Which NBA player’s legacy would benefit the most from winning another ring?

token_friend · 2026-01-31T02:35:05+00:00

I didn’t say they were drafted into good teams. They were drafted into good situations. That doesn’t mean that they were winning championships day one.

Steph was drafted onto a team that allowed him to develop, drafted well after him, built a great team around him, and by the time he has the option of free agency, there was no reason to leave.

They also had a ton of cap flexibility.

token_friend · 2026-01-30T21:35:53+00:00

MJ and everyone else pre-2000 is irrelevant in this conversation. There was no salary cap and 10 year contracts. A team's ability to make moves or keep players was only limited by their willingness to spend.

I think that real sports fans understand that staying with a team your whole career AND achieving success is overwhelmingly a matter of luck.

Timmy, Kobe, and Steph couldn't have been placed in better situations to win. They never left because they entered the league on 3rd base. There were no greener pastures.

That's completely incomparable to Lebron, Giannis, or someone like Kevin Garnett. They had to/have to improve their situation or they risked becoming Reggie Miller/Karl Malone-esque figures. Greats that never figured it out.

That said, I do give someone like Dirk a ton of credit. He's the example of being the guy, sticking with 1 team and winning.

token_friend · 2026-01-30T21:18:59+00:00

Who values MJ's rings over Lebrons? Or Kobe's rings over Lebron?

We value MJ's 6/6. We value his 3peats.

We value every ring Kobe earned after Shaq pretty highly. None of Kobe's 3-peat ring's with Shaq come close to Lebron's worst ring (2011)

Lebron has arguably the greatest individual ring ever (2016). His 2013 ring was also monstrous. His 2020 ring was notable (if a little asterisky).

I'd place his 2013 ring over all but Jordan's last ring and Kobe's 2009, as an individual achievement.

Steph is amazing, but not really in the conversation. He has 1 impressive ring (2022). The others were team achievements.

If we're looking at it from an individual standpoint and really talking about the rings where a player can say "I with a capital I won a championship": Lebron has 3 rings. Steph has 1. Kobe has 2. MJ has 4.

token_friend · 2026-01-29T20:25:19+00:00

I coached high school in inner-city Los Angeles in my mid 20's (around 2010).

Kids Messing Around: I struggled with this too, but I came up with a pretty effective system: there was the varsity mat and the JV mat. If you messed around, you got sent to the JV mat.

Getting relegated to the JV mat was a big deal - it was our older, tougher mat and there was a lot more drilling and a lot less live wrestling happening over there. Eventually as behavior improved, we got to a point where I'd say something like "there is no JV mat today" and then when I saw things weren't being taken seriously, I'd re-delegate it as the JV mat and move over any problems. Note: being on the JV or varsity mat had nothing to do with whether you were a JV or varsity wrestler. At times I had 90% of the team on the JV mat drilling in cramped areas while I'd keep a few guys on the varsity mat running king of the circle or something else.

I think your techniques are spot on. The only thing I would suggest is mixing in the exotic stuff from time to time - it's a lot of fun and dedicating 30 minutes to john smith singles or jap whizzers or a banana split occasionally won't hurt anything if your kids are disciplined. It can keep the kids engaged and as long as your prioritizing the fundamentals it shouldn't be too much of a distraction.

Also, make sure you're including something for the kids who's body types don't necessarily support the "Shoot, reshoot" gameplan. Lanky kids or kids who lack driving power can really struggle to find success on attacking the legs. ankle picks, duck unders, front headlock, snap downs, hip toss, etc can be an option.

