Lurker > ShatteredElysium

Just got the call from family in the UK that my grandmother is seriously ill. Still waiting for the results to come back but they think it's bowel cancer. She's in her 90s so if it is, it's going to be terminal. She hasn't eaten in days and has lost 20lbs in just over a week so I doubt she has very long unless it's miraculously ulcers instead

My biggest fear when COVID restrictions started was that something like this would happen and I wouldn't be able to get home to visit them or even for the funeral. My grandfather died suddenly a couple of years after I emigrated and I hadn't been home in 2 years to visit due to work. I was devastated and I still feel guilty about it even now.

If my grandmother dies and I can't get back to see her before she does, I don't know what I'll do. I try to go home every year but the last time I was home was late 2018 since a lot of my family visited here in 2019. I told them I planned to come home as soon as COVID restrictions allowed me to and have been checking travel restrictions every 1-2 weeks. This just feels cruel and unfair even though I'm well aware others have it far worse than me.

Emeraldegg posted...

I wouldn't believe anyone saying anyone is out on anyone personally, just because there's smoke bombs everywhere in trying to lead other teams astray.

Initial source is part of the Magic scouting team. Guy who relayed the information is a personal friend of the source and is not employed in basketball circles (he's trying to get into scouting though) and does not have a large following (~1400 people on Twitter). So whilst it could be a smokescreen, he wouldn't be the person to leak it to if that was the intent. It also came a few days after Kuminga was at a Magic game so lines up timeline wise.

Guy could have been BS'ing us for clout I guess but he doesn't strike me as that sort of guy. He also didn't put it out publicly, he just mentioned it in a small group chat when we were discussing prospects. He's given us info about other players having red flags due to previously non publicized offcourt issues in the past too.

Not really. Even if you rate Kuminga as the same as the rest of that bunch (which some may since he's a project and his stock is based off him possessing the tools but needing a lot of development) then getting the 1st pick from the best of the rest is still important.

Plus that 5th spot holds a lot more trade value. Someone from the top 4 may be willing to move back because they are big on Kuminga. Or there's an outside shot someone is that high on him they take him top 4 and you have one of the top 4 slide to you.

Fwiw I've been told the Magic are out on Kuminga due to some personal red flags. It's third hand but the original source would have zero reason to lie to the person who told me. The middle man may though.

Yeah as a Magic fan I can comment on this.

3rd in lotto has a 66.9% chance of a Top 5 pick
4th in lotto has a 52.5% chance of a Top 5 pick
5th in lotto has a 47.1% chance of a Top 5 pick

OKCs 4/5 split will be decided via coin flip.

And this is seen as a 5 person class (granted the next bunch isn't bad either) so it's the drop off in top 5 chance rather than top 4 chance that is the concern.

It's why the Pistons blatantly throwing the end of the game against the Magic was huge. The difference in their top 5 odds went from 66.9% to 79.9% due to that 1 result.

Second Pfizer shot is kicking my ass. It's not as bad as when I had COVID and every bone ached to the point of not being able to move but it's like when you get Flu and every major muscle aches. Woke up like every 30-45 mins last night. I even intentionally drank a ton more liquids than usual

First Pfizer shot wasn't as bad, was just a really sore arm.

davidponte posted...

As the fan of a team fighting for the 10th spot, I also hate it. Losing a top 10 pick to this nonsense by getting into the playoffs would be awful.

I think you guys will be good. Wizards have clearly been trying for quite some time whereas you guys seem to bounce between playing well and sending out can't be assed vibes / bad lineups. I'm sure you will end up in the lotto

The best team involved in the play-in will only have to play 1 extra game since the winner of the 7/8 match is in. Loser has to play the winner of the 9/10 match.

So it's like yeah it's an extra 1-2 games but the standings are close enough that it was entirely avoidable by not resting guys in the regular season too.

I'd just like them to put in a stipulation about having to be within X amount of games to trigger the play-in. Like if we ended up with a 10 seed who is 6+ games back then they shouldn't be let in.

I did not realize how obnoxious Nuggets fans were on social media until I had to deal with them in the last few days. Delusional beyond belief.

They are complaining because Jokic does not get as many FTs as players like Harden, Giannis and Embiid. Well no fucking shit. He does not play the same style as them or generate the same level of contact as those guys.

Bump. Time is ticking down people!

Input from a diehard Magic fan.

