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Mitch Cumsteen

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Everything posted by Mitch Cumsteen

  1. With all due respect, ain’t no fucking way. Handles. I’ll give him handles over MJ but otherwise Jordan was better at every facet of the game. Jordan was one of the most fundamentally sound players who ever laced them up. Early in his career he out athleted guys but as he matured, he absolutely started dissecting his opponents mentally, physically, strategically and every other way possible, and he did it pathologically. Unless you’re talking about that stupid skills competition that they do at the all star game? Maybe World B Flat is better at that. But as far as doing shit in an actual game against opponents? That’s absolutely ridiculous.
  2. It really does but we're so spoiled. If only the Spurs could catch a break in the lottery and draft. Agree with all of this. Sochan should be the energy guy but he doesn't bring it every night. Hopefully he grows into it and maybe not scrambling his brain trying to run point will settle him a bit, but they need so much more consistency out of him. I don't think his shot ever gets fixed, though. I'm not as concerned about the playmaking so much. Wemby is going to create looks for everybody. They need someone to knock them down. They need better defensive players around him. And for fuck's sake, they need to take care of the ball. They are close to a playoff team with league average shooting, non-Wemby defense and turnovers. These numbers paint a pretty ugly picture: 26th in offensive RTG. 25th in TO%. 25th in EFG%, 25th in TS%. #3 in pace. 28th in 3P%. 11th in 3PA. #1 in AST% (wtf, for a team that misses so many shots). 25th in contested 3 point shots.
  3. TIL that people think A&M is weird because they are such rabid and passionate fans, and that soon people will think that Texas is weird because our fans are not as rabid and passionate. This whole time I have been misguided on why exactly people think Aggies are weird. So glad Texags could clear that up for me.
  4. I think 75% of the league (if healthy) would have kicked the shit out of the three teams that Boston played. "Far better" may be a stretch, but Boston is still a more complete, versatile, deep, and experienced team than Minnesota. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that Minnesota/Denver series. It was bizarre on so many levels.
  5. Getting back to the draft during what will be an interminable wait until the finals... more and more Castle makes sense at 4, which means they will probably do some unexpected Josh Primo/Luka Samanic dumb shit and fuck this whole thing up. He should be available unless Houston trades #3 to someone who wants to move up for him. I figure Risacher/Sarr go 1/2, in either order, then Houston takes Sheppard or Clingan. At 8, I'm starting to come around on Dalton Knecht. He fills a desperate and immediate need for a shooting wing. He's a competent defender or at least big and athletic enough (39" vertical, fastest shuttle in the combine and second fastest in lane agility) to become one. Do you spend #8 on potentially the next Doug McDermott? The thing about Knecht that makes his developmental curve a little different is that he grew 5 inches after high school. So, it's not like he maxed out just by aging and being older than his peers like that one dude that killed Kentucky in the first round of the tourney. He maxed out by hitting a late growth spurt. It's reminiscent of the Derrick White trajectory, even down to the part about playing small college ball in Colorado before growing taller and then stepping up in class twice. The Spurs have always been drawn to those rags to riches stories about guys who have had to work their way up vs guys who came up through the AAU entitlement system. I could talk myself into him despite his being older than Wemby, Sochan, Branham, Cissoko, Barlow, and Wesley. He would immediately supplant Champagnie in the lineup. If they are going to roll the dice on another can't shoot prospect instead of Knecht, I'd go with Cody Williams. He's one of the easiest to visualize being a great pro because of his brother, yet also requires the most projection to get there. Also, has one of the longest developmental timelines, which will say something about their patience if they go there. Dillingham is also likely to be available at 8 as well but I don't think they want to play like they will have to on defense if he's your lead guard.
  6. No, not really. HIs absence hasn't impacted their winning. I'm talking about adversity in the sense of... you're losing games, players are struggling, coaches are struggling, and you have to figure out how to work your way through it. The Celtics haven't experienced that, at all. They haven't been pushed and you don't know how they are going to react or who is going to step up. I know everybody thinks the regular season is meaningless, but teams learn how to play together, grow together and how to lean on each other and overcome when shit goes bad. Because at some point, shit is going to go bad in the NBA Finals. I'm not saying they won't figure it out, just that they haven't had to yet. Those lessons are better learned in the regular season than in the finals.
