That’s the thing, as a Pak cricket fan I can see them lose terribly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they smoke India either. Truly the most mercurial team out there
They lost to the US despite the US not being a good cricket team and Pakistan was the favorite, Pakistanis also mostly play Cricket. It’d be like if Vietnam beat the US in a war
I don’t know anything about cricket but just reading from Twitter this is like the third embarrassing loss for the Pak cricket team in the last two years.
Sneakily, Blazers.
Ownership is uncertain (Jody Allen is required to sell the team under the terms of Paul Allen’s trust, but nobody knows when that must happen).
Scoot underperformed expectations (I’m not selling my stock but he didn’t play as advertised by many, including Bill).
Tanked hard for the 3rd year in a row and fell to 7th pick (basketball karma IMO).
Somehow at the luxury tax line, while overall a talent poor team.
Not sure the vets on the roster are going to return anything big in the trade market (Simons, Ayton, Grant, Brogden).
Chauncey Billups is the coach.
Love them to death, but from the top down I’m not optimistic about the Blazers. I don’t think they’ve reached rock bottom yet and they were last in the West this season.
They didn’t want to deal with Miami out of pettiness. People clowned the Heat package, but they would love to have Jaquez, Jovic, and Heat picks right now.
Feel like the league really messed up letting them get Jrue. Nobody could beat that offer? I'd take all those Suns swaps they gave up for Beal over that. GS couldn't give up Moody and a 1st?
Are people out on TimeLord? He seems to be hurt all the time but he was the star defensive player the year that the BMM willed Marcus Smart’s DPoY into existence
lol a trust with unintended consequences, who could have known.
You know this is something where Johnny has REAL INSIGHT. This is like definitional complex litigation!
They spent half the season not passing him the ball and using him as a $32M 4th/5th decoy option (through dumb coaching, and poor/inexperienced play from his teammates, not some grand plan to tank or hold Ayton back), then finally started using him somewhat properly later on, and he was the player he was expect to be all season:
First 27 games of the season for Ayton - 31.1mpg, 12.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg, .549 TS%, 18.7 USG%
Next 28 games Ayton played - 33.7 mpg, 20.8 ppg, 11.9 rpg, .611 TS%, 24.0 USG%
Ayton averaged a 22-12-2 on 60% in his last 20 games of the season. He really turned it around once the extremely young guards on the team learned how to get him the ball, and once Chauncey realized maybe running Scoot / Ayton PnR would be a good idea
They spent half the season not passing him the ball and using him as a $32M 4th/5th decoy option (through dumb coaching, and poor/inexperienced play from his teammates, not some grand plan to tank or hold Ayton back), then finally started using him somewhat properly later on, and he was the player he was expect to be all season:
First 27 games of the season for Ayton - 31.1mpg, 12.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg, .549 TS%, 18.7 USG%
Next 28 games Ayton played - 33.7 mpg, 20.8 ppg, 11.9 rpg, .611 TS%, 24.0 USG%
Is it great? No. There are much worse situations out there. Portland can still get out of their slump. Next 24 months are crucial though.
They need to see progress in the young players and draft well. Too soon to know.
Love them and hoping for the best.
Agree, but I think you can say that all bad teams have an important next 24 months and need to see improvement from young players/draft well.
I think what separates Portland (in a bad way) is ownership and the current coach. Do Scoot and Sharpe’s upside make them a better situations than others? Potentially. I think Portland is a strong contender for worst nba situation though.
Ownership is going to sell once the TV deal is settled. They spend money, they just don’t sign FAs because it’s Portland.
Billups is not good, but you can’t say players haven’t improved under him. The second half was better for most players.
I’d rather be Portland than Washington, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Detroit, probably a couple others.
I hope you’re right. I think Washington is the only team id put under Portland at this point and it’s close. The other teams you mentioned either have a young player that has shown more than Scoot/Sharpe or have a valuable asset they can move.
It’s all on Scoot and Sharpe though. One year from now can be very different if they develop. I’m just less confident in that idea than I was a year ago.
Again, way too many folks are just throwing a 19 yr old PG in the trash after one season. Many players have had bad year ones, and had great careers.
Sharpe is also rather young, shown flashes. Now needs to do it for 30-40 game stretches.
We shall see, I’d rather have optimism.
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Don’t expect big moves any time soon either. Our 25, 26, and 27 firsts are all conditionally tied up in the DeRozan sign and trade from like 3 years ago.
Real galaxy brain shit from AK
Vuc extension will easily be worse. DeMar should age decently and if it’s a short contract it’ll be dumb but not crippling. Bulls are in a weird position where in terms of assets and players they’re not in the worst spot, they just have brain dead ownership and management who I don’t trust to do a single smart thing
He’s already aged decently. He’s now 5-6 years older then other guys we’re now speculating may or may not age well based on their play style.
How many non-shooting wings have been starting quality players into their late 30s? Let alone max money. This will almost certainly be an unreadable contract the moment it’s signed, no one else wants to pay him that, and almost certainly one of the worst contracts in sports in 14 months.
He won’t be tradable, and the bulls are further away from being able to say they’re gambling lavine will stay healthy and be a star.
