59 thoughts on “January 26, 2021: Boom Shaka Laka”

  1. It was a great dunk, but his shooting has been ... subpar. He hit the side of the backboard on a corner three the other day, and last night bricked another shot so badly that it hit the shot clock.

      2. It hasn't been great reading the "Golden State won the trade" stories this week, even if it seems like Wiggins is being overrated in some of them. But I'm an eternal Wiggins skeptic, waiting for the other shoe to drop to tank his numbers.

          1. you mean, when Steph draws all the attention.

            I wouldn't say that GS's current lineup is exactly loaded. Draymond is a facilitator (only averaging 5 ppg so far), Oubre has been very shaky (.403 eFG%), Wiseman is gonna be great but he's currently the third-leading scorer at 11.9 ppg.

            1. Wiggins, last two seasons: 16.1 PER, .540 TS%, 7.9 TRB%, 16.5 AST%, 1.1 STL%, 2.9 BLK %, 10.4 TOV%, -0.3 BPM, $64 million left on his contract after this season
              Russell, last two seasons: 18.3 PER, .553 TS%, 6.2 TRB%, 34.2 AST%, 1.7 STL%, 0.9 BLK %, 13.8 TOV%, 1.5 BPM, $61 million left on his contract after this season

              Russell is a better player than Wiggins, even this year, his numbers are better and that's with Wiggins shooting 40% from three, which I doubt will last. Wiggins PER is down from last year, and his overall numbers this year are being buoyed by what I believe to be unsustainable shooting. There is that pick lying out there, which isn't great, but the Wolves look like a team that could end up in the top three, pushing that pick out a year. I think it all depends on where this pick falls as to whether GSW can say they won the trade. I get that there's a lot of DLo hate out there, but it's hard to accept that he's worse than Wiggins, who had some truly awful seasons right before these last two.

              2. I also agree completely, and there are still plenty of caveats on the Wolves side. Really need to see how Russell and KAT can coexist for more than a handful of games, primarily.

                But would you make that trade again if after a year the bar might be set at the "he's not worse than Wiggins and hopefully we don't lose the #4 pick" level?

                1. I think I might. DLo was a bad fit in Oakland and this year is a clusterf***, but two years ago, he was pretty good for Brooklyn and I think he can be substantially better than he's shown so far. DLo fits better with KAT, they can run PnR, whereas Wiggins can't dribble and his motor is pretty slow. Like you said, if they work together well, this will be a good deal because KAT and Wiggins was not a good pairing.

                  Wiggins's contract was so terrible and he'd been barely (and sometimes well below) average for six years. I think you needed to move him and you weren't gonna get a King's ransom. The pick looks like a real problem, but at the time, it didn't look like the Wolves were gonna be the worst team in the West. If that pick was, say, 10th, I would absolutely pull the trigger. Then again, one must always remember that the Wolves' incompetence is almost matched by their lack of luck. Who had Towns getting hurt in the third game and then getting COVID?

  2. One year ago today, I was at a resort in San Juan, at the end of our southern Caribbean cruise. I turned on the television and CNN was reporting on a helicopter crash in the LA area. I thought it was odd that a random accident like this was on CNN, not thinking at the time that that must have been someone really famous or they wouldn't be covering it. Soon the reports came in that it was Kobe.

    Looking back, it seems that that was the beginning of what became the worst year our country has endured in probably my lifetime and then some.

      2. I've seen it suggested in places that 2001 was even worse. Maybe it's recency bias, or maybe it's that my hair is long enough that I can bite it, but this last year seems a lot worse to me.

        1. Historians of the first two decades of this century are going to have a lot to say about our time, once we’ve gained enough distance to see how the effects of 2020 spill into the decades yet to come.

          I just hope we’re all still alive to be able to read some of those works.

          1. I heard today that women's participation rate in the work force has dropped to 1980s levels and it may be decades before it totally recovers. On the other hand, we've been in Afghanistan for decades. I think the long term impact of 2020 is going to be gargantuan.

            One of the things I thought and said here at this site is that I expected that sports leagues were gonna get a massive reset. Viewership for sporting events, even for the NFL, has borne this out. I kind of expected that viewership would be up since people are all cooped up, but it's down and that's... not good. It will be interesting to see what the TV rights $$$ looks like when the leagues renegotiate.

