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onebizarrekai · 4 years ago

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v3′s art is comically terrible for a professionally distributed game in a series: a compilation

in this not-essay I will list all of the mistakes and problems I have spotted in v3′s art. don’t worry, it’s entirely for fun and I’m doing this on a whim, so please feel free to not take this seriously but also it’s hilarious and embarrassing how ridiculous this is like what happened did they speedrun the whole production or what

see, there are some things you can take as meta like “they made it bad on purpose to allude to the downfall of tv shows that have been on air for much too long” but I have a very strong feeling this is not the case due to the nature of some of these errors

disclaimer, the more I study this art, the more I fear that the artists were underpaid and underslept, so if this is in fact the case, I am so sorry to all of them but also I’m going to make fun of the art anyway

anyway let’s get started!

if you study this image for longer than 5 seconds, you will see that kaede is the only one fully shaded and keebo is literally just his normal sprite pasted into the image. every other character is just an ordinary ref, hence most of them facing the exact same direction with neutral expressions on their faces. it looks like a bad edit, and is probably one of the worst pieces of art in the game. it kind of gets better from here on, but my roasting will not.

with that out of the way, here’s the problem that officially bothers me the most and clarifies my viewpoint of “this is not meta and an actual lack of company communication”

this freaking cg, which seems normal at a glance, but some wiseass was like “oh, kaede is a girl, so obviously she’s going to be shorter than the Male Protagonist™” ah, that’s funny. because if you look at the character bios, kaede is, in fact, one inch taller than shuichi and not like 6 inches shorter as she is shown here.

also shuichi’s shoulder is disproportionate and horrendous and he looks vaguely like a jojo character, but I wasn’t even thinking about that until right now.

thanks guys, 50% of the fandom who has never bothered to check these bios thinks that kaede is like 5′3 (did the developers really put so little thought into her to the point where drawing her correctly in the game didn’t even matter??)

also I would like to point out that, even though this isn’t related to the art itself, yes, a character kaede’s size being only 117 lbs is unfeasible, but this applies to literally every character in danganronpa ever and it’s not new news that it’s unrealistic

update: someone in the tags informed me that in versions of the game that use centimeters, like the japanese version, kaede is actually shorter than shuichi, which just adds another thing to the list of weird decisions the localization team made for no reason. that said, after confirming this, kaede is 167 cm in the original, while shuichi is 171 cm, which are approximately 5′6 and 5′7 respectively, but one inch is still nowhere near as drastic as it is depicted above. (in spite of this, I would rather depict kaede as slightly taller, so I’m probably going to keep doing that.)

the journey continues!

bro if you want kaede to have shoulder length hair then stick to it to begin with

you can pretend this is at an angle all you want but they definitely committed the shorter kaede sin a second time

wait a goddamn second.

DO YOU SEE THIS

no………… it wasn’t kaede who shrank. it was shuichi who got taller

speaking of which, can we talk about how shady the perspective is in this elevator pic? look at shuichi and kokichi in comparison to kaede. kokichi, who is canonically 7 inches (edit: or 5, if you’re loyal to the original) shorter than kaede, looks taller than kaede. he’s growing too. what steroids are these gays taking

running into the room, electric boogaloo: I don’t think tsumugi is supposed to be the same height as kokichi

gonta… gonta you’re lookin a bit like a jojo character there

I love how kaito’s head looks kind of like it was pasted onto his body. why is he the same size as shuichi? shouldn’t he be high school bully size or something? his torso is teensy

ah yes, white angie.

I love this cg but why is shuichi’s right hand so much bigger than his left hand

I also love how this cg looks like they literally took pictures of trees and pasted them into the background, especially on the left. the shadows are so weird, especially closer to the ceiling, it’s difficult for me to believe they didn’t do exactly that.

return of Enlarged shuichi

puberty update: kokichi is now taller than shuichi in spite of shuichi never missing leg day. what crimes will he commit

I have to mention it, guys. this has to be one of the worst danganronpa cgs. kokichi’s facial proportions look atrocious. look at the way his face sticks out like his jaw is in the wrong place. his scarf is a pasted texture. that’s it. this moment was so iconic but the cg just looks so… so… off. like something is terribly wrong, but you can’t put your finger on it.

you know what? let’s get into that ‘pasted texture’ thing.

let’s imagine you’re an artist working on a professional game. you’re assigned to draw cgs of kokichi ouma, who has a checkered scarf from hell. sure, it will be terrible to draw, but you only have to draw it once at a time! plus, perspective is pretty important, right? can you be bothered? nah, actually. let’s just copy paste a checkered pattern into the cg, because I’m sure nobody will notice. it’ll blend right in with the other cgs that someone actually put effort into drawing his scarf in, right?

no. the answer is no and I very much noticed. this genuinely looks terrible and I would understand taking a shortcut like that in fanart or even an indie game but this is a full price pc and console distributed game

(an addition: look at kokichi’s TINY HANDS in that last one)

meanwhile, they straight up forgot to color in kokichi’s scarf in this cg.

dude. I forgot about whatever the hell this cg was. anyway look at keebo please just look at him

lovin kaito’s baby arms

real talk, maybe you could argue that he’s missing muscle because he’s deathly sick, but most of his cgs don’t line up with this, and his arms just look disproportionate to his torso size (granted this is a consistent problem across all danganronpa games and a lot of characters have this weird problem, like hajime, but also kaito is bigger than hajime so I kind of have higher expectations of him) maybe it’s his stupid goatee and the way he reminds me of yasuhiro?? it creates this illusion that he’s older than he is and so I keep expecting him to look more like an adult

oh, also rantaro is missing some of his accessories in that video he made–you know the one–but I don’t wanna go back and screenshot it

also you may have noticed that I’m skipping all of the monokub cgs because I literally do not care about them and I’m not even bothering to check and see if they have artistic mistakes in them

JIMMY NEUTRON???

hey um uh kaito you seem to be missing your neck

hey guys do you like my pregame fanart

so, that done, the sprites are also pretty terrible at times. they’re not as interesting to go through, however, and downloading the full sprite sets for every character and studying every single one of them will drive me insane, so I’ll just sum some of the ones I noticed up. I made things for kaede and shuichi before deciding I wasn’t going to get into it, so here are these.

that said, other mistakes include kokichi missing his purple highlights in all of the sprites encompassing a specific pose, stray pixels all over the place on everyone, and everyone also has heavily inconsistent shading, but literally all I think about is how pregame shuichi is unshaded and two of kaede’s pregame sprites have glaring outfit change mistakes in them

anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my ridiculous ramble. in all seriousness, there’s this looming presence of some lack of communication in the development team, like with all the art and design inconsistencies, pieces and sprites that look rushed, stray pixels, and missing basic proportional stuff. these are the kinds of things that you supposedly have to pretty much have in the bag in order to get jobs in professional businesses, so it’s really weird to me that this game suffers from so many of these problems. it’s like they tried to make the art so much more crisp than the other games, but it fell on its face as they realized it was going to take longer to draw everything and they started to rush. it’s weird, because the coloring itself looks normal–it’s just sloppily drawn, and the proportions are a mess once put into the context of perspective. many of the cgs look like they were drawn by different people, and I’m still not over the fact that half of kokichi’s cgs have his scarf pasted in as a texture.

the moral of the story is that if you’re selling a game at full price that also happens to be in a series that has had 3 very good games in it already the stakes should probably be higher than this. v3 has been out for more than 3 years and it’s still $40 (did it cost more than that before? I sure hope not), and the overarching quality of the game is just not as high as the other games. I’m not saying that the other games don’t have any problems with their art at all, they’re just not as glaringly obvious and every artistic choice in those games feels intentional.

regardless, I had a blast roasting the art at 2am, so maybe you got a kick out of all this chaos.

