Draymond Green's height. Tune in!

We talk:

The NBA Draft Lottery and how Andres will presenting on it this week!
Matchup-based defense courtesy of Greg Steele and Paul DeVos
The WNBA Finals, although we did this before Elena Delle Donne's injury!
The NBA will be cracking down on incorrectly labeled heights!
The NCAA's future.
Billy Mitchell and Donald Trump.

Tune in.

We're back and we talk:

How the Nene contract and Thabo Sefolosha signing are Moneyball moves by the Rockets.

How Andre Iguodala and Grizzlies have made a good deal, and how it relates to "player tampering" in the NBA and the absurdity of it.

We circle back to Antonio Brown, who was more of a Forrest Gump than a Keyser Soze

We talk a little WNBA, how Derek Fisher is a bad coach, and how the playoffs should be in bigger venues.

We talk how Reggie Miller could be great in the modern NBA.

We note Hakeem Olajuwon is finally an "old-timer" that understands how bunk the "death of the big man" narrative is.

We give John Harbaugh some analytics love for his decision to go for the extra point in football.

Devin Dignam guests to discuss how movies have gotten "worse" but we talk a lot about the future and past of sports betting and Daily Fantasy Sports in the United States. We also talk a little NBA including the Raptors and the underwhelming team USA performance.

We talk:

Antonio Brown and some of the absurdities of "professionalism" in sports, including Ninja Headbands.

Who should go in the Hall of Fame in 2020? Andre Miller deserves a look for first-ballot, and some names like Ben Wallace need to be in already.

Andre Iguodala's buyout in Memphis.

Eric Gordon's horrible contract.

CM Punks' interview at Starrcast.

Tune in!

Homework for next week - the Freakonomics Podcast on Sports Betting and Superman 2!

Topics:
Time Travel and messing up timelines by time-traveling!
Andrew Luck, injuries, and retirement.
Caris LeVert's new contract.
The Lakers and how Dwight Howard helps them, probably.

We talk the Houston Rockets, including Greg Steele's take that they upgraded their point guard, and Daryl Morey's tepid point that James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan ever was, is, or will be ... probably. We employ our ever famous Time Travel Tests for this.

We talk the DeMarcus Cousins injury and how it reveals a flaw in analysts thinking.

We talk a proposal Greg Steele has for improving the NBA draft contract situation to prevent Anthony Davis situations.

It's the offseason so we also have general tangents on analytics and random movies, including comparing Kevin Durant to Spider-man.

Tune in!

We start the show talking gun history in the US. Don't worry, we compare it to NBA media and knuckleballs.

We talk Draymond Green's $100 million contract and how to construct NBA teams.

We mention CJ McCollum's contract being bad.

Is a Twix a cookie?

Tune in!

Chris Yeh returns and we discuss:

Behind the scenes on how podcasts are made.

How Lin-Manual Miranda did a "Blitzscale" move with his hit musical Hamilton.

How Kawhi's "Uncle Dennis" is an example of a mainstream narrative clashing with the actual story.

We use that to springboard into how the Lakers narratives are wrong. We also discuss what the heck has happened in LA the last two years and the state of the Lakers going forward.

We discuss a little bit about Kobe's legacy and if Paul Pierce was a better franchise player.

Tune in!

It's the offseason and our threat to be a political show happens, for one day at least! We talk:

<ore about the "right" way to do analytics, and compare last week's guest Greg Steele's work with bad metrics.

We also bring up the infamous Klay Thompson and if he's over or undervalued (spoiler, somewhere in the middle)

We discuss the 538 analytics of the 2016 presidential primary and also the presidency and kind of tie it to problems in NBA analytics. Also, if you were hoping for a political history lesson, this segment is for you!

We talk the Lakers and the Spurs and piece Dre wrote about their advantages and disadvantages.

We shout out Marcus Morris and Kawhi and some of the silly drama they've had this offseason.

Tune in!

Greg Steel of greekgodofstats.com joins us to discuss his work on analytics using updating NBA stats. We break down a lot of how to look at NBA offense and defense w/ new stats.

We also talk the Russell Westbrook / Chris Paul trade and how James Harden will co-exist and if Russell Westbrook's defense will compare to Chris Paul's.

We talk the Kawhi Leonard / Paul George teamup in LA. Greg has some advice for what the Clippers should look for.

We lament the Bucks cutting corners on the heels of a great season.

Tune in!

