Episode 123 Notes and Links to Zach Harper’s Work
On Episode 123 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Zach Harper, and the two discuss, among other topics, Zach’s “taking the leap” in leaving a previous job to write professionally about basketball, his versatility in writing and podcasting about sometimes disparate topics, how he watches basketball differently now, interesting stories involving him and interesting people, his lifelong zeal for hoops and great sportswriting, how basketball and sports should be fun, and “good” bad movies.
Zach Harper is a Staff Writer for The Athletic, covering the NBA. Zach joined The Athletic after covering the NBA for ESPN.com, CBS Sports, and FRS Sports since 2009. He also hosts radio for SiriusXM NBA and SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio.
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Featured Writing by Zach Harper on Muck Rack
Featured Writing by Zach Harper for The Athletic
At about 2:00, Pete gives poor Zach a tough and random question as Pete
At about 3:35, Pete asks about Chris Paul’s legacy and Zach gives his thoughts on his place in today’s NBA and NBA history
At about 6:15, Zach talks about Patrick Beverley’s recent comments and his
At about 7:20, Zach discusses his ideas of team fandom as a sportswriter and his childhood fandom for the Minnesota Timberwolves
At about 10:30, Pete and Zach discuss the propensity for predictions and rankings and the like and Zach’s perspective on them
At about 13:20, Zach responds to Pete’s questions about the connection between the fairly-new openness of the sports betting scene
At about 16:50, Zach gives background on his journey that took him from the court of appeals to starting a basketball website and the road to professional writing
At about 19:05, Zach gives background on his reading and writing background, as well as his overall relationship with language and sportswriting from great publications like Slam and Sports Illustrated
At about 20:40, Zach details his affinity for the “inside” stories that he has heard from cohosts-former players like Sam Mitchell
At about 21:10, Pete and Zach reminisce about great ads from the Slam Magazine days
At about 22:00, Zach responds to Pete’s questions about cohost Rick Mahorn
At about 23:05, Zach highlights an article in SÍ about Greg Maddux that changed his perspective on sports and athletes
At about 25:00, Pete gives Zach room to give his own scouting report on his hoops skills-present and past
At about 28:50, Pete shouts out a winning basketball team from Sacramento (hint: it’s not the Kings)
At about 29:30, Zach shouts out Tom Ziller, Kelly Dwyer, and the Basketball Jones, among others as role models and inspirations as he got started writing about basketball
At about 31:10, Zach talks about being open to learning and Kevin Arnowitz and Henry Abbott their mentorship in linking Zach with True Hoop
At about 33:45, The Daily Dime is referenced as a place where Zach’s hard work helped him further his career
At about 34:20, Zach describes his “baptism by fire” in being fairly new to ESPN when “The Decision” happened
At about 35:20, Zack explains the surrealism of working for ESPN
At about 37:40, Pete asks Zach about “personas” that may come with working in so many different media, including writing and podcasting about basketball and cohosting the movie podcast, Cinephobe
At about 42;25, Pete and Zach focus on a series of articles from the summer of 2021 for The Athletic, and Zach responds to Pete’s questions about surprising/disappointing teams from 2021-2022
At about 44:20, Zach uses the surprising and fun Memphis Grizzlies team to make a larger point about trash talk and fun in the league
At about 46:10, Pete picks the greatest dunk of all-time
At about 48:45, Pete and Zach discuss ideas of the NBA as a distraction, and specifically the scenario
At about 50:45, Zach describes the situation where he and Amin Elhassan went on the air with v
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