#god I keep telling myself I'm gonna stop rambling about v3 #v3 spoilers #drv3 spoilers #ndrv3 #random stuff #but making this… it sounded so fun #danganronpa

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the-nysh · 5 years ago

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AHHHH! Just got back from finally seeing Heroes Rising! 8D Oh man, that was definitely a big-screened flashy action movie to experience, with great class cohesion and teamwork, and especially with Deku and Kacchan as the stars. Going in, I already knew what was going to happen (couldn’t resist spoiling myself silly), but it still had me chuckling along to all the fun nods/refs to things and grinning like a huge idiot by the end of it. :D More details and extended impressions as follows:

It really gets me that nowadays we can just…waltz into a theater and watch subbed anime movie screenings (which was the version I saw) alongside other current films. :O That’s just amazing to me. Cause gosh, back in the day, that was either completely unheard of, or you had to drive 100miles to a fancy arthouse theater just to see dubbed releases of -only- Miyazaki movies (with month-long reserved/ordered tickets). This is so much preferable now (it’s a very good thing!), and I certainly hope this trend for more accessible anime content continues!

Anyway, saw the movie with family: sister (only watches the anime) and mom (never seen any bnha, but wanted to be included anyway~) At first we had the entire theater to ourselves at a 9:45pm showing, until like 5 min before, then several other groups came in. (So hhhh ;o; had to refrain from making any loud reactions/commentary otherwise.)

Some of the best comments from my mom were how she kept leaning over to me and asking where the ‘guy with the wings’ (Hawks) was. X’D This is great and hilarious to me. He only showed up a few times to investigate the villains, figure out what’s wrong, and fly over with pending professional help to the island. So to my mom, it was a matter of ‘when will he come to save the kids!?’ Aha nice. His Japanese voice was deeper than expected, but I could still hear the Mumen Rider (opm) inflections from his voice actor. :D Definitely excited to see more of him formally animated in the series. Later, my mom also commented how the villain (Nine) was good-looking, buaha! (I mean hey, Shiggy was there too! 8D) I’d given her a crash-course on bnha lore before the movie, so it’s amusing to me how these were some of her unique takeaways. She also felt how after Deku told the kids ‘you can be a hero,’ that they already were cause they demonstrated that same bravery. :’)

For my sister, by the end she was like, ‘they should have just done fusion!’ Noting how Deku and Kacchan already went with the dbz looks, so heh why not. :P She noted how odd it was that Kacchan could use OfA immediately (when it took Deku several hours to…digest the hair before it could set in), so I had to clarify it was transferred by blood this time. She also wondered how Deku could gain even greater power with OfA after transferring it, and welp it’s mostly movie magic so whatever, but I could not resist flat-out saying, ‘BECAUSE THEY SOUL-BONDED~’ (And that’s as far as I was openly willing to push it with the bkdk agenda, guahaha.) Lingering convos included stuff about OfA mechanics (more odd inconsistencies with the vestiges somehow willing it back) and me mentioning Hori’s original idea to end the series with, all that good stuff. But most of all, to even have the movie tie back into the main (manga) storyline cleanly somehow, these types of explanations/solutions to things had to be done anyway, so it’s honestly another whatever/no big; it works as a self-contained flashy movie. (And honestly not as bad as some impressions made it seem; instead, how certain things wrapped up here felt negligible to me.)

As for ME, woohoo oh I definitely liked it and had a fun time! :D I didn’t know if I’d get the chance to see it in theaters (schedule conflicts) but ayyy I felt it was worth it! Immediately from the intro car-chase with Endeavor (yooo), it was all high-budget, quality action movie stuff. The two kids were endearing with active roles which I appreciated. I was also greatly impressed by how cohesive and responsible all the classmates were. You could just tell how closely they knew each other (and their quirks) and could work efficiently as a well-oiled unit when disaster strikes. Evacuating and providing for the islanders and coming up with elaborate battle plans, and all without any adult heroes present. :O Each had their moment to shine, with some very cool class combo moves too. Favs were Uraraka and Sero’s boulder throwing spam, and Kiri bodily shielding Todo from a hugeass high-beam laser like in Evangelion (YOOOOO?!?! that was cool!) Dark Shadow with wolverine claws was pretty sweet too.

Of course, personal favs were the Kacchan (+Deku) moments. Deku was a good babey throughout but…but KACCHAN. ;A; Featuring the shades of Kacchan I love to see. :’D (Also Denki said a line like, ‘Kacchan of the Bakugous’ buahaha wtf!) When he’s silently observant (listening to Deku talk to the kid about their hero dreams, to the point his popsicle melts off ;o;), intensely serious (making it very clear to the kids he’s for real about efficiently working as a hero after they mess around/cry wolf with him), gruffly supportive (encouraging Deku in his own way to ‘make it his own’ asap :’3) and…he’s still got his signature short fuse temper of course (that explodes in comical ways, heh even my mom laughed at him) plus the awesome moments when he frees himself from a villain then promptly beats his ass. 8D But…I personally loved the smaller, but very telling, protective moments. Like when the girl signaled Deku was in trouble, Kacchan was immediately RIGHT THERE to blast Nine in the face (omgg), how he caught/saved the girl when she went flying (while Deku was on the attack instead), AND my fav: how when they were both fighting Nine, Deku got distracted worrying about the other classmates fighting elsewhere, but Kacchan kicked him out of the way from getting hurt by lasers (so ahhh!! he’s actively looking out for Deku and staying on top of things so they both keep their heads in the game. :’D) Just MANY good Kacchan moments to appreciate. <3

AND then the big bkdk handhold, OfA transfer, epic + emotional team up. (Ever since the first previews/impressions, I’m still stunned they actually did all that on the big screen!) At this point I was internally squealing and had the dumbest grin on my face but didn’t even care. 8’D I WAS READY! Nakamura’s animation was like…byuuujjgghh *brain turns off* Honestly it was hard to even SEE what was happening on screen besides huge swathes of molten heat and green electricity flying everywhere, totally and awesomely over the top. Ahaha definitely worth seeing again just for that! I got feels for the ‘it’s fine if it’s you’ line :’))), and in the aftermath, loved it when Deku’s first thought upon regaining consciousness was to ask All Might if Kacchan’s ok. (omggg heh, Deku pls! :’D)

Overall, the movie had a simple, straightforward storyline to follow, fantastic action and teamwork to enjoy, and plenty of tidbits and character moments for current fans to heartily eat up. No question about the Kacchan and bkdk service as well. Left me feeling very giddy as a fan and glad I was able to catch it in theaters. Now I can’t wait to see when gifsets of all those fun moments get made!

#bnha #heroes rising #bkdk #anime spoilers #commentary #long post #FINALLY ;A; i got to see it for myself in theaters #oh boy now that was fun and exciting (with lots of good expected kacchan + bkdk service for current fans)

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successful-restaurant-tips-blog · 5 years ago

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CONSISTENCY

Let us talk about consistency and the important role it plays when trying to achieve success.

Have you ever been to the same restaurant on different days of the week and each time the food tasted different even though you order the same things? Yes? Then this is a classic example of inconsistency. If you are not being completely devoted in maintaining consistency, then failure in this area is a definite guarantee. Here are two tips I follow to remain consistent in my food taste, preparation and quality:

· Recipes and Food Preparation Guide

Think of this as your manual or to-do list of food taste, preparation and quality. This is a step-by-step process of how a dish is to be made. If the ingredients are not listed, DO NOT ADD IT!

· Chef/Sous Chef Training

This is where I get completely hands-on. Each chef on staff receives personalized training from yours truly. After all, isn’t that the best way to ensure that things are done by the book?

