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The NBA Caterer
Matt DaSilva
It's holiday party season, and that means a lot of work for Jeremy, an actor/cater-waiter who would rather be watching hoops than passing hors d'oeuvres. But then he gets booked for a big NBA party, and couldn't his life be about to change, right now?
2025 NBA Draft Big Board
200 Prospects. 200 Profiles. 200 Scouting Reports.
Big Ten Basketball Weekly Newsletter (1/13)
What happened in the last week of Big Ten basketball?
It only took two months, but it feels to me that there is starting to be some separation within the Big Ten. The middle is still a lot of teams that are varying degrees of good and bad, but there are some clearly better and worse teams. We’re only about 25% of the way through conference play though, so there is lots of time for things to change. Subscri…
Randy (Rando) Needham
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1d
You are salvaging my team, but they earned it. Sigh.
Even-handed and objective analyst.
Thank you.
NBA Game Notes (Jan. 3, 2025)
Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on Jan. 3, 2025.
Three Stars
NBA Defenses Are All Different, Too
A few weeks back, I wrote extensively about the idea that everyone in the NBA is playing offense the same way, and how — this is a technical term — it’s a bunch of bullshit. I’ve been thinking about a way to explain and visualize the same concept for NBA defenses, and to do so, I’m turning the clock back a few years.
What are NBA Teams doing at the Trade Deadline?
Working in the NBA
There is something about deadlines that makes things get done.
The 2024 NBA Year In Review
Assembled community-style, with reader submissions dominating proceedings, because that is how we do these here
It doesn't happen every year that the Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza coincides with New Year's Eve.
Running on Empty
a very short Indian basketball essay
Sherman, each time I read you, you lift my heart, make me laugh, and teach me a new lesson. Thank you for helping all of us along our roads to survival.
Beautiful funny, sad but yet full of hope and love. I have to say that there is always a line from one of your books, poems, essays that always blows me away and this time it’s After all, think of how many Indians have wept in the snow the last five hundred years. Brilliant and vivid and that’s why you you’re an amazing writer.
It's an NBA Power Rankings Tuesday
The Committee (of One) is back with a pulse check spanning more than 4,000 words as we approach the regular season midpoint
It has been 40-odd days since The Committee (of One) last convened to whip up the world's most famous NBA Power Rankings.
As a Kings fan I gotta take issue lol. Having the Pacers at 7 and Kings at 12 strikes me as highly results oriented. One team has a 0.0 net rating and plays in the Minor Leagues, the other has a +3.0 and is surging without its second best player. Somewhere around 9-10 would be more appropriate for both teams imo.
Also, if this factors in long-term potential at all, why are the Mavs so low? They're 22-17 (net rating +4.0) while missing 10+ games from their two best players. If they take an injury-related hit in the rankings, why not the Pistons too?
Those are my only disagreements, great list otherwise. And thank you for ranking the Lakers accurately ;-)
2025 NBA Mock Draft V.3
The No Ceilings crew comes together for V.3 of their 2025 NBA Mock Draft
Basketball, neo-imperialism and Zionism
Sport today is just another sector of big business – just another way of making money.
“As journalist Jeffrey Blankfort explains, although the ADL claims to fight anti-semitism, its real purpose is “not defense of Jews, per se, but defense of Israel and the intimidation and public humiliation of its critics”.” — And THAT is as politely as one can put it. Far from FIGHTING hate groups, the ADL IS a hate group, directing hatred towards those who would speak uncomfortable truths about Israel and Zionism. And of course it runs a very successful extortion racket.
““Holocaust survivor, Dr. Arnold Clevs, shared his journey through 12 concentration camps and his eventual immigration to the United States with more than 250 league and NBA team employees”.” — Ha!! And by “ holocaust survivor” you can bet Dr. Clevs is not a Palestinian. A present day holocaust survivor from Gaza would be directed to share his or her story with somewhat less than “250 league and NBA team employees” … my guess would be exactly zero.
Thank you very much Paul for the time, research effort, dedication and caring. It is extremely important and valuable service you're offering humanity. Thank you 🙏
Do you happen to know here can i learn more about the connection between ADL and bnei brith, and the guiding principles of bnei brith (which you alluded to in the post)?
NBA Best Bets Tuesday January 7th
Winning streak reaches 7 straight days (Live show in 15 mins!)
Sometime very soon the subtitle of these emails is going to be, “the winning streak finally ended,” but that is not tonight. Another NUCLEAR night betting the NBA, going 6-1 and netting +2.77units. The streak has now reached a week straight. One of those wins included Spurs/Bulls Under 236.5, which was headed towards a tight sweat for most of the game, …
Friday NBA Takeaways: Thunder (Way) Up
Plus, return of the TBP MVP!
Sometimes January NBA basketball feels like a slog — sometimes it rules. Last night, it ruled pretty hard.
NBA Best Bets Tuesday January 14th
Introducing a new segment on todays show!
I have been so hot in the month of January, both getting some good breaks but primarily just having amazing numbers and the capping process has been terrific. Going into Monday night I had another card with 10units sprinkled across 14 bets, with every single one of them being +CLV at tipoff. However, I ended up suffering 5 different bad beats - it was t…
2025 NBA Draft BIG Board V.3
The No Ceilings collective installs their third BIG Board for the top prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Happy New Year! We hope that all of you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season and that you’re recovering from your New Year’s Eve plans—whether those plans involved partying with family and friends or raising a glass to some draft tape as the clock struck midnight.
This class is so ridiculously stacked it's absurd
Great work here, No Ceilings Team!
