I’m Jared Dubin, a longtime NBA scribe who has written for outlets like ESPN, CBS Sports, FiveThirtyEight, Grantland, The Ringer, Sports Illustrated, VICE Sports, GQ, Bleacher Report, Slate, Dime, The Step Back, and Hardwood Paroxysm, among many, many others. If the site either exists or used to exist, it’s a pretty safe bet that I have written at least a few basketball-related words for it sometime over the last decade or so.
Alas, FiveThirtyEight shuttered its sports coverage earlier this year, so I have been left for the past few months without an outlet to cover the wide world of basketball. Rest assured that I have some irons in the fire (and some stories coming out fairly soon), but barring unforeseen developments, I will be covering the 2023-24 season right here — in the exact same exuberant way I always have, just in a new location. And in a slightly more organized fashion, just so I can keep myself to a regular (and relatively sane) writing schedule.
Free subscribers receive occasional public posts, most of which will be:
Friday Film Findings: Every Friday, I’ll use video clips to break down something interesting that happened (or is happening) in the NBA. Maybe it’ll be a specific set. Maybe it’ll be a concept that is making its way through the league. Maybe it’ll be just one player’s performance in a game that stood out for one reason or another. Or maybe it’ll be something else. But it’s going to focus on the stuff that actually matters on the court. Because despite the fact that we hear more about the drama than we do anything else, what happens on the hardwood really is the most interesting part of the NBA. Here are a few examples from previous seasons:
Paid subscribers ($5/mo or $50/yr) get Film Findings, plus access to:
This Tuesday’s Trend: Every Tuesday, I will dive deep (or at least deep-ish) into a team, player, or leaguewide trend that is worthy of further exploration. (Either that or I’ll just write how I feel about a topic that is, well, trending. For an example, here’s my pre-NBA Finals screed regarding how basketball fans should stop caring about ratings and start caring about, ya know, basketball.) If you’re familiar with my work at FiveThirtyEight, you should recognize these types of stories. Here are a few examples from last year:
Three Things I Noticed on League Pass: This is exactly what it sounds like. A lot of people like to follow the entire NBA but mostly only have the time or bandwidth to watch their favorite team. If that sounds like you, I’ve got you covered. I do my level best to watch a good amount of every single team, so I can keep up with the whole league and actually know what I’m talking about. So each week, I will scour my game notes and highlight three things I noticed while watching some of the games that don’t appear on national TV. You might have missed it, but I didn’t. And if you read this feature every week, you can pretend you didn’t miss it, either. (I used to do this way back in the day; and I really liked it, so I’m bringing it back.)
Founding subscribers ($100/yr or more) receive all of the above, plus the ability to request a specific topic for Friday Film Findings.
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This is going to be my 14th year covering the NBA, and I can’t wait to get started. I hope you’ll join me for the journey.
