Rotoworld Fantasy Basketball Podcast

We've been talking about it for weeks, but we finally were able to complete the NBA Shoe Draft.It's basically like a fantasy draft where you have to draft certain positions, but in this one it's about the shoes and what position that player played (Jordans SG, LeBrons SF, Moses Malone AF1 C, Iversons PG, etc).It was 10 rounds and we had a lot of wild picks. Some people mixed it up, some people went mostly old kicks, some went all 95-2005 Nikes, and some went for newer stuff.There will be a column out soon, but you can follow along off this Twitter thread.This was a blast!

It's imperative that fantasy owners draft enough point guards, so Ryan Knaus and Mike Gallagher go over how PG ranks might shake out for the 2020-21 season.We'll go over the guys at the top with the top three guys firmly in place, but after that it's all about preference. Some guys are high ceiling, and some have great floors.We'll go through all the tiers and which PGs may fit better with others or on FT% builds or other builds.

We're trying something new in this edition as Mike Gallagher looks at some rookie and sophomore trends as players get older. It's clear that rookie bigs start off their careers as better fantasy options, and that trend continues as time goes on, too.Also, some interesting trends on how so many fast-starting rookies turned into mega studs in their careers. Trae Young also goes from bad to amazing like nobody else over the last eight seasons.We'll also talk some underrated players who could help you more in next season.

The Last Dance is over and it's easily one of the best documentaries of all time. In this edition, we'll talk some Pacers and Jazz with a look at how ridiculously durable John Stockton and Karl Malone were. Plus, Reggie Miller being ahead of his time.The pizza story cancels "The Flu Game" nickname, and we'll go over some of the aspects of the 1998 NBA Finals. We may have found out why Jordan switched to the 14s in Game 6, and we'll mix in plenty of shoe talk along the way.Plus, some Rodman, Scott Burrell, Leo, the MJ tablet memes, MJ punking Larry Bird, the world learns about Kenny Lattimore, and a whole lot of tangents.We'll wrap it up with a little Luka Doncic and Trae Young talk, too.

The Hawks figure to be one of the most fantasy-friendly teams in the league. It starts with Trae Young, and we'll try to figure out how high he should go in the first round. Over Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo?John Collins was a monster last year, but Clint Capela should affect his output. How far down does he drop? What about the oft-injured Capela?Cam Reddish, De'Andre Hunter and Kevin Huerter all look to be promising picks, so we'll go over preferences on those guys and a lot more.If you missed it, check out the Deep Dives on John Collins. Lots of stats in there! Trae is coming out on Monday!

Episodes 7-8 had some emotional moments with MJ's dad passing away and Jordan's emotions in the following years. Jordan's jump to AA baseball was wild and he actually wasn't bad despite all the time off. Scott Burrell has also been a fun part of the series and Jordan was being tough on his teammates throughout the series. Scottie Pippen has gone through some tough moments in this series, and sitting out on the last play was certainly a mistake he'd like to take back.There was also some Space Jam, shoe and music talk, and a LaBradford Smith story to pump up MJ. We'll go on some tangents on some of the others mid-90s teams like the Nets, Magic, Hornets, Sonics and others, too.

A lot of valuable players in the Western Conference are going to be over 30 for next season. Jonas Nader and Mike Gallagher go over the early round options of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Damian Lillard, Paul George and Jrue Holiday. We'll also take a look at Hassan Whiteside's huge season, Robert Covington's defensive stats in Houston, Ricky Rubio's hot finish, Mike Conley's letdown in 2019-20, Chris Paul's valuable season, and the Spurs vets.We'll also touch on Kevin Durant, John Wall, Kyrie Irving, Jonathan Isaac and a few other tangents in this edition.

The fifth and sixth episodes highlighted the Bulls becoming a dynasty in the early 90s, Jordan's shoe brand, the 1998 All-Star Game, the emerging rivalry with the Knicks, Charles Barkley as an MVP over Jordan, and of course Jordan's love for gambling.Additionally, Mike Gallagher and Steve Alexander will talk about the music for the episodes, shoes from Converse compared to the early Jordans and the 13s Jordan wore in 1997-98, Kobe Bryant, some of Jordan's gambling games, and a lot more.We'll touch on Toni Kukoc and some of the others from the 90s era of hoops, and Kobe Bryant's relationship with MJ.

We're still waiting for when we can get an idea on when basketball will be back, so we'll kick off this pod on some of the news this week.After that, we take a deeper dive on John Wall. On top of his injuries, there's a few other aspects of his game that could be troubling.We'll also talk about Kemba Walker and Nikola Vucevic turning 30 soon. Plus, some of the veteran Raptors and a handful of others.

ESPN's The Last Dance is shaping up to be one of the best sports documentaries of all time. Each Monday, Steve Alexander and Mike Gallagher will give some thoughts on the episodes.We'll have some stories about those games, a ton of tangents and some interesting stats along the way. Dennis Rodman was a big part of the third episode, so we'll focus on him early. Plus, so talk of the Pistons, a lot of talk about 3-pointers, and a whole lot more.In this episode, we also ended on talking some Kevin Durant and where he should go in drafts next year.

