#and now the candidate for filling that role is phoenix

[shamisense]

phoenix you're a smart guy i need you to understand he's taking this whole situation so personally because he's also talking about himself

[theangrycomet]

RC9GN- Post Series Timeline

Who does Norrisville turn to when it’s their own protector they need saving from?

Timeline below cut b/c its long

For his Junior year, Randy studied at Yamanouchi High School to improve his ninja skills

Between the defeated Sorcerer and McFist occupied with the latest addition to his family, Norrisville was fine

Randy Graduates and returns the Ninja Mask and Ninja Nomicon back to the messenger. 

He is mindwiped, along with Howard

Still extremely fit and prone to parkour, his impomptu stunts are regularly filmed and posted by Howard. 

This leads Randy to getting increasingly renowned

Decides to compete on America Ninja Warrior

People start to notice him

30 seconds to Math hits off but it’s not Howard nor Randy’s focus

Howard becomes huge on YouTube 

Randy gets picked up to do a movie after crashing unceremoniously on set

Played Flamezilla in the BH6 film, Directed by Buford Von Stomm

Kicked off his acting career

After filming in San Fransokyo, ends up fell in love with the city and moves there

However, something happened when he was about 21.

The Next Ninja of Norrisville, Drake House, pulled an ‘85.

While Drake did his job well at first as the Ninja, he let his arrogance and pride get the better of him.

Despite the Nomicon’s warnings, his behavior worsened with time

At the end of his Sophmore year, he was declared “Unfit to be a Ninja/”

When the Messenger went to retrieve the Mask and Nomicon, however, he fought back, tearing the Mask in two, ripping some pages from the Nomicon, and accidentally killing the Messenger in the process.

(the Messenger, like the Phoenix regenerates with a new life every few hundred years; he’ll be fine but it’ll take him a century or so to regenerate)

When the messenger died, The Nomicon knew the Way of the Norrisville ninja was ultimately fucked if it didn’t fix things

It manages to ship itself with the lower half of the mask to it’s last Ninja through a series of intricate maneuvers

Randy finds a battered cardboard box package addressed to him with a strange note in front of his apartment, he kind of shrugs it off until it starts shaking. 

Finding a strangely familiar book and the bottom half of what looks like a ski mask, he’s more than a little curious as something starts tugging at the back of his mind. 

Dropped like a rock on to the kitchen counter to the floor as he’s schloomped into the Nomicon for the first time in 3 years.

The Nomicon, despite it’s damage, manages to reveal to him what happened and restores his memories, declaring that he has to fill the Messenger’s role and give the next Ninja the materials and training they need to defeat the oncoming storm 

What has been working for the last 800 years will not be enough 

The Nomicon’s a little traumatized at being treated so horribly

So Randy’s sent on this mini quest to not only stop the current norrisville Ninja and give him the Ultimate lesson,

He has to find a Cloth Mage and Grimoire Specialist to repair the mask and Nomicon 

And then pick the next Ninja before something else happens

Howard has no idea what Randy’s talking about, but luckily, he happens to know BOTH a Cloth Mage and Grimoire Specialist from his YouTube career AND their in San Fransokyo

Dipper and Mabel Pines are at SFIT and SFAI respectively, and are stoked to working with such cool artifacts (and also appalled that someone would damage tham so badly)

After a two weeks (as well as a few liter of Randy’s blood and half of Mabel’s demon-fiber cloth and enchanted silk) the mask is repaired

The Nomicon however, while physically fine, is still acting up. Dripping ink has been happening at random and information is missing from the tornout pages, including the the Earth Attack, 

 Dipper has a theory as to what’s going on, but he’ll need the other pages to confirm it as well as repair it

Randy goes back to Norrisville and defeats the Latest Ninja, retrieving the other half of the mask as well as most of the missing pages. 

Seeing as the Ultimate Lesson page is still missing, Randy was trying to figure out how to mind wipe Drake when the Ex-Ninja ran off, vowing that he’ll get his mask back if it kills him (Him being Randy, not Drake)

Randy goes back to the Pines twins with the missing pages and other half of the mask, and Dipper’s theory is confirmed

The Nomicon, after taking the torn pages, creates a second Nomicon, a little bit smaller but otherwise identical

Mabel, now that she knows what she’s doing, creates a second mask with the remainder of the left over materials.

