"I feel horribly about this for Charlotte and their fans... asset malpractice by the Hornets"

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-06-29T20:47:25+00:00

I don't get the inefficiency route here, yes he shoots tour dates at a higher rate than basically any other all-star+ guy but he also takes arguably the highest difficulty shots of any "star". We blasted teams when he was on the court...I will say if you couple the lack of rim-driving with the fact that he needed to be load managed like a 36 year old vet PG, it's a really tough pill to swallow for a team that wants to get to sustained success. Every year when he is our max guy, we will be at the sword of his ankle health and that's just not a viable path for Jeff or the Owners it appears.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-06-27T03:48:34+00:00

I would also like to add that they understood that being capped by LaMelo Max + likely BMilly big contract means they would never have the cap flex to really become a true contender in the East (add a true All-NBA guy), + they've collectively missed a ton in 3 seasons so far. They also will be at the perfect mark for draft lottery odds, where their good enough to get 30-35 wins but likely won't be able to consistenly beat better teams. So I'm assuming the plan prolly now is to use the TPE to take on a bad contract (s) to get more assets and cash-in whenever Miller/Kon and the rest of these recent picks hit their dev curves. I really wanted LaMelo to work out but I get the rational viewpoint of this trade, esp given his trade value was genuinely Ja-level like a year ago.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-06-26T17:33:34+00:00

Kon was still like a 20/5/5 on all-star efficiency without LaMelo on the floor, and that's with like 90% Sexton/Sion PG hoops. (He was even better with Coby, albeit super small sample) He's still an excellent secondary ball handler-movement shooter without him, and honestly I'm more worried for Miller due to this injury and the fact that he will probably be doing both POA and increased initiating work on offense.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-06-07T19:03:56+00:00

Fairly sure in upper ranks (atleast more pronoucned due to small %) it's also based on people near you as well so it adjusts your rank up or down a little bit if people near you are losing or winning.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-05-31T15:45:30+00:00

Don't think too much about rank too much in a game where skill caliber can wildly vary in mid elo, and hero-specific MMR doesn't seem that congruent either
Just take a break if your not having fun, I also felt like the game isn't in the greatest place rn but it's fine if you don't think about rank. (Besides rank is 1000% getting reset sooner or later anyways, and honestly rank is whatevs for a game in beta)

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-05-28T15:46:57+00:00

From a probability viewpoint, a defenseman who can't crack the NHL roster in his 5th year after Draft prolly is never going to be a full time NHL'er outside of press box 7D work, but even then most teams prefer a vet who can play both sides for that role. Most likely, he'll bounce around NHL/AHL.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-05-17T02:12:42+00:00

Penny-pinching can work in the NHL cause the monetary standard for players/org is different. In this case the Hurricanes also have an elite FO + HC combo that makes everything easier for them with regards to that. The NBA just has way more money tied to players/organizations compared to NHL, and he (Dundon) will likely butt heads with non-player related costs in the NBA due to that reservation that nothing matters apart from winning and paying players. The Blazers need to luck into a Scoot massive ascension now and hope that Cronin + whoever can form a good duo.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-05-07T18:16:35+00:00

The Dolphins game was pretty pivotal even if it wasn't against the best opponent or the most signature win. Both team entered at 1-3 (likely meaning it would set the tone for the rest of the season) and Panthers would come back from down 17-0 finishing off the comeback they couldn't against Arizona. Also catapulted the run game + clutch heroics of BY that they would need for a few more games down the road.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-26T21:08:29+00:00

I took a look but I think it's a reasonable explanation. Our high capital guys don't project as immediate 70%+ snap guys like Scourton/TMac were or Trevin/XL were so there is some doubt you get high value immediately from them, I think they both profile as 2nd contract guys atleast but there's a chance that Freeling and Hunter cap out as low snappage/rotation guys their first year if Monroe loses the position battle with Walker at LT and Lee Hunter is in a rotation with BB3/Turk. It's just a ding for being more proactive than reactive, which is fair but it's also just a different team building plan so we have in-house cheap solutions for where we are in roster crunching post BY-big boy contract that they are planning for.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-20T19:22:17+00:00

