UTDD

He's playing out of his mind right now, I am very impressed. He is basically almost unstoppable in iso on the top of the key. I only hope he can pace himself for the playoffs without burning out too early. I had Giannis as MVP for a long while now, but Harden is streaking right up there.

This is such a difficult topic without getting really into the weeds in what factors are meaningful to one evaluating this kind of thing. I just would say for simplicity that LeBron James is the most overall gifted basketball player I have ever seen, but MJ has had the greatest career in NBA history when you consider his overall metrics, accolades, stats, and most critically, his mind. My Top 3 on the Mount Rushmore of basketball in how I would define GOAT personally is #1 MJ, # 2 LeBron James, and #3 Kareem. Having said that, LeBron could end up with a peak pretty comparable to MJ and longevity comparable to Kareem which would be very impressive even if he ends up with only three titles. If LeBron was somehow blessed with the almost psychopathic drive of MJ or Kobe Bryant (Kobe's a great player but far inferior to these two others overall) and his skill set, that would have been something to see.

I don't think the Coastal Division looks very daunting to try and do a turnaround. Jimbo has the SEC West in comparison so it's a huge difference for sure.

Wow. Just horrible. UCLA should be a perennial Top 10 program. ASU too. Pac-12 ugh...

Is it a talent problem, philosophy problem, or something else? Hard to argue against the last two years overall, but it's hard to imagine being able to win it all without a stronger defense, one can easily look up the defensive ratings of virtually all the national champions over the past decade plus (I think only the Cam Newton year had kind of a meh defense recently)and see a correlation.

Now the injury too. What a terrible situation for Washington right now. Maybe they can completely tank their season and luck into a great draft prospect that ends up a star.

He's the best, and the others on that short list below him have all won titles too.

Murray is a good QB, but I think you can't call anyone one of the best college QBs of all-time unless they have a national title.

Really impressed with Tua again. I saw one or two times a bad decision, but I can't even recall any really bad throws. Just a great thrower.

I'll give even more huge credit to the CFB committee for excluding Ohio State from consideration.

Harden is getting himself right back into the MVP conversation. I think he's kind of underappreciated by some fans in how much of a load he truly carries because he has to be a primary play maker plus score as well without Paul. Really only LeBron kind of has that same burden to do so much so often.

Not sure if this totally accurate below (not double checked it myself) but if true even more LOL. 2017-2018 & 2018-2019 Clutch Performance (2 MIN or fewer, 1 point game): Giannis Antetokounmpo 11/17 FG (64.7%), 7/10 FT (70%), 3 STL, 1 BLK, 1 TOV, +44.3 NetRtg.

I don't think I would ever want to commit early if I was a true five-star (maybe QB is the exception) with basically a blank check (figuratively and maybe literally for some places) to almost any program. I figure you can really evaluate the program with an extra season worth of data, plus you can see who else is signed and how that might impact your decision as well.

Rivers is the right kind of signing in that you get a stopgap guy that can plug and play immediately to cover an absence with some but not complete drop off, and then you hope you get some bonus value out of him with lesser minutes after everyone is back and healthy.

Yeah. Great summary.

He's having a terrible year by his own prior standards. His W/S/48 is only .045 (lower than even his rookie year) and a lot of his advanced metrics (VORP/BPM/OBPM/DBPM) are all below zero right now. 44% from 3 last year to right now 34% from 3. Not a complete liability out there from outside, but definitely a prolonged slump as the sample size is no longer tiny. Klay benefits greatly from Curry's gravity so having him out some time definitely hurt. I don't know if this metric is publicly available, but there is one that clearly shows the quality of shots Klay gets (basically how open he is) with Curry on/off the court and it is a significant deviation beyond the average 2 guard on other teams with any particular player (star or not) on/off the court. He also benefits greatly from Green's play making ability and Green is badly struggling too this year. Green is costing himself a lot of money in two years with this year's play so far. Durant I think is having a pretty good year but even he's gone slightly down from 42 to 37% on 3s this year so far. His ORtg and DRtg were incredible his first year in Golden State, but last year and this year so far they are worse than any of his prior five years before these two. I am sure Golden State will pay Klay, but I'm not sure it's a 100% slam dunk good value. But having said that, Golden State isn't exactly in panic mode. Despite their struggles, their overall offensive efficiency is right now #1 in the NBA. (They were # 2 last year behind Houston) Just like last year, they are still #1 in team true shooting percentage. But their defense was always top notch before Durant came and then great his first year there, and even last year their defensive efficiency was 9th in the league. Now so far it's 19th. Their opponent true shooting percentage last year was # 2. Now it's 12th. They are maybe a decent but more fair to say average team on defense right now, and I think some of that is frankly complacency and four prior years of playoff grind. (This is also partly why I appreciate LeBron playing so well every playoffs considering the extra grind year after year, it's tough) But some of it might be real drop-off from Green and Klay to a smaller extent and their bench is now weaker too. Let's see them after the All-Star break and if they turn it up another gear especially with Cousins coming who looked at first like just an overkill luxury (like an extra cherry on a perfect sundae) to maybe now a real need to win the title.