Dipper, checks to find that the Nomicon had in fact replicated itself from the damages. He compares it to how the body replicates identical cells when you get a cut to repair the wound

All Randy knows is that now he’s got the stressful task of picking the next Ninja within a month. He’s seen how it can go wrong. 

After a month of observation and some consultation from the Nomicon, he deems the best choice of the future freshman to be Ojaswitha Mahto. 

Getting her the Ninja Box was the hardest part, not because he couldn’t sneak into her room, but because he HAD to sneak into a 14 year old girl's room. He was NOT comfortable with that, but he couldn’t figure out how else to ensure no one else got the new Ninja Mask and Nomicon.

He returns back to San Fransokyo to find himself having to stop any Interdeminsional portal attempts ranging from Krei’s Silent Sparrow project to fighting Crice to actually befriending one of the new supers Voyd to having to sabotage Varian’s final thesis. 

The last one is a bit of a doozy.

Additionally, the Nomicons both send their Ninja wielders to the same NomiSpace or the Realm of the Nomicon. 

Meaning that if Ojaswitha needs guidance/ back up from someone besides the Nomicon, she’s able to contact Randy.

The Nomicon will also contact the senior ninja if it senses that Ojaswtiha will need aid.

Gave Randy a freaking heart attack seeing a modern person in the Nomicon

They see eachother in their Ninja suits, so Ojaswitha doesn’t know who Randy is

Though she is a big fan of his work

He thinks this is hilarious once he’d found out

Drake, being the little Sherlock he is, is trying to identify the Ninja to get the Mask back, 

Charming and sophisticated, he slowly eliminates possible candidates. 

All he needs to do to get his mask back is to show the Ninja the Ultimate Lesson page. 

ROUGH Idea of what’s gonna go down. Things may change. 

[manonmidgen]

OH HUNTER; IF YOU DIDN’T WANT THE BEAUTIFUL SO BADLY, PERHAPS YOU WOULD’VE FOUND IT IN YOUR SPIRIT SINGING SOFTLY.

❝ she thinks that she’s the worst so she acts like she’s the best. ❞ NANA KOMATSU? No, that’s actually MANDOLYN ‘MANON’ MIDGEN. A SEVENTH YEAR student, this GRYFFINDOR student is sided with MCGONAGALL’S ARMY. SHE identifies as CIS-FEMALE and is a PURE BLOOD who is known to be CONCEITED, FAKE, and FICKLE but also HARD WORKING, ENCHANTING, and MAGNETIC.

tw. bullying.

links. pinterest.  spotify.

stats.

MANDOLYN ‘MANON’ MIDGEN ,

7th year gryffindor. Pureblood. Prefect.  President of the potions club.

Gemini Sun / Sagitarrius moon / Scorpio rising.  / born 20th june 1:12pm

wand: hawthorn / dragon heart string/ 14 1/2″ / brittle

patronus: would produce a swan if produced. 

NEWT classes: potions; herbology; charms. 

favourite subject: potions. least favourite subject: history of magic.

electives: divination & care of magical creatures.  

character inspo: mia thermpoplis ( princess diaries. ) caroline ‘ cool girl’ ( snotgirl. ) lottie person ( snotgirl. )  | albums : melodrama by lorde / lush by mitski

see more here ! 

bio. ( this got long, but i can offer you this meme in this trying time. ) 

IT’S TOO UGLY TO BE HUMAN. IT’S TOO UGLY TO BE YOU. CHILDREN ARE SCARED OF THE DARK; THERE IS NOTHING REAL TO BE MADE OF IT.

the midgen family , a lesser thought of pure blood family with nothing else to really say about them ; they say that the families money dates back to them having a stake in the creation of butter beer but there’s little to no historical archives to support this.   they, for the most of history, had simply just been; been nothing iconic or memorable but simply just existed in the sidelines. a safe and cautious place to be.

