SLUS Sports&Culture- Steph Curry, Migos, NBA power rankings, Fantasy Football, and Champions League.
Welcome to week number four! We have three new writers this week: Isaac Weiss-Meyer, Abdullah Mowafi, and Joseph Hinton III. Mr. Weiss-Meyer is a junior at Skidmore College with an American Studies Major. Isaac enjoys walks along the East River and a cup of coffee from “Daily Provisions”. Mr. Mowafi is a current sophomore at Virginia Tech. A soccer fanatic by day and magician by night, Abdullah loves FC Barcelona more than he loves his left foot on the football pitch. Lastly, Joseph Hinton III graduated with a degree in Communications from Delaware Technical & Community College and is now furthering his education at Temple University. Joe loves all things basketball, Philadelphia, and French cuisine. Welcome Isaac, Abdullah, and Joseph! Tell us what you think about our new culture section!
Love,
The Writers.
NBA Power Rankings 10/29
By: Silas Shah and Andre Pinkney
- Warriors(6–1)- Steph Curry is making a strong case for his third MVP. The reigning champs look more poised in the beginning of the year than they have in KD’s first two seasons. Despite Klay’s early struggles(UPDATE: Klay has 11 threes on 10/29 after 2.5 halves), the Warriors are the most dangerous offensive and defensive team in NBA history. Oh, and they get Demarcus Cousins after the all-star break. Best of luck, LeBron.
- Raptors(6–0)- Aside from their rookie coach, the Raptors are more complete than any team in the league. Kawhi Leonard is on a tear, Anunoby and Siakam are more polished and skilled than last year, and the Celtics are a mess. The Celtics, 76ers, and the rest of the East AND West should be legitimately frightened. It will be interesting to see how the Raptors fair against Giannis and the Bucks this Monday. Oh wait, Adam Silver is a coward.
- Bucks(6–0)- Mike Budenholzer and Giannis Antetokounmpo are a match made in heaven. Many of us looked at the Bucks as idiots after they rejected a Khris Middleton for Jimmy Butler trade. We were wrong. Middleton has averaged 21.8 points on an astounding 57.1% clip from deep. Watch out Philadelphia.
- Pelicans(4–1)- 23.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 45% from 3. Anthony Davis? False. Jrue Holiday? False. Maybe Julius Randle is on a tear? False. Nikola Mirotić is on fire. After dropping 30 on the Rockets and then 25 on the Jazz, the Pelicans are on a roll. Anthony Davis is going after the MVP. If Davis doesn’t get flipped, the Pelicans could make a deep playoff run.
- Jazz(4–2)- Donovan Mitchell is showing the NBA that his rookie season wasn’t a fluke. Rudy Gobert is after an all-star bid and Grayson Allen is fitting in beautifully with no trips thus far. Quin Snyder is putting on his best mob boss impression and The Jazz look like a legitimate top three seed in the West.
- Nuggets(4–1) — Second place in the stacked Western Conference is way too high for the Nuggets to maintain going into the playoffs, but they have been on fire to start the season. 4 out of the 5 members in the starting lineup are averaging double figures but it’s their defense that has been their key to success. If this pace continues, which still is way too early to tell, the Nuggets maybe be looking at a deep postseason run.
- Rockets(1–4) — With their lone win coming in a game against the new look Lakers, the Rockets have been off to a disappointing start. The offense has not been the problem for the veteran ball club, but their defense looks horrific. That’ll probably change now that Chris Paul’s back from his suspension. The Wake Forest welterweight champion will have to step up the intensity on the defensive end, while his backcourt mate and reigning MVP James Harden leads the team on offense.
- Blazers(3–2) — Damian Lillard and CJ Mccollum are leading the second highest scoring offense in the league. On top of the star studded backcourt, Portland fields a top 5 rebounding team in the league and you get one of the more formidable teams in the league. Look for the Blazers to remain in the top 10 throughout the entirety of the season.
- Celtics(4–2) — Six games may be too short of a sample size to say this, but that’s all we have to look at. This is not the Celtics team that was 1 game away from the NBA finals. Kyrie Irving is playing like Uncle Drew before he stopped pretending to be 60, and Gordon Hayward is afraid to move faster than 70%. 20 year old Jayson Tatum has been the lone source of consistency for this team. Tatum is the best player on the Celtics. Fact.
- Lakers(2–4) — Showtime is back in LA. The record may not reflect it, but the Lakers team is completely transformed from last year. Defense might be an afterthought, but their torrid pace more than makes up for it. All of the Lakers losses have come in close games, but those loses will turn into wins with more time playing with each other. It isn’t always pretty, but Lebron and the Lakers sure are fun.
