ATL and 29

The Hawks have a game Friday at home against Detroit, and today we talk to Duncan Smith of Piston Powered, the Pistons' affiliate for the Fansided Network. We discuss the Pistons, why they have so many strange hairstyles and why they have all the Milwaukee Bucks' rookies from 2011. We also discuss the potential of Friday's game turning into a Hack-a-Shaq-a-Thon. Duncan and I also spend a few minutes discussing the Pistons' point guard situation, how the team differs with Ish Smith vs. Reggie Jackson, and whether or not Jackson might be back in time for Friday's game. And finally, before we get to the Pistons at all, I spend a few minutes talking about the Hawks and their loss to the Warriors Monday because I thought we saw some new things from the Hawks that we hadn't really seen before. Today's episode was made possible by Poli Mortgage Group, Inc. Poli Mortgage Group, Inc., Canton Massachusetts Corporate Office Licenses (NMLS ID #1979): MA Mortgage Lender & Broker Lic #MC1979; NH Mortgage Banker Lic#8761-MB; CT Mortgage Lender Lic #10555; VT Mortgage Lender Lic #6092; VT Mortgage Broker Lic #0927 MB; ME Supervised Lender Lic @SLM6369; RI Loan Broker Lic #20031537LB, RI Lender Lic #20062141LL; MD Lender Lic #19325; FL Mortgage Lender Lic #MLD3; GA Residential Lic #23995; PA Mortgage Lender Lic #32694, ; SC- BFI Mortgage Lender Lic #MLS–1979, TN Mortgage Lic #109402; NC Mortgage Lender Lic #L-148839; VA Lender Lic #MC-5501; KY Mortgage Company Lic #MC71986; DC Mortgage Dual Authority Lic #MLB1979; NJ Residential Mortgage Lender. Pembroke Pines Florida Branch Office Licenses (NMLS id # 371598): FL Branch Lic# MLDB1; MA Branch Lender Lic #MC13649; Branch Broker Lic # MC1979 Equal Housing Lender

We talk to Mason Ginsberg of Bourbon St. Shots, the Pelicans' affiliate for ESPN's TrueHoop Network We discuss the Pelicans re-introducing healthy players into their rotation and how that will effect their prospects and style of play. We have some fun discussing the creepy mascots of New Orleans, and the renaming of the city's sports franchises. We talk about who in the NBA would be the ideal complementary player for Anthony Davis, as well as the Hawks swapping out Al Horford for Dwight Howard And finally, we listen to a bit from Alvin Gentry on the Pelicans' trip to China and discuss travel, time zones, health and performance for the NBA's southeasternmost Western Conference team. This episode was sponsored by Poli Mortgage Group, Inc. Poli Mortgage Group, Inc., Canton Massachusetts Corporate Office Licenses (NMLS ID #1979): MA Mortgage Lender & Broker Lic #MC1979; NH Mortgage Banker Lic#8761-MB; CT Mortgage Lender Lic #10555; VT Mortgage Lender Lic #6092; VT Mortgage Broker Lic #0927 MB; ME Supervised Lender Lic @SLM6369; RI Loan Broker Lic #20031537LB, RI Lender Lic #20062141LL; MD Lender Lic #19325; FL Mortgage Lender Lic #MLD3; GA Residential Lic #23995; PA Mortgage Lender Lic #32694, ; SC- BFI Mortgage Lender Lic #MLS–1979, TN Mortgage Lic #109402; NC Mortgage Lender Lic #L-148839; VA Lender Lic #MC-5501; KY Mortgage Company Lic #MC71986; DC Mortgage Dual Authority Lic #MLB1979; NJ Residential Mortgage Lender. Pembroke Pines Florida Branch Office Licenses (NMLS id # 371598): FL Branch Lic# MLDB1; MA Branch Lender Lic #MC13649; Branch Broker Lic # MC1979 Equal Housing Lender

We welcome Avery Yang of HawksHoop to discuss the Hawks and the NBA at large.We start by each picking five teams and assign them letter grades of A, B, C, D, F. Then we talk about the Hawks' rotation and the weird fact that the one rotation that hasn't worked is the team's starting five. And we hear a clip from Paul Zipser, the Bulls' rookie forward from Germany who has played with both Dennis Schroder and Malcolm Delaney.

On today's episode we discuss 1) Which players the Hawks should be using to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo 2) Which players would be the ideal complements to Giannis, Jabari, and Khris Middleton, and how close the Bucks have gotten to reaching those ideals 3) How the career trajectory of Dwight Howard and his free throws mirrors that of Giannis and his three-point stroke 4) And finally, we hear from Grant Hill on the D-League and take a look at the Hawks and Bucks and their respective efforts towards securing D-League teams. If you like all-time NBA greats discussing the D-League while a muzak version of Roberta Flack plays in background, this pod is for you. Poli Mortgage Group, Inc., Canton Massachusetts Corporate Office Licenses (NMLS ID #1979): MA Mortgage Lender & Broker Lic #MC1979; NH Mortgage Banker Lic#8761-MB; CT Mortgage Lender Lic #10555; VT Mortgage Lender Lic #6092; VT Mortgage Broker Lic #0927 MB; ME Supervised Lender Lic @SLM6369; RI Loan Broker Lic #20031537LB, RI Lender Lic #20062141LL; MD Lender Lic #19325; FL Mortgage Lender Lic #MLD3; GA Residential Lic #23995; PA Mortgage Lender Lic #32694, ; SC- BFI Mortgage Lender Lic #MLS–1979, TN Mortgage Lic #109402; NC Mortgage Lender Lic #L-148839; VA Lender Lic #MC-5501; KY Mortgage Company Lic #MC71986; DC Mortgage Dual Authority Lic #MLB1979; NJ Residential Mortgage Lender. Pembroke Pines Florida Branch Office Licenses (NMLS id # 371598): FL Branch Lic# MLDB1; MA Branch Lender Lic #MC13649; Branch Broker Lic # MC1979 Equal Housing Lender

We talk to Sean O'Connor of Liberty Ballers, SBNation's 76ers affiliate. We discuss Joel Embiid and the 76ers, and we hear from Mike Muscala on the Hawks' new approach to offensive rebounding. We also take a look at the past and future of the NBA's single-game and single-season three-point records.

We talk to Kyle Weidie of the Truth About It, the Washington Wizards' affiliate of ESPN's True Hoop Network. In the episode, we discuss the Southeast Division, the Washington Wizards' deployment of their bench, and the 2010 career-high scoring game of former Wizard Nick Young.

We speak to @thatnbagirl, noted Hawks devotee and overall smart basketball person, about Dennis Schroder's contract extension, our favorites and longshots for the NBA's annual awards, and the relative health of Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha compared to a season ago.

We speak to Nick Whalen (@wha1en) of RotoWire about assorted NBA over-unders, most of which aren't about win totals, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo's assists per game and Kyle Korver's three-point percentage. We also talk about prospective changes to the CBA, and some players whose production in fantasy hoops exceeds their actual value to their respective NBA teams.

We speak to Jameelah Johnson of atlhawksfans.com about the Hawks and their wing players. We discuss what we've seen so far in the preseason, what we expect to see going forward, and we try to figure out who's in and who's out of the rotation.