A thread to talk about NBA Podcasts / Personalities / Announcers / Shows / Broadcasters / Commentators

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need to make 2k more about plays

xp
yes. I realised a few years ago that I would watch the games on TV and feel like I understood broadly what was happening and nothing the commentators said would disabuse me of that notion. then I would go on ilx and realise that I only understood about 30 pc of what I was watching.

there is an intellectual component to every football play that doesn’t really exist in other sports. you basically have to understand how/why every single play is working on a base level to even be given the opportunity to step onto an NFL field. and then there’s the fact that QBs are the most famous players & it’s also the most intellectually demanding position so you get lots of ex QB analysts whose brains are specifically trained to break down plays before they even happen. but even the guys at other positions have to understand the game on a crazy level. like find an interview of any random cornerback explaining how his responsibilities on a play completely shift from a, b, c, d options to e, f, g, h options in a heartbeat bcuz a WR simply motioned across the field. NFL football is extraordinarily complicated mentally it’s really nuts

also keep in mind there’s essentially like 30 seconds of dead time after every football play so granular analysis is built into the broadcasts in a way that can’t exist w/ basketball

yeah the rhythm of watching football is funny watch a play rewatch it from different angles at different speeds try to understand what happened watch the next play

Wait 5 mins for the refs to do the same.

another player pod is born when will it stop

Surely nothing can go wrong from a star player having his own podcast pic.twitter.com/BDHvzrZfH3

— 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙝 (@OVOLakeShow) June 2, 2023

more like trae dumb

every nba player should be required to have a podcast

Stephen A. Smith goes on Fox News, calls Democrats’ support of Joe Biden’s run for second term ‘utterly embarrassing’ https://t.co/Fz26NvadRR pic.twitter.com/g9WlwWRkT1

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 7, 2023

love this guy!

damn… shifting him back to problematic fav territory

He really hates taxes.

it's framed in that of all the candidates he would vote for christ christie. so...

ignoring my partner and pushing my relationship to the brink in order to spend 5 hours today listening to a bunch of post-draft podcasts full of guys all saying the same stuff

lmao

if ur partner isnt supportive of u in ur hoop pod era, theyre not the one

he did sit and watch some of the draft with me last night but i do the podcast listening in private

same, also don't forget to read 10 different draft report cards where every pick is ranked basically from B to A+ with like 2 C+'s thrown in.

its funny everyone knows most guys wont do much in the league but the comps are always players who had 10+ year careers

hope springs eternal when its the draft

i think a comp to, idk, MarShon Brooks might be lost on the national tv audience but i'm supportive of them trying it

lol perfect guy yeah

he did sit and watch some of the draft with me last night but i do the podcast listening in private

― J0rdan S., Friday, June 23, 2023 2:06 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is me too lol. my gf is newly into the nuggets and was excited to watch the draft with me last night but tapped about an hour before they picked

same here basically. my spouse likes to critique what the players moms wear. i listen to all the pods during chores and stuff. it is a lonely path we're on.

what is everyone's pod hierarchy at this point? i think this is where i am for the stuff in my feed:

dunc'd on/duncan and hollinger - best detail, cold-blooded analysis
windhorst/bontemps/mcmahon - best insidery content, best sniping at each other
russillo nba pods - decent layman analysis, good interview
lowe - good layman analysis, bad interviewer
simmons - occasionally good insider stuff but wildly out of touch these days

the draft is a hard watch for me and always has been. i dont pay enough attention to college ball to play along really.

pods:

– bill & russilo: dont care for them apart, only together, and its mostly for the lolz and to play the over/under game on when bills first celtics/pats reference will drop. russillos ability to land a 30-45 second run-on sentence with a handful of different tangents is legendary. also love him checking bill on his bs, in a lighthearted way
– lowe - his pod has always been kinda awkward, and hes often annoying in the way he praises players, but hes still good at breaking stuff down. i dont listen to all his episodes, just depends on his guests. i never listen to his interviews cos of how bad he is.
– windhorst / hoops collective - theyre plugged in enough to warrant must listen status usually

if time and/or depending on topics

– duncd on - pretty dry but thats fine
– ringer nba show - mainly the group chat crew
– athletic nba show - if time
– thinking basketball - lots of detail, analytic, i think his videos are better than his pod tho
– a lot of the player pods, all the smoke, dray, jj, pg, etc

dubs:
– warriors plus minus - basically the athletic bay area crew. not particularly great but they are plugged in, so...
– TK show (kawakami) - see above, and i dont listen to it consistently, just if im interested to know more about the topic
– light years - for the lolz

I listen to hours and hours of NBA pods every week. I think the thing that annoys me most is how obsessed they are with distinguishing themselves from others with evaluations. I'm higher on this guy than most, I'm lower on this guy than most, I am far from the consensus. But really, they all say that same thing with minor variations.

Dunc'ed On is my fav, because I like capitalism/transactions/salary cap/CBA minutia of the NBA the best. Also like the NBA Front Office podcast, Sam Vecenie sometimes when he doesn't go too deep dive on the draft, Thinking Basketball, Dunker's Spot! Steve Jones Jr. cracks me up, Real GM Radio love Danny, Lowe Post depending on guests, same with Bill.

oh yeah dunkers spot on occasion for sure

They really are the best with X's and O's.

