Long time, no see, hear or read. Along with everyone else, I took a little time to decompress from the NBA finals, as well as throw myself into the World Cup. But good news, WOH is back with a brand new invention. Or really, just a new podcast with Rob, where we spend 90 minutes, first talking about the rumored Kevin Love deals with Golden State, (I get my Klay Thompson hate ON), break down the Spurs victory in the finals, before finishing up with some World Cup talk. We recorded pre-draft and pre USA NUMBER 1's winning-by-losing effort against Germany, so that's why it might sound dated.

After giving Rob a week off to talk Jazz with Ben Dowsett, we're back at it for the end of the beginning. By which I mean we hand out our versions of the NBA awards. Well, I hand out versions of them and Rob cheats to fit his favored guys into the mix. He also wrote (!) about some of his picks at PPP. I take some final shots at this seasons' Timberwolves, but it's not my fault, I was goaded into it by what Rob had to say (after the jump) about Kevin Love!

Right now is sort of the silly season in the NBA.  All the discussion of who was and wasn't snubbed for the all-star game is dying down (now that Anthony Davis has been added, Al Jefferson, Kyle Lowry, Mike Conley and DeMarcus Cousins, thanks for asking), trade talks are still just talks with the deadline weeks away, and players not participating in All-Star weekend are starting to show the focus one might expect of a bunch of bros in the 10 days before they had to Cabo for spring break. That said, the internet trade rumor mill is in full swing, and Rob and I can throw stuff against the trade machine wall as well as the next guy, so why not?

Rob and I ended up not having time to talk about it like we planned last week, so we spent the whole time this week (and then some) talking about our picks for the All-Star reserve squads. I have an epic brainfart in considering Eastern Conference candidates in Part 1, but I have my revenge in Part 2, oh yes I do. Interested to hear thoughts on our 7 and 8-man selections for the respective conferences.

Also, not only do we have a name for the pod, the Make or Miss Podcast (explanation within), but some extremely appropriate bumper music as I'm sure you'll agree, after the jump.

In this edition, Rob and I spend about twice as long as we thought we would talking about one topic: guys around the league who should play more.  Both of us tend to focus on the same type of player - the promising young player stuck behind a below average veteran on a team going nowhere. But Rob especially has some wild cards to discuss. There's a little audio glitch about 25 minutes in but I think we stitched it together. Pod and downloadable file after the jump.

One of my favorite underrated movies is "The Contender," for a number for a number of reasons. The overflowing of more That Guys than any film this side of Heat or True Romance. The bizzaro-world reunion of Jeff Bridges and Sam Elliot as President Bill Clinton-Lebowski and Chief of Staff Kermit The Stranger. But mostly it's the dialogue, my favorite line being from President Bridges when he zings a rival with a putdown that goes well over the guy's head, until he's out of the room: "You're the future of [this] party. And you always will be." The fervor of many teams (and fan bases) to get Riggin' for Wiggins, or to be Sorry for Jabari puts that quote in mind.

Doug Collins can be very hit or miss as an announcer, which is ironic because by sheer repetition he ingrained in me the axiom that the NBA is a "make or miss league". The best defense in the world won't matter on the nights Carmelo Anthony goes IDKFA and starts tossing in 22 footers off the dribble with 2 guys on him. Some nights, you miss breakaway layups.