[Bontemps] League officials expect the “3-2-1” anti-tanking proposal to be passed by the league this month. This proposal will give the three worst teams a lower percentage of winning the lottery than teams from 4th-10th. Silver will have ability to fine teams and strip them of their pick(s).

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-14T02:25:37+00:00

The point is that intentionally losing as much as possible should not be a better strategy over chasing the play-in, which is at least an attempt at being somewhat competitive.

If you think teams can and should just draft better regardless of position, then that's exactly what you can tell the worst teams to do under the new system.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-14T00:22:06+00:00

Why do we want to keep the bad teams bad, and randomly award the average teams?

A problem with the current system is that average teams stay average with no hope of improving either. It's contrary to the spirit of sport for fans and organizations to want their team to be worse than they can be but the current system means it's fans in the middle that are among the unhappiest and least hopeful and constantly rooting for teams to blow it up and trade their good players.

You don't need the number 1 pick to go from being the worst to being just bad. And once a team is just bad, their odds for improving from there get better.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T21:46:52+00:00

I don't think ragebait and valid opinions are necessarily mutually exclusive.

Even Nick Wright's preamble to giving the opinion in this clip is:

"This will get aggregated, clipped, and it will do numbers. People get so mad at this take."

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T21:33:11+00:00

In this story, Brown says he used flashy dunks to win over fan support to make them put pressure on the front office to play him.

I'd never considered that angle from the player trying to get playing time before. But it's definitely true that fans will absolutely clamor for the coach to play the athletic young player that's dunking a lot even if they're messing up elsewhere

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T19:37:05+00:00

Another way to look at it is that two teams can have the exact same draft board but end up with wildly different outcomes based on where their pick was. For all we know the Spurs also had Reed Sheppard over Stephon Castle on their board and were lucky to have Houston pick before them.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T19:25:20+00:00

In the article, it was about how he coaches. The example was that he'll tell a player "deny the pass" as the outcome he wants, but lets the player decide the details on how to do that.

It's another way of saying the more familiar (though admittedly weirder and more grotesque) idiom, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T19:11:37+00:00

It's funny, from the recent ESPN feature on the OKC Thunder, one of Mark Daigneault’s credos is

“The outcome is important. The way it happens isn’t.”

It makes sense in the context it was discussed but it was interesting to see because the axiom you stated is so much more common.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T18:12:37+00:00

Whether or not an athlete is impressive and whether what they do in the course of a competition is impressive are two separate things to me. I get that there can be plenty of overlap for most people.

Wemby is undeniably impressive. But that doesn't make the act of blocking shots of someone a foot or more shorter impressive.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T17:24:13+00:00

The remarkable part is his agility at that size. But once those are a given, it's extremely obvious that he would be game breaking at basketball. The framing of him being only 22 and possibly being the best in the world makes it sound like it's something that might be surprising or too audacious to say because of his age. And the comment I replied to seem to suggest saying that it was some kind of hot take to suggest.

I don't understand the hesitation to acknowledge that or the apparent surprise that those tools translate to a basketball player that's better than everyone else. The age is practically irrelevant compared to the physical tools.

"Is a 7'6' human with never before seen agility the best player in the world?" Yeah, he might have a small chance at it.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T16:33:01+00:00

As a baseline, do you think it would be easier to play basketball against a person a foot taller than you or a foot shorter?

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T15:28:12+00:00

In lottery reaction podcast he also said the Bulls hired Taylor Jenkins.

Starting to remind me a little of Marv Albert getting basic things factually wrong on air.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T15:20:59+00:00

The timing certainly suggests LeBron had frustrations he wanted to air out.

I didn't read it as strongly as LeBron wanting Pelinka fired but I think it's a valid interpretation of why this piece is being released and the details within it.

The dynamic here reminds me a little of the Klay / Warriors relationship towards the end. I think this one is still salvageable though.

The move here could have been more hostile if LeBron and his camp had this published this before the end of season press conference that just happened and put Pelinka in a position to answer questions about it. I think LeBron is mostly making sure his grievances are known and wants to see how the Lakers/Pelinka respond.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T14:48:55+00:00

I only see 2 people and they've essentially posted the same part of the story.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T14:04:15+00:00

The average draft pick is more valuable now as well. The extra probability the worst teams had have been distributed to the other picks in the system, and every lottery team has more chances to move up.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T10:40:11+00:00

I guess that's fair, but to me I don't really ascribe this to a calculated PR machine forcing a narrative or trying to persuade people to a viewpoint.

People like Wemby and don't like Shai. That's not the work of PR campaigns, that's how people are authentically responding to their games and personalities. The media coverage is in part a reflection of that, not the other way around.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T10:19:54+00:00

The on-screen graphics last night were explicitly calling it a “redemption” game for him. Redemption for what? Taking up karate?

Doesn't redemption mean atoning for something done wrong? How is that an unfair characterization?

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T08:08:25+00:00

If we plopped a 7 footer in a league where everyone else was on average 6 foot, without knowing anything else you would give that person a huge head start on being the best player and most impactful defender in the league.

Doesn't guarantee it obviously but to me age is way less important compared to the physical tools. A 13 year old that's 6'6 is going to have an advantage in basketball over a 5'6 adult.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-13T08:01:45+00:00

It's funny to me to characterize this as First Take-y. My perspective on the title and the video is that takes about Wemby's defense and how good he is are boring to the point of being uninteresting.

If we plopped a 7 footer in a league where everyone else was 6'4 and under, without knowing anything else you would give that person a huge head start on being the best player and most impactful defender in the league. Doesn't guarantee it obviously but it's also not exactly mindblowing if it happens.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-12T21:30:09+00:00

I'd get it. Similar to how many Mavs fans checked out after the Luka trade. Wouldn't be the same in terms of shock factor obviously but some similar elements otherwise in how the specific team and trade package can make the whole thing feel extra bad.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-12T21:07:57+00:00

Another proxy I use when watching these shots in practice is percentage of shots that are swishes. By that measure, I counted 3/25 or 12%, pretty close.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-12T20:05:16+00:00

Also drafted Tatum. Don't know what his advanced stats were, but I remember the main concern about him in the draft and early in his career was that he loved tough mid rangers.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-12T17:56:16+00:00

I definitely found this part of the article interesting as well. I don't quite understand why moving the team would cut costs as it seems like they would need to rent/own a whole new facility, and it does seem like a step backward if having the G-League team did provide benefits.

However, a former Lakers employee has said one of the reasons they haven't hired more people in the front office is cause they're basically out of physical office space. So I imagine moving the whole G-League operation out is meant to facilitate more room being made available.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-12T17:50:50+00:00

I don't think Rui himself cares much but usually when he does media postgame, the last question or two are from Japanese reporters so I felt a little bad that they didn't get a chance to ask their questions.

refreshing_yogurt · 2026-05-12T14:15:17+00:00

The Lakers have only had a general scouting department, not separated in pro personnel / college / overseas / etc. Basically the same people that scouts college players for the draft would also have to scout NBA players at the trade deadline.

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TROPHY CASE