Game Theory Podcast

By The Athletic

What's Game Theory Podcast about?

NBA Draft and College Basketball Expert Sam Vecenie talks all levels of hoops.

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The Demise of the Clippers ...

09.17.2020

Two-part episode! In the first episode, Jovan Buha from The Athletic. We chatted about how the Clippers fell apart against the Nuggets, and how the flaws in this team were readily apparent all season. Also, where do they go from ...

Game Theory Podcast episodes:

09.17.2020 The Demise of the Clippers w/ Jovan Buha; Desmond Bane Interview Two-part episode! In the first episode, Jovan Buha from The Athletic. We chatted about how the Clippers fell apart against the Nuggets, and how the flaws in this team were readily apparent all season. Also, where do they go from ...
09.14.2020 How the Nuggets pushed the Clippers to Seven; Raps/Celtics; Team-building in the playoffs In this episode, I chat with Danny Leroux from The Athletic, RealGM Radio and Dunc'd On to discuss a lot of different things. First we dive deep into the Nuggets-Clippers series. We explain how the Nuggets pushed this thing to ...
09.09.2020 Bucks' Demise; Billy Donovan out in OKC; NBA Draft Hot Takes with Seth Partnow In this episode, I chat with Seth Partnow about a few topics. We start with the Milwaukee Bucks, the organization he used to work for. We chat about how the Heat series exposed some holes, what to lay at the ...
09.07.2020 Raptors-Celtics, Bucks-Heat, and the Dissonance of Enjoying Football The 400th episode of the Game Theory Podcast is super packed with three guests. First, I chat with The Athletic's Jay King about Celtics-Raptors, and where that series goes from here. Second, I talked with Basketball News' Nekias Duncan about ...
09.02.2020 Five Important Questions on the NBA Playoffs with Dave DuFour In this episode, I chat with Dave DuFour from The Athletic. I ask Dave five important questions regarding the NBA Playoffs thus far. 1. Is the Mitchell-Murray Leap for real? Is this sustainable? 2. Do the Raptors have enough offensive ...
08.31.2020 Mitchell-Murray Duel; Bubble Takeaways for the Draft; Luka as Draft Prospect; Matt Pennie joins the podcast. We open talking about Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray dueling in Orlando. What is happening? How have they gotten on such fire? Also, what has their developmental trajectory looked like from when they were prospects ...
08.28.2020 Bucks Protest; Jazz-Nuggets; NBA Draft with Tony Jones In this episode, I chat with The Athletic's own Tony Jones. We talk for 43 minutes at the top about the Bucks' walkout, and why it was so important in the construct of sports yesterday. And how despite what those ...
08.24.2020 The Demise of the 76ers and the Rise of Luka A two-part episode today. First, I chat with Derek Bodner to break down the demise of the Philadelphia 76ers over the last four years. All of the missteps that led to a 4-0 sweep at the hands of the Boston ...
08.21.2020 NBA Draft Lottery Reaction; Saddiq Bey Interview A two-parter! In the first half of the episode, I chat with John Hollinger about the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery, which took place on Thursday night. What do we think of this draft and potential trades that are on the ...
08.17.2020 NBA Playoff Preview; Kings/Vlade split w/ Mo Dakhil In this episode, Mo Dakhil joins, we break down everything that's happening in the NBA Bubble in Orlando. First, we chat about the Kings' split with Vlade Divac as Joe Dumars seemingly takes over as the lead basketball ops guy ...
08.13.2020 How can the NCAA save college basketball? Isaiah Stewart Interview First, Rob Dauster joins, and we break down all of the news in the NCAA regarding college football cancellations, and whether or not the college basketball season can be saved. Then, I interview Isaiah Stewart out of Washington, a likely ...
08.10.2020 The Raptors are rolling; Bucks, Sixers, Pacers, Celtics and Heat In this episode, I chat with Blake Murphy about the Eastern Conference as we head down the stretch of the seeding games. We do 30 minutes on the Raptors particularly, and what makes them such a tough out heading into ...
08.06.2020 Western Conference Title Race w/ Fred Katz In this episode, I chat with Fred Katz from The Athletic about the Race in the Western Conference. We chat Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, Jazz, Rockets, Thunder, and Mavericks.
08.03.2020 NBA Restart Analysis; Isaac Injury; Race For No. 8 in West; Skylar Mays Interview Seth Partnow comes on and we discuss the NBA restart in Orlando. Trends we've seen so far league-wide. The terrible Jonathan Isaac injury. The Race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, and some thoughts on Philadelphia being ...
07.30.2020 NBA Draft: Cole Anthony, Tre Jones and Kira Lewis; Who is the best wing?; Elijah Hughes Interview Matt Pennie and Elijah Hughes are the guests. First, Pennie and I discuss my recent NBA Draft Big Board update, focusing on the point guards -- particularly Tre Jones, Cole Anthony and Kira Lewis. Then, we move to discuss who ...
