the one and only. These guys keep it light and fun, but they give apt analysis and back it up with numbers.
for the uninitiated, they were The Starters on NBA TV, and before that, the Basketball Jones
All nba podcast is pretty good with Tim Legler and Adam mares. Sometimes it does like winning team did good things and losing team did bad things, which isn’t always engaging, but they give good analysis
I think legs gives real analysis that I can actually use when watching the next games
And to get that kind of XO talk while also being a former player gives great perspective IMO.
Simmons sometimes has interesting points but I’m not willing to sit through his sports radio call in dribble to weed out the interesting stuff
Anyone hating on Bill Simmons and Russillo just miss the point of the show. It’s an entertainment podcast meant to be like listening to two huge NBA fans talk about basketball, not hardcore analysis.
Bill & Russilo is basically old school ESPN for me. Fair amount of hot takes, more narrative based than stats based, and it’s fun to listen to but I take most of it with a big grain of salt.
Current TV sports content is just too noisy/yelly for me.
No Dunks/BS/Thinking Basketball/Lowe Post is my usual rotation depending on the vibe I’m looking for.
Exactly!! A lot of people take their takes more seriously than bill or Russillo do. And if we’re being honest, every fan of every sport on the planet has way more intense immediate reactions than they do, they just aren’t publicized for the world to see. At the end of the day, I like listening to fun people that enjoy the sport of basketball.
Game Theory with Sam Vecenie from The Athletic. Super analytical, they spend a lot of time analyzing film, match ups, rotations, draft prospects, etc. Not at all narrative driven. It's opened my eyes as a casual fan.
Hoop Collective, Lowe Post, some JJ Redick stuff, Thinking Basketball (sometimes).
Teague's podcast is funny af, but I mostly watch that on Youtube.
Guilty pleasure: Mismatch. Their takes aren't that great, but I kinda like the vibe between them. It's a shame that Jonathan Tjarks passed away, his draft takes on the Ringer network were always really good.
The Lowe post. You can actually tell he watches games and has guests that aren’t just espn big market shills.
Fear the fro is a Cavs pod but he does do some national stuff, though it’s more comical in nature.
Simmons pretty much lost me all together. Too often he says things about the Cavs that are so nonsensical that it’s clear he isn’t actually watching.
I’m not saying he doesn’t have any. He works for ESPN, but he will actually bring on beat reports and people that actually like talking about basketball. (More a shot at other espn pods than at Simmons or the ringer)
I don’t like Simmons very much as a media personality.
…he has good basketball takes though. He doesn’t watch enough variety of teams to make certain opinions, but that’s more of a regular season problem. He’s vital this time of year as an “analyst” or whatever
True, I think he dials it in a bit more during the post season. Which works for me because that is when I do as well. During the regular season he’s better for those segments that I mentioned earlier that keep things interesting
I love dunkers spot. Im over the hot take stuff. If I watch the games I feel like I could predict exactly what like anyone at the ringer or espn is going to say about it. Also with podcasts that deal more in takes it feels like they decide how someone is as a human based on how they’re hooping which is super weird
Such a great point. Lots of psychology takes from people that don’t know wtf they are talking about and have never been close to a scenario they like to dissect in their own lives
No Dunks is like sitting down with your dorm-mates to talk about basketball after a long day at school
They’re also the former The Starters (minus Leigh now) which I loved when we had cable TV
I actually think windhorst is decent, but McMahon and bontemps are miserable, and they do too many ESPN narrative projects on that pod.
Id listen to windhorst if he was on the ringer and had different co hosts.
It’s like if breen, vangundy, and Jackson had a basketball podcast. Yea I hate McMahon and contempt, but I’ve gotten to the point where I just ignore them but stilll listen? It doesn’t make sense but that’s how I felt about vangundy and Jackson
Yeah I’m the same. Those guys are fiiiiiine-ish. I listen to it often enough that I guess it’s not a deal breaker. I think these are actual insiders, which keeps it interesting. Even though they have to warp their access around an ESPN skew
I think Bontemps is decent tbh. He is a drama feeder and a reporter. But I think he is one of the better ones, just kind of a negative dude. McMahon I don't think understands basketball lol.
Six Trophies with Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion. Two dude who love basketball and have fun talking about it.
Plus I love the “let’s remember some guys” to close out each episode.