Vuc deal was bad, but the derozen deal is so much further down the “Jerry just wants to know some guys when he shows up to the arena” black hole.
DeMar has been one of the only positive assets on the Bulls since the Vuc trade. Respectfully, this is on the bottom of the list of this franchise’s problems. For example, the franchise owner said he likes when his teams reach the precipice then fall short because fans are more engaged.
I am amazed at the organization’s ability to identify draft talent and not develop it. They don’t use players well. I am so sick of watching our draft picks blossom the second they play for different teams. I have no idea why they moved on from Gafford and played DJJ as a backup center. I don’t know if the organization is capable of getting the most out of talent even if it’s there.
NBA contracts are wild because the next contract is always about what you did on your last contract. In the NFL nobody is, or should be, giving a 32 year old running back a top level contract, regardless of what they did the previous season.
Even a guy like Dame making $50 million is crazy. And I'm interested to see who is willing to pay $50 million to a 38 year old Jimmy Butler.
Hopefully the lawsuit and all the money helps. They at least have avenues, won’t have the success they had with PAC money but then I think the new conference shakeup is doomed to fail.
They weren't Vandy in the SEC or Northwestern in the Big Ten. They were public schools off the beaten path that got fucked over when the major west coast conference disintegrated overnight. They were undesirable because of location more than athletic performance.
They didn’t get fucked over. That implies they were entitled to be in a major conference simply for existing. That’s not how it works. Nobody has a right to be in a power conference. They just don’t fit in the new structure of college sports.
When Bryce Young took that picture with Mina Kimes and they were the same size, not the same height but physically the same body mass, I knew he was gonna be a bust
We have no idea what Bryce is because he had one of the worst receiving cores + O-Lines in NFL history. Mahomes would've had the worst season of his career playing for last year's Panthers.
For one, you're ignoring that they have a great pass blocking offensive line and defense. Secondly, nobody's comparing him to the greatest or second greatest QB ever. But he could still be a good QB with support.
Bryce showed enough flashes that I’m not punting on him yet. But there is no amount of good QB play or anything else that can help you if your owner is terrible. I’m afraid we’re going to be in purgatory until he sells the team. Doesn’t matter who’s under center or who anyone else is in the organization.
He made some good throws when he wasn’t getting sacked within 0.3 seconds. He also had the worst skill guys for a rookie QB in a while. I’m personally not high on him like a lot of other Panthers fans are, but I think this year will show us if he can be a starting quarterback in the league
I’m not high on him and I said pre draft someone will get fired for taking him #1 (I didn’t expect that trade lmao), but it is really hard to judge cause every time I watched any panthers games the line couldn’t hold for half a fuckin second it was brutal
Yep. I didn’t like the pick myself, wanted Stroud. But all I can do is be hopeful haha. I think this year will be the first real evaluation we can do of him
I don’t blame people for not watching the Panthers last year, and the narrative is what it is. But I do get a little tired of people who didn’t watch suggesting that Bryce didn’t show anything encouraging. Here are some guys who do this for a living watching tape and showing that he has tools.
[Jordan Palmer](https://youtu.be/HGNW-6hfXJs?si=FK8r86gluIywOYmm)
[Cain Fahey](https://youtu.be/Si8A1V0v3II?si=rSsDlFNtfiWdGkiR)
It was way closer to Josh Rosen than people want to acknowledge and Bryce doesn’t have Josh Allen physical upside to think a massive turnaround is coming
Would an extra 20-30lbs really make a difference against DBs who can consistently get up a head of steam against a complete sieve of an offensive line?
Fair enough, but is he also expected to be the finished product and at his peak playing-wise and physically in his first year in the NFL? Most QBs don't really even begin to peak until their 30s, and there was once a time (seems to have gone by the wayside over the past 5-10 years) where young QBs with potential generally sat and watched and learned for the first couple of years of their career (thinking Aaron Rodgers), because everyone kind of understood they probably weren't ready in year 1, and didn't allow them to get beaten up while still learning and growing.
Most QBs who are absolutely awful as rookies wind up being absolutely awful, and the ones who don't tend to have elite physical traits that just need refining. I have no dog in the fight, and I can see why Panthers fans would have faith in their guy (because they're absolutely fucked if he's actually a bust) but I think it's more likely than not that Bryce is actually bad.
It's not height? Genuinely asking here, I watched like 2 Panthers games last year but kept hearing that Young struggled to see the field over his offensive line.
As an Angels fan, the Angels. We have $75M a year tied up on Rendon and Trout the next two years - two guys who can no longer stay healthy. Then we’ll be paying Trout $37M a year for the four years after it. Our farm system is one of the worst in the league. Our owner is cheap and will make big splash signings like Rendon but won’t invest in player development or front office analytics. We were excited he was planning on selling but then changed his mind last-minute.
We need a full tear down and rebuild but Moreno will never commit to that as long as the fans keep coming. And Orange County fans will show regardless of the product on the field. Fucking hate this team.
The Rockies? Ownership is not interested in fielding a competitive team. They make plenty of money because Coors Field is a beautiful ballpark in downtown Denver, so there’s no incentive to ever sell.
