House of Strauss – Details, episodes & analysis

I can’t deny it. I’m really excited about the Jimmy Butler Warriors. I just had to discuss with Light Years hosts Saam Esfandiari and Andy Liu. If you’re a GSW fan, this is the episode for you. If you like NBA legacy talk…this might also be the episode for you.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Do we believe?

* Reasons for belief

* Was Bob Myers throwing cold water on the Warriors in the ABC broadcast?

* Do I regret not being around for the entire Steph Warriors story arc?

* If Draymond’s wild championship prediction is right…LeBron legacy implications

* How Gregg Popovich and LeBron James are similar in GOAT debates

Mavs Moneyball Managing Editor Kirk Henderson went viral with his letter to Mavericks GM Nico Harrison. Since going viral with text is almost impossible these days, we talked about why Kirk’s heartfelt missive swayed the masses.

What the hell went on in Dallas to cause this infamous trade of a superstar? What are the media stories connected to it? Also, how do Kirk and I rank those to blame for the trade in terms of culpability?

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Happy New Year! We start off 2025 with an in depth discussion about, what else? H-1B Visas.

In all seriousness, the visa issue has revealed fascinating dynamics within American politics and culture. Our guest Lee Fang wrote a fantastic article on the business dynamics behind a controversial policy that’s pitted Elon Musk against more traditional MAGA types. In this pod, our topics include but aren’t limited to…

* What the hell are H-1B Visas?

* Why is the “Tech Right” struggling to make a case for them?

* Is Elon Musk’s loyalty to America or Mars?

* I read the now infamous Vivek Ramaswamy tweet

* What’s wrong with 90’s sitcoms and sleepovers?

* “Market dominant minorities” and modern anti Indianism

* Is the Tech Right against racism? Or just highly specific forms of it?

* What are people in tech really like?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

If you wanted to follow the Open AI debacle in depth, Ashlee Vance’s articles in Bloomberg have been mandatory. Lucky for us, he took a moment out of his busy reporting schedule to hop on HoS and discuss the bigger picture questions connected to the corporate crackup. Also, there’s quite a reason for his proximity to the situation, which he reveals in the podcast.

I’m not even sure how to timestamp this one, as the conversation jumps around to a lot of abstract places. I’ll just say that it’s a discussion I personally can’t stop thinking about since we had it. Vance is my favorite writer on the topic of the imminent future and there are some staggering possibilities afoot. Should we be terrified? Should we be inspired? Can we, fairly soon, become immortal? Do we want that? We discuss all this, plus talk about Ashlee hanging out with a community of brain-implant augmented monkeys

We’re rejoined by Ross Barkan, the best New York politics reporter, plus an overall astute commentator on many matters. This time, we’re talking about how the Israel/Gaza situation has shaken up U.S. domestic politics and revealed a massive generation gap between TikToker and TV watcher.

I’m aware that not everyone necessarily comes to HoS for this conversation, but I aim to channel what’s interesting to me, in hopes it might be interesting to you. Oh yea, and towards the end, Ross and I discuss his confusion about the In Season Tournament. Enjoy…

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We talk to Pablo, host of Pablo Finds Out, proprietor of the Pablo Torre Substack, and all around media man. I’m very intrigued by his recent interviews, including but not limited to Larsa Pippen + Marcus Jordan. We discuss this inquiry into forbidden love, Dan Le Batard’s Trump tapes, Stephen A. Smith’s sex advice and much more regarding the modern sports media landscape.

Mr. Goodwill is, to borrow a phrase from Colin Cowherd, a young man who’s covered the NBA forever. He currently writes and podcasts about the league at Yahoo!, but he once was a beat writer, cutting his teeth while following terrible teams. In this episode, we take a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about what the NBA media industry was like, and what our lives were like. Did we live in a golden age without really knowing it?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This podcast is unlike the other podcasts. Why? Because Super Producer Anthony Mayes spliced in our reaction to Adam Silver talking on another podcast. Beyond and because all that, a great conversation among pod friends. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* We all watch Adam Silver talking about the ways NBA Twitter influences league policy (2:40)

* We spend many minutes doing a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on this Adam Silver interview with JJ Redick

* Redick + Silver on the science changing with load management (12:35)

* The NBA’s “Hawkeye” issue is pissing teams off (33:00)

* Why are Warriors fans so interested in the Chris Paul addition? (40:00)

* How do the Light Years boys feel about Media Bob Myers? (56:40)

* Klay and the Warriors going to breakup? (104:14)

* Andy doesn’t like how Jordan Poole is getting blamed for last season (110:30)

* Lack of Warriors developing young players not Kerr’s fault? (112:10)

* Why did Saam and Andy both tweet about the Mean Girls reboot? (115:00)

Big Wos wears many hats, but chief among them is all encompassing NBA analyst. So I brought back the gimmick I used for Nate Duncan and asked the man some dumb normie questions. Then, because it’s Wos, we couldn’t help but break away from that conversation and touch on a range of sports culture topics (including the insanity of the LeBron Decision Era, college football culture and pro athletes cheating on their wives). No time stamps because this one flew around a lot. Also, we recorded prior to Victor Wembanyama using Thursday night to warp everyone’s sense of what’s possible in the sport. Enjoy!

Andrew Sharp is the co-host of three great and wholly different podcasts. He’s an NBA diehard, but also an Adam Silver Era skeptic, which makes him unusual among current podcasters. Obviously, I share something in common with such a perspective.

In this episode, we end up cathartically venting about the Silver era, discuss the in season tournament experiment that’s upon us and consider whether LeBron James is viewed positively by normies. Podcast topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Is ESPN more uptight than FS1? (0:00)

* Why is Andrew so negative on the NBA’s in season tournament? (10:00)

* Why can’t the NBA be like England’s FA Cup? (16:00)

* At what point is a sport’s brand diluted? Is the NBA risking it? (23:10)

* Does a new tournament need a raison d'etre? (34:00)

* Does the NBA’s new CBA hurt the ability for teams to feel familiar? (46:00)

* The James Harden trade saga (53:50)

* Why don’t Steve Ballmer and the Clippers get ripped by media? (58:50)

* How the NBA should have handled its War on Flopping (109:30)

* Does the normie love LeBron James? (119:00)