Mitch Cumsteen

Holy Jimbo Fisher, batman. They're giving him a raise off of 10-3? That schedule was deep fried garbage. I could have coached that team to 10 wins. The only ranked team they played besides us was Arizona in the bowl game and they lost that one. Credit to him for winning in Dallas last year, but I'm way more inclined to chalk it up to weird TX/OU shit. Can't wait to see how this fuckstick does this year with a green QB and a brand new oline. They have a fucking joke of a non-conference schedule again, but get Tennessee, Ole Miss, Missouri, Texas, Bama and LSU. That's 6 teams that will be probably ranked in the top 15 pre-season.

Lavine can’t stay healthy. His contract is toxic, like nearly Ben Simmons toxic. Re: Giddey. He put up good numbers for a tanking team. Once they started winning, it certainly wasn’t because of him. He may be the greatest inbounds passer I’ve ever seen, but he is impotent from outside and a poor defender who got targeted repeatedly in the playoffs. He didn’t just have a “not great” playoff. He was atrocious. Unplayable. He’s the polar opposite of how Boston just constructed their championship roster. He’s obviously got upside and is still very young, but they were about to have to commit some big money to him that could come back to bite them when it’s time to re-up their big 3. I don’t blame them from moving on. The fact that they got a massive upgrade and a true two way difference maker in Caruso for him is just aggravating. That they did it and still have all their cap space to make more moves is even more infuriating. There has to be some draft capital involved. There just has to be.

Ha. The spurs have the bulls 2024 (protected) first too. They can’t trade it.

Chicago has got to be one of the most incompetent front offices in the league right now. OKC was absolutely dreading having to pay Giddey and the Bulls bailed them out and made them an even bigger contender. Unbelievable. Can’t wait to see what gymnastics they pull with Zach Lavine next. Are they finally embracing the tank?

I just went down the wormhole of the Battle of the Network Stars, specifically the dunk tank videos, which are beyond spectacular. And then I got to this... and while initially being mesmerized by the hotness of Randi Oakes, Larry from Three's Company comes out of fucking nowhere throwing absolute gas.

I'm sure I've written this before, but my friend who has worked for the Spurs for forever, only says good things about anybody who has worked/played for them. Except two people: Kawhi Leonard and Monty Williams. And compared to what he says about Monty, he talks about Kawhi Leonard as if he were David Robinson. Pop feels the same way about him (allegedly). Let me unscratch it for you: Lebron and Klutch are running the Lakers. They're a terribly run organization, and have been since the last few years of the Kobe era.

So much to process here, but: 1. Huggy Bear has mad skate game 2. Braless, perky roller skating Cindy Williams is making me rethink my previously held and utterly misguided opinion on her attractiveness. Along those same lines per the first video, Mrs. C would get it.

No. That's Exidor from Mork and Mindy. Which begs the question of how Robin Williams missed that coke-fueled bender. Lauren Tewes was definitely down.

Gotcha. I still can't imagine they would do that. The 2025 draft is looking too deep and they have too many young players already that they don't have the bandwidth to develop. In addition to the two top 8 picks, they have 2 SRP (#35 and #48) in this draft. They drafted 3 FRP in 2022, Wemby plus a SRP (Cissoko) on a guaranteed deal in 2023, and potentially four FRP next year (their own, Atl unprotected, Chicago and Charlotte). They have to spread it out some. Loading up this year in this meh draft doesn't make any sense.

I'll help you with both of these: 1. No way the Spurs are going to trade what is likely to be a pretty juicy first round pick in a very deep draft in 2025 to move up one spot in this draft for a prospect with as many question marks as Sheppard. I don't even believe he is even at the top of their board. They would likely take Risacher or Castle before Sheppard. 2. The Spurs own Charlotte's 2025 FRP, lottery protected.

Not sure how his wife having breast cancer is relevant, although I'm pretty sure that she was cancer-free before he ever took the Detroit job. And for sure that's a bad roster, but they weren't "longest losing streak in NBA history" bad. He's a terrible, awful, incompetent coach who is both inept with X's and O's and a bad communicator / people person. Bad coach. Bad dude. Incredible contract signer.

Monty Haul is a terrible coach and a fraud. He had one good stretch in Phoenix where Chris Paul essentially ran the team, but other than that he has been completely inept going back to the New Orleans days. Other than signing ridiculous contracts, the most impressive thing he's ever done in his career is deliver the eulogy at his wife's funeral.

I'm going to go ahead and put zero stock in any of those PFF ratings. Did anyone watch Gavin Holmes last year and think this guy will be one of the top returning CB's in the SEC? How much stock do you put in what Cole did against the murderers row San Jose State faced? Vandy has two of the top 4 returning corners in the SEC? That seems... unlikely. There are definitely reasons for optimism for improved pass defense the least of which should be a better rush off the edge, but along with the DT, it's the biggest unknown going into the fall to me. There are quite a few new players to integrate and lingering scheme questions about the cohesiveness between the front and back end, and on top of that the DB coaches are perceived to be this staff's weakest link.

That's a lot to take in. What the hell is going on here?