“Hey Migos, don’t go down that Aisle!”
By: Isaac Weiss-Meyer
Migos must remain together. The three Migos need to pull the plug on their solo careers and continue their careers as the collective that made them great. Their collective hits are already overplayed. They must stay together and enjoy the cultural empire they have created for themselves. I’m totally behind each of them offering superb verses to others or collaborative projects like Huncho Jack (Quavo with Travis Scott) or Without Warning (Offset with 21 Savage and Metro Boomin). Takeoff provides fantastic verses on Migos songs but alone, he falls flat. His most recent single release, “Last Memory”, produced by DJ Durel and Cassius Jay, serves us a nice, yet, spacy beat that is tarnished by his unoriginal flow. It sounds more bland than his usual sound on Migos tracks. While Quavo demonstrated his potential on his own project, Quavo Huncho, the “hit” songs were mostly fueled by hot guest verses like Drake on “FLIP THE SWITCH” or Travis Scott on “RERUN”. Quavo brought in some unlikely voices like Madonna and Davido. Madonna and Davido offered an element of uniqueness to the album that otherwise is mostly absent. Despite the glimpses of individual success that Quavo sees, he is truly at his best when he, Offset, and Takeoff are together.
Migos ad-libs add different levels of texture and musicality to the music. Each ad-lib fits beautifully into the music as they all intertwine. But they only express their iconic flair when its together. Each artist has great verses, but only one at a time, and usually only one per song. I want to hear Offset come after I hear Quavo. Then I want to hear Takeoff, and not Quavo again. There are points in Migos verses where I stop listening to the words, and only listen to the beat.
The most promising aspect of their solo work, however, is to see where they can each go with other artists. Quavo and Kid Cudi is beautiful. Offset’s verse with Aminé on “Wedding Crashers” bangs. I support these guest verses but keep it to that. Migos is one and should remain one. Together, they are unstoppable and yes, even possibly comparable to the Beatles.
Pete Davidson meets Le’Veon Bell
By: Benjamin Weiner
I start thinking about fantasy football just before the NFL draft. I’m an avid mock draft reader and I love playing out all the different scenarios in my head. I’m in a league with a group of former bunk mates from my summer camp. When we were younger we would beg our parents to send us copies of any and every fantasy football magazine. For the past eight years, we have spent hours taking notes, analyzing schedules and individually making our own mock drafts. Fantasy football has become my life.
This year I took superstar running back Le’Veon Bell with my first pick. My team started off 0–3. It was painful. Hours, days, months of planning, all to be ruined by a self-absorbed narcissist who doesn’t have the decency to think of the millions of fantasy owners counting on him. Le’Veon Bell is public enemy number one, as is the SNL guy that broke Ariana Grande’s heart (monster!)
So what did you do when Ariana breaks it off with Pete Davidson and the Steelers are first in the AFC North without Bell? Well, there’s a few choices. First, you can trust the process. Le’veon Bell needs to play football. He needs to make a living. He’ll be back. Right. Right?
Second, you can go Danny Ainge on their asses and turn this shit backwards, inside out, and upside down faster than a Fornite edit. Here’s my team.
My fantasy team line up week 1 is as follows:
QB: Alex Smith
RB1: James White
RB2: Dion Lewis
WR1: TY Hilton
WR2: Corey Davis
TE1: Travis Kelce.
Flex: Kerryon Johnson
Bench: Le’Veon Bell, Barron Trump, and Tim Tebow.
I SAY SCREW THE PROCESS. You only have one fantasy season. Only one person gets to win that small fortune and the unlimited bragging rights! Why not you? Trade everyone! (Just kidding, observe other teams’, make a few small trades and a blockbuster for a stallion running back or wide receiver. Lastly, let your team progress and find that passion. You feel me? Great, tune in next week for more tips.
