Welcome to The Lab, FiveThirtyEight’s basketball podcast. On this week’s show (March 15, 2018), the crew gets into March Madness. Neil and Chris preview which college players NBA fans should keep their eyes on during the NCAA Tournament. They’re also joined by former Cavaliers general manager David Griffin. Griffin, who served as GM in Cleveland from 2014 to 2017, chats about his time in the role and helps make sense of the Cavs’ current season. Plus, a significant digit on the San Antonio Spurs.
Here are links to what was discussed this week:
- Keep an eye on our 2017-18 NBA predictions, updated after every game.
- ESPN took a look at the top NBA draft prospects playing in the NCAA Tournament.
- Follow David Griffin on Twitter for more of his basketball thoughts.
- Significant Digit: 1997, which was the last time the San Antonio Spurs were outside the top eight in the Western Conference this late in the season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Spurs are currently tied for eighth in the conference (with the Utah Jazz) based on their record but would fall to ninth on a tiebreaker if the season were to end today.