I think Kon Knueppel is way low, here. My only real complaint. I think Ben Saraf is way overrated by everyone. I dont get it. KK is the guy coaches want. No weakness, crazy high IQ and a great shooter. McNeeley too, if i were to guess, will go higher. I love Edgercrome but i get why there is a wait and see attitude with him. What ive seen of rasheer fleming makes me like him a lot (Taylor hendricks yes?) And KJ Lewis....my sleeper.....And carter bryant is purely theoretical (Peyton Watson style). Why is Toppin so low on so many mocks? His brothers are in the league, his numbers are crazy, and he should at least be up in the late 20s....but nobody has him there. And as usual, great work.
3 Things to do in the New Year to Land an NBA Internship
Getting a job in the NBA
There’s never a wrong time to be pursuing your NBA opportunity. But the New Year provides a time to set some goals and take some practical steps towards putting yourself in position to achieving your dream job.
NBA Rookie Scale Big Board V.2
The No Ceilings crew installs the second edition of their Rookie Scale Big Board.
Holiday Memories: 15 Years Playing Basketball on Christmas
A lot of basketball players will tell you that when they think of Christmas, they think of their teammates and of the game. That’s because you’re often playing on the holiday, or together at tournaments, on the road, far from home. For some 15 years – from the time I left high school, until I retired from the NBA – I never celebrated with my family.
When you were at Princeton, I was in high school down the road at Lawrenceville. One afternoon, the Princeton team traveled to our field house for a practice. I watched you moving around the floor shooting jumpers from 10 to 25 feet out. I counted 32 swishes in a row! When you joined the Knicks, I became a huge fan. While I was at Columbia living in NYC, I attended many games at MSG cheering on those legendary Knick teams. Great memories!
Thank you for this wonderful story bill. You always have a way to out things in perspective and make great commentary on what is really important and to be learned from life. Wishing you the best and thank gor for decades if inspiration and guidance.
No. 1 UCLA 83, Purdue women's basketball 49: Takeaways
The Bruins demonstrated why they're top-ranked team in the nation and one of the favorites to win the national championship
Thoughts from Tuesday’s loss at Mackey Arena:
Well—- the game turned out the way I think that most fans thought it would— I can’t be disappointed in the way Purdue hustled—- they were out manned at every position— that’s why UCLA is undefeated— Purdue played hard— got beat by a better team—that’s it— period. Purdue has another tough game coming up Saturday . I will say— we have players coming that will make us better and the players we have —-we’ve got some talent on this team— just not UCLA talent—personally—we have a good team— not where we want to be right now — but I have no doubt we will get there and I’m proud of the players we have— they play hard— give it their all—. That’s all that I expect— Katie is key— the way we play and is at the top of the game when it comes to recruiting—-thank you for listening— go BOILERS !!! ED from WANAMAKER
Women's Basketball Earns Split in First ACC Road Trip
Bears rebound from their Thursday loss to Clemson with a solid victory over SMU on Sunday
The California Golden Bears hit the road for the first time as members of the ACC Conference with a visit to Clemson last Thursday, followed by a matchup against SMU Sunday afternoon in Dallas. Coming into these games, Cal was #21 in the KenPom rankings, while Clemson was at #103 and SMU wa…
Let's get Haas rocking this week!! This team deserves your support! What are you waiting for? Buy your tickets now! And "bring a freakin' friend"!! GO Bears!!!
I really like the style of basketball you highlighted. It just feels so active with the options constantly recombining and rearranging.
Nate/Ethan jumping to a lot of topics of how to fix the NBA is what's wrong with the NBA. It's broken top to bottom.
- Too many games.
- You go to games and it's crazy expensive so it's hard for most people to go to more than 1-2 games a year. Even in a poor/small city like Milwaukee, $40 parking, $15 drinks, etc.
- The games are exhausting. There's constant loud music and fake fan noise. During breaks in play there's more loud music and an MC screaming into a mic.
- And because fandom is so heavily weighed around following star players and not teams, the star player you came to see being hurt ruins the whole night.
- Okay watch games on TV instead... It's hard to watch the games because you need not only cable, but the expensive, upgraded cable package.
- The broadcasts universally stink. The constant action means there's no time to learn about what's happening and spend time showing how amazing or intricate some of the plays are, so the casual fan just sees a guy standing around with the ball and eventually passing to a shooter who is standing like a statue in the corner.
- You get to tense moments at the end of the game and there could be time to explain how the game works (I stress this because look at how much time the NFL broadcast spends explaining the game) during the timeouts and replays (which usually are a bummer) but instead we cram in commercials with occasional returns to showing a ref looking at 12" screen.
- And with neither in person or home viewing experience being great, you REALLY feel the number of games being an issue.
- You play all those games and it really doesn't matter because 2/3 of the league makes the playoffs anyway.
- The playoffs are way too long, so it ends up being the healthiest top 5-6 team wins and we crap on the winners in the moment for not facing tough opponents.
And maybe the NBA is just not meant to be THAT popular of a sport. It certainly has the potential to dramatically expand in popularity during the insane heights (e.g. Jordan era, peak Warriors, etc.). But the baseline is maybe it's a sport that is on the level of hockey.
If it's to be "fixed" and keep pace with baseball long term, I think you'd have to sit down and consider it as if you were starting the league new. Consider entirely new season and playoff format, etc.
The main reason Clark's persona could become an issue, imo, is that a lot of her fans aren't really that invested in women's basketball. People obviously like that she's great and has a more aesthetically pleasing game than we're used to, but giving up the WNBA wouldn't really be a big sacrifice for many. If she starts to annoy people, it'll be pretty easy for a notable percentage of her fans to think 'Eh, screw it, I'd rather watch/read/do something else.'
The way Ethan pronounces Hawaii is making me reconsider my subscription.
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