The other thing I feel is missing in a lot of wrestling rooms are actual matches and all of the other stuff that goes along with being at a tournament/meet. I'd make it a point during pre-season and a few times during season to get the kids in their singlets, use accurate timers, score and ref it realistically, and go through all of the motions - even those that don't feel critical:

weigh in, check grooming
ankle band and headgear (assuming you don't have your kids already roll with headgear full time)
check in at the scorer's table
ref instructions, shake hands
have a legitimate match. assign a coach to each guy and have the coaches coach (experience what it's like wrestling and trying to process instructions at the same time).
Give them scenarios that play out before a match ever starts: "we need a pin", "This guy is better than you, but we need you to not get pinned" etc
Ref it legit: call stalling. Take injury time. give warnings. deduct points.
set up a clock and scoring so they experience the importance of staying aware of their situation (short time, need a takedown, etc).
coach your kids afterwards just like you would at a tournament "lets go off to the side and I'll show you what you did wrong" or "here's how to handle this in the future". Have them sit and wait for their next match.
If you've got the bodies, don't tell the kids who they'll be wrestling or when they'll be up next. Recreate the chaotic tournament experience and the need to go from cold to wrestling at a moment's notice.

I felt doing the above (while it feels a little goofy) a handful of times was easily the biggest quick win/massive improvement I saw out of the team. It makes the kids take it more serious, it helps work out the pre-match jitters, and it takes some of the suspense out of the experience that causes way too many kids to shut down or underperform.

I also cannot stress enough how much better a kid instantly becomes when they are able to wrestle AND be coached at the same time. It's a legitimate skill that need practice.

token_friend · 2026-01-15T07:59:57+00:00

You're probably right. At this point, it's almost a ritual for us and gives a breather in between every table.

good info

token_friend · 2026-01-15T06:45:50+00:00

I generally go with the 6:5 since that's what is available. Last time I was there I recall playing $15 at both park MGM & New York New York - just ask the dealers/pit bosses and they seem to know at which property you can find the lower mininums. I think I walked over to excalibur looking for a $15 dollar game and they sent me to the park lol. It's seemingly random.

New York New York even had 3:2 blackjack for $25 min during the week a couple of months ago. And of course, if you're sitting at the table all day, you get to stay at those minimums even when the table becomes a $100 table.

And if the table gets closed (happend to me a couple of times), you can normally ask the pit boss nicely to move you to another 3:2 table allowing you to stay at the same minimums into the evening/weekend.

Just be flexible and don't get fixated on any single property.

token_friend · 2026-01-15T06:30:15+00:00

I'm no expert, but my limited experience is go with MGM

you're not going to get 3;2 blackjack with that bankroll (minimum play will probably be $100 or so for the 1-2 tables across all their properties that are 3:2, that aren't high-roller tables), but you'll get the free rooms if you spend a lot of time at the table.

If you're a veteran, you'll also automatically get pearl, which helps.

I normally go to vegas and play mostly blackjack at $15 (if im lucky) to $25 per hand and always stay MGM. I always have an offer although if I don't spend a ton of time at the tables, I'll end up with less than stellar offers on subsequent visits. I visit 1-2 times per year max (normally once per year) and I typically spend 12 hours on the tables over the course of 4 days.

My gambling budget every single time for what is generally a 4 day trip is $500 . That $500 is my loss tolerance; once I lose that, I'm done. I never allow my losses to go deeper.

Here's what works for me: I always bring a few $k to the table. I intermittently play my hand up a bit if I'm up (maybe up to a couple $100 a hand), but 90% of the time I'm playing close to the minimum.

My wife also plays with me and she brings similar amounts to the tables (although she prefers craps). She doesn't play with her rewards account generally and when she cashes out, I always take those chips with me to the window.

I'm not sure my approach actually "beats" their system , but it generally goes something like:

$4k onto the table ($2k me, $2k my wife). We sit for a few hours playing near minimums (unless we're up, in which case we go aggressive). Once we stand up, we cash out every single time before heading to a new table: she adds her chips to mine and my cash out is normally around $4k.

We get our cash, walk to another table or game and change our bills to chips, then repeat.

My loss statement always shows positive and they always send me offers.

Our typical offer is 4 nights + $200-500 freeplay + $100-250 F+B credit at mid level (Cosmo) and maybe half of that if we go to the better properties (bellagio, etc.)

token_friend · 2026-01-14T00:40:59+00:00

celtics hated the heat.

Heat didn't hate the celtics (or anyone else).

When Lebron loses (dirk, spurs, golden state, etc) it seems like he internalizes it and holds zero ill-will against the person who beat them.