Can't stand player pods, TBH. JJ's sometimes, depending on the guest and if I can stomach Tommy's stupid ass questions.

I'd like Ringer NBA if they would ditch Verrier and the ex-players. Just give me Wos/Rob/JKyle/Seerat.

those are basically the ones I listen to (though lowe is my highest priority), plus thinking basketball. I also listen to a couple of nuggets specific pods

whoops that was post CAD

i put drays pod on 2x speed and its still mostly unlistenable. he needs a host or partner badly. or just learn to be more succinct.

I'm higher on this guy than most, I'm lower on this guy than most, I am far from the consensus.

crying. they love doing this

my hierarchy is

1. windhorst/bontempts/macmahon

this has my fav mix of good basketball discussion w/ firsthand reporting & overall entertainment. i grew up riding in cars that played sports talk radio & they have the chemistry of a good sports radio show while also being very well sourced reporters. i genuinely laugh often listening to this.

2. hollinger/duncan

i like that because this podcast is less regular than the rest of these the topics are usually much more big picture -- best coaches, best franchises, extension candidates etc. i like hollinger's perspective on things & nate is a good host and knows the CBA well. they clearly have fun doing the show.

3. simmons/rusillo

bill says a lot of dumb stuff but rusillo does at least needle him & sometimes outright call him out. but bill is a good source of gossip these days & he does a lot of big picture discussion too that is his bread and butter that i like. he's prob the worst "i'm higher on this guy" offender of them all. rusillo can be obnoxious and they can be obnoxious together but he also knows basketball, has some sources inside the league, and knows the college game as well.

4. lowe

of all the espn ones that just recycle the same 5 guests over and over, zach's is prob my favorite just bcuz i've always liked him and all his writing is behind the paywall now.

5. bomani jones/vinnie goodwill

they do basketball pods i really enjoy but they're only once every few months at best

6. simmons/joe house

don't really love drunk house but sober house is my fav character in the simmons extended universe. their over/under pods and such are usually great.

7. dunc'd on

i don't subscribe but will usually check out the free episodes. some of the ones that are like deep dive scouting reports and stuff get a bit into the weeds for me. but if i need to fully disassociate from life those can do the trick.

8. windhorst early or midweek show

this is pretty guest dependent. sometimes it's an outright skip for me.

9. rusillo

solo rusillo gives me PTSD to sitting in traffic in the backseat of a car but sometimes if i have no better options i might check it out

**

and also kevin pelton who doesn't have a podcast of his own but if he's a guest on any of these podcasts that's a must play for me

good rundown. i never thought i would like solo russillo but he's such a deeply weird person i can't look away. and i think lowe i would have had higher in the past, but he's gotten more in his own shtick and i feel like he never lets the guests get much of a word in.

yeah I like russillo a lot, he’s a meathead but almost apologetic about it and just a genuinely curious dude who wants to learn which I appreciate. he’s also a chris paul stan and had him on his show recently which was hilarious because he was fanboying super hard

yeah that was a lot of fun.

and i agree, he is a curious person within his limits. his author interviews are always great and i've picked up a couple books based on them (if you like u.s. history even a little bit "astoria" is an extremely fun read). half of his podcast has turned into a side project with the thesis that the journey of adulthood is incrementally becoming less of an idiot over time, and he makes himself a living example of that.

agree with others that the player pods are generally awful, unfortunately most of them are narcissistic idiots, bad combination

I listen anyway, there’s usually some nuggets that only players can get out of other players

i get recommended gil arenas' pod on yt all the time and theyre always the most clickbaity poison-brained takes

He’s truly awful lol.

i'm a big lowe guy though it definitely depends on the guests. JJ gets some good stuff out of people but you have to wade through a lot to get to it. i've cut the cord on simmons/rusillo stuff, at some point i made the decision that bill's interests and perspective has taken up enough space in my brain to last the rest of my life. however, i have fallen into the hoop collective and end up listening to it more than i ever thought i would. but now reading everyone's recs i fear my bball pod listening is going to increase with duncan/hollinger...

while we're on the subject what podcast app do y'all use? i've been using pocketcasts for like a decade but i am really wishing there was a way to sort by topic area

6. simmons/joe house

don't really love drunk house but sober house is my fav character in the simmons extended universe. their over/under pods and such are usually great.

just wanted to call this back up and say you should seek out Bill's recent trade value list w/ House if you haven't already, j0rdan ... just a terrific example of their chemistry together, and so many funny exchanges / House dinging Bill when few others will.

also, as long as i'm here: Russillo's pre-Finals interview w/ Jeff Van Gundy was awesome. esp. JVG talking about Kyle Lowry.

friends...who is "mad dog" on espn and why does espn keep putting him onto clips of ppl talking abt shit, it sounds like this pup needs to be put to sleep!!!

classic sports radio talker of mike and the mad dog fame

ra...dio?

yeah mad dog is one of the most legendary sports talk hosts ever (derogatory)