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Dallas sounds optimistic about everything but tonight's game

Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals looked like a UFC fight where the underdog unloads the entire gas tank, only to realize their opponent still stand there. Dallas' Reggie Bullock symbolizes the feeling well. The recent winner of the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Social Justice Award, Bullock's often covering a

The rare challenge of inheriting a young NBA superstar

Few players in NBA history boast Luka Dončić’s youthful pedigree. Dončić won Rookie of the Year and topped that with All-NBA first team nods in his second and third seasons. He nearly took down the favored Los Angeles Clippers in a seven game masterpiece last playoffs, and starts the

Luka Dončić should shoot stepback free throws

On Wednesday night, Luka Dončić put the entire Dallas Mavericks organization on his ailing shoulders and carried them to a pivotal Game 5 win. Nearly every successful play for the Mavericks developed through the guile and brilliance of Dončić. Only six Dallas baskets in the entire game happened without Dončić's

Obi Toppin, De'Andre Hunter, and the slim margins of playoff glory

In the crucible of the NBA Playoffs, a single play at the right time can instantly rewrite a player's story. Obi Toppin, a rookie for the New York Knicks, struggled to get his footing in an unorthodox, COVID-impacted first year. Between the veteran-heavy rotations of his head coach Tom Thibodeau

Enjoy the bruising dominance of Jonas Valančiūnas

"If you just run through somebody's face, people ain't gonna be able to take that over and over and over and over and over....they're just not gonna want that" - Marshawn Lynch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Rh6KuuH6w] Athletes thrive on skill and grace, but size alone can

Tinkering with (nearly) every stat to find the NBA MVP

An attempt at combining all the data into one MVP Score

Seven types of Nikola Jokić's passing magic

Nikola Jokić will likely win the NBA MVP award this season. A lanky gamebreaker powered by guile and a Mensa-level basketball IQ, Jokić leads the Denver Nuggets and their 3rd-best record in the Western Conference. Anyone watching Jokić play will notice his unique skill set instantly. The image of a

'Death at the Wing' should be your next podcast

An interview with the production team of this excellent show

Lu Dort and the power of self belief

An NBA team prioritizing development over wins produces a ton of losses and unexpected brilliance. For Luguentz Dort—Lu for short—the freedom of a developing Oklahoma City Thunder team allowed him one glorious evening of unlimited shots. Imagine becoming CEO for 4 hours for an already bankrupt company; you

The NBA Top Shot market lost $67M in one week

On March 30th,NBA Top Shotannounced [https://www.sportico.com/business/tech/2021/nba-top-shot-dapper-labs-valuation-1234625986/] a $309M round of fundraising, valuing the company at a tidy $2.6 billion. Fundraising news did little to inspire current users, who reacted to the news with what can only be described as a sustained

How to gauge the value of NBA Top Shot mania

A guide to making sense of the buzzing NFT market of NBA highlights

Jeff Teague just can't beat the final boss

A look at the relentless, one-sided grind of Jeff Teague against LeBron James.

The Jets do not deserve a fanbase

In a life with a limited timeline, why waste a single moment caring about the New York Jets? The Jets do not care about you. Take this week’s big news. The Jets and their 32nd-ranked offense released [https://theathletic.com/2136324/2020/10/13/how-the-jets-and-leveon-bell-got-to-a-breaking-point-in-just-19-months/] Pro Bowl running back

It is never too early to fire Adam Gase

In a generous attempt at returning normalcy to a terrible year, the New York Jets embarrassed themselves in an opening day loss. Once more, the Fire Adam Gase chants trickle in. New York never stressed the Buffalo Bills, never resembled anything close to a competent football team, and lost their

Can Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry pull off the comeback?

The Raptors and Celtics look to settle this excellent series.

In an epic playoff battle, Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell refuse to miss

Denver and Utah face off tonight in their do-or-die Game 7. Denver clawed back into contention after going down 3-1, and they’re poised to complete the comeback against a Jazz team who thought they locked this down in Game 5. The series does boast some of the big man

Nikola Jokić and Rudy Gobert play the same position in wildly different ways

A comparison between two of the most exciting young centers in the NBA.

