The Unrestricted Area Presented by Basketball Intelligence

Parker Fleming, author of the Subtsakalidis newsletter, joins Aaron Bollwinkel to talk about the Grizzlies’ new offensive system under Head Coach Tuomas Iisalo, what the return of Zach Edey means, the struggles of Jaren Jackson Jr. in the new scheme, the superb play of rookie Cedric Coward, and getting a gauge on where the Ja Morant situation stands.

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Ray and Aaron talk with Coach David Thorpe—longtime personal basketball coach, mentor, analyst, and author—about his recent TrueHoop story “Jazz Lessons,” which explores the success of incorporating improvisation into NBA offenses. The conversation touches on some of the all-time greats who set the standard, highlights a few teams thriving with free-flowing styles, and examines how Coach Thorpe teaches players to embrace improvisation through instruction and practice habits.

Links to Coach Thorpe’s and Henry Abbott’s stories:

Jazz lessons

Turns out basketball is jazz

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Aaron is joined by basketball analyst, author, and Substack writer Bob Bellotti to discuss all the intrigue and storylines in the four first-round matchups for the WNBA playoffs beginning this Sunday. 

Western Conference Preview with Bob Bellotti

Fledgling WNBA Players Thrive in Second Half of Season

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Aaron interviews The Athletic’s Law Murray about the state of the Clippers as they contend with the damaging allegations of salary cap circumvention laid out by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast on September 3. 

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Aaron Bollwinkel interviews Substack writer and longtime analyst Bob Bellotti about his recent findings regarding the ways in which the WNBA’s parity is affected based on expansion, and what that will likely mean for the league as it embarks on its most aggressive period of growth yet.

Follow Bob’s work here

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Ray and Aaron interview The Ringer senior writer Howard Beck about the different ways in which teams are going about building contenders in Adam Silver's new era of parity. 

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Ray and Aaron are joined by Nick Agar-Johnson of No Ceilings and the Kings Weekly Podcast to review the 2025 NBA Draft. They start out by giving their first impressions in the wake of the draft, and discuss the impact that NIL had on this year's class. Then, they break down the biggest storylines from the draft, including some of their favorite and most confusing draft hauls. Finally, they wrap up by briefly highlighting some of the top players in the 2026 NBA Draft class and how their years might play out in the lead-up to next year's draft cycle.

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Nick and Ray talk with The Athletic's Eric Koreen about his recent article detailing the issues concerning the quality of basketball come March for the NBA. The discussion touches on how to de-incentivize tanking, as well as the merits of potentially shortening the NBA season. 

Click here to read Eric's piece. 

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Ray LeBov and Nick Agar-Johnson talk with Sony Tiwari, Co-Founder and CEO of RefMasters, a platform created to educate people on officiating. The three discuss the mechanics of the platform and the community fostered around it, as well as several different areas of discussion regarding refereeing habits and common misconceptions of officiating.

Check out RefMasters here

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Ray and Aaron speak with Nick Agar-Johnson, Editor-in-Chief and staff writer for No Ceilings and co-host of the Kings Weekly podcast, about the ten most exciting wing defenders in the NBA. 

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