· Food/Ingredient Supplier

Only the freshest and the highest value ingredients are used to prepare the sumptuous meals available in my restaurant. Be advised that once you find a supplier that meets your production and quality standards STICK WITH THEM! This will aid, significantly, in your product consistency.

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/876684?ref=consistency

People visit restaurants for many different reasons: to socialize with friends, enjoy the food or just for simple entertainment. In the restaurant industry, it is inevitable that chefs/sous chefs may change, but that change should never be reflected in your food taste, preparation, and quality.

Imagine walking into your favorite restaurant, only to not be greeted politely or served in a timely manner as you usually would. Unpleasant surprise I bet? Customers do not appreciate unpleasant surprises. Consistency in the speed of the service, the quality, the courtesy shown to each customer, the affordability of the food, is imperative.

youtube

Which area of business do you believe requires the most consistency: the food or the service? Comment below.

Reference:

WolvesAndFinance. (2017, June 11). The MOST important business quality (Consistency). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBSaZ88T4hc

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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The NFL’s pass interference challenge is looking worse every week

Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In hindsight, the NFL should’ve kept its hands off the replay rules for pass interference.

Pass interference isn’t exactly a new problem in the NFL. The reality is that all football officiating is rough and has been for a long time. That probably won’t change.

So on the surface, it makes sense to double-check pass interference calls to get them right. That’s why — after an especially egregious officiating miss cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl — the NFL changed its replay rules to make pass interference reviewable.

Immediately, there was hand-wringing. What are the downsides of allowing a penalty to be reviewed? Did the NFL just open Pandora’s box and clear the way for all penalties to eventually become reviewable? Will there be a ton of additional replay reviews that drag out games?

The league dodged those concerns by making pass interference a borderline impossible play to overturn. Unsurprisingly, that strategy has backfired spectacularly.

The NFL saved its officials from a great deal of criticism by fixing its flawed and broken catch rule in 2018. One year later, the league made pass interference much worse, and now officials are taking heat for that more than ever.

Close plays are getting put under the microscope now

NFL officials didn’t need another way to get put on blast each week. There was already plenty of that. Pass interference replay reviews have managed to do that, though.

Take this 42-yard reception in Week 5 by Saints receiver Michael Thomas, for example:

.@CantGuardMike goes 42 yards on the deep ball from @teddyb_h2o! #TBvsNO : FOX : NFL app // Yahoo Sports app Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/d6meepU6Nz pic.twitter.com/IV1xMyMKbW

— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2019

A pretty nice catch, right? In any other season, the game moves on to the next play. That bit of separation Thomas got would be chalked up to some savvy hand fighting. Not in 2019, however.

The Buccaneers challenged the play in hopes that they’d get an offensive pass interference call. Replay showed Tampa Bay had a really good case.

Not OPI.... Really? pic.twitter.com/gADB6JCPPx

— Nathan (@nwandler) October 6, 2019

The pushoff against cornerback Vernon Hargreaves’ chest gave Thomas about two yards of separation. That was more than enough to give Teddy Bridgewater a window for a huge play down the sideline. The replay allowed the officials to go back and look at the shove they clearly missed.

But nope, the play stood as called. That should be a pass interference call, but perhaps that conclusion comes because we’re watching it in slow motion.

Reviewing judgment calls, like PI, is slowing the game down and affecting the quality of the product. Let’s get back to football and let the officials apply their judgment in game speed. Watching plays at 10% speed and looking for contact is not how the rules should be applied.

— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore) October 13, 2019

Look closely enough at every play and you can probably find a penalty somewhere — especially when it’s slowed down and dissected. Still, the NFL could do a better job of determining what should and shouldn’t be called interference.

The rare cases of an overturn haven’t always made sense

The NFL wants clear and obvious cases of pass interference to get fixed. This throw to Giants receiver Golden Tate across the middle of the field would sure seem to qualify. Instead it stood as a no-call, despite Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones pinning one of Tate’s arms down.

#NFL officials have gone rogue. 100-percent. This wasn’t called on the field and then wasn’t changed after it was flagged by the #Giants. So they ruled TWICE that this wasn’t defensive pass interference. Which is just blatantly wrong and a purposeful refusal to change the call. pic.twitter.com/BY2rRE6gQc

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) October 11, 2019

That’s been the norm. The officials either call a phantom pass interference or miss a penalty altogether. Then, when the NFL’s replay review office in New York, led by Alberto Riveron, is presented with the chance to make it right, the play isn’t overturned. According to ESPN, the rate for getting a call reversed has hovered around five percent in 2019.

What’s especially confusing is that some of the rare plays that were actually overturned don’t look that much different than plays that stood.

Pass interference, or nah? #Steelers pic.twitter.com/xpeHbPEzXQ

— Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) September 16, 2019

Is that pass interference on the Steelers? It looks like it. But it wasn’t flagged initially, so the NFL’s lofty standard for an overturn would lead you to believe it would be upheld. Instead, it was reversed.

The same could probably be said for a throw to Christian Kirk that was initially a no-call, and then changed to pass interference after a review.

@nflcommish @NFLOfficiating Sherman tackles Kirk and no Pas interference called. How can the ref on top of the call miss this. More part time ref BS. pic.twitter.com/jaLCYkftvC

— Ryan R (@roosta888) November 17, 2019

Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury even admitted he was “shocked” he didn’t lose the challenge.

There are also moments when it seems like NFL officials have forgotten what pass interference looks like, altogether.

This was called pass interference on the #AZCardinals #redsea #NFL #AZvsSF #NFLSunday pic.twitter.com/ZUwmaUC74P

— GlendaleCardinals (@YotesGlendale) November 17, 2019

Officials have opened themselves up to even more criticism with their inconsistent use of replay. They’ve also managed to lose some credibility along the way.

The NFL isn’t aiming to get calls right

There’s no other logical conclusion to make about pass interference replays. The NFL can’t possibly be making an honest effort to determine if interference occurred.

If that was the goal, then Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey clearly should’ve been flagged in Week 11 for tackling Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins in the end zone before the ball arrived.

Humphrey definitely interfered with Hopkins. It’s being challenged but won’t hold my breath they overturn it. pic.twitter.com/ajhRLAJgFW

— Steve Gallo (@SteveGalloNFL) November 17, 2019

The NFL appears more interested in upholding its precedent that a play must be overwhelmingly obvious to be overturned. In the words of Broncos coach Vic Fangio, it has to be a “five-car pileup.”

Broncos coach Vic Fangio — who has been honest with his opinion of the new PI rule — was asked about the very low rate of PI calls being overturned this season. Really interesting answer ... pic.twitter.com/YHGJk1R79u

— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 18, 2019

While that’s not even close to the same as trying to call plays correctly, there’s a logic to that.

Imagine how many pass interference replays there would be if coaches knew they had a good chance at winning the challenges. There was always going to be a high standard for pass interference reviews, but it’s still surprising just how difficult it’s been to get a call changed. Coaches are winning less than five percent of the time and still trying every week.

Saving timeouts would probably be the wiser choice, but it’s awfully hard to pass on a chance at getting or negating a huge chunk of yardage. Coaches are in a no-win situation, choosing between the likely scenario of losing a timeout, or opting to let a clear mistake by the officials go unchallenged.

By refusing to make calls right, refs are putting coaches in a bad spot and they’re losing the trust of everyone — including the players.

As a leader in the NFL, we need someone new in New York deciding calls. https://t.co/szdHjWhKbR

— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) November 17, 2019

That’s not good for anyone, but there’s no easy solution.

Going back to the old rules won’t be easy

Reviewing pass interference is a temporary rule change that can become a full-time addition to the rulebook in 2020. Considering the mess it’s making, that idea sounds ill-advised.

