It’s about time to find out what’s on our listeners’ minds via a late summer mailbag. We’ve got some great questions: What do we think of the Knicks lawsuit vs the Raptors? How about the NBA fining James Harden $100,000? How secure are “wink-wink” deals? Is it possible each of the top-5 teams in the East is worse next year? Which stars make a sum greater than their parts? Which year will Luka be the top player in the league, if ever? Who would be the best fitting big for the Lakers to...

John and Nate lock in on everything that took place in Las Vegas during NBA Summer League, and answer the following questions: Who will be the best rookie this year, and who will have the best career? Who changed your opinion the most for the better? Most disappointing player “I nailed this one,” guys who looked exactly like you thought they would Who are you worried about? Best defensive player? Best rookie in the 2nd half of the first round? Best “sleeper,” i.e. 2nd round or...

John and Nate review the signings of 2023 and pick: Best Contract Worst contract Most surprising contract Best minimum signing Best Exception signing Boom or Bust? Most impactful signing for 2022-23 Most impactful long-term signing Best under the radar signing And, most importantly, we pick our best meal in Vegas.

H&D: Free Agency Tour de ForceJohn and Nate discuss the big initial trends of free agency, focusing on the big cap space teams. How would we rank Detroit, Houston, Indiana, Oklahoma City, Orlando, San Antonio, Sacramento, and Utah for how their cap space flexibility was used. We also have debates on the Jerami Grant contract, the Dillon Brooks contract, the Domantas Sabonis renegotiation and extension, and much more, including a live reaction to Miles Bridges taking the qualifying...

John and Nate have quite different takes on the Bradley Beal trade, with John not being a fan and Nate liking it. Then a big discussion of the NBA draft as they each give their top-10 on their board. All the big questions are definitively answered, including what the Hornets should do at 2, what to make of raw high-upside guys like Cam Whitmore and the Thompson twins, which of Jarace Walker and Taylor Hendricks is a better power forward prospect, plus John’s sleepers for later in the draft.

John and Nate continue last week’s discussion as we cover all of the veteran extension candidates throughout the league, such as Anthony Davis, Donovan Mitchell, Jamal Murray, Dejounte Murray, Lauri Markkanen, Giannis Antetokounmpo, DeMar DeRozan, Klay Thompson, and more. We also get into an extensive analysis of what Golden State can do to reduce their luxury tax bill and how Michael Winger should approach Kristaps Porzingis’ free agency in Washington.

With Boston winning Game 4, what are their chances against Miami? What is going to happen with all these prime coaching vacancies and prime coaches available? We assess the quality of the openings and the candidates. Plus, what do we think of the calls to fire Joe Mazzulla. Then, a look back on some of the key coaching questions of the playoffs, and we pick a playoff MVP and first-team all playoffs. Finally, John discusses some of the topics discussed at the NBA combine.

How do John and Nate feel about San Antonio as a landing place for Victor Wembanyama? What should they be trying to do to build around him? In the rest of the lottery, which picks might be available in trade? How will the new CBA affect these trades? The Sixers have moved on from Doc Rivers. Was it the right decision?

John and Nate discuss the key news of the week, with Mike Budenholzer being fired in Milwaukee and Dillion Brooks being told he will not return under “any circumstances” in Memphis. Then, a look at all 4 second round series through 2 games. Who has the advantage between LA and Golden State? Why has Denver gone out 2-0 against Phoenix, and who would Denver rather face in the Conference Finals? We also pick our MVP of the playoffs, discuss the best and worst coaching jobs, and biggest...

With all series through 5 games, John and Nate discuss the Bucks’ collapse, whether this season is indeed a “failure,” and hit on where the Bucks can go from here. Plus grading the playoffs so far for various superstars around the league, what will happen in the Grizzlies/Lakers series, and of course who withstood the PLAYOFF CRUCIBLE and who turned to ASH.

John and Nate look ahead to the playoffs and discuss Most interesting series Least interesting series Individual player matchup you are most interested in seeing Star player with the toughest matchup Star player with the easiest matchup Best coaching matchup Biggest coaching mismatch Series with the most variables Rotation players most likely to have their roles cut Deep rotation players who could emerge Most important non-star player who will affect the outcome of a series Best playoff...

For the first time, John Hollinger joins Nate to rank the top-10 players in the NBA. Where do Embiid, Giannis, Steph, KD, Jokic, LeBron, Tatum, and Luka come in?  There are significant disagreements at the top on how to weight established playoff performance against regular season value and the potential for improvement.  The discussion goes all the way down to players in the 20s.

John and Nate predict the playoff field, but really use the exercise as an excuse to discuss where the 5 teams they are ruling out of the playoffs are going from here.

It’s time again to look at the coaching profession and decide which coaches we’d want coaching our team for the next 4 years.  It’s a tough year to evaluate coaching with some of the best coaches having down years and other surprising young coaches coming up with less of a track record.

John provides his front office insider perspective on the drama with Gary Payton II’s failed physical and the 4-team trade. Then we discuss the biggest overall trends and takeaways from this deadline, including why the prices for players have gone sky-high and the chances that will change in the future. We also pick our most obscure player traded, and look back on our pre-trade deadline draft where we picked the teams most likely to make a move. Finally, the top buyout candidates and their...

John and Nate discuss everything they can on the deadline.  The front office perspective on the Suns/Nets trade, the biggest winners and losers, which teams improved the most this year and in the future, our favorite and least-favorite moves, and much more.

Using the Mock Trade Deadline as a guide, John and Nate discuss the values for the key players going forward at this deadline.  Who would be the ideal target for the Bucks? Which team that isn’t really being discussed could make a big move? But first, we rule two teams out of the playoffs and discuss the state of their organizations going forward.

John and Nate draft all of the teams in the NBA in order of the greatest likelihood to make a significant move at the trade deadline, with plenty of analysis on each team's chances of shaking things up.

John and Nate review the resumes of active players that we think are more likely than not to be Hall of Famers, including locks if they retired tomorrow, borderline vets, players on the path, and also select young stars just beginning their careers that we expect to make it.

John and Nate review the resumes of active players that we think are more likely than not to be Hall of Famers, including locks if they retired tomorrow, borderline vets, players on the path, and also select young stars just beginning their careers that we expect to make it.

John, Danny, and Nate rank the top prospects 23 and under in the NBA. Which of these players would we most want on our franchise for the rest of their careers? We also rank which players were hardest to rank, and who has the potential to move up or down this list the most in the next year.

The last 10 teams in our organization rankings, plus which teams were the biggest risers and fallers over the past year, which organizations are the most over- and underrated, which were hardest to rank, and the organizations with the most potential to rise and fall over the next year.

John and Nate continue their organization rankings with some major disagreements about teams in the mid-pack. Why are the Bucks not top-tier despite winning a championship? How do we reconcile the huge plusses and minuses from the Pelicans? How about Phoenix’s good track record and weird process? Plus a few more interesting teams that are rising in the rankings.