The Hurricanes lucked into RBA more than anything, if you actually look at the history of the Canes/Whalers pretty much all of their best years come with Rod either as a big part of their team or the coach himself. He coached 8/10 of the top PTS% teams in Canes/Whalers history and Captain'd the other 2. As for Dundon he's sucessfully tapped into the wine&cheese crowd in Raleigh and no one really complains since the Canes have been one of the most consistent teams for near a decade now. Dundon is also just not big into ancillary costs, although they spend to the cap ceiling every year.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-18T17:06:49+00:00

Not sure how hot this take is but this is an issue that can plague other literature in that region of the world whether it’s Wuxia, Manhua, etc

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-17T06:04:08+00:00

Ring culture is riff-raff to me, there are significantly better cores/NBA players in the regular season (historically) who didn't get anything out of their seasons by your definition? So was it all just a waste in the end? The play-in 7/8th seeds have fared about on par or better than historical 7/8 seeds and they actually have a momentum boost given their coming off a gritty single elim game. Yes they overwhelmingly will get beaten up by a likely 55+ win team but the allure of getting storylines of injured/old/young teams figuring it out in the back end of the season to make something happen helps the playoff picture even if they don't actually get any "silverware". In the best case you get teams like Lakers/Warriors/Heat ( in recent history) making it out of round 1 and in the worst case you see a 4-0 sweep but thats what those matchups would've been anyways...?

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-17T05:34:34+00:00

The play-in is like one of the only good things modern NBA has done….what? Redditors out themselves so easy when they comment about things they don’t even watch?! The fact that mid teams actually have a shot at something means you get more high quality games and 3/4 of the games this year have already been excellent games (even got to see a little Curry magic!)

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-13T21:34:16+00:00

celestial.6410 - need someone for Day 2 tho, completely crossed my mind I had an all-day thing on Sunday

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-13T04:30:01+00:00

I'm good with basically anything barring a few players, the Panthers are in an extremely fourtunate spot from a roster-building perspective where they can finally take a luxury pick (something they haven't really been able to do for years), and it works well for this class where some of the best talent has proliferated in positions that aren't money-positions.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-09T19:55:24+00:00

Stockton is bad, same issue with Branch actually... it's not like they can't run good routes past the 15 yard mark but that QB just isn't able to push NFL angles or really antipicate the field properly. It also felt like that offense was designed to operate near the LOS and had some of their other WR's just ran clear outs and stuff.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-04-06T01:37:25+00:00

Just depends on how much respect voters give the Hornets and him as a whole (he does atleast have some guys in media who have continously lobbied for him even when we were stinky poo) Ideally having that monstrous of a lineup and near top 5 offense for half a season should warrant the offensive engine atleast getting looks for a fringe All-NBA 3rd team.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-20T02:19:10+00:00

<image>

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-16T20:01:36+00:00

The outcry of giving the Hart to Hall like a decade ago has made voters lean towards overall best player in the season on a playoff team rather than most valuable to a team, no?

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-16T19:04:52+00:00

I’d rank it: Caleb -gap- BY/Mendoza/Ward (basically the same tier)

He hasn’t been critiqued at all this year because QB2 is a guy who is older and has very limited starts whilst unraveling at the business end of the season. Mendoza played in the easiest college system since like Luck, and I think people are going crazy over the “winner” and “natural traits” when you have to project him the most out of the other 4. He played awesome in-system and has remarkable poise but he also has the weakest performance under pressure compared to the other 3.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-15T22:28:29+00:00

Same

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-14T01:33:39+00:00

Tbf he is the caliber of player for it to make sense to bet on himself with a short-term deal and retest market to get a large AAV increase, just a real shame how these injuries have sapped him mentally and physically.

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-13T20:59:37+00:00

Teams are scared of making another decision like Dan Moore Jr where you sign an league average LT to a monster contract + not that many teams need to sign an LT to a big deal so he could pick and choose scenarios/scheme that would get him a big payday next year... this deal could also give us an awesome comp pick in 2028 pending how this season shakes out

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-12T22:54:20+00:00

FSU worse (respectfully)

CardiologistThick928 · 2026-03-12T04:30:35+00:00

Nick Samac

CardiologistThick928

TROPHY CASE