UTDD

Definitely could go that way. It might also keep Shaka around longer than necessary too. But at this point, I feel like we have a dying patient bleeding out (Texas basketball program) and we are desperately applying triage in the moment to try and stay alive.

Yep. Shaka should just hand Yaklich a clipboard and say "All yours." and leave him alone. Good potential hire.

I personally think the 2016 series if played again 10 times would result in more Warriors wins than Cleveland wins, but the bottom line is that they lost. I think Houston would have somehow blown their series even without KD but I do think 2017 Cleveland was strong enough to give the Warriors severe trouble without Durant. This is just a historically great team, and in fact one my biggest credits to LeBron in his career and for me personally elevating him to a similar tier as Kareem and Jordan historically is partly because of somehow managing to get that third title against that team. It's an amazing accomplishment to me. I seriously doubt that almost any superstar replacing LeBron on that 2016 Cleveland team could have won that series. And not to discredit Durant as I think he is the greatest pure scorer I have personally ever seen, even more potential than Jordan if he possessed the mentality of Jordan (he unfortunately does not as he is famously thin skinned and too sensitive versus Jordan who is frankly to me is almost a psychopath stone cold killer), but I think you could have placed at least 3-5 great superstars (and likely more on that list) on the Warriors to replace him the last two years and they still win the title. It's just a credit to the overall strength of Golden State historically as a team and not as much a slap to Durant.

To me the Pelicans have two main options: 1) Trade AD for as much youth/assets as possible and rebuild with Zion or 2) convince AD to stay and maybe hope Randle doesn't pick up his option and try and get another good player to round out the roster going forward. I think the first choice is better as I think Zion's prime will not quite hit until AD is a little older, and I'm also pretty sure AD still wants out even with Zion. I'd probably try to leverage the Knicks with the # 3 pick, Knox, and Mitchell Robinson (maybe DSJ if they feel he is going to be good) and involve a third team perhaps to try and get a good young player or two and/or more draft assets. They can and should make sure they get multiple first round picks if possible. You have to match up a 27 million dollar salary within roughly 125%, so you need to include enough players to make it work. I'd also try and force Solomon Hill out in a trade (difficult because now you are talking about 40 million going out) if possible and also a third team because I'm not sure the Knicks young players are all that enticing. I personally would at least try for Barrett, more picks, Knox, Robinson, and Ntilikina, and hope the Knicks can garner more assets for DSJ with a third team. The Knicks might not mind that if they can sign 1 or 2 max stars to come along with AD. That would be a formidable enough team perhaps to sacrifice most of their youth. I'd probably avoid the Lakers unless as a last resort as the 4th pick is good but not as good as # 3 obviously, and Ingram I avoid because 1) his health and 2) his contract is up the following year and you'd have to pay him a lot more or lose him so maybe leverage Lonzo (if you don't like him involve maybe Chicago for their pick and/or another young player you like better as a third team) and Kuzma as two potential pieces of a larger trade. You probably need Lonzo's salary - or an equivalent - to realistically make it work overall as part of a package. I personally like Lonzo as a decent PG down the road, but likely the hassle of just his father alone is not worth the headache for a franchise like New Orleans. I like Kuzma a lot as a 6th man/scorer type but not a great player, but still pretty decent. But say Gardner at 4, and Kuzma, and Lonzo plus more for AD? That doesn't sound that great. I think Boston is out given that Kyrie is most likely gone, and Ainge is more unlikely to leverage so many assets for a very likely one year rental.

I think it will be further eroded but I probably predict a much smaller spectrum of change than you do in abortion/privacy jurisprudence long-term. I guess we shall see.

Korematsu and the Voting Rights Act are not Roe. Especially on public awareness/societal impact. Barely anyone cares about Korematsu (they should but they don't) and the Voting Rights Act is just not important enough to most average Americans. (again, they should but a lot of people don't care) Roe is a very big difference. Especially in public awareness and the pure emotional/societal impact such a decision would have right away. In literally an hour, it would be the hot topic across America and probably worldwide too while the prior issue barely caused a ripple. Roberts voting not to overturn Roe has nothing to do with him being a reasonable moderate but about his specific vote on one specific case/issue not related to many other conservative/liberal constitutional issues. But I guess we'll see.

Roberts is very unlikely to overturn Roe, and I'm not 100% convinced Kavanaugh would either. (on a quick side note, Kavanaugh with his recent Apple ruling with the four liberal justices is possibly kind of a big deal for corporate/antitrust law and he may be more left than Kennedy on this specific issue) The Roberts Court - if they did this - would historically be completely dominated with this narrative and I highly doubt Roberts wants that as the defining moment of his jurisprudence/legacy. I believe he cherishes and believes in the Supreme Court as an institution above any single issue, and would act accordingly. That's not to say they won't chip away at it though...

Portland is not Houston. Absent huge games from Portland's backcourt (their only puncher's chance), they are going to lose this series even without KD. I personally think the Warriors can win the NBA title this year even without KD but obviously it would be a much harder lift against the EC team and no HC advantage.

The Apple case might create some ripples in antitrust law. It's not my area of expertise at all, but certainly hearing about it today a lot.

Jokic is amazing but I think the only chance for either of those teams is one or more players just basically going off for 40-50 point type games multiple times with unusually high efficiency to steal a game or two, and I'd rate Portland with a slightly better chance to get that lucky versus Denver. I'd be surprised if Portland can make it a good series, but I also haven't forgotten how poorly the Warriors played at times versus the Clippers, so I would not be shocked if they drop at least one game with too many turnovers and mediocre defensive effort. No KD actually probably helps with the effort issue though.