The best and most likely plan of action is to shelve the rule after the 2019 season.

But what happens the next time a bad pass interference call costs a team in a big moment? Hell, even the relatively inconsequential missed calls are going to raise “woulda, coulda, shoulda” talk about the sudden inability to challenge.

In hindsight, the NFL would’ve been better off keeping the replay rules the same. But the genie can’t be put back in the bottle and the league has to deal with the mess it created.

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floralkittygambler · 4 years ago

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This is why professionalism and research are crucial, esp if there are young ones within a fandom - and there usually is. Likewise, real victims do not appreciate their turmoil being idolised or romanticised, as that’s often the way they were groomed into believing it was ok (ref. ‘Romeo Pimps’ as a prime example). Credit that the crew desires to tell such a tale however they are not suitable nor mature enough to tell this story, nor are they giving the compassion that is crucial to such topics. In the end, they portray a very dangerous message unwittingly. Overall, the crew is not equipped to share such a story. What’s worse is that they still hold such a naive mindset of the ‘necessity’ of a tragic tale (ref to Cherri’s last photo on IG, which implies the use of poor mental health on Cherri’s behalf for her account going down, rather than maturely addressing the audience on the reality of the situation, which ultimately builds a lack of trust between the team and the audience. This also uses mental health as a ‘cop out’ filler, giving the impression that mental illness is more of an excuse/ploy for pity and/or character ‘development‘, which can come across very disrespectful regardless of intent). To jump the gun on a tragic tale or mental health issues can be seen as lazy at best, and at worse stigmatisation. Gaining “pity points” for relatability, which is dangerous territory.

I don’t doubt their intentions are good to an extent, however they’re behaving more like horny teens focused on meaningless ships, rather than the actual plot, the research needed, realistic portrayal and development, and overall hyperfixation to both self indulgence as well as fan service - both which very easily fuck up original intent/credibility.

Again, real life pimps are not anything like Val. In the 70s, they did have somewhat a similar dress code however theres much more to it than ‘fashion’ (in fact, such flamboyant appearance was used to flaunt wealth and appeal to women wishing for luxury Aka another trap set by pimps)

His design is remarkably stunning - if you’re a 70s simp like my dumbass - however to develop a genuinely high quality and touching plot, there needs to be waaaaay more than visuals - which SpindleHorse rely too heavily on (something used by marketers to appeal to younger people as that’s where the money typically lies - hence why so many fans are unsurprisingly underage. The marketing appeals to them PLUS the addition of whats typically taboo for kids - such as sex and swearing - it’s very enticing and allows them to feel older than they are as well as mature. in reality, most adults would see the inconsistency, the childish aspects, and whilst some would enjoy it, they wouldn’t really call it for adults per say [the only adult thing being that some would say the language isn’t appropriate for kids, and all should agree that the sex/porn refs, drugs and whatnot is certainly not suited for their age - even though they’re aware of it, it doesn’t necessarily make it right, if that makes any sense?])

If you look at most people into HH, even the adults seem to have this wildly naive perspective of what pimps and sex work is/are about. this is dangerous as pimps primarily prey on naïveté - whether that’s a false impression of pimps and sex work (ie seeing it as glamorous) or from complete lack of awareness (not even being aware pimps are real, like my dumb ass about last year ago)

Sorry to ramble and hope that adds something useful as well as food for thought on the matter? I may do a full doc on RL pimps/sex work vs portrayal in HH.

I just can't stand Valentino stans at this point. Many of them won't acknowledge the fact he's a pimp and try and make him into some softboy fashionista and not a bona-fide abuser who r*pes the people he contracts into sex work and beats his boyfriend. They REFUSE to see him as a dangerous pimp and then victim blame those he hurts (vox) or just don't even care that he is hurting them (Angel Dust). They try and make him seem weaker than he is when he's a powerful and abusive pimp who hurts others

I’d say that’s the fault of the damn crew (specifically the Instagram accounts) for twisting who Valentino really is. People for some reason now LOVE to ignore his treatment of Ange and Vox shipping them and it drives me insane at how the fandom just disregards canon and act like,”oh it’s just fiction!1!1!1!” Good lord I’ll never forget how an actual ValAngel fan got mad because I found it ironic how they’d ship those two but hates Alastor being the bottom for radiodust

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flauntpage · 6 years ago

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“They Always Kick Our Ass” – Observations from Celtics 105, Sixers 87

I shut off my computer immediately after the final buzzer last night because I knew social media was going to be a wretched hive of bullshit hot takes and overreaction.

Let’s keep it simple:

The Boston Celtics are an excellent team. Brad Stevens’ squad is incredibly athletic on the perimeter and stacked with multiple guys who can create their own shot and do a lot of dynamic things on the offensive end. Some of their bench players really should be starters on other teams (Terry Rozier) and they continue to play a defensive brand of basketball that just stifles the Sixers (and pretty much everybody else in the Eastern Conference).

So Joel Embiid is accurate when he says post-game, “This is not a rivalry. I don’t know our record against them, but it’s pretty bad. They always kick our ass. This is not a rivalry.”

Correct.

You need to beat a team before it comes a rivalry, and the Sixers are not there yet. Right now the Sixers are Pittsburgh and the Celtics are Penn State. There’s history there, sure, but the last few meetings have been pretty lopsided.

That’s the storyline moving forward. You lost to the best team in the conference on opening night. The rest of the season is about bringing yourself level with Boston and you’ve got 81 remaining games to figure it out.

Shortcomings

It’s hard to win a basketball game when:

you turn the ball over 16 times

you shoot 5-26 from three (19.2%)

your starting power forward gets himself into early foul trouble

your backup power forward is injured and unavailable

your backup small forward is injured and unavailable

you get 8-25 shooting (32%) from Dario Saric, Robert Covington, and Markelle Fultz

you shoot 14-24 from the foul line (58.3%)

Boston grabs twice as many offensive rebounds (12 to 6)

Regarding the turnovers –

The Sixers won a ton of games while coughing up the ball last year. Same with Golden State, who won it all. Turnovers don’t always equate to losses if you’re an up-tempo team that swings the ball around and flies up and down the court and averages more total possessions per game.

That was not the case last night, and there was a lot of forced stuff and some miscommunication that resulted in plays like this:

Just a bread and butter dribble hand-off right there, and Embiid leaves the ball for Redick, who makes a counter cut instead to beat the overplay. Joel will normally hold that and wait to see what develops instead of just dumping the ball out of bounds.

He was also annoyed with this play, when he threw a low post bounce pass entry off Dario Saric and out of play:

Sorry for the crap quality there, had to rip it off the TV.

You see Boston meeting Ben Simmons with two defenders at the foul line, which is the same exact thing they did last year. Ben drops it for the trailing big, and instead of Embiid trying a wide-open three pointer, he puts the ball on the floor and dribbles towards Saric before the pair fumble the exchange.

Look at the space here:

Joel shoots that more often than not. He’s not at his best when putting the ball on the floor 23 feet from the basket, but you already knew that.

I also thought he got hung out to dry defensively with too many tough matchups on the perimeter. It’s not to say he can’t defend on the perimeter, but it was very interesting to see him matched up with Jayson Tatum to start the game while Markelle Fultz took Kyrie Irving. Maybe the Sixers figure that Al Horford is going to try to stretch out Embiid anyway, and that he’s going to inevitably be pulled away from the basket no matter who he ends up guarding. Good job by Boston to space the floor and keep the Sixers moving defensively last night. You can switch two through four or fight through screens, but the trio of Irving, Tatum, and Jaylen Brown are capable of attacking really anybody you throw at them. Throw Rozier and Horford and Gordon Hayward into the mix, and it gets even more dicey.