One week in to the weird and wonderful NBA Bubble

We have real, meaningful, wonderful basketball again! Welcome to week one of the NBA bubble. The NBA returned not a moment too soon, as my drafts folder started to look dire. Between the superstar ascendance of TJ Warren, the Lakers clinching the top Western seed, and the replacement players of

Lou Williams and the power of chicken wings

Lou Williams left the NBA’s bubble in Orlando to attend afuneral [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29538441/nba-probes-clippers-lou-williams-actions-away-bubble] of a family friend and sparked a national debate over his dinner choice.While in Atlanta to attend the funeral, Williams stopped by a famous strip club, got photographed

Giannis Antetokounmpo: the undeniable choice for 2020 NBA MVP

Why the Greek Freak deserves another accolade

Anthony Davis, the first teammate since Carlos Boozer to outshine LeBron

The King never settles for silver medals.

Mike Woodson revolutionized the Knicks, but they forgot

A fond recollection of Mike Woodson's tenure In NYC.

These are the unsung NBA players missing the bubble

Who won't be joining the NBA in the Orlando bubble?

Why waste time with a 401k when you could just bet against the Jets?

I’ve been a Jets fan for as long as I can remember, and like any self-respecting Jets fan, I have no respect for the franchise. How can I bet against the Jets? I’ve written up an ode to Sam Darnold contracting mono [https://warmthebench.com/sam-darnold-gets-mono-finally-becomes-a-true-jets-qb/] and a

Could your favorite NBA team run a hotel?

This week, the NBA announced their plan to restart the 2019-20 season in Orlando. Teams will enter a bubble, submit to a variety of daily medical tests, and turn Fortress Disney into a summer camp featuring the best basketball players in the world. Instead of arenas, we have NBA hotels.

Previewing the Knicks' inevitable Tom Thibodeau hiring

Who might be the newest Knicks head coach?

Michael Jordan and the joys of an undying, insatiable need for revenge

Petty brilliance from the legend himself

Nenê Hilário had a terrible, no good, historically bad day

Finding the odd and the unfortunate in NBA data

This holiday season, the Jets are gifting everyone wins

Consider the trolley problem, a famous philosophical dilemma covered perfectly byThe Good Placeand probably also in books. You, the conductor of a broken trolley, will hit and kill five people; you’re able to avert this disaster, but changing course ensures that you’ll instead hit one person. One option,

Sam Darnold gets mono, finally becomes a true Jets QB

I can feel this photo in the depths of my bitter Jets soul, pointing and laughing at the last bit of hope and wondering just what the hell it will take to finally die. Their franchise quarterback, Sam Darnold, will miss multiple weeks thanks to mono; their journeyman backup, Trevor

This article probably lost me twenty bucks

In a past life, I wrote a weekly column for SB Nation about daily fantasy football, finding time between incorrectly pasting code into an ad server to provide advice on Fanduel lineups. I felt like the owner of some secret, highly profitable information, capable of great riches born out of

Somehow, Ryan Fitzpatrick outlasted Andrew Luck

Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement shocked the sports world and revved up a week-long news cycle. I’d like to imagine the radio jocks like Doug Gottlieb setting an alarm in the morning, editing and rewriting his nuclear tweet over some coffee, and then smugly hitting publish and tossing his

A deeply scientific look at five vital dates on the NBA calendar

As the world crumbles around us and the plot of the first season ofTrue Detectivegainsplausibility [https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/10/20799880/jeffrey-epstein-dies-suicide-jail-sex-trafficking-trial-convicted-sex-offender] , we’re again looking for distraction. Yesterday, the NBA answered our prayers by releasing the full 2019 NBA schedule for every single team. While the

We should all be as generous as Nikola Jokic

Few centers in the history of the game empower their teammates like Nikola Jokic. He runs the show for the Denver Nuggets and led the team to 54 wins and the second seed in the brutally tough Western Conference. He’s grown from a forgotten second round pick in 2014

Mitchell Robinson just blocked this post

Mitchell Robinson inspired actual hope in a legion of disgruntled and long-suffering Knicks fans. A long-limbed, kinetic dervish, Robinson spent the year protecting his basket and doing his very best to break the opponents. The Knicks drafted Robinson in the mid-second round, and he’s already more than proven the

Can Klay or Steph break the NBA record for threes in a game?

We move away from Kobe [https://warmthebench.com/simulating-a-million-kobe-bryant-games/] and on to the Splash Brothers by the bay, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Few experiences rival watching the Warriors when one or both of these guys start feeling it. Steph rightly holds the claim as the greatest shooter of all-time,

The NBA Summer League is fun, exciting, and utterly meaningless

Often, we’ve gotten too far into our media consumption to examine the exact food we’re offered, too satisfied with the fast delivery to question the recipe or origin. The NBA offseason might be the worst offender, especially the meaningless NBA Summer League. A beautifully humanizingmoment [https://youtu.be/

Simulating a million Kobe Bryant games

Every data course will warn you to check for outliers, but for sports fans, these make up all of the fun. Outliers become the moments where a player or a team dramatically outperforms expectations and does something extraordinary.  Let’s take a look at one of the most brilliant moments

Is Anthony Davis LeBron's best ever teammate?

