Stepback Sisterhood

The Ladies talk about ESPN's 2021-22 preseason rankings, John Wall and his situation with the Rockets, and the idea of a mid-season tourney.

00:30 Eastern Conference projections by ESPN

2:00 Are the Bulls too low? What can Billy Donovan to make the team better?

9:30 What kind of impact will Kemba Walker have in New York? 

11:45 How big of a surprise would it be if any of the top 4 teams in the East fell out? 

14:30 If for some reason Ben Simmons can’t be traded, what would it take for Philadelphia to be successful?

21:15 Western Conference projections 

26:00 The regular season is for the younger players and the playoffs are for the vets. Is this how it's going to play out this season?

 

28:00 Biggest concerns for the Warriors? 

32:00 Why is Dallas so high

36:00 What about Portland? 

39:00 Sacramento is a mess but . . . 

45:00 OUR projections

51:30 John Wall situation in Houston. 

59:15 Mid Season Tournament

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The ladies talk about the latest trade rumors rumbling around Ben Simmons, Rachael Nichols' exit from ESPN and Dame's Wedding

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Britt goes to Vegas for Summer League and she shares with the rest of the ladies her experiences. The Ladies also talk about their rookies during Summer League Play. Plus, Amber has a very special announcement.

4:30 Salary Cap and CBA track

7:45 Nonclassroom summer league highlights

11:15 Who has impressed at Summer League? Rockets

13:00 Thunder

14:15 Warriors

15:30 Blazers

17:00 Summer League is supposed to be about the younger players, what are the Blazers doing? 

21:00 Are there any updates that we like or things that we would change?

29:45 Convention atmosphere 

31:30 Scary lineup in Toronto: Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa

33:15 2019 Started with an earthquake and went downhill from there. 

34:30 COVID Protocols at Summer League

35:30 Giannis sighting

41:30 Amber’s new gig! Janelle’s new piece coming up 

44:15 Will Damian Lillard stay in Portland? 

47:15 When Westbrook left the Thunder

52:00 Teams in the west are getting better

54:45 Blazers were turned down by Hassan Whiteside

58:00 Harden cautionary tale

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The ladies talk about the night that KD crashed Twitter spaces and what's up with the perception of Giannis from his peers? Plus, they talk about the upcoming draft and the latest on the Blazers.

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The Ladies talk about their expectations for the Finals matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns. Then they delve into the fallout from the NYT article exposing Rachel Nichols and her comments about Maria Taylor, and their thoughts on the hires of Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd

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00:45 Which coaching departure surprised us the most?

5:15 What is going on in Dallas?

6:30 The surprise that Budenholzer and Walton still have jobs

10:30 Bucks vs Nets, what did we learn? 

16:15 When you give someone an MVP based on potential . . . 

20:00 What happened to Ben Simmons? 

22:15 What is next for the 76ers? Trades, lineup possibilities and more thoughts

25:45 Did The Process break Ben Simmons?

29:00 How would Ben Simmons fit in with other teams (like the Blazers)?

43:45 The battle between Ty Lue and Monty Williams?

51:30 Did Devon Booker have empty stats? 

58:30 Draft lottery jitters for the Stepback Sisters

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:45 Brit’s thoughts about the play-in. Generally successful. The Western Conference games were exciting. Not enough time for teams vying for 8th.

 3:45 Rewarded teams that took care of business during the season. Warriors paid for trying to toe the line. 

6:45 How are the players especially Steph Curry reacting to the end of the season?

8:15 Did the play-in tournament make the end of the year more interesting in general? 

10:00 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup coming up this season

11:00 Conspiracy theories! NBA wants more Zion Williamson!15:00 How many games will the season be in the future?

17:00 Teams trying to stay out of the play-in tournament or play into the pay-in tournament was fun. 

21:45 Eastern conference blow-outs did not get good ratings

22:30 Jannelle’s thoughts on the Warrior’s performance in the play in, and what is next? They will have at least one draft pick, possibly two.

28:45 Is the “window” for NBA players longer than it used to be? They play longer at a successful level and it shows on the court. 