Vuc trade - Not massively on board with. If the picks were unprotected I'd probably be more ok with since lotto odds are cumulative and it would have raised our shot at a Top 4 pick. I'm concerned with it falling mid-late lotto and the Bulls getting lucky. I'd have also been ok with it if they had tossed another young guy in. I can't believe that nobody offered similar or better than this really. Shedding Aminu was nice at least.

Fournier trade - It's whatever. I actually did a complete 180 on Fournier and wanted us to resign him after hating him 2 years ago. He's expiring though and this is probably the best offer we for. Again I'd have liked to extract a back end of the roster rookie deal guy from the Celtics to kick the tires on but it is what it is. We could have also waited and tried to do a sign and trade. We do at least generate a large TPE

Gordon trade - I'm probably most ok with this one. I think all the linked deals with AG were very samey so it was kind of pick your poison on the young player. Other Magic fans are higher on RJ than me and the pick could potentially be good since its so far out and lightly protected.

Overall I'm surprised we completely gutted the roster. I expected a light reset and to go for it next season, especially after the Smart rumor. Seeing us go full rebuild is a shock but I'm not necessarily against it. Hopefully our pick falls in the Top 4 and the Bulls pick is like 8-14 where we can get a solid guy or package it to try move up. If Bulls get lucky in the lotto it will be soul crushing.

If nothing else we should at least have an entertaining young core next season but we are probably a few seasons back from doing anything which is tough to swallow.

There's been plenty of shitty wrestlers that have been pushed hard or worked out just fine. If a character is entertaining enough or fills their role well then people can overlook bad ring work.

If you don't find a bad wrestlers act entertaining or think they are bad at the role overall then obviously they will be awful to you. But should be fairly easy to see that some other people may find the act good.

It's probably like a lot of corporate structures. I can even liken it to my own workplace. I've worked here 16 years, my boss (who is the VP) has been here 13 and a good friend who is in a senior position 15 years. Between the 3 of us we know exactly how Operations should be run. However the directive from above is to run it in a way that we don't agree with and isn't maximizing performance. We have spoken out and made suggestions countless times but eventually you are labelled as difficult and told to get on board or get off.

Ultimately unless you are willing to walk away you just begrudgingly go along with the shitty structure you disagree with and collect a paycheck.

Believe me, I can 100% see why those dudes who know better go along with it. That's my job every single day.

Fell asleep after watching the Magic game and was woken up by Ring of Honor on my local sports channel (Fox Sports Florida). Man, the production looked super cheap. I didn't realize it was still a thing on TV. Went to their website and it seems equally as cheap (in fairness, the AEW site seems super cheap too)

I guess they are super small now?

More people sign up so we can start the season sooner so I can ruin my chances quicker!

They could try play it off that Mox was dazed / concussed and so Kingston was obscuring his view and then passing it off as more severe than it was purely to buddy up with him and stab him in the back later. Obviously not as intended but there's an out at least

Man, they really should have gone the cinematic route for that finish but I guess they had limited attendance so couldn't?

Emeraldegg posted...

So what do you guys think about this topshot thing? I've been looking more into it and it's...something. Sounds like the site is getting slammed and having a whole host of technical problems, but the premise seems interesting. Anyone that's looked into it have any opinions? Will this flame out, or take off?

I bought a $14 pack and instantly flipped it for $300. I have another $9 pack on the way which will go for a minimum of like $60 when I get it but could go for much more. Basically any pack you can get is guaranteed free money, I've been trying every drop. The $200 pack today will turn into $1k+ guaranteed if you can get one.

I almost made a ton yesterday but the marketplace was getting hammered. There was a few Jokic moments going for $100 so I knew they would go up. It's now at $200. The marketplace was so flooded that it wouldn't let purchases go through but not sure it it was bad signal on my phone or the site.

I think theres potential to make money flipping stuff but I won't be holding anything long term.

When do all these changes happen? As I'll lkely start playing again when they do

Tomorrow hopefully

Jakyl25 posted...

Lashley wins next week and its good

He doesnt and itll probably be bad

Miz probably weasles his way out again or loses in a way where title doesn't change hands. Or maybe Drew just comes out and beats them both up.

TheRock1525 posted...

I actually think there might be a setup up for an "arrangement" where Bobby agreed to brutalize DREW MAC to allow Miz to cash-only, with Miz offering his first title defense against Lashley.

Typical Miz behavior should be to renege on his deal in this scenario.