Madolyn Midgen,   the youngest of the midgen family tree and only of her generation, the first and only born of Eloise Midgen.   Although Eloise did marry,   a lovely pureblood named Rupert, the condition came that their child would keep the midgen name.         the midgen’s for long had only been blessed with a single heir each generation,    almost always a female, so the stipulation had been written into the family.

Most people don’t describe childbirth as the most beautiful things,  the babies red, screaming, and unkempt ; but most get over this hurdle in a few days. yet madolyn seemed to stay that way. her limbs not growing as they should, her face unexplainably red, and flaky, the puffs of black hair doing nothing to disguise the ugliness of the baby --        apparently the sight of her face alone was enough to cause the rest of the reception to burst into tears.

I THINK PERFECTION IS UGLY. I WANT TO SEE SCARS, FAILURE, DISORDER, DISTORTION.

minging midgen.

that was the smart name the 5 year old boys made up for her;       and like the world on atlas’ back, it was the burden that the ugly duckling carried with her - shackled with - for the rest of her childhood years.

Elementary school was just more of the same;  the girl that people would ask out for fun, for laughter, despite any kindness she might have held in her heart, her attitude couldn’t sway people to look past her stout figure and cystic acne. mud would poured in her hair; snails placed in her shoes; people who touched her were said to be cursed with germs -- ;      her attempts to make friends went most often in vain and her birthday parties went by every year without a single card or cake.

It caused Mandolyn to develop crippling anxiety;  body dysmorphia; the over emphasis of her flaws in her own eyes. she’d pick at her arms and glance at any mirror that she walked by ; any laughter that she heard she’d automatically assume it was about her.

this led to a shy girl ; who constantly burst into tears and without a single back bone in her body-- her spine would bend in on itself as a shield from any jeers,  but it also left her extremely comprisable to any suggestions. she would often just go along with anything suggested because of the concept that if she did what they say; maybe they would like her; maybe they would leave her alone.

she became the easy pickings of pranks, jeers, a punching bag with the stability of wheat.

Already at the ripe age of 10 years old mandolyn had been duly crushed by this role that she played in life, despite any encouragement from her mother or father.

They promised her it would get better, and it did. And luckily, after a few more years or two of sucking it up, it finally did.

AND SUDDENLY I AM A PHOENIX FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH AND IT WOULD ALMOST BE BEAUTIFUL IF THE WORLD WAS NOT ENDING

When she arrived to Hogwarts, she was sorted into Gryffindor which people assumed must have purely been a family heritage decision, as no one would ever think the girl who seemed to hunch in on herself so much she could roll down a hill could ever be a gryffindor.

The first two years of school were almost entirely uneventful,  of course, 11 years old love to pick on each other, and the rampant bullying followed her like wild dogs wherever she went, but she was slowly growing out of the childhood pudginess and gaining some length to the otherwise stumpy limbs she’d been born with. Mostly, she continued to fulfil the role she had played in primary school ; though, the presence of a few true friends made it somewhat bearable. they were thick as thieves;  completely nonjudgemental of each other, and for a second, it seemed that mandolyn was gaining some sort of confidence, but still, no independence of back bones -- - she simply just continued her childhood pattern of following.

The changing moment ( the birth of the phoenix ; the ugly duckling shedding the grey coat ) was three days after her 14th birthday, her third year, when spectating an impromptu game of quidditch left her in an awful face cast the likes that meant she had to momentarily drop out of hogwarts; a Midgen tradition to do as soon as something went wrong; She had to miss the last month of summer semester — and like the ugly duckling came back like a swan.

The late bloomer blossomed, and the magical cosmetic surgery didn’t hurt much either. But more importantly, the change in look seemed to go hand in hand with a change in confidence (the one bubbling now bloomed). The once shy and inept Mandolyn became well spoken ; charming ; magnetic ; alluring to the point that nobody recognised her at the beginning of the fourth year.

So Mandolyn rebranded herself as Manon, she says it means french for beautiful. Finally, she managed to receive the attention she had been almost dying for since she was a young child, at only the price of 2 months of education and weeks sat in a hospital.

