Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. This week’s show (March 11, 2016) was recorded in front of a live audience at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Neil Paine donned his Stat Man cape once again to lead a lesson about whether box score statistics in the NBA are outdated. Shane Battier, former NBA player and Duke legend, stopped by to talk about March Madness, how he picks a bracket, and why Duke players weren’t obsessed over what seed the team was assigned in the tournament when he was in school. Then we talked to Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, about whether the Rockets’ struggles this season have pushed him to re-evaluate his team-building strategy. Plus, a significant digit on 17-year-old Mallory Pugh, who is emerging as a star for the U.S. Women’s National Team.
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