My fantasy team week 8 lineup is as follows:
QB: Aaron Rodgers
RB1: Kareem Hunt
RB2: Isaiah Crowell
WR1: Julio Jones
WR2: Davante Adams
TE1: Cameron Brate
Flex: Sammy Watkins
Bold NBA Predictions (Eastern Conference)
By: Joseph Hinton III
Indiana Pacers will win the Eastern Conference
Case — Hey, remember the Pacers? You know, the team that was supposed to just keel over and die after Paul George left?… the team that defied expectations and won 48 games?… the team that took the the Lebron-led Cavaliers to 7 games in the first round of the Eastern Conference?… the team led by the reigning most improved player, Victor Oladipo? You can be forgiven if you don’t remember these guys, they received a shockingly low amount of news coverage. Hell, they had the 4th worst attendance from fans last year too. But don’t let the lack of attention fool you: The Pacers are dangerous. In a perfect world: Oladipo continues his progress, their young bigs Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis elevate their games, and their new signings (Tyreke Evans, Kyle O’Quinn, Doug McDermott and rookie Aaron Holiday) help the Pacers address the weakest part of their game: the lack of 3’s attempted per game (24.5 a game, the 4th lowest amount attempted among teams)
But Then Again…- Indiana isn’t the only Eastern Conference city that had a great offseason. Celtics got healthy, 76ers got older, and the Raptors traded for a fun guy. I love that the Pacers addressed their lack of 3 point attempts per game during the offseason; that being said, it’s hard to see the Pacers truly elevate without a bonafide second star. It’s also hard to bank solely on potential. Myles Turner is entering his fourth year, and we’ve been waiting for him to break out every year since. And as stated earlier, the Pacers were one of the biggest surprises of last year; they won’t be shocking anyone when they play this year.
Kemba Walker Will Be Traded
Case — Kemba recently won Eastern Conference Player of the Week after hitting an NBA-record 19 3-pointers made in the first three games of the season. The UCONN stud leads the league in PPG (35.3). It’s hard to make a case to trade a guy giving you that type of productivity… but damn it, I’ll try here. For starters: barring some shocking event, the Hornets are not in a position to compete this season. Two: Kemba is a free agent after this season. If he’s not interested in re-signing, it would behoove the franchise to get what they can for him right now.
But Then Again…- This is part of a much bigger issue within basketball. Charlotte is essentially stuck in no man’s land. Between the unattractive market and the slew of average-to-horrible draft picks, there’s no guarantee that the Hornets can acquire another star if Walker leaves. And hey, business is business; if Kemba leaves, who knows what would happen to their already atrocious attendance? (5th worst in the NBA, in case you were wondering)
Detroit Pistons Make the Playoffs
Case — The Pistons remind me of The Game’s albums from days past. On paper it seems average as hell, but with so much money invested it’s almost too big to fail. Remember when 50 Cent made “Hate It or Love It” a hit with the best feature verse he’s ever had? Or when Eminem completely washed The Game on “We Ain’t”… so much so that The Game admitted it on the same f*cking song? Welcome to the Detroit Pistons. No bonafide all star? Here’s 30-year-old Blake Griffin. Tired of Stan Van Gundy’s mediocre coaching? Here’s Regular Season Coaching God Dwane Casey. And hey, all jokes aside, it’s working! The Pistons are 4–1! Blake is averaging 29.5 PPG and 10 rebounds. Ish freakin’ Smith is shooting 50% from the field. As wide open as the Eastern Conference is, it’s pretty plausible that the Pistons can sneak in.
But Then Again…- Yeah Blake’s playing well, but who knows how long his health can stay intact? Yes, Ish Smith is showing flashes… but he always does that. And yes the Pistons are 4–1, but they are definitely the worst, best team in the NBA. Andre Drummond, good as he is, has a tendency to take bad shots when he gets the ball. Reggie Jackson’s usage rate has dropped drastically since Smith’s flashes. Most importantly, they have the 26th ranked True Shooting Percentage in the league as of now. Offensive rebounding and taking care of the ball has helped the Pistons stay above water, but who knows how long that’ll last?
Bold NBA Predictions (Western Conference)
Utah Jazz will win the Western Conference
Case — Life without Gordon Hayward isn’t quite as bad as people might have feared for Utah. After floundering early, Quin Snyder and the Jazz turned things around during the second half of the season. They posted a 29–6 record during the last 35 games of the season, managed to beat the Warriors 3(!) times during the season, and decisively eliminated the OKC Thunder in the first round of the playoffs. The Jazz also posted the second best defense in the league, giving up 99.8 PPG to opponents, as well as posting a defensive team rating of 103.9. And hey, they were smart enough to not blow the whole damn thing up: only Jonas Jerebko isn’t returning from last season’s roster. Donovan Mitchell will only improve upon his stellar rookie season; if this team can stay healthy (and consistent), they will be a major roadblock in the Western Conference.
But Then Again… — Look, I love Donovan Mitchell. But the fact is simple: Rudy Gobert is still the best player on this team. And that may hurt them, DPOY award be damned. The Jazz have been eliminated from the second round in the playoffs the last two years by teams who have shooters everywhere on the court (Warriors and Rockets, respectively). Small ball has rendered dozens of traditional centers useless; if Gobert isn’t improving your defense, he’s generally harmless. And with plenty of elite Western Conference teams able to play small ball (Pelicans? Lakers?) the Jazz may just be an elite regular season team that can’t get it done during postseason.
