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"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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Feb. 18 | Feb. 16 | Feb. 13 | Feb. 11 | Feb. 9
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'The Hoop Collective' episodes
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to cover the NBA teams that have at least a 5% chance to win the NBA championship. They then move on to some tight awards races this season, including Defensive Play of the Year and Coach of the Year. They then close on what to watch out of the All-Star break and the new MVP straw poll debuting on Friday.
Topics:
1:56: Who has a 5% chance to win title?
7:49: NBA Finals contenders in Western Conference
17:47: NBA Finals contenders in Eastern Conference
29:30: NBA Award races to watch
29:58: Contentious battle for Defensive Player of the Year
35:15: Coach of the Year race
37:33: Runaway leader for Rookie of the Year
41:49: What to watch for rest of season
49:10: MVP straw poll Friday
MacMahon on the Spurs' outlook this season: "If you are reading the Spurs lack of activity at the trade deadline as an indication that they don't have confidence, I would tell you, you are reading it incorrectly. Now, the (Houston) Rockets, that's a different story. The Spurs, I'm just telling you that is a group that believes they've got a real deal chance right now. I know Victor (Wembanyama) believes it. I'm telling you, people making decisions believe it."
Bontemps on Jayson Tatum's potential return: "I think barring a setback, it's safe to think (him returning is) the realistic outcome at some point this season. And if he could just give them something on top of what they already have -- they might be good enough to get to the Finals right now -- and that's with him not even part of the equation at all. If he just comes back as a a new rotation piece for them over the final two months of the season and in the playoffs, that would be a huge addition for the Celtics.
Bontemps on the NBA's expansion plans: "I know Adam Silver talked about it a little bit over the weekend with regards to expansion. I don't know when we're going to find out about expansion, but I feel very confident that we're going to get expansion news in the affirmative this year. And that at some point, that will end up in two more Western Conference cities."
Brian is joined by ESPN's Vincent Goodwill and Bobby Marks to review the weekend's All-Star festivities and why the format of the game worked so well. They then move on to discuss Kawhi Leonard's impressive season and the LA Clippers' plan moving forward. The trio closes on NBA commissioner Adam Silver's press conference over the weekend, including tanking discussion and potential expansion plans.
Topics:
2:20: Latest Windy health update
3:19: NBA All-Star Game reaction
19:50: Kawhi's epic season shows out in All-Star
36:07: Silver's press conference reaction
39:37: NBA open to all ideas on tanking
55:52: Other takeaways from All-Star weekend
Marks on the league's approach to tanking: "I got the feeling after listening to (the Silver press conference) that they'll have open ears from the competition committee about doing something and instituting something.
"I don't know what it will be, but I've got multiple texts from teams on, 'Hey, what do you think?'
"I think they're open to how to change."
Brian is joined by ESPN's Vincent Goodwill and Anthony Slater to retire multiple subjects of conversation on the podcast, including tanking, this weekend's All-Star Game and Jonathan Kuminga. They move on to discuss the Clippers' current status and what it means for Kawhi Leonard before closing on the San Antonio Spurs' impressive run before the All-Star break and the New York Knicks' playoff outlook.
Topics:
2:39: Brian's topic-retirement announcements
3:10: No more tanking talk from Windy
6:34: No more All-Star Game conversation
8:07: No more Kuminga drama conversation
16:56: Clippers story and the state of team with Kawhi
31:16: Spurs finishing strong before the break
34:26: Wemby is rising to a new level
41:26: Knicks continue to be up and down
Windhorst on Leonard's potential trouble: "I don't pretend to know what they could find (Kawhi) guilty of, but I think it's very unlikely that he personally faces discipline that would keep him from playing."
Goodwill on Wembanyama's All-Star weekend: "I am looking forward to seeing (Wembanyama) at All-Star weekend and seeing if he wants to embarrass everybody.
"He may be the guy that can save All-Star weekend because he may shame you by blocking 10 or 11 shots and send your stuff all the way back and force you to play hard."
Goodwill on the Knicks' peaks and valleys: "If Karl-Anthony Towns is engaged and not in foul trouble and not in his own head, then they have an element of talent that nobody in the East can meet.
