u/thewrongnotes

Watching OKC vs the Spurs really hits home just how far we are from winning a championship. Both those teams were down in the pits with us a few seasons ago and now they are streets ahead of us.

It also reaffirms my belief that the league is trending towards athleticism and speed over size. You need a couple of true centers and then to surround them with fast and skilled players.

Outside of their centers, neither OKC or Spurs have any players in their rotations over 6'7. The Pacers were very similar last season, and the Hawks (who killed us this season) are built in the same way.

A big contrast to our team that has 3 starters of 6'10, who combined weigh well over 700lbs. We are a very big and slow team and to me that is a big part of why we find it so hard to create good shots.

People are massively down on Suggs (I get it, he drives me crazy too) but it feels like him, AB, and Jamal Cain are the archetypes of players that are actually thriving right now.

Southampton retain the belt until someone beats them or they get promoted/relegated.

As per pro wrestling rules, you do not lose the belt via disqualification. Many great title reigns were built off cheating, and we here in the Championship Championship Commission wish to preserve that time honoured tradition.

The belt can be won or retained via spying from trees, referee screwjobs, diving, low blows, poisoning, freezing/flooding your pitch so the game can't be played, and all manner of Machiavellian methods.

This Detroit-Cleveland matchup is one of the weakest Eastern Conference semis I can remember, neither team is that good. Detroit are still relying on second option Tobias Harris, and are now having to turn to Paul Reed after finally benching Jalen Duren for being awful (who got 31 minutes a game vs the Magic, by the way). The Cavs might not be that good but they deserve credit for actually building out their roster to take advantage of this situation.

Wasn't this supposed to be the year we took advantage of how weak the East was with Haliburton and Tatum out? Instead we passed on mid-season moves, limped into 8th seed and our clown PoBO is talking like going to 7 games against one of the worst #1 seeds in ages is proof of how "elite" we are.

Who in the top 10 in the East is getting worse next season? Maybe the Heat and the Cavs? Pacers will be back, Knicks won't be changing much, and Boston will either have their two stars at full health or trade for Giannis. Detroit, Atlanta, Toronto all have cap space and picks to improve.

One of Weltman's biggest sales tactics during this rebuild was talking about "internal growth". It's supposedly the reason he never wanted to draft for shooting as why he has been so inactive in the trade market.

Yet our player development during his tenure has been extremely underwhelming.

It seems like players only improve here by playing hundreds of NBA games and even then, most of them don't make any serious skill gains.

How many players have made clear developmental jumps in Orlando?

Suggs is roughly the same player, Paolo is just a more experienced version of the rookie player, Isaac the same player, Jett has made no improvement, Cole, Bamba, Okeke never improved.

I even think Franz's development has been quite bad. He came into the league very talented but hasn't really added many weapons to his offensive game. I remember talking about this after his two years in the league. We just let him slash to the rim hundreds of times and do the things he was already good at. And alas we're now going into year 6 and he'd still rather get blocked at the rim than pull up for a midrange shot.

The only player who has made a noticeable jump in an area of his game is AB.

Part of this is that Weltman doesn't draft for offensive skill so players have lower offensive ceilings, but I still think the standard for player growth in the org is really bad. It's crazy how other teams can find and develop players (like Desmond Bane, Payton Pritchard or Ajay Mitchell) late in the draft and turn them into highly skilled players, but basically anything outside of a top pick for us is a guaranteed long term bust.

Like many of you I'm still bothered by a historic collapse in a winnable series. But what annoys me way, WAY more is how little accountability the guy in charge has taken for all this.

In both his interviews Weltman spoke about how we were 3-1 up on the #1 seed and could have won with Franz healthy. But at no point does he acknowledge what a huge letdown we were over 82 games or how we shouldn't have even been in the position to play the #1 seed in the first round.

