Proudfeet

Tatum and Brown need to work on their turnovers. Holiday should be an upgrade over Smart on that front, but he's not going to solve that problem, while losing Robert Williams opens up a new problem. Not sure what was up with Porzingis in Dallas, but he either couldn't or wouldn't play center. Horford is getting older each year and is undersized to begin with. I don't think having a solid defensive backcourt can make up for that if they can't rely on Porzingis. Anyway, they probably still need a backup big regardless. Hopefully they try and get someone reasonably fresh rather than some veteran.

Just to be sure we're on the same page, I'm referring to situations like three games in four nights, or late game to early game with travel on back to backs. Not that teams don't factor in strength of schedule when deciding which games they want to punt on their schedule, but that comes after these situations arise. If you're referring to teams randomly resting guys then no disagreements there. Rest them in home games if they really need to.

The scheduling that leads to a team resting 3+ starters is probably a throwaway game even with the starters. Might as well roll the dice with the bench.

That's not the point. Players taking games off is a problem. Fine. Its his job to come up with a solution. Adopting the Nike slogan and telling players to Just do it isn't much of a solution. It's addressing the symptom not the cause. Maybe they are at their limits with easing the scheduling, but this is the equivalent of giving up. Anyway, what I suspect will happen is that teams will just come up with more colourful injury reports. We'll see how effective it is.

Speaking of rest, just saw that the NBA is making it harder for teams to rest players. The gleam is wearing off Silver as time goes on. Would like to see teams carry on as usual and challenge the NBA to fine them. Perhaps with Ballmer and the Clippers taking the lead.

I don't know about Team USA, but the Warriors are pretty good to watch. Its not like they are the Mitchell led Jazz where its cross court pass after cross court pass until someone is open or they pass it to Mitchell to force something. Or the Zion and four statues Pelicans. Also, when the top MVP candidates are Jokic/Embiid/Giannis, and the top pick is Wembanyama, maybe its too late to say that there is no value for 7 footers? Plus, offense aside, they also have value for their defense and rebounding, as evidenced over the last page or so with the loss of teams USA and Canada blamed on size. Think its not so much that there is no value in post skills but rather players aren't proficient enough after they shifted emphasis to the three. Not sure what Gobert's excuse is though.

Are there any significant rule differences? The obvious one is the three point line, but what other rules do players have to adapt to?

I disagree. Putting aside practical concerns such as not having enough sales to justify continuing, how would you feel if your employer told you that your notice period needs to be extended? They can't manage without you and they'd like to get your replacement in and trained before you go. Not to mention that a forced or rushed conclusion would likely result in a poorer product. Is it worth it? Or even simpler, lets have a chapter briefly summarising the present and end it with the protagonist considering their future. The end.

I don't get the situation. Was he trying for a 4 point play to tie? Otherwise, shooting percentages aside, in a 2 possession game with the shot clock off, surely the priority is for the fastest play (not the three)?

Isn't Wild Cards a collaborative effort story? Personally, wouldn't like to see such a change midway. If the story doesn't get finished then so be it. Not sure what is in it for the other authors either.

Have scientists given up on cancer or fusion or personal pet projects that they make minimal progress on? Anyway my take on why its not coming is that Martin is stuck. Dance with Dragons was delayed because he couldn't resolve the Meereenese knot, which if I recall, has to do with a bunch of people having their timelines and point of views converge. Dance was released with it pushed to Winds of Winter, and well, he can't push it any further. I think Martin probably wants to take back what he has published if he could. Disclaimer: I haven't reread the books after release. Yes, I read that. What's the use of talking about people who aren't here to defend themselves? A non-moving target to score points? You either aren't familiar with Rothfuss or your distaste for what you perceive to be his fans is clouding your view. I just want to repeat this. Rothfuss has left me with a very poor impression outside of the delays associated with his books. Its not about him lying to his fans about his books. I'm not sure if intended, but why are you so keen on defending Rothfuss?

You sound pretty definite for all that. I mean, its just as plausible that he wants the satisfaction of completing it. And he's doing/done the other stuff too. Don't think you get it. First, we aren't those fans, so its a bit of a strawman here, especially since the latest discussion was prompted from why Rothfuss has a worse reception than Martin and Lynch. Its your prerogative to disparage them equally. I'm not telling you to do otherwise and am just explaining why. Can't speak for the others, but my distaste for Rothfuss has little to do with his books or the delay associated with them. Next, he's usually the one who is initiating discussion with his gaffes. And its not necessarily about the books. Third, he's recently promised a chapter as part of a stretch goal for his charity fundraising. I think the people who donated have a right to ask.

And how would you know that Martin has lost interest? I'm not familiar with Lynch, but the difference in attitude towards Rothfuss and Martin stems from how they present themselves. Its more of a personal thing. You get treated how you treat others. Its that simple. Its not so much about the books not coming out. Think we're all mature people here who aren't entitled.

Never watched the anime, but assuming its the same as the manga, think you're looking at it at the wrong angle. The plot is background for character interactions/development. Its meant to be slow. At least it seems to have steady progress so far, some manga/anime are on loop with clear annual events repeating and never aging despite that. The primary target audience might be for children, but there is cross appeal to adults in watching the silly antics of children. For reference, Yotsuba to!(manga) is in a similar vein without the exaggerated background, and feels to be more targeted at adults than children. Or maybe you'd prefer Usagi Drop if you require the story to advance?

