Shottakes

With the NBA at the halfway point in the 2019-20 regular season, we gather to offer our biggest surprises, worst disappointments, and favorite storylines. Then, the most prestigious awards show of the week: the ShotTakes Midseason Awards Special! We hand out our MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man, Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year—so far. Finally, we celebrate National Women's Basketball Players Association's big labor victory: the inking of a new CBA that locks in huge salary increases, maternity leave, maternity leave, childcare/family planning services, and other quality of life perks!

The squad—including special guest Eugene Euro Step!—convenes for the first episode of the new decade (and #MPJSZN) by reflecting on the life and legacy of NBA Commissioner Emeritus David J. Stern, taking a trip to Eric (and Eugene's) Trading Post, and running through the injury updates that surfaced over the last week. Happy New Year from the ShotTakes family to yours!

Scott and Eric close out the decade for ShotTakes by recapping the most memorable moments of the 2010s (besides the debut of the podcast of course), breaking down the Christmas Day action, and breaking out our new segment: Eric's Trading Post!    (P.S. Happy 35th birthday, LeBron!)

Prompted by a tweet from honorary Editor-in-Chief of the Pod Noah Chauvin (J.D., Esq.), we submitted our picks for most handsome current NBA coaches in a draft format. The results: Team Eric Quin Snyder (Utah) Nate McMillan (Indiana) James Borrego (Charlotte) Dwane Casey (Detroit) Team Elizabeth Lloyd Pierce (Atlanta) Brett Brown (Philadelphia) Steve Kerr (Golden State) Mike D'Antoni (Houston) Team Scott Ryan Saunders (Minnesota) Brad Stevens (Boston) Erik Spoelstra (Miami) Monty Williams (Phoenix)   While the episode largely revolved around assessing the attractiveness of middle-aged men, we also talked about actual basketball stuff for a little while. Happy holidays from the ShotTakes family to yours!

Eric returns from his gingerbread house making hiatus to talk with Scott about the Knicks' firing (freeing?) of David Fizdale and preview the trade market that is set to open up on the NBA High Holiday of December 15, when players signed this summer become eligible to be moved. 

With Eric sidelined due to an urgent gingerbread house making engagement, Elizabeth and Scott ran a Williams & Harrell-esque two-person game. This week saw the Harden dunk/Rockets protest fiasco, an all-time LeBron uncalled travel, and Chris Paul doubling down on being a snitch, so as good basketball attorneys we have to ask: is the NBA rule of law under threat?    (Programming note: Eric should be back tomorrow night to discuss the Fizdale firing and preview the Dec. 15th trade market, if he isn't too offended by all the jokes made at his expense here and during the first several minutes of the episode.)

The NBA is through its first academic quarter, which means it's [shudder] report card time! We dish out our As, Bs, Cs, and Ds/Fs (what's the difference, really?) to the teams, players, and other entities that have impressed, satisfied, underwhelmed, and failed us to this point in the 2019-20 season. 

We're #thankful for the NBA—even if it involves watching Carmelo again. Also, Ben Simmons made a three, Magic Johnson used his newfound Twitter freedom to list his top 16 (editor's note: actually 17) MVP candidates, the league rolled out a schedule reform package, and more. 

Across the NBA, players are being felled by various maladies—and the injury bug struck this podcast mid-show when Eric experienced a sudden bout of phlegm just as the Melo discussion heated up! Don't worry: he played through it, and we continued to weigh in on the surprising hot & cold starts across the league. 

The NBA is officially BACK and we've got plenty of thoughts about the first week of game action.    (And for further reading, check out Scott's notes column on the league's opening days!) 

It's not going to happen again....I hope. 

Scott and Eric empty their notebooks on all 15 Western Conference teams ahead of the upcoming NBA season. 

Which players, coaches, and cultural figures had the most profound impact on the style and structure of the NBA? Scott called up fellow Humble Sons of the Rust Belt Danny and Jesse Poljak (shoutout Oak Park Court) to talk basketball revolutionaries earlier in the week, and the debates were intellectually on par with those heard in Paris salons circa 1789.    (Note: apologies for the substandard audio quality in the first 35ish minutes; we had some WiFi/connectivity issues that were sorted out for the second half of the episode.) 

Houston GM Daryl Morey kicked off an international maelstrom last Friday by tweeting his support for the pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong: the Chinese Basketball Association terminated its work with the Rockets, Chinese NBA digital rights holder Tencent blacklisted the team from broadcasts, and the NBA finds itself under fire from politicians, analysts, and fans for seemingly bending to the Communist Party's authoritarian demands with its official statement last night. We waded into the controversy in the first half of tonight's podcast—and lament the NBA's decision to put profits ahead of human rights—before pivoting to a much more lighthearted discussion of over/unders, title odds, MVP chances, and prop bets.  #StandWithHongKong

Last week, The Athletic broke a story that Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie is planning to form a corporation that will securitize his three-year, $34.36 million contract into a "digital investment vehicle" that investors (possibly you!) could purchase shares in. Our reactions were the same as yours: (1) what? (2) how exactly is this going to work? Fortunately, Eric's good friend and former classmate (#AMDG) Doug Bajan—AKA Dougie Fresh—has gotten deep into the cryptocurrency and digital finance worlds in recent years, so we turned to him to break it down for us. Tune in for a fascinating discussion about Dinwiddie's innovative venture!

After a late-summer recess, Eric, Elizabeth, and Scott re-join the airwaves to catch up and talk shop. On the agenda: the U.S. national hoopers finish 7th at the World Cup (seriously), the Lakers sign [checks notes] Dwight Howard to fill their vacant center role, Kobe's admittedly brilliant potshot at Shaq rekindles a legendary feud, The Atlantic explains why White Claw's popularity represents a national surrender, DeMarcus Cousins' NBA days might be numbered following his recent arrest, and more.   P.S. A very special shoutout to Close Friend of the Pod Hannah Sherman for completing the United States Navy's Officer Development School! We're very proud of you (and you're killing those all-white unis)!

In what depending on your perspective could be either the best or the worst podcast ever released under the ShotTakes banner, the Jersey Shore crew re-convenes to debate the most important words ending in "-ability" or "-ibility," reflect on (read: mostly complain about) their respective law school experiences, reveal which major opinions they've flip-flopped on over time, and generally bloviate about everything but the NBA in their ongoing quest to make the world safe for takes. If you pass on this one or tune out early....we won't hold it against you.

We back! Scott, Eric, and Kyle are bringing the takes from the Jersey Shore this weekend as they tackle the NBA....and other stuff. Tune in for a preview of the 2019-20 NBA schedule, some lamenting over DeMarcus Cousins' terrible injury luck, Draymond Green's $100 million extension, the NCAA's (rescinded) bill of attainder against Rich Paul, and more. 

The summer lineup of Scott, Ryan, and Jesse is back for a freewheeling edition of ShotTakes. Inspired by The Art of the Take (Scott's new favorite podcast), we opened with a rundown of our favorite takes of the week—thanks to Kendrick Perkins for the bulk of the #content. Then, we pivoted to sneaker corner to evaluate Giannis's inaugural signature Nikes (mixed reviews), weigh in on Zion joining Jordan Brand (#TheBrotherhood weeps), and reminise on our all-time favorite basketball shoes (#OGShox4Life). Finally, we reacted to ESPN's offseason survey of 20 NBA coaches, executives, and scouts, who had some....interesting thoughts on the transactions of the last month (spoiler: somebody really likes Tomas Satoransky). Tune in!