This arrogant spin doctor stood in front of the media the other day and talked about how he's built a team for the playoffs like the regular season is now irrelevant. Wasn't the goal home court? Wasn't the point of the Bane trade to catapult us into contending for a top 4 finish? You know, to give us a better chance in the playoffs? Why were we a last gasp 8th seed and one play-in game from being eliminated entirely? Why did we get blown out and give up a record run in a must win game versus Toronto? Why did we then get blown out again a few nights later at home in another must win versus Atlanta? How on earth - at full strength - did we lose to the Celtics G-League team in a must win game to close the season? Is that acceptable for a team this expensive and pot committed?

Does he not have to answer for any of this?

It annoys me a lot that Mosley got so much grief from our fans rather than the guy that literally employs him and backed him when all the signs pointed to us needing a change. Mosley isn't going to just step down for shit and giggles, you have to fire him.

It annoys me that he's pinning everything on the injury of one player like we didn't have an expensive roster of players available, all of whom HE signed. How is it other teams are able survive and thrive with injuries but it's a complete circuit breaker for us? Why won't he ever sign impact offensive players to help us through the season?

It annoys me that he only had to do two almost identical, farcical interviews and just carry on like everything is fine. The guy should have been grilled more than ever after this season. It blows my mind that some of our fans are actually talking about what a good job he's done after arguably the most disappointing season in our history.

I'm so sick of this guy and hate that he just hid his extension from the fans. I hate that HE gets to choose our new coach. How many front offices that haven't won a playoff series in 9 years get to choose three consecutive coaches? Don't be shocked if Weltman hand picks another high culture nice guy that only cares about the defensive end of the court.

It's not normally my style and I've never said this about any player or coach but I'm going to do it for the first time with this guy:

Fuck him. Fuck Jeff Weltman.

I'm off to drink a glass of settle down juice. Rant over. Have a nice day.

10 longest serving current NBA front office leaders and their achievements:

1. Pat Riley, Miami Heat (since 1995) - multiple NBA championships and finals appearances

2. Sam Presti, OKC (since 2007) - NBA champion & multiple finals and conference finals

3. Sean Marks, Brooklyn Nets (since 2016) - 1 x ECSF

4. Kevin Pritchard, Indiana Pacers (since 2017) - 1 x Conference finals, 1 x NBA Finals

5. Jeff Weltman, Orlando Magic (since 2017) - Finished 5th seed once, zero playoff series wins

6. Jon Horst, Milwaukee Bucks (since 2017) - 1 x NBA championship, 1x ECF, 2x ECSF

7. Koby Altman, Cleveland Cavaliers (since 2017) - 1 x NBA Finals, 2 x ECSF

8. Lawrence Frank, LA Clippers (since 2017) - 1 x conference finals, 1 x WCSF

9. Rob Pelinka, LA Lakers (since 2019) - 1 x NBA championship, 1 conference finals, 1 WCSF

10. James Jones, Phoenix Suns - (since 2019) - 1 x NBA Finals, 2 conference finals

For the first time ever, the belt will be defended in the playoffs as the Saints put their title on the line in a double header vs Middlesbrough. Please note; you cannot win the belt on aggregate, these two games will be treated as separate title defences.

The winner of the second leg will then defend the belt in the playoff final. The winner of that match will be forced to vacate the belt, and the loser will be awarded the interim Championship Championship Belt ahead of next season.

Edit for clarity: The belt cannot be won on penalties or aggregate scorelines, but extra time will count. If a team loses the 2nd leg but wins on aggregate, they still lose the belt.

Other stuff:

- The following teams have withdrawn themselves from title contention for the 26/27 season: Coventry, Ipswich, Oxford, Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday.

- Lincoln City, Cardiff City, Wolves, and Burnley have all announced their intention to compete for the belt in 26/27. Stevenage have demanded a title shot and the Championship Championship Commission are currently considering this aggressive request.

- Burnley do not reclaim the title after going on a year long hiatus, who do the hell do they think they are.

Paolo and Suggs a combined 5-30 (1-15 from three)

OR

Wendell Carter ZERO rebounds in 32 minutes

Absolutely chucking out there.

(Great defense, though)