Ben Simmons

Honestly, his performance probably kept things from getting out of control early on.

He finished with 19, 15, and 8 on 50% shooting and turned the ball over three times while going 5-9 from the stripe.

A lot of good, not much bad, a couple of amazing passes, and two attempted elbow jumpers that I counted. He actually missed twice from the left elbow but hit a ridiculous turnaround one-handed hook shot, if you want to call it that.

Ben’s chart from last night:

I’d be perfectly happy with him trying a couple of elbow jumpers per game as the season progresses. Those will start to go down.

Otherwise, he was the best Sixer on the court last night. Even in situations where Boston would try to sag to prevent drives to the rim, he’d still find ways to get that head of steam and bulldoze his way through. Ben is a rare physical specimen and if his game continues to grow and evolve he will be a top five NBA player at some time in the near future.

The biggest issue moving forward is finding a rhythm and sharing ball-handling duties with….

Markelle Fultz

Didn’t seem like he was finding the game at all early. It looked like he was just sort of floating around the floor and not getting involved. A little later, he hit his first shot on a nice pull-up at the foul line with a couple guys close to him, and he looked confident doing it. That was probably the highlight of the night, though I obviously loved the off-ball cut to the rim on the ridiculous Simmons no-look behind-the-head pass.

In the second half, Markelle again looked hesitant for the small amount of minutes he played. He passed on a layup attempt and traveled under the rim.

He did not attempt a three pointer last night and only took one of his seven shots outside the key. He failed to take a pair of open jumpers from deeper range and instead brought the ball closer to the basket, which sounded alarm bells in my head.

Kyle Neubeck over at PhillyVoice put two of those clips into a Tweet this morning:

First two plays in this clip: Fultz with space to take longer jumpers vs. BOS tonight, conceding it to shoot around the paint

Final two plays in this clip: How Fultz used to attack *any* semblance of space he had to shoot, vs. BOS in Summer League pic.twitter.com/lbo83wDmNt

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) October 17, 2018

That’s concerning.

It’s one thing for Markelle to take those and miss, but he didn’t take ’em. In that first clip, he has to let that three pointer rip. The second is one of the weirdest pick and rolls I’ve ever seen.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, as Nick Young once said. Or was it Wayne Gretzky? Either way, someone needs to drill that into Markelle’s head. I want to see him take at least 10 shots in the home opener tomorrow night.

Rotational things

Saric picking up three fouls early was a killer.

He started 3-4 from the field and the injury absence of Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala really limited Brett Brown’s options off the bench. Picking up a fourth foul at the 9:14 mark in the third on a bad charge also did not help. And Dario’s 5th foul was a bad call with an out of control Hayward running right into him, full steam.

I have a theory that Dario doesn’t get a lot of respect from the officials because he’s still a relative newcomer (and a foreigner), but I can’t prove that theory without accusing people of xenophobia, so I’ll just leave it hanging and end the paragraph.

As expected, JJ Redick and Amir Johnson were first off the bench, spelling Saric and Embiid with Robert Covington moving down to power forward sans Chandler and Muscala. T.J. McConnell was next off the bench, leaving three ball handlers on the floor with Redick and Johnson.

Landry Shamet came off the bench around 10:00 in the second half. He took two early shots, which was good to see, even though he missed both. I’m fine with that. He’s like the anti-Fultz in that regard. Maybe we can find a way to insert Landry’s brain into Markelle’s body. Maybe a combo guard lobotomy is what we need.

As I mentioned above, Fultz barely played in the second half. He did not start in the second half. Brown rolled out last year’s starting five to begin the third quarter and went with a mostly different rotation from what we saw in the first half. Markelle didn’t come back in until 3:13 in the period and finished with 24 minutes last night.

This HAS TO BE priority number one, figuring out what Markelle is. To that end, I do agree with the decision to start him, but it gets funky when multiple ball handlers are on the floor. If Fultz is “the guy” moving forward, he’s gonna have to learn how to play with Simmons in some way, shape, or form. If not, you play him as the second unit point guard and roll another season with Redick as the starting two-guard while looking for upgrades next summer.

They have to figure it out ASAP, and I think that includes Brett giving him significant second-half minutes. If you get 10-15 games into the season and you don’t see anything from Markelle, might be time to just pull the plug. I know this sounds ridiculous after ONE game, but it’s really not one game, it’s 80+ now, as a continuation of his lost rookie season.

Other notes:

After a preseason in which the refs blew the whistle every five seconds, they really let both teams play for the majority of the game.

Ben Simmons twice used the snatch dribble in the first half on plays that resulted in a basket. He tried another in the third quarter and couldn’t get a contested lay-in to fall.

Robert Covington had a nice patch in the 3rd quarter where he hit a pair of three pointers. He made some nice defensive plays as well, including a couple of clutch steals and deflections at the basket. Beyond that, he was front-rimming a lot of his shots and doing little to influence the game. It was a very Covington type of game, inconsistent with peaks and valleys throughout.

Kevin Harlan didn’t seem to know how to pronounce “Dario.” Duh-REE-oh? What was that? Harlan tried to blame it on the Sixers press corps, so I don’t know what that’s all about. We’ll have to investigate.

I HATE the in-game interview with the coaches. Brett Brown literally spoke twice before the game and is required to speak after the game. He does not need to speak again DURING the game. Coaches should not be required to speak to the media four times in one day, PERIOD. I will die on this hill.

Aron Baynes has the ugliest three-point shot I’ve ever seen, yet it goes in

Nastiest dunk of the night = Amir Johnson

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yahoo-puck-daddy-blog · 7 years ago

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What We Learned: Turns out taking a lot of penalties is bad

Logan Couture celebrates after burying the Golden Knights in Game 2. (John Locher/AP)

Anyone in their right mind saw that 7-0 Game 1 in the Pacific Division final for what it was: An aberration.

Vegas is perfectly good and the Sharks had a very bad game, and you put those two things together to get an ugly blowout in which the Golden Knights doubled their playoff goal total.

In Game 2, the Sharks were much more dialed-in, and apart from a few lapses that wound up in the back of the net, managed the puck effectively. Their job was made a lot easier by Vegas seemingly insisting on committing a string of dumb penalties that, over the last 70 or so minutes, added up to eventually cost them the game.

This was uncharacteristic, to an extent. In the regular season, the Golden Knights were better than the league average in terms of conceding power plays to their opponents and that had largely been true in the first round as well. But in Game 1, they put San Jose on five power plays, not that it mattered much. And in Game 2 they gave up 8:39 of PK time across seven Sharks power plays and conceded two goals, including Logan Couture’s double-overtime game-winner.

It’s no secret that taking seven penalties, even in four-plus periods of hockey, is not advisable, but it also seemed as though Vegas was having trouble keeping up with the Sharks across the whole of the game. Their goals were not scored through the usual process of very Vegasly dictating the terms on which the game would be contested, but rather by creating a couple turnovers (and a lucky bounce on the first one) and then winning a set play off a draw. The Sharks otherwise ran the show more or less from front to back; Vegas didn’t have a double-digit shot total in any one period.

The problem, then, is pretty clear as the series moves to San Jose: Vegas giving a team with as much fire power as the Sharks 12 power plays in eight periods of hockey is probably courting disaster. This is a team that drew the 10th-most power plays in the league this year, and converted them at a rate above 20 percent, which is usually about the cutoff for “good power play.”

It’s worth noting that San Jose has spent almost as much time on the power play as Vegas so far in this series — 18:28 versus 19:22, both of which are a lot in just two games — but the Sharks put them on 10 in Game 1 alone. Again, that’s a total freak thing, and it’s something that certainly got talked about; in Game 2, Vegas went on just two power plays for a grand total of 138 seconds.