30:00 Amber’s thoughts on the Brooklyn Nets. They took a while to get going. Is that going to give them problems? 

33:30 Things are rough for Boston Celtics right now. 

37:30 Who can push the Nets in the Eastern Conference. Discussion about Philadelphia, Milwaukie and Miami.

45:45 Small market teams like Milwaukie who built through the draft. It's hard and rare to get that right.

51:15 What did the Blazers do? They have their health and they have a lineup that is working. 

55:00 About Melo’s role in Portland. Why doesn’t Melo get a break when he misses three shots in a row? 

1:02:00 How do people react to Russell Westbrook

1:12:00 Gary Trent Jr trade for Norman Powell was a good thing for both teams.

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00:00:15 Intro

00:00:48 How are our favorite teams doing?

00:10:17 Are there things that worked/not worked this regular season?

00:17:03 The NBA Officiating Situation

00:34:24 NBA Play In Tourney thoughts

00:52:01 Does this season deserve an “asterisk” more than the 2019-20 season?

00:56:52 Consequences of the “COVID Seasons” and injury risks related to play-in games.

01:00:26 The Olympics impact to the NBA season.

01:02:39 Should Black/African American players play in the Olympics?

01:08:19 Wrapping up

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00:30 Why aren’t people watching the NBA as much any more? Not just one thing.

6:15 There are not really any villains that everyone wants to tune in and watch get beat. 

09:00 Many people only watch highlights

13:00 TV only shows certain teams

16:30 Can kids sit through a whole basketball game any more? They are long! 

17:30 TV time - why can’t they be more flexible?

20:30 Could they address some of these lingering issues when they rebuild programming after COVID?

25:00 We’re tired of watching the Pelicans and the Mavericks! We want to watch the up and coming players too.

30:00 It makes sense that some players would be showcased but there is room to highlight more.

31:30 Use the local broadcast teams more (like NBATV does). There are some really fun and exciting regional broadcast teams that are more fun than the national crews. 

35:45 Things that might make the game more interesting to watch - changing the length of the game, changing the rules to make it more fun to watch.

40:45 When starts and analysts say that the regular season isn’t important, and act like it is not important, you are sending a message. 

47:00 The NFL makes things feel important in the moment. 

48:00 Can the playoffs be reformatted? Eliminate conferences, seeding games, etc. 

53:00 Rockets update

54:45 OKC update

57:00 Golden State update

1:00 Blazers update

1:03 Kyrie Irving update

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1:00 Golden State from All Star Break to Trade Deadline. There is a vibe that they are turning out the coach. Wiseman hasn’t been developed. 

2:30 Tradeline expectations vs what really happened. Its not all going to be fixed when Klay gets back. 

3:30 Now they will add the two way players to the roster. They are not in a rush to get Steph back. 

7:00 Is there any silver lining? They still have a chance so they should try to win. They should at least try to get to the play-in tournament. 

11:00 They are bankin a lot on Klay Thompson setting everything right.

12:00 Rockets update: 20 game losing streak. But they have won 2 of the last 3.

16:00 Trade deadline activities - did this help explain the direction the team is headed? They don’t want to get caught up in the rebuild cycle where you have so many young players that there isn’t anyone around to teach them how to be accountable. 

20:15 How has Stephen Silas been navigating the season? 

25:15 Blazers recap. They held on long enough until CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic came back. But, oof, their defense is not good!

28:15 Trent Jr. and Norman Powell trade. Powell’s championship experience should be helpful. 

30:00 How will Powell fit in defensively? 

34:30 Damian Lillard’s clutch performances. 

36:00 What is it like to have a player on your team win MVP? For Steph, it was exciting to watch the attention. 

38:15 When Harden won the MVP, it was hard because when his team didn’t win the championship that was held against him. MVP is an individual achievement, a Championship is a team achievement. 

40:00 Ring culture - how important are regular season games? 

48:00 When media and fans fame the fires of Superteams. 

53:00 When did ring culture start to take over the narrative? 

56:00 Kevin Durant: “NBA Fans Don’t like anything about the NBA and it's weird.”

58:45 NFL doesn’t really trash their players for not winning.

 

 

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