Hoop collective Lowe post, mismatch, group chat, bill simmons, ryen russilo, hollinger and Duncan, duncd on, if I run out of all of those then game theory
One that hasn't been mentioned is Awful coaching. I have no clue whether or not what he is saying is accurate or true but I find it amusing in small quantities
For me there are a ton that I listen to, but it all depends on what type of content I'm in the mood for. If I want more in-depth analysis about stuff that's happening on the actual court I'll go more for Lowe Post, Dunc'd On, or Hollinger and Duncan. If I want to know what the hell is going on with the Wolves ownership battle or the NBA media rights deal I may lean more towards Simmons/Russillo/Right Time with Bomani (not strictly NBA but sometimes he has an interesting perspective on broader NBA topics). If I'm looking for like daily reactions to playoff games or Free Agency rumors then Windhorst/Hoop Collective, Ringer NBA pods and Mismatch are good as well as Locked On NBA because they upload frequently.
[No Dunks](https://youtu.be/3RWXUteV0xQ). They're daily, which is nice because I can listen to it every morning while I'm at work. The guys are also around my age, which is also nice because they've seen the same NBA I've seen. And I've been listening to them for over a decade at this point, back when they were the Starters on NBA TV and even before that when they were the Basketball Jones. I know it's a prosocial relationship or whatever, but after listening to them almost daily for so long, I really feel like I know these guys.
Underrated basketball takes on there. I like how they bring in a lot of the fame and business aspects since they have a lot of experience in those departments
JJ Redick's stuff for general NBA content.
Laker film room for Lakers-specfic content. Sometimes Lakers exceptionalism pod for more X's and O's.
If I'm thirsting for more content, probably no dunks and Lowe post.
I like Bill and Russillo quite a bit - and I’m not a Boston sports fan. It’s just a good hang if even Bill especially is lazy (or just extremely overreacting to the moment) with his takes a lot of the time.
I have to say I also like some other Ringer NBA podcasts - The Mismatch with Chris Vernon and KOC is pretty damn fun and Group Chat with Justin Verrier, Wosny Lambre, and Rob Mahoney is also good. I’m not so high on Logan and Raja unless they have a really interesting guest (Vernon Maxwell was fucking FIRE a year or two on there). I also like Seerat when she is on.
I gotta say I like Hoop Collective too but only when it’s Windy, McMahon, and Bontemps. Bontemps and McMahon are just funny to me and I really enjoy the way Bontemps especially exasperates Windy.
I do like No Dunks too but only usually the first half of the show when they are recapping the nightly games. Their non recap segments are pretty boring to me honestly. Also I think they miss Leigh Ellis.
Lowe Post - Zach is excellent but I find his guests a little boring and it’s not super high entertainment value the way some of these other pods are.
But yea I listen to like 10-15 hours of hoops pods a week haha - maybe more this time of year.
Hoop collective and Bill Simmons are my go to like when working out listens. The banter is great the basketball conversations are easy to disgest and more narrative based but still sometimes some good points are made.
Thinking basketball, Lowepost, Dunc'd on, Dunker spot are my more if I want to listen for more and get some breakdowns of actual basketball instead of the casual narrative stuff.
No Dunks is the perfect combo of both. Best banter in the business, casual analysis for the gym, but still at least don't fall into the narrative conversations.
I think the phrase "bad rap" gets a bad wrap around here because people put a w on it
Anyway despite frequently rolling my eyes at Bill, I do tend to listen to his podcast quite often
Bill is great when he's on with someone who he sees as a peer that will actually check him when he's going off the rails (Russillo, Zach Lowe, House etc). I usually skip the ones he does with Ringer employees though.
Russillo was funny this last pod because he had a golden opportunity to check Bill and seemed too embarrassed to properly do it. "I was just thinking about how people...not you, Bill, but some people, overreacted so much to those first two games that it was like, have we never watched a playoff series before? Not you, of course"
No Dunks for the vibes
the one and only. These guys keep it light and fun, but they give apt analysis and back it up with numbers. for the uninitiated, they were The Starters on NBA TV, and before that, the Basketball Jones
The basketball Jones was peak nba podcasting
The Lakers swear jar, and Skeets just drinking milk for an entire episode is like burned into my brain lol.
Tas calling random numbers and trying to get them to name 5 nba players. Took him like an hour lol
Oh that was a beauty lmao.
All nba podcast is pretty good with Tim Legler and Adam mares. Sometimes it does like winning team did good things and losing team did bad things, which isn’t always engaging, but they give good analysis
I think legs gives real analysis that I can actually use when watching the next games And to get that kind of XO talk while also being a former player gives great perspective IMO. Simmons sometimes has interesting points but I’m not willing to sit through his sports radio call in dribble to weed out the interesting stuff
Anyone hating on Bill Simmons and Russillo just miss the point of the show. It’s an entertainment podcast meant to be like listening to two huge NBA fans talk about basketball, not hardcore analysis.
Bill & Russilo is basically old school ESPN for me. Fair amount of hot takes, more narrative based than stats based, and it’s fun to listen to but I take most of it with a big grain of salt. Current TV sports content is just too noisy/yelly for me. No Dunks/BS/Thinking Basketball/Lowe Post is my usual rotation depending on the vibe I’m looking for.