Holy cow, Brian and Dre discuss the current state of NBA transactions for EVERY NBA team. We do give a little extra focus to:

The dumpster fire that is the Golden State Warriors.
The small market Bucks and their shortsightedness.

We also talk the Lakers, Jazz, Grizzlies, and Nets a bunch more in detail.

Tune in!

Chris Yeh is back to discuss the Lakers bizarre offseason.

We talk:

• The Anthony Davis trade and how the Lakers are the real winner. Also, the NBA's new draft rules sadly give incentives for bad things.
• The NBA draft, and why the Denver Nuggets won it.
• We also talk a few around the NBA topics including Evan Turner, Mike Conley, and Tony Snell.
• We catch up a little with Chris as well, who has been on a whirlwind tour since becoming a Mental Samurai and a Blitzscaling master.

Tune in!

With apologies, our recording software added some weird sound quality, we're work on it for next week.

We discuss Jalen Rose's anti-analytics article. We also talk Bomani Jone's reply to it. We agree with Rose's thesis, but disagree with his supporting arguments.

We talk Kevin Durant's NBA Finals injury and how it reminds us of Grant Hill. We also talk the NBA Finals and what we think will happen.

Tune in!

We talk the NBA Finals and which players have been MVPs of the series leading up the NBA Finals.

We talk about if Andre Iguodala is a First Ballot Hall of Famer.

We talk a decent amount about Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose's great interviews about AEW/WWE. We also talk about the moving "Fighting with my Family" which is biopic on the wrestler Paige. We note that knowing about the issues with the WWE makes the movie harder to enjoy as a "feel good story."

Also, check out "Off Hours" if you were a fan of Cracked's "After Hours" show. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdl3e4AzpF8&t=5s
Tune in!

We discuss:

Even more Game of Thrones Finale with a little Babylon 5 and wrestling comparisons tied it.

We talk the All-NBA team and how we're happy Nikola Jokic and Steph Curry made the first squad but maybe didn't deserve it.

We also notice that Klay Thompson and Kemba Walker had no business making any All-NBA teams, but it's stupid that the fact Klay didn't and Kemba did can impact their salary.

For Economics fans, we talk the Agony of Defeat podcast, Reaganomics, and the Overton Window in relation to NBA worker rights.

We talk why we're happy the Raptors are advancing. The biggest reason being the $25 thirty to one betting slip Dre put on the Raptors to start the season.

We talk why the Bucks lost to the Raptors and how the Raptors are a favorite against the Warriors without Durant.

We also shout out Bill Buckner who doesn't deserve the blame for the 86 World Series and recently passed. Rest in peace.

We're back we talk:

Around the NBA:
- Magic Johnson was the Ned Stark of the NBA.
- The draft lottery failure this past season.
- Tobias Harris is going to be expensive!
- The Athletic will be covering the NBA more, great!
- Why Forbes is still bad.

Playoffs:
- Golden State and Portland, and how a 17 point lead isn't safe!
- Why staying the course after a successful season is a good plan, and Portland is doing that.
- How the 2016-2017 Warriors are the greatest team ever.
- Milwaukee / Toronto. Malcolm Brogdon is back, Brook Lopez made us look like fools, and we think it's all over. Right after we recorded this, the Raptors tied the series 2-2 ...

Game of Thrones:
- Aaron Rodgers gave his take on the season finale and it actually made us like it more!
- All sorts of thoughts on the show, tune in!

We talk:

Portland vs. Denver - ouch

Toronto vs. Philadelphia - ouch two!

Golden State vs. Houston - ouch, for different reasons.

Brian thinks the Warriors and Bucks both take next round in 5 games.

We talk a lot of Game of Thrones too. Tune in!

We talk the NBA Playoffs. Namely:

Milwaukee vs. Boston - ho-hum

Toronto vs. Philadelphia - a barnburner thanks to stars. We recorded this before Kawhi went Nova in game 5.

Denver vs. Portland - an amazing chance for Denver. Luckily, so far, they've delivered.

Golden State vs. Houston - It all comes down to health.

We talk Chris Yeh's Mental Samurai run too.

Finally, we spend a lot of time, a little under half the show on Game of Thrones. What can we say, we're fans!

We talk the NBA Playoffs:

Toronto leading the 76ers and why Kawhi is great. Of course, the Raptors fell in shocking fashion after we were done recording.