But whilst her face became beautiful,     her personality soured slightly, which was noticeable to almost all of her actual friends ( the three of them that existed. )

Her personality became as fake as her face as she lied, cheated, and smiled politely to try and weasel her way into the social scene she had so longed to become apart of. She became liked, and popular, but at what cost ? The price of being able to have genuine human connections with most people.

Whom once was a genuinely nice girl, scared of human confrontation and going with the flow to avoid any problems grew a spine. and also a bite. she became snarky, slightly argumentative at times, and wholly competitive with being pretty and popular as her only real intentions. she began to care a lot less for anything genuine unless that genuine thing would benefit her in some regards. but despite the presence of a slight back bone, it was still as brittle as her wand,   she would still do anything for attention, to prove to herself that she was liked and popular.          easily manipulated & entirely fake.      the not blonde barbie doll with as many clothes and switching professions & friends. ( and ACCORDING TO THE RUMOURS; SHE’S FILLED WITH JUST AS MUCH PLASTIC ! )

in her fifth year; mandolyn is made prefect, she’s told by the head of gryffindor that her change in courage, determination, and ‘standing’ up to her bullies was a comendable feet, and in collaboration with her good grades and her pristine record, she was a great candidate for prefect.  mandolyn took the opportunity with open arms for she thought it would only help to bolster her now growing reputation.

YOU ARE STARING OUT AT A WORLD ON FIRE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW UGLY YOU THINK THE ASHES ARE.

When the deaths hit, and the world suddenly became a lot darker than Manon could ever realise, her well perfected facade started to crumple, and the idea of popularity no longer seemed as ideal as it did in the past.

Perhaps it was longing for the simpler days without death around every corner, but she’s begun to doubt who she really is — and her impromptu decision to change her name is only aiding in adding to her identity confusion.

Part of her decision to aid in Mcgonnogal’s army is down to Manon trying to follow what she believes is the righteous path; fighting against the darkness that is seeping in through the cracks in Hogwarts stone walls. Because in Manon’s mind,   she feels that as soon as that problem is resolved, all of the issues that are surfacing in her mind will suddenly disappear — just like what happened when she got her magical face list.

wc.

less wanted, and more connection ideas to start plotting ;

- core long term friendship group,            the few friends manon had before she was ever manon-- the non-judgemental, supportive friend group who was always there for mandolyn to cry on // most likely might have felt spurned after manon’s re-invention of herself, or might have been passively against her new personality, or supported her new found confidence [ the current logistics are very easily changeable ~ ! ]

- the new influence of friends,                 the group of friends, or partying group, that manon wedged herself into after she re-invented herself as cool and ‘beautiful’ ( in her own opinion. ) // probably a friendship group built more on benefit and falseness than any actual emotion. [ again current logistics are very changeable ; it’s just a broad sentiment of ideas. ]

- the bullies,                 people who teased mandolyn because of her cystic acne, short limbs, uneven bone structure and poor posture -- and may have continued to after she rebranded herself.

- the love interest,               manon is more into girls than boys, but is very fluid and casual with her relationships so any long term interest is probably going to have some sort of angst based on that -- alternatively, i’m all for hook ups and one time things in building a web -- as manon most likely wanted to date as many people as she physically could to bolster her new reputation. 

- i’m obviously 100% open for more open plotting ;or filling any connection ideas anybody else has, so please feel free to message me surrounding that ! i’m really excited to be here and plot so !! yeah !!!

[theprocrastinatingalien]

Casting The Batman

Director Matt Reeves said in a Q&A that he expects THE BATMAN to start production at the end of this year.  Now that's still quite a way off, but for that to happen a few things need to happen... like casting.

It's be confirmed that Ben Affleck has stepped away from the Batcave, and we're now looking at a new actor putting on the cowl.

Firstly, we need to asses... is Reeves' Batflick part of the DCEU, or does it stand aside, like the upcoming JOKER movie starring Joaquin Phoenix, despite the fact Jared Leto is expected to carry on as the Clown Prince of Crime within the shared universe.

Why is this important?  Well, Whilst Affleck is going off, that doesn't mean the supporting characters have to change cast, especially if it's in the shared universe.   Particular roles are in place.  Jeremy Irons as played Alfred in two movies now, and JK Simmons popped up in the JUSTICE LEAGUE as Commissioner James Gordon.   Either of those actors could continue.  Even if this movie is in the past.  Sure a younger actor in either part may make sense, but CAPTAIN MARVEL just proved you can do a whole film with nifty de-aging effects (Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury).