Just an amazing performance to me from Rondo. I frankly am not sure I could as a coach want more from a veteran point guard given the circumstances of the star player going out with a young team to fend off a championship team.

One bottom line metric to me in coaching is trying to fairly evaluate the talent level versus results given a number of variables, and one aspect has to be conference record among close competitors. Since Shaka has coached at Texas, here are the last three years of conference records in the Big 12: 1) Kansas 44-10 2) West Virginia 36-18 3) Baylor 30-24 4) Texas Tech/Iowa State 26-28 6) Oklahoma 25-29 7) Texas/Kansas State 23-31 9) Oklahoma St 20-34 10) TCU 17-37 Do I think it's 100% fair to say 23-31 is all his fault? Maybe not, there have been some unfortunate situations with certain players and health as we all know. However, I in no way believe Shaka has had the 7th or 8th best talent in the Big 12 during the past three years. Just no way. So it's fair to really look hard at why because even beyond team record there are other signs of a program that isn't maximizing their talent or even developing players well. After this fourth year, will he crack 30 total conference wins? I legitimately wonder if any new coach can recruit as well as Shaka later on, but I don't wonder if we can't field teams that can consistently do better than this conference record every three years. We can and we should. Sure, losing to a team like say Michigan State is not a big deal, but some of the other ones are head scratchers to me. Let's see what happens in conference this year I guess...

I think he likely worried it would impact his speed and offensive efficiency, and he may be right. I think it did impact his defensive game a little in that at times in his career, he has been unable to keep some players out of the block or off the boards but I'd much rather have his offense anyway at 100%. I think KD could have garnered about 3 to 5 All-Defensive teams in his career versus zero right now if he totally dedicated his game to that side of things, but he's probably the most or at worst one of the most naturally gifted scorers (especially in terms of variety of spots/shots) I have ever seen so the trade-off is likely worth it.

The real flame beyond just the dinner is that Anthony Davis hired Rich Paul as his agent in September and quietly bought a house out in Westlake Hills (kind of near Calabasas/Malibu/Woodland Hills area) a few months before that in July, which doesn't necessarily mean anything, but the combination of everything and the timing is fanning the flames. Maybe that dinner already settled a plan or least possible thoughts and ideas on the future, maybe it was absolutely nothing, but it's great for the media. Nothing will happen until Davis either accepts or turns down the max. I think it is likely the whole thing is resolved by August 2019 one way or another. I think NO needs to make the playoffs and make some noise this year to keep him. New Orleans needs to ask for the world if necessary because they likely can get it. I wouldn't yet throw out Golden State, Chicago, or NY from what I hear, but it's probably the two glamour franchises initially to throw big offers.

Well to be fair in my opinion I think the game was called too tightly but I also think the Rockets had legitimate gripes last year in the WCF too.

I'm becoming a mild believer that Sanders is actually possible. Hope springs eternal...

Where this will go long-term should be interesting in Supreme Court jurisprudence... https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2018/12/12/why-did-justice-kavanaugh-take-a-pass-on-two-planned-parenthood-cases

Best public site in my opinion is the basic NBA site you can add custom filters to almost anything but you have to play with it a bit to get used to it. Here is an example: (with 20 pts, 7 rebounds, 5 assists for this season) https://stats.nba.com/players/traditional/?sort=PTS&dir=-1&CF=PTS*GE*20.0:REB*GE*7:AST*GE*5&Season=2018-19&SeasonType=Regular Season Use the "advanced filters" function and you can knock yourself out on different seasons, players, etc.

I think they did a great job attacking Curry on both ends of the floor to try and wear him out and even having some post-ups on him too. Maybe Warrior fans know this better but every Warrior game I have seen (maybe four games) so far, Green doesn't look like the same player. Health?