Ep. 30 Learning Basketball with Mirin Fader 



Mirin Fader is a New York Times Best-Selling author of "Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA Champion" and just published her new book "Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon”



Mirin is a sports writer with The Ringer, formerly of Bleacher Report and the Orange County Register.



Today, we learn about Mirin's writing process with the challenges in a good lead that hooks the reader before diving into her NYT Best-Selling book "Giannis", focusing on the motivations that led Giannis to development, legendary work ethic, and greatness.

Timestamps




0:00 Introduction & Background


2:20 Book Author Lifestyle & Challenge of Writing Opening Hook Leads


4:48 Feeling and Process of adding the storybook ending of Giannis winning the championship as an Epilogue to a book already on its way to New York Times Best-Seller

6:57 The 2015 Inaugural NBA Africa game where Hakeem & Mutumbo play with rising international players like Giannis & How Hakeem paved the way for the world as Basketball’s first international superstar


9:27 Giannis’ inspirations of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony to facing them as peers


14:00 What Family means to Giannis as a motivational factor in his life and work ethic


17:45 Development in Greece and Important People who helped the Antetokoumnpo family along the way, from Coach Spiros Velliniatis finding and convincing Giannis and brothers to try basketball with the Filathlitikos team, teammate Rahman Rana being like a brother, to Tzikas the owner of the Kivotos Cafe making a small yet giant gesture of providing an apple or fruit smoothie to the brothers every time they walked to practice


20:18 Other motivational factors for the Rise of Giannis - how nourishment could have made him a higher draft pick to scout, the fear of loss coming from nothing, playing emotionless, what defined his drive and work ethic

Ep. 29 with Dante Marchitelli

Dante Marchitelli is an Orlando Magic Host and Sideline Reporter for Bally sports
 and is a Host of Magic Insiders on 969 The Game and The Pod Squad with the Orlando Magic

Today we dive down Orlando Magic history: Dante's journey into Basketball Media, lessons learned working with David Steele and Jeff Turner calling Magic games, Magic player personalities off the court like Hedo Turkoglu, honor Pat Williams' legacy, the process of current front office led by Jeff Weltman, the authentic energy of head coach Jamahl Mosley, the value of Goga Bitadze, the team's heart and soul in Jalen Suggs, and the leaps made this year of Orlando's big wing stars Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction & Background


7:00 Difference in goals between sideline reporting, play-by-play, and studio show and lessons learned from working with David Steele & Jeff Turner
, the popularity of Is This Anything? the best recurring bit in basketball host media

15:20 Origin of The Thanksgiving Postgame Turkey Leg, kudos to Paul Kennedy

18:20 Which Magic Players’ Personalities shined off the court?
21:39 Hedo Turkoglu, Glue Guy of the 2009 Finals Magic team, and Stan Van Gundy’s Magic pioneering modern spacing around Dwight Howard & Shoutout to Magic Players like Dwight Howard, Paolo Banchero, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope giving back to the community

27:27 Honoring Pat Williams Legacy as the Orlando Magic’s Pied Piper

33:27 The Process of Orlando Magic front office Jeff Weltman, John Hammond, Anthony Parker targeting team-first people who bring two-way impact in their roster building


39:24 Head Coach Jamahl Mosley’s authenticity, impact, energy, communication style, and the impact he brings to the team’s culture: The Magic Standard


46:45 Goga Bitadze’s defense, screening, value and growth with this team


54:48 Jalen Suggs point guard development and impact: “The Heart and Soul. The lifeblood of this team.”


1:00:00 Franz Wagner & Paolo Banchero’s leaps to All-Star impact and All-NBA moments and Orlando Magic season expectations the rest of the way once everyone’s available


Ep. 28 with Matt Powers

Matt covers the NBA/WNBA draft, is an Editor/Co-Founder of Swish Theory, and formerly was a contributor at The Stepien



Today we learn about The Modern Wave of Skilled Bigs entering the NBA, Scouting Zach Edey and Matt’s #1 prospects in the 2024 NBA Draft, Scouting Cooper Flagg as our #1 prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft, debate Asa Newell vs Derik Queen as a top lottery pick, discuss Thomas Sorber impressions after Matt saw him live, and finish with a 2025 Big Man Only NBA Draft where we pick our favorite big prospects this cycle

Timestamps


0:00 Introduction, Background, Scouting Process
5:36 The Modern Wave of Skilled Bigs


13:27 Zach Edey #1 on Matt Powers’ 2024 Big Board, what’s Edey’s ceiling and floor as an NBA Player?

31:55 Cooper Flagg Scouting Report and #1 on our 2025 Big Board
52:14 Asa Newell vs Derik Queen


1:11:05 Thomas Sorber Scouting Impressions - Matt seeing live at MSG against St Johns + Ryan seeing his tape vs UConn


1:16:07 The 2025 Big Man Only NBA Draft

Derik Queen

Asa Newell
Collin Murray-Boyles

Khaman Maluach

Thomas Sorber

Johni Broome

Noah Penda

Danny Wolf

Eric Dixon