        2. Those directly affected by 9/11 I can see it being harder, but for me I knew nobody affected. I was stressed out from our response as a nation, but again, it didn't impact my own life much directly. COVID plus our political climate has impacted my life every single day for the past 10 months as well as my family's. 2020 is way, way, worse for me.

          1. Spoiler SelectShow

  4. Anyone have any pitcher-style blender recommendations? Ours is breaking down, and I'm trying to decide what level of expense is worth it.

    1. We bought a Blendtec at Costco a few years ago when they had a good sale and have zero complaints about it.

      1. We have a Vitamix from Costco, bought about ten years ago. It's Instant Pot-level awesome. But is pretty loud.

        1. Aren't those the multiple-hundreds-of-dollars blenders?
          We recently picked up a mid-tier Ninja Foodie, returns so far are positive.

          1. We have one and it was expensive. It gets used pretty much every single day and it's a real beast.

        2. We had a vitamix from Costco fail after 2 years and they replaced it because Costco. I’ve made everything you can blend in that thing including the smoothest hummus you can dream of. Yeah, that mf’er cost us 3 bills, but the blends have been worth it.

    3. Mike - we picked up a new blender last fall - the Ninja Professional 1100W, which came with both the pitcher and internal blade, and a smaller blade accessory for attaching to two 16 oz tumblers for individual smoothies (rarely used). It has more than done the job for us. Sees use maybe 2-3 times per week at about a third the cost of a similar Vitamix. My wife knows the category buyer for Target who suggested that at that price point, the Ninja is a very good buy. Consumer Reports rates Vitamix models generally higher (80-87), but has Ninjas as ‘Recommended’ and ‘Best Buy’ with ratings between 75-79.

  5. So last week a guy ran a red light and smashed into my vehicle at an intersection. The estimate came in at just over $5,000 and his insurance company is trying to say it's a total loss. I paid $7,000 for the vehicle just over a year ago and a few months ago put $2,000 into it for front end work. I don't want to have to shop for a new car in the middle of winter, I've had to do it before and it's a horseshit experience. Anybody know what my options might be for getting a repair instead of a check that undervalues my vehicle and forces me to shop for a car?

    1. What are they willing to give you for the total loss? <$5000? Have you talked with your agent about the value of the car? I'm no expert, but I'd see if they are gonna help a guy out in a situation.

    2. as I've found the insurance industry isn't really the good neighbor with good hands that it pretends to be.

      Sorry to hear about the wreck, you alright?

  9. Gleeman claims the Twins have signed Simmons. He's officially inherited Sid's beat.

    1. will he bring his Boston buddies with him, or will he inherit a bunch of close, personal friends?

        1. You might be the first person to ever think Bill Simmons might be able to break a story beyond "why it's tough to be a middle-aged white guy"

          2. Bill could have gone to SBGville’s own Chuckster for analysis of the social implications of the Twins just missing out on the latest Free agent signee.

    2. From the outside looking in (I don’t listen to Twin Cities sports radio), Wolfson’s “the Twins made a competitive offer” shtick has always struck me as his generation’s equivalent to “a close personal friend.”

  10. If Donaldson stay healthy and can be on the field with Simmons, that's a pretty strong right side.
    I assume Polanco moves to 2b and Arraez isnthe odd man out or takes over the Utility position

      1. Maybe offensively but his defense is bad. I think the Twins have recognized that they need to improve there.

          2. Absolutely. Arraez is a very poor defender (and that's from my personal observations in 2019 before he had a bum wheel all of last year).

            1. I agree that Arraez is not good defensively. The thing about that, though, is that it seems like that makes him poorly suited for a utility role. If he can't play second adequately, how's he going to play short? Maybe the plan would be to move Polanco back to short when Simmons needs a day off.

              1. That's what I'm guessing they'll do. Donaldson - 3B, Simmons - SS, Polanco - 2B if they're all healthy. If someone is out, I think Polanco will be the one to move around and Arraez at 2B.

  11. Simmons can replace Gonzalez's bat and be an upgrade at shortstop defensively. Arraez did well in a utility role in 2019, but someone else will need to play short on Simmons's days off, so it might make more sense to have the more athletic Polanco be the utility guy. Arraez has started 3 games at SS in the majors and 31 in the minors. Polanco started 193 games at second in the minors and played a handful of games at third and the outfield.

    1. I think Polanco will be the super-utility guy as well. Arraez, Donaldson, and Simmons, plus Polanco, all have injury concerns. The Twins really need at least four players for the three positions.

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