Hello friends and happy July! It has been hot but still somewhat comfortable here in Denver, Colorado as the summer really starts to take hold. In our house, the countdown begins to the college football season and a looming trip to the Pacific Northwest is on the calendar.

The Monthly Mailbag is here with a ton of good questions and thought provoking topics. Thankfully, the action we got this past week didn’t do anything to make any of them out-of-date. If anything, the questions became more interesting given the roster movement, trades and results over the few days.

We’re happy to announce that No Cap Space WBB will have ‘Boots on the Ground’ at All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis this year. Our outlet is officially credentialed so Tyler and Chauny will be on hand to give you all the content your heart desires. If you see them out during the week, come say hi! For those interested in joining the ‘Ball-Knowers’ tier, this might be a good month to give it a shot. We’ll have a ton of subscriber only content from Indy, some new features and interviews coming out as well as a new project that will start with subscribers but eventually be open to the public. We’ve also surpassed 4,000 YouTube subscribers so a big thank you to those that find us there.

As always, thank you for being with us in any capacity. If you want to give us an idea of your preferences in terms of content or how we run, feel free to take our survey at the link below. Our community is growing every day and it’s not made possible without all the readers and viewers that help power it.

Now, to the Mailbag!

Take Our Reader Survey

For starters, it helps get our team to All-Star where we’ll have a bunch of great content for you! We’ve been rapidly expanding our video and short-form offerings and it’s been great to hear from everyone that the Postgame Notebooks have been a fun addition to the paid tier of content. Personally, I think those are great because we try to focus on the things happening off the floor that can help augment the viewing experience since so many of you are watching at home anyway.

Our home studio phase-in is almost complete. Greer gets her camera when she returns from her vacation and once that's delivered, you’ll have TV quality setups from all of us at No Cap Space WBB! That’s another big thank you from us to you. It allows us to give you better video and audio quality and be able to do more for you as well. For example, our set ups for our Overtime Select interview series (which you can find on YouTube) were all comprised of gear from our studios that we took on the road.

Individual trips for feature writing has also been fueled through subscriptions. Of course, our long term goal is to be able to have all five of us be able to work on this full time but the fact that we can at least be able to be self sufficient as a traveling media outlet is a huge first step. So thank you all for that and can’t wait to see the folks that roll out to Indy!

0:00 - Show Introduction

1:04 - Investment Transparency Time.

5:12 - Jason W asks … Out of the Mystics, Sun, and Valks, who do you think has the brightest future and why? Between the assets, the facilities/ownership, & Jocytė still on the way, I think Valks are in the best situation but Mystics have the best young core

11:38 - Jo asks … Thoughts on the Phoenix Mercury's strategy this season, their overseas scouting, my GOAT Sami Whitcomb, and how everything has come together so far for them this season, which I think very few people expected.

18:06 - Chris asks … We talk about how bad the Sky and Sparks FO has been. But is it time to talk about how bad the Fever FO and organization screwed up this offseason with all the old school signings this year?

26:25 - Molly asks … What the heck is going on in Portland?

27:17 - Sophia A asks … Realistically, what moves does Vegas make (after the season?) // how many of the new core 4 stay?

Also (this may be more of a personal take but it’s also a question): I’ve been bothered by some coverage I’ve seen all over the internet of players who are dating . (IE talking about db wanting phx bc of AT and not mentioning she’s a 2 time champ there , talking about dijonai / nalyssa’s relationship being a distraction, etc). It’s hard because on the one hand I really want the coverage of the personal lives (that’s part of why I love the w!). But it also feels like it veers into judgy, misogynistic, even homophobic at times. And if I were a player it might make me be cautious about being out about my relationships. The question part: as journalists, how do you think about this? Have you heard anything from players or staff about how they think about this?

44:54 - Isabella asks … What are some adjustments that you think the losing/struggling teams should make to turn their seasons around? And on the other hand, what qualities are you seeing from the winning teams that you think are contributing to their success? Either form works!

53:20 - Alexis asks … Now that I know there’s a new bombshell in the villa (Andrew), who is your favorite love island cast member and who is your least favorite? Also, if you have seen footage, Chris can actually ball. He’s an athletic freak. Pepe was a glorified water boy

Johnny asks … Simple question. Who’s everyone’s favorite teams/players? And not everyone has to answer this one but who would your top 10 players of all time be? Either form works.

Here is what we got…

I realized after the fact I didn’t have these on the pod. But we always gotta keep consistency!

Chicken Marsala - Found on Christian Petroni’s Instagram

I love Christian Petroni’s channel and so much of what he does is quintessential New York Italian-American, red table cloth type cooking. It’s simple recipes, copious amounts of parm all delivered with a soothing Ray Liotta-esque voiceover. Easily a go-to for someone to learn and get some good classics to add to your cooking arsenal.

Bella Ciao - Rustici Con Mario Piovano

Given the times, antifascist anthems are always a great listen. This song has been adapted and changed so many times, even finding its way to Portland where a rendition is sung by the Timbers Army at MLS matches. The history of the song was originally a protest anthem sung by Northern Italian garment workers, women that were advocating for better working conditions. Later, it became synonymous with the movement of anti-Mussolini Partisans in Italy.

TAKE ME HOME - Vince Staples

Always been a big fan of Vince and this album came out right during a very interesting season of life of me. Fousheé glides over the chorus while Vince’s lyrics are melancholic and layered. The production is minimal but allows you to float while listening. While the music is almost deliberately at odds with the tone of what Vince is saying, it’s a great top-down/windows-open jam to drive to in the late afternoon when the sky starts turning pink.

The Ninth Jedi - Prologue - Nobuko Toda, Kazuma Jonnouchi

Star Wars came out with this project called Visions on Disney+ which was effectively a bunch of vignettes with stories set in the Star Wars universe. My favorite of the bunch was The Ninth Jedi mainly because of Nobuko Toda’s masterful job with the score. There are clear John Williams elements and nods throughout but Toda’s ability to add his own flair while keeping the music Star Wars centric makes it one of my all-time favorites from A Galaxy Far, Far Away.

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