Dr. Jonathan Weiler (@jonweiler) joins the show! Dr. Weiler is a professor at UNC Chapel Hill, specializing in economics and politics. He also has a great Substack - jonathanweiler.substack.com. He also has the fantastic podcast "The Agony of Defeat" with Matt Andrews. He joins us to talk:

• Kyrie Irving and the deafening silence in the NBA about antisemitism.
• The New York Knicks and why the look bad and good at the same time, from someone that remembers when they were great.
• The 2022 Midterms and a ton of politics. Don't worry, we get a fair number of sports numbers in.

We're back to talk:

• The start of the NBA season. Featured teams are the Nuggets, the Warriors, the Grizzlies, the Mavericks, the Pelicans, the Cavaliers, and the Jazz.
• Is tanking a good strategy, and is Victor Wembanyama worth it?
• Dre was wrong about Russell Westbrook :(
• More chess controversy and why cheating is chess is a lot like Steph Curry's shot!

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.

We're back we talk:

(0:54) - A little warm-up talking about Brian's Warriors

(14:29) - Rob Sarver's Suspension and Fine

(32:37) - Robert William's Injury

(47:49) - Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen's Chess Drama

Shameless self-promotion, I just did a podcast with Jeff May on Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Check it out here - https://nerdnumbers.substack.com/p/shut-up-nerd-episode-1-zelda-2.

Also, I'm aiming to stream every Tuesday (next one on September 27th) at twitch.tv/rixtergt at 10pm EST playing a vintage NES game. Next up? Megaman 4! The other Tuesdays? Brian and I will record the Boxscore Geeks Show at twitch.tv/nerdnumbers

Dre and Brian discuss:

• Kevin Durant "staying put" in Brooklyn
• The Donovan Mitchell trade to Cleveland
• Some, definitely behind the news cycle by the time this is released, chess talk on Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup.

We're back to talk about the relevant NBA trades and free-agent signings as of July 6th, 2022.

Special thanks to Spotrac for having such information readily available:
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/transactions/trade/ - Trades

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/ - Free Agent tracker

Also, I review a substack piece I had on Jalen Brunson and contract rates in the modern CBA. https://nerdnumbers.substack.com/p/is-jalen-brunson-worth-100-million

Welcome Ben Guest for a new segment we'll be calling: "20 Second Timeout with Ben Guest", where we quickly discuss a topical subject that we don't want to wait for our "weekly" shows. Today's topic? The NBA Finals! 

Also, if you stick around to the end, I read my most recent substack article.

You can find Ben on Twitter as @bguest, his newsletter and podcast at benbo.substack.com, and his book "Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball" is available on Amazon.com!

We're back to wrap up the NBA Conference Finals and discuss our picks for the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson Trophies.

We also "predict" the NBA Finals, with some notes on how Marcus Smart's defensive takes are wrong, and it all hinges on Robert Williams' minutes.

We're back to recap our thoughts on round 2 of the NBA Playoffs. Reminder:

• Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics
• Philadelphia 76ers vs. Miami Heat
• Golden State Warriors vs. Memphis Grizzlies
• Dallas Mavericks vs. Phoenix Suns

Shout out to Greg Steele's new site - https://www.thebasketballdatabase.com/

Brian and Dre are back to talk:

Nikola Jokic's MVP season and why Joel Embiid is a hilariously bad, albeit positive option.

The Timberwolves "overzealous" celebration in their play-in victory.

Some predictions on the first round of the NBA playoffs.

This episode was recorded Thursday April 14th.

Chris Yeh (chrisyeh.com and @chrisyeh on Twitter) returns to talk about the Los Angeles Lakers and Russell Westbrook. We have a debate, will Russell Westbrook get a contract at 15% of an NBA team salary cap, or, roughly $20 million a season after his current deal expires. I say yes, Chris says no!

We also talk a lot more Lakers including:

• The family Dynamics that make the front office both good and bad at stuff.
• How awesome Austin Reeves is.

Some history for any foolish naysayers on the squad.

Shoutouts to:

• Liz Cambage
  Ian Nepomniachtchi
• Chris Yeh and Scott Johnson for their episodes on the Chris Yeh Podcast. A must for investors! (chrisyeh.com/podcast)

 

We're back to talk the sixteen trades that happened between February 4th 2022 and February 10th (the trade deadline!) Somehow we do it in less than two hours!

Full list of trades here - https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32965050/nba-trade-tracker-grades-details-every-deal-2021-22-season

Some highlights:
Tyrese Haliburton was a great pickup by the Pacers.

The Nets absolutely crushed their deal, but Daryl Morey may very well have won in his goal.

We laugh at the Wizards and give Montrezl Harrel this year's Kenneth Faried award (at least he's the front runner)

Shout out to Hikaru Nakamura for advancing in the FIDE Grand Prix in exciting fashion yesterday!

Dre and Brian are back to talk:
Some random NBA including the Nuggets, the Jazz, and the 76ers.

A lot of NFL including Tom Brady's retired, Brian Flores' coach hiring problems, and who will win the Super Bowl!

Tune in.

Short episode this week! Dre read's his piece on David Ortiz and the Hall of Fame (https://nerdnumbers.substack.com/p/why-the-baseball-hall-of-fame-is)

Also, extra content! Dre's thoughts on the Naismith Hall of Fame compared to Cooperstown. Issues with Hall of Fame and player evaluations in general.

Also is Andrew Wiggins a star, and what the Warriors say about the myth of meritocracy!

Shout out to Pete Croatto for his perfect encapsulation of the NBA All-Star game - https://twitter.com/PeteCroatto/status/1487067158467293185

 

We're back to talk:

• DeMar DeRozan and BS Game Winners
• Russell Westbrook and the silliness of "Posterizing"
• The State of the Golden State Warriors
• The Denver Nuggets deckchair trade.

Shoutout to Cristian Ramirez (@FanboyCristian) for his Game of Thrones rewatch takes.

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.