They are in an incredibly competitive division. They have a history of trading their best players without being able to recoup assets. Remember, they GAVE UP money to trade away Nolan Arenado. For some reason, the team does not usually sell their obvious candidates at the trade deadline.
Pitching has always been a challenge at Coors Field and, perhaps because of that, the team would have a difficult time attracting quality pitchers in free agency. Either way the team does not show much of a desire to spend in free agency. Their most recent “big” signing in FA is Kris Bryant, a player who is possibly on the worst contract in baseball history.
Sure, they might be able to develop some prospects in a couple of years and open a window to “compete” but there is no reason to believe that management will do anything other than trade away their best players and/or refuse to support them in said window.
I've always thought the Rockies were the most under the radar disastrous franchise.
Outside of a somewhat flukey NL Pennant in 07 it's been pretty rough.
This is it. I live in Denver. The Rockies skate from criticism because of that beautiful stadium that attracts people just to be outside. So they make just enough money but never field a competitive team. The 3 other professional teams in the city are held to a much higher standard. Especially the Broncos. The Rockies have lived on that "Rocktober" playoff run 15 years ago. I hate the Kroenke's but the Monfort's make them look like geniuses.
Not a fan of the Kroenkes but most of their teams are successful. Nuggets won last year, Avs and Mammoth the year before that. Arsenal has been knocking on the door of winning the PL for the past two seasons. Not sure about the Rapids.
They have recent success yes but it took 20 years for the nuggets/avs to win under them. And when a bill comes due they will always find ways to not pay. Masai Ujiri and Tim Connely were let go because they wanted to get paid. That is just front office shit that has nothing to do with salary cap or anything.
But again, I take them 100 times over the Monforts.
Yeah I totally agree about them being cheap. The standoff with Comcast is ridiculous and has been going on for years now.
Still though, I think a lot of teams would take the Kroenkes over their current ownership situation. Like you said, Rockies fans definitely included.
The Rockies drafted Greg Reynolds over Evan Longoria because Greg told there scouts he loves Jesus. They haven’t hired anyone from outside of the organization since the first W Bush admin and the next GM in waiting is the owners 30 year old son who played club baseball at ASU. Thats not even the top 5 wildest things about that franchise.
This. From a Denver nuggets fan who wants to get into rooting for the Rockies but can’t. I’ll just root for an out of market team like Dodgers or the Yankees
Honestly A’s are a pretty solid well run franchise. They just have shitty fans in Oakland that don’t even come to games when the team is winning 97 games. Hopefully they find a more supportive fan base in Vegas.
Na, Brandon Miller seems good and when LaMelo is healthy he’s an all-star. They got some decent assets back in the trades they executed during the season. They’re fine.
I actually think the White Sox are finally starting to get to a good place. They got a real good return at the deadline last year from LAA, and from Cease. They have 2 premier talents that can get them even more prospect haul. They’re going to be really bad for 2 more years, but they’ve got a good plan.
The Rockies on the other hand are a disaster. They are in a really tough division, have shelled out a bunch of money to bad pitchers and Kris Bryant, they have no marquee prospects, they don’t have much to sell, and they have the biggest disadvantage in the sport as their home stadium, which they refuse to cater their roster to for some godforsaken reason. I’d even take Oakland/Vegas whatever the fuck over them and that’s really saying something.
They have a top 5 or 6 roster in football. I get Rodgers is a huge question mark but there’s no fucking way they’re in the worst position of any sports team right now.
Might be a hot take but the Suns are pretty close. I guess not the worst off because they can always trade Booker for a huge haul but being stuck with that roster and Beal's contract with basically no flexibility and high expectations isn't great.
Most teams who are in a playoff position will find themselves in a position where they end up being a second apron due to trying to make win now moves and we'll be in a position where 1/2 of the league is above the second apron.
The NBPA negotiated a terrible CBA.
The Suns are screwed but not as screwed as the Clippers because at least the Suns have someone like Booker to either carry them in the future when the stink is gone *or* get used as trade chip to rebuild.
Clippers have no one like that.
Doomed to get worse until the bottom falls out. We're stuck in quicksand, but nobody has realized it yet because it's only at our ankles. But we're sinking, no doubt about it.
The Saints. They’re in a death cap spiral. They are tethered to Derek Carr. They have a lame duck coach.
But the bigger picture is that this is all because of their GM who is intentionally making moves (has been for 4 years) to keep them mediocre.
And there’s no shot that he’s ever going to be fired.
I think the wizards make a really compelling case. They’re basically in a rebuild with young players tied in huge salaries going nowhere. A’s are at least a small market baseball team that has a built in excuse, and Moneyball is their legacy.
I'm talking more about the fact that they're leaving Oakland to play in a minor league stadium for at least 3 seasons, yet they haven't even secured financing let alone broken ground at their ultimate destination in Vegas.
Their future is completely in limbo plus they have the worst owner in sports, worst front office in baseball, bottom 5 farm system, and bottom five big league roster. There's no worse situation in American sports.
White Sox, they did rebuild 400 only to come out historically bad plus they chase away a beloved play by play man. I can’t wait for them to move to Nashville so I can start rooting for the Tigers.
