The Chicago Bulls front office impressed me again

(Originally posted on Sunday 23 June 2024)

The Chicago Bulls front office impressed me again and this is NOT sarcasm! I really mean it. I loved their decision to stand pat at the last trade deadline and I love their decision to now trade Alex Caruso away as quickly as possible.

I think that before the last trade deadline some of the other teams claimed that they were interested in Zach LaVine, but in fact wanted Caruso just as much as LaVine FOR THE SAME TOTAL PRICE. I think it was the reason why the Chicago Bulls front office didn't do ANYTHING at the last trade deadline – they didn't want to give Caruso away “for free”.

Now they traded Caruso away as quickly as possible and it feels like showing a finger to all those other teams that wanted to fleece them. Now the other teams that claim they are interested in Zach LaVine have to come up with a good offer just for LaVine. Do you want (just) Lavine? Then prove your real interest by giving a good offer!

The same thing applies to the LaVine's agent – do you claim you can find a good trade for (just) LaVine? Then prove it!

I have to add that I am devastated that some Internet sites that “seem to be all about Chicago Bulls” constantly criticize the Chicago Bulls front office, blindly repeating all kind of crap being spread by the other teams that want to fleece the Chicago Bulls.

In a recent article about the Caruso trade I found a quote that suggested that the Chicago Bulls front office wanted (at the last trade deadline) as many as 4 first-round picks for Caruso. This is BULLSHIT. I am 100% sure that it was the price for both LaVine and Caruso, so quoting such a misleading claim is completely pathetic.

On the same (supposedly “all about Chicago Bulls”) site I found an even worse thing – one of the proposed trades (after the Caruso trade) was this: LaVine (to 76ers) for a single SECOND round draft pick! A player like LaVine just for a single SECOND round draft pick! What a fucking disgrace proposing such a deal!

The Chicago Bulls front office impressed me by trading Caruso away as quickly as possible and I firmly believe that they won't “trade” LaVine away for such a pathetically low price. Good job, guys!

2024 World Snooker Championship has just started!

(Originally posted on Monday 22 April 2024)

2024 World Snooker Championship has just started and already there were 5 results that I liked very much! These players already advanced to the second round:

David Gilbert
Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump
Stuart Bingham

There are several other players I like very much who can still advance to the second round, so it can get only better. Something tells me it will be a truly great tournament overall!

NBA 2024 MVP race – part 3

(Originally posted on Saturday 13 April 2024)

Part 3 ends with games played on 12 April 2024. Only 1 game left, so these results are almost final results.

All the statistical data I used I found on this site:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/

I described my way of calculating the MVP and the MFP values in these posts:
Comparing NBA MVPs
Most frustrated NBA players

Before the 2023-24 season is over I have to make mathematical projections of the MVP and the MFP values. The assumption behind the projections is that every player and every team will play exactly the same way they have been playing so far (the numbers of projected team wins are rounded to whole numbers).

With the assumptions described above, the current NBA 2024 MVP race list is this:

1. Nikola Jokic:    2524.9    (projected team wins: 57)
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:    2215.9    (projected team wins: 57)
3. Jayson Tatum:    2188.8    (projected team wins: 64)
4. Luka Doncic:    2172.5    (projected team wins: 51)
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo:    1995.3    (projected team wins: 50)
6. Anthony Edwards:    1800.8    (projected team wins: 57)
7. Anthony Davis:    1755.5    (projected team wins: 47)
8. Domantas Sabonis:    1699.4    (projected team wins: 46)
9. Jalen Brunson:    1694.7    (projected team wins: 50)
10. Kevin Durant:    1658.0    (projected team wins: 49)
11. Chet Holmgren:    1598.8    (projected team wins: 57)
12. Jaylen Brown:    1590.6    (projected team wins: 64)
13. LeBron James:    1543.6    (projected team wins: 47)
14. Damian Lillard:    1490.1    (projected team wins: 50)
15. Kawhi Leonard:    1480.1    (projected team wins: 52)
16. Derrick White:    1478.1    (projected team wins: 64)
17. Paul George:    1477.6    (projected team wins: 52)
18. Devin Booker:    1475.2    (projected team wins: 49)
19. Rudy Gobert:    1470.6    (projected team wins: 57)
20. Stephen Curry:    1449.9    (projected team wins: 46)

Nikola Jokic will be the winner of the race. One (last) game of the season won't change anything in this regard. Towards the end of the race Shai Gilgeous-Alexander suffered an injury, which ruined his chances. Otherwise he would be very close to winning. Jayson Tatum's team has the best record, but Tatum's per-game value is too low. It doesn't matter because his team is focused on winning the NBA championship. Luka Doncic's team record is too low plus he missed 11 games (13.4% of the season, which is 1/7.5th) and this is why Doncic is only 4th.


