Dutchrudder

Bagwell is replacing Dana as GM???

Yeah, those guys have really stepped up, Merril looked like Klay Thompson against the Magic last week. I'm surprised at the depth on the bench now, they are in solid position for the rest of the season once Thompson comes back and everyone is healthy. I'm not quite sure who their top 8 guys will be come playoff time, because they have several guys that could be in rotation from the bench for other teams. I don't think any of them will be traded, but there is some good value there with how cheap they are. I think Strus has been the biggest surprise, he is doing so well on defense, although his shooting % has declined slightly since leaving Miami. There's a trend in the media to claim that Heat players are a product of their environment or Spo's system, and expect them to decline significantly when going to another team. Strus hasn't experienced that, and he's doing about as well as expected, efficiency tends to drop when workload increases. He has started every game so far this season, and is averaging 32 mpg, while in contrast Gabe Vincent hasn't done anything for the Lakers. Last year the 3 spot was a revolving door all year, no one was consistent enough to trust long term, but those guys moving to the bench really solidifies the team for the regular season. That 3 spot was the hole they needed to fill this offseason, and they got it done for 15m a year. If they can sign Mitchell to an extension, then this team should only get better with time.

Well the Cavs just annihilated the Kings from start to finish and take #2 seed in the East, soooo talk all you want about scheduling if it makes you feel better. They just got Mobley and Garland back and are doing better than everyone expected. With Embiid out for a while, they should be a top 3 seed by the end of the season and a defensive force to be reckoned with in the playoffs.

Larry David was on the Bill Simmons podcast this week to promote the new Season of Curb. Towards the beginning of the pod they talk a little about Doc Rivers and Bill says to Larry that he must be really sad because he loses his golfing buddy. Larry agrees, but then goes on to poke at Doc saying everyone is really sad to lose Doc at the club because he's "a big loser on the golf course." They have a good laugh and speculate that he's only taking the Bucks job because of the perks and free things that the team pays for, because "That's why he's in Milwaukee! He will go to any ends of the earth to not pay for something!"

I'm sure Austin Rivers will join soon and fill that gap in their roster.

Wonka (2023) - When I first saw this trailer my cynical self thought "Oh look, the origin story no one asked for!" However, I was a surprised at how fun and enjoyable it was. It's very clearly setup to become a musical show in the future, but I didn't get that impression from the movie trailer. The songs are nearly all original, but they of course lean into the melody and themes from songs of the original. It's a fun story, with lots of whimsical characters and many entertaining songs and dance numbers that keep the pace moving along. It's very different for the original though, this one is much more kid friendly, funny, upbeat and lighthearted, while in the original Gene Wilder was deranged, sarcastic and a bit sinister. I'm sure many will hate it because it re-characterizes the original Wonka, humanizes him, and "ruins their childhood" or something.

Yeah but Hillary didn't concede the election until 1am on election nigh. Also remember Al Gore took his case to court and didn't concede for a few weeks, so it's about the same as Trump. Nothing unusual at all...

My parents are still trying to find ways to use their Y2K freeze dried food cans. It still makes me chuckle whenever I see the last few dozen bins of it at their house. They spent about $5k stocking the pantry and garage with some prepper package from an End Times Alarmist "ministry" that was available on short wave radio. You know, the one from of communication the government can't shut down and will be used by the real patriots when the US falls into anarchy!

I lived with him for 40 years, I never saw him trying on my underwear. As soon as he leaves the house, he turns into J. Edgar Hoover!!!

The Big Salad lady that George was seeing is Marita Geraghty, she appeared in Season 6 ep 2. You may also know her from playing Nancy on Groundhog's Day, you know the girl who makes noises like a chipmunk when she gets excited! Happy February 2nd to those of you who celebrate.

I don't think I ever heard the term "black unemployment" and stats prior to Trumps team trying to use it as a campaign talking point. Do they provide other demographics statistics too? How are the Cubans doing? Maybe pacific Islanders are at their apex of employment? Might as well take the idea and run with it, "jobs jobs jobs" always makes voters happy.

Love Adams as a player, but I would be worried about his rehab and ability to come back. He's only 30 (looks a lot older than that) and making 12.6m next year. If he plays well as Senguns backup, he could be used in a trade next year to get more than 3 2nds. Not a bad deal to turn Oladipos expiring into a potential asset.

He's always been nuts.

Oh I thought this was going to be another Taylor Swift thread...

