The slumber of the offseason is over! We discuss the major Damian Lillard trade and follow up trades. Meaning we go over, in depth:

• The state of the Portland Trail Blazers
• The state of the Milwaukee Bucks
• The state of the Phoenix Suns
• The state of the Boston Celtics

 Broadcasted live on Twitch -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/nerdnumbers

Dre and Brian return to talk:

The Nuggets Finals hopes!

How parity has "Returned to the NBA" and top draft picks have vanished from the top.

Why the trade market may not solve all teams woes.

Why defense remains a hard concept, and what even is defense?

Tune in!

Recorded 10-4-2022

We're back to talk:

Small Sample Size Theater. Overreacting to preseason games! Including James Wiseman, Ben Simmons, Michael Porter Jr., and more!

Tyler Herro's massive contract and if it's worth it (spoiler, it's not)

Aaron Judge's Home Run Record and a brief history lesson.

A whole lot more on the Hans Niemann / Magnus Carlsen chess scandal.

Dave Berri returns for office hours! We talk about 2004's Basketball on Paper by Dean Oliver, particularly chapter 19: "The Problem with Scorers." Particularly we go over the issue with the concept of Skill Curves, as well as dive into some of the drama of the early 2000s NBA Analytics Community.

Ben Guest, who has been helping Scott Williams -- who played on the 1991-1994 Bulls, returns to discuss an age-old topic. We also get under the hood on the Wins Produced metric and how to analyze metrics.

Ben Guest is back to discuss his podcast series on Mindful Coaching as well as some good takes on Rick Carlisle and Ben Simmons. Good news this is part 1 of 2! Ben will return next week to talk Scottie Pippen versus Michael Jordan!

Topics:

• Aaron Rodgers
• The Contending Warriors
• Nikola Jokic and the Markieff Morris Fight
• Scottie Pippen and MJ
• Is DeMar DeRozan overpaid?
• Rookies!

Longer version:

Some of the silliness of Aaron Rodgers' vaccine controversy and why the data says the fans won't care.

Things like NFTs are nothing new. Case in point, the Packers have sold worthless shares in the team for years. One of the hosts is now one of them!

The Warriors are good now? Really, we're only worried about Jordan Poole. The hosts are split on how to feel about Kuminga.

The Markieff Morris/Nikola Jokic fight.

Scottie Pippen's contribution to Michael Jordan's legacy.

DeMar DeRozan's current performance, and why the Bulls are so good. We actually agree DeRozan is underpaid but the "secret sauce" is Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. Artūras Karnišovas for Executive of the Year!

A little talk about the Rookie of the Year "race" and why it's maybe a little early to be this hyped on Evan Mobley.

Shoutouts:

Tonthadon was in twitch.tv/nerdnumbers live and shouted us out. Thanks!

Great quote from JP on leaving money on the table for rings: https://twitter.com/jay_pea619/status/1450848329911312384

Holy cow, we have returned! Good news everyone, numbers are live at boxscoregeeks.com!

We talk:

• More Ben Simmons contract drama.
• Dre's substack piece on Bill Walton and the NBA's 75th Anniversary team.
• The Golden State Warriors. Yes, they're good, but is it a mirage?
• Some "Small Sample Size Theater" including former Warriors forwards and the giant Cleveland Cavaliers.

Chris Yeh (chrisyeh.com), the ultimate Lakers fan returns to talk, what else? The Lakers!

We talk about how the 2022 Lakers might be in good shape, with an assist from a Jeremy Britton prototype.

We talk about how the 2004 Lakers "woes" are a myth.

We briefly talk about the Warriors and why Ben Simmons would be a steal.

Finally, we catch up on the first few episodes of Ted Lasso season 2, with a shout-out to LassoCon, which Chris helped put together.

Tune in!

We're back we talk:

• The NBA Finals and how Giannis Antetokounmpo's Finals MVP performance ranks, as well as his Chik-fil-A endorsement attempt.
• A teaser of a talk with Dave Berri and our two cents on the NBA Draft. Namely, if you're worried about how the NBA Draft impacts your team next season, you've already lost.
• Simone Biles and how athletes playing through injuries is weird and annoyingly applauded, e.g. James Harden this year.
• The Ben Simmons' trade rumors and why they make no sense (for the 76ers to bite on)
• Why Brad Beal is a horrible target for the Warriors
• Why the New Orleans Pelicans won the first major offseason trade in acquiring Jonas Valanciunus.
• Shoutout to LassoCon 2020!

Enjoy!

