“The Hoop Collective” podcast, hosted by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, releases episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the NBA season. Windhorst and his guests break down what’s happening on and off the court, evaluating the trends you need to know and examining the latest news from across the NBA.
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‘The Hoop Collective’ episodes
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss why some coaches are expressing frustration with the fouls Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been getting. They move on to discuss Mark Cuban’s latest comments about his regrets over whom he sold the Mavericks to before Brian is joined by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin to talk about a recent feature he wrote with Bontemps, which explores the various directions LeBron James’ offseason could take. They close on MacMahon’s “clutch player” of March award.
Topics:
1:37: A grown-up conversation about SGA fouls18:34: Cuban “regrets” selling to Dumont, Adelson families24:11: Cuban: Kidd was part of Luka Doncic trade decision29:04: Wild LeBron collectible from the Lakers game33:12: Where will LeBron play next season?33:43: Windy Storytime: LeBron throwback35:17: Best options for LeBron next season43:58: Clutch player of the month53:57: Shoutout for a special cause
Windhorst on the move that gets Gilgeous-Alexander calls: “The arm is parallel to the court and he uses it to change speed on his opponent.
“In a lot of ways it’s sometimes to decelerate. Sometimes it’s to create space. And we can debate about whether this should be called an offensive foul. It’s something that may be debated whether it should be called an offensive foul in the future. But I’m telling you, they did not call this as an offensive foul in October. They did not call as an offensive foul in December. They’re not calling it in March. And they’re probably not going to call it in May and June.
“And many other players know this and use the same move. It is routine in the NBA for a guy to use that arm bar to create separation. And in a lot of cases to change speed.”
MacMahon on Knicks coach Mike Brown’s comments about Gilgeous-Alexander: “The way Mike Brown put it and again [Detroit Pistons coach J.B.] Bickerstaff’s comments were pretty similar: Shai is the best in the league in terms of gamesmanship. And I said, ‘What makes him the best there?’ He said, ‘His body control is amazing. Not only that, he knows when to attack, how to attack and who to attack, then he still has the awareness of where everybody is on the floor and when he goes in his shot, he does a fantastic job of contorting his body.
“And if he feels any contact at all, he knows how to twitch his body or whatever. It’s just the gamesmanship to get the call.'”
Bontemps on the different options LeBron has in the offseason: “What does he want to do in the last year or one of the last years of his career? … He has done a great job of falling into this, whether it’s a Chris Bosh role or Kevin Love role, like the third star on the team.
“Does he want to do that again next year? Would [he] rather go have the ball more somewhere else? Would he rather play with other players? Would he rather be in a situation where he can optimize the chance to win a title? Would he rather put the capstone on his career, going back to Cleveland again and playing there one last time with a team that could win the East?”
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to examine the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win over the New York Knicks on Sunday night, including whether the Knicks are actually a title contender this season. They then move on to Eastern Conference standings in the home stretch of the season before closing on the historic battle between Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel for the Rookie of the Year award.
1:06: Thunder take down Knicks in OKC10:22: Who is the true favorite in the East?14:31: Consequential battles in the East standings16:00: Toronto routs Orlando20:06: Maxey and 76ers starting to become relevant30:02: Award battles heating up38:42: Who is the Rookie of the Year favorite?47:52: Luka officially gets his 16th technical foul50:10: Latest tanking proposal reactions
Bontemps on the East standings: “The Knicks, like all these teams in the East at the top, are good but flawed. You could say it about Detroit. You could say it about Boston. You could say it about the Knicks. You can say it about the Cavs. They’re all good. They’re all flawed. I think as of right now we would all pick Boston.”
Bontemps on the MVP race: [The Spurs have] only gained one game [on Oklahoma City after] going 25-2. And that’s with the Thunder having a lot of injuries.
“But I suspect that it’ll be a somewhat similar order to the last time. And if Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] does win it, it’s going to be because they held off the Spurs. Because if Victor [Wembanyama] and the Spurs had gotten ahead of the Thunder, I think Victor would be in pretty decent shape, and he might still win anyway.”
Bontemps on the Rookie of the Year race: “I think it’s close enough to where we’ll see what happens over the final couple weeks of the season. If Cooper [Flagg] has a couple of huge games that could spin things back in the other direction and if Kon [Knueppel] had 35 [points] in one of these two games this weekend or both, and the Hornets got a win or two, that was a huge opportunity for him to push it back the other way. He did not. He did not play well in either game.
“I think it’s close enough that a couple of performances either way down the stretch could be enough to win it, because I would say that generally in this situation, Cooper Flag would win Rookie of the Year.”
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill and Anthony Slater to discuss the Boston Celtics notable win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, including Jaylen Brown’s impressive performance. They then move on to the MVP race between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama before closing on the NBA’s tanking concerns and a rough close to the season for the Golden State Warriors.
Topics:
1:54: Celtics and Brown down OKC12:13: NBA discourse around SGA and Wemby heats up27:21: Recapping legendary MVP votes44:32: How far will the NBA go to stop tanking?57:11: Tough times developing for the Warriors
Goodwill on the Celtics motivation on Wednesday: “They’re trying to fight off the New York Knicks for second seed in the Eastern Conference, home court advantage is going to mean a lot in second round series lead conference final series.