Poor Yuta getting his soul eviscerated on a play that should have been whistled dead. He stepped out of bounds

Bacon had the Tony Snell game last night

16 mins
0 points (0 FGA, 0 FTs)
0 rebounds
0 assists
0 steals

He ruined it by having 1 personal foul though

My best drafts came when I didn't know what I was doing!

Fastbreak posted...

I don't understand what that picture is

Percent chance of winning as the game progresses. So you can see the Suns were the favorites for basically the entire game and were heavy favorites before the Nets came back at the death

Will proably be Thursday before I get back to this. Took the missus away for the weekend. Then one of my cats had to go to the vet and be watched constantly. Have a Magic game tomorrow night so Thursday is probably my next free evening

After the all star break is when they have said. I imagine that's a minimum.

That type of injury is linked to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (i.e. what Fultz had. It's likely Fultz did something similar but it got missed / misdiagnosed at the time of injury. The rib healed but the TOS / nerve damage remained, hence people not believing he was hurt/injured.

https://mobile.twitter.com/michellebgl_/status/1361816322770931712

Anthony may be alright as it's a crack and not displaced. It's the displacement that causes the nerve damage I believe

Oh wow, weirder still. It's the first rib that is cracked. That's the very top one that is underneath your collarbone. You can't really touch/feel it. It's incredibly difficult to damage that rib.

Hmm. Magic Front Office acting strange.

They no showed an interview today. Also Cole Anthony let it slip that his injury is not what is being reported. Was reported as a Shoulder Strain. He said he actually has cracked ribs.

LeonhartFour posted...

Blake Griffin did not dunk a basketball in an NBA game in 2020

To be fair, Blake Griffin only played 3 games in 2020.

It's going to be a trend going forward though. Just watching him play he's obviously been advised not to do it for whatever is left of his knees sake.

This is how I know I'm old because I have literally no clue who the fucks Bad Bunny is other than I assume he's some rapper because that always seems to be the case with the people I don't know these days

We got one player back from injury so of course Ennis's injury in the last game rules him out this game

https://mobile.twitter.com/FantasyLabsNBA/status/1361109358965186560

foolm0r0n posted...

I like how everyone no matter where they're from puts on the heaviest accent to say Liyue. The Chinese pride is real.

Also I just realized how many of these characters are straight outta Guilty Gear

Oh good wasn't just me who noticed this. I saw a post on Twitter today and was like that's a cool picture of Dainsleif but it was actually a Guilty Gear Strive post

I'll probably play a little bit tonight. I have like 50 pairs of shoes to list on ebay but it's miserable to do. So I'm sure once I've listed 15-20 I'll want a break and likely play

I think because I'm playing on Radiant mode it lets me ignore that. Someone was resolve 3 on my last clear.

The game didn't really explain the difference between the difficulty levels

Mason went down injured in the first 4 minutes. So we are down to 8 guys and zero point guards

lol

https://twitter.com/ManGamesLostNBA/status/1359306841214377986

Magic's available roster tonight

PG - Mason
SG - Bacon / Ross
SF - Ennis
PF - Clark / Okeke
C - Vuc / Birch / Bamba

Mason is a two way player. Nobody else on our team can really play point. I genuinely think Okeke may be the best option (which has zero chance of happening).

3 of those players (potentially 4) have no real business being in the league nevermind playing starting level minutes against Golden State.

KCF0107 posted...

Wasn't this the case last season? If so, all non-playoff teams end up in the lottery as usual.

Little bit different last season in that records were effectively frozen based on pre-bubble records. There was 1 team who lost so many it would gave them a better lotto pick if not for that fact. But yeah for the most part same as last season, we just didn't see it change anything as the play-in lower seeds lost. More chance of something happening this year with double the playin slots.

Basically the teams who lose in the play-in drop into the lotto in the position that there record would dictate prior to the play-in.

Which could theoretically lead to the hilarious situation where a 7 seed with a record way above .500 loses the play-in and wins the lotto. Very unlikely but it's possible

FF7 Remake

Paratroopa1 posted...

You went into the boss very well prepared, although yeah Necromancer is probably the easiest though he can cause problems for some teams. A party of level 2s that are well upgraded should be able to handle any of the level 1 bosses though

I always run with 75% and above light which probably helps too I imagine. I've barely had any stress issues whatsoever outside the first few runs (which is why I stopped mentioning it) as I started keeping the torch topped up and just stunning anything that causes stress before killing it quickly.