Dre and Brian talk:

Mark Eaton's case for the Hall of Fame.

We talk a bunch of Celtics drama including:

Danny Ainge leaving

Kyrie Irving commenting on racism and snubbing the Boston logo.

A fake screenshot Tweet that got NBA Twitter.

Of course, we review round 1 of the playoffs. Some highlights: Hawks vs. Knicks - the mini Rockets looked good.

Lakers vs. Suns - Health sucks and Bubble Basketball and Play-In Ball have added a ton of variance.

Nuggets vs. Blazers - Hat tip to Damian Lillard and thanks to Melo! Jazz vs. Grizzlies - Jazz are the favorites, one loss meant nothing. Bucks vs. Heat - Reversion to the mean hit hard.

Clippers vs. Mavericks - Porzingis was a mistake. Doncic is good

Shout outs:

Naomi Osaka for withdrawing from the French Open.

Tedd Lasso and the amazing AI "Practice" homage.

We talk:

The Warriors making the playoffs, and how Dre was right!

The MVP race and why it's obviously Jokic

A little NBA Playoffs, we'll talk more after the play-in.

Ben Wallace and Chris Webber are in the Hall of Fame. We go over Dre's article on the subject.

Shout out to Mark Fidrych, one of the most amazing "what if healthy?" players in sports history.

Enjoy!

Fun precursor. Thanks Robert Vodicka for noticing we had a bug on the 76ers page of the boxscoregeeks.com -- we talk this at the end of the show. Ironically fixing this page was an easy fix but also required a system update which wound up taking down the Boxscore Geeks for two days ... so yeah!

Patrick is back to talk:

Why James Wiseman was hurting the Warriors and how Curry is an MVP. This happened right before Curry torched the Nuggets and had back to back 10+ three pointer games!

We talk the Wolves possibly getting sold and Patrick gives a free Business Course on how to really analyze NBA front office finances.

We talk a silly chess feud that resulted in a fight between Eric Hansen and Hikaru Nakamura - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FcokIxe50A, it is as stupid as it sounds!

Tune in!

We were lucky to have on a very special guest - @TyWillinganz! Ty's a fellow Wisconsinite who's been blogging about basketball forever. In the old days, he regularly wrote at https://courtsideanalyst.wordpress.com. He stopped after the lockout but is back at https://berribasketballratings.blogspot.com. We specifically had Ty on to discuss his brilliant March Madness strategies. However, we ended up talking more about random basketball topics, mainly due to the suboptimal performance of our respective brackets. Tune in!

Some highlights:

Ty discusses how he breaks down player productivity as a W-L number as opposed to a single aggregate.

We talk how Ty was one of the first bloggers I knew of that attacked defense and noted that it was more of a team/scheme/coach number than something easily tied to a player.

We talk about Ty's precursor to Moreyball - Sh** Shots, or how midrange shots were obviously a horrible plan. Ty also has a metaphor for ideal defense in the NBA - the Avocado Defense (hard on the outside and middle, soft in the middle).

We do talk about some basic March Madness strategy and why Michigan wasn't a bad Darkhorse. Also, Drew Timme looks great and should enter the draft if he knows what's good for him.

We discuss a few NBA trades particularly Jeff Teague to Milwaukee, Drummond to LA, and Aaron Gordon to the Nuggets.

There is also tons of NFL and Football talk scattered throughout the talk as Ty is a giant Packers fan and Brian knows a ton of football. Enjoy!

We talk: 

Steph Curry's Talents being wasted on the Warriors.

Anthony Edwards' bad shooting but "good dunk" and the Nate Duncan online fight.

Draymond Green's Great take on Andre Drummond/James Harden and the double standard for players and front offices in the media.

Kristaps Porzingis being an obvious mistake at the time for the Mavericks.

And why the Nuggets have room for optimism and pessimism.

Broadcasted live on Twitch -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/nerdnumbers 9:30pm EST Monday!

Timestamps of subjects below:

0:40 Anthony Edwards is impressively bad!

7:20 Shaq/Donovan Mitchell feud.

13:15 NBA's commentators are bad for growing the sport.

19:15 Nikola Jokic is MVP and the best passing big ever.

27:24 Dikembe Mutombo swag!

32:20 Clint Capela and the death of the Houston Rockets

39:54 The James Harden / Jarrett Allen trade.

49:36 The WFH BSG 1:04:00 The Wolves horrible #1 Pick history

Shoutouts:

Patrick - Karl Anthony Towns and the unfair year he's had.

Brian - T.D. Williams for their great take on Shaq's bad commenting.

