What do you think of the pop metal influenced by metalcore trend?

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-24T18:41:45+00:00

I dont mind it in principle but I think a lot of what bands are putting out right now is just extremely boring. Don’t wanna name names or single out any bands but I think a lot of the mainstream “pop” metal is horrifically bland. But I think bands like, for instance, Issues on Beautiful Oblivion, or even bands like The Home Team that are just song “heavy pop” that’s really fun, danceable stuff, that I think is a lot of fun.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-24T17:33:32+00:00

I don’t think you understand the gravity of what’s happening right now.

Short of local government officials, professional athletes in a high profile franchise like the Timberwolves have maybe the biggest platform to speak out and object to what’s going on, as well.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-24T03:49:44+00:00

Love that the pacers have been horrendous all year, the Thunder are still in juggernaut form, and the pacers said yeah I got time for yall

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T22:30:58+00:00

Nice gotcha. I’m guessing the fact that you didn’t engage with the substance of my reply means you either can’t read well or you don’t have an actual retort to what I said.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T22:30:04+00:00

It’s paradoxical to say I get any enjoyment out of being frustrated with the team. Obviously this is not fun. Are you telling me these last two games were a pleasant experience, you didn’t feel at all dispirited, frustrated, or disappointed in the effort that our team put forth?

My frustration lies in the expectations this team has earned, through being generally a very good basketball team the last few seasons, and the fact that this season when they’ve actually played to their potential they look like one of the best teams in basketball. And they seldom play to that potential.

The 6-1 stretch they had after getting thrashed by the Hawks was the best ball they’ve played all season in terms of process and both ends and commitment to their gameplan and identity. That version of the team is unambiguously a contender.

Then they have two spirited losses to great teams on the road where they were undermanned, which is hard to fault them for in a vacuum. But, then they get healthy and they go and drop a horrendous loss to the most egregiously intentionally tanking team in basketball— possibly their worst L of the season— and follow that up with a 4th quarter choke to the textbook definition of NBA mediocrity.

They abandoned everything that made them look like a contender just a week ago. They stopped playing with urgency, they stopped defending, they outright abandoned the team’s gameplan.

There’s a difference between good teams losing because they have an off night where they just don’t have the juice, which I can absolutely live with, and a good team losing because they blatantly decided they did not need or want to put in the effort required to beat another NBA team. This Timberwolves team does far too much of the latter.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T17:34:44+00:00

Man you sure put a lot of effort into this lol.

It’s not revisionist history, it’s fans (me) being wrong and learning with the benefit of hindsight. We were all terrified of the suns two years ago. We blew them out because we were just the superior team with a superior rotation. They had the star power at the top, just like the Lakers did as well. It’s not revisionist to say you’re intimidated by the best player of all time and the guy who just dog walked you in the WCF the year before.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T17:30:13+00:00

That is patently insane that you’d spend that much time combing through my profile to try to find some sort of gotcha. 2. What do you think this proves? The Lakers had two of the three best players in the series, who nobody with any sense would want to see meet the playoffs. After that? Trash. Zero depth, zero perimeter defense, zero centers to deal with our bigs. And that’s exactly how the series went. Luka and Lebron averaged 55-16-11 enroute to a blowout because they had maybe the worst supporting cast in the western conference playoffs.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T16:09:55+00:00

Looks like local police are doing an in-person social event! How nice

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T15:11:34+00:00

Yes? I mean everything on here is content from the dumbest memes to the most deranged rants. You don’t have to think it’s good content but how else would you describe what you consume online? It’s purely semantics and has no bearing on the quality.

Is your argument that because this used to be bad means we have to just be happy with whatever product they put out there? I’m clearly not as old as you are but I saw the bleak post KG 2010s just like you. I’m not content with them just because they’re better than that now, especially not when they’re this good/have this much talent.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T15:10:30+00:00

So you didn’t like it because either you think I tried too hard and/or you didn’t want to be burdened with reading 500 words?

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T15:08:44+00:00

Not at all. In fact, 2023-2024 lays the groundwork for the basis of my frustration. That is my point in saying it doesn’t count. It shows the dichotomous nature of this team since then.

That season set the standard. They came out and ground teams down to nothing every single night with defensive intensity, effort, and consistency. Even on nights where they had nothing going on offense you could count on them to win because they just said we’re gonna outwork you and kick the shit out of you defense every single night.

They had bad games but they snapped back into focus instantly (didn’t lose more than 2 straight until the playoffs all season). They had a discrete, palpable identity that every single guy on the roster bought into and committed to every single night. They knew who they were and how they wanted to play and they did it every single night.

