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We spend a lot of time bashing the outdated hardnosed coaching model thanks to Tom Izzo's March Madness antics.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.

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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!

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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!