Is "Baller" Trademarked Yet?

Game 5 of the NBA Finals is in the books, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won 120-109.  While Indiana got it down to 2 points, OKC had a resounding lead throughout the entire game; that said, the bigger story is how much Tyrese Haliburton struggled due to a calf strain.  These are my observations from the game.   OKC’s defense in the half court was excellent, though the transition defense wasn’t great at points OKC’s defense was excellent for most of the game and was a big part of their win.   While most would focus on their turnovers, they also did a great job challenging shots, making shots difficult, and contesting shots, especially at the rim.   While Indiana remained in the game for a while, the big blow was when OKC forced turnovers on 4 straight possessions.   Unlike earlier games in the series, OKC also was able to score off turnovers, which made things even easier for them.   That said, they ran into an issue when facing transition offense...

Game 4 is in the books, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won 111-107 in a comeback win that will unfortunately likely be more notable for the poor refereeing than the play on the court.  These are my observations from the game.     After an initial rough stretch, OKC played elite defense in the second half, especially in the 4 th During the first quarter, the defense for both teams was really bad.   I made several notes about how bad the defense was, most notably about how OKC had two straight defensive possessions where the on-ball defender was beat instantly, and both were great defenders (first Alex Caruso, next Lu Dort).   OKC tried a variety of different schemes, but ultimately settled on the perfect one to slow down Tyrese Haliburton in the fourth quarter:   have Dort guard him.   They were so aggressive in the second half of the fourth quarter in the second half that I was surprised when Indiana was able to create offense.   There were...

Every year, I release 3 mock drafts prior to the NBA Draft, and this is the second!  This has been considered an elite class due to the projected top-2 picks, but how polarizing players are starting at the potential 3 rd pick will make this a very interesting draft cycle.  On top of that, several college players with eligibility returned to school due to the All of my drafts are aggregates of several drafts and are intended to give an idea of what the draft is looking like at this point in time (while I would love it if I am right on several picks in the mock, there’s movement that I won’t know about until during the draft).  While I account for need in certain picks (more so in the first round, especially the lottery), these are not a reflection of what I think of each pick or how I would rank the prospects.  The picks are divided into three sections:  for the lottery, I provided vitals, in depth analysis, comparison, and the fit with the team...