Episode 21: Interview with Grant Hughes, National NBA Featured Columnist with Bleacher Report

Show Notes: Pete and Grant have a fun conversation about the marriage of writing and sports. They discuss Grant's fandom as a child, as well as his fandom as an adult that has been changed so thoroughly by his job writing about basketball. They also riff on Grant's admiration for Cormac McCarthy, Sports Illustrated for Kids as an writing inspiration (yes, we shout out Buzz Beamer!), how his work in the field of law informs his writing style, the writing life, and the business of sports writing, NBA analytics, why Grant doesn't read website comments about his writing, trends in writing and reading and in the NBA, and the balance between writing for the mainstream and writing for art's sake.

Grant also is put on the spot to predict the winner of Game Five of the Lakers/Heat (the episode was recorded the morning of the game) and the winner of the series. He wraps up the episode with a cool explanation of LeBron James versus Michael Jordan and their respective places in the Pantheon, by way of Chuck Klosterman.

Grant Hughes grew up in San Jose and graduated from Santa Clara University with a BA in English. He went on to earn his law degree from SCU, and worked as Deputy DA before pivoting into sports writing in 2012.

He has written about the NBA for Bleacher Report and other outlets for eight years. He is now a National NBA Featured Columnist with Bleacher Report. 

Selected Articles by Grant:

"EVOLUTION of the STEP-BACK" from 2016  

Trades That Would Unleash Potential NBA Superstars" from October 2020 Ranking the Best NBA Defenders of the 2000s from July 2020