With the NBA at the halfway point in the 2019-20 regular season, we gather to offer our biggest surprises, worst disappointments, and favorite storylines. Then, the most prestigious awards show of the week: the ShotTakes Midseason Awards Special! We hand out our MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man, Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year—so far. Finally, we celebrate National Women's Basketball Players Association's big labor victory: the inking of a new CBA that locks in huge salary increases, maternity leave, maternity leave, childcare/family planning services, and other quality of life perks!

The squad—including special guest Eugene Euro Step!—convenes for the first episode of the new decade (and #MPJSZN) by reflecting on the life and legacy of NBA Commissioner Emeritus David J. Stern, taking a trip to Eric (and Eugene's) Trading Post, and running through the injury updates that surfaced over the last week. Happy New Year from the ShotTakes family to yours!

Scott and Eric close out the decade for ShotTakes by recapping the most memorable moments of the 2010s (besides the debut of the podcast of course), breaking down the Christmas Day action, and breaking out our new segment: Eric's Trading Post! 

 

(P.S. Happy 35th birthday, LeBron!)

Prompted by a tweet from honorary Editor-in-Chief of the Pod Noah Chauvin (J.D., Esq.), we submitted our picks for most handsome current NBA coaches in a draft format. The results:

Team Eric

Quin Snyder (Utah)

Nate McMillan (Indiana)

James Borrego (Charlotte)

Dwane Casey (Detroit)

Team Elizabeth

Lloyd Pierce (Atlanta)

Brett Brown (Philadelphia)

Steve Kerr (Golden State)

Mike D'Antoni (Houston)

Team Scott

Ryan Saunders (Minnesota)

Brad Stevens (Boston)

Erik Spoelstra (Miami)

Monty Williams (Phoenix)

 

While the episode largely revolved around assessing the attractiveness of middle-aged men, we also talked about actual basketball stuff for a little while. Happy holidays from the ShotTakes family to yours!

Eric returns from his gingerbread house making hiatus to talk with Scott about the Knicks' firing (freeing?) of David Fizdale and preview the trade market that is set to open up on the NBA High Holiday of December 15, when players signed this summer become eligible to be moved.

With Eric sidelined due to an urgent gingerbread house making engagement, Elizabeth and Scott ran a Williams & Harrell-esque two-person game. This week saw the Harden dunk/Rockets protest fiasco, an all-time LeBron uncalled travel, and Chris Paul doubling down on being a snitch, so as good basketball attorneys we have to ask: is the NBA rule of law under threat? 

 

(Programming note: Eric should be back tomorrow night to discuss the Fizdale firing and preview the Dec. 15th trade market, if he isn't too offended by all the jokes made at his expense here and during the first several minutes of the episode.)

The NBA is through its first academic quarter, which means it's [shudder] report card time! We dish out our As, Bs, Cs, and Ds/Fs (what's the difference, really?) to the teams, players, and other entities that have impressed, satisfied, underwhelmed, and failed us to this point in the 2019-20 season.

We're #thankful for the NBA—even if it involves watching Carmelo again. Also, Ben Simmons made a three, Magic Johnson used his newfound Twitter freedom to list his top 16 (editor's note: actually 17) MVP candidates, the league rolled out a schedule reform package, and more.

Across the NBA, players are being felled by various maladies—and the injury bug struck this podcast mid-show when Eric experienced a sudden bout of phlegm just as the Melo discussion heated up! Don't worry: he played through it, and we continued to weigh in on the surprising hot & cold starts across the league.