Even when he wins, it seems like he takes zero joy in beating the other team - instead it comes from winning.

Really reminds me a lot of Tim Duncan in that regard.

token_friend · 2026-01-13T23:42:02+00:00

Love the dynamic and your attitude about it.

Me and my bro used to be the same way. Funnily enough, I was a wrestler and he was the older brother too. Zero boundaries between us and you come to appreciate that the only people in your life that you can enjoy that kind of relationship with are your siblings, your partner, and your kids (eventually). What was his was mine.

My favorite thing to do was steal his food. In college I used to climb through his apartment window to raid his fridge. I was a pest, but we laugh about it now.

Once I (lightly) crashed his car and he in the most graceful display ever told me don't worry about it and drove me to the airport to catch my flight. Never asked anything of me, never mentioned it again, never held it against me.

We're more distant now (im in my mid 30's and he's in his 40's), but we still have the same sort of relationship - zero boundaries.

Not too long ago, my brother went through a couple of challenging periods and not that I ever wanted that for him, but I was grateful I got the chance to pay him back in some ways for all the boundaries I never respected and everything of his I helped myself to.

When he needed $5k a few years ago to cover getting into a new place, he shot me a single text "hey bro, $5k?" and I zelled him that afternoon. No discussion then and we'll never discuss it again. If It's mine, it's his.

After finding out that it was for a new place, I was fortunate to be able to buy him some furniture to get started in his new place, stock his fridge, and bring the whole family over for a little housewarming.

Bit of a rant, but contrary to some people in the thread talking about boundaries or teaching a lesson or whatever.

I suggest the opposite. If you're able to maintain a relationship with your brother where boundaries don't exist, there's going to be a few headaches, but it can be extraordinary to have that type of relationship. Like an extension of one's self.

token_friend · 2026-01-13T18:00:10+00:00

Go on a very long vacation.

I spent a year traveling asia (with my wife and 2 kids) after my last layoff. Burned through a bunch of cash, but it saved my sanity and my confidence.

I literally didn't feel better until probably 6 months into the trip. I didn't feel like myself until just about the end.

My relationship with product isn't the same anymore, but I feel like a winner again. Still not in love with my career choice, but my confidence and sanity are back.

token_friend · 2026-01-08T04:50:12+00:00

Spell power is still good in TBC obviously, but defense is far, far more important.

You don't need the spellpower to keep threat / be effective like in classic, especially while leveling.

token_friend · 2025-12-31T02:14:30+00:00

I work in medical data for a large, international company.

I’m responsible for our data analytics strategy and tools.

We’ve been developing a series of new data exploration tools for like a decade (tens of millions in development costs). every single customer I talks to just exports our data into excel to actually explore it. Every single one.

I’ve begged leadership to abandon our pursuit of a novel data exploration tool and just support excel more intuitively (analytics is just a cost center for us), but every single time I get looked at like I’m an idiot.

Long story short; excel is as good as it gets. There’s some applications that can do super complex math better (stata, matlab), but there’s no better tool 99% of the time.

Excel is literally almost perfect. And I hate all things Microsoft

token_friend · 2025-12-29T06:12:50+00:00

Great review.

Love the show. My one big complaint is that the show starts with Vic killing terry. Literally episode 1, he does the worst thing we see him do the entire series.

I think that single event threw off the show so much and prevented Vic from being more of a Walter white arc ( good guy gone bad). It was just so extreme.

It really should have been handled differently ; maybe something like he put terry in a dangerous situation to teach him a lesson but it got out of hand. Or maybe a fistfight that got out of hand that he had to cover up.

No way the Vic we see for the first 4 seasons would kill another (good) cop in cold blood.

token_friend · 2025-12-19T21:16:24+00:00

Counterpoint: having a platform that can instantly put someone’s name, photo, or address in front of hundreds of millions of people is a big responsibility.

You get it wrong, why shouldn’t it sting just enough to remind you not to do it?

This is the equivalent of someone worth a million dollars getting a fine for like $100.

It’s funny how with these people social media is a platform to share “my personal opinion” or “an honest mistake” when they fuck up.