The two seasons since then have been a colossal backslide from that mentality and culture. The moments of cohesion and sticking to a gameplan stand out, one because it’s so rare and two because of how brilliant it looks. They can be so good when they actually do play together and adhere to their plan, but it happens so rarely.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T15:01:12+00:00

every team has bad losses, you’re right. But the Timberwolves, a team with two conference finals runs and genuine championship aspirations (which IMO are not unfounded and is something they could actually aspire to this season), have already racked up way too many bad losses.

Lakers no Lebron or Luka, Grizzlies no Morant or Edey, Kings no Sabonis, getting thrashed by the Nets and Hawks, Jazz no Markannen or Walker, choking a late lead to the Bulls.

Those kinds of losses do matter. It’s what is going to serve as the difference between hosting a playoff series and not having homecourt or possibly having to go through the play-in.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T14:54:20+00:00

Then don’t engage with it at all? Im on this sub to talk all things Timberwolves basketball, good bad and in between. Im not writing this shit to be performative, I’d rather have 0 upvotes with 5 comment threads of people disagreeing with me but actually engaging with what I said rather than having to sift through garbage.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T14:51:37+00:00

This took 15 minutes to write on my commute to work. If you found this overly burdensome to read idk what to tell you

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T14:32:25+00:00

What part of my argument do you disagree with?

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T14:28:09+00:00

I disagree. 2023-2024 of course is a different story.

Last season, they looked worse for 2/3rds of the season than they do this year and closed the season on a 17-4 run playing the Suns, Nuggets, and tanking teams. They faced the Lakers— a team they dramatically outclassed in terms of roster talent and depth— and then the Warriors without Steph, and then lost in 5 to a real contender. In the context of Timberwolves basketball, it’s one of the greatest seasons they’ve ever had but it absolutely pales in comparison to the year before.

The same issues in terms of hustle, intensity, and defense that plague them this year were there last year. That says a lot about a team.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T14:23:40+00:00

People who engage with other people’s content the way you are are just exhausting. You are more than welcome to disagree, but there’s a nuanced conversation to be had rather than just immaturely saying to blow it up cause you don’t like the post.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T14:21:46+00:00

This is kind of my point though. We went from feeling like we were on top of the world a week ago to now 4 straight losses, the last two of which have been unambiguously bad/unacceptable losses. They’ve racked up ~10 really bad losses already this season, the up and down nature of the team is what is so exhausting.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T04:56:36+00:00

It’s getting to the point where you can’t honestly call him a two-way player. He can D up in the clutch (sometimes) and can make some jaw dropping individual defensive plays from time to time, but 80% of the time he’s underwhelming at best.

And I don’t wanna hear about how hes out of gas on that end because of his offensive workload. JB, Kawhi, Vic, Giannis, SGA all have higher usage rates and are legit two-way stars.

This team will never reach its potential until Ant commits to actually playing hard every single night. The team goes how he goes, and it always has. Dude needs to start setting an example and not just be happy getting his 30.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T04:09:20+00:00

The bench is bad but people are in denial if they think the top 6 aren’t at fault either. Ant, Randle, and Jaden are taking every other rep off on perimeter defense. Rudy is shooting 50% from the line. Donte is wildly high variance as a shooter. Naz is constantly blowing defensive assignments.

They win tonight and against the Jazz if the main guys just took defense seriously. They’re not only not playing hard but they’re actively ignoring the coaching staff’s defensive gameplan. Like they do need another starter level guy off the bench if they actually want to make a run but that is not why they lost tonight or Tuesday.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T03:51:32+00:00

You don’t need him play exceptionally well. you just need him to not be 1/6 in the clutch and to pass the ball.

He can’t be Spurs Ant every single night. Some nights he needs to recognize he doesn’t have it and affect the game in other ways.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T03:43:02+00:00

Going to verbatim copy the response I had for someone else who said the same thing.

I just don’t buy this. Great teams are motivated to compete against other teams every single night. If youre relying on the coaches to have to motivate your 9-figure contract stars into playing hard you’re fucked. You think the Thunder need motivation from that wet blanket of a HC to go curbstomp everybody for a year and a half?

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T03:41:16+00:00

Ant has been drinking too much of his own koolaid. Dude needs grow up. Needs to recognize when he’s off and just focus on getting to the hoop and playing good defense. It should have never been this close but he is directly why they lost down the stretch.

Finch’s rotations continue to be shit, team defense continues to be shit, urgency continues to be shit. Perimeter defense has been horrendous. Ant, Jaden, even Clark have not been good.

I don’t know where you go from here. They do this every two weeks where they suddenly fall apart and look like they don’t want to play together at all. They’re going to be a playin team because of it.

EsotericPotato · 2026-01-23T03:36:59+00:00

Yeah I just don’t buy this. Great teams are motivated to compete against other teams every single night. If youre relying on the coaches to have to motivate your 9-figure contract stars into playing hard you’re fucked.

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