Well, in this household at least we're starting this weird new school year.
38 thoughts on “August 24, 2020: Welcome Back”
We're buying desks and monitors and probably at least one desktop CPU. There will be no less than, I think, 6 potential work stations in our house for hybrid and distance learning, and WFH.
Three kids in three different schools with three different arrangements and schedules. Anxiety is...high.
We did manage to put together a last minute camping trip to a Wisconsin state park last week. Sleep was a challenge, but otherwise a successful first time for us and something we want to do more of.
We breathed a little easier for just a little bit, which was great, before jumping back in to the final push before the great unknown this school year is bringing.
I'm taking Tuesday-Friday off (because I have vacation time to burn and nowhere to go) and am going to try to turn the master bedroom from a repository of unwanted toys and paperwork into a place I don't mind using for work/Zoom. I'm looking forward to the project, though I've had to order a few things online and am concerned nothing will arrive until after my vacation time has ended. Plus my plans keep getting more and more ambitious. I kind of want to repaint the room, get a new ceiling fan, do a new DIY headboard, add in a small desk, new nightstands (that actually match), new drawer pulls.....
We start school according to the proper Minnesota schedule--after Labor Day.
The jalapeno will be starting 5th grade from home. He managed distance learning pretty well in the spring once he got into the swing of it, so I don't have big concerns about that. However, we talked with a couple of parents about creating a small social "pod" so the kids can hang out together after completing their school work (and thus not drive us all crazy). He is interested in playing basketball, and we've signed him up but I have no idea if that will happen since it's an indoor sport.
The peperoncino will be starting 2nd grade, and a couple other moms from his summer program approached me about creating a 3-kid pod in which we'd hire a nanny to supervise their distance learning and keep them entertained. I never would have guessed we'd be looking into something like this, but it might actually work well. Or at least work better than what we went through last spring.
Hey -- don't let that stop you from dropping by the weekly WGOM game Zooms!
Does it matter if I don't actually have a means of watching the game? 😜
iiiiii wouldn't worry about that. shouldn't be a problem...
We are looking into something similar for our 1st grader, even if it is just part of the day. And like you, I'm not worried about my older child (7th grade), he has enough work to keep him busy and other than a few battles around laziness/not trying to work through tech issues he did a good job of being accountable and getting his work done.
Are your schools starting with 100% distance learning? We have a hybrid model that I don't love for many reasons (A-B-A-B-none vs. A-A-B-B-none, which would presumably require less sanitizing?) but we couldn't commit to doing the 100% distance plan...I don't know that their is a right answer anywhere for people with young kids.
We're starting with a "modified hybrid" plan. Kindergarten and 1st grade have some mornings where they're in the school building in smaller groups. The rest of elementary school is on a distance learning curriculum, though certain kids will do their distance learning on site at the school (kids with special needs, some ELL, kids of Tier 1 Critical Workers). There is also full-day child care available for other kids, but I am waiting to get information on how the distance learning would be managed. I feel like it's a generally safe way to start, but boy is it confusing...
Our kids are now in week 3 of online learning, and my wife and I both started week 1 today. So far, so good for the kids. It's gone much better than I expected, especially for the first-grader. I was expecting much more of a struggle to get everyone in their correct online classrooms and then keep them there, but the kids have really done a great job so far, and their teachers have been very successful in engaging them and keeping them interested.
Our biggest issues so far have been their once-a-week P.E. lessons. They just aren't that interested in doing exercises along with a video. But, this morning's session went better than last week's did, so there's been some improvement.
Of course, it's all going to be harder now that I'm back in classes and have less time to directly help and monitor things, but overall, I'm feeling pretty good about where we are with things. I'm also teaching mostly asynchronously, so there's not all that much time I'm on video and completely unavailable to help. My wife has many more meetings and live class sessions than I do, but we've still managed everything pretty well so far.
It's encouraging it's off to a better start than expected! Our district has said that the approach for distance learning will be different than what it was in the spring, but I don't have any idea what that actually means.
Our district told us that same thing several times before classes started. I took it to mean that they know Spring was mostly useless for actually learning, and that they're doing what they can to make it better.
Speaking as someone who also had to do it, jumping into teaching online with no notice is tough. I struggled greatly to make my classes reasonable at the end of spring, and I already know how to use most of the tools and pedagogy I need, since I've actually taught online before, and use many online tools even in my face-to-face classes. For those teachers with no online teaching training or experience, I'm not surprised things went poorly when thrown in with little to no help.