Draft is in a week. Nobody really knows what the hell is going on. Below is a consensus draft that I found, and it looks as good as anything else out there. I saw something recently about the Hawks taking Clingan at 1. That would be a bit surprising and shake some things up, but is certainly not out of the question. I also saw that Atlanta hasn't been able to work out Sarr, which seems odd. The general consensus is that Risacher / Sarr go 1/2 in either order. I think Detroit is a wildcard at 5. They have new front office leadership and I think everything is on the table for them. Buzelis gets pegged to them a lot. In a group of prospects that all make me skeptical in some form or fashion, he especially sets off my spidey bust sense. Washington may be a wildcard, too. They are building from essentially nothing and have a relatively new front office as well. So they are a prime candidate to do some unpredictable or stupid shit also. I keep seeing Sheppard to Houston at 3. He makes sense there. I wonder what they do if Risacher or Sarr is available? @Fud what do you think? I would be good with the Spurs ending up with Castle and Williams. It does fuckall to fix their shooting woes, but I like both prospects and their versatility. If they burn 8 on Salaun, I'm going to break something in my house. I'm all for taking an upside swing, but not on this cat. I will be stunned if he is still in the league for his second contract. I could see Carter going higher than expected. He's a gamer. Same with Knecht. I could see Holland getting the Cam Whitmore free fall treatment. Somebody with patience will get Topic at a really good value. Probably OKC. Assholes. As bad as this draft is at the top, there will be some nice players at the back end of the first round. I kinda have my eye on Ware, Kolek, George, Tyler Smith and Carrington in particular.

Criticism comes with the territory of being a great player and it gets amped up after a playoff loss. Is this really news to you? I'm not sure where you were, but people shit on Lebron for everything from passing up shots in the clutch to his outside shooting to him not being able to post up to him biting his fingernails, etc.. All that happened while he was generally considered to be the greatest player in the world by a fairly wide margin. Nobody criticized him for being big and slow though, because he was never big and slow. Like I said, all this comes with the territory.

Monty is a hero.

Welp. I’ve learned over the last couple of days that Luka is in peak physical condition, is one of the best defenders in the league, and doesn’t hunt fouls. Thanks for the education everyone. I think I’m a much more knowledgeable basketball fan now.

No. That was an asinine comment. He's got nothing to do with the current state of the Pistons. He was an assistant GM in Detroit for all of 3 years (2014-2016) before moving to SA as an assistant GM. It was long before they drafted Cade Cunningham or anybody else on that roster. It was a fucking decade ago. He got promoted from assistant in SA to the big job after being with the Spurs for 3 years.

You follow him and the Mavs much closer than I do, but just on the eye test.... his body looks like he's in maybe the bottom 10-15% of NBA players when it comes to conditioning. He's got a lot of miles on his legs already for a 25 year old. He plays a ton of minutes. His game puts a lot of stress on his body and especially on his lower body. Maybe his injuries this season were completely unrelated, but maybe not. Those knees don't really need to be carrying any extra weight. With regard to the refs, it's not just ignoring shit when things don't go his way. Too much of his offense is predicated on foul baiting. Harden fell into the same trap. They are so masterful at getting guys out of position and off balance, that they are at times more actively looking to draw fouls than make a basketball play. It's smart and crafty when it works. It can take you out of your game when it doesn't. It's also less effective in the playoffs when the refs let more physicality go.

Are we really doing the Trae Young discussion again? Really? Really? Why? Just... why? I can't even bring myself to post for the 100th time what an epic disaster it would be. If they were to trade for him, you might as well write off the entire Wemby era, because it would cement this iteration of the Spurs front office as among the most incompetent in the league. Now, there's a larger discussion to be had about the best way to build this thing out. You have on one hand, those that want to push their chips into the table to win right fucking now. You have those that want to let the young guys grow into their roles. I think the right move is to shoot for something in the middle: add some vets for leadership, defense and shooting. Move some minimal assets (if you need to) in order to get them. Keep as many picks as possible and keep pushing them down the road. Maintain cap flexibility while this team learns how to win. Anybody thinking that Wemby is going to ask out if they don't make a splash now is horribly misreading the landscape and doesn't understand how rookie contracts work. And fortunately, he's not an idiot nor is he impatient. I would be stunned if he's not one of the best five players in the league by the end of next season (health permitting). They are going to start winning more regardless, just because he will be that good. Even putting replacement level players around him, they are probably close to a 500 team, even in this ridiculously deep conference. Everybody is overthinking this shit. The draft is in a week.. They have two picks in the top 8. Can't we talk about that instead of this Trae Young bullshit?

I think you are bringing all of this on yourself. You just have to tell them that you are lost and need directions to the stadium and they couldn't be nicer.

In the three games in Boston, Kyrie averaged 14.3 ppg on 34% FG and shot 18% from 3. He shot 4 total free throws. Say what you will about the Dallas role players not showing up, the Mavs had no hope in this series with their second star playing like that. Boston is a tough matchup on the perimeter, but that was a rough showing from one-half of what was for a few glorious days, the best backcourt in NBA history.

What exactly is the Wemby window? He’s 20. So, what? A 15 year window? A failure by management would be to be short sighted and exhaust their future assets and cap flexibility for a roster that gives them a two year run instead of building a sustainable decade plus contender.

I’ve never liked the Celtics but that’s a very likable team. No douchebags or jackasses, they play the right way and they seem to genuinely seem to play for each other. It’s difficult to dislike guys like Horford, White, Holiday and even Brown and Tatum. They get everybody back next year too. They are going to run into some cap stuff year after next, but even so, Tatum and Brown are still very young. They are going to be in the mix for a good while.