Mile Low: Cavs-Nuggets, Behind the Box Score
March 23, 2017Lindor still wins the World Baseball Classic
March 23, 2017It’s difficult to be very rational as a fan of the 2016-17 Cleveland Cavaliers. Sure, rationality and sports fandom rarely go hand in hand. It’s just a bit of cognitive dissonance to be looking at the back-and-forth regular season arch of a modern LeBron James-led team, while also keeping in mind his historical playoff dominance.
These current Cavs have been a bore. They’ve been banged up. They’ve played terrible defense. Wednesday night’s big loss against the Denver Nuggets was a perfect example of these ailments. The negative 30 plus-minus was easily one of the worst regular season performances in LeBronâs career. These Cavs, on paper, have played worse basketball than last season’s Cavs. And mind you, those Cavs changed coaches in mid-January (yes, it’s hard to believe that was only 14 months ago).
But does any of this matter? How much should it matter right now? In the last six seasons, LeBron James-led teams are 72-20 (.783) in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That’s an average of just 3.67 losses per season in three rounds. It’s been just two East playoff losses in each of his two seasons back in the Wine & Gold.
So, while FiveThirtyEight now has it as a virtual coin toss for the 2016-17 Eastern Conference No. 1 seed between Cleveland and Boston, what is the appropriate feeling of #doom as a Cavs fan? The seeding itself may not matter much. Of course, Kyle Korver, J.R. Smith and Kevin Love just played their first game together. Everyone has been injured at different points. When is it fair to be concerned? How should we be concerned? What are the potential solutions?
It’s a bit of an unknown answer. Don’t forget: The 2014-15 Cavaliers were a No. 2 seed themselves, were down 2-1 to the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and very narrowly found themselves in a 3-1 hole well before such deficits became memes. Playoff series can happen quickly. One loss here, another there, and suddenly the sleeping Cavs (and Cavs fans) could find themselves in a duel before even realizing it.
LeBron’s run of Eastern Conference playoff success is so unfathomable that no end ever seems in sight. But will we ever see the end coming? Even if the Cavs continue to cruise through the East yet again this April and May, will we ever know when the end might be here? Will it be after a regular season like this? Or will it just suddenly appear out of thin air? In a Twitter poll from last month, people seemed to think the end may be two years from now.
LeBron James has won 6 straight East titles. When will the streak end?
— Jacob L. Rosen (@JacobLRosen) February 25, 2017
If these Cavs do lose before the NBA Finals, then itâll be a grave disappointment. Itâs well documented how the team has very little salary-cap flexibility anytime soon. Of course, that didnât prevent the team from still finding a way to add Andrew Bogut, Larry Sanders, Derrick Williams, Kyle Korver and Deron Williams over the course of this season. But would large-scale changes be on the forefront? How would the front office react? How would LeBron himself react?
These are the kinds of thoughts that go swirling through my head when I try to rationalize about the basketball situation that faces the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thereâs no real weights that one could use to properly balance LeBronâs past playoff dominance versus the overall meh-ness of this current regular season. So maybe itâs just fruitless to analyze further. Thank God for the playoffs finally coming up soon.
Links from around the interwebs:
- Everyone Knows Tech Workers Are Mostly White MenâExcept Tech Workers [Dina Bass/Bloomberg]
- The Like Button Ruined the Internet [James Somers/The Atlantic]
- In a Bid to Pick Up the Pace, the NFL Will Kill Off Everyone’s Least-Favorite Ad Break [Anthony Crupi/Advertising Age]
- Sports Champion T-Shirts, Delivered Just After the Buzzer [Eben Novy-Williams/Bloomberg]
- Fractured friendship of Aaron Hernandez and a gangster played out in bone-chilling court scene [Dan Wetzel/Yahoo Sports]
- WBC 2017: How good would these rosters be in MLB? [Henry Druschel/Beyond The Box Score]
- If You Are Serious About Winning Your Office Pool, Pick Gonzaga To Go All The Way [Bendict Brady/Harvard Sports Analytics Collective]
- Chris Paul’s Fast Hands and Gruesome Fingers [Scott Cacciola/The New York Times]
109 Comments
Not a good one, actually. Too much track that you can’t see. But, come on over to PA!
Education is not a passive endeavor, or at least it shouldn’t be. Students are primarily responsible for obtaining a good education. You can’t sit around and say, “Teach me something useful.”
I’m sure that’s not the point you were making here, but I think that might be one of the problems with education.
Also, how come no one is pushing for more female coal miners? Because women don’t want to be coal miners. Should we fix that problem too? Of course not. Just let it be.
https://freshbrewedtees.com/products/god-loves-cleveland-t-shirt
https://media.giphy.com/media/3ukWCMKVQlgME/giphy.gif
Instead of looking at the article that blames White Men for a lack of diversity, go look at the actual industry make-up and see that whites (male and female) make up less than half the IT work force (Information is beautiful link) or the snippet I have attached.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb92cf7de49f626992859f350101d74c3527ec30b58f9be29bebd4d0d51f0256.png
In a wave that started in the very early 00s the Guest Worker Visa programs (all H1 classes) began displacing all native (wrong term?) IT workers: Whites, Blacks, Native Americans, women, etc. These visa holders show up in the data within the Asian count.
Guest Worker Visas are primarily used by offshoring companies that are owned by Indians who then farm those workers out as contractors. The IT shortage that never-was continues to be a myth perpetrated by corporations.
The Anglo-Saxon version of “May you live in interesting times”.
Correct. Our sports history proves how much he loves us.
Mike Rowe approves this message. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4d3d26801e4648f2bf37d0eadc1b59d673bab242364cc29252855530652f08e3.jpg
I am a Mike Rowe disciple. That guy gets it.