A sometimes scintillating weekend of NBA playoff basketball. There were a few yawners in there (TOR 150, BKN 122 and it wasn't that close), but the DAL/LAC, HOU/OKC, and UTA/DEN games were terrific. The Lakers sent a message that they are gonna be a factor in these playoffs and Milwaukee likewise seems to be getting going.
SBG NBA Power Rankings: based on who I believe is most likely to win the title
1. TOR (Last time: 1) – I haven’t heard anything about Kyle Lowry’s ankle and Brooklyn was playing absolutely zero defense, but still, TOR put up 150 in a playoff game without their best player.They stay here.
2. MIL (LT: 3) – Crushed the life out of ORL. At this point, I think the East is going to produce the NBA champion.
3. LAL (LT: 4) – Delivered a crushing blow to POR on Saturday night. LBJ was LBJ and AD was much better after a lackluster start to the playoffs. He hit a ton of mid-range jumpers, which he can do, and playing two bigs at all or most times against POR is gonna kill POR. They don’t have an answer.
4. BOS (LT: 5) – This team is dangerous. They have young stars they dispatched PHI with ease. PHI was without Simmons for much of it, so that might have made a difference, but I think they have a chance against TOR. Beat them 3 of 4 in the regular season.
5. LAC (LT: 2) – They have a real battle on their hands. Losing to DAL without Porzingis is not a good sign. Then again, it took an otherworldly effort from LUKA! to get it done and he’s playing on a bum ankle. If Zinger comes back and Luka is Luka, the Clippers can lose this series. Kawhi has been tremendous, but Paul George looking like he wants to spit out the bit.
6. HOU (LT: 6) – The thing about Harden is not his three-point shooting. He’s good, not great. It’s his ability to take people off the dribble, get to the basket and finish. I think that LAL takes them out because LAL can put two 7 footers on the floor at all times and HOU has no one over 6’7.
7. DAL (LT: 9) – Still gotta win two more against LAC and that’s a pretty tall order, but not as tall as it was before Sunday. Luka is a flat-out superstar. The league needs him to keep playing. Too bad they weren’t the six seed. If they can win this series though, it would shake the NBA world (and would be their first series win since they won the NBA title nine seasons ago).
8. MIA (LT: 10) – Crushing the Pacers, handling T.J. Warren. Pretty good. Good enough for 4th in the East.
9. UTA (LT: 11) – I’d not take them over POR in a series, but they have DEN by the throat and are more likely to be playing next round. Plus, Mitchell has been tremendous. He’s flying under the radar because of all of the other high-profile dudes that are showing, but he was flat out great on Sunday night.
10. POR (LT: 8) – They faced playoff LBJ and that was too much for them. LAL length has stressed them plenty. Lot of series left and Dame is a wild card, but LAL looks like they are gonna be a very tough out for POR.
11. OKC (LT: 13) – Just a great win for them against HOU. Fun, gutty game.
12. DEN (LT: 7) – In real trouble against UTA. They are down a couple of starters and UTA is a good squad. Likely a very disappointing result for the three seed.
13. IND (LT: 12) – Very little chance against MIA.
14. ORL (LT: 14) – No chance against Bucks.
OUT: PHI showed some heart, but changes are coming there. NJN is the ultimate wait until next year team. They will look much different with Kyrie and KD. But, that was an embarrassment on Sunday giving up 150.
Seeing Dallas, Utah, and Denver in here is just depressing. A few years ago, KAT was voted the best player to build a franchise around and I would have put the Wolves ahead of all three of those franchises.
The number one pick and Rosas offers some optimism but it has been a long road with this franchise.
OUT: PHI showed some heart, but changes are coming there.
Time for The Process 2.0!
Must trust the process 2.0.
The Philadelphia 76ers fired coach Brett Brown, sources tell ESPN.
SBG NBA Power Rankings: based on who I believe is most likely to win the title
1. TOR (Last time: 1) – I haven’t heard anything about Kyle Lowry’s ankle and Brooklyn was playing absolutely zero defense, but still, TOR put up 150 in a playoff game without their best player.They stay here. no disagreement in general but isn't Siakam their best player? Van Vleet's continued rise limits the damage from Lowry being hobbled. I love their depth. Powell and Ibaka coming off the bench!
