"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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Latest episodes:
Dec. 3 | Dec. 1 | Nov. 26 | Nov. 24 | Nov. 21
'The Hoop Collective' episodes
Dec. 3: Concerns for the Lakers? Flagg's improvement
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to talk over the latest concern levels with LeBron James' recent struggles and if the Los Angeles Lakers roster fits together defensively, including Dillon Brooks' notable game against them. The crew then discusses the LA Clippers' bleak start to the season and the injuries stacking up for the Denver Nuggets before MacMahon hands out his monthly award.
Topics:
0:45 Brooks instilling physicality in Phoenix
8:17 Concerns with LeBron's play?
13:33 Can Luka, LeBron and Reaves defend as a trio?
16:07 Disaster continues for the Clippers
18:52 Youth leveling up in Dallas
24:43 Denver defense lacking with injuries
26:46 Cojones Factor Player of the Month
34:37 Challenge for OKC keeping talent
36:21 Danilo Gallinari's unique career
42:24 Jimmy V Week
Bontemps on LeBron's current play: "I was pretty taken aback at how old he looked on the court and he didn't look like you ever ran at any point in the game. Look, he was mostly just jogging, and I thought the moment of the night, frankly, was Dillon Brooks goes up for a layup, LeBron loads up to come flying in and do his patented block off the backboard and it looked like he had a parachute attached to the back of him and he just didn't get there in time."
Bontemps on the Lakers' defensive struggles: "Well, the other thing too, it's only five games. And yes, obviously, last night they got smacked by Phoenix. So the numbers are going to be a little twisted. But 91 minutes in five games, Luka, Austin [Reaves] and LeBron together getting outscored by nine points per possessions -- defensive rating 120.6. That would rank 28th in the league ahead of only Brooklyn and Washington.
... Last year, those three guys on the court had a defensive rating, 117.7 across the course of the season. That ranked 20[th] and would rank 27th ahead of Brooklyn, Washington and Utah, who obviously was not doing a lot of attempting to win in games last year."
MacMahon on the Denver injuries and defensive woes: "It's ' -enver' -- ain't no 'D.' It is the 'Enver Nuggets' right now, fellas.
And look, it sucks that Christian Braun went down and then that especially Gordon got hurt and and they're both going to be out for a while.
Gordon is a Grade 2 hammy that's reevaluated in four to six weeks. In the five games since Aaron Gordon suffered that hamstring strain, they are first in offense, the Denver Nuggets, and dead last in defense, 127.3 points allowed per 100 possessions. With Gordon on the floor this year, 105 is the defensive rating -- that would rank second in the league. When he's not on the floor it's 119.4. And they got to figure it out because he's not going to be on the floor for a while."
Dec. 1: More NBA chaos from the weekend
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss the wild ending to the Atlanta Hawks-Philadelphia 76ers game, Joel Embiid's return and the Hawks' lineup without Trae Young. The trio then moved on to the potential lottery lineup, including Oklahoma City's lottery future and a 2003 NBA draft oral history before closing out on the Cleveland Cavaliers' latest struggles, the Minnesota Timberwolves' slow start and the San Antonio Spurs' week without Victor Wembanyama.
Topics:
1:26: Wild drama in Hawks-76ers ending
5:58: How did Embiid look in his return?
8:12: Hawks' length without Trae unique
12:09: Potential lottery pick madness (OKC could have multiple lottery picks)
21:29: Epic award story time with Windy
25:32: Oral history of 2003 NBA draft
27:12: Cavs' struggles continue to linger
43:42: Concerned with Wolves' start yet?
50:28: Big week for Spurs with no Wembanyama
Bontemps on Embiid's return to the lineup: "But he's still a guy that the defense really respects when he's out there. He's drawn people to him. They can run, dribble, handoffs with him and Paul George and him and Tyrese Maxey and then Quentin Grimes and [VJ] Edgecombe and all these guys.
But the question is going to be, and I wrote about this in a story about the Sixers on Friday, can the defensive mobility and can that trust in his knees get to the point where he can move around more fluidly and better on the defensive end? If he can, then the Sixers are really in business and if he can't, then it's going to be a challenge to navigate that because he's been somebody that teams have been able to go at from a mobility standpoint. And the Hawks had success doing that today."
MacMahon on the Hawks' roster without Young: "But the Hawks are, I would assume, in the process of figuring out would they rather move forward with Trae as an offensive engine and have to protect him defensively or looking like they are right now where, if Jalen Johnson is looking like this, they've got some serious firepower still offensively."
Bontemps on the Timberwolves' struggles: "The point guard thing is going to be an issue, and I think the loss in [Nickeil] Alexander-Walker hurts. They could really use him. They don't have him. Like we've talked about, the Rob Dillingham experiment has not worked."
Windhorst on the Timberwolves' potential moves: "Are they going to be a buyer? They're hard up. They don't have much apron space, but they do have some contracts that they could move if they wanted to ...
"You've got a number of young players they could offer up. I mean if they wanted."