Short Corner: The NBA with Paul Shirley and Justin Halpern

This just in: the NBA's Eastern Conference is horrible. Paul and Justin discuss that pressing matter, dissect the surprising Pacers and the even-more-surprising Trailblazers, and take a reader question about basketball traditions that influence basketball people to make bad basketball decisions. (52 min.)

Is JR Smith's brother's presence in and out of the NBA a sign of an impending nepotistic Apocalypse, or is it just another example of Knicks dysfunction? Are the Minnesota Timberwolves as good as advertised, and what's their best-case scenario? Has AAU basketball ruined the NBA?

Would anyone in the NBA Incognito a teammate? Who has it better, the Lakers or the Celtics? Why do teams worry so much about winning it all, when making it to the playoffs would probably keep their fan bases happy?

The return! Paul and Justin are back from the offseason to discuss which NBA storylines they're most excited about, which NBA storylines the media will beat to death, and how many a**holes it takes to ruin a team.

The Miami Heat and the descent of sports media. Is Erik Spoelstra a good coach? Which NBA player's Wikipedia page would we most like to see in 30 years? Plus: all the latest on Boris Diaw's brownie-eating habits.

Do winning streaks matter? Is there any place Dwight Howard could be successful? Plus: Justin relates a courtside tale from a Clippers game and Paul and Justin grill a long-time Celtics homer and wonder if Celtics fans were born this way or if it's the weather that does it to them.

Current Events! Tony Parker is hurt, the Heat and Thunder are really good, maybe the Spurs are too? Crushing the Inbox brings a question about current future Hall of Famers who probably won't win a ring. And, seriously, Rudy Gay?

More special guests! This week, it's comic/writer Vince Mancini from FilmDrunk and comic/human Joe Sinclitico from stand-up mics the world over. Discussions range from LeBron James' true worth to predicting the future of well, predictions.

A very special guest: the podcast's first (current) NBA player. He's from New Hampshire, he plays for the San Antonio Spurs, he finished second in the 2013 NBA Three-Point Contest. He's Matt Bonner, and he talks with Paul and Justin about the logistics of three-pointers, the Spurs' reputation in the NBA, and he helps answer a reader question about - fittingly - player interviews.

LeBron James: pretty good, it turns out. The Celtics without one of their "stars": can they keep winning? Drugs and the NBA, the debut of Ewan Currie's jingle for CRUSHING The Inbox, and a special visit from an evil-doing friend.

An all-reader-question episode, hereby deemed (thanks to Reader Dan) CRUSHING the Inbox. Is being an a-hole a prerequisite to NBA success? Which players most egregiously squandered their potential? Which players are least like their projected personalities? With special guest Ewan Currie from the Canadian rock band The Sheepdogs.

Is it time for the Celtics to revamp, decamp, or decompose? Is the NBA All-Star game worth saving? Has LeBron James salvaged his image? Plus, a round of F*ck That Guy.

Paul and Justin kick the guests out of the booth and get down to the business of declaring the Lakers' season dead, lamenting the demise of Alvin Gentry, analyzing Amare Stoudemire's psychological makeup, and discussing Brian Scalabrine v. The World.

Paul and Justin welcome a guest into the Short Corner studio. A Rhodes Scholar and the former governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States of America. He is not, however, the guest Paul and Justin welcome into the Short Corner studio for Episode 6. That would be Riley Breckenridge, drummer of the rock band Thrice and writer of sports- and humor-related articles all over the Internet. Riley helps the boys talk Super Teams, Dad Game, and which NBA player you'd least like to find knocking at the door if you ended up in bed with his girlfriend.

Paul and Justin propose ways the NBA could be improved. Justin likens NBA teams to family road trips. Paul weighs in on the psychological troubles of fellow Iowa State alum Royce White. Plus, a visit from a certain Batman archnemesis, who lays out the origin story of one Delonte West.