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Mitch Cumsteen

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by Mitch Cumsteen

  1. A lot of those looks were wide fucking open. But yeah... every year it comes down to role players knocking down shots. That they came back and won without making most of them is either a testament to their defense and mental toughness, or an indictment of the Wolves. Probably a little of column A and a little of column B. Not only have they been winning at a high clip, but Lebron missed most of those games. I don't love their role players per se, but I think that they have enough of them to mix and match enough to play good defense and find someone on any given night that can hit a three.
  2. What a fantastic abortion of a basketball game last night. Neither team deserved to win that one. I don't think it tells us much about the Lakers going forward. They missed a ton of wide open threes. Minnesota was uncharacteristically good from three in the first half but regressed to the mean over the course of the game. LA played better defense when they needed to. More concerning was the mental lapses late - sloppy turnovers and a mind numbing stupid foul by Davis. I still think they are going to be a tough out for Memphis or anyone else for that matter. Minnesota otoh... It's eye opening how much better the ball moves without Gobert gumming it up. It's also shocking (not really at this point) that you can switch Dennis Schroeder or Austin Reeves on to KAT in the fourth quarter of a playoff game and he is completely neutered. Step back 20 footers aren't good shots when you have an 8 inch height advantage. And my God the stupid fouls. He's got to be one of the softest bigs I can remember. Million dollar skill set and a ten cent head. Frustrating player.
  3. Wulaw: defense is half the game. Also Wulaw: James Harden gets zero appreciation.
  4. I'm ashamed to admit I spent a solid 2-3 minutes trying to figure out how Kendall Jackson chardonnay fit into the hydraulics business.
  5. Who the fuck is going to trade for Trae Young and what are they going to give up for him? He's got a huge cap number. He's gotten two coaches and a GM fired. He's not a winner. He's a shitty teammate/leader. He plays no defense and doesn't appear to have any interest in ever doing so. And he possesses the most punchable face in the NBA since Danny Ainge. I think it's pretty obvious that he can't be your number 1 on anything resembling a contending team and his usage rate is so high that he probably can't function in any other role. The calories don't get any emptier than this dude. Nobody is taking that on. It's not like the Hawks haven't put some good pieces around him. Their roster is way better than what Dallas has managed to cobble together over the same time frame.
  6. So did they have to suspend him because league rules mandate a one game suspension for throwing a punch or was it a team decision? It would have made it even better if the league suspended guys for coming off the bench during the fight. Also, anybody remember when I called out Gobert over the summer for being a bad teammate and @MNLonghornFUKM told me it was all Donovan Mitchell's fault because he didn't play any defense and that Joe Ingles thought Rudy was a swell guy? I like to think back on those days as the summer of "You're goddamn right I told you so." My favorite thing about the whole thing --- and believe me, there are layers upon layers of hilarity and incredulity --- is that right after he throws the punch he backpedals the fuck out of there and almost backs over a ballboy. Rudy was having none of it. Kyle Anderson is right. He's definitely a bitch.
  7. I get what you're saying but the CBA is set up to protect the owners (essentially from themselves) and the new CBA is even more punitive towards higher taxpayers with new handicaps on player movement/acquisition. If a player wants to take the supermax, he damn well better know what he's truly signing up for -- and that's kneecapping his chance for a ring. It shouldn't be like that but it cuts both ways. The players didn't have to accept the CBA. They could have held out for a different cap structure that made it easier to build teams around winning, but they wanted to max their earning potential.
  8. It's like Mary Todd Lincoln said, "If I had a do over I'd say bad play."
  9. Bad attitude and effort. He flat out quit during a game. It's not an accident that he's bounced around so much. I would say the roi on White and Murray is still TBD. There are still picks and swaps coming back to the team for them.
  10. What a pisser this last weekend turned into. The summer league is more competitive. I guess the Minnesota / New Orleans game is for something but everything else is a foregone conclusion. Whatever. Bring on the play in.
  11. There's probably not one. I'm not sure I can put my finger on why it feels different to me. Maybe it's sunk cost fallacy.
  12. Are we going to discuss Dallas tanking with a play in berth still possible? I mean it's almost certainly the best move for the franchise long term but it doesn't feel right. Also it feels like thumbing your nose at the basketball gods a bit. Shit, they will probably end up winning the lottery with infinitesimal odds for what's that worth, but it has a distinctive stench of loser mentality to it. I suppose it's a larger nba wide issue and definitely specific to their trade protections on the Knicks deal but I just can't imagine throwing in the towel like that when you've got even a tiny chance at getting in the tournament.
