The courts that just had the middle line/paint area a different color and the sides looking like wood looked pretty good. The ones where the sides were super-gaudy colors…didn’t.

It’s explicitly against the CBA to offer any sort of inducement other than the player salary as a way to circumvent the cap. Period.

I thought the Magic would be playoff contenders because Paolo and/or Franz Wagner took a leap offensively. Not because their defense went from #15 to #5.

Box plus-minus.

To be more complete, in 2027 they get either OKC or Denver in a swap, whichever is the worse pick unless Denver ends up 1-5, in which case OKC can swap with the Clips alone. So it’s even worse than a straight swap with OKC, because if either OKC or Denver end up at the end of the first round, that’s the pick the Clippers get. That was OKC’s part of the James Harden trade.

The Clippers have also traded away all their second round picks through 2029 as well. They get 2 second round picks in 2024, and that’s it.

The average #1 pick of the past 45 years has averaged just under 80 career Win Shares. The #1 picks closest to this mark are James Worthy (81.2 WS), Blake Griffin (81.1 WS), and Kyrie Irving (80.7 WS). #1 picks above this average include Lebron (257 WS), Tim Duncan (206), Shaq (181), David Robinson (178), Hakeem (162), Magic (155), Dwight Howard (141), Patrick Ewing (126), Elton Brand (109), Anthony Davis (102), Iverson (99), Chris Webber (85).

Butler and Ball are poor counter-examples since Butler has never fixed his shot (32% career 3P%) while Ball’s release looked funky but he was never a bad shooter.

Five lottery picks (not even counting Bagley or Wiseman since the Pistons didn’t draft them) who can’t shoot 3’s is a recipe for disaster in today’s NBA. Maybe Cunningham and Ivey can work themselves up to average+ shooters, but Hayes can’t shoot at all and Thompson is somehow even worse than that. Having more than one non-shooter on the court at a time is a bad idea for a modern-day NBA offense, yet Thompson and Duren are probably Detroit’s 2nd and 3rd best players.

I think it was an expensive mistake to throw $12M/year at Monty Williams when you know the team is going to be bad regardless, but it’s not my money. Monty has always had a stronger rep as a developmental coach than a championship X and O’s guy, which was probably the thinking in making a Godfather offer to him, to try and teach good habits and winning basketball even if it wasn’t going to happen right away.

A big part of tanking is figuring out if there are any diamonds in the rough. Even top lottery picks bust. Robert Covington and Jerami Grant were Process Sixers finds (Covington undrafted, Grant 2nd round) who have both gone on to long and productive careers. Covington was part of the trade that brought Jimmy Butler to the 76ers. Grant was traded for a FRP that became Tyrese Maxey. Just playing scrubs who are out of basketball as soon as their contract ends is a surefire way to continue to be terrible as a team for the long term.

Probably not if only because the entire rotation except Kenrich and JWill have been healthy, and stars missing games leads to role players getting inefficient looks. That said, it’s not a stretch to say this is the best-shooting Thunder team ever.

Vuc for Bertans with a couple of 2nd round picks makes a lot of sense, especially if the Thunder are looking like real contenders near the trade deadline. 3/$60M is a very manageable salary number and he gives enough rebounding/scoring while Chet plays a supersized 4 as the rim protector. He’s then off the books right when Chet/JDub are up for new contracts. I’m just skeptical it happens unless it looks like the West is super wide open (eg something catastrophic like Jokic and Curry both having season ending injuries) and the Thunder could do more than just make some noise in a first round series.

There are 3 main taxes he gets on his contract. Federal tax (37% at the top end, ends up being a bit less due to progressive tax rates and deductions), state tax (depends which state he officially lives in, a lot of players make no-state-tax states their permanent residence, Pennsylvania is 3%), “jock tax” which is levied on a per-game basis when they play out of state. 40% taxation is a pretty reasonable approximation, so take home $120M+.

He’ll have career earnings of just over $250M by the time his new contract is done. For a Process second round pick, that’s a helluva bag.

Jock taxes

Many players claim permanent residence in no-income-tax jurisdictions like Florida and Texas already. It doesn’t affect the tax paid on playing salaries, but endorsement income, outside investments that are considered ordinary income etc wouldn’t be taxed.

If taxes was the main focus for players, the LA teams and the Warriors would struggle to recruit free agents since California’s state income tax is 12.3% at the top end. Shockingly, players take other factors into consideration, too.

He was waived via stretch provision. Had 3 years left on a 4 year deal, so it stretches to 7 years. Nothing particularly unusual here.

I’ve been to games at Soldier (and Lambeau, and AT&T). I enjoyed Lambeau the most because of the atmosphere of the fans, but my extremely-casual-only-knows-Travis Kelce-because-of-Taylor-Swift NFL fan wife had a lot more fun at AT&T. We definitely spent more at AT&T, too.

Ok, so you clearly don’t know how much stuff costs. Using Seattle as the example, the city budget for this year is listed as $7.4B. The entire police budget is $370M. There’s a reason it’s rich people who buy sports teams; they have the money.

Are you up for paying your share of $5B in taxes for your city to buy a team?

This is absolutely happening. One of the key pieces that is extremely poorly described in national articles about the stadium funding is the “temporary” tax. MAPS is a sales tax that has been around since the early 1990’s and its revenue has been directed to various improvement projects around the city. It’s temporary in that each time the goal projects have a 5-10 year window and the tax needs voter re-approval afterwards, but it’s been very popular in what it’s accomplished. Taxes on OKC residents will not rise as a result of this, it’s just that the MAPS money will be directed towards the new arena instead of things like renovating the convention center or building a light rail (current projects funded by MAPS).

Paycom Center opened in 2002, the proposed new stadium would open in 2030, so 28 years of operational use, but I understand the point.

The answer, of course, is money. New stadiums=state of the art amenities, bigger footprint, more attractions, higher prices. Going to JerryWorld (AT&T Stadium, Cowboys) is a radically different fan experience from going to, say Soldier Field in Chicago or Lambeau Field in Green Bay.