You Know What? This Could Be the Year If We Have the Courage to Believe

Jan 02, 2026

Ridiculous and borderline unexplainable just how good a shooter VJ is right now.
Big game VJ, caps off 2025 for us the right way.
Figuring out the Big 3’s woes, and incredible MPJ (past) easter egg.

Man, this season has had brutal letdowns — from teams that looked poised to compete to just… flat-out meh performances. A bunch of expected contenders have sputtered early, with injuries and inconsistency dragging squads down and making you question every preseason take. I say that to say this list is pretty consistent, but if I had to make a favorite or in this case a guy I’m least happy with, I’d say Paolo. I had such high hopes and it’s looking more and more that he’s lost in the sauce down there in Orlando.
Wasn’t a Deni guy before this but a great story out in Portland. Fans, media, and even advanced stats are starting to hype him as a legit contender, not just for an All-Star spot but maybe Most Improved Player if he keeps this up. The league needs new energy at All-Star weekend and it starts with guys like him and Mad Max etc. I just hope Portland’s record isn’t held against him too much.
Not much stock to put into these but quite frankly if I had a vote it’s going to the guy who outplayed the number one pick twice in 3 weeks, my middle son, Valdez.
I know trivial shit like this can get lost in the shuffle, especially given the gaudy numbers that the Thunder as a team are putting up, but the tear that SGA is on is wild. 42% from 3, 104 games with 20+ points, and Hall of Fame levels of grift.

D-League/NBA fringe guys cashing in ancient eligibility to go back to college basketball is an absolute joke. Great work by college basketball presidents saying guys with NBA contracts can’t come back, but still, James Nnaji was the 31st overall pick 2 years ago and now he’ll most likely be playing in a March Madness game.
Having the time of my life watching these lame talking heads all of a sudden walk back their undying love of the arbitrary 65 game post season award rule now that their favorite guy(s) not named Embiid have missed or are on pace to miss a month or two of games.
Now that the Big 3 is officially a Big 4, it’s absolutely time to start thinking about deadline reinforcements. It would be awesome to take a flier or two on another big body who loves to rebound and bang in the paint.
Wemby vs. Chet Holmgren is what the league needed. Getting too nice. Wemby can’t stand him nor his team and it’s fucking awesome.
Perfectly fine with coach Nick resting the starters Sunday. I’m in the “take the second bye week” club. This team’s issues on offense strike me more as a playcalling issue anyway and I don’t think that’ll be fixed until at least the first playoff game (we hope!).