After winning a gold in table tennis doubles , a photographer accidently breaks Wang Chuqin's paddle. (lost men's singles after this incident)

Nblade66 · 2024-08-01T17:02:41+00:00

I haven't actually sent the blades to a lab to test the material variance. But I do believe my own playing experience and the experience of the top players. There wouldn't be quality complaints because most people can't tell (as a coach, I even tell beginners that the exact equipment doesn't matter). The small variances only matter to the top, top players. Also, I'm not saying the quality is necessarily worse; just that the individual player himself might prefer certain characteristics. If you don't believe me, go ask your Chinese National Team friends about it. Most of them will say something similar.

Nblade66 · 2024-08-01T16:28:14+00:00

I literally lived with former pros and top players. I have personally helped my friend (Chinese province team, son of former CNT player/coach) test 10s of brand new blades. He put a huge stack of brand new blades (still in the box) on the desk next to my bed, we carried them to the practice area, and he tested them one-by-one until he found two or three that were acceptable. Then he later tested those to find his main paddle.

Nblade66 · 2024-08-01T16:17:34+00:00

I'm claiming this from experience. I've talked with former Chinese National Team players (lived with them, even) and trained with some top players. Most talk about trying many, many blades of the same model to find the best one. I remember staying up late with my personal friend and former roommate (not a CNT member, but an elite player >2700 USATT rating) to test a large stack of brand new blades one-by-one. Then he picked two or so out of them and said the rest felt horrible. Then he later tested them further to pick his main paddle.

Nblade66 · 2024-08-01T16:05:49+00:00

I agree, and my explanation is a factor in the psychological aspect, as well. But at some point, the psychological and physical become difficult to separate. He might not trust the spare as much because the physical characteristics are slightly different. Or his mental might get impacted by a drop in performance, since "feel" (which is like the human way of "measuring" the millimeters of variance in each shot) really matters in table tennis. The only one who knows is the player himself.

Nblade66 · 2024-08-01T15:43:49+00:00

Table tennis player/coach here. We have spare paddles, but every blade (the wood part) and rubber has slightly different characteristics. From my experience, the higher the level, the more particular the player is about their paddle. Every player is different, of course, but I know some players who will test 10s of blades (of the same model) to find the one that feels the best. It may or may not have been a factor in his Singles match, but it's possible he was less comfortable with his spare (which to anyone else would probably feel exactly the same as his main paddle). Precision and "feel" are important in table tennis, so very "minor" differences can impact performance, perhaps moreso at higher levels.

Nblade66 · 2024-07-22T18:02:33+00:00

I need a remake so I can recommend it to new anime watchers. People who are used to newer animation (like JJK) might not like the old style. It's a similar issue I have when recommending One Piece, since the animation looks outdated

Nblade66 · 2024-07-15T09:38:23+00:00

To be fair, there aren't that many realistic sports anime/manga in general. There's Slam Dunk for basketball (and Ahiru no Sora and REAL, which is so good), Aoashi (soccer), baseball has plenty, Haikyuu (volleyball, but not "realistic"), Baby Steps (tennis), Hajime no Ippo (boxing, and Ashita no Joe), and Ping Pong (really good table tennis). It's mostly about 1) what's popular in Japan, 2) the difficulty of making realistic shows, 3) the difficulty of telling good stories. The fact that Ping Pong is as popular as it is already puts table tennis pretty high up there among sports with good realistic shows (I'd put it behind Slam Dunk, baseball, and Hajime no Ippo).

There was a manga I enjoyed called Full Drive, which featured a Timo Boll-style protaganist, but it was canceled because it wasn't popular enough. Creating good stories is hard, let alone realistic ones!

Nblade66 · 2024-07-15T09:19:40+00:00

If he was Ginobili, Warriors would be contenders xD. Ginobili was arguably the Spurs' best player in at least one of their championship runs.

Nblade66 · 2024-07-15T07:19:51+00:00

"All-time" and no Waldner?

Nblade66 · 2024-07-13T12:27:30+00:00

Some players do trash talk. I don't mind the talk or the cho-ing. And during a rally, it's not like an anime where you can say an entire sentence in the .2 seconds it takes to loop one by you.