We’ll always have those forty or so hours after the Raptors victory. For one beautiful moment, the NBA celebrated Toronto’s first ever championship and caught their breath. This fragile peace exploded after another Wojbomb [https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1140023139142971392]: Anthony Davis had finally been traded to the

In a year of misery, which Knicks players inspired hope, and when?

Finding joy amid another brutal season in New York

Can the Trail Blazers end the Golden State Warriors dynasty?

Consider the tale of the Monkey’s Paw, a cursed series of wishes that bring the hapless wisher everything they wanted, but nothing that they needed. I feel like that protagonist this spring, wishing for an amazing NBA playoffs. To get those games, Game of Throneshad free up our Sundays

The shocking evolution of Enes Kanter

Where was this guy in New York?

The 76ers and Raptors matchup should be a classic

Philly and Toronto in a heavyweight battle

The Bucks vs Celtics: A playoff clash of contrasts

I can think of no better series to start our playoff previews than the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics matchup. The Bucks ended the year as the league’s top overall team, powered by a stretched out offense and the rim-breaking chaos of Giannis Antetokounmpo [https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/

Paul Millsap is the barometer for the Nuggets' playoff success

My fantasy basketball addiction manifests itself in mostly harmful ways—attention span and cellular data taking the biggest hit—but it does provide one hidden benefit. Instead of watching the local teams struggle, I tune in to see how my squad performs across the league. I’ve particularly enjoyed watching

We should celebrate Trae Young's midseason growth

Improvements from the Atlanta Hawks point guard

Why Giannis Antetokounmpo is the 2019 MVP

MVP. A moniker that ends up powering legacy debates, player contracts, and existential arguments about the state and goal of team basketball. Each year, we distill 82 games into one first place vote. Years later, these votes judge legacies. The 2019 season produced so many fascinating storylines that we need

2019 NBA Rookie of the Year Rankings: Crowning the winner

Our lastpost [https://www.warmthebench.com/content/2019/4/2/2019-nba-rookie-of-the-year-trae-young-bagley-kevin-knox-sexton] covered rookies four through ten [https://warmthebench.com/2019-nba-rookie-of-the-year-rankings-4-10/]. Today, we’re crowning the 2019 NBArookie of the year by our z-scoringmethodology [https://www.warmthebench.com/content/2019/2/25/how-to-grade-an-nba-rookie]. The scoring system looks at how a rookie

2019 NBA Rookie of the Year Rankings: 4 - 10

Finding the honorable mentions in a great rookie class.

An appreciation of Chris Paul's ridiculous rookie year

The young Point God jumped out to instant success.

Magic Johnson pulls his latest illusion, leaves the Lakers in turmoil

The end of an odd and dramatic GM tenure.

Can an NBA rookie survive the tank?

What's the cost of "intentional" losing?

Rescoring all the NBA Rookie of the Year winners

Did the voters make the right call?

How to grade an NBA rookie

Each year, NBA franchises project the hope and ambition of their fanbase on the shoulders of their prized rookies. Fans of cellar-dwelling, tanking oddities like my darling Knicks explain away current losing by pointing to the promise of player development and future winning. A dunk here, a three there, and

Ryan Fitzpatrick's dramatic return to the AFC East

Welcome back, bearded King!

The highest highs and oddest lows of Peyton Manning

In researching the Fitzmagic score, I knew I was on to something when I saw some results I didn’t expect. Intuitively, you think of the imperfect young quarterbacks in bad situations like Geno Smith, the journeymen flashing glory like Nick Foles, or the colossal busts gamely tossing one good

Geno Smith's tumultous Jets tenure

Nothing damages a fan base quite like misplaced hope. Executives buy unqualified seasons on the back of a developing quarterback, coaches hide inadequacies under the spacious umbrella of “rebuilding”; the game, rigged as ever, will always have room for aspirational patience, giving just enough rope to hang yourself after the

Introducing the Fitzmagic Score

Tom Brady is the most boring quarterback in the league. There’s no joy in watching his handsome, tomato-free grin march up and down the field each season, winning the AFC East in week four and flashing a handful of Super Bowl rings. He’s boring in his destructive consistency,