#i used to be such a stats nerd too i made team predictions and everything

[orkidays]

I miss the mcc golden age so much I miss getting super excited for mcc day and seeing all the cool art of the teams but also. I am so fucking glad I dont watch it anymore

#IM FREE !!!! #reading the dash i feel so bad for poor sapogie 😭 #i used to be such a stats nerd too i made team predictions and everything #days.txt

[imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch]

Up, Up, Down, Down, Kiss, and Make Up: Part One

Pairings: Annabeth/Percy; Jason/Piper; Hazel/Frank; Nico/Will

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15303474/chapters/35503755 

- Part 1 (The Set Up/Logging On) -

When Chiron bans video games, Leo gets creative and decides they should create their own game. The result is part D&D campaign, part cosplay opportunity and part complete chaos. Hazel might have somehow accidentally been proposed to, Annabeth is frustrated by video game logic, Jason and Piper start a feud, and Nico is trying very hard not to notice Will Solace and even harder not to let himself be video gamed into asking Will out. And Leo? He's in his element controlling it all.

Chiron had banned video games. He claimed it was because they rotted your brain and that everyone should be getting outside in the fresh air. In truth it was probably because Corridor 13 had gotten a little too competitive during a Mario Kart competition and a wii remote had flown off of someone's wrist and managed to take out both the TV and a window by a miracle of rebound and angles. The window had been fixed very quickly. The TV hadn't.

Chiron had insinuated they wouldn't get it back until after the holidays. After the obligatory complaints, chiding and threats to never speak to Corridor 13 again, the students of The Pantheon School were left to figure out what to do with themselves.

Predictably it was Leo who came up with something first.

"Let's make our own video game."

That didn't get much of a response at first. Piper and Annabeth were sitting in the window seat, not really listening. Of all of them they'd been the least worried about the loss of the TV since they'd only ever shown up to the video game tournaments occasionally to put the rest of them back in their place: Mario Kart wasn't a challenge anymore and it was doubtful it ever had been. Jason was at the desk by the window. He was probably the next level of not interested because he had somehow ended up on the committee to organise the prom and so his and Reyna's free time was usually spent arguing about menus, colour schemes and mildly threatening corporations who thought they could con two teenagers into buying overpriced balloons.

Percy did care about the loss of the TV, because without it he had one less reason to ignore the pressing fact he had a lot of homework to do. When Leo repeated the sentiment, louder this time, he was the first to look up from where he was lying on the sofa.

"How?"

Leo admitted that he hadn't really thought things through that far. Percy sighed and threw his arm across his face.

"Maybe Chiron's right. Maybe we should just go outside or something."

Leo perked up. He was sitting on the floor, playing absentmindedly with an old walkie-talkie and he waved it about as he spoke, nearly decking Frank sat behind him.

"Outside!" he said. "Yes we should go outside."

He seemed way too enthusiastic about the idea. It was enough for Hazel to glance over in some concern.

"You said fresh air was pointless," she commented.

"That was before when we had a TV. Now outside is genius. We can make our own video game."

"That was your first idea," Percy observed.

"Ye-es," Leo admitted. "But this is that idea new and improved. I've got these walkie-talkies that Connor gave me and there's that old playground out back. We can make an obstacle course and control someone around it. Tell them what to do with the walkie talkies and stuff."

"Tell them to do stuff?"

Nico was sitting on the floor behind Percy’s sofa and he'd been so quiet the others had kind of forgotten he was there. He poked his head out.

"What sort of stuff?" he continued.

"You know, jump. Go left. Turn. That sort of thing," Leo said vaguely. “I haven't worked out all the particulars yet.”

"That's obvious," Nico said. Then he shrugged. "Sounds fun. Count me in."

"Really?" Leo asked, then quickly. "Great."

Nico gave him a look.

"I didn't think you'd be the first to agree," Leo said defensively.

"I'm in too," said Percy, still without looking up. "And Annabeth."

His girlfriend looked up at her name.

"What are you signing me up for?" she asked.

"Leo's video game super smash brawl IRL," Percy said. "Far as I'm guessing he's thinking of an obstacle course capture the flag death match kind of thing where someone bosses someone else about through walkie talkie."

Annabeth thought about that for a second.

"We're in," she said. "Right Pipes?"

Piper nodded seriously.

"Be good to kick your butts in real life," she said. "Bagsie Reyna."

And that was how they ended up outside in the grounds letting themselves be bossed around by Leo who had found a mega-phone somewhere and was using it to bellow instructions across the lawn. Jason came out, trying to adjust his glasses with an elbow at the same time as trying to shift a heavy cardboard box into a more comfortable position.