With the same assumptions (described above) the current NBA 2024 MFP list is this:

1. Victor Wembanyama:    1170.0    (projected team wins: 21)
2. Kyle Kuzma:    1085.5    (projected team wins: 15)
3. Cade Cunningham:    1019.9    (projected team wins: 14)
4. Miles Bridges:    962.2    (projected team wins: 20)
5. Deni Avdija:    952.3    (projected team wins: 15)
6. Jordan Poole:    902.6    (projected team wins: 15)
7. Jalen Duren:    875.5    (projected team wins: 14)
8. Devin Vassell:    845.0    (projected team wins: 21)
9. Scottie Barnes:    817.0    (projected team wins: 25)
10. Tyus Jones:    810.9    (projected team wins: 15)
11. Jaden Ivey:    807.6    (projected team wins: 14)
12. Brandon Miller:    789.1    (projected team wins: 20)
13. Corey Kispert:    762.7    (projected team wins: 15)
14. Jaren Jackson Jr.:    742.8    (projected team wins: 27)
15. Keldon Johnson:    719.2    (projected team wins: 21)
16. Mikal Bridges:    706.5    (projected team wins: 32)
17. Deandre Ayton:    704.1    (projected team wins: 21)
18. Dejounte Murray:    696.5    (projected team wins: 36)
19. Tre Jones:    688.4    (projected team wins: 21)
20. Collin Sexton:    679.9    (projected team wins: 31)

Victor Wembanyama is at the top of the MFP list. I bet many people thought he would make a great turnaround for the Spurs, like David Robinson did in his rookie year. Well, Robinson had also Willie Anderson (10th pick from the previous draft) and Sean Elliot (3rd pick from the current draft), while he was 1st pick from the draft 2 years before (he had to serve 2 years of military service), so such expectations for Wembanyama were clearly unfair. But Gregg Popovich didn't help with achieving a better team record either.

There is not a single player in the top-20 both on the MVP list and on the MFP list.

NBA 2024 MVP race – part 2

(Originally posted on Saturday 17 February 2024)

Part 2 ends with games played on 15 February 2024.

All the statistical data I used I found on this site:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/

I described my way of calculating the MVP and the MFP values in these posts:
Comparing NBA MVPs
Most frustrated NBA players

Before the 2023-24 season is over I have to make mathematical projections of the MVP and the MFP values. The assumption behind the projections is that every player and every team will play exactly the same way they have been playing so far (the numbers of projected team wins are rounded to whole numbers).

With the assumptions described above, the current NBA 2024 MVP race list is this:

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:    2436.5    (projected team wins: 56)
2. Nikola Jokic:    2340.9    (projected team wins: 54)
3. Jayson Tatum:    2295.2    (projected team wins: 64)
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo:    2178.5    (projected team wins: 51)
5. Luka Doncic:    2013.3    (projected team wins: 48)
6. Anthony Edwards:    1819.0    (projected team wins: 58)
7. Donovan Mitchell:    1794.9    (projected team wins: 56)
8. Karl-Anthony Towns:    1793.8    (projected team wins: 58)
9. Kawhi Leonard:    1781.7    (projected team wins: 56)
10. Domantas Sabonis:    1778.0    (projected team wins: 47)
11. Kevin Durant:    1688.6    (projected team wins: 49)
12. Anthony Davis:    1654.7    (projected team wins: 44)
13. Jalen Brunson:    1633.0    (projected team wins: 49)
14. Paul George:    1618.0    (projected team wins: 56)
15. Chet Holmgren:    1604.7    (projected team wins: 56)
16. Jaylen Brown:    1602.6    (projected team wins: 64)
17. James Harden:    1584.5    (projected team wins: 56)
18. Joel Embiid:    1560.0    (projected team wins: 49)
19. Damian Lillard:    1547.4    (projected team wins: 51)
20. Rudy Gobert:    1535.0    (projected team wins: 58)

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the leader of the race! Respect! However, if I had to guess I would say that the race will be won by Jayson Tatum. We'll see.


With the same assumptions (described above) the current NBA 2024 MFP list is this:

1. Victor Wembanyama:    1243.4    (projected team wins: 16)
2. Kyle Kuzma:    1207.7    (projected team wins: 14)
3. Cade Cunningham:    1076.5    (projected team wins: 12)
4. Tyus Jones:    1035.6    (projected team wins: 14)
5. Scottie Barnes:    1011.7    (projected team wins: 28)
6. Deni Avdija:    1011.1    (projected team wins: 14)
7. Devin Vassell:    997.0    (projected team wins: 16)
8. Miles Bridges:    936.9    (projected team wins: 20)
9. Jalen Duren:    901.0    (projected team wins: 12)
10. Keldon Johnson:    899.7    (projected team wins: 16)
11. Jaden Ivey:    849.1    (projected team wins: 12)
12. Jerami Grant:    822.0    (projected team wins: 23)
13. Jordan Poole:    799.8    (projected team wins: 14)
14. Trae Young:    783.8    (projected team wins: 36)
15. Jeremy Sochan:    769.4    (projected team wins: 16)
16. Jaren Jackson Jr.:    769.2    (projected team wins: 29)
17. Mikal Bridges:    764.5    (projected team wins: 32)
18. Brandon Miller:    741.5    (projected team wins: 20)
19. Alperen Sengun:    740.1    (projected team wins: 36)
20. Ausar Thompson:    721.0    (projected team wins: 12)

Victor Wembanyama is at the top of the MFP list. What a terrible season by the San Antonio Spurs, but it's obviously not the fault of Wembanyama.

There is not a single player in the top-20 both on the MVP list and on the MFP list.

This is a brave man! Respect!

(Originally posted on 21 January 2024)

This is a brave man! Respect!



This is the full interview with no censored speech (the same fragment starts at 16:30).