  13. Disregard what I said about the mavericks winning out. They are in for the tank.
  14. I think it has less to do with making 5-7 play than it does with KD and CP3 both being older with injury histories and there's no need for them to play in a game when the Suns are locked into the 4th seed regardless of outcome. I haven't done all the math on the Warriors or Clippers or Lakers trying to angle for the 6th seed, but things could get interesting if Memphis loses to Milwaukee tonight. That would put the Kings in play for the #2 seed so they go hard against the Warriors later tonight, and it also makes the Griz/Thunder game on Sunday a battle between Memphis getting the 2 seed and OKC potentially making the play-in altogether, pending Dallas winning out (which they should). Also, it would be about the most Twolves thing ever for them to lose to the Spurs tomorrow in Austin but that final game between them and New Orleans on Sunday is likely the difference between having to win two games or just one to make the playoffs as well as home court in the second play-in game.
  15. WR room looks loaded for sure. The only real question is health. Whittington has a terrible injury history. AD Mitchell missed most of the season at Georgia. Neyor is coming off ACL. Even Worthy played with a broken hand. As always, the most important ability is avail-ability.
  16. Good point Looch. That Tyree Wilson guy who transferred to tech sucked too. He's just a projected top 5 pick. No loss there. Shit Dylan Wright was mostly crap at Minnesota but still outperformed guys who stayed on their roster.
  17. Definitely out of left field but I totally started laughing because it was in homage to the Warriors.
  18. Wait. Can they miss the play-in and still lose their pick to the Knicks? That takes a truly special kind of needle threading to accomplish something that horrendous.
  19. My big takeaway from the practice reports is that we have a rotating door at rb.
  20. It's not a good career comparison when you include the last couple of years of Robinson's career when he was on the downside and playing through back injuries. Embiid if he lasts that long will ultimately have those kinds of years too and it will pull his numbers down. Robinson also deferred to Duncan later in his career so both his scoring and rebound numbers suffered. But he did it for the sake of winning. That's what the game is all about. So fucking what if you put up great numbers but don't win shit. Also I'd like to see the comparison to Robinson in 1995 which was (without looking at the numbers but just going off memory) probably his best year. 1994 was when he led the league in scoring but for sure not his best or most efficient year playing for that idiot John Lucas. Again I'm doing this from memory but you may be cherry picking stats here. But most importantly, the raw numbers are bullshit in an era when teams are scoring in the 115 ppg range every night vs 80 or 90 every night. Look at the per 100 possession numbers for their careers that even includes the end of Robinson's career. Same offensive rating and David shits on him defensively. Again I'll stand by my original post. It's close and Ebiid is a great and special player, but I give Robinson the slight edge because of his defense.
  21. I was actually thinking more defensively -- that you could switch Robinson on to any small ball lineup 1-5 and he would be quick enough to stay in front of them and make their life hell. But nobody plays through the post now on offense, anyway. He would be much more lethal offensively as a screener / rim runner against a small ball lineup in today's game surrounded by three point shooters. His problem was never finishing, per se. He was great around the rim. It was creating offense for himself on the block with an array of post moves. That wasn't him. He was always great off the dribble with a reliable mid-range game that you had to respect. In today's game, he would be a much tougher cover facing up against bigger / slower defenders and taking them off the dribble where they can't put their hands on you.
  22. Great question. I think they both played in the wrong eras. David Robinson would be an absolute terror in today's pace and space game. He ran the court better than any big man ever. He would be a small ball lineup destroyer. Plus, he would probably have developed his range out to the three point line. Likewise, Embiid would have thrived back in the day exploiting the illegal defense rules in the post like Hakeem did. Embiid is definitely better / more polished offensively. Robinson never truly developed a post game. Robinson was more dominant defensively and I might give him the overall edge because of that. But then again, I'm biased. It's close either way.
  23. Hill also will have had a full spring and summer to get acclimated. It's not like he's just showing up in August trying to figure things out on the fly. Enrolling early gives him a big headstart. It makes what Banks did last fall seem even more impressive.
  24. At the end of the day, I would clearly be intentional in how drunk I would be. That's the key to the drill.
  25. Yeah.... you're not getting Poetl for that. That number is way below market value. The Spurs have all the cap in the world and they weren't even willing to bite off what the number will be for him. I'm pretty sure Toronto made that trade with the understanding that he will re-sign there and with a number in mind. I'd imagine you would have to money whip the hell out of him to get him to move. And what exactly are they going to give up for Myles Turner? He's got two more years on a team friendly and recently renegotiated contract in Indy where they overpaid him this season with a lower salary going forward. He doesn't seem likely to be on the move. Honestly, their best option may just be re-signing Kyrie. I know shit went bad this year, but I don't think it's his fault. Granted, he's a time bomb ticking, but if you got enough size and defense and shooting around he and Luka you might have a puncher's chance. They both could use a true rim running big as a pick and roll partner.
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