"This was all the tech corridor 13 could scrounge up," Jason said.

"They were pretty apologetic about the loss of the TV," he added as Leo extracted a broken video camera with a worryingly large grin.

"Here!" Leo called as he threw the camera towards Harley, who caught it one handed. "That should be good for section one."

"Section one?" Jason asked. "Leo this is going to be a little game right? A quick distraction?"

Leo barely gave his friend half a second of attention, too busy rummaging through the box.

"Uh-huh," Leo agreed, though Jason was pretty sure Leo had absolutely no idea what he was agreeing to.

"Corridor 13 have started a betting pool," Jason continued. "What exactly have you told them?"

"Video game," Leo mumbled. "Recreating a video game."

Jason sighed, and then jumped back rapidly as Harley walked back their way carrying a large piece of plywood.

"Okay," he said in defeat. "If you need me I'll be talking to napkin suppliers."

"Ooh can you get me any free samples?" Leo asked.

"Sure?"

"Great. And you don't mind me designing your costume then?"

"No that's fi- wait costume?”

Leo wandered off, feigning deafness as he screeched into his megaphone.

“Leo! What costume?"

Leo continued doing a good impression of not being able to hear, waving a set of fairy lights excitedly at Harley. As he passed Reyna, Piper and Annabeth they covered up the several sheets of paper they had spread out on the floor around them and ostensibly stopped talking.

"Go away spy," Piper teased. "We won't let you steal our top secret plans."

Annabeth waited before Leo had got a safe distance away before continuing with her inventory plans.

"And rope of course."

Nico had joined forces with Hazel and Frank. Frank didn't seem entirely comfortable about the entire set up, partly because he wasn't super into video games but Hazel and Nico's competitive streaks were coming out and they were showing their claws, and partly because Hazel's brother made him just a tiny bit uncomfortable.

Hanging out with Nico properly for the first time was a little nerve wracking, because as stupid as he told himself he was being, Frank couldn't help but think that he was one stupid comment away from Nico skewering him with the pencil he was holding, or at least skewering him with a look. Still Hazel adored Nico and Nico adored Hazel and so it was clearly up to Frank to get over the fact he was mildly terrified of the slight, pale teenager with the eyes like shards of glass.

And Nico hardly seemed to be paying attention anyway. He'd had all sorts of plans in the beginning, and Frank had begun to realise that Nico was a bit of a mythomagic nerd. His knowledge of stats and different attacks could come in useful, but equally couldn't, since none of them really knew exactly what Leo was planning on building for them.

Now Nico was just staring into the distance, tapping a pencil distractedly against his knee. Frank followed his line of sight, but all he could see was some of the corridor 13 lot with Lou-Ellen and a couple of the guys from 7 and the younger ginger and green haired girl Frank always saw on the archery range. Callie? No, Kayla.

Frank shrugged it off, assumed that suddenly disappearing into his head was one of Nico's things and began discussing whether or not Hazel thought they'd need a shield.

"Do you think we'll need matches?" Annabeth asked, adding another note to her equal parts frighteningly organised and horrifyingly disorganised list.

"This is Leo," Piper said. "I think we should have everything possible. Up to and including the national guard and a medic on call."

Annabeth added matches under cold weather provisions, cross-referencing it a second later to light-emitting devices and then adding an arrow to warmth.

"Do we have a torch?" Reyna asked.

Annabeth frowned, scanned her notes.

"Yes under electronic items."

Reyna nodded sagely. She was relatively new to The Pantheon School, so really she was dealing with the chaos well considering she’d never had to survive through Leo’s other projects and ideas.  

"How serious do you think Leo is about all of this?" Reyna mused. "I saw him walk past with a drill a minute a go. Where on earth did he get a drill from?"

"Don't know," Piper laughed. "And don't think I want to know."

"Leo's hardly serious about anything," Annabeth mused. "But when he's got a project he's off. He's serious. And we've got a reputation to withhold."

"Well if we are doing this we're doing it properly," Reyna said. "I heard Leo was making his team costumes."

"My kind of area," Piper said with a grin.

"Really?" Annabeth asked. "You know how to sew?"

"Some confidence would be nice," Piper teased. "But no. I do, however, know some girls who love fashion and would be happy to help."

Reyna frowned. Annabeth pictured Drew's scowling, sardonic expression.

"Really?" Annabeth said again.

