Dan Ducharme

@ShamsCharania @ESPNNBA Still only incentives winning at the end of the year for select teams near the very bottom. Better solution would have been to award ping pong balls based on where you are in conference standings when you get a win. Would’ve given extra balls to truly bad teams when they’d win.

The NBA has disclosed to its 30 GMs a singular new anti-tanking reform that expands the draft lottery to 16 teams, flattens odds, and have a relegation zone where the bottom 3 teams are penalized with fewer lottery balls for the No. 1 pick. ESPN details: espn.com/nba/story/_/id…

@NateDuncanNBA Does this offset the Wolves getting 0 first round picks when they traded away a 29 year old Jimmy Butler?

Traded for 0 first-round picks!

@RedNinetyFour What would you say if the Wolves called this summer and offered a Naz for Jabari trade?

We’re exponentially better with Fred, Adams, and Durant. Durant by himself is probably so good that he can win us this series by himself. But the darker reality that we’ve been trying to suppress and that this game has forced us to confront is the possibility that this “young core”—the fruits of the rebuild—isn’t any good. Those three vets were supposed to just be stabilizers, not the backbone of the team. The young guys should be able to beat 41 year old LeBron, Ayton, and Luke Kennard by this point. The optimist’s take on this is that current roster construction in light of the injuries is so deficient that the young core didn’t have the conditions to operate. It’s hard to do anything without shooting or perimeter shot creation. Or, that Sengun or Amen will eventually learn to shoot. Tonight, things feel dark, so I’ll log off now.

@mattressguy_ Beautyrest Black Series 4 mattressfirm.com/black-series-f…

Who’s got the balls to share their mattress? I’ll be as straightforward as possible with my rating

@HPbasketball Give ping pong balls for wins based on where you are in the standings. If you’re 10th in the West, that gets you 10 balls. Have the crappy teams play each other early in the year so it’s not a race to the bottom. Normalize at the end of the year to 1000 ping pong balls.

It is not healthy for nearly half the league to be ACTIVELY *trying* to lose by February. It is not healthy for a third of the league to be engineering losses in December with four more months of games. It is not healthy for your lottery system to be so complex you can't explain it in a sentence. It is not healthy for games to be an abject mess between injuries, travel exhaustion, and tanking. It is not healthy for teams to be hoping an 18-year old saves a multi-billion-dollar business before he leaves in free agency anyway even if he IS as good as projected.

@ChessLiam @PatKerrane

Sneaking a team into the best ball playoffs at the last moment >>>

@JonKrawczynski How much have they outscored the opponent by since Rudy left the NO game? Wasn’t it 36-48 when he punched Anderson?

The Timberwolves close the half with a flurry. Lead 60-49. KAT has 17, 6r, 4a. Best player on the floor. Conley 11 pts 4-4, 3-3 3s. They couldn't ask for anymore than that.

@KyleTheige The Minnesota sports fan way of viewing this line 😂

Let's start a thread of the most disrespectful moments in sports. I'll start.

@ericeager_ @JuMosq What about the way a team gets to their 1-score games? I.e., team 1 kicking a FG to knock team 2’s lead from 10 to 7.. even though this game may end up being 1 score, team 2 would certainly have the higher expected winning %. Blanket 1-score analysis ignores this type of context.

@FrequentMiler @NickatFM - looking to get an ink business unlimited for the sign-up bonus. Any issue if I already have an ink cash? I know Chase has rules around applying for a sapphire reserve if you already have a preferred (and vice versa). Anything similar with the ink?

@PhilMackey Had a semi-similar thought with the browns: Baker + DPJ + 1st + 2nd for Kirk + Thielen

I woke up feeling Reckless this morning. Colts need a QB and a weapon, and they have like $70 million in cap space. So... Who says no: COLTS RECEIVE: Kirk Cousins Adam Thielen VIKINGS RECEIVE: 2022 2nd round pick 2022 3rd round pick 2023 1st round pick

@TwolvesBlog I tend to think build a title contender at all costs. Making the playoffs prevented us from getting MPJ. MPJ was 2nd in TS% amongst all players last year with 20+ usage and 30+ mpg. It seems like you’re suggesting the extra 10 days to get eliminated was worth the missed pick.

Cost us Michael Porter Jr. but….that game 82 versus Denver was a payoff-for-all-the-misery moment and we absolutely need stuff like that even it’s single games. One playoff appearance in 18 years. Birth to college.

@TwolvesBlog Not avoiding the playoffs in 2018. We gave up the 14th overall pick in a stacked draft for 5 games worth of playoffs. The team wasn’t close to contending and needed every additional piece it could get.

Biggest mistake of the post-Flip era. Insert your own honorable mentions. Probably missed lots of stuff, didn’t think too hard.

@TheSportsminn @TerranovaNoah Oh man! That’s an amazing offer haha

@TravelTrollDan @TerranovaNoah I believe it was Noel, Covington and 2 firsts

Honestly tho considering how bad Kris Dunn’s rookie season was, what he was able to do with the rest of his time in the league is more than I expected him to be. He had a few solid seasons

@TheSportsminn @TerranovaNoah What was that trade offer? I don’t recall.

@TerranovaNoah I was legit angry when Thibs drafted him over much better prospects. Plus the deal the wolves got offered by the Sixers was massive and Dunn could never live up to that value

@PaulCharchian @chad_brink In

Do I have 18 followers interested in a Big Bore BBQ guillotine league? Draft in person on site. Everyone buys a $50 gift card for the eventual winner. Charch distributes the card to the last man standing. Reply if interested in the concept. @chad_brink

@NickatFM @FrequentMiler Thanks for the response! That definitely seems like the way to go and eliminates the upcoming Apple specific deadline.

@TravelTrollDan @FrequentMiler Not an Apple guy, but my first thought is buy Apple GCs at a supermarket or home improvement store and reimburse yourself at same 1.5cpp. That way there is no rush to redeem by 6/30. If the product gets pushed off / bad early reviews / situation changes, you're not locked in.

@FrequentMiler @NickatFM - looking to take advantage of 1.5 cpp for Apple purchases through CSR portal until June 30. However looking to buy a product that’s not getting released until later this year. Do you know if there’s a way to buy a GC at a 1.5 cpp redemption?

@NickatFM @FrequentMiler- I have the Amex platinum (cell insurance). My wife and I also have 3 Amex cards that are currently giving $15/month cell credits. If I use the $45 from those 3 CCs on the bill and the balance on the Amex plat, would I still be fully covered by insurance?