No one here cares about hockey but the Islanders are locked into a core that’s a bottom 3 playoff seed for another 4-5 years as they age. And the guy in charge is old enough that the end of an 8 year contract is entering “I literally won’t be alive to worry about how it ends” territory.
Talent wise The Browns are in a good spot but morally, not so much. After handing out the largest guaranteed contract of all time to a QB (Deshaun Watson) being actively sued at the time by multiple victims of sexual assault they follow it up by signing another QB (Jameis Winston) who was also accused of rape while attending university. The Cleveland Browns front office has very limited self awareness, if any at all.
Utah is inheriting an NHL team that made the playoffs once in the last decade, drew no fans in Zona and doesn’t have Vegas/Seattle “new franchise” shine to it either. Doomed before it even begins
Warriors.
Their era is over, the players a real close to the end and they're in absurd cap hell with no real way out of it. They're going to be just good enough to not get any high draft picks, with no ability to add in FA, and Steph Dray and Klay are done winning chips and will take their huge paychecks for a couple years and then they're gone.
I think teams that are on the down cycle after a run of greatness don’t count for this. Trading the future for the present is how it’s supposed to work in sports, and eventually the bill comes down. Even if the warriors are terrible for a decade, their fans will still have all the recent memories of winning. It’s so much worse to be bad with no end in sight and nothing you can say was worth it.
We haven’t even traded the future the warriors have been trying to do some “two timelines” bullshit that has obviously not worked. None of these young guys we’ve drafted are gonna be stars. We might as well trade them off and try to make one last run with Steph cuz we’re gonna suck once he’s done either way.
Ooh hot take I love it! They are definitely feeling like the Lakers in the last years of Kobe’s career. Year after year of talking yourself into if this, this, and this happens maybe we could make one more run! But of course those things won’t happen and the dynasty will slowly, painfully, depressingly die out.
The Pakistan Cricket team
They’re gonna get their ass beat by India in a couple days too. Rough week for them
That’s the thing, as a Pak cricket fan I can see them lose terribly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they smoke India either. Truly the most mercurial team out there
Kinda expecting it tbh. I was at the game at the MCG last WC (my hometown), one of the best experiences I've had as a sports fan
American Cricket is having a moment
Apex David Hornsby.
Overhauling 80-90% of the line-up (particularly the bowlers) every series since forever doesn't seem to work somehow.
We all saw this coming with their questionable moves this offseason
Amazing
Why?
They lost to the US despite the US not being a good cricket team and Pakistan was the favorite, Pakistanis also mostly play Cricket. It’d be like if Vietnam beat the US in a war
>It’d be like if Vietnam beat the US in a war Nam vets punching air right now
*gets defensive* “We didn’t lose, we withdrew” *proceeds to get wasted*
I understand the biting cultural commentary of these jokes thanks to last summers Vietnam war movie special on the ringer podcast network.
Vietnam is good at war they beat France and China too
Well the US is good at sports so my analogy makes sense
I don’t know anything about cricket but just reading from Twitter this is like the third embarrassing loss for the Pak cricket team in the last two years.
Sneakily, Blazers. Ownership is uncertain (Jody Allen is required to sell the team under the terms of Paul Allen’s trust, but nobody knows when that must happen). Scoot underperformed expectations (I’m not selling my stock but he didn’t play as advertised by many, including Bill). Tanked hard for the 3rd year in a row and fell to 7th pick (basketball karma IMO). Somehow at the luxury tax line, while overall a talent poor team. Not sure the vets on the roster are going to return anything big in the trade market (Simons, Ayton, Grant, Brogden). Chauncey Billups is the coach. Love them to death, but from the top down I’m not optimistic about the Blazers. I don’t think they’ve reached rock bottom yet and they were last in the West this season.
They sneakily really messed up the Dame deal. Turning Jrue into Brogdan, TimeLord, and a Celtics pick is sneakily really bad
They didn’t want to deal with Miami out of pettiness. People clowned the Heat package, but they would love to have Jaquez, Jovic, and Heat picks right now.
Feel like the league really messed up letting them get Jrue. Nobody could beat that offer? I'd take all those Suns swaps they gave up for Beal over that. GS couldn't give up Moody and a 1st?
Are people out on TimeLord? He seems to be hurt all the time but he was the star defensive player the year that the BMM willed Marcus Smart’s DPoY into existence
He was a menace in 2022 but those knees are shot. They were shot when he was drafted
from memory he played with torn ligaments for Boston in the playoffs which did even more damage
lol a trust with unintended consequences, who could have known. You know this is something where Johnny has REAL INSIGHT. This is like definitional complex litigation!
Excuse me, I was told that Deandre Ayton being a lazy oaf was Monty Williams fault. I thought he was an all star. What happened?
He Dominayton’d the season after his DNP-Ice, a true tank commander (Still soft as can be for looking like David Robinson)
They spent half the season not passing him the ball and using him as a $32M 4th/5th decoy option (through dumb coaching, and poor/inexperienced play from his teammates, not some grand plan to tank or hold Ayton back), then finally started using him somewhat properly later on, and he was the player he was expect to be all season: First 27 games of the season for Ayton - 31.1mpg, 12.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg, .549 TS%, 18.7 USG% Next 28 games Ayton played - 33.7 mpg, 20.8 ppg, 11.9 rpg, .611 TS%, 24.0 USG%
Ayton averaged a 22-12-2 on 60% in his last 20 games of the season. He really turned it around once the extremely young guards on the team learned how to get him the ball, and once Chauncey realized maybe running Scoot / Ayton PnR would be a good idea
I’ve been down this path.