"Really," Piper said with a devious grin. "My corridor owe me a favour."

#Percy Jackson and the Olympians #fandom #writing #Up Up Down Down... #Percy/Annabeth #Hazel/Frank #Jason/Piper #will solace/nico di angelo

[bubblegumwitchswriting]

Up Up, Down Down, Kiss and Make Up: Part One

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15303474/chapters/35503755

Parings: Percy/Annabeth; Hazel/Frank (not yet dating); Jason/Piper; Will/Nico (not yet dating)

(Boarding school AU)

When Chiron bans video games, Leo gets creative and decides they should create their own game. The result is part D&D campaign, part cosplay opportunity and part complete chaos. Hazel might have somehow accidentally been proposed to, Annabeth is frustrated by video game logic, Jason and Piper start a feud, and Nico is trying very hard not to notice Will Solace and even harder not to let himself be video gamed into asking Will out. And Leo? He's in his element controlling it all.

Part One

Chiron had banned video games. He claimed it was because they rotted your brain and that everyone should be getting outside in the fresh air. In truth it was probably because Corridor 13 had gotten a little too competitive during a Mario Kart competition and a wii remote had flown off of someone's wrist and managed to take out both the TV and a window by a miracle of rebound and angles. The window had been fixed very quickly. The TV hadn't.

Chiron had insinuated they wouldn't get it back until after the holidays. After the obligatory complaints, chiding and threats to never speak to Corridor 13 again, the students of The Pantheon School were left to figure out what to do with themselves.

Predictably it was Leo who came up with something first.

"Let's make our own video game."

That didn't get much of a response at first. Piper and Annabeth were sitting in the window seat, not really listening. Of all of them they'd been the least worried about the loss of the TV since they'd only ever shown up to the video game tournaments occasionally to put the rest of them back in their place: Mario Kart wasn't a challenge anymore and it was doubtful it ever had been. Jason was at the desk by the window. He was probably the next level of not interested because he had somehow ended up on the committee to organise the prom and so his and Reyna's free time was usually spent arguing about menus, colour schemes and mildly threatening corporations who thought they could con two teenagers into buying overpriced balloons.

Percy did care about the loss of the TV, because without it he had one less reason to ignore the pressing fact he had a lot of homework to do. When Leo repeated the sentiment, louder this time, he was the first to look up from where he was lying on the sofa.

"How?"

Leo admitted that he hadn't really thought things through that far. Percy sighed and threw his arm across his face.

"Maybe Chiron's right. Maybe we should just go outside or something."

Leo perked up. He was sitting on the floor, playing absentmindedly with an old walkie-talkie and he waved it about as he spoke, nearly decking Frank sat behind him.

"Outside!" he said. "Yes we should go outside."

He seemed way too enthusiastic about the idea. It was enough for Hazel to glance over in some concern.

"You said fresh air was pointless," she commented.

"That was before when we had a TV. Now outside is genius. We can make our own video game."

"That was your first idea," Percy observed.

"Ye-es," Leo admitted. "But this is that idea new and improved. I've got these walkie-talkies that Connor gave me and there's that old playground out back. We can make an obstacle course and control someone around it. Tell them what to do with the walkie talkies and stuff."

"Tell them to do stuff?"

Nico was sitting on the floor behind Percy’s sofa and he'd been so quiet the others had kind of forgotten he was there. He poked his head out.

"What sort of stuff?" he continued.

"You know, jump. Go left. Turn. That sort of thing," Leo said vaguely. “I haven't worked out all the particulars yet.”

"That's obvious," Nico said. Then he shrugged. "Sounds fun. Count me in."

"Really?" Leo asked, then quickly. "Great."

Nico gave him a look.

"I didn't think you'd be the first to agree," Leo said defensively.

"I'm in too," said Percy, still without looking up. "And Annabeth."

His girlfriend looked up at her name.

"What are you signing me up for?" she asked.

"Leo's video game super smash brawl IRL," Percy said. "Far as I'm guessing he's thinking of an obstacle course capture the flag death match kind of thing where someone bosses someone else about through walkie talkie."

Annabeth thought about that for a second.

"We're in," she said. "Right Pipes?"

Piper nodded seriously.

"Be good to kick your butts in real life," she said. "Bagsie Reyna."

And that was how they ended up outside in the grounds letting themselves be bossed around by Leo who had found a mega-phone somewhere and was using it to bellow instructions across the lawn. Jason came out, trying to adjust his glasses with an elbow at the same time as trying to shift a heavy cardboard box into a more comfortable position.