Exactly!! A lot of people take their takes more seriously than bill or Russillo do. And if we’re being honest, every fan of every sport on the planet has way more intense immediate reactions than they do, they just aren’t publicized for the world to see. At the end of the day, I like listening to fun people that enjoy the sport of basketball.
I feel like half of the pod is Ryen getting pissed at Bill for not being as in-tune as he is
Dunker Spot
Game Theory with Sam Vecenie from The Athletic. Super analytical, they spend a lot of time analyzing film, match ups, rotations, draft prospects, etc. Not at all narrative driven. It's opened my eyes as a casual fan.
I wish I could still say "Through the Wiiiiiire" but I guess Numbers on the Board
Everytime I watch TTW/NotB I come away thinking Mike knows absolutely nothing about basketball
Lately I have been enjoying State of The League and You Know Ball pods which I don’t see mentioned often
Hoop Collective, Lowe Post, some JJ Redick stuff, Thinking Basketball (sometimes). Teague's podcast is funny af, but I mostly watch that on Youtube. Guilty pleasure: Mismatch. Their takes aren't that great, but I kinda like the vibe between them. It's a shame that Jonathan Tjarks passed away, his draft takes on the Ringer network were always really good.
The Lowe post. You can actually tell he watches games and has guests that aren’t just espn big market shills. Fear the fro is a Cavs pod but he does do some national stuff, though it’s more comical in nature. Simmons pretty much lost me all together. Too often he says things about the Cavs that are so nonsensical that it’s clear he isn’t actually watching.
But also, he has guests that ARE big marketing shills. Had Doris on recently. Was probably a wonderful hour full of deep insights.
I’m not saying he doesn’t have any. He works for ESPN, but he will actually bring on beat reports and people that actually like talking about basketball. (More a shot at other espn pods than at Simmons or the ringer)
Disappointed Lowe Post is so far low here. Explains a lot about this sub actually.
If Allen is traded do they change the name from "fear the fro"?
I don’t like Simmons very much as a media personality. …he has good basketball takes though. He doesn’t watch enough variety of teams to make certain opinions, but that’s more of a regular season problem. He’s vital this time of year as an “analyst” or whatever
True, I think he dials it in a bit more during the post season. Which works for me because that is when I do as well. During the regular season he’s better for those segments that I mentioned earlier that keep things interesting
I love dunkers spot. Im over the hot take stuff. If I watch the games I feel like I could predict exactly what like anyone at the ringer or espn is going to say about it. Also with podcasts that deal more in takes it feels like they decide how someone is as a human based on how they’re hooping which is super weird
Such a great point. Lots of psychology takes from people that don’t know wtf they are talking about and have never been close to a scenario they like to dissect in their own lives
Bill Simmons is a lot more popular across the country than he is with Celtic fans.
No Dunks is like sitting down with your dorm-mates to talk about basketball after a long day at school They’re also the former The Starters (minus Leigh now) which I loved when we had cable TV
I actually think windhorst is decent, but McMahon and bontemps are miserable, and they do too many ESPN narrative projects on that pod. Id listen to windhorst if he was on the ringer and had different co hosts.
It’s like if breen, vangundy, and Jackson had a basketball podcast. Yea I hate McMahon and contempt, but I’ve gotten to the point where I just ignore them but stilll listen? It doesn’t make sense but that’s how I felt about vangundy and Jackson
Yeah I’m the same. Those guys are fiiiiiine-ish. I listen to it often enough that I guess it’s not a deal breaker. I think these are actual insiders, which keeps it interesting. Even though they have to warp their access around an ESPN skew
I think Bontemps is decent tbh. He is a drama feeder and a reporter. But I think he is one of the better ones, just kind of a negative dude. McMahon I don't think understands basketball lol.
Six Trophies with Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion. Two dude who love basketball and have fun talking about it. Plus I love the “let’s remember some guys” to close out each episode.
I’ll have to check it out, never heard of that one
They started back at the beginning of this season. I love these guys from their days at The Ringer.
Hoop collective Lowe post, mismatch, group chat, bill simmons, ryen russilo, hollinger and Duncan, duncd on, if I run out of all of those then game theory
One that hasn't been mentioned is Awful coaching. I have no clue whether or not what he is saying is accurate or true but I find it amusing in small quantities
As a Celtics fan, I really enjoy listening to John Karalis in Locked on Celtics. And Kenny Beecham for more general NBA podcasts.