We talk the Bucks falling into a 0-1 hole to the Celtics and why that might make sense. Of course, we note we're in small sample theater right now.

We talk the Nuggets odds against the Blazers. We also talk a little about their great end to Spurs series.

We talk the Warriors/Rockets series. We also have two fun tangents. Dre compares Kevin Durant to Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Smith, and Adam Sandler.

We also discuss the Rockets argument about the NBA's foul calling. We agree with the Rockets tactics, despite not liking it.

We "shout out" Forbes for screwing over Dr. Dave Berri while continuing to use a bastardization of his work despite firing him over using it for the WNBA.

We talk episode three of Game of Thrones season 8. Full spoiler warning!

We're back! We talk:

A hilarious bad take from Darren Rovell and why sports are weird.

Every NBA playoff series, every last one. We focus a little harder on the Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets series, going out of our way to say Jae Crowder is done. He started the game that night 5-5 after we finished recording.

We talk the WNBA paying players and how people forget the NBA's history in their WNBA criticisms.

We talk a little Game of Thrones. Spoiler warning.

We're happy to have special guest Dr. Jonathan Weiler, who is a professor of global studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. He's also co-author of the amazing book "Prius or Pickup?: How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America's Great Divide", and co-host of the great "Agony of Defeat" podcast. As the playoffs loom we talk ... politics. At least one thing from 4/15 made Brian, our Warriors fan, happy.

1. We talk Jonathan's book "Prius or Pickup", particularly how it relates to the US, politics, and racism. Don't worry, we sprinkle in a little sports ala Donovan Mitchell hate.

2. We couldn't avoid at least touching on the NCAA scandals, namely the Felicity Huffman/Lori Loughlin pay to play admissions one, as well as Zion Williamson's injury. Jonathan is actually less optimistic than us that anything changes.

3. We talk the Knicks and if there's room for optimism. Certainly, if the draft Zion, get Durant and Irving there will be.

4. We talk a little about the baseball Hall of Fame. Dre confuses Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz ... enjoy!

You'll have to wait to the end to see why Ed Davis is in the title!

We talk:

The reality TV show "Mental Samurai", as well as "The Chris Yeh Podcast", which has behind the scenes info on it. Tune in April 30th on Fox at 9pm for Chris' appearance on the show.

We recap the Lakers season. We recorded this the day before Magic stepped down!

We return to Babylon 5 briefly, which somehow ends with a trip down memory lane for the Lakers and Jerry West!

We talk Chris' book Blitzscaling (co-written by Reid Hoffman), as well as some criticisms Brian found researching it.

Tune in!

We talk:

Even more of the WWE style of fandom between Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Really, Kevin Durant is Roman Reigns and a Face Push just isn't going to work.

We talk about Jokic and the stupidity of fouls. And how maybe dunks vs. floaters impact ref perception.

Trae Young got a game winner recently. But he had 12 points on 19 shots. So can we really say that's a "Game winner"? We equate it to Bill James "B.S. Win" stat.

Just a fun jab - how many talented young bigs have the Lakers let walk?

Chris Bosh and Manu Ginobili both got their jerseys retired. We've espoused our Manu love before, so we give Chris Bosh some attention.

More TV Talk - a Mental Samurai checkin and Babylon 5? 

We talk some March Madness and how even Coach K realizes they might be taking the grift too far.

We discuss John Oliver's WWE segment and how tame it actually is.

Tune in!

We talk:

• Harden vs. Giannis for the MVP
• The Nuggets and the Warriors and their race to the top of the West. Also, why the logic behind Durant being more or less valuable than Curry being silly.
• Ja Morant and why people scout and interview incorrectly.

We spend a lot of time bashing the outdated hardnosed coaching model thanks to Tom Izzo's March Madness antics. Thanks to Coach Nick at bballbreakdown for bringing this subject up.

We talk the new reality TV show Mental Samurai and how Dre is already digging into the stats.

Tune in!

First, we have a sponsor! Sunshower is the place to go if you're looking for the ultimate cloud-based solution support. Go to sunshower.io/nerdnumbers and check em out!

Lots to discuss. We talk:

How the NBA should copy baseball's award structures. Shout out to iceman for the suggestion!

About a major college pay scandal that only marginally involves the NCAA.

How Giannis is cementing his MVP status and if the Bucks can win it all.

How the Clippers did fine in the Tobias Harris trade and will be a playoff threat?

How the Warriors are fine, they're fine, ok?