Dre - Andrey Esipenko for defeating Magnus Carlsen in their first match!

The NBA season is upon us and we review the state of a small small portion of the NBA thanks to the great data from Hispanos NBA (https://en.hispanosnba.com/transactions)

Thanks to co-host Chris Yeh for coming on to predict his Lakers would win the 1st seed out West again. Andres counters his Nuggets will win the #1 seed. Where Brian says the Warriors are a team that plays basketball.

You can find Chris at chrisyeh.com, @chrisyeh on Twitter, and make sure to check out his two New York Times best sellers: Blitzscaling and the Alliance. Both co-written by Reid Hoffman (and Ben Casnocha for the Alliance). As we note on the show Chris and Reid are the Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman of the Business writing world!

New York Times Best Seller (among many many other accolades!) Chris Yeh returns to talk three of his birthday wishes. In the order we talk about them:

A Biden victory!

• Chris Yeh's Podcast has a great talk with John Robb on this subject!
• We also note the absurdity of treating election results as a linear "game" and not a bunch of votes being counted "out of order."

A Dodger's Championship

• That Kershaw guy is pretty good!

A Lakers Championship

• Chris Yeh's Podcast has a great episode with Gary Martin aka the "Lakers Sign Guy" on their title.
• We also talk the Lakers vs. Celtics "rings" total.
• Also, the Agony of Defeat Podcast has a must listen episode with Jeff Pearlman on the Lakers!

As always check out Chris Yeh at chrisyeh.com and thanks for listening!

We're all about the second round of the NBA playoffs, including the Nuggets ridiculous 3-1 comeback. Can they take down the Lakers, who have a history of destroying them? Well, we talk about it with special guest Chris Yeh.

We play our regular game: Analytics Pickup where we each provide a set of answers to a question and then draft the top six.

Today's question: "What are the biggest almost events in NBA history that would have had huge ramifications."

We always start out with an example, which, this week, also won the game. Spoilers below on the winning entries, so don't scroll down if you don't want them ruined. And tune in for the other answers as well as some that didn't make the cut!


Spoilers!

--------------------------------

1. Steve Ballmer buys the Sonics and keeps the in Seattle.

2. The NBA copies the ABA and allows underclassmen and high schoolers straight into the NBA in the 60s.

3. Michael Jordan doesn't retire in 1993.

4. The Orlando Magic roll "lucky 7s" in the Summer of 2000 and get a healthy Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Tim Duncan, and maybe even Ben Wallace on their squad.

5. The ABA successfully signs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the New York Nets.

6. The Philadelphia 76ers keep Sam Hinkie after the Ben Simmons draft.

We look at Tracy McGrady's most impactful 33 seconds and how they represent his entire career:

Links:

Basketball-Reference link of the game.

BBallBreakdown's Video on Tracy McGrady's Effortless Scoring.

Boxscore Geeks: Tracy McGrady's Career Wins Produced

Outro Music is Pure Magic by Chris Haugen -- thanks YouTube Public Domain Music!

We play a geeky analytics game. Dre and an "opponent" each come with five NBA ideas on a theme. We list each person's idea, discuss it, then "draft" our top six (starting five and a bench general).

Today's topic was "Forgotten but Effective NBA Strategies."

This was a "pilot" episode, so we had some sound and rules issues, but in the end, a ton of fun, so we're sure we'll be doing it again!

We talk: The NBA 's Florida Bubble plan in Disneyworld. We hope we're wrong but we're not optimistic about it. Good podcast with Ari Caroline at TrueHoop about it - https://www.truehoop.com/p/bring-it-in-ari-caroline.

We talk Paul George's reason for leaving Indiana (because, topical!) and why he was right but it's a problem the NBA has always had and will continue to have.

We talk about how with no basketball being played "comparing" players gets interesting. For instance, Donovan Mitchell vs. Rudy Gobert become a much different topic.

We review MJ's career including:

How MJ is properly rated -- for the wrong reasons.
How underrated some of MJ's teammates were.
How the NBA and the Spurs gifted MJ his second three-peat.

Tune in!

We talk about the 80s/90s Lakers and Bulls. Chris Yeh's great podcast. The reality TV show Mental Samurai!

Full show notes - https://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-277-chris-yeh-and-the-lakers-last-dance

We start the podcast talking politics. Sorry, one of us lives in Wisconsin! Skip to minute 18 if you want to avoid it.

We discuss the potential Rudy Gobert / Donovan Mitchell schism in Utah and how the Warriors could benefit.