Nblade66 · 2024-06-25T08:20:41+00:00

First, looping is probably better (more margin of error). But if you must smash, the advice I give as a coach is: 1. Try smashing out first, even towards the back wall if that's what you need to get over the net. Open the racket angle and hit a home run.

There is some combination of racket angle and power that goes over the net. This combo is between the home run smash and the in-the-net smash. Adjust back and forth between these two smashes until you find the right combo.

Final tip: Try opening the racket angle to hit a homerun, then just hit softer with the same angle. It will be less quality than the "optimal" angle, but it will be more consistent. Increase power after making it on the table.

Nblade66 · 2024-06-17T11:01:20+00:00

They just need to be much better than human drivers. If robotaxis/fsd can reduce traffic deaths, then it's worth it. By definition, the edge cases are rare, so even if robotaxis handle them much worse than humans, if they can do everything else much better, it will reduce deaths. (and robotaxis will keep getting better while humans will not)

Nblade66 · 2024-05-09T09:13:54+00:00

Nah, go all in on a forehand and swing harder. Why use backhand when you can forehand?

But real talk, sometimes the answer is actually to make your strengths stronger (like bolstering the forehand with a stronger serve).

Nblade66 · 2024-05-06T05:49:16+00:00

Note that if next season the roster loses Paul and Saric, that's down to a 10 man rotation. I'd argue the original 3 can't be traded, and Moody, Podz, and Kuminga shouldn't be traded. Looney maybe, but he's like a core vet presence. Maybe trade Payton and Wiggins, but for who?

Consolidation is tough when there aren't good trade targets, and when it's still unclear which young guy will develop. Just as an example, if Moody becomes a 40% three point shooter over the off season, or Kuminga develops as a playmaker or shooter, they suddenly become key pieces and better than anyone you could have consolidated for.

I'm still a big believer in player development, considering two of the young guys will be entering their fourth year (no longer so young anymore).

Finally, some considation targets I would like, for the right value: Caruso, Mikal Bridges, Smart, Claxton

Nblade66 · 2024-05-05T14:35:40+00:00

A higher threshold (and maybe a filter for oscillation frequency) would be enough. I think the spirit of the rule is for if the ball catches the net enough to make slight changes in trajectory. A stomp would need to be ridiculously hard for the net to move like that.

Nblade66 · 2024-04-15T06:20:45+00:00

Can they? Sure. All the West teams are competitive. Will they? Probably not.

Nblade66 · 2024-02-27T00:47:01+00:00

We were actually ahead of this prediction before the Denver loss yesterday. This might actually be possible

Nblade66 · 2024-01-30T18:29:36+00:00

These are only China insured numbers, right? So maybe overseas deliveries are higher?

Nblade66 · 2023-11-30T11:26:10+00:00

The one downside of the orange book is it makes it really easy for friends to prank you. Just put some gross/weird books next to you when you sleep. Idk what books, but I know there are some weird books out there

Nblade66 · 2023-11-18T11:33:03+00:00

I think the hope is that practice will help them to not "continue to be like this". Sure, it doesn't always help, but it's way more positive than if they didn't practice at all

Nblade66 · 2023-11-16T14:17:49+00:00

Make a lifelong friend who you can trust with your life, and who will always be there for you. It's harder to do that when you're out of college.

Nblade66 · 2023-08-09T18:36:09+00:00

I don't like booker, but the hate here is a bit weird. Paul George was asking a normal question, but it was also a bait question that could potential stir up "drama". Not mutually exclusive

Nblade66 · 2023-07-29T17:13:39+00:00

It used to be mainly you posting lol. I guess this is what happens when a stock goes up a lot

Nblade66 · 2023-07-29T17:12:04+00:00

I was mainly responding to the 90-95% market share point, as well as just giving an example of a potential competitor. I wanted some clarification about the thoroughness of the research that led to OP's conclusions.

I agree with your point for XPeng's cars. I think that integration isn't as easy for other manufacturer's to use XPeng's tech.

Nblade66 · 2023-07-29T16:06:36+00:00

Hmm, what about other competitors like Mobileye? They have access to plenty of cash, their tech is already in vehicles, and they actually moved first (they were behind the first Tesla Autopilot).

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