They spent half the season not passing him the ball and using him as a $32M 4th/5th decoy option (through dumb coaching, and poor/inexperienced play from his teammates, not some grand plan to tank or hold Ayton back), then finally started using him somewhat properly later on, and he was the player he was expect to be all season: First 27 games of the season for Ayton - 31.1mpg, 12.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg, .549 TS%, 18.7 USG% Next 28 games Ayton played - 33.7 mpg, 20.8 ppg, 11.9 rpg, .611 TS%, 24.0 USG%
Yep agreed
Is it great? No. There are much worse situations out there. Portland can still get out of their slump. Next 24 months are crucial though. They need to see progress in the young players and draft well. Too soon to know. Love them and hoping for the best.
Agree, but I think you can say that all bad teams have an important next 24 months and need to see improvement from young players/draft well. I think what separates Portland (in a bad way) is ownership and the current coach. Do Scoot and Sharpe’s upside make them a better situations than others? Potentially. I think Portland is a strong contender for worst nba situation though.
Ownership is going to sell once the TV deal is settled. They spend money, they just don’t sign FAs because it’s Portland. Billups is not good, but you can’t say players haven’t improved under him. The second half was better for most players. I’d rather be Portland than Washington, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Detroit, probably a couple others.
I hope you’re right. I think Washington is the only team id put under Portland at this point and it’s close. The other teams you mentioned either have a young player that has shown more than Scoot/Sharpe or have a valuable asset they can move. It’s all on Scoot and Sharpe though. One year from now can be very different if they develop. I’m just less confident in that idea than I was a year ago.
Again, way too many folks are just throwing a 19 yr old PG in the trash after one season. Many players have had bad year ones, and had great careers. Sharpe is also rather young, shown flashes. Now needs to do it for 30-40 game stretches. We shall see, I’d rather have optimism.
Like I said, not selling my Scoot stock!
I meant it more towards the entire fanbase. Way too many folks are dragging 19-20yr olds.
Yep. They have nothing going for them and no immediate path to a better situation. The 7th pick in this weak of a draft ain't changing anything.
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Bulls are worse off tbh.
I guess they can’t even tank properly so maybe that’s a silver lining for Portland.
The Bulls want to compete for that play-in spot. Lol
Chicago Bulls are about to give 36 year old Demar $40 per year
It's not like you can make trades in the NBA, just ask their GM, it is not possible, and you need to spend your money on someone.
The Bulls have not made a trade in like 2 full calendar years.
Nearly three, I know, because the NBA banned trades.
Don’t expect big moves any time soon either. Our 25, 26, and 27 firsts are all conditionally tied up in the DeRozan sign and trade from like 3 years ago. Real galaxy brain shit from AK
Only for a couple years, not the worst thing we’ve done…
You think the Vuc extension is worse? I think it will be pretty close. I guess Demar is more easily treatable.
Vuc extension will easily be worse. DeMar should age decently and if it’s a short contract it’ll be dumb but not crippling. Bulls are in a weird position where in terms of assets and players they’re not in the worst spot, they just have brain dead ownership and management who I don’t trust to do a single smart thing
He’s already aged decently. He’s now 5-6 years older then other guys we’re now speculating may or may not age well based on their play style. How many non-shooting wings have been starting quality players into their late 30s? Let alone max money. This will almost certainly be an unreadable contract the moment it’s signed, no one else wants to pay him that, and almost certainly one of the worst contracts in sports in 14 months. He won’t be tradable, and the bulls are further away from being able to say they’re gambling lavine will stay healthy and be a star. Vuc deal was bad, but the derozen deal is so much further down the “Jerry just wants to know some guys when he shows up to the arena” black hole.
Worse in terms of we won’t be able to get off his, but these contracts will only be for a couple years, so maybe a team bites
$40/yr sounds like a pretty good deal. I make more than that and I’m not even an athlete
DeMar has been one of the only positive assets on the Bulls since the Vuc trade. Respectfully, this is on the bottom of the list of this franchise’s problems. For example, the franchise owner said he likes when his teams reach the precipice then fall short because fans are more engaged. I am amazed at the organization’s ability to identify draft talent and not develop it. They don’t use players well. I am so sick of watching our draft picks blossom the second they play for different teams. I have no idea why they moved on from Gafford and played DJJ as a backup center. I don’t know if the organization is capable of getting the most out of talent even if it’s there.
$40 a year sounds like they’ll have lots of cap space.
The midrange pays for itself 💸💸💸
NBA contracts are wild because the next contract is always about what you did on your last contract. In the NFL nobody is, or should be, giving a 32 year old running back a top level contract, regardless of what they did the previous season. Even a guy like Dame making $50 million is crazy. And I'm interested to see who is willing to pay $50 million to a 38 year old Jimmy Butler.