In case you missed it last week, the Rotoworld crew and some readers did an eight-cat mock draft (here's the link you can check out to follow along). Steve Alexander and Mike Gallagher did a pod that was focused more on the earlier rounds (link here), but this time Ryan Knaus and Mike go over the back end in greater depth.Before we got to the tail end, Ryan gives his thoughts at the top of the draft with talk of picks he liked and didn't agree with. Both Mike and Ryan look to be all in on Jayson Tatum as a late-first pick in nine-cat leagues, and it's going to be hard to move him out of the top 10.We'll go over a ton of the second-year guys who could take a leap, plenty of talk of the Raptors and their fantasy-friendly rotation, and we'll add some thoughts on overall strategy.

Matt Stroup and Steve Alexander break down Episodes 1 and 2 of The Last Dance, and marvel at some of the fantasy numbers of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in their heyday. We also review Ben Simmons' season — and the positives and negatives of his game — after a recent report that his back injury has healed. Will Simmons finally start taking more 3s? Should he start taking more 3s? We discuss all of that and more, including the time that Steve met Wally Blase.

We had a Thursday night mock draft with most of the Rotoworld crew and some readers. Before you check out the pod, you may want to check out the recap of the mock here and follow along.Steve Alexander and Mike Gallagher went over the rounds to highlight some takeaways and picks that stuck out. It looks like the first round is pretty solid in some form from 2-9 with James Harden at the top.There were also a lot of position runs throughout this draft, especially with the PF/Cs going in round three.A lot of younger guys did slip a bit while most of us were avoiding the aging veterans.

Matt Stroup and Steve Alexander break down what's been a dominant season from Jayson Tatum in the third year of his career, and react to the stunning revelation that he hasn't picked up a basketball in over a month. Plus, we analyze the NBA H-O-R-S-E competition, look at the Bogdan Bogdanovic-Buddy Hield dynamic in Sacramento, and discuss the Donovan Mitchell / Rudy Gobert situation in Utah.

There's a good chance, the 2019-20 fantasy is over, so Tommy Beer and Mike Gallagher preview the first couple rounds for the 2020-21 season.James Harden and Anthony Davis look to be the clear top options heading into draft, but it's wide open after that. Can Damian Lillard and Nikola Jokic get even better? What about Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant bounce backs as first-round options?In the second round and late in the first, there are a whole lot of options to consider. Can Jonathan Isaac, Bam Adebayo and John Collins build off their breakout seasons even with huge price tags for next year?

Matt Stroup and Steve Alexander comb through some recent NBA headlines, including the possibility of the season concluding by September, and a potential made-for-TV pro hoops H-O-R-S-E competition. We also look at the possibility that De'Andre Hunter could take a leap in his second season, and discuss why a frustrated Lauri Markkanen is a good candidate to bounce back. Plus, the impressive longevity of Kyle Lowry, and why a top-12 season beyond the age of 30 is a rare feat mostly pulled off by NBA Hall of Famers.

Matt Stroup and Steve Alexander look at 15-plus years of fantasy (and real-life) dominance from LeBron James and Chris Paul, who have both pulled off the insane feat of being early-round fantasy players in 2005 and 2020. LeBron and CP3 also become the jumping-off point for a discussion on whether we should avoid players who are over 30, with Shawn Marion, Gerald Wallace, Gilbert Arenas and Chris Webber all serving to varying degrees as cautionary tales. Read more in Roundball Stew here: https://www.rotoworld.com/article/roundball-stew/cp3-and-lebrons-all-time-dominance?page=1

Matt Stroup and Steve Alexander first talk some recent fantasy hoops, with Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins heaping a lavish comparison (Giannis Antetokounmpo) upon 20-year-old Jaren Jackson Jr. Then, we hop into the fantasy hoops time machine to visit the 2004-05 season in all its glory. Join us as we remember an incredible seven games from Ron Artest, vintage years for Larry Hughes and Gilbert Arenas with the Wizards, Allen Iverson and Chris Webber both in Philly, and Marcus Camby's tenure as a profoundly underrated 30-something.

It might be a while before we're breaking down fantasy hoops action, but there's still plenty to talk about.We kick it off talking about what to do with fantasy leagues possibly done for the season. The NBA has a lot of upcoming decisions to make, so we go over some possibilities for how we could finish the season.We'll go over the players that are hurt right now, and could make an impact should the NBA return later this season.Finally, we'll talk about a handful of players who were playing lights out coming into this hiatus, and what it means for their values going forward and into next year.

With no new box scores to follow, and with the NBA season — as well as our fantasy leagues — all on indefinite hold due to the coronavirus, Matt Stroup and Steve Alexander hop into the fantasy hoops time machine to revisit the 2003-04 season. We discuss the dominance of Kevin Garnett, the surprising excellence of Peja Stojakovic, Andrei Kirilenko's remarkable production and some vintage greatness from Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen. It was a time when Baron Davis wrecked box scores and percentages, and Donyell Marshall was very close to the top of his game.Shoutout to the 'Dinner Party' episode of The Office, and you can read the oral history of that episode right here: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-features/that-one-night-the-oral-history-of-the-greatest-office-episode-ever-629472/