Jimmy Butler Stays Put In Minnesota
Case — two words: Job Security. Tom Thibodeau knows full and damn well this team ain’t going nowhere without Jimmy Butler. Last season, the Timberwolves were 39–26 with him on the floor; after tearing his meniscus, the Timberwolves went 9–9 and were almost eliminated from playoff contention before ending the season on a 3-game winning streak… after Butler returned from injury. Also, considering what Thibs gave up for Butler (Kris Dunn, who flourished in his sophomore season; Zach Lavine, who looks like a bonafide all-star; and the 5th pick who would end up being stretch 4 extraordinaire Lauri Markkanen), I’m sure he wants more than one playoff appearance that ended in the first round.
But Then Again… — Butler wants to be gone. The owner Glen Taylor wants him gone. Hell, it seems like the fans want him gone too. Karl Anthony-Towns is clearly the most talented player on this team; after signing him to a lucrative 6-year, $190 million contract, it might be time to start building around him. He’s a revolutionary talent, averaging 20 points (on a staggeringly efficient 64.6% True Shooting Percentage!) and 10 boards a game. Last season with Butler on the floor, his usage percentage took a nosedive. The time may be now to officially hand the team over: trade Butler for some effective role players and see how far the KAT can take you.
Dallas Mavericks Make The Playoffs
Case — Hey, don’t look now, but on paper the Mavericks are a pretty damn good team. Last season’s team featured proven vets and undrafted players fighting for a chance. They shot a lot of 3s, played terrible defense, and somehow were in 50 (!) games decided by 5 points or less, posting a 12–38 record in those games. That’s… somewhat encouraging, considering the Mavericks were not considered a threat in the West. And like I said, the team is much better now. DeAndre Jordan should not only bolster the defense; he’s the perfect pick-and-roll center to compliment Dennis Smith, Jr. Barnes and Matthews are back to provide the team with experienced 3-and-D wingmen. And hey… Luka F*ckin Doncic.
But Then Again…- It’s tough to have a young backcourt in the wild wild Western Conference. Doncic isn’t a very good 3 point shooter (31% on 4.8 attempts per game), and that’ll hurt in the days to come. Also the defense is still atrocious: In their opening game, the Phoenix Suns torched the Mavericks for 19 threes. No I don’t expect teams to shoot as efficiently as the Suns did that night (19-of-34?? TJ Warren going 3-for-4???) but if the Suns are giving you trouble… I’d hate to see how the juggernauts will do against them.
Champions League Update
By: Abdullah Mowafi
We return for some Champions League action in match day three and after a brief international break. Only three teams have managed to clinch all nine points: Barcelona, Dortmund and Juventus. In other news, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah became the fastest player in their history to reach the fifty goal mark, achieving it in less than 66 games.
The big names who seem to be struggling include Tottenham, who’s only managed to salvage one point from three games. Barcelona and Inter Milan seem to be pulling away for a spot in the round of 16 in group B. Tottenham will host Manchester City on Monday with Pep looking to deal the Spurs their third loss of the season, Tottenham is currently fifth in the Premier league four points ahead of number sixth Bournemouth.
Qatari oil money isn’t looking too good for PSG, with both $262 million Neymar and wonder boy Mbappé not doing so well. Group C is a fight between Liverpool, Napoli and PSG for the two spots in the knockout stage, with Red Star Belgrade lagging way behind. Napoli or PSG are likely to be seen playing on Thursdays in the Europa league if they don’t step up their game soon.
Real Madrid has found trouble finding the net this season for obvious reasons, having lost Ronaldo to Juventus, and Gareth Bale to injury. They managed to narrowly beat visitor side Viktoria Plzen by two goals after a masterful header by Karim Benzema and a splendid chip by Marcelo. Still, not a convincing show for Lopetegui and Madrid. They travel to Barcelona on the weekend for the El Clásico, where Lopetegui is likely to get his last chance to impress Florentino Pérez or he will be sacked. The only good news for Madrid is that Messi fractured his arm against Sevilla and he will miss out on the game.
Meanwhile in other news, what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay there. Cristiano Ronaldo is accused of raping Kathryn Mayorga after she has gone public and claimed that Ronaldo raped her in a hotel room in Vegas back in 2009. The Portuguese star allegedly paid her $350,000 for her silence. Ronaldo says he is confident in his lawyers and insists he is innocent.
