Shottakes

Fittingly, ShotTakes assembles a new lineup to discuss the audacious Russell Westbrook-for-Chris Paul trade in further detail. Guest hosts Jesse Poljak and Ryan Lynch appear together for the first time to debate Westbrook's fit in Houston, the road ahead for Chris Paul and the Thunder, Ben Simmons' 5-year/$170 million max extension, the Grizzlies' summer league triumph(s), and more. Plus, Scott's revamped take on the Terry Rozier contract! 

Scott and Brother/Benefactor of the Pod Ryan Lynch came prepared to discuss one massive trade sending a Thunder star out of Oklahoma City, but by the end of the podcast, there were TWO such deals to talk about. Kawhi Leonard's decision turned out to be even more monumental than we imagined it would be, as he not only joins the Clippers but managed to engineer a trade that brings Paul George to Los Angeles as the price of his commitment. We talked about where the suddenly asset-rich Thunder might go from there—and then they cleared it up for us by trading Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul around the 50:30 mark in the podcast. The NBA truly never sleeps.

Scott and Jesse are back on the air to preview what is certain to be a momentous NBA free agency cycle. The balance of power in the league could shift dramatically based on the decisions that will start pouring in at 6 p.m. Sunday, and the guys do their best to forecast the potential landing spots for the game's top free agents in a speculation-heavy episode of ShotTakes. 

It's a much anticipated week in the NBA, and now-Chicago/Midwest Correspondent Jesse Poljak joins Scott to break down the storylines of a packed few days. We talked draft results, full AD trade details, Conley to Utah, Celtics/Rockets upheaval, and more in a fun hour of ShotTakes. Look for more appearances from Jesse in the coming weeks as Eric, Elizabeth, and Martin are tragically bogged down with the final month of bar prep (thoughts & prayers, fellow Takers).

We welcome back our college basketball insider Tyler Garrett (@Baselne2Packlne) to preview Thursday's NBA Draft—while we all know who's going number one (and probably two and three), there's plenty of debate about the rest of the lottery will play out. Tune in for prospect profiles, team needs, trade possibilities, potential second round steals and more. Thanks again to Tyler for jumping on!

The 2018-19 NBA season is officially over, and the Toronto Raptors are your world champions. Huge congratulations to the city of Toronto, Masai Ujiri, Nick Nurse, Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, (Finals MVP vote recipient) Fred VanVleet, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Danny Green, Jeremy Lin, the rest of the Raptors, and the STARTERS on an amazing title. We talked about the Raptors' triumph in a weird and sad—but certainly memorable—Finals, offered our initial thoughts on the Anthony Davis trade, and cast an eye on the future of the NBA as a fascinating summer gets underway. 

In case you missed the announcement on Twitter, we're no longer any kind of an "anti-Kevin Durant podcast"—even in jest. KD's Achilles injury casts a pall over these Finals and could have a seismic impact on the NBA as a whole. We offer our thoughts on the situation, but more importantly, send him our best wishes. The league won't be the same until you return, 35. 

Hard to believe we're saying this, but ShotTakes is reporting live from the NBA Finals in Toronto! Thanks to a very generous law school graduation gift, Scott and Shane McMurtry joined President Obama, Drake, and 20,000 Raptors faithful at Scotiabank Arena to witness the Golden State Warriors tie the series at 1-1 with a 109-104 victory in Game 2. Despite a deflating loss for the home side, Scott and Shane only have good things to say about The 6 and its people—tune in for a recap of their wonderful travel experience and a breakdown of tonight's action! #WeTheNorth

We are BACK after a brief post-law school graduation hangover—I mean, hiatus, to preview the NBA Finals ahead of tomorrow night's Game 1. The North captured the East as the Toronto Raptors secured the first championship berth in franchise (and Canadian!) history by vanquishing the top-seeded Bucks in six, while the Warriors sealed up their fifth straight Finals appearance with a pre-KD throwback sweep of Portland. We offer our reactions to the respective conference finals and discuss what we'll be watching for when these two teams square off....oh, and make a special personnel announcement prior to the analytical portion of the show....

We planned on discussing both sides of the bracket, but technical difficulties limited us to the Western Conference; apologies for that. But: you get our immediate reactions to the draft lottery results around the 28 minute mark—which were as ABSURD as the results themselves. We'll be back with Eastern Conference analysis tomorrow. 

We're (finally) at the Lester-Abdalla compound in Richmond to unload our takes on the second round of the NBA playoffs—which, for our money, has been pretty damn good. 

Damian Lillard waves goodbye to the Oklahoma City Thunder after drilling one of the great game-winners in playoff history, the Clippers steal [DJ Khalid voice] another one at Oracle and push the Warriors to a sixth game, Philly and Toronto round into form to dispatch their overmatched first round opponents in five, Milwaukee and Boston wrap up very different sweeps, the Jazz pack their bags after hitting a wall against Houston, and the Nuggets look to close out the Spurs tonight in San Antonio. Elizabeth (fresh off her last career law school exam!) and Scott jump on the air to run through the first round and look ahead to the matchups ahead.

We're almost at the end of our law school careers, but the NBA postseason is just warming up. The Clippers deliver one of the great comebacks in league history, Kyle Lowry & the Raptors—surprise, surprise—still can't win playoff Game Ones, Derrick White and the Spurs take it to second-seeded Denver, Utah has no answers for James Harden, Portland proves you can play Kanter, the Nets and Sixers trade barbs and buckets, Indiana sputters down the stretches against the Celtics, and Milwaukee vs. a Blake-less Detroit squad is simply not a fair fight. Tune in for our thoughts on the first round of the NBA playoffs so far!

All-time greats Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade bid adieu, Magic Johnson quits his job as Lakers president without giving two weeks (or even two minutes) notice, the NBA's "Black Thursday" sees some curious dismissals (looking at you, Vlade Divac), and the playoffs begin on Saturday—so tune in for our takes and a preview of the first round matchups.

It's decision time: who gets the ShotTakes Academy's votes for the 2018-19 NBA awards? Lively debate on MVP, DPOY, ROY, MIP, COY, EOY, and All-NBA teams—tune in for our nominees.

In the inaugural episode of "ThoughtBreaks," our spinoff podcast series addressing various non-basketball matters of public interest, Scott and Martin break down one of the biggest failures in the history of democracy: the United Kingdom's proposed departure from the European Union—better known as "Brexit." It's an issue near and dear to both of their hearts and they have a lot of thoughts on it—tune in for some geopolitical theatre. 

The fearsome foursome is back to run through our surprises and disappointments from this NBA season (and, of course, the Mueller Report). Also, play along with our "name that jersey sponsor" parlor game, and join us in mourning the demise of a great American company: the Big Baller Brand. 

Your favorite (and top-rated) NBA podcast took its semi-yearly detour into the college game for a look at this year's NCAA tournament field. Elizabeth and Scott were joined by our college basketball outside counsel Tyler Garrett (@Baselne2Packlne) and special guest analyst Chris Clark, who just wrapped up his playing days as a graduate transfer for William & Mary after spending four years as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide. It was a great mix of minds, and we've got plenty of picks for you in this "amateur hour" (get it?) of ShotTakes. 

Special Guest Anthony Cusato jumps on to identify what to watch for in the final weeks of the NBA regular season: while the playoff picture is largely settled, there's still a lot to track on the awards front and among the theoretical title aspirants. It was great to add some extra brainpower to the podcast tonight—thanks to Anthony for joining us (and benefitting the Public Service Fund)!