Ha, yes, collapse would imply they have a long way to fall. The Wiz are my “local” team, so I watch them a lot. I have a lot of respect for Westbrook, but I cringe whenever he pulls up from more than about 15 feet. That block last night was impressive and overshadowed how open astonishingly open that shooter got on a buzzer beater to win.

I always look back at the “Muresan Era” fondly.

Honestly, collapse (including trading Beal) is the best thing that could happen to them if they want to really win. They are in perpetual "8-seed is our ceiling" territory and they really need to tear down to the foundations and build fresh. Sheppard is a good GM with an eye for player development. They could make it work.

Thought you guys might appreciate this passage from Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking, Fast and Slow:

>>[bunch of research scientists performed a] study of misperceptions of randomness in basketball. The "fact" that players occasionally acquire a hot hand is generally accepted by players, coaches, and fans. The inference is irresitable: a player sinks three or four baskets in a row and you cannot help forming the causal judgement that this player is now hot, with a temporarily increased propensity to score. Players on both teams adapt to this judgement -- teammates are more likely to pass to the hot scorer and the defense is more likely to double-team. Analysis of thousands of sequences of shots led to a disappointing conclusion: there is no such thing as a hot hand in professional basketball, either in shooting from the field or scoring from the foul line. Of course, some players are more accurate than others, but the sequence of successes and missed shots satisfies all tests of randomness. The hot hand is entirely in the eye of the beholders, who are consistently too quick to perceive order and causality in randomness. The hot hand is a massive and widespread cognitive illusion.<<

I don’t know. There are days when I feel like I can throw the ball in underhand from 25 feet , can’t miss if I try, and other days when nothing falls. The latter, ha ha is much more common than the former.

Note: I have never played in the NBA.

"TD21" Forever.
 

What a great HOF class. Kobe, KG, and TD, among others.

If you wanted one player to build a team around in the past 20 years, the choice is clear: TD. LeBron is a close second, but, TD elevated his teammates through his encouragement, as well as through his play.

Class, humility, and perseverance may not sell jerseys, but it sure lifts some banners up. I'm not usually one to put celebrities on a pedestal, but I absolutely love TD. My favorite athlete of all-time with Ozzie Smith a close second.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/s...l-of-fame.html

"Antonio Daniels (Spurs teammate, 1998-2002): Tim Duncan on that box was utterly unstoppable. I remember sitting on a bench watching like, this is his second year, like: This dude is incredible. He’s incredible.

He was able to do it with such a stoic mannerism. No smile, no trash talk, no nothing. Just go out and put up 30 and 15, 40 and 12. Like it was nothing, so efficient. Just footwork and fundamentals.

He couldn’t jump over a piece of paper, but he could not be defended."

Duncan announced his retirement in the summer of 2016, through a team news release. Over his 19 seasons, San Antonio went 1,072-438 in regular-season games, the best winning percentage over that time among all N.B.A., N.F.L., N.H.L. and M.L.B. franchises.

Playoffs, or at least Play-in games start today.

Who's your EC and WC champion, and who wins it all?

I will take the Nets over the Clips in 6.

Hmm. Tough call. Is Embiid healthy? At least as of a few hours ago? Provided his status doesn’t change as I type this, I take the Sixers over the Jazz. In six.

Bucks/Suns.

Bucks in 5.

The Sixers have a fantastic draw. No excuse not reach the ECF.

I love the Jazz, but am anticipating the scenario where the Lakers end up in the 8 after a Steph nuclear blast in the play-in, then the Jazz are just up against it in round 1.

Can we all also agree that despite LeBron's opinion - the play-in is a huge success. It added some fantastic drama to the end of the season and 3 of the 4 win or go home games tonight and tomorrow are really interesting to me.

Knicks/Hawks , Flash?

Trae gonna get hunted on D? I'm really curious to see how he looks under the playoff lights.

Trae is absolutely going to get hunted on D. I hope McMillan has a plan for the inevitable guard/Randle switch that lets Randle go to work on Trae on the elbows.

The Knicks wrecked the Hawks during the season without an answer for Randle, but few teams have had an answer for Randle this year.

My gut is Knicks in 6. Trae's going to have at least two games where he goes mental and nothing's stopping him. It could stretch to seven as the Hawks have Collins and Bogdonavich both playing at a high level now. And the bench mob is finally decent with Bogdonavich leading the way, though the Knicks have a good second unit with Rose. Capela could be vital on the boards as the pace slows down, especially with Thibs on the other end acting like this is the end of Hoosiers in terms of pace of play. Hawks will want to run. Knicks will not.

Like Curry's first playoffs, this'll be a time to show what Trae's going to have to work on in the offseason, and that 100% is at least not being a total sunk cost on the defensive end. Seems unlikely, for a guy who's the first NBA player ever to average 25 pts/9 ast across multiple seasons before turning 23. His attention is clearly on the value he brings offensively, but I can dream.

I don’t fully grasp how it works, but it seems like it adds some excitement and intrigue, so I’m not sure what the downside would be.

On another front:

MVP: Jokic
ROY: Ball
COY: Williams (Suns)
Most Improved: Randle

These all seem pretty safe bets to me.

There was some talk that it encourages mediocrity or messes with the trade deadline when everyone is a buyer and not a seller, but the former is more a function of ownership and the latter is overblown in my opinion.

I have searched my heart, and even though I hate the Lakers, they are going to blow the Dubs out tonight. The league's best defense has one guy to concentrate on, and LeBron will be in Terminator mode.