2. MIL (LT: 3) – Crushed the life out of ORL. At this point, I think the East is going to produce the NBA champion. still awfully reliant on the Greek Freak. That's a good thing/bad thing. He's so great. Their bench is oooooollllddddd. (Korver 38, Hill 33, Marvin Williams 33, the Lopez brothers 31 but play old). If they don't gitrdun this year, they will need to re-tool to get younger. And even if they do.
3. LAL (LT: 4) – Delivered a crushing blow to POR on Saturday night. LBJ was LBJ and AD was much better after a lackluster start to the playoffs. He hit a ton of mid-range jumpers, which he can do, and playing two bigs at all or most times against POR is gonna kill POR. They don’t have an answer. I never discount Lebron's greatness. But this team is too top-heavy. So far in the playoffs, AD and Lebron are scoring about half of the team's points and their third option is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at 10.0. Adding Howard and JaVale together barely gets you one impact player so far in the playoffs. Kuzma has been a non-factor. He probably has to be a factor if they are going to win the West, let alone a title.
4. BOS (LT: 5) – This team is dangerous. They have young stars they dispatched PHI with ease. PHI was without Simmons for much of it, so that might have made a difference, but I think they have a chance against TOR. Beat them 3 of 4 in the regular season. Chuck, Kenny, Shaq and Ernie were bagging on Philly yesterday, and something that Kenny said about Boston in reference to Embiid resonated. Kenny asked Shaq if he could name Boston's two bigs, and he couldn't, at least not right away. Embiid should have been KILLING Boston down low. Theis is an undersized non-entity on a small team. Kanter is ok off the bench. But.... They have outstanding swing men and Kemba, but .... That said, Kemba, Brown and Tatum have been great. Super thin bench, weak post play. They are Houston East.
5. LAC (LT: 2) – They have a real battle on their hands. Losing to DAL without Porzingis is not a good sign. Then again, it took an otherworldly effort from LUKA! to get it done and he’s playing on a bum ankle. If Zinger comes back and Luka is Luka, the Clippers can lose this series. Kawhi has been tremendous, but Paul George looking like he wants to spit out the bit. I am not feeling it. They have some really good pieces, but the whole seems less than the sum. Doc has a lot of coaching to do.
6. HOU (LT: 6) – The thing about Harden is not his three-point shooting. He’s good, not great. It’s his ability to take people off the dribble, get to the basket and finish. I think that LAL takes them out because LAL can put two 7 footers on the floor at all times and HOU has no one over 6’7. With Westbrook out, Houston has five guys averaging double figures in the playoffs so far, including Jeff Green's 19.7 ppg off the bench. But James Harden has been their leading rebounder. Hell, Boston has a better front line. I won't count them out of the mix, but, what Stick said. As a team, they are averaging fewer than 5 ORB per game so far in the playoffs, half their regular season rate. Somebody is gonna punish them for not having any size.
7. DAL (LT: 9) – Still gotta win two more against LAC and that’s a pretty tall order, but not as tall as it was before Sunday. Luka is a flat-out superstar. The league needs him to keep playing. Too bad they weren’t the six seed. If they can win this series though, it would shake the NBA world (and would be their first series win since they won the NBA title nine seasons ago). As much as I continue to love Kawhi, I am starting to climb up next to SBG on the Luka Bandwagon. I don't think they have quite the supporting cast to go much beyond this round, however.
8. MIA (LT: 10) – Crushing the Pacers, handling T.J. Warren. Pretty good. Good enough for 4th in the East.
9. UTA (LT: 11) – I’d not take them over POR in a series, but they have DEN by the throat and are more likely to be playing next round. Plus, Mitchell has been tremendous. He’s flying under the radar because of all of the other high-profile dudes that are showing, but he was flat out great on Sunday night.
10. POR (LT: 8) – They faced playoff LBJ and that was too much for them. LAL length has stressed them plenty. Lot of series left and Dame is a wild card, but LAL looks like they are gonna be a very tough out for POR.
11. OKC (LT: 13) – Just a great win for them against HOU. Fun, gutty game.
12. DEN (LT: 7) – In real trouble against UTA. They are down a couple of starters and UTA is a good squad. Likely a very disappointing result for the three seed.
