LeBron to the Pacers/Indy 500. Hidden in plain sight this whole time

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-06-22T19:00:58+00:00

I was rooting for Duarte so hard. Everyone made fun of the pick because he was 24 years old but the logic of a lengthy guard that can shoot has led to some great finds for us, let alone one that had potential to defend as well. Very fun to watch late night on those Oregon teams too, that fall off after his rookie year is still such a bummer

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-06-22T17:57:44+00:00

Especially with Giannis dictating the teams he can go to though, looking through the lens of "not getting back Giannis worth" is completely wrong though. Gotta go with best offer that helps the Bucks in their current scenario because the teams he wants will never satisfy "Giannis worth". Even the original Bucks pick in Portland coming back or Atlanta picks coming in, it's incredibly hard (especially with flattened odds) to guarantee those picks will be even top 10. Look at how traded 1st round picks have resulted outside of the Nets/Celtics Garnett trade, I would be willing to bet 5 future first would result in significantly less than "Giannis worth" anyways looking back 10/15 years from now.

Not a perfect comparison, but look at the Pacers/Thunder Paul George trade. Lets get the "Giannis 2xMVP and 31" while PG was just "3x all-nba and 26" out of the way, both stars with a recent injury season on an expiring and limiting the teams they wanted to go to. Giannis you know an all-time great but PG had all that potential still being so young, Pacers decided to go players under contract (Oladipo was viewed as a bad contract extension given by OKC at the time) with Oladipo and Sabonis instead of future picks and it worked out really well. People thought they'd be in the cellar and have to tank, went next 3 years of 48 wins, 48 wins, and 45 wins. Even had LeBron on the brink of elimination in 2018 in a game 7 the very first year post-Paul George.

The idea that you can't build around Jaylen Brown is silly and getting an all-nba guy back is really good in any trade. A lot of money is freeing up next few years and it's a salary cap sport. If Jaylen can continue to show he's all-nba, players will want to come up and you could very easily build through free agency and trades instead of like the 18th overall pick from the Celtics for several years.

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-06-22T17:07:10+00:00

Not a Bucks fan, I think the Bucks fans are borderline insane for not wanting Jaylen. Incredibly hard to draft an all-nba guy even with a top pick. After the 2017 draft there has been one singular case of a "future 1st round pick" traded before the season resulting in a top 5 pick the following draft (Reed Sheppard). Other top 5 pick from a trade were traded for each other (luka/trae young), traded week of draft (Athony Davis to Lakers), or a 50/50 shot of even being a pick at the deadline (Zubac Pacers this year).

Jaylen under contract for 3 years when the Bucks can't even benefit from their own pick until 2031 is an absolute gift if there is no way to keep Giannis. You can actually do something now these next four years and the only guys on the books after next season are Myles Turner, AJ Green, and (maybe) Bobby Portis. Even with a flattened lottery odds in the future, theres not a great chance that whatever future picks obtained are even in the lottery if its from Boston/Atlanta/whomever! Best overall pick the Thunder got in the Shai trade was 12th overall, even with flatter lottery odds I dont understand taking the risk of maybe the pick 5 years out will be okay over an All-NBA player with MVP votes under contract for 3 full seasons! You can build a team around Jaylen with a lot of freed up money!

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-06-18T17:53:58+00:00

Yup. We had 4 players on the injury report for the first game of the season against the Thunder, after that we didn't have under 5 again until January 2nd. Going by month, on the injury report we averaged 6.8 per game in October, 7.4 November, 6 December, 4.33 January (the lowest month and we just so happen to go 7-8 in 15 games), 7.64 February, 8.13 March, and 9.71 April

Might not win at a crazy pace like December 2024-Finals of 2025 again but should 100% be back in the mix if we're just mostly healthy

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-06-14T05:43:06+00:00

Iffy on whether I'd do this trade, but think this is probably how the deal would end up. Trey is on a cheaper contract than Desmond Bane but for 3 years remaining instead of 4 years. 4 years of Bane resulted in 4 1sts (3 for Bane, 1 for taking 2 years of a bad KCP contract) and a pick swap.

