bugatti

Only four times in LeBron's career did he have enough talent to win a ring. And in those 4 years, he won a ring. The other 17 years he was saddled with Make a Wish Kids and janitors. This is not conjecture, it is a basketball fact.

If Bronny is on a roster, it'd be in a ceremonial role like Giannis's brother. Though, Thanasis came up through the ranks and has a shred of credibility. The last guy on a bench is still the last guy on a bench. When called upon, that individual is needed to come in and play NBA basketball. Bronny was the 7th guy on a bad college basketball team. Most 14th and 15th guys on an NBA roster would be having their way against college basketball competition.

His ability to perform at a high level this long into his career is remarkable. I will say, this is the first year I have watched LeBron and thought "LeBron is starting to look old and for once is not the best player on his team (AD was)." He is so cerebral and a basketball genius though he can hit his numbers. And he suddenly became an above-average three-point shooter which I did not have on my bingo card that helped his numbers. I do doubt the impact he is having on the game, especially on the defensive end where he often floats and can get cooked.

I believe LeBron is motivated to be recognized as the GOAT and needs another ring to bolster his case. But with the injury risk of him and Davis with an unreliable roster, is he in a position to earn one in LA? (Not to mention other teams have elevated.) Probably not. And all he has on the GOAT front are longevity achievements. I am NOT dismissing those, btw... his career has been remarkable. But repeating "I'm the GOAT" messages, reposting memes, and building one's narrative can convince people of anything.

Who knows what will happen? But, what a strange run it has been with the Lakers and LeBron. Year 1: Missed the playoffs. Year 2: Won the bubble title, no parade, no fans celebrating, etc. Year 3: Play-in game. Eliminated first round by Phoenix. Year 4: Missed the playoffs. Year 5: Play-in game, had some favorable matchups, but then got swept in the conference finals by Denver. Year 6: Play-in game, gentlemen's sweep by Denver. You can't say it has been an unsuccessful run since they were able to win it all in Orlando, but besides that year they have been in the play-in three times and missed the playoffs two others. Again, they won the title so you can't fault the move, but the play to get Davis really gutted the organization's infrastructure and was double-downed on when LeBron pushed to get Westbrook. I believe Palinka has done as masterful of a job as he could. They struck gold with Austin Reaves, but he has his limitations. With Bronny, my theory is the LeBron camp was always angling to push the narrative his son is an NBA caliber player with the hope they force the Lakers' hand in taking him late second round round or as a FA signing. A couple of weeks into his college basketball career, it was evident that he was not a pro prospect.

Can you rephrase this? I remember that '96 team well (I would have been 13) and I can't accept the fact I may have gone through the "older generation" turnstile. 😊

I don't believe anyone thinks Pope is a bum and peers are always gassing up other peers. I and many others aren't drinking the Kool-Aid (yet) given the lack of a proven track record beyond some solid improvements with the two Utah teams he's coached. I'm optimistic, but traditionally coaches that have had his level of success move on to a lower-tier Power 5 school. Not the elite of the elite. I think much of that is the college basketball environment we live in today where coaching college basketball is not as prestigious as it once was.

The refs took it to the Lakers again last night, causing them to lose a first-half double-digit lead. Despite Jokic picking up two fouls five minutes into the game, you could feel by mid-second quarter the inevitable was going to happen. It was cracking me up before the series started people were giving LAL a legitimate shot to win this series. Did people not watch these teams throughout the year? The cohesiveness of that starting five is on a whole different level than anything else in the league. I could see the Lakers stealing game 4 with a hot shooting effort with no pressure on the line. But if they exchange haymakers early on, the Lakers will fold like a cheap tent and it'll be 1-2-3-Cancun and LeBron will arrive at the press conference in a cast and float his retirement.

Obviously, for UK fans we remain optimistic the Mark Pope era is a tremendous one. But I ain't drinking the Kool-Aid yet. We can convince ourselves this was a great hire, but if 60 days ago I were to tell you Calipari's time at UK is coming to a close and Mark Pope is on deck, I would have been laughed out of the building. He may knock it out of the park. He may fall flat on his face. We shall see.