"This was all the tech corridor 13 could scrounge up," Jason said.

"They were pretty apologetic about the loss of the TV," he added as Leo extracted a broken video camera with a worryingly large grin.

"Here!" Leo called as he threw the camera towards Harley, who caught it one handed. "That should be good for section one."

"Section one?" Jason asked. "Leo this is going to be a little game right? A quick distraction?"

Leo barely gave his friend half a second of attention, too busy rummaging through the box.

"Uh-huh," Leo agreed, though Jason was pretty sure Leo had absolutely no idea what he was agreeing to.

"Corridor 13 have started a betting pool," Jason continued. "What exactly have you told them?"

"Video game," Leo mumbled. "Recreating a video game."

Jason sighed, and then jumped back rapidly as Harley walked back their way carrying a large piece of plywood.

"Okay," he said in defeat. "If you need me I'll be talking to napkin suppliers."

"Ooh can you get me any free samples?" Leo asked.

"Sure?"

"Great. And you don't mind me designing your costume then?"

"No that's fi- wait costume?”

Leo wandered off, feigning deafness as he screeched into his megaphone.

“Leo! What costume?"

Leo continued doing a good impression of not being able to hear, waving a set of fairy lights excitedly at Harley. As he passed Reyna, Piper and Annabeth they covered up the several sheets of paper they had spread out on the floor around them and ostensibly stopped talking.

"Go away spy," Piper teased. "We won't let you steal our top secret plans."

Annabeth waited before Leo had got a safe distance away before continuing with her inventory plans.

"And rope of course."

Nico had joined forces with Hazel and Frank. Frank didn't seem entirely comfortable about the entire set up, partly because he wasn't super into video games but Hazel and Nico's competitive streaks were coming out and they were showing their claws, and partly because Hazel's brother made him just a tiny bit uncomfortable.

Hanging out with Nico properly for the first time was a little nerve wracking, because as stupid as he told himself he was being, Frank couldn't help but think that he was one stupid comment away from Nico skewering him with the pencil he was holding, or at least skewering him with a look. Still Hazel adored Nico and Nico adored Hazel and so it was clearly up to Frank to get over the fact he was mildly terrified of the slight, pale teenager with the eyes like shards of glass.

And Nico hardly seemed to be paying attention anyway. He'd had all sorts of plans in the beginning, and Frank had begun to realise that Nico was a bit of a mythomagic nerd. His knowledge of stats and different attacks could come in useful, but equally couldn't, since none of them really knew exactly what Leo was planning on building for them.

Now Nico was just staring into the distance, tapping a pencil distractedly against his knee. Frank followed his line of sight, but all he could see was some of the corridor 13 lot with Lou-Ellen and a couple of the guys from 7 and the younger ginger and green haired girl Frank always saw on the archery range. Callie? No, Kayla.

Frank shrugged it off, assumed that suddenly disappearing into his head was one of Nico's things and began discussing whether or not Hazel thought they'd need a shield.

"Do you think we'll need matches?" Annabeth asked, adding another note to her equal parts frighteningly organised and horrifyingly disorganised list.

"This is Leo," Piper said. "I think we should have everything possible. Up to and including the national guard and a medic on call."

Annabeth added matches under cold weather provisions, cross-referencing it a second later to light-emitting devices and then adding an arrow to warmth.

"Do we have a torch?" Reyna asked.

Annabeth frowned, scanned her notes.

"Yes under electronic items."

Reyna nodded sagely. She was relatively new to The Pantheon School, so really she was dealing with the chaos well considering she’d never had to survive through Leo’s other projects and ideas.  

"How serious do you think Leo is about all of this?" Reyna mused. "I saw him walk past with a drill a minute a go. Where on earth did he get a drill from?"

"Don't know," Piper laughed. "And don't think I want to know."

"Leo's hardly serious about anything," Annabeth mused. "But when he's got a project he's off. He's serious. And we've got a reputation to withhold."

"Well if we are doing this we're doing it properly," Reyna said. "I heard Leo was making his team costumes."

"My kind of area," Piper said with a grin.

"Really?" Annabeth asked. "You know how to sew?"

"Some confidence would be nice," Piper teased. "But no. I do, however, know some girls who love fashion and would be happy to help."

Reyna frowned. Annabeth pictured Drew's scowling, sardonic expression.

"Really?" Annabeth said again.

"Really," Piper said with a devious grin. "My corridor owe me a favour."