Yeah, if you have cap space that you need to use, the solution demonstrated in recent years is to take on salary from other teams for picks. If you're lucky you might even rehabilitate the value of those players. Signing free agents to large salaries doesn't make much sense. Or maybe teams that are already all out of picks for the foreseeable future and that isn't an option anymore? I like that VanVleet got paid more than Irving though. Did the Mavs short Irving of the full max or something?

I think he has shown enough to prove that he has the ability. It looked more like an attitude/effort issue to me, maybe it was dissatisfaction from lack of touches on the offensive end, or disagreement with the team/coach or some lingering bitterness over how his free agency went the previous year, but he didn't look like he was even trying. Yes and no. No, I don't think that he will necessarily be worse next season, but its hard to know when any player in their mid thirties will start to slow down. Of course, other teams have players at that age with much larger roles, but with regards to Denver becoming worse, there isn't anything else with the rest of the rotation set and still relatively young. It's more about potentially losing Brown. Yes, Denver has been struggling with the backup PF/C position. Denver managed to shore up their non-Jokic minutes in the playoffs by playing Gordon in Jokic's place, but then they'd need someone to takeover for Gordon and so on. There is a limit to playing the other starters up/down a position. Also, you might be selling Green a little short. He might not be a game winning difference maker, but he's well rounded enough to not have an obvious weakness and is also surprisingly athletic. If Green is unplayable, would there be players available at that salary range and be satisfied with a small role? Could Denver get them? Why hasn't Nnaji or Cancar taken his minutes?

That's the thing isn't it? I don't think he'll fall off a cliff in production, but given his age, it's not a given that he will return to peak form. That is true, but given how the games went, they still could have eked out the win if Booker didn't run out of steam and Durant played slightly better. Also, with the players they had, I thought the biggest problem was Ayton. He did okay but looked completely disinterested and it felt like he was just going through the motions. Maybe he was just outplayed by Jokic, but even if that was the case, I thought Landale did a better job. For next season, it looks like Denver might lose Brown who is a key piece of their 8 man rotation. And Green is getting a year older. Maybe the Suns and the other teams can look forward to them regressing if the rest of Denver's bench doesn't step up.

Think generative AI is overhyped. It looks most useful simplifying menial processes, but for other uses, without the ability to actually verify the authenticity, its just a poor search engine which only gives one result. As I said in the other thread on AI generated books, its a flying car. Sounds great, but is actually hard to implement and even harder to create. Just another waste of time and money after cryptocurrency and metaverse.

From what I read, he's a game manager quarterback type of player. A safe pair of hands to keep things moving. Plays conservatively and has low turnovers. Not sure about the defensive side of things, but at the least he wouldn't have Smart's versatility across positions. Maybe Washington could flip him to a contender like Denver now that Brown is likely to leave. Think Denver can't pay Brown more than other teams can. On Memphis' side, not sure how Smart's defensive versatility helps when they have JJJ or Adams covering the paint instead of switching with Williams.

I got a 970 for USD375 9 years ago when it was relatively new. It's my main bottleneck as I've carried over the card when I got a new PC, but there also aren't any games that I'm playing that would make me want to upgrade. I'm just biding my time hoping prices go down further and for newer cards to be released.

Agreed. Just saying that they'd be the underdogs against any of the other 15 playoff teams as well. Not sure how good they would be if healthy, but I appreciated seeing Kawhi being tasked to defend ball handlers instead of chilling in the left corner "for help defense and getting rebounds". This almost never happens if both are healthy. Took Dallas almost eliminating them and Luka playing Zubac out of rotation, and torching everyone from Batum to Morris to George before Lue finally relented. __ Speaking of Phoenix, Ayton is definitely gone right? Are there any potential suitors lining up?

Clippers? That's probably a feature by now though. Hopefully this continues into the regular season now that the schedule is not as compressed.

I'm not familiar, but did Miller start his 9 seconds with possession or without possession? To be fair to the Heat, they managed to get to OT against the Bucks this postseason under similar circumstances, but that was a one possession game with more time and timeouts. They don't just rollover.

It was a two possession game at that point, three if Denver make the free throws on an intentional foul. They don't have timeouts to advance the ball. What would you have them do?

As far as I can tell, he barely even attempts to jump at all. Getting tired of the comments on how he doesn't look able at this point. He's gotten much fitter from when he started and it's not like he's Lowry. _ ESPN has an article saying how the NBA might give coaches a second challenge if their first challenge is successful. I get that they don't want to delay the game with more reviews, but why wouldn't they just give them as many challenges as they have timeouts and only refund the first successful challenge? Maybe its taking away a timeout from the team that they'd want to use differently, but there's no harm in giving them the choice. Also, they might trial using technology for the last two minutes for out of bounds and goal tending plays. Hopefully that means they are trialling the process of making it timely instead of only collecting data on accuracy for the last two minutes. Looks like its still a manual process through the replay center instead of being automated, but they can improve on that.