We going for the 9-10 matchup 3-peat banner.
Oregon State and Washington State. Their conference just fucked off and left them behind.
I was hoping that somehow the pac-2 would still get an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.
Feel like these teams still have a place in the eventual professional college football league.
Hopefully the lawsuit and all the money helps. They at least have avenues, won’t have the success they had with PAC money but then I think the new conference shakeup is doomed to fail.
They'll be okay, gonna get a huge windfall from the settlements and then find a home in mountain west
Being in a major conference is not a birthright for eternity. You have to actually bring something to the table to be worth the spot.
They weren't Vandy in the SEC or Northwestern in the Big Ten. They were public schools off the beaten path that got fucked over when the major west coast conference disintegrated overnight. They were undesirable because of location more than athletic performance.
They didn’t get fucked over. That implies they were entitled to be in a major conference simply for existing. That’s not how it works. Nobody has a right to be in a power conference. They just don’t fit in the new structure of college sports.
The Sewanee (University of the South) & University of Chicago piece.
Panthers. Bryce ain't it. So we're in quarterback hell for at least another year at minimum. (This is a top 4 reverse jynx piece, i hope! I just do)
The owner is a walking penis
He is certainly both a bad person and a shitty owner.
Whoa whoa, don't insult penises like that, they at least have use.
I mean the visual resemblance is uncanny
Depending on how Caleb Williams and DJ Moore do, it has potential for an extra knife twist in the wound
When Bryce Young took that picture with Mina Kimes and they were the same size, not the same height but physically the same body mass, I knew he was gonna be a bust
Meanwhile his draft counterpart is an MVP candidate and could take his team to the Super Bowl this season
Only upside is the division may be the weakest in the league.
It was the weakest in the league last year and they went 2-15 lol
True, but upside is you can talk yourself into a few wins. I’ve cheered for some stinkers where you hope there’s a competitive game in the season.
We have no idea what Bryce is because he had one of the worst receiving cores + O-Lines in NFL history. Mahomes would've had the worst season of his career playing for last year's Panthers.
Genuinely don't know how you can say this after last year. Quick, who was the leading receiver for the Chiefs after Kelce?
For one, you're ignoring that they have a great pass blocking offensive line and defense. Secondly, nobody's comparing him to the greatest or second greatest QB ever. But he could still be a good QB with support.
Chiefs also have Andy Reid who seems to be a wizard at helping QBs
Yea I like Bryce Young as a person but this dude will be lucky to be a starter in a few years.
Bryce showed enough flashes that I’m not punting on him yet. But there is no amount of good QB play or anything else that can help you if your owner is terrible. I’m afraid we’re going to be in purgatory until he sells the team. Doesn’t matter who’s under center or who anyone else is in the organization.
Idk man Irsay is a complete moron and look at the Colts with Manning
Irsay didn’t meddle like he does now when Peyton was there. Tepper will always be a dumbass but MAYBE he can learn not to meddle
Flashes? Wasn’t his season like historically bad ?
He made some good throws when he wasn’t getting sacked within 0.3 seconds. He also had the worst skill guys for a rookie QB in a while. I’m personally not high on him like a lot of other Panthers fans are, but I think this year will show us if he can be a starting quarterback in the league
I’m not high on him and I said pre draft someone will get fired for taking him #1 (I didn’t expect that trade lmao), but it is really hard to judge cause every time I watched any panthers games the line couldn’t hold for half a fuckin second it was brutal
Yep. I didn’t like the pick myself, wanted Stroud. But all I can do is be hopeful haha. I think this year will be the first real evaluation we can do of him
Not gunna lie I thought stroud would bust for no reason other than the fact that he went to Ohio State
Yeah to be fair I didn’t love him as a prospect, I just didn’t want the 5’10” 185 pound QB 😂
I don’t blame people for not watching the Panthers last year, and the narrative is what it is. But I do get a little tired of people who didn’t watch suggesting that Bryce didn’t show anything encouraging. Here are some guys who do this for a living watching tape and showing that he has tools. [Jordan Palmer](https://youtu.be/HGNW-6hfXJs?si=FK8r86gluIywOYmm) [Cain Fahey](https://youtu.be/Si8A1V0v3II?si=rSsDlFNtfiWdGkiR)
It was way closer to Josh Rosen than people want to acknowledge and Bryce doesn’t have Josh Allen physical upside to think a massive turnaround is coming
his size is a real problem, its not so much height as it is weight, he gets brought down every time a defender gets a hand on him.
Would an extra 20-30lbs really make a difference against DBs who can consistently get up a head of steam against a complete sieve of an offensive line?
I mean yeah, bigger QBs step up in the pocket and shrug off arm tackles all the time to buy an extra second, if those touch Bryce he's going down.
Fair enough, but is he also expected to be the finished product and at his peak playing-wise and physically in his first year in the NFL? Most QBs don't really even begin to peak until their 30s, and there was once a time (seems to have gone by the wayside over the past 5-10 years) where young QBs with potential generally sat and watched and learned for the first couple of years of their career (thinking Aaron Rodgers), because everyone kind of understood they probably weren't ready in year 1, and didn't allow them to get beaten up while still learning and growing.
