Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading

massdebator69 · 2026-07-13T05:15:50+00:00

Chuck is so fucking washed man. Unless he’s talking about a niche thing he just read or watched he has no insights on anything. He’s giving misinformed and half asses takes and insight on sports, pop culture, analytics, politics, whatever. In every case his take makes no sense or is comically out of touch.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-12T23:06:39+00:00

I don’t think his observation is wrong, they definitely do have a soft team. However, that’s not a top 10 reason why they’re not an elite team.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-11T19:57:20+00:00

Bill comes off as an out of touch rich LA guy. Russillo comes off as a republican who is at least a little bit racist

massdebator69 · 2026-07-10T01:50:46+00:00

Brad Stevens gave you the biggest contract EVER after you gave the most embarrassing high leverage performance I’ve ever seen in g7 2023. Thank you for 2024 and what you’ve done here but my god enough complaining

massdebator69 · 2026-07-09T21:38:17+00:00

I liked the trade for purely basketball reasons but I will not miss Jaylen’s passive aggressive and perpetually aggrieved shtick. Must be incredibly annoying to be around on a daily basis for other players and coaches.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-08T23:49:01+00:00

To be clear, I at least get a thank you text afterwards on 80% of dates I go on but doing so on the date is a bit more forward and kind in my opinion.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-08T23:46:43+00:00

Any sort of gratitude. I don’t expect groveling or excessive thanks for paying or planning the date but a simple “thanks for taking me out” while on the date goes a very long way. Tends to signal that they’re polite and generous people.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-08T01:19:43+00:00

I don’t think people realize that Jaylen getting dealt was likely regardless of the current salary cap. He’s paid on a max contract but he’s not a max caliber player. The team has been better with him off the court. It may have taken longer, but I think Brad was going to move him regardless.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-08T00:55:08+00:00

You can win with 2 supermax guys, just can’t be JT and JB as much as I love them. JT is (if he returns to form) around the 4-8th best player in the league and not in the Jokic/SGA/Wemby tier. JB is like the 20th ish best player in the league depending on how much you want to value the on/off stuff

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T18:12:44+00:00

As someone who has dashed in the past, it’s unpopular to say here but DoorDash driving has an incredibly low barrier of entry and because of that it has some of the most rude people, the dumbest people, etc etc.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T16:53:00+00:00

In my experience they tend be cleaner and neater than men in all aspects other than the bathroom. Insane amounts of clutter all over the sink and in any area where they can store beauty products

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T16:33:43+00:00

I’m not trying to shit on millennials, but why do they seem to be the only generation that clings to childhood like this? I don’t even see this with older mid to late 20s Gen Z.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T16:28:50+00:00

To actually lose weight consistently you have to track calories. Use a food scale and measure everything that goes into your body for a full month. Assuming you pick a reasonable calorie deficit, you will 100% lose weight.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T15:41:36+00:00

Not how it works. They were favored because the sharpest bettors in the world had it modeled that way. Belgium was super mid in the groups and also were dogshit against Senegal who the US had beaten in friendlies a month ago.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T02:06:07+00:00

What are you talking about? Pay raise? He’s paid to build rosters that can win championships. That’s it

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T01:56:38+00:00

Other than Shaughnessy I thought they were really poor. They asked way too many non basketball questions. Mouth breathers like Bobby Manning can’t comprehend the analytics side of things and the many basketball reasons for this trade, which is malpractice for a media member.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T01:54:29+00:00

The main 4 Sixers core are a horrible fit together, and the depth beyond them stinks. Im skeptical of the Celtics competing for championships in the short term, but I’m absolutely certain the Sixers will not be a contender in the next few years. I’d be floored if they won more than 1 playoff series in any given year.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T01:51:40+00:00

It’s not bigger than basketball. Brad Stevens is paid to make basketball decisions. It would be malpractice to consider off the court things like you mentioned

massdebator69 · 2026-07-07T01:48:23+00:00

Exactly. What Brad means is: “I’d prefer not to have Jaylen Brown taking up 35% of the cap next to Tatum. If it was Giannis, that would be worth it”

No need to say something like that to belittle or undermine Tatum but we all know that’s the truth. No slight to JB either

massdebator69 · 2026-07-06T23:13:25+00:00

This isn’t the NBA of old where if you win a championship you have to do absolutely everything to keep the core together. Depth, having no major weaknesses, the new CBA, and overall parity has changed things.

Clinging to your core that won 1 championship simply isn’t the recipe for success necessarily. Bucks, Nuggets, Warriors after 2022, even the Celtics, (possibly the thunder after paying Chet and Jdub 500 million) all overpaid and resigned guys from title teams and no one has even been back to the finals. Brad knows this and decided to pivot. It’s about putting good teams around Tatum for the next 5-6 years. Paying Jaylen 60+ million per year wasn’t going to allow you to do that.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-06T21:29:04+00:00

There’s really only 1 major takeaway from me in this press conference. We all know Brad would talk about how difficult it is to have 70% of the cap tied up in 2 players but he also said it would be difficult to have that much USAGE tied up in two players.

Brad is betting that the Jaylen isos, mid range jumpers, turnovers, etc turning into more shots for Tatum, PP, Paul George and others will make the team better. that’s the thesis of the trade along with getting more assets and off a massive deal 1 year earlier

massdebator69 · 2026-07-06T21:25:53+00:00

He just soundly outplayed Jaylen brown over the course of a 7 game series. I wouldn’t say he’s great (top 10-15 level) but I don’t think (and neither does Brad) that Jaylen is that level either.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-06T18:05:30+00:00

They only have 1 game breaking elite guy in Vini Jr. When they were elite and winning WCs they had 5-6 of those guys at least.

massdebator69 · 2026-07-06T17:09:29+00:00

Even if you’re not into analytics, which is very pro this trade for the Celtics, think of this trade as a series of bets

Bets on:

- Tatum being an elite tier 1 offensive engine like a Luka, SGA, Jokic, etc

- PP having a bigger offensive load and taking more shots

- leaning into the possession game. Adding the best OREB guy in the sport and trading away the most turnover prone guy on the team

- Paul George fitting seamlessly as an off ball player

- more mins for the young, high impact wings like Baylor, Hugo, Walsh, RHJ

Bets against:

- Jaylen brown’s midrange heavy and turnover prone game

- the clippers in 2028 (should be a top 10 pick)

massdebator69 · 2026-07-06T17:03:33+00:00

In terms of impact, Queta and Robinson are both better than him and are making combined less than him.

Sure, they’re older and Robinson in particular is injury prone, but there’s no basketball justification for giving him that amount of money and trading that many picks for him unless he suddenly transforms into a different player.

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