The Finder With Tom Haberstroh – Details, episodes & analysis

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The NBA 82-game regular season is just around the corner. Balls are bouncing. Lineups are forming. Ideas are flowing.

Friend of The Finder Nate Jones, an NBA agent and entrepreneur, joins the pod to propose a wild way to juice fan interest in the NBA regular season: Gamify it.

If the owners aren’t willing to shorten the season from 82 games, there might be an alternative way to raise the stakes and make games matter more. Pulling from his affinity for professional wrestling and Monopoly, Jones introduces The Gauntlet, a points-based system that incentivizes teams to play more and play harder throughout the season.

Instead of the standings being decided by win-loss record, Jones argues for a points-based system that awards bonus points for wins in (but not limited to) the following circumstances:

* Second-night of a back-to-back

* In-Season Tournament

* On the road, especially deep in a road trip.

* National TV

The goal is to transform the NBA from an Inventory Sport into an Event Sport without putting players more at risk for injury. We also look at interesting comps to the Continental Basketball Association 7-point system from the 80s and the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour.

OK, Finders:

What do we like?

What do we not like?

Let’s hear it.

If you’d like to watch the episode, it’s up on YouTube. (Sorry for my blurry video. We’re still recovering from Hurricane Helene here in NC).

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Early this week, I texted Kirk Goldsberry to invite him onto the pod and talk about his awesome new book, HOOP ATLAS: Mapping the Remarkable Transformation of the Modern NBA. He was in. He had one request.

Can we get Brandon Payne on too?

YES.

A man of many talents, Goldsberry is a professor of Sports Analytics at the University of Texas and has worked at ESPN and the San Antonio Spurs, and evidently, he is also a great producer. It was a great hour with Goldsberry and Payne.

Goldsberry’s changed the way we watch and talk about basketball, if not changed basketball itself. In his chapter on Stephen Curry, Goldsberry talked to our pal Brandon Payne, Curry’s longtime trainer, and shared a bunch of insights on what makes Curry one of one. You should pick up Goldsberry’s book at your local Amazon store. Tell ‘em I sent ya!

We caught Payne just before he headed out to The Bay to run some workouts with Curry before he jets off to France for the Olympics this summer. As always, he shared so much wisdom with us about basketball, especially here in the States compared to abroad.

On this episode, we hit a bunch of topics:

* The technology that Stephen Curry uses in workouts

* Why the nose is so important

* Why swishes aren’t good enough for Payne re: Steph

* Goldsberry’s campaign to kill the corner 3

* The return of the bigs

* The problem with American youth basketball

* What is Wemby going to do to basketball?

* Are there too many 3s?

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Amin and Tom break down the ramifications of the CJ McCollum trade, what it means for the future of the organization, how Damian Lillard will handle the breakup, and Tom's Trivia indicates how much of an outlier the pairing has been in NBA history.
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What is life like for basketball players stuck in Italy during the coronavirus pandemic? Michael Roll, who reached three Final Fours with UCLA, described being under a total lockdown while playing for Olimpia Milano. Plus he discussed how his family is preparing to welcome their first child at a time when Italian hospitals are so overwhelmed.

1:35 Scene in Italy
7:51 Reaction of NBA vs. EuroLeague
9:44 Playing against someone who tested positive
13:01 Expecting his first child in early May
19:21 Playing with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love at UCLA

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What did Andy Larsen do after Rudy Gobert touched his microphone in the now-infamous press conference? Larsen, the Utah Jazz beat writer for The Salt Lake City Tribune, discussed finding out that Gobert tested positive for coronavirus and having to take the test himself. Then Eric Chemi, CNBC’s Sports Business reporter, analyzed the financial ramifications of the NBA suspending its season and which teams will be affected the most.

Andy Larsen (1:01)
5:35 Rudy Gobert’s now-infamous press conference
8:41 Learning Gobert was sidelined with an “illness”
16:50 Taking the coronavirus test
23:10 The conflict between Gobert and Donovan Mitchell
31:11 Larsen’s incredible story about his heart-rate monitor

Eric Chemi (36:46)
44:41 The ways coronavirus will affect NBA revenue
49:51 Why the NBA was slow to shut down the season
55:10 Next season’s salary cap

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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tomthefinder.com/subscribe

When will NBA players return to the court? Tom Haberstroh discussed the coronavirus’ impact on the NBA with Howard Beck, Bleacher Report’s senior NBA writer and host of The Full 48 podcast.

2:12 Why the NBA made the right decision
9:35 The reasonable bar for players to get tested
12:40 Interactions with Rudy Gobert
24:11 Next steps for NBA
31:01 Possible NBA timeline for the next month

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How is Seattle reacting to the coronavirus? Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird discussed precautions and the possibility of playing in front of empty stadiums. Plus Bird, a three-time WNBA champion and four-time Olympic champion, revealed why she is endorsing a CBD brand.

1:50 Smartphone addiction
2:55 How Seattle is reacting to coronavirus
6:05 Being one of the first athletes to endorse a CBD brand
17:40 The importance of sleep
20:42 Why 40 is the new 30

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Just like in NBA Jam, players who make a couple of shots in a row catch on fire, right? Tom Haberstroh discusses the “hot hand” with Ben Cohen, author of the new book “The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streak.” Cohen, who covers the NBA for The Wall Street Journal, uses players like Stephen Curry to explore whether there really is such a thing as being in the zone. Plus Cohen and Haberstroh, who will both speak at the 2020 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, preview the topics attendees will be buzzing about.

6:01 Stephen Curry as the embodiment of the “hot hand”
12:03 Red Auerbach's thoughts on the “hot hand”
21:07 Important lessons from Cohen’s book
30:19 Previewing the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
38:07 The hottest anyone has been on an NBA court

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Does the NBA need to change its stance on marijuana? Tom Haberstroh and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole reveal what they learned after interviewing a number of NBA players including Al Harrington, Andre Iguodala, Stephen Jackson and Brian Shaw for their column “Marijuana and the NBA: Erasing the stigma and healing the league,” which you can read at NBCSports.com/Haberstroh. Plus Poole, the host of the Runnin’ Plays podcast, discussed being in Los Angeles for Kobe Bryant’s memorial and previewed Stephen Curry’s return to court.

2:35 Stephen Jackson and “The Program”
12:07 Brian Shaw’s cannabis party
21:10 David Stern’s stance on banned substance list
36:29 Kobe Bryant’s memorial
46:11 Should Stephen Curry be returning to the court?

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How do you coach LeBron James? Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel sat down with Tom Haberstroh at NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago to discuss what the Lakers need to do to win the NBA title. Plus Vogel told the story of how he ended up on the Stupid Human Tricks segment with David Letterman as a 13-year-old prodigy at spinning a basketball.

1:10 Being on David Letterman as a 13-year-old
5:36 Best trick-shot artist on the Lakers
14:40 Where he was when he heard the Kobe news
19:07 Becoming the coach of the Lakers
21:12 First meeting with LeBron James

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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tomthefinder.com/subscribe