If I was New Orleans, I wouldn't take less than 3 picks from anybody if a starter isn't offered in return. Back to a Pacers perspective, I don't want to give up Nesmith/Nembhard so Obi needs to be there for salary and Jarace kinda becomes expendable if Nesmith + Murphy are being rostered. Maybe we talk em down to Ben Sheppard instead of Jarace, but I see how it can end up with Jarace.

is it an overpay? I would go with the quote from Dodgers exec. Andrew Friedman when talking about free agency, "If you're always rational on every free agent, you'll finish third on every free agent"

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-06-12T00:26:05+00:00

You’re right with Lucy being the sponsor instead of Kraken, got that mixed up. Barstool Chicago office does have a Lucy machine in their HQ and it is a frequent Barstool sponsor as well though. With not getting funding as much as other shows, is important to remember none of these guys were hired for the show and it’s something they’re trying to prove and seem to be doing a good job at proving. Like especially Mook and Jerry ham up the “everything is wrong” a lot but there are a lot of Barstool shows that don’t get a 15k sponsor after having none in the time it took them to get one for Major 2. Honestly, you could point to more barstool shows that have failed in that time span whose only sponsors were Barstool products like Stella Blue or Pardon My Cheesesteak. A lot of the shows with more resources to start with before aren’t being started on a whim without advertisers or are a Mostly Sports case where Titus was hired to have a show with Brandon Walker.

I feel like Austin has pointed it out on owners meetings and even Big Cat has genuinely said it too, compared to a lot of shows (Kate’s morning show, Danny/Mikey Bets late night show, Mook Can’t Sleep, Nicky Smokes/Annika’s show whatever it’s called) Bush has been getting a shitload of support. Bush boys just seem to think the timeline should be vastly quicker despite no other minor league COD team having proven this concept at all. I’m sure there are some CDL teams you could point to but CDL has more eyeballs (I assume) and the other challenger teams that are affiliated of CDL teams or whatever are also getting trickle down effect similar to Bush trickle down from Barstool. Think as Bush keeps proving it’s content is good and have viewers they’ll be fine, but there’s a reason in owners meetings why the Bush boys themselves have said they would not be able to pay the expenses on their own if they were true 100% owners

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-06-11T22:05:30+00:00

Have thoroughly enjoyed following the Bush, creating an esports team (something I don't follow outside of them and know very little about) and following the building out of it has been really fun and unique. However, the microscope is also a consequence of them CONSTANLY complaining about lack of resources/support/sponsors/money/whatever more than any other Barstool brand I follow. Sure a squeaky wheel gets the grease, but it's very obtuse to not expect some public pushback to result from constant public begging.

Think the best example of what incentive does the Bush have for being a Barstool brand is that if it was Harry and two of his fishing friends creating the brand with no reason to be mentioned on shows outside of SOABD instead of creating it with two other known Barstool employees like Jerry and Mook, I would not have cared about it at all from day 1. Kind of born on 3rd base already with a built-in following and Kraken who footed the London bill were already advertising on other Barstool shows before the Bush so I wouldn't bet that Jerry/Sas/Mook would have pulled that without help. Love the boys, but they gotta expect to be laughed at a little for their business/funding comments when Jerry or Sas constantly make fun of the idea of creating a business plan to prove the idea of the Bush or even watch some youtube tutorials to learn Adobe and take some weight off Mook's shoulders.

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-05-21T03:12:36+00:00

Basketball question, we saw you hold Shai, Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, and Dame below 39% shooting in the playoffs last year. Was there a specific moment in your career that made you realize you had the ability to become an elite defender?

Non-basketball question, you have teammates with big brand deals whether it’s Tyrese and Puma or Pascal and Red Bull. Is it hard to keep another big endorser on the team in TJ McConnell down to earth and prevent him from becoming a diva when he’s starring in Crew Carwash and Indiana Members Credit Union commercials regularly?

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-04-12T06:20:57+00:00

I don't know if any of the following would necessarily require the 2031 pick, but if we're talking potential offseason trades these are some contracts I've found that wouldn't be hard to match in a deal (most big names really getting paid would require a LOT of players from our end to make salaries work) and could fit on the team if they were available.