  7. Boston has played down to its competition so far. They are going to have to pick everything up a notch. They also haven't faced any adversity essentially the entire season and the playoffs. How do they respond when shit goes sideways? There's a ton of pressure and scrutiny on them and their coach. I don't know how much I believe in them despite the gaudy record. As I bag on the Celtics competition, Dallas also caught a break with Kawhi out. OKC had next to zero playoff experience. They were fortunate to avoid Jokic. And the fucking Wolves are choking losers. Not to discredit their incredible run and it's been much more challenging than what Boston faced, but likewise this will be by far the best team the Mavs have faced as well. The matchups are intriguing. Holiday is probably the best perimeter defender in the league. White also plays defense at an all league level. Brown is also very very good. They are built to switch everything. Dallas isn't going to see drop coverage like they did all series with Minnesota. Boston is going to want to push pace and jack a million threes. It's an entirely different look than Dallas has seen this playoffs. The Dallas defense has been spectacular since the trade deadline but the Celtics stress you much differently than the iso heavy Thunder or the 4 on 5 hamstrung Wolves. As Tatum and their three point shooting go, so go the Celtics. I think I lean slightly to Dallas in a long series. They are on such a heater it might just be their year. Of course, the way this playoff has gone for Boston, Luka and Kytie will probably both get hurt and they will roll to the title not having played a single team anywhere near full strength. Pains me to say it, but Mavs in 6.
  8. Awful, embarrassing, pathetic effort. As if @MNLonghornFUKM hasn't been through enough over the years. Brutal way to end this season where they seemed to turn the corner. Denver is going to be kicking themselves all summer for losing to these bums.
  9. I'm actually kinda bummed about the egg bowl getting moved. That had become a Thanksgiving tradition for me. After a long day of family crap, sitting down in a quiet place with a beverage and watching the crazy shit that always happens in that game was something I looked forward to.
  10. Not sure who was working while you were there, but the owners Debbie and Frankie are great folks.
  11. What do you say we go back even further, to 2013: You think a lot of people were fired up for Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter, Cody Zeller and Alex fucking Len? That was a bad, bad draft. And of course, at #15, a skinny Greek kid went to Milwaukee that nobody knew shit about. I see where you're going but I just think you're missing the forest for the trees.
  12. I'm not sure I'm buying it. Markelle Fultz was a one and done. Huge bust, at least for a #1 pick. Lonzo Ball, Tatum, Josh Jackson (bust), Fox, Isaac, Markkanan, etc. were all one and done. I'm too lazy to go down the rest of the line, but that was a pretty good draft class overall. None of the current draftees are straight from high school. This was the last year of ignite, they announced. Going forward, most of these guys are going to end up playing in college for at least one year, or will have to go overseas. NIL makes it much more palatable and it's honestly a better marketing tool for the league if they play in college. But they're still going to be one and done, because the guaranteed first round money is too much to pass up. This year is just a down year for talent. I wouldn't read too much into it. There are busts every year even at the top of the draft and even guys who played for blue blood programs and never transferred. Cooper Flagg is likely going #1 next year and is playing for Duke. Rutgers (I know, Rutgers!) has two of the top players in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. VJ Edgecomb will be at Baylor. Tre Johnson is a projected lottery pick. I'm just not seeing it.
  13. Disagree. You don't have to look any further than next year's class. It's loaded. I feel like the league from top to bottom is as talented as it's ever been and there's more parity because of it. It's never going back to the majority of players sticking around in college for 4 years, but that doesn't mean that the players coming out today won't be great pros, even if it takes them a little bit longer to get there. At this point I might actually be pulling for Bronny to make it. I don't think he will, but I'm a sucker for a riches to riches story.
