Thinking Basketball

The Ringer's Seerat Sohi joins to discuss the Nets-Bucks and Clippers-Jazz series in an attempt to make sense of the (possible) shifting of tides in the playoffs and what it means for the league moving forward. There are some rants about the Clippers and the Bucks. Support at patreon.com/thinkingbasketball.

Reactions to the first round of the NBA playoffs, re-handicapping NBA title odds, and a discussion around a new trend where role players are being played out of the rotation in certain playoff matchups and what that means for non star players or someone like Russell Westbrook. Get 20% at chroniclebooks.com and 10% of at hawthorne.com with the promo code THINKINGBASKETBALL. Also support at patreon....

The Athletic's Seth Partnow stops by to discuss the first week of the 2021 playoffs, the growing differences in regular season versus playoff basketball, and where the sport is headed strategically. Follow Seth on twitter @SethPartnow and support at patreon.com/thinkingbasketball.

The Athletic's Dave DuFour joins for a comprehensive and riveting preview of the 2021 postseason, where we break down every possible playoff matchup without actually breaking down any playoff matchup. Get 20% at chroniclebooks.com and 10% of at hawthorne.com with the promo code THINKINGBASKETBALL. Also support at patreon.com/thinkingbasketball.

#78: 2021 Sub All-Stars by Ben Taylor experiments

Sports Illustrated's Chris Herring stops by to discuss some of his impressions about the unique 2021 season. We touch on the offense explosion, the potential of the Nets and MVP favorite Nikola Jokic. Get 10% off personalized products at hawthorne.co with the promo code thinkingbasketball and support at patreon.com/thinkingbasketball

Answering questions and few thoughts on the end of the Greatest Peaks series, including playoff plus-minus and the best offensive players in the series. Populate the shuffle page at getshuffle.app/thinking basketball, get 12 free meals from Hello Fresh at hellofresh.com/thinkingbasketball12 (promo code THINKINGBASKETBALL12) and support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball

My fireside chat with Evan Wasch from the 2021 IDEA Analytics conference. We discuss officiating, scheduling, playoff formatting, balancing excitement with fairness and more. Get 12 free meals from Hello Fresh at hellofresh.com/thinkingbasketball12 (promo code THINKINGBASKETBALL12) and support at http://www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball

Cranjis McBasketball (Tim) and Krishna Narsu stop by to dissect their new LEBRON metric. We discuss role types, coaching impact, stabilizing the noise in data and 3 points shooting and a ton more. Thanks to @crumpledJumper, Kostya Medvedosky (@kmedved) and Kevin Ferrigan (@NBACouchside) for input in these areas that we discuss. Follow Tim @Tim_NBA and Krishna @knarsu3. Support at www.patreon.com/t...

What exactly is “feel” in basketball? What do we mean when we talk about “basketball IQ?” Evan Zaucha from Premium Hoops draws on his neuroscience background to dig deeper into feel on the basketball court: we discuss reaction time, pattern recognition, chunking information and more, including how to develop this and how it changes in younger versus older players. Support at www.patreon.com/thinki...

What are the characteristics of great defensive teams historically? Are they all built around rim protectors and interior defenders? How great can a defense be without a great defender? How do coaches fit into this? I go through the most successful regular season defenses to try and answer some of these question...and confuse Andrew Lang and Grant Long! Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketbal...

The Ringer's J. Kyle Mann returns to continue our meta discussions about innovation and creativity in basketball, this time through the lens of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird...as well the historical tracing of comparisons like LaMelo Ball vs. Pete Maravich or Shaq evolving into Giannis. Follow Kyle @jkylemann & support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball.

The Athletic's Dave DuFour returns for our semi-annual preview episode. It's impossible to top last year's extravaganza, but we take a measured approach at guessing what the heck is going to happen in this unique NBA season. Follow Dave @DaveDuFourNBA, support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball and get $90 off at Hello Fresh by going to www.hellofresh.com/thinkingbasketball90

What should we look for when we watch games? How does our basketball concepts influence what stats we produce and what we're interested in measuring? This is a natural follow up to the Tyranny of Quantifiable (from Episode 3: “The Problem with Analytics”), where what we measure influences our thoughts, but our thoughts influence what we measure. Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball

I discuss Golden State's future outlook with Klay Thompson's injury and Steph Curry's return, along with the new Bucks roster after trading for Jrue Holiday. Additional trades in this episode: Chris Paul to Phoenix, Dennis Schroder to the Lakers, Danny Green and Seth Curry to Philadelphia and Robert Covington to Portland. Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball and get $90 off at Hello Fresh...

Who are the best passers in the NBA? In this episode I dive in to discuss the game's best passers and the difficulty in balanced a variety of strengths and weaknesses that make this tricky to unpack. Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the $1/month offer (limited time) of the Athletic at http://www.theathletic.com/thinkingbasketball

I try to take down the idea of the “first option” and replace it with a new framework for thinking about player hierarchies. Also thoughts on the Lakers wrapping up the 2020 title and Daryl Morey's impact after stepping down in Houston. Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the $1/month offer (limited time) of the Athletic at http://www.theathletic.com/thinkingbasketball

Former Bucks Director of Analytics and Athletic writer Seth Partnow joins to discuss his upcoming book, The Finals MVP, defensive versatility in the playoffs and more (including Rudy Gobert and Anthony Davis on defense and building around centers). Follow Seth on twitter @SethPartnow. Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the $1/month offer (through Oct. 9) of the Athletic at ht...

Has the big man really gone away on offense? Or have they just moved beyond the post up? In this episode, I lay out ways to build strong offenses around five different archetypes of modern big men, including huge playoff stars like Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic. And what does this mean for drafting big man prospects going forward? Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the $1/mo...

There are lots of takeaways from the bubble, but is the biggest lesson how much we struggle with evaluating players/teams in small sample seasons? With a unique experiment on our hands, how much has jumping to the playoffs in a “new” season influenced our perceptions? And how much can we confidently conclude about players and teams in these small samples? Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketb...

I talk Nuggets and how they match up with the Lakers, get into the Heat-Celtics clash, but before that look at the All-NBA teams and whether this year's version of Russell Westbrook is history's least scalable player. Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the free trial & discount of the Athletic at http://www.theathletic.com/thinkingbasketballpod

In a meandering free association exercise, I explore some of the new playoff narratives developing in the social media age – how big are “capital-M” Moments? What should we make of the Bucks and Giannis or Pascal Siakam and the Raptors? And what exactly is the “backwards” approach to basketball? Support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the free trial & discount of the Athletic at h...

Coach Gibson Pyper from Half Court Hoops joins to deep dive into the matchups of the 2020 NBA playoffs. We discuss Giannis guarding Jimmy Butler, the Bucks approach to Miami, the success of the Celtics, Harden vs. Paul and the crazy Nuggets-Jazz series along with some Anthony Davis and Lakers-Clippers thoughts. Follow Gibson @halfcourthoops and support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check...

The Athletic's Dave DuFour stops by to preview the bubble playoffs. We discuss what to make of the Lakers, challengers to the Bucks, whether Dave is still out on the Clippers and the new look Denver Nuggets. Follow Dave @DaveDuFourNBA and support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the free trial at the Athletic at http://www.theathletic.com/thinkingbasketballpod

Former Nets assistant coach Steve Jones returns to the show for the NBA return in the Orlando bubble. We discuss how the environment helps and hurts certain players and teams, and what possible surprises are in store. Follow Steve @stevejones20 and support at www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball. Check out the free trial at the Athletic at http://www.theathletic.com/thinkingbasketballpod