Both of these clubs can absolutely stick a knife in your gut on special teams. One second things are going fine, and the next the game is over because they’re drawing a ton of penalties and, eventually, converting. One can certainly argue that 24 power plays combined in eight periods is entirely too many, and that is the correct read on the situation, but if this is a series in which the refs are going to call every little thing, that probably benefits San Jose more than it does Vegas because the Sharks just don’t take penalties as a general rule; those 10 power plays in Game 1 were equal to almost 5 percent of what they gave up in 82 games in the regular season.

As the series shifts out of Vegas tied at 1-1, this is absolutely the thing for everyone to keep a careful eye on. It’s not so much an issue if refs call it tight because that’s just the tone that’s being set. But if things get called inconsistently, that could put either team in a tough position. You never want guys not knowing what is or isn’t a penalty on any given play, and to be fair that doesn’t seem to have been the case so far. In both games, the teams that committed too many infractions were correctly penalized. It’s fair to say neither team has a real gripe with the officiating, on the balance (though Vegas might be upset with how the two goal reviews went for it on Saturday).

There’s a pretty strong correlation between all these power plays and teams making goalies stand on their heads. Marc-Andre Fleury was stellar again this weekend, facing 47 shots after stopping all 31 the first time out. Meanwhile Martin Jones’s numbers are quite bad (nine allowed on 43) but certainly not under siege. That is to say, San Jose seems to have gotten the better of the possession and if Fleury isn’t lights-out (as opposed to merely “good,” as he was Saturday) then things get a lot more complicated pretty quickly for the Golden Knights.

Special teams truly is the one big storyline so far here and Vegas is quickly learning that these Sharks actually have guys who can put the puck in the net. If Joe Thornton comes back at some point in this series, that’s just another potential issue for, I don’t know, Deryk Engelland to deal with.

At 5-on-5, Vegas and San Jose have been dominant teams in these playoffs, to be sure. But on the PK, both teams have been pretty bad in terms of how many high-quality looks they concede per minute. And if that’s the case, the question becomes how much longer Vegas can count on Fleury to go .940-something on the PK. (He’s also still .993 at 5-on-5. These numbers simply can’t last.)

The rate at which both these clubs can make teams pay for mistakes both in terms of committing penalties and keeping up coverage on the PK means the most likely outcome here is the team that takes the fewest penalties will probably win these games.

Certainly, to keep trying it the way these losing teams have gone is to invite ugly outcomes. Wouldn’t want that to be you.

What We Learned: Playoff edition

Boston Bruins: At this point I just don’t know what you’re supposed to do about that top line anymore. They didn’t exactly dominate territorially, but the extent to which the Bruins were pummeled when they were off the ice, and all the points they collected once again, tells the story pretty effectively. They’re just unstoppable at this point, and any one of them can have a big night and sink your playoff hopes that much deeper. Brad Marchand on Saturday? Just 1-3-4, no big deal.

Nashville Predators: Boy that’s a big comeback game from Pekka Rinne, huh? He made (approximately) six thousand saves and, while some of the goals he gave up weren’t great, you still have to say he was pretty damn phenomenal. It’s weird to say that this game with nine goals was a goaltending duel, but it for sure was. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 37 of 41 at the other end (and got a piece of the game-winner too, because he is my perfect boy). I could watch these games for the rest of my life.

Pittsburgh Penguins: I know we’re all supposed to be insanely mad about the non-goal but any time I see stuff like this I think back to that Flames playoff run a few years back where they appeared to score a goal but then someone explained the parallax view to me and I was like “Ah yeah, that makes sense.” Of course, we should fooooooooooooor suuuuuuuuuuuuure have a damn chip in the puck by now and then we wouldn’t have to explain to people what the damn parallax view is — turns out sports fans don’t wanna talk about geometry a lot when their team loses — but hey, one thing at a time I guess.

San Jose Sharks: Lost in all the “Logan Couture is extremely underrated” talk that sprung out of Saturday’s game (he is, by the way), Brent Burns had a whopper of a night after being terrible in Game 1. If he’s not going for that Sharks defense, it’s a problem, simply because he’s basically always going to play like 24 minutes and that’s a lot of time to be giving a guy who’s not playing well. Put another way, Pete DeBoer will always let Burns work through it, and he’s earned that, but now is not the time to have to work through it, y’know?

Tampa Bay Lightning: Steven Stamkos noted that other than the fact they got blown out, they played well. And that’s one of those things people don’t want to accept but can absolutely be true. Mike Babcock said that after Game 2 in Boston as well, and hey, that series didn’t end up being a blowout or anything. In the end, the better team won Game 7 and frankly I would be surprised if the Bruins didn’t win this series too, but these are two good teams and sometimes good teams can make other good teams look bad when they get the bounces and so on. If the Bruins keep getting outshot 36-24 or something similar, 6-2 wins aren’t likely to keep happening here.

Vegas Golden Knights: The fact that so many penalties were taken by Vegas’s depth players in this series probably says something about the disparity in quality between San Jose and themselves when you get further down the lineup. Vegas’s depth has always been overrated once you get off those top two lines, and if they’re not gonna help by scoring goals (probably not!) and are gonna hurt by continually taking penalties (possible!) then that strikes me as … a problem.

Washington Capitals: Man I gotta tell ya, even when the Caps were up 3-1 late in the game, you had to be like, “Surely the Pens are gonna get one back.” They didn’t but that’s the power of Knowing The Caps Will Blow It. I can’t imagine the psychic weight that has for the team itself, but that’s extremely a real thing that everyone with even a passing familiarity with the sport carries in their hearts and minds.

Winnipeg Jets: That extra-attacker goal to force overtime was the most inevitable goal I have seen in these playoffs. The shot off the post and the Preds not getting a body on a guy parked between the hashmarks was inviting a big problem. Mark Schiefele missed that look once. He wasn’t gonna miss it twice. My man is just too hot right now.

Play of the Weekend

The finish to roof this puck at this speed is absolutely stunning.

Gold Star Award

Logan Couture is a borderline-elite player but few will discuss this!!!!

Minus of the Weekend

I totally get the league refusing to let the Canucks send their dumb mascot to the draft lottery thing. Like, it would have been insanely funny, but I get it. And I’m mad about it, but I get it. And that’s all it should be next season, but I get it.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User “Kshahdoo” is really trying to help the Oilers.

Skinner + 2nd overall for Draisaitl + 10th overall

Signoff

Ye… I… y’know th… one thing I sho… excuse me for one second.

#_revsp:21d636bb-8aa8-4731-9147-93a932d2b27a #_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL #_author:Ryan Lambert #_uuid:143d1dd0-eb6d-3f07-9944-fd56bc70caee

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guillembalague-blog · 8 years ago

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Pep Guardiola: what was all that about?