Part Two

#Percy Jackson and the Olympians #pjo #percy jackson #annabeth chase #percy/annabeth #hazel #frank #hazel/frank #jason #piper #Jason/piper #Will solace #Nico di Angelo #will solace/nico di angelo #up up down down

[junker-town]

Why the Bucks don’t miss Malcolm Brogdon, at least not yet

The Bucks aren’t missing Malcolm Brogdon yet.

Milwaukee is doubling down on everything that makes them great, at least so far.

The 2018-19 Milwaukee Bucks won 73 percent of their games while outscoring opponents by a league-leading 8.6 points per 100 possessions. You know what happened next. The Bucks lost four straight to the Raptors after winning the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, then refused to go deep into the luxury tax to retain Malcolm Brogdon, a key player in their starting lineup. If you’re a Bucks fan, you’ve probably read more critiques of that decision than you can count.

Yet sans Brogdon, the 2019-20 Bucks are 21-3, an 88 percent win rate. They’ve outscored opponents by nearly 13 points per 100 possessions, putting them even further ahead of the rest of the league. They won back-to-back games by more than 40 points, then demolished the Los Angeles Clippers, a preseason title favorite, by 28. I’m no genius, but those numbers seem better than last year.

This should lead to a series of obvious questions:

Was Brogdon’s importance to the Bucks overstated?

Was he actually a “luxury,” as managing partner Marc Lasry suggested before the season?

Forget finances: did the Bucks actually make the right basketball decision to let him go?

Was all the haranguing about the timing of his departure — right before a certain important international sensation could decide to leave a quaint little American town of nearly 600,000 people — a waste of time?

The honest answer to all of those question is that we don’t know yet. Before the season, I suggested the Bucks wouldn’t really miss Brogdon until the postseason. We, of course, have not reached the postseason and won’t for some time. Brogdon is also having an all-star caliber season for the Pacers, having transferred the direct, attacking style that served him well off the ball in Milwaukee into an on-ball role in Indiana. Watching him and screening savant Domantas Sabonis change speeds in the pick-and-roll is a basketball nerd’s dream.

And yet, the Bucks have been significantly better than they were at any point last season even without Brogdon. If he was so important to their success last year, why have they improved? And if they’ve improved this much, doesn’t that mean he really was a luxury?

Broadly, the Bucks have improved for two related reasons: their defense is somehow better, and their star is somehow better. Without Brogdon, their strengths have become super-duper-duper strengths.

Last year’s Bucks allowed the fewest points per 100 possessions in the league. They did so using a simple formula: shut off the rim, don’t foul, and don’t get caught in rotation. Oddly, they allowed a higher percentage of three-point shots than any other team in the league, which is usually a sign of a bad unit. But in Milwaukee’s case, it was by design. They made the rim a no-fly zone, so most of those threes were relatively harmless above-the-break ones like this.

Brook Lopez (and Antetokounmpo to a lesser extent) correctly received most of the credit. It looks easy to raise your arms as high as possible near the basket, but there’s a reason you don’t see zillions of Brook Lopezes around the league. It’s hard to be that big and have that much upper-body strength with athletic marvels jumping into your chest.

Still, the Bucks’ defensive strategy isn’t exactly the most complicated to diagnose. So how are they allowing four fewer points per 100 possessions this year? Why are teams shooting just 53.6 percent at the rim against them this year, nearly four percentage points lower than last year’s league-leading mark?

There are many factors. Lopez has somehow improved as a rim protector, falling less often for ball-handlers fakes.

The addition of Lopez’s brother Robin has also given Milwaukee a second towering statue around the basket.

But there’s another factor at play: better perimeter defenders playing in Brogdon’s place. Brodgon is far from a slouch, but he’s not as big as Wesley Matthews or as quick as the bench duo of Donte DiVincenzo and Pat Connaughton.

Matthews, a veteran’s minimum signing this summer, has fit in seamlessly with the Bucks’ ethos. Milwaukee allows just 96.3 points per 100 possessions with him in the game — to make an admittedly crude comparison, they allowed 102.7 per 100 with Brogdon on the floor last year. He’s bigger, more physical, and savvier than anyone the Bucks had last year, giving them another option against the Leonards of the world.

Last year, the task of stopping these players fell to Khris Middleton or Brogdon, which sapped their offensive energy (especially in Middleton’s case). Now, it’s Matthews’ job, and Leonard in particular saw the difference.

DiVincenzo and Connaughton are excellent alternatives against the quicker guards that Brogdon used to check. Their ball pressure is a delight to watch, and DiVincenzo in particular looks like a shutdown corner when playing passing lanes.