07.27.2020 NBA Scrimmage Overreactions!; Freddie Gillespie Interview In this episode, the first part features a conversation I had with Dave DuFour where the goal was to purposefully overreact to what we've seen so far in the first two scrimmages each NBA team has had. Then, in the ...
07.23.2020 NBA Draft Early Entry Deadline Breakdown; Cassius Winston Interview In this episode, I chat with Rob Dauster from NBC Sports about the 2020 NBA Draft's Early Entry Deadline, which comes on August 3. What type of situations are players looking at when making these decisions? How has COVID-19 changed ...
07.20.2020 The 10 Players Who Can Swing the NBA Title; Sam Merrill Interview In a two-part episode, first I chat with Michael Pina about 10 high-variance players who can swing the NBA title race. Then, for the final 25 minutes, I chat with Utah State guard Sam Merrill, who is a top-50 2020 ...
07.16.2020 NBA Draft Breakdowns with Spencer Pearlman Writer and scouting consultant Spencer Pearlman joins me, and we break down Obi Toppin, Tyrese Haliburton, Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart. Intro: 0:00-1:30 What does Spencer look for in scouting? 1:30-6:20 Isaiah Stewart: 6:20-14:00 Obi Toppin: 14:00-34:00 Tyrese Haliburton: 34:00-50:00 ...
07.14.2020 Western Conference NBA Bubble Preview w/ Dave DuFour In this episode, Dave DuFour joins the podcast and we break down the 13 teams heading to Orlando in the Western Conference. We give general thoughts on them heading to the Bubble, the player we're most excited to watch, and ...
07.10.2020 Eastern Conference NBA Bubble Preview w/ John Hollinger In this episode, John Hollinger joins the podcast and we break down the nine teams heading to Orlando in the Eastern Conference. We give general thoughts on them heading to the Bubble, the player we're most excited to watch, and ...
07.08.2020 New Home and 2020 NBA Draft Scouting with Matt Pennie Sam Vecenie is joined by grassroots evaluator Matt Pennie to scout the 2020 NBA Draft. Also, Sam explains the podcast's move to The Athletic's Podcast Network.
07.01.2020 The NBA Defense Episode: Evaluating who the best defenders are in the league In this episode, Sam is joined by Jon Krawczynski and Danny Leroux to break down NBA defensive standouts. On Wednesday, Krawczynski and Josh Robbins published their anonymous coaches poll of who should make the All-NBA defensive team. What did the ...
06.29.2020 Emoni Bates to MSU; Who are the best prospects in the NBA? A two-part episode. First, I chat with Brian Snow of 247Sports about Emoni Bates and his decision to commit to Michigan State. How good is Bates? Is he a superstar in waiting? What does this mean for Michigan State? And ...
06.19.2020 What are you most looking forward to in the NBA's return? Dieter Kurtenbach is back in this episode of the Game Theory Podcast, where we break down a few different topics about the Bubble, about labor strife in baseball, and most importantly: what are we most looking forward to watching when ...
06.15.2020 Bubble Talk, Kyrie's Player Meeting, and NBA Draft w/ Tony Jones I chatted with Tony Jones from The Athletic, and we chatted about the Kyrie meeting, the NBA Bubble and restart, and the 2020 NBA Draft.
05.26.2020 NBA Draft Guards Breakdown with Rashad Phillips I've wanted to get Rashad Phillips on the podcast to chat for a while, so I got on the phone with him today to chat about some of the guards in the 2020 NBA Draft. We disagree a lot! We ...
05.12.2020 NBA Draft Prospects Talk with Matt Babcock In this episode, I chatted with former NBA agent Matt Babcock from over at Babcock Hoops. We chatted about the top of this draft class, the point guard group, the big men, the weakness of the wing class, and some ...
04.28.2020 NBA's New G League Youth Initiative; The Last Dance; NFL Draft In this episode, I chat with Dieter Kurtenbach. First, we discuss the G League's initiative to pay high school prospects to turn pro. Why I like the idea of it, but am a bit skeptical going forward. Second, we chat ...
04.07.2020 NBA Draft: What do you look for in a prospect with John Hollinger? In this episode, current senior writer at The Athletic and former Memphis Grizzlies executive John Hollinger and I break down the 2020 NBA Draft. We run through what we look for in prospects, the pre-draft process's value, and break down ...
04.01.2020 NBA Awards Votes if season ends; Tiger King; NBA Draft stuff In this episode, actual basketball content! We break down the NBA Awards we would vote for if the season ends today (and it looks like it might). MVP, All-NBA, DPOY, all the good stuff. But we open on a couple ...
03.25.2020 The US coronavirus response is lacking; Basketball Mailbag and Bad Movies In this episode, Dieter Kurtenbach joins. We went heavy on the US response to the coronavirus epidemic for the first 21 minutes. If you're not interested in listening to complaints about the federal government's response to COVID-19, then skip to ...