"... The problem with the Knicks is when everything's going right, they can overwhelm you. But when one thing goes wrong, they don't know how to handle the slightest bit of adversity. Even Jalen Brunson the other night against Indiana just went full, 'I'm taking every shot like in the last five minutes. And he hasn't done that in a long time because normally he comes up big late. So you don't pay much attention to it. But when he's off it's very noticeable. When Karl-Anthony Towns is on it's very noticeable. When he's off, committing offensive fouls, jumping on people's backs, playing the bongos or whatever it is. You see it all.
"You don't know what to believe because their highs are so high and the lows are so low."
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to go over LeBron James' recent comments about how far the Los Angeles Lakers are from championship contention and James' future after this season. They then move on to the Golden State Warriors position in the West and if they're stuck in their current position for the rest of the Steph Curry era. They close on a potential return for Jayson Tatum, the expected fallout from the recent Charlotte Hornets-Detroit Pistons scuffle and an All-Star weekend preview.
Topics:
1:08: When you need to arrive to the airport
1:38: Lakers not close to championship contention
13:09: Direction for Warriors moving forward
26:14: Tatum rehabbing with Celtics' G League
36:12: Pistons-Hornets reaction
41:26: Dunk Contest lineup reaction
Bontemps on the Lakers' future: "It isn't just as simple as, 'Oh, hey, the Lakers are going to go into the summer. They got their cap space, they got some picks, they're going to remake this roster, and they're going to immediately be right up 8:19 there with the Thunder and the Spurs and the Nuggets and these teams in the West.' It's going to be a real challenge for them to pull off this fix. And it's for all the reasons LeBron said. You watch them play the Thunder, even without guys, and it's very obvious they're a clear level or two below."
MacMahon on the Warriors direction: "I think that's interesting because the Warriors obviously did everything they could to try to get Giannis (Antetokounmpo) before this deadline and it didn't happen. It makes me wonder if Mike Dunleavy left those discussions basically saying 'OK we weren't able to get it done now,' when they were able to put the best package on the table, they probably wouldn't have been able to this summer when Miami gets access to the other picks. (He) basically said, 'OK, the Giannis thing isn't happening.'"
MacMahon on a possible Tatum return: "I understand not wanting to make a commitment to, 'Hey, I'm definitely coming back' because you got to see how his body feels, how it responds, all those kind of things. But the fact the guy is playing five-on-five with two months remaining in the regular season and the Celtics are where they are in the standings, it's hard not to anticipate Tatum coming back at some point this season."
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss James Harden's first game with the Cleveland Cavaliers, including the ceiling for the franchise after the trade. They then move on to tanking issues in the NBA and the surging Charlotte Hornets before closing on how wide open the Eastern Conference field is and the Minnesota Timberwolves uneven season.
Topics:
1:47: Our Super Bowl memories
3:34: Harden's debut with the Cavs
13:44: How much better are the Cavs with Harden?
17:46: Tanking issues around the NBA
24:50: Hornets' historic winning streak continues
39:34: Interesting weekend for the Knicks
47:12: Timberwolves up-and-down season continues
Bontemps on the Cavs move for Harden: "It was immediately apparent why it was the right move for the Cavs to make and why it was the right risk for them to take with what they have at stake this summer to try to get Donovan to extend. And James is going to get him shots and he can hold up better defensively than Darius (Garland). Not that he's great on defense. He certainly is not, but he's at least a big body who can bang on people. And even towards the end of that game the other night, he was guarding DeMar (Derozan) some, it's clearly made them better. And now we'll just have to wait and see how much better."
Bontemps on the wide open East: "These playoffs, you could give make a case for Detroit, you could make a case for Boston, especially if Jayson Tatum comes back, which I'm still thinking he will at some point, though it's not certain. You could certainly make a case for the Knicks. You can make a case for the Cavs. If Philly is healthy, I think from a ceiling perspective, you could make a case for them. That's already five teams."
Bontemps on the Timberwolves issues this season: "The real issue this team has just wildly underperformed performed for most of the season. They have repeatedly had just absolutely horrific losses. Like that loss to the Pelicans, that was terrible. They got obliterated on New Year's Eve by the Hawks. They lost to the Nets. They lost to the Bulls. They lost to the Jazz. They had that game on their home court. They got blown out today by the Clippers with half their team. They lost that game where they were up seven points with 45 seconds to go in Phoenix and imploded and lost that game.
"They've just had six or seven or eight just catastrophic losses this season. And even if they had four of those games back, you're talking about a team that is pushing for second or third in the West and instead they're sixth."