How the NBA might have some biased refs, and how that might be completely allowed.

Some conspiracy theories about how LeBron and the Pelicans "last second breakdowns" might have been planned.

We talk a great Todd Whitehead article on the Hot Hand and Klay Thompson. Spoiler alert, Dre didn't realize it had a second-half past an ad, so his opinion changes halfway through the show. Give it a full listen.

We also relate that to movie grosses, Captain Marvel, and a weird argument Dre got into with the creator of Deadpool!

Tune in!

We talk:

• Some of the silliness around the social media era and "scandals" like the Steve Kerr lipread.
• Why the narratives around the Lakers bad season are wrong, just like we did last week.
• Why James Dolan is a worse owner than a comically bad movie villain.
• Why the NBA is incentivizing teams to tank, or more accurately, incentivizing teams to "shut it down."

We talk:

• An amazing observation from commenter westchesterbruin - The Knicks have a knack for acquiring the NBA's Least Valuable Player.
• Andrew Bogut signing with the Warriors and why it's an odd method of player acquisition.
• Eric Bledsoe's completely reasonable contract.
• Maybe the zone defense is good? Dre likes it because of confirmation bias.
• Dre poses two post ideas to Brian:
  • The Lakers woes aren't Bron's fault. A point Andrew Sutton agrees with.
  • How baseball and basketball are different, looking at Manny Machado and Bryce Harper's recent paydays.

Tune in!

We talk:

• Kenneth Faried starting for the Rockets and why it's amazing.
• We talk Zion Williamson and the public attitude about paying college athletes. Brian notes this relates to concept of the Overton Window, which has nothing to do with former great Doug Overton.
• The MIT Sloan Analytics Conference is coming up and one of our favorites Art Rondeau will be attending. We review some of his work and express our anger that only the Knicks have benefited from his knowledge.

This week's show is all about the NBA Trade Deadline. We focus on:

The Bucks trading for Nikola Mirotic

The Raptors trading for Marc Gasol

The Lakers being reasonable in their attempt for Anthony Davis (but wrong for letting Zubac go)

How the Mavericks, Clippers, and Knicks are all doing the same strategy (clearing space for a blockbuster free agent) Of course, there aren't enough to go around.

Tune in!

We talk:

The blockbuster trade between Dallas and New York that traded Kristaps Porzingis and DeAndre Jordan.

We also talk some about the classic: "overvaluing big men" trope.

A little more Anthony Davis gossip, we're kind of in limbo until things settle.

How Rudy Gobert getting snubbed from the All-Star game proves Donovan Mitchell right. Also, how weird it is how people reacted to him crying.

We talk:

Small Topics

• Why Blake Griffin can be great at offense but a below-average big in the NBA.
• How Faried and Cousins look good in new environments.
• How it sucks that Victor Oladipo is injured.
• A fun history story about the Warriors.

Big Topic #1: Why the Naismith Hall of Fame is a sham, especially compared to Cooperstown.

Big Topic #2: Anthony Davis trade rumors. We go meta on this one talking about the news cycle. This is right before we engage in the same rumor mill discussion :)

We spend the first 20-25 minutes of the show talking the NFL playoffs and wrestling. This happens right after I say we're a Rockets podcast.

We talk the Houston Rockets. We like them trading Melo and signing Faried. That said, this team is still playing from behind.

We talk Scottie Pippen and his talk about how he'd guard James Harden. We use this as an excuse to talk a geeky tangent about time travel and greatest of all teams.

We talk:

DeAndre Jordan's free throw shooting.

Are the Warriors better than the Nuggets out west?

Houston's woes now that Clint Capela is out for two months and Eric Gordon is on his way back.

Do Kawhi Leonard and Donovan Mitchell deserve player of the week?

Should the Bulls buyout Robin Lopez?

We talk a horrible study that has inexplicably become a common "advanced analytics" staple. As Brian succinctly puts it, it's essentially a "fruit of a poison tree" scenario.

We talk issues with in-season Wins Produced and how we'll be examining things to make sure everything is running alright.

Finally, we talk Trump serving Clemson fast food.

We talk how the NBA is normalizing using SRS.

We talk a lot of Houston, including Austin Rivers, Michael Carter-Williams, and James Harden.

We also talk about Chandler Parson and Jimmy Butler and why, no matter how frustrating they are, we don't side against the players.

We have a bunch of other tangents too as this week is a tune up show after two weeks off. Tune in!