13. IND (LT: 12) – Very little chance against MIA.
14. ORL (LT: 14) – No chance against Bucks.
OUT: PHI showed some heart, but changes are coming there. NJN is the ultimate wait until next year team. They will look much different with Kyrie and KD. But, that was an embarrassment on Sunday giving up 150.
1. TOR has great depth, yes. Traditionally, this is more of a strength in the regular season because teams shorten their benches in the playoffs, but they are so good, like you say, it makes them able to withstand an injury.
2. MIL has some pieces other than Giannis. Old dudes on the bench can fill roles. I'm thinking they are okay.
3. LeBron can cover up a multitude of problems. He was electric on Saturday night. I like Howard and McGee just because of what they can do to certain teams. McGee isn't good or anything, but he's big and that presents problems for POR and would for HOU, too.
4. I think BOS hits the end of the road against TOR, yes. I was shocked to see that they'd won 3 of 4 against TOR, but this is gonna be the end. I almost wrote about how I liked Theis. Glad I didn't do that.
5. LAC gave up a literal fortune to get PG13. If they go out here, there's gonna be some gnashing of teeth in the owner's box.
6. HOU has to win now. They are gonna owe Russ ridiculous amounts of money as he declines. I just don't think they can beat the Lakers if the Lakers run AD and Howard out there most of the time. They won't ever get a rebound.
7. DAL will have a max contract slot available before Luka's rookie deal is up. Wonder if they could get a certain fella from Greece to come join them? This team is set up to be a power in the future. Winning this series and getting a shot at UTA? Man, could get very interesting.
One would have thought that Portland had the size and firepower to contend with the Lakers, with Nurkić and Whiteside. But Nurkić just isn't back to full speed yet and Whiteside, for all his defensive prowess, has been invisible on the offensive end. I think they miss Zach Collins too.
LAL has LBJ. POR does not.
Runner daughter brought over her hand-me-down robovac this weekend; apparently it came up lame as one of the sweeper brushes failed to turn, causing it to trip a fault error. After hitting up a couple Youtube videos, I opened up to try diagnose the problem. As a test, I removed a gear from the sweeper brush's gear box, to no avail. As a last ditch effort, I snipped the power to the motor and bypassed it completely, hoping it would fool the diagnostics to thinking it was fine. Nope.
So with my big move coming in 2-1/2 weeks I have some HH items that Citizens in the Minneapolis area may be interested in. Let me know:
Numerous tall and short metal heavy duty shelving units. Great for the basement or garage.
Shop Vac (needs a new filter)
Tree saw
Weed Wacker
Push Mower
Kitchen Table (good for a cabin or auxillary unit perhaps)
Two upholstered chairs (kids moving into new apartment?)
Metal Framed Full size bed
Various tools, painting stuff (including a big canvass dropcloth)
Some serving bowls
I'd sell for very cheap or give away. The bed frame would have to be $50. The rest would be all less than $10 or most likely the price of a beer.
Let me know here or text me at (Mpls Area Code) 7 O Ate-!!!4
kids moving into new apartment?
🙁 outside our area, unfortunately
is there Freecycle in your area?
Or a Re-Store?
Oh yes, I have plenty of options but wanted to see if anyone wanted to come by and get it before I start schlepping. Also in my neighborhood I could put stuff on the curb and people will come by and pick it up. Those shelves won't last four hours on the curb.
Here's a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision today in the age discrimination lawsuit brought by the scout who recommended Justin Morneau, Max Kepler, and Grant Balfour (among others) against the Twins.
TL;DR: "Yes, no, and try again later."
I got lost at the part where they were scouting for baseball in Australia and South Africa.
They're at it again:
(TCF) We makes banking easier.
Last night I was looking through stuff in the storage room and found an old box from college - term papers, short story and poetry drafts, notebooks, etc. While I was rummaging through it Mrs. Twayn stepped into the doorway and asked what I was looking for. "Nothing," I said, "I just found this box of old college stuff and was going through it. I'll probably throw it out when I'm done." She looked at me a second, then said without a whiff of sarcasm, "But if you do that what will your biographers use for source material?"
Sounds like your wife and mine would be good friends.
YDNSOAA
sigh. Not here.
so, legal beagles here, what is the reasoning behind this? Is Vance trying to keep nice with the federal court?