“So I just think especially with the Tatum factor and trying to get him involved and figuring out where he fits with him. I think he was like 11 for 31 in the two games previously going into that, so the Celtics needed (his performance on Wednesday). They needed some some positive reinforcement in the game way more in Oklahoma City there.”
Windhorst on the MVP race: Even though Victor is doing some amazing stuff, Shai hasn’t slowed down … And his team’s just won 12 (straight). They just lost for the first time in a month. And it’s very out there amongst people who are (MVP) voters like us. People saying ‘I don’t know, maybe Victor’ and I can just imagine that the Shai fans are not happy.”
Slater on the Adam Silver’s approach to tanking: “There’s there’s been like 80 different ideas. He’s probably going to do a handful of them. I don’t think it’s just going to be one little one. I think they’re going to try to tweak the rules in several ways. We’ll see which ones he lands on.
“We can probably judge the plan once it’s laid out. But I do think the timeline that he kind of mentions is important when you say mid-May, teams would need to make trades around the draft. Teams need to make big decisions in late June. Early July. And you need to know the rules when you’re making big moves, right?”
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to cover the continued drama between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, including the NBPA’s statement supporting Antetokounmpo to play. They then move on to potential 65-game award exemptions and whether Victor Wembanyama’s recent speech will have any influence on the MVP race. They close on how Jayson Tatum’s return has impacted the Boston Celtics.
Topics:
2:02: NBPA takes issue in Bucks-Giannis dispute13:45: NBPA calls for 65-game exemption for Cade Cunningham20:28: Wembanyama states his MVP case29:53: Nuggets and Thunder are getting healthy39:09: Evaluating Tatum’s return in Boston45:08: Cleveland’s top-four position in the East
Bontemps on Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee: “There’s just not been a lot of communication between Giannis and the Bucks. And going into this offseason I think that’s what has to start to change.
“They’ve got to sit down and it probably should start today. They should sit down and have real honest conversations about where this thing is going and what they’re doing and what the plan is. Because like I said, the best thing for Giannis is to get himself healthy. I want to see Giannis out on the court doing awesome stuff and playing at the highest level, which he showed this year when he was on the court again.
“He’s still one of the five best players on the planet. … He’s still a guy that can be a massively important piece of a championship-level team in the league, but that situation is not going to be in Milwaukee.”
Bontemps on the 65-game award rule: “The NBA put this rule in because they wanted star players to play in more games. And guess what? The harsh truth of the rule and the dirty secret of it is it’s working. The rule is working. Guys are playing in more games. That’s why it’s not changing. It’s why it exists. I don’t think it was a coincidence Nikola Jokic came back from this bone bruise after missing 16 games.
“Victor Wembanyama has played in dozens of games in a row now and hasn’t missed any games because he’s three or four games away from [the 65-game threshold].
MacMahon on the critiques of Tatum’s return: “Jayson Tatum’s return is not going to cost the Boston Celtics a championship. Jayson Tatum’s return raises the ceiling to a championship possibility.
“Now that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, but it’s pretty ridiculous to jump to any kind of knee-jerk reactions based on two weeks of shooting numbers essentially from a guy coming back off of a 10-month rehab. Did you think Tatum was just going to hit the ground running at an all-NBA level off of an Achilles?”
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss the surging Los Angeles Lakers, including Luka Doncic’s recent run of success and a weakness in his game that keeps occurring. They move on to an important stretch for the Cleveland Cavaliers, which playoff seeding matchups to watch ahead of the end of the regular season and explore a cause for concern for the Houston Rockets.
Topics:
6:50: Luka and the Lakers still on an epic run22:12: Luka’s technical foul issues continue41:05: Interesting stretch from the Cavaliers48:08: Playoff seeding battles around the NBA54:13: Concerns for the struggling Rockets?
MacMahon on Doncic’s technical fouls: “People with the Mavericks knew just based on who was in town, ‘Hey, Luka’s going to be volatile tonight.'”
“He goes at refs in particular when he’s venting because he’s really frustrated with other things. (He’s) sometimes frustrated with things within the franchise. A lot of times it’s stuff in his personal life. You can sympathize with that and say, ‘Hey, like it’s really the one thing that’s holding you back.'”
“And again, it’s not just, ‘Hey, he gets technical fouls.’ It’s, ‘Hey, he’s not getting back on defense because he’s so engaged in the referees.’ It’s it’s that kind of stuff.”
MacMahon on LeBron James’ current and future: “The shock is a 41-year-old is still so damn athletic, but (also) they’ve got a clearly defined pecking order now.
“LeBron’s thriving in that role. And if you’d have told me in late February, ‘Hey, LeBron might actually be back in LA,’ which (Windhorst) always tried to leave wiggle room and I never wanted to hear it, I’ll listen now. They’re enjoying each other, the chemistry has done a 180.”
Bontemps on the Rockets’ outlook this season: “The reality of the situation is the Rockets are not good enough this year, right?
“They have a bright future, but they’re not good enough. So to me, the most important thing from this season is to figure out the combination of Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, and Alperen Sengun. How do those guys fit together? What is the the maximum ceiling you think of that group? And how much growth can you see from those guys?”