Wasn't the Longhorn Network the reason why UT couldn't switch conferences until it expired? I thought every other conference was against individual networks for schools. Kind of like Notre Dame, nobody will take them as a full member with many of their games tied up in that NBC contract, but they were unwilling to let that go. If anything, A&M is lucky they moved when they did, because they certainly wouldn't be first choice to add for the SEC or B1G right now. More likely they get left behind in the Big 12 with Ok State and Texas Tech. Then it comes down to which is better: being a 7-10 win team in a bad conference, or being a 5-9 win team in a great conference?

I agree, the restricted area is unnecessary and hurts defenses. So does the 3 second rule, which also isn't needed any more. If a tall guy wants to camp out down there, I say let them. 3 point shooters will make them pay if they won't come out to defend the 3. The amount of skilled shooters in the league now outweighs the benefit of an immobile 7 footer protecting the rim. Plus it would reduce foul calls, which would make the game flow better. I think they should remove the ability to move the ball down the court with a timeout. That also hurts defenses in the final 2 minutes and makes the game take a lot longer because the offense doesn't have to bring the ball up the court. I can't think of any other sport that allows you to change the position on the field with something like a timeout. Imagine the NFL getting a free 5 yards from a timeout, or in baseball getting a 2-0 count to start an at-bat, it would be ludicrous.

The PFF stint is unusual, as you don't see many young guys leave coaching for multiple years and then come back. It's not a bad thing, but it's not exactly great that he couldn't find a role during that time. Slowik is 36, and all of his 49ers roles were as an assistant. They don't have an OC in SF because Shanahan does the playcalling, but he really hasn't done a whole lot yet. This was the first year he had the reins to do so, and he did great, but 1 year of OC is pretty unusual to get a HC spot. Kevin O'Connell had 3 years as an OC with 2 different teams before taking the Vikings job. He also won a ring with Matt Stafford at QB. Josh McDaniels had a longer and more decorated resume when he became the Broncos HC at the age of 36. Granted he was the "OC" for Brady and Bellicheck, which is just about the cushiest job you could ask for, but he at least had a few years as an OC and several more as an assistant. It's pretty uncommon to hire a HC that's in his mid-30s, but they typically have at least a few years as a coordinator before that happens. I think Slowik needs about 1-2 years of success at OC before he jumps, so hopefully wins at least 1 Superb Owl before that happens.

I think people are overrating Slowik and Johnson's careers due to this 1 year of success. This is Slowik's first year as an OC, he has no HC experience. He was an analyst at Pro Football Focus for a few years after being let go in Washington in the 2010s. He doesn't have a stacked resume, and I think a lot of teams would be concerned about his age and experience. He's still climbing the ladder of the NFL. He will likely get a shot at a HC job, but probably not for a couple of years, until people can see who is really driving the success of the offense down here. This is Jerrod's first big role in an NFL org, he doesn't have any play calling or OC experience. While I'm sure he had an impact on Stroud's success, I can't imagine that 1 year would make a team take a chance on him being an OC. Maybe in a few years, but he has a very thin resume so far. It's definitely worth doing the interviews to see how the process goes, what questions they ask, and to work through the process. I hope that does give them some ideas on what to develop and how to improve their coaching, but it's really early for both of them to move up the ranks. Both are currently in roles that would be considered "prove it" type promotions to see if they can be successful.

Orioles to be sold to group led by David Rubenstein https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39425417/reports-orioles-sold-2-private-equity-billionaires

Oh cool, Jay Bruce is my friend's cousin. I'll have to bug him to see if he can hook us up with good tickets.

Oh wow, that was quick! But yeah, it would be fun to see others join in. Klay and Steph vs Sabrina and Caitlyn!

Didn't the Red Sox decline his option? I don't think you get payouts for a player declining, unless it's a mutual option. That's 16 million total for 1 year of playing for Boston and missing the playoffs. Ouch.

Men, get your pitchforks and torches ready! https://www.nba.com/news/2024-stephen-vs-sabrina-3-point-challenge

Mitchell's 71 point game last year was with overtime, and iirc he scored 13 points in OT in that game. It's interesting that only 2 of the 70+ point individual games went to OT, and that most of them shot 20+ free throws. Luka's stands out of the group as it was incredibly efficient shooting all around compared to some of the others. The Dame 71 game a few weeks after Mitchell was a fucking joke, he was running up the score while the Blazers were up 20+ in the 4th, and the team purposely did not play defense to feed him more shots. Here's a list of all of them, kind of funny how many times Wilt did it.