This is pretty standard. The appeal has been noted, and the name of the game is winning the right way. Anything untoward gives the other side ammunition for their argument that it isn't a legitimate investigation.
We're buying desks and monitors and probably at least one desktop CPU. There will be no less than, I think, 6 potential work stations in our house for hybrid and distance learning, and WFH.
Three kids in three different schools with three different arrangements and schedules. Anxiety is...high.
We did manage to put together a last minute camping trip to a Wisconsin state park last week. Sleep was a challenge, but otherwise a successful first time for us and something we want to do more of.
We breathed a little easier for just a little bit, which was great, before jumping back in to the final push before the great unknown this school year is bringing.
I'm taking Tuesday-Friday off (because I have vacation time to burn and nowhere to go) and am going to try to turn the master bedroom from a repository of unwanted toys and paperwork into a place I don't mind using for work/Zoom. I'm looking forward to the project, though I've had to order a few things online and am concerned nothing will arrive until after my vacation time has ended. Plus my plans keep getting more and more ambitious. I kind of want to repaint the room, get a new ceiling fan, do a new DIY headboard, add in a small desk, new nightstands (that actually match), new drawer pulls.....
We start school according to the proper Minnesota schedule--after Labor Day.
The jalapeno will be starting 5th grade from home. He managed distance learning pretty well in the spring once he got into the swing of it, so I don't have big concerns about that. However, we talked with a couple of parents about creating a small social "pod" so the kids can hang out together after completing their school work (and thus not drive us all crazy). He is interested in playing basketball, and we've signed him up but I have no idea if that will happen since it's an indoor sport.
The peperoncino will be starting 2nd grade, and a couple other moms from his summer program approached me about creating a 3-kid pod in which we'd hire a nanny to supervise their distance learning and keep them entertained. I never would have guessed we'd be looking into something like this, but it might actually work well. Or at least work better than what we went through last spring.
Hey -- don't let that stop you from dropping by the weekly WGOM game Zooms!
Does it matter if I don't actually have a means of watching the game? 😜
iiiiii wouldn't worry about that. shouldn't be a problem...
We are looking into something similar for our 1st grader, even if it is just part of the day. And like you, I'm not worried about my older child (7th grade), he has enough work to keep him busy and other than a few battles around laziness/not trying to work through tech issues he did a good job of being accountable and getting his work done.
Are your schools starting with 100% distance learning? We have a hybrid model that I don't love for many reasons (A-B-A-B-none vs. A-A-B-B-none, which would presumably require less sanitizing?) but we couldn't commit to doing the 100% distance plan...I don't know that their is a right answer anywhere for people with young kids.
We're starting with a "modified hybrid" plan. Kindergarten and 1st grade have some mornings where they're in the school building in smaller groups. The rest of elementary school is on a distance learning curriculum, though certain kids will do their distance learning on site at the school (kids with special needs, some ELL, kids of Tier 1 Critical Workers). There is also full-day child care available for other kids, but I am waiting to get information on how the distance learning would be managed. I feel like it's a generally safe way to start, but boy is it confusing...
Our kids are now in week 3 of online learning, and my wife and I both started week 1 today. So far, so good for the kids. It's gone much better than I expected, especially for the first-grader. I was expecting much more of a struggle to get everyone in their correct online classrooms and then keep them there, but the kids have really done a great job so far, and their teachers have been very successful in engaging them and keeping them interested.
Our biggest issues so far have been their once-a-week P.E. lessons. They just aren't that interested in doing exercises along with a video. But, this morning's session went better than last week's did, so there's been some improvement.
Of course, it's all going to be harder now that I'm back in classes and have less time to directly help and monitor things, but overall, I'm feeling pretty good about where we are with things. I'm also teaching mostly asynchronously, so there's not all that much time I'm on video and completely unavailable to help. My wife has many more meetings and live class sessions than I do, but we've still managed everything pretty well so far.
It's encouraging it's off to a better start than expected! Our district has said that the approach for distance learning will be different than what it was in the spring, but I don't have any idea what that actually means.
Our district told us that same thing several times before classes started. I took it to mean that they know Spring was mostly useless for actually learning, and that they're doing what they can to make it better.
Speaking as someone who also had to do it, jumping into teaching online with no notice is tough. I struggled greatly to make my classes reasonable at the end of spring, and I already know how to use most of the tools and pedagogy I need, since I've actually taught online before, and use many online tools even in my face-to-face classes. For those teachers with no online teaching training or experience, I'm not surprised things went poorly when thrown in with little to no help.