You don't exactly have to be an expert in body language to come to the conclusion that Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola is not in a particularly good place at the moment. Or is he? What is most interesting, however, about this recent " 'Kevin-esque' - you're so unfair" display can be found in its timing and motivation rather than its content. First and foremost what strikes one is that his post match series of interviews that consisted largely of "Yes", "No", "Don't Know", "You tell me", and "I didn't see it", occurred following Manchester City's home game against Burnley and came after a victory, not a defeat or a draw. This is important and, I am sure, totally deliberate. Pep knows better than anyone that had this contrived show of annoyance happened after a defeat it would have immediately been seized upon as a display of sour grapes with Pep being branded a sore loser. Instead what we got was something much more interesting, Pep the sore winner, a man keen to show his ire was about something much more important and fundamental than merely the result of a game. Maybe someone in the media should ask him why. I have my own theories. What he has learnt in his first months in charge is that controlling games is not a surefire way of guaranteeing success and in fact there are many other factors that makes that control difficult and determine the eventual outcome -atmosphere, pace of the game, the physical side of things, and also -yes- officials. Any manager coming here, Pep included, has to accept from the start that the law of the game followed anywhere else is simply not followed here, which means that no matter how much quality you might have, effectively it's all a bit of a lottery. Referees are human beings and they will make mistakes. But what is alarming is the flagrant inconsistency that abound in the Premier League in both minor and absolutely crucial decision making. And the fact that faults that exist in the rules are ignored here -a push to the goalkeeper, a dangerous high tackle... Just why Jamie Vardy received a red card for a two footed challenge and Marcus Rojo received no censure at all for a similar challenge on Palace's Wifried Zaha would be just - but only just - about understandable had the decisions been made by different officials. The fact is both decisions were made by Craig Pawson and if referees can't be consistent with themselves it's difficult to imagine how they will ever manage to be consistent with each other. Kun Aguero certainly deserved to be sent off for his late lunge on David Luiz in the City v Chelsea game but just what Luiz was still doing on the pitch following his last man challenge on Aguero earlier on is probably something only referee Anthony Taylor knows although don't waste your time even trying to ask him. No one seems to have the remotest idea what the acceptable limits of 'marking' or 'blocking', call it what you will, are from dead balls hurled into the area. Except Mike Dean of course who seems more than keen to punish what he perceives as foul play in the area. Although to date, no one knows whether or not this is a new Premier League guideline for refs, or a one-man campaign being launched by Mr Dean. It would be nice if someone could tell everyone, the media, the managers, the clubs, the fans and then officiate on that established priniciple. I'll not hold my breath. Referee, Michael Oliver, was generally thought to have had a good game in the heart stopping 3-3 encounter between Bournemouth and Arsenal but his decision to send off Simon Francis probably cost Bournemouth the win and was harsh in the extreme. What concerned me more however - and we're back to consistency again - was that Mr Oliver, in my opinion quite rightly awarded a penalty for a Xhaka push on Fraser before ignoring an almost identical push by Fraser on Bellerin that led to Bournemouth's third goal. These are the sort of decisions that have managers, including Pep, tearing their hair out. No one would ever accuse English refs of being corrupt, far, far from it. What is inescapable, however, is that many of them are not very good and certainly not good enough to officiate at the level they do. While the quality of the football being provided and the skills displayed by some of the greatest players in the world grows by the season, the level of officiating, particularly in the Premier League is going backwards at an alarming rate. When players are "not very good", they are dropped, loaned out, sold. When coaches, directors of football, scouts, club doctors, fund raisers, even press officers are "not very good" they are sacked; not referees. I believe that Guardiola cannot believe just why there is not a major debate taking place about the levels of refereeing inconsistency in the Premier League. And, as important, why faults committed in the world are not considered such in England -nobody told him there is a different rules book in the Premier League. Having said that, I'm afraid that it will have to dawn on him sooner rather than later, that this is how it is. He needs to move on as many other managers have decided to do. The sad truth about referees is that what we have here is a cosy little boys club with a membership consisting of a select few completely untouchable, totally unapproachable, bullet-proofed, specially chosen omnipotent individuals that can be as bad as bad can be, and still not be held to account, asked to explain their decisions or even remotely justify their incompetence. As the old joke has it: Q - "What's the difference between God and a Premier League referee?" A - "God doesn't think he's a Premier League referee." Perhaps a little hash but you get my point. There is another issue. The poor level of refereeing is actually going a long way to radically influencing the game in England and that isn't even my opinion but rather that of practically every manager in the Premier League. The vast majority of them will tell you that the games are made more difficult because control and quality is counter balanced by many of the refereeing decisions. Now they won't tell you that on the record of course, on account of the fact, that most of them harbour a desire to carry on working in this precarious industry for as long as possible and not unnaturally resent being regarded as an ATM for FA coffers. In any case, in the refereeing lottery they find themselves in, they eventually cling onto the 'win some, lose some' philosophy which assumes that things balance themselves out during the course of the season. And Pep, of course, knows as much as anyone that the only inevitability of taking a metaphorical whizz in a hurricane is that you will end up with your Armani slacks and Gucci loafers soaking wet. Someone who is prepared to speak his mind is former referee, Keith Hackett, and it was always going to be a gamekeeper turned poacher that was always going to tell it like it is. In his latest piece on the You Are the Ref website he says, "The lack of consistency of law application...has reached alarming levels and decision-making is at an all time low." This is not the first time Mr Hackett has been vociferous in his strong views about the Premier League and the PGMOL who brook no criticism. He is currently the only person seemingly prepared to stick his head above the parapet. "It is evident that the controlling influence of the Premier League is preventing the PGMOL, the organisation responsible for the selection, development and training of our professional referees, from making any statements about the performances of their match officials," he says. I remain convinced that Pep will achieve success at the Etihad although the success benchmark placed on the shoulders of Pep is inevitably far greater than that placed on other managers. Perhaps, as many a parent who has been confronted by an stroppy teenager will undoubtedly concur, sometimes a display of annoyance, can also be interpreted as a cry for attention.

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flauntpage · 6 years ago

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“They Always Kick Our Ass” – Observations from Celtics 105, Sixers 87

I shut off my computer immediately after the final buzzer last night because I knew social media was going to be a wretched hive of bullshit hot takes and overreaction.

Let’s keep it simple:

So Joel Embiid is accurate when he says post-game, “This is not a rivalry. I don’t know our record against them, but it’s pretty bad. They always kick our ass. This is not a rivalry.”

Correct.

Shortcomings

It’s hard to win a basketball game when:

you turn the ball over 16 times

you shoot 5-26 from three (19.2%)

your starting power forward gets himself into early foul trouble

your backup power forward is injured and unavailable

your backup small forward is injured and unavailable

you get 8-25 shooting (32%) from Dario Saric, Robert Covington, and Markelle Fultz

you shoot 14-24 from the foul line (58.3%)

Boston grabs twice as many offensive rebounds (12 to 6)

Regarding the turnovers –

That was not the case last night, and there was a lot of forced stuff and some miscommunication that resulted in plays like this:

He was also annoyed with this play, when he threw a low post bounce pass entry off Dario Saric and out of play:

Sorry for the crap quality there, had to rip it off the TV.

Look at the space here:

Joel shoots that more often than not. He’s not at his best when putting the ball on the floor 23 feet from the basket, but you already knew that.

Ben Simmons

Honestly, his performance probably kept things from getting out of control early on.

He finished with 19, 15, and 8 on 50% shooting and turned the ball over three times while going 5-9 from the stripe.

Ben’s chart from last night:

I’d be perfectly happy with him trying a couple of elbow jumpers per game as the season progresses. Those will start to go down.

The biggest issue moving forward is finding a rhythm and sharing ball-handling duties with….

Markelle Fultz

In the second half, Markelle again looked hesitant for the small amount of minutes he played. He passed on a layup attempt and traveled under the rim.

Kyle Neubeck over at PhillyVoice put two of those clips into a Tweet this morning:

First two plays in this clip: Fultz with space to take longer jumpers vs. BOS tonight, conceding it to shoot around the paint

Final two plays in this clip: How Fultz used to attack *any* semblance of space he had to shoot, vs. BOS in Summer League pic.twitter.com/lbo83wDmNt

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) October 17, 2018

That’s concerning.

Rotational things

Saric picking up three fouls early was a killer.

Other notes:

After a preseason in which the refs blew the whistle every five seconds, they really let both teams play for the majority of the game.

Ben Simmons twice used the snatch dribble in the first half on plays that resulted in a basket. He tried another in the third quarter and couldn’t get a contested lay-in to fall.