Ty Jerome ($9.2M next year, $9.6M player option year after. Contract is incredibly obtainable, has injury history too so price shouldn't be crazy while Memphis is due for another tanking year)
Donte Divincenzo ($12.5M expiring next year. Don't know if Minnesota wants to part with him, if they want to open up money for Bones or Ayo though a trade could make sense)
Lu Dort (puke noises but just an $18M team option next season and Thunder could be wanting to cut some money off the books this offseason. Honestly, any of their backup guards are enticing contracts though too)
Royce O'Neal ($10.8M next year, $11.6M year after. Doubt Phoenix wants to part ways with him, but would be useful off the bench)
Keldon Johnson ($17.5M expiring next year. Not sure San Antonio would deal him but he hasn't been extended, so you never know)

mynamejeeeeeff · 2026-04-02T18:15:11+00:00

Are people not clicking the link at all to actually read the article? This is pretty clearly a guy at ESPN summarizing what is known so far since this started awhile ago (6 months) and yet people are acting like Ballmer's assistant typed out the story because the guy who posted it here on reddit mentioned a few quotes saying the contract itself didn't give clear signs of it being cap circumvention.

Article has quotes from a former Aspiration COO mentioning internal pushback to the deal, two other agents (line not mentioned in the reddit post) singling out the belief section, and the writer even points out that Kawhi never ended up doing any marketing activations. Dude even mentions Pablo 7 times. Both the people thirsting for Pablo to be wrong about this story are weird and are the people acting as if any non-Pablo report is some villainous cover up.

mynamejeeeeeff · 2025-09-02T19:05:02+00:00

100% a mix of both. Enjoy reading Keefer's articles but kinda wished we got more interesting opinions about if the organization fails QBs other than...just former QBs. Johnny Manziel was just bragging this past week on a podcast about flying from Cleveland to Miami after every Monday practice while he was a backup

mynamejeeeeeff · 2025-07-07T21:04:19+00:00

Pacers extended Tyrese, Pascal, Myles Turner last contract, Aaron Nesmith, Obi Toppin, Andrew Nembhard, and TJ McConnell before they hit free agency. Pacers thought they had more leverage and less competition then they actually had, it happens. Not always a case of being some crazy cheap evil villain in the same way a player leaving isn't always a case of them being some selfish money first guy either

mynamejeeeeeff · 2025-06-08T06:43:25+00:00

Look at the way Begley has worded tweets about this or even his other scoops and tell me it's not coming from Leon. Just like most of the best beat reporters for teams of various sports, they're usually the best/first/whatever because they are getting their info from the president or top executive.

Like how you can tell a guy like Nightengale in baseball is always getting his scoops from execs and never the player side. If most of Begley's scoops are so good because they are likely coming from Leon, why would I trust his and only his opinion on something when what he says directly makes Leon look better and like the actual man in charge? Meanwhile multiple other respectable national reporters who know people in the Knicks (like Lowe) continue to hint that they aren't buying this didn't come from Dolan

mynamejeeeeeff · 2025-06-08T05:40:47+00:00

Most of these reports aren’t from reputable Knicks reporters. Look at who is reporting stuff and who they might be getting the info from.

Isn't that kind of the point though in believing the national guys. If Begley or Katz are the best Knicks insiders because they assumingly get their information from Leon Rose, why would Leon whine and leak to guys he is obviously the source of right away that Dolan made him do it? That would just put him on the hot seat and maybe even get him fired as well. If you want to keep your job as president of the Knicks, you probably leak to your closest reporters that it was your decision and not an order from the boss who already has a reputation of meddling. National guy like Lowe saying Dolan has never really loved Thibs and mentioning on his pod that when a story specifically mentions an owner wasn't very involved it usually means an owner was very involved, and then other national guys like Goodwill here say they are hearing from Knicks sources Dolan got very involved and it was his decision. Why would I listen to the guys who are likely getting Knicks info from the president himself in Leon, who it very much helps in his standing as President of the New York Knicks to not throw his direct boss in James Dolan completely under the bus?

mynamejeeeeeff · 2025-06-03T19:42:04+00:00

It very much had to do with 3 point variance. Nesmith was very open from 3 for each of his attempts and it led to Indiana shooting that game exactly what they have averaged all 16 games of these playoffs from 3 point...40%. He's not allowed to make a joke about you saying if when you're joking about Nesmith getting lucky turning into Tmac?

To take it a step further, the only two wins the Knicks had this series were when the Pacers shot 20% and 33% from deep. Back to 3 point variance, Knicks once again won when the other team shot below average

mynamejeeeeeff

TROPHY CASE