The original article was referencing Tech workers as a whole though IT is certainly the largest overall contingent of the Tech sector (as even companies not in Tech need IT and companies in Tech need even more IT).
One question, does the above chart factor in all employment worldwide or only the ones in USA? I assume by your H1 comment that it is US-based employment. The big issue with messing with the H1 programs is that they can simply hire those employees out of country (as many do today).
It was always my favorite on Xbox. So many trade off between the front stretch and 3 different corners. But I can see your point, limited grandstands up high enough to see.
It is one of the most difficult tracks, for sure. Messes with every team’s set-up. Go for speed on the straights, you’ll get destroyed in the corners. Go for handling in the corners, you’ll get crushed on the straights. And then, throw in the fact that all 3 corners are different, and one of them is so utterly different as to be from another track altogether! I think it would be the most fun track if I was on a team.
Only if you fail to plan ahead.
But, but… We shoulda paid that safety from Tampa that I never heard of before the Browns started talking to him more to come here. He went to Seattle after all?
Considering it comes from a book written by a Middle Eastern Jew (James 1:12) that is an interesting way of looking at it.
Also, I don’t think those are the same. The curse you mention is wishing ill upon someone to have “interesting times” create conflict.
The verse above I cited is stating that if you are able to have the correct mindset, then you can persevere.
It is much like a half-full versus half-empty look at the world in contrasting views.
Just par for the course.
I’m extremely fortunate to not have the debt even after 3 degrees, but absolutely check the rest of the boxes. I would give anything to go back and tell my high school to skip college and go straight into the workforce.
So, you’re saying we we are the Jobs of the sports world?
There could be a parallel written there, sure (to an obvious lesser degree as you denote with your “sports world” indicator)
Both of my articles are about the US IT Work Force. I would say including any job other than IT into “Tech Workers” would be a bigger statistical lie. But I digress, I have no idea why we should discuss the demographics of the Global workforce when we cannot even account for the diversity within our own labor pool.
I agree with you on the H1 problem. Stopping the guest worker program would lead to an increase in outsourcing of all types (domestic and offshore) but the cost of offshoring versus outsourcing is prohibitive and while companies such as though listed above (Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn) could afford it, smaller firms without the existing infrastructure to offshore would instead be hiring domestically.
I see them both as metaphors of the irony that a life worth living is based on trails of conflict to be overcome.
The only NAZZZZCAR tracks I’m ever even interested in are Sears Point and Watkins Glen, where they are required to turn right. Gasp!
F1 in Austin!
Liver failure
I guess my point is that if this “problem” were “fixed” it would result in MORE white IT workers. This is one of those instances where whites are among those adversely impacted.
“Having colleges educate their students about employability”
I don’t disagree, but it really should happen well before students pick colleges based on majors (and other nefarious reasons).
I keep volunteering to be a houseband but my wife won’t have it. She (correctly) assumes that I would sit at home playing Xbox all day.
Similar requests have been denied in my household, also.
The whole “left turns” thing is cheap, low-hanging fruit. It just provides an easy out, and a convenient dig, for people that don’t want to like stock car racing, or don’t care to understand it (which is totally fine – don’t get me wrong). To me, though, it’s the “STOOOPID BROWNZ DOO STOOPID THINGZ” narrative of the auto racing world.
I’m a MotoGP fan. MotoGP fans in general hate NASCAR for a multitude of reasons.
Well . . . Sammy Hagar was still great.
I’ve had some great times at the Charlotte track, but the 600 is definitely way too much of a good thing.
That is why I included admission boards.
HS counselors should also be included. I was told by mine it was dumb to go into engineering.
Also, if we really want to get into it, we can look at society as a whole. There’s a premise in certain sectors that you should only do what you love and should ignore everything & anything to just go for that “dream” rather than looking at things more prudently.
Entire plot of “Sing” was based on this idea. Breaking laws, ignoring responsibilities, et cetera. As long as you get to “follow your dream” then screw everything else.
(I still liked the movie because it was funny but that over-riding plot arch was a teachable moment for the kids)
OK, fair.
Oh I’m not arguing your point at all. I agree with you.
https://i.makeagif.com/media/5-19-2015/eLvgto.gif
I agree with all except the initial part about other than IT. I’m a computer engineer, I should count as a Tech worker.
This argument is exactly what my wife had to fight for years. “Oh, what do you DO all day?” or “I couldn’t have that much time on my hands.”
Nothing riled up my wife more than those.
which is exactly why I added it to this thread
yeah, that weekend people who live here avoid East Austin đ
One can only hope.
THEY LET HIM WALK AWAY!
That is an awesome gif. It also brings back horrible grade school musical memories.
The rubber will meet the road for me in a few years. My oldest is a very bright kid (thanks to his mom), has skipped a grade, is getting all As, and will be graduating ahead of his peers – but his favorite classes, by far, are industrial tech and shop. I’ve told him that I would be happy for him to take a year after High School to do an apprenticeship in any trade that he would like, and he seems excited about that. At the same time, I think college could be great for him – but I’m determined to help him make the best decision, and not just the one that seems to make the most traditional sense.
Okay, okay, it’s the “gender pay gap.” There I said it. I shall say no more.
Nailing it.
Of course, that 15:00 is mostly time between plays, actual action is a much lower number. The irony is that football fans complain that baseball doesn’t have enough action.
Agree. In sports hiring (of athletes) is done on a pure meritocracy. This often results in a lack of diversity, but no one complains. I am for meritocracy in all fields.
My wife dealt with this for years. When we would be at a social event and she was asked what she did, she would mention that she was a fulltime mom raising 3 sons. Virtually all the men who heard this would then find someone else to talk to assuming she had nothing of interest to say.
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