Together, those three players make the Lopii look even better. Last year, the Bucks were good at funneling drivers to the rim with enough pressure to limit their leaping ability. But Matthews, DiVincenzo, and Connaughton are even more superior clamp defenders that stay even more attached to their man’s hips on pick-and-rolls.

In different ways, against different kinds of offensive players, they ensure Milwaukee’s elite rim protectors aren’t forced to leave the hoop and get exposed in space. Brook Lopez gets credit for stoning Ivica Zubac at the rim, but Matthews made it easier by nipping at Leonard’s heels so he couldn’t finish the drive.

Brogdon did that stuff well, but not as well as Matthews, DiVincenzo, and Connaughton. And while he’s much more versatile on the other end, Milwaukee’s offense is doing just fine anyway. That’s largely because Antetokounmpo has somehow taken on more responsibility.

For years, we’ve wondered what might happen if Antetokounmpo finally developed a jump shot to go along with his incredible power game. Y’all, it’s happening. He’s up to 32 percent on threes this year while taking five a game, nearly double his career high in attempts. As I noted a couple weeks ago, his shooting form is smoother. Watch the difference on these two shots.

Defenses would still rather have Antetokounmpo shoot from the perimeter than drive, but he’s now good enough from out there to at least be honored. He even sometimes fools some dummies into biting on his pump fake!

His shooting improvement holds up from mid-range and on turnarounds on the block. Teams are honoring those shots, which allows Antetokounmpo to go through his man for layups and dunks from a standstill position rather than always having to attack on the move.

These two left-box post ups against Defensive Player of the Year candidate Jonathan Isaac illustrate Antetokounmpo’s skill development. On the first one, Isaac absorbed Antetokounmpo’s body blow and backed up to bait Antetokounmpo into shooting over him. Totally understandable, yet Antetokounmpo obliged with this nifty jump hook, a new-ish tool in his arsenal.

Two minutes later, Antetokounmpo caught the ball in the exact same spot. This time, Isaac, took a step toward Antetokounmpo, trying to body him off the spot from which he just got beat. Big mistake, because Antetokounmpo just plowed through him for a dunk.

Does Isaac do that if he hasn’t experienced Antetokounmpo besting him with a jump hook? I doubt it. That’s how possessing a deeper set of offensive tools makes a star’s strength even stronger.

Antetokounmpo’s offensive improvement has little to do with Brogdon’s departure, unless you believe Brodgon somehow held the MVP back. But if replacing Brogdon with Matthews and DiVincenzo while retaining Connaughton and George Hill improves the defense without any offensive drop-off, maybe it was a good basketball decision after all?

Well, maybe. Getting stronger at your strengths doesn’t alleviate the fear that your team is too predictable in a tight playoff series. It always helps to have offspeed pitches no matter how many extra miles one adds to their fastball. Do the Bucks have enough variety without Brogdon around?

To me, DiVincenzo’s development is the key to further threading the needle. He’s no Brogdon on offense, but he’s shown flashes of providing some of the playmaking, shooting, and direct driving that Brogdon did last year. The Bucks would be wise to coax more of this out.

The Bucks also have the two draft picks and the trade exception they received for moving Brogdon to Indiana to flip for an upgrade if they decide they need it. (If only they could trade those things for Malcolm Brogdon!).

But they could also do nothing and be in as good a position as they were with Brogdon. Remember, they dominated two playoff series with him injured last year and were a bounce away from going up 3-0 in last year’s East Finals. Further improvement from Antetokounmpo plus a more stifling defense might be the formula necessary to break through. If so, perhaps Brogdon really was a luxury player.

We won’t know for sure until June. Until then, it’s worth at least considering the possibility they were right to let him go.

CLOSEOUT OF THE WEEK

Three-point shooting is essential, yet there’s no good stat that credits defenders for the essential act of preventing a three-pointer from being taken. We must reward these efforts.

Four Lakers stopped potential open transition threes here. You love to see it.

REBOUND JOUST OF THE WEEK

Last year, I wrote about the rising trend of teammates fighting each other for defensive rebounds. These moments usually end harmlessly, but occasionally, they can cost a team. Here’s to over-aggression!

The real MVP of this clip is Hornets play-by-play man Eric Collins, who has a knack for conveying the exact level of joy or (more commonly) frustration that Hornets fans feel in the moment. GOOD GOLLY is a call for the ages. Perfect for a moment trivial, yet frustrating during an attempted comeback.

(Shoutout to the legend John Hollinger for flagging this joust.)