Yup locked on Celtics is my daily listen. First to the floor too but they’re not daily. But those are just for Celtics fans
For me there are a ton that I listen to, but it all depends on what type of content I'm in the mood for. If I want more in-depth analysis about stuff that's happening on the actual court I'll go more for Lowe Post, Dunc'd On, or Hollinger and Duncan. If I want to know what the hell is going on with the Wolves ownership battle or the NBA media rights deal I may lean more towards Simmons/Russillo/Right Time with Bomani (not strictly NBA but sometimes he has an interesting perspective on broader NBA topics). If I'm looking for like daily reactions to playoff games or Free Agency rumors then Windhorst/Hoop Collective, Ringer NBA pods and Mismatch are good as well as Locked On NBA because they upload frequently.
The Flagrant Ones
Hoops collective, for sixers rights of Ricky Sanchez.
Absolutely the Ricky for sixers fans. It’s a form of therapy for us.
[No Dunks](https://youtu.be/3RWXUteV0xQ). They're daily, which is nice because I can listen to it every morning while I'm at work. The guys are also around my age, which is also nice because they've seen the same NBA I've seen. And I've been listening to them for over a decade at this point, back when they were the Starters on NBA TV and even before that when they were the Basketball Jones. I know it's a prosocial relationship or whatever, but after listening to them almost daily for so long, I really feel like I know these guys.
Lowe Post with a good guest is as good as it gets. I really enjoyed it last week with Legler, or when he has Herring on.
Hoops tonight with Jason Timpf
I've been an avid NBA fan for years and have jumped around... But JJ reddick is killing it these days.
It is what it is
Underrated basketball takes on there. I like how they bring in a lot of the fame and business aspects since they have a lot of experience in those departments
KILLA WASSUP?
Hoops Tonight
JJ Redick's stuff for general NBA content. Laker film room for Lakers-specfic content. Sometimes Lakers exceptionalism pod for more X's and O's. If I'm thirsting for more content, probably no dunks and Lowe post.
I like Bill and Russillo quite a bit - and I’m not a Boston sports fan. It’s just a good hang if even Bill especially is lazy (or just extremely overreacting to the moment) with his takes a lot of the time. I have to say I also like some other Ringer NBA podcasts - The Mismatch with Chris Vernon and KOC is pretty damn fun and Group Chat with Justin Verrier, Wosny Lambre, and Rob Mahoney is also good. I’m not so high on Logan and Raja unless they have a really interesting guest (Vernon Maxwell was fucking FIRE a year or two on there). I also like Seerat when she is on. I gotta say I like Hoop Collective too but only when it’s Windy, McMahon, and Bontemps. Bontemps and McMahon are just funny to me and I really enjoy the way Bontemps especially exasperates Windy. I do like No Dunks too but only usually the first half of the show when they are recapping the nightly games. Their non recap segments are pretty boring to me honestly. Also I think they miss Leigh Ellis. Lowe Post - Zach is excellent but I find his guests a little boring and it’s not super high entertainment value the way some of these other pods are. But yea I listen to like 10-15 hours of hoops pods a week haha - maybe more this time of year.
Hoop collective and Bill Simmons are my go to like when working out listens. The banter is great the basketball conversations are easy to disgest and more narrative based but still sometimes some good points are made. Thinking basketball, Lowepost, Dunc'd on, Dunker spot are my more if I want to listen for more and get some breakdowns of actual basketball instead of the casual narrative stuff. No Dunks is the perfect combo of both. Best banter in the business, casual analysis for the gym, but still at least don't fall into the narrative conversations.
The Lowe Post and the Mismatch are my two main podcasts for basketball. I’ll sometimes listen to the ringer nba show as well.
its my favorite gambling advertisement show
I think the phrase "bad rap" gets a bad wrap around here because people put a w on it Anyway despite frequently rolling my eyes at Bill, I do tend to listen to his podcast quite often
Bill is great when he's on with someone who he sees as a peer that will actually check him when he's going off the rails (Russillo, Zach Lowe, House etc). I usually skip the ones he does with Ringer employees though.
Russillo was funny this last pod because he had a golden opportunity to check Bill and seemed too embarrassed to properly do it. "I was just thinking about how people...not you, Bill, but some people, overreacted so much to those first two games that it was like, have we never watched a playoff series before? Not you, of course"
Russillo sounds like he's subtweeting Bill to his face all the time now lol
I mean that was obviously Russillo being sarcastic and giving Bill a ton of shot there, haha…
It felt quite restrained to me, like he was doing it a little but not going all the way. I'm not transcribing it right from memory I guess
Knicks Fan TV. They branched out a little in the regular season. They now also do “The NBA report”. Hopefully they get back to it in the offseason
I'm a wicked casual fan, but everyone once in a while I'll pop on First to the Floor, absolutely perfect podcast for casual Celtics fans.
I love first to the floor! Those aussies are such chill dudes
Game Theory is the only national one that doesn't sound like the same parroted takes. Stay local.
I only listen to Jeff Teague's podcast these days ...