03.19.2020 NBA Draft Re-set as the coronavirus leaves us frozen in time In this episode, Chris Stone from The Sporting News joins us to chat about Kansas, its national title banner, and how I want them to do it. Then, we break down the NBA Draft and Chris and I run through ...
03.17.2020 Coronavirus hits the sports and basketball world In this episode, Dieter joins and we talk for some time about coronavirus, the bummer that is the sports world, and what you can watch in the meantime without sports. Oh, and some coaching carousel stuff.
03.05.2020 Rockets on fire; Bulls Boot Camp Part Deux; Collin Sexton! In this episode, Dieter Kurtenbach joins to chat about the Houston Rockets being super fun and enjoyable; the Bulls being a total mess; and Collin Sexton! Collin Sexton is a legitimately good scorer! Oh, and I made Dieter talk with ...
02.27.2020 The Bucks should be the clear, No. 1 title contender Because it doesn't seem like anyone is talking enough about how the Bucks are one of the literal best teams in NBA history through 58 games, I had The Athletic's Eric Nehm on to break down how exceptional this team ...
02.24.2020 What is going on with the 76ers? with Derek Bodner The 76ers remain the most fascinating team in the league to me, so I decided to make Derek Bodner come on and chat about it. He's the most plugged-in person in the market, so if he can't figure it out, ...
02.22.2020 The Clippers, the Lakers, and the Rest of the West Playoff Picture In this episode, I'm joined by Jovan Buha from The Athletic, and we chat about the NBA now that we've hit the proverbial "Second Half." We start on the Brooklyn Nets with news of Kyrie Irving being out for the ...
02.17.2020 College Basketball Reset! Also, All-Star Game and John Beilein In this episode, Jim Root from the Three Man Weave joins, and we start with All-Star weekend, breaking down what we thought of the increase competitiveness of the event this year. Then, we move to John Beilein, chatting about why ...
02.14.2020 What are the Warriors doing? All-Star Weekend; Oscars! In this episode, I chat with Dieter Kurtenbach. First, I explain where the podcast has been. Then, I chat with Dieter about the Warriors-Timberwolves trade. What are the Warriors doing? Where are they going from here? Then we chat about ...
01.29.2020 NBA Draft Prospects from a college perspective and thoughts on Kobe In this episode, I get with Rob Dauster over at NBC Sports and we chat about a few different topics. We open with 15 minutes on Kobe Bryant, then we move on to discuss Coach K yelling at the Duke ...
01.22.2020 Who should make the 2020 NBA All-Star game? In this episode, I'm joined by Dieter Kurtenbach, where we chat about who should make the 2020 NBA All-Star Game. We run through in categories and by conference. We say who the No-Doubters are, the very likely guys, and the ...
01.17.2020 Celtics and Jazz are fun; Kyrie goes Kyrie for the first time in Brooklyn In this episode, I'm joined by Michael Pina from SB Nation, the Winning Plays Podcast, and the Open Floor podcast. We chatted about a few things. First we hit quickly on the Atlanta-Minnesota deal at the top. Then, we chatted ...
01.15.2020 Is the NBA Media Biased? Also, Clemson-LSU, Oscars, Aaron Rodgers and more In this episode, Dieter Kurtenbach is back, and we really run the gamut of sports. We talk Green Bay-San Francisco, then Clemson-LSU and Dabo Swinney. Then, we move into the meat of the episode, where we discuss if the NBA ...
01.03.2020 Drummond on the move? CP3 is still awesome; 76ers and trades In this episode, Danny Leroux joins the podcast and we chat about Andre Drummond and Chris Paul. First, we break down Andre Drummond potentially moving on from Detroit, particularly potentially to Atlanta. Then, we chat about Drummond and Detroit and ...
12.22.2019 The NBA Trade Market Reset: what potential moves are out there? In this episode, Cole Zwicker and I run through the NBA Trade Market. What are the biggest potential deals on the market? What are our favorite ones that could be under the radar, but could help NBA teams and contenders ...
12.19.2019 Ayton Returns; Clippers Are Good; NBA Draft News In this episode, Cole and I break down a few different things. First, Deandre Ayton returned to action against the Clippers last night, so we stop and break down the game. Then, we chat about the Clippers and their overall ...
12.15.2019 NBA Draft Big Board Update where Cole asks the Questions In this episode, I chat with Cole Zwicker, except the typical format of the podcast gets turned on its head. Cole gets to ask me the questions this time, about my overall opinions on this draft class, some format and ...
12.12.2019 NBA Surprises Through The First Quarter Cole Zwicker and Sam discuss some of the fun early-season stories, including Davis Bertans and Washington, Devonte Graham and PJ Washington, the Spurs being bad, and more.
12.07.2019 Knicks Fire Fizdale; Cavs' Revolt; Sleeper Draft Prospects In this episode, I chat with Cole Zwicker about a variety of topics. First, the Knicks fire David Fizdale. Was it earned? What happens now? Then, the Cavaliers aren't happy with John Beilein. What happens next? Then, we chat Vernon ...