A sometimes scintillating weekend of NBA playoff basketball. There were a few yawners in there (TOR 150, BKN 122 and it wasn't that close), but the DAL/LAC, HOU/OKC, and UTA/DEN games were terrific. The Lakers sent a message that they are gonna be a factor in these playoffs and Milwaukee likewise seems to be getting going.
SBG NBA Power Rankings: based on who I believe is most likely to win the title
1. TOR (Last time: 1) – I haven’t heard anything about Kyle Lowry’s ankle and Brooklyn was playing absolutely zero defense, but still, TOR put up 150 in a playoff game without their best player.They stay here.
2. MIL (LT: 3) – Crushed the life out of ORL. At this point, I think the East is going to produce the NBA champion.
3. LAL (LT: 4) – Delivered a crushing blow to POR on Saturday night. LBJ was LBJ and AD was much better after a lackluster start to the playoffs. He hit a ton of mid-range jumpers, which he can do, and playing two bigs at all or most times against POR is gonna kill POR. They don’t have an answer.
4. BOS (LT: 5) – This team is dangerous. They have young stars they dispatched PHI with ease. PHI was without Simmons for much of it, so that might have made a difference, but I think they have a chance against TOR. Beat them 3 of 4 in the regular season.
5. LAC (LT: 2) – They have a real battle on their hands. Losing to DAL without Porzingis is not a good sign. Then again, it took an otherworldly effort from LUKA! to get it done and he’s playing on a bum ankle. If Zinger comes back and Luka is Luka, the Clippers can lose this series. Kawhi has been tremendous, but Paul George looking like he wants to spit out the bit.
6. HOU (LT: 6) – The thing about Harden is not his three-point shooting. He’s good, not great. It’s his ability to take people off the dribble, get to the basket and finish. I think that LAL takes them out because LAL can put two 7 footers on the floor at all times and HOU has no one over 6’7.
7. DAL (LT: 9) – Still gotta win two more against LAC and that’s a pretty tall order, but not as tall as it was before Sunday. Luka is a flat-out superstar. The league needs him to keep playing. Too bad they weren’t the six seed. If they can win this series though, it would shake the NBA world (and would be their first series win since they won the NBA title nine seasons ago).
8. MIA (LT: 10) – Crushing the Pacers, handling T.J. Warren. Pretty good. Good enough for 4th in the East.
9. UTA (LT: 11) – I’d not take them over POR in a series, but they have DEN by the throat and are more likely to be playing next round. Plus, Mitchell has been tremendous. He’s flying under the radar because of all of the other high-profile dudes that are showing, but he was flat out great on Sunday night.
10. POR (LT: 8) – They faced playoff LBJ and that was too much for them. LAL length has stressed them plenty. Lot of series left and Dame is a wild card, but LAL looks like they are gonna be a very tough out for POR.
11. OKC (LT: 13) – Just a great win for them against HOU. Fun, gutty game.
12. DEN (LT: 7) – In real trouble against UTA. They are down a couple of starters and UTA is a good squad. Likely a very disappointing result for the three seed.
13. IND (LT: 12) – Very little chance against MIA.
14. ORL (LT: 14) – No chance against Bucks.
OUT: PHI showed some heart, but changes are coming there. NJN is the ultimate wait until next year team. They will look much different with Kyrie and KD. But, that was an embarrassment on Sunday giving up 150.
Seeing Dallas, Utah, and Denver in here is just depressing. A few years ago, KAT was voted the best player to build a franchise around and I would have put the Wolves ahead of all three of those franchises.
The number one pick and Rosas offers some optimism but it has been a long road with this franchise.
Time for The Process 2.0!
Must trust the process 2.0.
BSery:
SBG NBA Power Rankings: based on who I believe is most likely to win the title
1. TOR (Last time: 1) – I haven’t heard anything about Kyle Lowry’s ankle and Brooklyn was playing absolutely zero defense, but still, TOR put up 150 in a playoff game without their best player.They stay here.
no disagreement in general but isn't Siakam their best player? Van Vleet's continued rise limits the damage from Lowry being hobbled. I love their depth. Powell and Ibaka coming off the bench!
