ShotTakes

Following the soap opera of The Bubble's initial weeks was entertaining, but now we get the real show: actual, regular season, NBA basketball games! The league returned to official action last Thursday, and we jump on the air to offer our thoughts on the unique environment, quality of play, standout performers, and social justice demonstrations that have marked the first week of play (aka The T.J. Warren Era) in Orlando.

ShotTakes often shouts out the WNBA in passing but, candidly, we've been negligent when it comes to giving the league its proper due over the years. So in this episode, it's all women's basketball all the time—and we have just the special guest for the occasion. We were honored to (finally!) welcome former Penn State Lady Lion Sarah McMurtry to the program to discuss her experiences in the women's basketball ecosystem and offer her perspective on the significance of the WNBA for girls across America. Plus, a look at the 2020 WNBA season, which kicked off over the weekend at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida and features a heavy focus on Black Lives Matter + the broader social/racial justice movements. Tune in for a long overdue discussion!

We're just over a week from the NBA's return, and while each of the 22 teams only has eight regular season contests on their slate, there's still plenty left to be decided in those games. We ran through the teams, players, matchups, playoff races, and miscellaneous storylines we've got our eyes on when the season picks back up—spoiler: the Sixers are mentioned. Plus, Zion leaves the bubble for a family matter (best wishes to him/them), Dwight Howard says some dumb stuff (who could have guessed?), Elena Delle Donne pens a powerful essay about her struggle with Lyme disease (take that, WNBA), and a wonderful announcement from Jrue & Lauren Holiday (#BLM). Tune in!

The NBA is hunkering down in Walt Disney World ahead of the league's scheduled July 30 return to play, and we are BACK on the airwaves to talk all things bubble. But first: we are very pleased to announce that ShotTakes has officially added former Charlotte and current Chicago correspondent Jesse Poljak to the rotation for the remainder of the season (with a mutual option for 2020-21....or whenever the next season is played). Big welcome to Jesse, who we're thrilled to have in the lineup on a full-time basis. Let's hope the NBA returns according to plan [fingers crossed].

ESPN's 10-part series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty has reached its conclusion, and we don't know what to do with ourselves now. Tune in for our thoughts on how the series wrapped up.

What better way to celebrate Mother's Day than dedicating two more hours to studying the greatness of Michael Jeffrey Jordan and the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s? We've got takes on Jordan's first retirement, his sojourn into professional baseball, MJ's notorious ferocity, Scottie Pippen's infamous "1.8 seconds" moment, and more. Plus, Scott takes a break from roasting Hassan (eventually) and turns his fire on a new sworn enemy: Jerry Reinsdorf.

Much like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were fueled by their contempt for Bulls GM Jerry Krause, ShotTakes feasts on the near-daily scorn we receive from our #1 critic: the Enemy of the Podcast, Mr. Hassan Halim. To maximize the success produced by this adversarial relationship, we invited Hassan on for this week's Last Dance breakdown. Tune in!

The squad is back to break down parts 3 and 4 of ESPN's The Last Dance. (Spoiler: Dennis Rodman did some crazy shit.)

ESPN dropped the first two episodes of The Last Dance on Sunday night. We have thoughts about it. You don't have anything better to do. So tune in. Thank you.

With the 2019-20 NBA regular season virtually over, it's as good a time as any to hand out our awards for this strange, truncated year. The MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year honors were predictable sweeps, but we got into some intriguing debates when it came to Sixth Man, Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year, top executive, and All-NBA teams. Tune in for a heady recap of perhaps the strangest season in NBA history—but one that we truly hope is not over, yet.