As evident by the entire UK roster and virtually every other roster flipping because kids want to be in a better situation for playing time and/or profit? That is the "college game." A jersey is just something players put on while on this multiple-year and multi-school journey.

Update. It was awesome.

LeBron was frigging balling in the fourth quarter. He then missed as wide-open of a shot as he had all game and that was all she wrote. You get an A game from LeBron, AD, and D-Lo, and it is still not enough. That has to be psychologically demoralizing with it now being 10 in a row the Lakers have dropped to the Nuggets. Hamm and LeBron both complaining about the refs. Rich, coming from the team that gets to the line as much as they do. It wreaks of desperation because as the Denver faithful like to remind the Lakers, they are their daddies. Jokic is a blast to watch. AD had as much success as you can against the Joker, but in each game he breaks the code and finds a way to win. I hope people are appreciating the greatness we are witnessing with his game. 27, 22, and 10 last night. Ho hum.

Not sure I’ve ever seen as dramatic of back-to-back games as I just witnessed. To start, the Knicks overcame a Jordan flu type game type performance from Tyrese Maxey by reeling off eight points in about 20 seconds to steal the game. In the nightcap, the Nuggets rallied from a 20 point second half deficit with a buzzer beating jumper by Jamal Murray over the outstretched arms of Anthony Davis (Kentucky on Kentucky crime). Insane. If you believe college basketball is better than this I don’t know what to tell you.

As for 2024-2025 UK. Who knows? I'm crossing my fingers.

Spot on. With the portal, I think you could argue Calipari was incredibly successful with it, and if anything didn't utilize it enough. A lot of productivity (All SEC, All American) came from the portal.

For fun, I went back to 2018 to see where UK stacked up against others in FG%. The two outlier years for shooting % were this season (6th in the country) and the goofy COVID season (284th in the country). Averaging out the other years, UK is at 53 out of 363 teams. That would put them around the 85 percentile mark for this duration. Other variables could be considered such as 3 pt %, FT%, level of competition, skill level of own players, etc., but saying UK is traditionally terrible when it comes to shooting the ball is not supported by the data. And these measurements have supposedly been the dark years of UK basketball under Calipari. But perception often becomes reality with these things. My guess is if I did all of Cal's years at UK, they would be much higher than 53rd.

Like last year's class... As I've said, I have no clue what to make of recruiting classes any longer. Unless you strike gold with a Freshman, teams with the most impactful transfers will rise to the top.

This morning I bought tickets for game 2 of the Suns/Wolves series.

If Boston does not make it out of the East, that would be an all-time epic fail. Seldom do you go into the playoffs with a team at minus odds, but here we are. The West is as wide-open of race as I can remember. Going into last night, I would have said the only teams you could cross off would be Sacramento and Golden State (since eliminated). New Orleans may be without Zion (shocker!) so they are on the scratch-off list. So seven teams with a legit shot. That's insane.

Do players still use smokeless tobacco? I assume some do, but figured that was a bygone practice given how in tune pro athletes are with their health today. But yeah, spitting just to spit has always been one of life's great mysteries.

I caught myself watching half an hour of the WNBA draft last night. I am willing to say casual fans are as likely to name as many of the young ladies drafted last night than the young men that will be drafted in June.

I'm sorry, but if a college basketball coach at the high D1 level is not talking about the NBA in some capacity (even limited), they are stuck in 1987 and going to be looped by their competition in no time. Rallying behind school pride and "playing for the name on the front of the jersey" is great for the fans, but it means very little to a kid who was 7 years old when UK won a title.

Interesting. You can sign up for presale tickets for the two games (MSU/KU, UK/Duke) through State Farm's Champions Classic website, so that would be a shock to the several thousand that have probably already gone that route. But this guy did say it on Twitter, so it must be true. The game is also in Atlanta, but I am sure it autocorrected to Chicago. It happens.

I've mentioned this before, but coaching college basketball is a diminishing proposition and not attractive; hence why you see all programs dice rolling these days. It is 2024, not 1994, and college basketball may not exist in 5-10 years.

I do not doubt if Pope goes 42-29 over the next two seasons BBN will be nothing but incredibly supportive and upbeat about things.