We compare Steph Curry to Chris Mullin and Draymond Green to Scottie Pippen, kind of.

In our lightning round we talk:

• The World Chess Championship and why it's silly, said even better by others in 2013! https://slate.com/culture/2013/11/the-world-chess-championship-is-an-embarrassing-anachronism-its-time-to-end-it-forever.html
• Gar Forman is "finally" out in Chicago.
• We know why Kevin Garnett won't retire his jersey.
• We tease a book we'll probably talk in the future from Ethan Sherwood Strauss.
• Brian wonders about Anthony Edwards' draft stock.

Our "What We're Watching" this week:

• Onward on Disney+
• Better Call Saul
• Peaky Blinders

We recorded this March 24th, so obviously the COVID-19 news has been a large part of both the sports and regular media. We try not to talk it too much, but obviously it does still come up a decent amount.

We talk: Analytics and how we're saddened but not shocked by the public response to experts.

On a lighter note, we review the 2015-2016 NBA season and how the Spurs were supposed to lose and the Warriors were supposed to win.

We talk the 2020 NBA season being postponed and why we don't think it's coming back.

Some recommendations for NBA-alternatives:

• Brian: Vikings TV show (for some people, not for everyone. You know who you are!)
• Brian: The Expanse. Apparently one of the best sci-fi shows out.
• Dre: The Unpopular Opinion Podcast Network - patreon.com/unpops
• Dre: Gamefully Unemployed Podcast Network - patreon.com/GamefullyUnemployed (particular Jeff and Tom watch Batman and the Highlander podcast series!)

When we grade "bad trades" should we grade based on the disparity between talent or on how bad the contract the team gets back.

We talk the Warriors and if they can redeem themselves from this bad season.

We also deep dive the 76ers and how royally they wasted "The Process."

We talk about how the Dunk contest is outdated and you either keep it around for tradition or scrap it. There is no "fixing it."

We didn't do show notes, but we did a podcast on Kobe Bryant right after his death. If you missed it, check out our iTunes/YouTube channels, or here's the link.

We talk about the Elam ending in the All-Star game. And no, this isn't the great Broncos Kicker's idea.

We congratulate Kawhi on winning All-Star MVP and note how much better it is that he's in LA than San Antonio. In San Antonio, he didn't make the All-Star game right after winning Finals MVP and DPOY.

We talk Kyrie Irving's season-ending injury and Joseph Gill's point about how maybe the NBA needs to take over the development of future stars instead of trusting institutions like the AAU and NCAA.

We love Trevor Bauer's rant on how the MLB is hurting its future.

The Rockets sign Jeff Green and we kind of wonder if the "Analytics Revolution" is a myth.

Our take on TV ratings? It's a complicated system and no one knows anything for sure.

We talk:

The D'Angelo Russell / Andrew Wiggins swap, full of memes Brian has come up with to describe the situation.

The end of the Andre Iguodala / Memphis Grizzlies WWE angle.

The Clint Capela trade, and how everyone won but the Rockets.

The Andre Drummond trade, and how it shows market inefficiencies.

We also talked Patrick's Vegas picks and NBA All-Star snubs.

Tune in!

We got some good Kobe comments in response to last week's show.

We talk the NBA trade deadline and why the Warriors probably won't move D'Angelo Russell but maybe should.

We also talk some other trade deadline topics including Andre Iguodala.

We talk the Superbowl and analytics with some good insights from 538.

We talk Kobe Bryant's passing, his legacy (the good and the bad), and how nerdy analytic people cope with grief (it involves redirecting anger toward transportation systems)

We also talk about the great WNBA new CBA and how there is optimism in the WNBA's future.

We talk:

A whole lot about the World Blitz Chess Championship, with some comparisons/observations to sports and analytics.

Kristaps Poringis' post-ups, Carlisle's weak defense, and BBallbreakdown's great video on the subject.

David Stern's legacy.

Tune in!

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 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 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!

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!

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!

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:

Steven Adams and Stephen A. Smith have problems with players names too!

Jabari Parker is benched! Did the Bulls have a plan? On that note:

The Phoenix Suns had a plan with Ariza. Use him as a trade asset ... so close!

We talk James Dolan's motivation for saying he'd sell the Knicks.

We talk a fair bit about legalized sports wagering and the NBA, as well as their "integrity fee" proposal.

We talk:

Why the Wins Produced metric loves big men (it's because the NBA is built for them)

Why the Utah Jazz are struggling despite having the MVP and, in theory, all the tools to compete.

