Mitch Cumsteen

Defense looks a million times better but can someone please grab a rebound? Also getting a 50/50 call would be nice every once in awhile.

How many wins are you realistically expecting? What's the Vegas number, 43? This team is still full of 20-22 year olds. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs and inconsistencies with a young but talented roster, and especially one that is still figuring out its identity. And there will be a few good teams that will struggle to make the play-in in this conference. I don't really view that as any sort of a failure.

You guys are ready to jump off the bandwagon after one game? Anyone remember what happened in game 1, last year? They lost by 30 but still managed to somehow put together a really solid season. 82 games is a loooooong ass time. I only caught a little bit of the game. I wanted to mostly see how Sheppard looked in his debut. Any thoughts? In the little bit I saw, he looked a bit physically overwhelmed.

Yeah, there isn't really anything notable to the east except some houses and townhomes. The real wooded area is further off to the west -- Olmos Park Basin. As you travel toward Devine Rd, there are houses on the opposite side of the street including that monstrosity that looks like a prison. It would be tough to walk down that street without there being any sort of camera or video, I imagine. And that area isn't quite as dense -- 281 runs right through the middle of it -- as the other side. I don't think he dumped her in the park. I can't imagine how he would transport her over there without someone seeing it and if he did manage to do so, they would have found her by now. I'm rather familiar with that area -- I walk my dog on the nature trails back there. It isn't that large of an area.

Weird stat of the day: in 24 minutes for the Warriors, Podz went 0-5, scored zero points, 7 reb, 4 ast, 3 to.... and was +34.

I'm watching Atlanta because 1) I'm a sicko and 2) I'm interested in where that pick is going to convey... and if game 1 is any indication, they are going to have a tough time staying out of the lottery. They play terrible defense. Brooklyn is the biggest tanker in the league with few playmakers, and they are getting one wide open three after another.

I liked Knecht, too. Older players generally get a bad rap, but I thought his situation was unique in that he hit a late growth spurt that fueled his development, rather than it just being about the age differential between him and the competition. He's in a perfect spot with the Lakers, too. Their timeline isn't really one of 'let's draft a teenager and let him develop.'

When you outlaw water bottles, only outlaws will have water bottles.

Quick note on the neighbor: my son told me the neighbor called the cops on every party they had over there. But he didn't call the cops when Brad was (allegedly) beating Suzanne.

I had to look up Stixs & Stone in SA. They serve Asian-fusion tacos. In fucking Leon Valley. I'm sure they are delicious, but come the fuck on. They still have some great SA places on the list (Garcias, Donut Shop, etc.) but that's a fucking joke.

Gobert celebrating his new extension by getting dunked on by Rui and ignored by teammates when he has a mismatch in the post.

It’s an abortion. If that thing is permanently broken, the Knicks are getting a shell of what they traded for. Also, the Celtics are great but I hate the way they play. Little movement tons of three point chucking. Just so boring to watch.

The Rockets signed Green and Sengun to pretty reasonable deals yesterday. I wasn't a fan of the Brooks signing, but their front office seems to be doing a lot of things right these days. I thought they might go the route of waiting until the offseason to give them max cap flexibility. Bird in hand, I suppose. Plus the free agent crop isn't anything to get excited about. The Nuggets also extended Aaron Gordon and he did them a solid by opting in for one more year. It gives them some flexibility in the short term but they are committed to their core four now for the foreseeable future. If they can get anything from the rest of their team, I kinda like them coming out of the west. Nobody is picking them and they still have the best player in the world. I feel like they were a bizzarro fourth quarter collapse against Minnesota from winning the west last year. Looking forward to the season kicking off. Everybody is jocking OKC and Boston, but there is so much parity around the league. I think there's going to be some wacky shit happen this year.

I saw people freaking out on twitter that game 5 went to OT, so I flipped it on to get my first taste of WNBA playoff action this year. Holy shit balls that was brutal. Awful, awful, terrible, unwatchable basketball.

For sure but if she's into that, then I'd be into that.

Other than the one year with the Lakers, he's been on shit teams. He did shoot 38% from three on 4.7 attempts per game last year. That would have been tied for second best 3P% on the Spurs behind McBuckets last season. Which I suppose is a sad commentary on both the Spurs and LWIV. In other NBA news, Monty Williams got a gig coaching his kid at TMI. Can't wait for him to get outcoached by some shlub from a 3A high school in some random San Antonio suburb. https://arizonasports.com/story/3561931/suns-monty-williams-coaching-job/

I thought last night's episode was a little more ham fisted than the rest of the season, but it's still really good. Or maybe I'm just being overly critical because I thought the Cent'anni Sophia episode was so great? Just seemed like they moved shit along a little too easily. Like, it's really that easy to get to the Maroni's in the middle of a gang war? Four different times in the same episode?

Boston, I believe, is in some weird roster crunch with the salary cap that I don't fully understand and signing him may impact moves later this season. But yeah.... there are a ton of guys on two way contracts who Lonnie is better than. That said, Lonnie is one of the more frustrating players I've ever seen. One night he looks like Kobe Bryant. The next 10 he looks like he's never played organized basketball. I've always pulled him though. He seems like a good dude and had a pretty rough upbringing. I can't imagine that he couldn't get rotation minutes for the Nuggets, who are desperate for warm bodies who can hit a three.

The closer we get to game time the more I’m concerned that we’re looking ahead to Vandy.

Agreed. I’m selling Buy or Sell.

He was definitely from San Antonio. My family and his go back a good ways, too. I find it completely unsurprising that I know all of these motherfuckers.

Charlotte could be a sneaky play-in / playoff team. I could see it with a healthy Lamelo (yeah... I know) and a rapidly ascending Miller, along with Bridges and by some miracle a healthy Mark Williams, combined with how many hardcore eastern conference tankers there are.

Given how much they relished being in the SEC... Given how much they loved that they "left Texas behind forever" in the Big Dumpster Fire conference... Given how much they thought they had gotten out from under our shadow... Given how much of a recruiting advantage they though they had on Texas as the only Texas school in the SEC... Given how much they sucked up to the other SEC schools and jerked off to Bama and LSU winning titles... Given the way that they freaked the fuck out about us joining their conference... Given how they were forced to vote us in to the SEC... Given how they feel Snakey stabbed them in the back by letting Texas in... Given the way that they were so self-assured that Texas couldn't handle the SEC grind, line of scrimmage league bullshit... And if Texas winning that games puts us into the SEC championship game that they've never even sniffed and maybe knocks them out of the playoffs, and cements for them that big brother is back to torment the fuck out of them once and forever? Yeah, I love a poooor aggies as much as anybody, but that SEC chant in their own building is going to sting like a motherfucker.

I'm not going to College Station this year, but chanting SEC after winning that game would be the mother of all SEC chants.

No Hartenstein for a few weeks in OKC. They were exceptionally healthy last year. It was a big reason for them having the best record in the west.