Stun in general seems to be overpowered but I'm not exactly far in so I'm sure that will change.

EDIT: I will say I am playing this game significantly more cautiously than any other game I play where I am usually very reckless. If I hadn't known ahead of time that death was permanent we'd definitely have casualties racked up as I'd be playing with less provisions, low light and touching everything in sight!

I mean you are an absolute tank. I don't have any trinkets on your because of 'Natural' which I think boosts healing received, speed and HP if you wear no trinkets. I'm sure longterm it's a bad quirk but right now when I have no good trinkets, it's good.

Anyway, you have like 52 HP when everyone else is in like the 20-30 HP range.

Week 15 - Ruins - Necromancer Apprentice

Other than it being in the very last room I checked, the fight actually went really smooth. I think maybe I'm higher skill / gear than I should be. Every party member had a stun of some sort (although I never used Stan's) so nothing before the boss was bad. At the boss I just stunned it first turn, kept putting Blight on it and had Stan Smite the shit out of the skeles. I was actually surprised when the boss fight started with just him but as expected from a necromancer he summoned adds. Anyway, Stan Smited the adds, Mana kept blight on and Arc just kersmacked the shit out of the boss. Para was basically there in spirit alone healing when it wasn't ever necessary. I assume that's the easiest boss since its probably the first most people do? Didn't seem much harder than normal fights except for lots of HP

Stan - Resolve 3 / Unyielding replaces Warrior of Light (that sucks)
Ark - Gained Natural
Para - Resolve 3 / Known Cheat
Mana - Nothing

Upgrade Treatment Ward
Upgrade Medical Devices
Upgrade Wagon Size

Nothing interesting on the stage coach.

Ok entering Necromancers Apprentice with the following team

Stan - Crusader
Ark - Bounty Hunter
Para - Vestal
Mana - Plague Doctor

And damn, forgot to do stagecoach stuff. Oh well!

Edit: Immediately come across a Shambler's Altar. Not today!

Next dungeon is probably a boss run. Got to decide between Holy Orders (Crusader Very Rare Trinket) which is from Swine Prince and Wounding Helmet (Bounty Hunter Very Rare) from Necro Apprentice

Week 14 - Weald (Medium - My first)

Lolo - Night Owl / Sickly / Wasting Sickness
Ark - Resolve 2
Para - Nothing
Mana - Resolve 3 / Healers Gift / Fear of Eldritch replaces Soft

I gained a positive quirk on Lolo from a curio and also purged one from someone but I forget who. I also upgraded a ton of people's skills and unlocked others pre dungeon but I forget who so I guess we will find out next time I do a full roster update!

I got a lot of stuff from the dungeon including finding a secret room. Main issue becoming not enough slots to take everything back so I had to leave a lot

Main reason I did the dungeon was to get the Book of Holiness.

Upgrade Stagecoach Experienced Recruits to 1

I need to scroll back and check sign ups as there's 2 interesting recruits in the stagecoach. I'll be eating before the next dungeon so there's time

It's kinda hilarious how much Clifford is still trying to win despite missing 7 players out of the starters/rotation.

He played Vucevic 33 minutes straight last night. In a game where we were fell behind by double digits early in the 1st and never got it below that for more than 1 possession

Lol I spoke too soon.

Aminu played tonight for the first time since 2019. He played 5 minutes. Before the game they said he would play in both halves. They have just stated he will not return in the second half. So tack him back on the list too

Cole Anthony just subbed himself out of the game doubled over in shoulder pain after a jump shot with zero contact.

So for those keeping track the Magic are now missing

Fultz (Torn ACL - season)
Isaac (Torn ACL - season)
Gordon (Severe ankle sprain - mid March return)
Fournier (Back spasms - Missed 11 games now)
Anthony (Maybe torn rotator cuff?)
Carter Williams (Foot - Missed like 20 games now)

Okeke just came back from a knee injury after a Torn ACL (Missed 1 season, played 4 games, missed 17 games)

Aminu literally played his first minutes tonight since 2019 (Torn Meniscus)

And for whatever reason Clifford refuses to play Bamba in non garbage time (despite him looking good) since he got COVID.

Our only healthy PG now is a two way player we signed last week. Hopefully Anthony is not seriously hurt and it just looked worse than it is

EDIT: Shoulder strain is initial diagnosis, will not return tonight