Aron Baynes has the ugliest three-point shot I’ve ever seen, yet it goes in

Nastiest dunk of the night = Amir Johnson

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junker-town · 8 years ago

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How to enjoy March Madness as an NBA partisan

There are lots of fantastic draft prospects headed to a TV near you during the NCAA Tournament. Lean in to the college game and enjoy.

The cold war between NBA heads and college basketball believers needs to thaw. At the very least, it could use a 20-second timeout.

The two have always been distant, bickering cousins. Go back through the decades and you’ll find cranky scribes and wizened NBA fans rolling their eyes at March Madness. The complaints then are the complaints now: the game is too slow, the spacing is too limited, the refs are too inconsistent, and my god, can we have a possession without a cutaway to some middle-aged dude with a clipboard hyperventilating on the sideline?

Lately, however, it feels like we’ve crossed a Rubicon from ironic NBA detachment to out and out disdain. It doesn’t have to be that way. Yes, the college game is not like the NBA game, but it doesn’t have to be the NBA. It can exist on its own terms.

It’s true that there are those of us old enough to remember a more prosperous time in college basketball. Way back when the NCAA Tournament meant Georgia Tech’s Lethal Weapon 3, Arkansas’ 40 Minutes of Hell, the Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV, and pre-championship Duke Blue Devils all competing in the same Final Four back.

There were no less than a dozen future first-round picks on those rosters (shoutout to Malcolm Mackey and Oliver Miller) with each participant sending multiple players on to the pros. Compare that to last season when there were three first-rounders total among the Final Four teams.

Far from an aberration, that combination of individual talent and iconic teams was a common occurrence back in the day. Where we used to watch players develop over time, now it’s an ever-changing personnel proposition. Even for the same power programs that load up on one-and-done recruits year after year. Things change.

But, here’s a little secret for NBA snobs. A week of cramming reveals that this year’s final college exam will be fun. There’s a bevy of point guards, athletic wings with diverse skill sets, and developing bigs with first round dreams. Many of those prospects are scattered among the tournament favorites, offering the possibility of some amateur advanced scouting before the draft.

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There are also a number of good, veteran clubs that have been together for years and play like it. What Villanova, Virginia, and Cincinnati lack in top-end NBA talent, they make up for with steady play and exacting defenses.

That contrast between experience and young talent now lies at the heart of the Tournament. Nova’s Josh Hart may never be a star in the NBA, but he and the Wildcats have a legitimate chance at repeating for the first time in almost a decade.

With all that in mind, here’s an NBA-centric, player-focused guide to enjoying the Tournament. It won’t kill you, even if the endless timeouts and noxious parade of corporate champions may test your patience.

First, a word about who won’t be playing next week. Markelle Fultz, the presumptive top pick in this summer’s draft, saw his college career end with a whimper. Despite his many talents, his Washington Huskies team was decimated by early defections and never had a chance in the Pac-12. Scouts and talent evaluators aren’t holding that against him. In the words of one, Fultz just does everything well.

The other hot prospect sitting out March Madness is Dennis Smith. A turbo-charged point guard from NC State, Smith put on a show against Duke earlier this winter, but wound up exiting stage left following an uninspired showing in the ACC Tournament. That’s a pity because Smith is one of the more exciting freshmen in this year’s loaded point guard class.

That leaves UCLA’s Lonzo Ball as the man of the moment. He’s a unique player with a busted shot who still manages to carve up defenses with his uncanny passing ability. One of the cool things about Ball is that his unselfish play has transformed the Bruins from an also-ran into a finely-tuned offensive machine. (Defense appears to be optional and often comes in the form of a zone, but we can’t have everything.) Ball is a phenom, the one player you really have to see this week.

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My favorite freshman point guard, however, is Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox. Fellow frosh Malik Monk gets a ton of attention for his scoring ability, but Fox makes the Cats get up and go. He can’t shoot from distance, but Fox is a crafty scorer who can navigate into space. He’s also an awesome on-the-ball defender.

Monk, meanwhile, is one of the best pure scorers in the country. He may have to transition to combo guard status in the pros, but his athleticism and range make him a likely lottery pick along with Fox. With the wonderfully named big man Bam Adebayo patrolling the paint, Kentucky has its usual array of first-round prospects.

The point guard class thins out after that (Frank Ntilikina from France is also a likely lottery pick), but there are a number of quality veterans who always seem to emerge as March heroes. Iowa State’s Monte Morris is your dad’s favorite player. The senior almost never turns it over. Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans is a delight. He’s the diminutive linchpin for The Cowboys’ high-octane offense.

Depending on how you classify Monk, there’s not a lot of top-end shooting guards in this year’s class. Louisville’s Donovan Mitchell is the one to watch here. He’s a classic Louisville guard who plays bigger than his size and has athleticism to spare.

The other main area of lottery competition takes place on the wing with three highly-touted freshman vying for a spot in the top five. You could not find three more different prospects.

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Josh Jackson may be the most complete of the three. The Kansas freshman is an excellent passer, especially out of the pick-and-roll as a smallball four. His shooting can be a bit erratic (including an unsightly 56 percent free throw percentage), but he can score and he’s a tough defender.

Jackson is also hyper-competitive — he once trash-talked Gary Payton in high school — and that can spill over on the court. Off the floor, he was charged with misdemeanor property damage after allegedly damaging a female student’s car. He was also suspended for the first game of the Big 12 Tournament for a separate incident. (There’s a lot going on at Kansas.)

Duke’s Jayson Tatum is a terrific isolation scorer, combining solid footwork and length to score over the top of defenders. Tatum’s been overshadowed at times by the emerging Luke Kennard (he’s good!) and the ongoing Grayson Allen chronicles, but Tatum put together a strong ACC Tournament. He may not have Jackson’s upside, but he’s a year younger.

Then there’s Florida State’s Jonathan Isaac, an athletic freak with projection written all over his long, skinny frame. At the very least, Isaac should be a phenomenal defender in the pros when he puts on weight. He’s already a good rebounder and excellent cutter. You can dream big on Isaac.

The old man of the group is North Carolina junior Justin Jackson, who returned to school after last year’s wrenching loss in the championship game to Villanova. Jackson needed to improve his range and he became a solid 3-point shooter en route to ACC Player of the Year honors. Jackson’s moved up the draft boards and that climb could continue if Carolina has another solid run.

The bigs are a mixed bag. The only true center with lottery potential in the Tournament is Creighton’s Justin Patton. A late-bloomer who redshirted his freshman year, Patton is skinny but long, and is an excellent finisher at the rim. Jarrett Allen from Texas and Robert Williams from Texas A&M will not be invited, unfortunately.

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The top-rated four man is Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen, who is a tremendous long-range shooter. He’s not just a spot-up threat. The Wildcats run a bunch of different actions for him, both off screens and in the pick-and-roll. There aren’t many 7-footers like him.

Playing the role of versatile Michigan State forward this year is Miles Bridges, who has hung around the lottery pack. Wake Forest sophomore John Collins is a super-efficient scorer and Gonzaga freshman Zach Collins is the the definition of intriguing, even with a limited role. Baylor’s Johnathan Motley emerged this season as one of the best forwards in the country, and could be in line for a late rise.

One player to keep an eye on further down the rankings is SMU’s Semi Ojeleye. The Duke transfer has had a breakout season for the season’s biggest surprises. He’s strong and skilled and if he were three inches taller he’d be a lottery pick. Ojeleye does a little bit of everything for the Mustangs. At the very least he’s an awesome college player.

There’s plenty here for the NBA fan to enjoy. Why not try holding the sarcasm in check and giving college ball another chance? You might even like it.

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