Welcome to Digginbasketball - A place for smarter Mavericks fans.
Hi, my name is Iztok Franko, and this is the new place where you'll find my most meaningful Mavericks and other basketball analysis. If you enjoyed my threads on Twitter (I still can't call it X) or read my analysis in D Magazine, you'll like this even more as there's so much more to come.
How much more?
Read the 'How Does It Work? And What Do You Get?' section next, and you'll see how we aim to make this the most insightful Mavericks resource. For those of you who don't know me yet, or if you do but wonder where a guy from Europe gets such a passion for the NBA, scroll down to the 'The Story Behind Digginbasketball' part.
How Does It Work? And What Do You Get?
By subscribing to Digginbasketball, you gain access to a plethora of in-depth analysis and insightful content tailored specifically for Mavericks fans. Here’s what you can expect:
Free subscribers: Free subscribers will receive occasional public posts, be it a game preview, game observations, or any other content we select to share publicly.
Paid subscribers ($8/mo or 80$/yr): Paid subscribers will get access to all Digginbasketball content. You can expect game previews and game recaps for all Mavericks games (82 regular season games + playoff games). Additionally, there will be player deep dives, weekly team trends, NBA league trends, and other exclusive content. Plus, you'll have opportunities to connect directly with me through reader comments and Q&A sessions.
Founding members ($199/yr or more): Funding members will receive all of the above, but this is really for those who want to go beyond reading and truly learn about basketball, analytics, and how to write about the NBA. I’ll conduct monthly sessions explaining analytical concepts, show you how to perform analysis and tell compelling stories through data, and even share some of the data that is not publicly available, so you can use it for your own analysis. I’ll also do ad-hoc analytics analysis and queries for you, and provide demos of how NBA teams perform advanced analytics. I’ll try to learn as much as I can about each of you, understand your goals, and provide mentorship on your learning journey. If you just want to show your appreciation and have a say in the type of analysis and stories I do, that’s great as well.
The Story Behind Digginbasketball
This is the next step in what has been an incredible personal learning journey. It all started in the late '80s when a young boy watched his first NBA game with his dad on Italian TV (NBA games weren't broadcasted on Slovenian TV back then). It was a Lakers-Pistons NBA Finals game, and my late father translated the broken Italian of legendary coach and commentator Dan Peterson, play by play. After that, I was hooked. I started collecting yearly NBA almanacs, Sporting News and Athlon Sport previews, and all the NBA geeky stuff I could get ever since.
The next milestone came when a 16-year-old Slovenian boy debuted for the Real Madrid senior team, taking the Euroleague and later the NBA by storm. Since Luka Dončić entered the NBA, I have watched every Mavericks game, be it exhibition preseason, regular season, or playoff game. Just watching wasn't enough, so I started to learn about NBA analytics and data science. How analytics—something I cherished and did in my professional life—changed the NBA fascinated me. The more I learned about it, the deeper I was diggin' (you get the reference by now) into it. I started to learn about tactics and X's and O's, befriended and met some incredible coaching and analytics mentors, and even ended up doing basketball analytics clinics and reports for coaches and scouts in Europe. The game and the Mavericks became an obsession (I have play-by-play notes for the vast majority of more than 500 Mavericks games over the last six seasons). I started to write about the Mavericks first at Mavs Moneyball (thanks, Kirk, for the first opportunity and support) and later for D Magazine, where Mike Piellucci and the team taught me how professional writing and editing work. The exposure even got me into TV: I started doing commentary and pre and postgame studio work for Mavericks' games on local sports TV.
The idea for Digginbasketball was born during last season’s surprising Mavericks run to the NBA Finals when I started doing pregame previews and postgame observations for each of the 104 regular season and playoff games on Twitter. I was overwhelmed and surprised by how many people reached out to me and told me they were looking for those tweets every morning. Jamie Newberg, who does similar work for the Texas Rangers, David Castillo, who covers the Dallas Stars, and Bob Sturm, the go-to guy for Dallas Cowboys coverage, were some of them. All provided the guidelines and encouragement to take it to another level. Twitter is great for short notes, but longer, more nuanced analysis is difficult to do. I hope I'll still be able to contribute at D Magazine, but having my own platform where I can be flexible with shape and form was what was appealing. What I realized during my five years of writing is that as much as I like to write, I enjoy the analysis part much more. Analysis and insights will be the main part of Digginbasketball, with form coming secondary. There will be short notes, quick bullet-point game previews and observations, as well as longer player profiles, analytical deep dives and X&Os film breakdowns.
Most of all, I want to build a community—a place where we can talk about the Mavericks, NBA, and international basketball. A place where we can engage and learn together. A place for smarter Mavericks fans.
Join the crew
Be part of a community of people who share your interests. Participate in the comments section, or support this work with a subscription.
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