Why the Warriors are "struggling" and if they should worry. Regardless, they should not re-sign Klay Thompson.

Did the NBA get the players of the month right?

How the NBA could fix the NBA draft, thanks to sports betting data.

Tune in!

We're back to talk:

• Snubbing Anthony Davis' 5 by 5 on our weekly boxscore list.
• Why are the Grizzlies so good?
• Why are the Clippers do good?
• Why the KD and Curry "debate" is silly.
• A lot of analysis on the World Chess Championship by two people not very good at chess!

Tune in.

Art Rondeau, shooting coach extradonaire returns to talk the NBA and, of course, player shooting!

We talk:
The amazingly dysfunctional Sacramento Kings, and a pet theory Art has had about how he'd fix the NBA draft (if we're forced to keep the draft)

We briefly touch on some gossip about LeBron James' time in Cleveland as well as Kevin Durant in Golden State. Topics for another day though!

We talk Art's expertise on free throw shooting to talk four big names in the NBA:
LeBron James, DeAndre Jordan, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz

Tune in!

We talk:

The Boxscores of the Week and if Stephen Curry is the MVP!

Why the 76ers aren't living up to last season.

The Lakers' woes and should they worry yet.

Are the Nuggets for real?

Why the Bucks are playing so well.

Why we side with Jimmy Butler over the owners.

tune in!

A lot to talk. We go over:

Is it time to panic in Los Angeles?

Are the Bucks the best team in the NBA?

Are the Rockets wasting their title window?

Is Cleveland already tanking?

Do the Warriors need Klay?

Are the Warriors Moneyballing their bigs?

Tune in!

We talk:

The Raptors hot start and the folly of advanced stats this early in the season. We also talk the Raptors' foolish "hype" video.

We talk the Lakers/Rockets fight, the whys, the implication, etc. We also talk how NBA fans are really like professional wrestling fans.

We talk why Nikola Jokic has had the best game of the year, and why the Nuggets are the new contenders!

We talk about if you should be worried about the Warriors and Rockets.

Finally, we discuss our regular segment - the top boxscores of the week. We recorded this before I posted it, so there were spoilers, BUT we posted the podcast after that post, so not really!

Tune in!

Does Dre hate Luka Doncic? Of course not!

The NBA is back, and we talk the Southwest Division.

Michael Lewis talks analytics, and we talk Michael Lewis talking analytics. It's turtles all the way down.

Tune in!

We talk how good the 2018-2019 Lakers look.

We also talk Chris Yeh's new book "Blitzscaling", which he co-wrote with Reid Hoffman. Check out https://www.blitzscaling.com/ for more info.

We talk:

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns drama.

We also talk Andrew Wiggins place as a horrible #1 pick.

We talk the "resolution" to the Dallas Mavericks scandal.

We talk the freakiest mascot in the NHL. Tune in!

We talk a Reddit thread on a podcast on the importance of three-point shooting! Yes, it's the offseason.

We also run down a sports book's NBA preseason over/under for every NBA team and give our initial thoughts. We come with little preparation, so enjoy!

We talk:
Carmelo Anthony *finally* signing with the Rockets
Joakim Noah being a marquee free agent soon (it's the middle of the offseason, alright?)
Andre Iguodala being right on about Kevin Durant being the most skilled scorer in NBA history.
A little talk on why any preseason prediction hype is ultimately futile.

Tune in!

We talk:

Clint Capela's deal in Houston (and why they don't need Melo)

My article on why the Warriors aren't a lock to dominant the NBA this season.

Just a note, as of this recording Melo to Houston has not happened. We talk as if it has. So Houston can still avoid a mistake! That said, we talk:

Kawhi Leonard ending up in Toronto.

Jabari Parker's honesty about defense.

What Melo would do in Houston - note, we misread some Tweets and assumed he was already there. There's still a shot Houston doesn't mess this up.

Kevin Love getting an extension in Cleveland.

More offseason talk:

The Bulls pick up Jabari Parker?

The Nuggets trade Darrell Arthur and Kenneth Faried. Oddly, we approve.

We discuss more of the Kawhi Leonard drama.

Tune in!

NBA free agency talks continue. Including:

Why the Bulls and Kings are both fools to want Zach LaVine.

Why Carmelo Anthony will hurt whichever team gets him.

The Spurs letting Kyle Anderson walk is yet another nail in the coffin of their two-decade legacy.

The Milwaukee Bucks are wasting their time with Giannis.

Why does everyone hate Dwight Howard?