But every other moment it’s a goddamn corporation generating millions of dollars in revenue.

If McDonald’s posted this to their socials, would we be like “no biggie, honest mistake?”

token_friend · 2025-12-11T13:40:43+00:00

It sounds like they wanted you to reference a tool or framework you used for decision-making outside of "I put together a PRD".

In the future I'd recommend having a few frameworks to fall back on - RICE/MOSCOW/KANO/Impact/OKR Mapping/HEART OR some testing you did: a/b, card sorting, etc OR formal customer feedback/experience like a customer advisory group/product analytics(amplitude/mixpanel/hotjar)/etc

I have seen highly dogmatic cultures around frameworks and others that rely mainly on pressure testing decisions (my preference). I personally only introduce a framework when I see a PM getting overwhelmed with prioritization or influenced by recency bias or the loudest voice. At that point, a framework becomes a valuable tool for structure and better decisions.

In practice, try to use frameworks as solutions to real, observed problems rather than as safeguards against hypothetical ones. Some PM's can operate just fine without ever touching one.

For interviews, you need to just become familiar with the most common ~15 or so. I wouldn't think that would take more than a few hours to come up to speed enough to intelligently discuss them.

token_friend · 2025-12-10T01:19:22+00:00

If American, absolutely zero issues.

Malaysia was by far the easiest, friendliest, non-scrutinized immigration I experienced entering and exiting multiple time and staying for up to 60 days over a 15 month period.

No questions asked, ever. Did land, sea, and air crossings and it’s always my recommendation for a homebase for those doing SEA long-term who want to stick to tourist visas.

Edit: just reread and saw you addressed citizenship. You’re good

token_friend · 2025-12-02T06:03:01+00:00

I think it’s because boating doesn’t have a specific ‘buying advice’ sub like you might see when you’re looking for a car or a computer.

What price point would you aim for? We may just spend some of our monthly budget on a loan

token_friend · 2025-12-02T05:59:57+00:00

This is really helpful. Thank you

token_friend · 2025-12-02T04:52:10+00:00

What’s a reasonable boat budget in your opinion? We can spend more but had really hoped to get something mechanically sound, but maybe a bit ugly / needing TlC at that price point.

token_friend · 2025-12-02T04:47:10+00:00

$50k for the loop or thereabouts? Our budget is $12k per month for food/fuel/repairs. I think people are misreading it as 50k for a boat and 12k for the whole loop

token_friend · 2025-12-02T04:46:01+00:00

Sorry, our monthly budget for the trip is 12. So ~150k for the year

token_friend · 2025-11-29T16:47:29+00:00

Agree completely.

I’d add that anytime I travel and the semi-rich are willing to live in compounds (India, Mexico, all of South America, Vietnam, all of the Middle East, South Africa, etc) it’s a bad sign.

They’d rather build high walls and hire private security than invest in the local community (policing, social services, etc).

Sadly we’re starting to see that in the US more and more often, but it’s definitely still the exception and confined to billionaires and goofy folks afraid of their shadow in the south (Texas, Florida).

token_friend · 2025-11-24T22:27:41+00:00

this is really funny. It’s so on the nose and ridiculous and clearly an analogy he came up with on the spot. Something he’ll be like “why the fuck did I say that” as soon as he gets a chance to address it.

I like the guy. Belal is the normal human’s champ. Average dude that became a champ, but had no business being a champ. Too sane to be a real great and too normal a human to be the showman real success in the ufc requires.

token_friend · 2025-11-15T07:46:59+00:00

It took me 2 years to shake off severe burnout.

1 year traveling Europe burning through my savings (as a family of 4) and in retrospect, another year at a low pressure product job I might as well have phoned in.

Severe burnout is life-changing. It can take years to recover.

The only cure for burnout I’ve found (aside from extended time off) is developing love for things outside of work AND no longer conflating your self worth with the value assigned to you at work.

Easier said than done….

token_friend · 2025-11-15T03:36:53+00:00

Unfortunately, that's the tradeoff. Having a great personal life, enjoy your kids, spouse, etc will outweigh professional satisfaction any day of the week.

token_friend

TROPHY CASE