2. MIL (LT: 3) – Crushed the life out of ORL. At this point, I think the East is going to produce the NBA champion.
still awfully reliant on the Greek Freak. That's a good thing/bad thing. He's so great. Their bench is oooooollllddddd. (Korver 38, Hill 33, Marvin Williams 33, the Lopez brothers 31 but play old). If they don't gitrdun this year, they will need to re-tool to get younger. And even if they do.
3. LAL (LT: 4) – Delivered a crushing blow to POR on Saturday night. LBJ was LBJ and AD was much better after a lackluster start to the playoffs. He hit a ton of mid-range jumpers, which he can do, and playing two bigs at all or most times against POR is gonna kill POR. They don’t have an answer.
I never discount Lebron's greatness. But this team is too top-heavy. So far in the playoffs, AD and Lebron are scoring about half of the team's points and their third option is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at 10.0. Adding Howard and JaVale together barely gets you one impact player so far in the playoffs. Kuzma has been a non-factor. He probably has to be a factor if they are going to win the West, let alone a title.
4. BOS (LT: 5) – This team is dangerous. They have young stars they dispatched PHI with ease. PHI was without Simmons for much of it, so that might have made a difference, but I think they have a chance against TOR. Beat them 3 of 4 in the regular season.
Chuck, Kenny, Shaq and Ernie were bagging on Philly yesterday, and something that Kenny said about Boston in reference to Embiid resonated. Kenny asked Shaq if he could name Boston's two bigs, and he couldn't, at least not right away. Embiid should have been KILLING Boston down low. Theis is an undersized non-entity on a small team. Kanter is ok off the bench. But.... They have outstanding swing men and Kemba, but .... That said, Kemba, Brown and Tatum have been great. Super thin bench, weak post play. They are Houston East.
5. LAC (LT: 2) – They have a real battle on their hands. Losing to DAL without Porzingis is not a good sign. Then again, it took an otherworldly effort from LUKA! to get it done and he’s playing on a bum ankle. If Zinger comes back and Luka is Luka, the Clippers can lose this series. Kawhi has been tremendous, but Paul George looking like he wants to spit out the bit.
I am not feeling it. They have some really good pieces, but the whole seems less than the sum. Doc has a lot of coaching to do.
6. HOU (LT: 6) – The thing about Harden is not his three-point shooting. He’s good, not great. It’s his ability to take people off the dribble, get to the basket and finish. I think that LAL takes them out because LAL can put two 7 footers on the floor at all times and HOU has no one over 6’7.
With Westbrook out, Houston has five guys averaging double figures in the playoffs so far, including Jeff Green's 19.7 ppg off the bench. But James Harden has been their leading rebounder. Hell, Boston has a better front line. I won't count them out of the mix, but, what Stick said. As a team, they are averaging fewer than 5 ORB per game so far in the playoffs, half their regular season rate. Somebody is gonna punish them for not having any size.
7. DAL (LT: 9) – Still gotta win two more against LAC and that’s a pretty tall order, but not as tall as it was before Sunday. Luka is a flat-out superstar. The league needs him to keep playing. Too bad they weren’t the six seed. If they can win this series though, it would shake the NBA world (and would be their first series win since they won the NBA title nine seasons ago).
As much as I continue to love Kawhi, I am starting to climb up next to SBG on the Luka Bandwagon. I don't think they have quite the supporting cast to go much beyond this round, however.
8. MIA (LT: 10) – Crushing the Pacers, handling T.J. Warren. Pretty good. Good enough for 4th in the East.
9. UTA (LT: 11) – I’d not take them over POR in a series, but they have DEN by the throat and are more likely to be playing next round. Plus, Mitchell has been tremendous. He’s flying under the radar because of all of the other high-profile dudes that are showing, but he was flat out great on Sunday night.
10. POR (LT: 8) – They faced playoff LBJ and that was too much for them. LAL length has stressed them plenty. Lot of series left and Dame is a wild card, but LAL looks like they are gonna be a very tough out for POR.
11. OKC (LT: 13) – Just a great win for them against HOU. Fun, gutty game.
12. DEN (LT: 7) – In real trouble against UTA. They are down a couple of starters and UTA is a good squad. Likely a very disappointing result for the three seed.
13. IND (LT: 12) – Very little chance against MIA.
14. ORL (LT: 14) – No chance against Bucks.
OUT: PHI showed some heart, but changes are coming there. NJN is the ultimate wait until next year team. They will look much different with Kyrie and KD. But, that was an embarrassment on Sunday giving up 150.