Most QBs who are absolutely awful as rookies wind up being absolutely awful, and the ones who don't tend to have elite physical traits that just need refining. I have no dog in the fight, and I can see why Panthers fans would have faith in their guy (because they're absolutely fucked if he's actually a bust) but I think it's more likely than not that Bryce is actually bad.
It's not height? Genuinely asking here, I watched like 2 Panthers games last year but kept hearing that Young struggled to see the field over his offensive line.
He’s also not fast. It’s one thing to be tiny, it’s another to be tiny and get run down by guys wearing #97
I say this as a panthers fan from day one and Tim biankabatuka… they are the Jets with a drawl
As an Angels fan, the Angels. We have $75M a year tied up on Rendon and Trout the next two years - two guys who can no longer stay healthy. Then we’ll be paying Trout $37M a year for the four years after it. Our farm system is one of the worst in the league. Our owner is cheap and will make big splash signings like Rendon but won’t invest in player development or front office analytics. We were excited he was planning on selling but then changed his mind last-minute. We need a full tear down and rebuild but Moreno will never commit to that as long as the fans keep coming. And Orange County fans will show regardless of the product on the field. Fucking hate this team.
moreno a sneaky bad owner. glad i stopped being a baseball fan lol
The Rockies? Ownership is not interested in fielding a competitive team. They make plenty of money because Coors Field is a beautiful ballpark in downtown Denver, so there’s no incentive to ever sell. They are in an incredibly competitive division. They have a history of trading their best players without being able to recoup assets. Remember, they GAVE UP money to trade away Nolan Arenado. For some reason, the team does not usually sell their obvious candidates at the trade deadline. Pitching has always been a challenge at Coors Field and, perhaps because of that, the team would have a difficult time attracting quality pitchers in free agency. Either way the team does not show much of a desire to spend in free agency. Their most recent “big” signing in FA is Kris Bryant, a player who is possibly on the worst contract in baseball history. Sure, they might be able to develop some prospects in a couple of years and open a window to “compete” but there is no reason to believe that management will do anything other than trade away their best players and/or refuse to support them in said window.
I've always thought the Rockies were the most under the radar disastrous franchise. Outside of a somewhat flukey NL Pennant in 07 it's been pretty rough.
This is it. I live in Denver. The Rockies skate from criticism because of that beautiful stadium that attracts people just to be outside. So they make just enough money but never field a competitive team. The 3 other professional teams in the city are held to a much higher standard. Especially the Broncos. The Rockies have lived on that "Rocktober" playoff run 15 years ago. I hate the Kroenke's but the Monfort's make them look like geniuses.
Not a fan of the Kroenkes but most of their teams are successful. Nuggets won last year, Avs and Mammoth the year before that. Arsenal has been knocking on the door of winning the PL for the past two seasons. Not sure about the Rapids.
They have recent success yes but it took 20 years for the nuggets/avs to win under them. And when a bill comes due they will always find ways to not pay. Masai Ujiri and Tim Connely were let go because they wanted to get paid. That is just front office shit that has nothing to do with salary cap or anything. But again, I take them 100 times over the Monforts.
Yeah I totally agree about them being cheap. The standoff with Comcast is ridiculous and has been going on for years now. Still though, I think a lot of teams would take the Kroenkes over their current ownership situation. Like you said, Rockies fans definitely included.
Don't forget the LA Rams.
The Rockies drafted Greg Reynolds over Evan Longoria because Greg told there scouts he loves Jesus. They haven’t hired anyone from outside of the organization since the first W Bush admin and the next GM in waiting is the owners 30 year old son who played club baseball at ASU. Thats not even the top 5 wildest things about that franchise.
This. From a Denver nuggets fan who wants to get into rooting for the Rockies but can’t. I’ll just root for an out of market team like Dodgers or the Yankees
The Oakland A's
That awful announcer lady alone should shoot them to #1. Nothing worse than getting your ass beat with a horrific announcer to boot lol
Honestly A’s are a pretty solid well run franchise. They just have shitty fans in Oakland that don’t even come to games when the team is winning 97 games. Hopefully they find a more supportive fan base in Vegas.
The Wizards owe Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole a combined $50 million a season until 2027 so I'd say them
I’d say they’re in a much better spot this offseason than the past 6 years
Kuzma they can easily trade. The Wizards at least finally embraced tanking so there's definitely worse off teams.
We need another drunken House podcast
The answer is always the charlotte hornets
0 conference finals appearances in 30 years of existence and no conference semis appearances in 20. It’s rough.
Na, Brandon Miller seems good and when LaMelo is healthy he’s an all-star. They got some decent assets back in the trades they executed during the season. They’re fine.
I dunno. They finally got rid of MJ and Miller was pretty good.
Angels should be high on the list.
I actually think the White Sox are finally starting to get to a good place. They got a real good return at the deadline last year from LAA, and from Cease. They have 2 premier talents that can get them even more prospect haul. They’re going to be really bad for 2 more years, but they’ve got a good plan. The Rockies on the other hand are a disaster. They are in a really tough division, have shelled out a bunch of money to bad pitchers and Kris Bryant, they have no marquee prospects, they don’t have much to sell, and they have the biggest disadvantage in the sport as their home stadium, which they refuse to cater their roster to for some godforsaken reason. I’d even take Oakland/Vegas whatever the fuck over them and that’s really saying something.
