🎙️ Growth of NBA podcasts, De'Aaron Fox Legend Grows, Recapping the Night's Action - 10/30/23

Welcome to “Hoop’d There It Is” - Your daily 5-6 min dive into all things NBA.

Who I’m Watching for Tonight (10/30/23)

• Miami/Milwaukee is probably the one everyone's watching. There are a lot of storylines here 📰 . Obviously, the playoff history is there, but adding the Dame narrative of him trying to force his way to Miami and then ending up in Milwaukee will be fun to watch 📺️ .

• I swear I'm not a Pistons fan, but I want to catch some Pistons/OKC action. There's star ⭐️ play with Cade/SGA, rookies to watch like Ausar/Chet, and both teams are trying to take an additional step from where they were last year to become play-in caliber (with OKC aiming for the playoffs).

• One player I'll keep an eye on the stats for is Peyton Watson. I didn't even realize he was on the team last year for the Nuggets, and he's had a nice start to this season. In the second game of the season, he showcased some impressive blocks ❌ against Memphis, while also knocking down 2 threes. And in the early game yesterday, he dropped 17 points on 8-11 shooting. I had some questions about how Bruce Brown would be replaced – whether it'd be Braun or Justin Holiday – but Watson is showing us a lot to start this year.

What Stood Out to Me Last Night (10/29/23)

1. Embiid had a monster game: 35/15/7 with 6 blocks and 2 steals. He didn't even play in the fourth. Maxey continued his stellar play, putting up 26/10 after back-to-back 30-point games 🏀 .

2. Ayton delivered another bleh performance. He seemed so eager to leave Phoenix to have a bigger offensive role, yet he's averaging just 8.3 PPG over the first three games.

3. The Bucks were whooped on by the Hawks. The final score doesn't reflect just how one-sided the game was. While it's important not to overreact to one game, teams might start exploiting the Bucks' weak perimeter defense. In a switch-heavy league, Lillard and Beasley are likely to be prime targets 🎯 .

4. Draymond returned today, moving CP3 to the bench. Steph caught fire in the 4th, leading the Warriors to victory over the Rockets. The game was close at 87-86 in favor of the Rockets with 5:31 left. But the Warriors' next five possessions, a Draymond AND-1, Curry three, Curry three, Curry three, and guess what? Another Curry three making the score 100-89 for the Warriors. That was goodnight.

5. The Lakers/Kings game was intense. There's something compelling about a player who leaves a game due to injury, only to return and perform well—especially a star like De'Aaron Fox.

6. Monk stepped up in the crucial moments, though the Lakers missed some open shots towards the end.

7. Here's a fun fact I spotted on Reddit: LeBron James played in Sacramento tonight, exactly 20 years after his debut there on Oct. 29, 2003. He even recreated his iconic transition slam from that debut game. Someone’s gotta have the picture 📷️ .

8. While still on the topic of the Lakers game – has Gabe Vincent made a three-pointer as a Laker? Let me check. Nope, he hasn't. He’s 0-11.

Random NBA Thought

^
I thought this quote was funny.

It made me think: when Jokic retires from the game, we likely won't hear much from him. He's the antithesis of Draymond, who seems to be a part-time broadcaster any chance he gets when he's not playing.

This observation made me realize how much more we hear from the recent batch of NBA retirees. TMac appears on ESPN from time to time. There's Shaq, of course. Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes have their own podcast, as do Redick, Draymond, Paul George, Andre Iguodala, Evan Turner, KG, Paul Pierce, Patrick Beverley, KD, QRich, Darius Miles, Jeff Teague, Gilbert Arenas, Duncan Robinson, CJ McCollum, Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, Danny Green, Vince Carter, and many others have their platforms or appear on national television. Heck, even Austin Rivers has one.

The NBA podcast business has to be one of the most growing businesses out there. We need to get all the NBA podcast people in a Hoop’d Fantasy League.

Wade is a minority owner of the Jazz, right? LeBron seems poised to become an owner of whatever new NBA team emerges in Vegas. We've even seen Duncan hanging around the Spurs bench.

Former and current NBA players are everywhere. And it seems like the trend will continue to grow. Except Jokic.

Old School Memory Fantasy Style

Throwing it back to the most recent game of our throwback series - when Russell Westbrook honored Nipsey with a 20/20/20 game.

Learn more about how we’re looking to change fantasy basketball at hoopdfantasy.com.