Monthly Recap
Greetings to all hoops heads around the world!
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Thanks for checking in for the latest recap of our show.
If you’ve listened to the show enough, you’ll know that Lucas uses the Basketball Reference website for statistics during his segment. I use it as well, when it comes to finding the nicknames of our featured NBA stars. Here are a few interesting ways that you can utilize Basketball Reference if you’re an NBA fan trying to objectively compare players.
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Using the Tool
The best way to use Basketball Reference to compare players from different eras is to focus on context and relative impact, not raw totals. Start by accounting for league pace and scoring environments using per 100 possessions stats and league averages, which help neutralize era-driven inflation or deflation. Then lean on relative and advanced metrics like BPM, VORP, WS/48, and rTS%, which measure how dominant a player was compared to their contemporaries rather than modern standards. Ranking within a season matters more than cumulative numbers, especially when evaluating peak influence, and playoff metrics should be viewed separately to capture true legacy impact. When paired with an understanding of era-specific rules and roles, Basketball Reference becomes less a stat archive and more a tool for telling accurate, era-bridging basketball stories.
Winter Recap
What’s been going on lately with NBA Now and Then? Coming out of 2025 we’ve had some popular episodes released. Comparisons like Chris Bosh to Kristaps Porziņģis, Ray Allen to Glen Rice, and Franz Wagner to Tom Chambers helped us finish the year strong. Special episodes like our top sneaker comparison episode brought in the new year with a bang.
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Also coming into the new year, Lucas and I had an opportunity to meet up at the longest running conference for podcasters in the world, PodFest. Should you be interested in podcasting or you have a podcast of your own, I recommend attending at least once to experience the strong community and support other podcasts. While there, you also get to discover the latest technology, trends and useful services that help create and publish quality content.
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During PodFest, I had the opportunity to meet some remarkable people with distinct messages for their audience. While there, I met Warren Shaw and Cal Lee from 19 Media Group. Their Baseline NBA Podcast is a hidden gem that I wish I had known about sooner. One of the most interesting people I met that weekend was Reginald Ponder, a film critic from Chicago. In both interactions, I enjoyed talking hoops and future collaborative options.
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Recently, we started a collab with popular TikTok page NBA Jam Forever, where our comparison featured players are catching fire and talking smack to opponents in arguably the most popular basketball video game ever made. The content originally comes from www.nba-jam.com. Check it out if interested in the ultimate game mod site for NBA Jam fans.
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​Up Next
Episodes coming before spring hits include comparisons of Cade Cunningham to Grant Hill and Fred VanVleet to Jameer Nelson. Also on the way is our 1990s Mt. Rushmore of NBA centers. Our interview with Aaron Bracy, author of A Soaring Season, about the historic St. Joe's NCAA run in the early 2000s, will be released in February.
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As far as networking... I will be a guest on several podcasts this month, including Book 101 and Views from the Stands, with several others pending schedule coordination. Can't wait to connect with other podcasters and share our show with their audience.
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Don’t forget that we have a Patreon page where we are building a strong community of basketball fans who love to talk NBA hoops. Our ultimate goal is to bridge NBA eras and connect generations of NBA fans to enrich the global basketball community. If that resonates with you, please consider joining our Patreon community as we are dedicated to building a community of knowledgeable, thoughtful NBA fans.
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One Love,
Uriah Young, NBA Now & Then Founder
on the way
​Our next batch of 50-40-90 interviews is bound to grab your attention. From the land down under, Peter O'Keefe from Golden State with Mates will be joining us. We also plan to have on on our show Aaron Bracy, who wrote a book recently about the impressive NCAA Tournament run of Saint Joe's in the 2003 season. And finally, we will be having on our show, the one and only, Scoop B., the NBA insider from Scoop B. Radio.
Check out our new blog articles that are sure to enlighten perspectives about the game's evolution, while looking back with a nostalgic lens. Need objective content without biased hot takes? Check out our blog that provides info on how to appreciate the game of basketball while absorbing details related to hoops you perhaps never though about.
Coming in the spring, we are more than ready to dive into this comparison. Who better to compare to Gary Payton than Jrue Holiday? Like Payton, Holiday combines elite on-ball pressure with exceptional anticipation, using strength, footwork, and basketball IQ to neutralize opposing stars at the point of attack. Neither player relied on flashy scoring to define their value; instead, they controlled tempo, made timely plays, and elevated team defense to championship levels. We can't wait to record this episode!