We also give some props to Michele Roberts about cap smoothing.

Tune in!

We talk:

A funny Donovan Mitchell escapade

The NBA offseason including LeBron James to the Lakers and DeMarcus Cousins to the Warriors.

Check out boxscoregeeks.com for more tools and analysis.

We talk: The Great Lakes Analytics Sports Conference

Kawhi Leonard's drama with the Spurs

The NBA Draft, particularly Michael Porter Jr. and Luka Doncic

The NBA Awards - shoulder shrug

We talk:

- A wrap-up of the NBA Finals and why we're ok with the Finals MVP
- Should Golden State let Draymond Green and Klay Thompson walk?
- How good is LeBron James?
- Lots of offseason rumors and moves including - where will Bron go, Kawhi and the Spurs, the Clippers, and new coaches in Detroit and Orlando

Tune in!

Our topics:

Kevin Durant's villain status and how the NBA is a lot like professional wrestling.

Bryan Colangelo's burner Twitter accounts.

The Houston Rockets' offseason plans and if Chris Paul is worth the max.

The NBA Finals, this Bron guy is good, huh?

Finally, some National Anthem talk, sadly.

We discuss the wrap-up of the NBA Conference Finals:
Houston vs. Golden State - So close it's easy to nitpick. Does anyone know the odds?

Boston vs. Cleveland - We pretty much wax effusive about LeBron James

Also, does the Kevin Durant villain narrative track?

Tune in!

Check out boxscoregeeks.com for more tools and analysis.

We talk:
The Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Boston Celtics
The Golden State Warriors vs. the Houston Rockets
Mike Budenholzer to the Bucks

We talk the NBA Conference Finals:
Cleveland vs. Toronto - LeBron James!
Philadelphia vs. Boston - Brad Stevens is magic?
Golden State vs. New Orleans - Warriors win at "War."
Houston vs. Utah - Shame Utah wasn't full strength.

We also talk some coaching situations including Brad Stevens missing out on coach of the year and Becky Hammon interviewing with the Bucks.

We talk:

The Warriors vs. the Pelicans - is Kerr playing too small?
The Rockets vs. the Jazz - is Donovan Mitchell a star? No.
The 76ers vs. the Celtics - We recorded this during game 2. Not much to say.

The Cavaliers vs the Raptors - Our title gives a clue.

We also talk the Knicks acquiring coach Fizdale.

Tune in!

We talk:
The first round of the NBA Playoffs (this was recorded on Thursday 4/26/2018) - This is most of the show, shocker!
The NBA's problem with big men.
A little bit about Kawhi's situation.

Tune in!

This week we talk:
-NBA Playoffs, how is the first round going?
-Did the NBA esports league give the G-League pay raises?
-A brief glimpse of the top jersey sales in the NBA
-538 pivoting away from sports?
-And, of course, some more Billy Mitchell

We talk the NBA Playoffs
- We talk about Denver's almost historic finish.
- We talk Patrick's 3K Jazz bet wilting at the last second.
- Using copy/pasted odds we realize are off like 3/4 through we give
a brief prediction of each series.

We talk Donovan Mitchell's argument that Ben Simmons isn't a rookie.

We talk Russell Westbrook's second triple-double season, and why it's fine if he padded his stats.

We talk about Billy Mitchell finally losing his video game high score records!

Tune in!

We talk:

• - The Nuggets/Bucks "April Fools Day Game" and the nuttiest outcome I've ever seen.
• - Kawhi Leonard leaving the Spurs and why we can't argue any logic with it.
• - Hassan Whiteside's benching and the problem with "matchup play."
• - The NBA, esports, and gamers being worth more to the NBA than G-League players?

Tune in!

This week's topics include:

• Should the Warriors be in panic mode, and some sleeper opponents for them in the playoffs.
• The 76ers may be a contender! And is Markelle Fultz back?
• A breakdown of why many of the top NBA teams do have an Achilles heel, with the exclusion of the 76ers.
• Of course, some more Nuggets and Donovan Mitchell talk, because it's what we do!

Tune in!

We're back! We talk:

• The Nuggets and the foolish ways they're missing the playoffs
• Why the Warriors are a "Black Swan"
• Of course more Utah Jazz, Donovan Mitchell, and Rudy Gobert
• UConn and women's sports
• Daniel Bryan returning to the WWE.

Enjoy!

We're back! We talk:

• If and why the Spurs are declining.
• Why the Warriors need to cut it out with small ball.
• Whatifs with Chris Paul
• Are the Raptors built for the playoffs?

Tune in!