  14. Thank God we're getting more basketball.
  15. KAT is one of the dumbest players I've ever seen.
  16. Why is LSU so pissy? Shouldn't they be used to this? I don't see how this is any different from Bama cleaning up at WR (Jeudy, Smith, Ruggs, Waddle, etc.) when Sark was there as OC for Saban. Same offense, different school and now with NIL money and Lambos instead of bags.
  17. Saw it in IMAX over the weekend. Have to go with the general concurrence that it's very good, but it doesn't live up to the impossible standard set by Fury Road. I got out of Fury Road feeling like I had been on speed for the previous two hours. I could hardly catch my breath. Still better than 90% of the crap out there, though, and I did like it. One minor complaint -- and I can't tell if it's just because I'm getting old and there's something fucked with my hearing -- but I had some difficulty understanding what the characters were saying at times. It seemed like they were running SFX over the dialogue. Weird complaint for a movie that is so light in dialogue to begin with, I suppose. Did anybody else have that problem?
  18. Absolutely loved Bill Walton. I'm sure I've told the story when he gave me one of his wheres Walton t shirts at a spurs game. What a great human being.
  19. By all means go into my posting history and you won’t have to go too far to find me complaining uniformly about the nba playoffs being crushed by injury. I hate it. This isn’t me whining about the Celtics even though they are benefitting in a historic way from other teams injuries. It sucks as a fan. And fyi it’s not just the teams they are facing that you keep throwing out the irrelevant regular season records about, it’s also the other injured teams they got to avoid (Knicks, Bucks, Sixers). Nothing against the Celtics and I’m not trying to say they aren’t good or take anything away from them, but this is the biggest cakewalk to the finals probably in NBA history.
  20. Sure, but those are three lottery teams without Butler / Mitchell & Allen / Halliburton. Literally, they would be among the 10 worst teams in the NBA. Better than Detroit, Washington, Portland and Charlotte, but even Atlanta and Chicago would have given them a better challenge. Sac, GS, Houston, & Utah -- none of whom made the playoffs -- would have been more competitive. It's the luckiest run, ever. And it's very disappointing from a fans perspective. The NBA playoffs are supposed to be basketball played at its highest and most competitive level. Who wants to watch this shit?
  21. They are going to let Mitchell hire the coach, essentially. It's all ridiculous because he's going to sign the extension no matter what. If he doesn't like what's going on in Cleveland, then he just asks out. There's all this posturing these days about free agents and movement, but when was the last time a bona fide star free agent actually got to the market? There is no downside to taking the extension. You maximize your money and get your security, and then just pull the cord if you want out. So, so dumb. The more interesting thing is Garland. Seems like he's going to ask for a trade if they keep Mitchell. Bickerstaff was a dead man walking. They released a full hit piece on him within minutes of their getting bounced from the playoffs. He's at odds with the front office. Mitchell (and it seems, much of the team) lost confidence in him. And he's just not a very good coach in general. That team didn't win because of him. They won in spite of him.
  22. I'm leaning Wolves in the series, but only by a hair because of homecourt. Overall I think the games will be low scoring. Minnesota has been the best defensive team all year, and you can't discount what Dallas has done defensively since the trade deadline. They've been incredible, even Luka and Kyrie. Both teams will have to play a little differently than they did in the previous rounds. Dallas shouldn't be able to exploit the paint like they did against OKC. Minnesota is going to have to work harder on offense than they did against Denver. I think it eventually comes down to a few things: 1. Can Dallas small ball Gobert off the court and get Minnesota out of their defense? Denver couldn't do that because they have to keep Jokic in at all times. 2. Can KAT stay out of foul trouble and will Naz Reid be the X factor? 3. Which team's role players make their open threes.
  23. I've hated the Celtics going back to the 70s when the ABA/Spurs merged with the NBA. Red Auerbach continually talked shit about the ABA -- that coaches were bad, the players weren't good enough to play in the NBA, that Julius Erving was a nice kid but not a great player, and that the ball belonged on the end of a seal's nose. And then of course, post-merger the ABA players dominated. Then they backdoored their way into Larry Bird and continually fleeced dumb GMs in trades.
  24. Indy going to kick themselves for this one. Huge choke.
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