Older episodes

Game Theory Podcast

What's Game Theory Podcast about?

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Game Theory Podcast episodes:

The Demise of the Clippers w/ Jovan Buha; Desmond Bane Interview

How the Nuggets pushed the Clippers to Seven; Raps/Celtics; Team-building in the playoffs

Bucks' Demise; Billy Donovan out in OKC; NBA Draft Hot Takes with Seth Partnow

Raptors-Celtics, Bucks-Heat, and the Dissonance of Enjoying Football

Five Important Questions on the NBA Playoffs with Dave DuFour

Mitchell-Murray Duel; Bubble Takeaways for the Draft; Luka as Draft Prospect;

Bucks Protest; Jazz-Nuggets; NBA Draft with Tony Jones

The Demise of the 76ers and the Rise of Luka

NBA Draft Lottery Reaction; Saddiq Bey Interview

NBA Playoff Preview; Kings/Vlade split w/ Mo Dakhil

How can the NCAA save college basketball? Isaiah Stewart Interview

The Raptors are rolling; Bucks, Sixers, Pacers, Celtics and Heat

Western Conference Title Race w/ Fred Katz

NBA Restart Analysis; Isaac Injury; Race For No. 8 in West; Skylar Mays Interview

NBA Draft: Cole Anthony, Tre Jones and Kira Lewis; Who is the best wing?; Elijah Hughes Interview

NBA Scrimmage Overreactions!; Freddie Gillespie Interview

NBA Draft Early Entry Deadline Breakdown; Cassius Winston Interview

The 10 Players Who Can Swing the NBA Title; Sam Merrill Interview

NBA Draft Breakdowns with Spencer Pearlman

Western Conference NBA Bubble Preview w/ Dave DuFour

Eastern Conference NBA Bubble Preview w/ John Hollinger

New Home and 2020 NBA Draft Scouting with Matt Pennie

The NBA Defense Episode: Evaluating who the best defenders are in the league

Emoni Bates to MSU; Who are the best prospects in the NBA?

What are you most looking forward to in the NBA's return?

Bubble Talk, Kyrie's Player Meeting, and NBA Draft w/ Tony Jones

NBA Draft Guards Breakdown with Rashad Phillips

NBA Draft Prospects Talk with Matt Babcock

NBA's New G League Youth Initiative; The Last Dance; NFL Draft

NBA Draft: What do you look for in a prospect with John Hollinger?

NBA Awards Votes if season ends; Tiger King; NBA Draft stuff

The US coronavirus response is lacking; Basketball Mailbag and Bad Movies

NBA Draft Re-set as the coronavirus leaves us frozen in time

Coronavirus hits the sports and basketball world

Rockets on fire; Bulls Boot Camp Part Deux; Collin Sexton!

The Bucks should be the clear, No. 1 title contender

What is going on with the 76ers? with Derek Bodner

The Clippers, the Lakers, and the Rest of the West Playoff Picture

College Basketball Reset! Also, All-Star Game and John Beilein

What are the Warriors doing? All-Star Weekend; Oscars!

NBA Draft Prospects from a college perspective and thoughts on Kobe

Who should make the 2020 NBA All-Star game?

Celtics and Jazz are fun; Kyrie goes Kyrie for the first time in Brooklyn

Is the NBA Media Biased? Also, Clemson-LSU, Oscars, Aaron Rodgers and more

Drummond on the move? CP3 is still awesome; 76ers and trades

The NBA Trade Market Reset: what potential moves are out there?

Ayton Returns; Clippers Are Good; NBA Draft News

NBA Draft Big Board Update where Cole asks the Questions

NBA Surprises Through The First Quarter

Knicks Fire Fizdale; Cavs' Revolt; Sleeper Draft Prospects

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