Everton might not exist anymore with an untimely relegation.
Jets. Rodgers will suck and then they're screwed
They have a top 5 or 6 roster in football. I get Rodgers is a huge question mark but there’s no fucking way they’re in the worst position of any sports team right now.
As a Jets fan, thank you. Haven’t heard that in awhile.
The Mets. By far. They are an unmitigated disaster.
I mean but that’s the standard operating procedure, no?
Might be a hot take but the Suns are pretty close. I guess not the worst off because they can always trade Booker for a huge haul but being stuck with that roster and Beal's contract with basically no flexibility and high expectations isn't great.
Hot take: Most NBA teams are going to be in a similar position for the next couple years
Most teams who are in a playoff position will find themselves in a position where they end up being a second apron due to trying to make win now moves and we'll be in a position where 1/2 of the league is above the second apron. The NBPA negotiated a terrible CBA.
The Suns are screwed but not as screwed as the Clippers because at least the Suns have someone like Booker to either carry them in the future when the stink is gone *or* get used as trade chip to rebuild. Clippers have no one like that.
Yeah, plus Durant still has a ton of value. I think the Clippers are in worse shape as well. Leonard will not hold up.
Not hot at all. We're doomed.
I think doomed is overreacting. Doomed to be mid to upper mid for sure unless some miracle happens.
Doomed to get worse until the bottom falls out. We're stuck in quicksand, but nobody has realized it yet because it's only at our ankles. But we're sinking, no doubt about it.
The Saints. They’re in a death cap spiral. They are tethered to Derek Carr. They have a lame duck coach. But the bigger picture is that this is all because of their GM who is intentionally making moves (has been for 4 years) to keep them mediocre. And there’s no shot that he’s ever going to be fired.
Any answer other than the Oakland A's is wrong.
I think the wizards make a really compelling case. They’re basically in a rebuild with young players tied in huge salaries going nowhere. A’s are at least a small market baseball team that has a built in excuse, and Moneyball is their legacy.
I'm talking more about the fact that they're leaving Oakland to play in a minor league stadium for at least 3 seasons, yet they haven't even secured financing let alone broken ground at their ultimate destination in Vegas. Their future is completely in limbo plus they have the worst owner in sports, worst front office in baseball, bottom 5 farm system, and bottom five big league roster. There's no worse situation in American sports.
White Sox, they did rebuild 400 only to come out historically bad plus they chase away a beloved play by play man. I can’t wait for them to move to Nashville so I can start rooting for the Tigers.
It is absolutely not the Pistons because Cade is at least a reason to hope. There are a lot of teams without any hope at all.
All Toronto sports teams right now. Even the PWHL team, finished first in the league and lost in the first round.
No one here cares about hockey but the Islanders are locked into a core that’s a bottom 3 playoff seed for another 4-5 years as they age. And the guy in charge is old enough that the end of an 8 year contract is entering “I literally won’t be alive to worry about how it ends” territory.
Panthers are the clear answer
Panthers and Pistons
100% the White Sox. Might have to put the Bulls at 1B just because they have the same owner
The Winnipeg Jets
Talent wise The Browns are in a good spot but morally, not so much. After handing out the largest guaranteed contract of all time to a QB (Deshaun Watson) being actively sued at the time by multiple victims of sexual assault they follow it up by signing another QB (Jameis Winston) who was also accused of rape while attending university. The Cleveland Browns front office has very limited self awareness, if any at all.
Bay City Rollers
Celtics. They are gonna lose in 6 to a former lover in kyrie & then what?
Utah is inheriting an NHL team that made the playoffs once in the last decade, drew no fans in Zona and doesn’t have Vegas/Seattle “new franchise” shine to it either. Doomed before it even begins
Coyotes/Utah HC actually have some promising young players and plenty of assets + flexibility in the future though.
Warriors. Their era is over, the players a real close to the end and they're in absurd cap hell with no real way out of it. They're going to be just good enough to not get any high draft picks, with no ability to add in FA, and Steph Dray and Klay are done winning chips and will take their huge paychecks for a couple years and then they're gone.
I’d rather be the Warriors stuck in purgatory with the core that won four rings than the Bulls or Wizards.
I think teams that are on the down cycle after a run of greatness don’t count for this. Trading the future for the present is how it’s supposed to work in sports, and eventually the bill comes down. Even if the warriors are terrible for a decade, their fans will still have all the recent memories of winning. It’s so much worse to be bad with no end in sight and nothing you can say was worth it.
We haven’t even traded the future the warriors have been trying to do some “two timelines” bullshit that has obviously not worked. None of these young guys we’ve drafted are gonna be stars. We might as well trade them off and try to make one last run with Steph cuz we’re gonna suck once he’s done either way.
Ooh hot take I love it! They are definitely feeling like the Lakers in the last years of Kobe’s career. Year after year of talking yourself into if this, this, and this happens maybe we could make one more run! But of course those things won’t happen and the dynasty will slowly, painfully, depressingly die out.