I give Portland more of a chance against the Warriors than I would have the Nuggets, but absent a huge backcourt series by Portland, it looks like tough sledding. Their puncher's chance is that their backcourt might go crazy hot and steal a game or two and they have two players that have that potential.

What a game. Kawhi's clutch play this game and overall play in the playoffs show he is clearly trying to take up a post-LeBron mantle in trying to be the best player in the NBA along with guys like Giannis, etc. I thought some of Toronto's other players actually played too tight/nervous at times which made Kawhi more impressive to me for that game because other than Ibaka (huge game) I thought the nerves were hitting them. I also really wonder about some of the coaching Philly received during Game 7, I was baffled by some of their possessions especially late in the game. Even so, what a series overall!

I really hope the kids turn out ok -- it's got to be some level of bullshit to observe this happening. Sad too if he was really wearing an OSU shirt...didn't they wrong him in his eyes? Is his self-worth as a human still tied into OSU??

One can debate Simmons' long-term game all they want, but the bottom line is that so far he has not performed at his talent level this series even without an outside shot. I saw Rondo many years ago and even just recently with New Orleans (to be fair Rondo could shoot with New Orleans) with similar deficiencies and much less overall talent dominate playoff games/series (at his much shorter height too) in ways that Simmons can draw from and try to emulate. To be fair, Brown has not really tried to push tempo enough and has maybe allowed Butler to play a little too much PG at times and in my eyes has not maximized Simmons' potential in this series. Plus Simmons is still so young so it is reasonable to expect a player that age to take control of their own destiny a little more? I am really curious to see how he, Embiid, and Harris play in Game 7. (I am confident Butler will be ready to play)

Very true, I am very curious to see how Paul, Harden, and Capela play tonight given the situation. Very much so a defining moment/chance for Paul and Harden in particular to see how they handle this opportunity.

Agreed a lot on the lack of another wing, they easily could have had even a marginally acceptable wing to play a tough 18-20 minutes as backup. You have to sacrifice some depth to have four Top 25 NBA players on the same team but even so I think they could have had say an Ennis like player on the cheap. Even if KD leaves this summer, I still think they can put together a very competitive team (just not an overwhelming favorite anymore but a mere contender in a tier of maybe 4-5 teams assuming Kawhi/KD do not team up on the Clippers) that can compete deep into the playoffs if healthy.

I think the most interesting thing from that poll is the 68% of voters who would vote for a candidate just to beat Trump even if they disagreed with them on multiple issues. (i.e. voting for beating Trump over the candidate the best represents their specific issues) I wonder if that kind of attitude will hold in a lot of other states. The overwhelming majority (68%) of likely Democratic voters prefer to have a nominee who would be a strong candidate against Trump even if they disagree with that candidate on most issues.

You may be right, I honestly don't know. I only know anecdotally from progressive friends (I would classify most as hard left progressives not mainstream Democrats) I know personally (about 20-30 people or so) I have talked to about the election primarily in Texas and Hawaii that Bernie/Warren are a combo of 1 or 2 for most of them with Harris sometimes creeping in there but never Biden. If Bernie wouldn't pull the majority of Warren support if she pulls out, I think Bernie is then probably doomed anyway unless Biden stumbles. I don't believe Bernie will ever garner enough non-white support, it's a really tough slog for him there. I think Warren on the other hand could do better there.

My gut is that Durant is going to be out about 2 weeks, maybe three if his calf is not responding well after a week evaluation. I would say the earliest he returns is late in the WCF. If Houston had the Chris Paul from just last year, I'd like their chances, but he's now 2019 Chris Paul which is a very different player versus last year when at times he was the best player on the floor. I think Golden State can beat either Denver or Portland even without Durant but I would not like their chances against Milwaukee or Toronto as much where it would be a very tough series for sure. Golden State is not the same 2016 team that did not have Durant (their bench especially and an aging Iggy as well) but they are still pretty good. Certainly you will likely see better ball movement and the team will have a chip on its shoulder to show they can still win and it may also galvanize better effort especially on defense.

I wonder if Warren in the end would love to be perhaps the Secretary of the Treasury and Chairwoman of the Working Group on Financial Markets working with the Securities Exchange Commission, etc.

It seems like she is getting a little traction now. Her toughest issue right now to me is that I feel like Bernie/Warren are fighting for the same voters and that neither one can win the nomination if the other has decent strength. It probably helps Biden a lot if those two split votes and are both viable as long as possible.

Not a shock, and I bet a huge majority of them only speak English. It's quite a difference if you travel to many Euro/Asian countries where it is quite common to meet people that speak multiple languages versus so many parts of America. It's also not just language but the breath of knowledge/interests/curiosity/etc as well. I often feel like the very smartest Americans are right up there with anyone else in the world and why we still thrive as a nation, but that the average say college graduate American is generally stupider than the average college graduate in places I have visited in the past.

Of course but they are always going to get an abundance of praise or blame for the economy as it has generally always been for the office.

The economy is doing pretty well overall in most general metrics. The fact that Trump is still barely consistently clearing the low 40s with these types of economic numbers speaks to how his character and personality are driving away some people that might otherwise support this kind of performance in their enthusiasm for a sitting President. I really believe the majority of Presidents showing this kind of performance so far would be clearing 50% absent other compelling variables driving it back down.

Williams is only making 8 million per year. Almost criminally underpaid when you see how many terrible players are way over 10 million.