1. TOR has great depth, yes. Traditionally, this is more of a strength in the regular season because teams shorten their benches in the playoffs, but they are so good, like you say, it makes them able to withstand an injury.
2. MIL has some pieces other than Giannis. Old dudes on the bench can fill roles. I'm thinking they are okay.
3. LeBron can cover up a multitude of problems. He was electric on Saturday night. I like Howard and McGee just because of what they can do to certain teams. McGee isn't good or anything, but he's big and that presents problems for POR and would for HOU, too.
4. I think BOS hits the end of the road against TOR, yes. I was shocked to see that they'd won 3 of 4 against TOR, but this is gonna be the end. I almost wrote about how I liked Theis. Glad I didn't do that.
5. LAC gave up a literal fortune to get PG13. If they go out here, there's gonna be some gnashing of teeth in the owner's box.
6. HOU has to win now. They are gonna owe Russ ridiculous amounts of money as he declines. I just don't think they can beat the Lakers if the Lakers run AD and Howard out there most of the time. They won't ever get a rebound.
7. DAL will have a max contract slot available before Luka's rookie deal is up. Wonder if they could get a certain fella from Greece to come join them? This team is set up to be a power in the future. Winning this series and getting a shot at UTA? Man, could get very interesting.
One would have thought that Portland had the size and firepower to contend with the Lakers, with Nurkić and Whiteside. But Nurkić just isn't back to full speed yet and Whiteside, for all his defensive prowess, has been invisible on the offensive end. I think they miss Zach Collins too.
LAL has LBJ. POR does not.
Runner daughter brought over her hand-me-down robovac this weekend; apparently it came up lame as one of the sweeper brushes failed to turn, causing it to trip a fault error. After hitting up a couple Youtube videos, I opened up to try diagnose the problem. As a test, I removed a gear from the sweeper brush's gear box, to no avail. As a last ditch effort, I snipped the power to the motor and bypassed it completely, hoping it would fool the diagnostics to thinking it was fine. Nope.
RIP, Relentless. You were a hard worker.
Hai, no worries about critical dependencies here.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/24/us/zoom-outage-worldwide-trnd/index.html
Right on our first day of school. We laughed.
So with my big move coming in 2-1/2 weeks I have some HH items that Citizens in the Minneapolis area may be interested in. Let me know:
Numerous tall and short metal heavy duty shelving units. Great for the basement or garage.
Shop Vac (needs a new filter)
Tree saw
Weed Wacker
Push Mower
Kitchen Table (good for a cabin or auxillary unit perhaps)
Two upholstered chairs (kids moving into new apartment?)
Metal Framed Full size bed
Various tools, painting stuff (including a big canvass dropcloth)
Some serving bowls
I'd sell for very cheap or give away. The bed frame would have to be $50. The rest would be all less than $10 or most likely the price of a beer.
Let me know here or text me at (Mpls Area Code) 7 O Ate-!!!4
kids moving into new apartment?
🙁 outside our area, unfortunately
is there Freecycle in your area?
Or a Re-Store?
Oh yes, I have plenty of options but wanted to see if anyone wanted to come by and get it before I start schlepping. Also in my neighborhood I could put stuff on the curb and people will come by and pick it up. Those shelves won't last four hours on the curb.
Here's a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision today in the age discrimination lawsuit brought by the scout who recommended Justin Morneau, Max Kepler, and Grant Balfour (among others) against the Twins.
TL;DR: "Yes, no, and try again later."
I got lost at the part where they were scouting for baseball in Australia and South Africa.
They're at it again:
(TCF) We makes banking easier.
Last night I was looking through stuff in the storage room and found an old box from college - term papers, short story and poetry drafts, notebooks, etc. While I was rummaging through it Mrs. Twayn stepped into the doorway and asked what I was looking for. "Nothing," I said, "I just found this box of old college stuff and was going through it. I'll probably throw it out when I'm done." She looked at me a second, then said without a whiff of sarcasm, "But if you do that what will your biographers use for source material?"
Sounds like your wife and mine would be good friends.
YDNSOAA
sigh. Not here.
so, legal beagles here, what is the reasoning behind this? Is Vance trying to keep nice with the federal court?