Whilst I will, naturally, look towards who could be cast in supporting (and villainous) roles, right now we're going to focus on the big issue.  Who should play Batman?

Below are a list of different actors who I've seen suggested, or am suggesting myself, that could end up as the next Dark Knight. I've included a variety of ages too... just covering the bases.

KARL URBAN

This one was an obvious inclusion. Before Affleck was announced, Urban was my (and seemingly half the internet) top choice.  Probably best known currently as Dr McCoy in the new age STAR TREK movies, he also appeared as DREDD, and more recently played Skurge in THOR: RAGNAROK over in the MCU.  He's around the same age as Affleck (both born in 1972), so this would be more of a direct recast, but a popular one I believe.

ROBERT PATTINSON

Urg.  No.  This would annoy me... but a major rumour recently was that the TWILIGHT star was in talks for Bruce Wayne and his alter ego.  To be honest, it wouldn't be the WORST casting in the DCEU (Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, anyone?) and I would still give the guy a go.  It's just not a casting I'd be excited about. With Pattinson we'd have a Batman in his early 30s.

ARMIE HAMMER

The funny thing with this one... it was basically reported that Hammer had got the job.  The actor had to debunk the casting himself.  There's quite a fanbase for the actor to get this role, and to be fair, he had once been attached to a Batman role in the past, when he was cast as Bruce Wayne in a defunct JUSTICE LEAGUE movie.   Still, whilst the actor said nobody (in power) had talked to him, the media buzz may have brought him to the attention of Reeves... so I wouldn't rule out this casting entirely.   I'd certainly prefer it to Pattinson.  Both actors are the same actor as 32.

AIDAN TURNER

This Irish actor is very popular with the ladies (good for Bruce Wayne) and was a sheer highlight as vampire Mitchell in BEING HUMAN (the UK series)… He's currently the heartthrob lead in POLDARK, and was the heartthrob dwarf Kili in THE HOBBIT trilogy.   And whilst there probably has been a lot of onus on his looks, he just happens to be a really good actor, and in his mid 30s, I believe shouldn't be dismissed as a potential Batman (or Bond!).

TARON EGERTON

Now, this wouldn't be an ideal choice, but I'm throwing it in there.  Egerton's currently 29, so the youngest on my list at this point, and he's making quite a name for himself.  I think his best qualification for Batman is his role in the KINGSMAN franchise, but he also recently played ROBIN HOOD.  He's possibly a little on the short side for Batman, and whilst he has the physicality for the role, I don't think he's the best fit for Bruce Wayne.  However, I would definitely put him near the top of a NIGHTWING list.  As Dick Grayson does become Batman at some point, I thought it'd be fair to include him on here.

K J APA

Apa's the youngest person on this list at 21. If I'm honest, I'm not sure he quite has the charisma for Bruce Wayne, and he feels a little young for Bats, but that might be what Reeves is looking for.  Apa is Archie, the lead character in RIVERDALE, and he does get to play detective - which plays into comments Reeves has made.

KIT HARINGTON

Funnily enough, I was actually going to include Harington's onscreen brother Richard Madden, from GAME OF THRONES but I've switched it.  Harington certainly has the broody look down.  We all know how Batman likes to brood, and with GoT coming to an end, Kit's probably looking for a new high-profile acting gig.  THE BATMAN wouldn't be a bad way to go.  Not sure how people would take to this casting though, I'm not sure how the actor is perceived in the public eye. Agewise, he's inline with the likes of Pattinson and Hammer.

LIAM NEESON

I said, I'd be cover all the bases, and this one's going the other way, with an older actor. Liam Neeson is 66.   He's already been a part of the Batworld, featuring in THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy as villain R'as Al Ghul. But what if we turned that around and made him the big man himself.  Casting Zeus, Aslan and Qui-Gon Jinn as Batman works for me!

JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN

Okay, so this is not a clear-cut choice... but I'm throwing it out there anyway.  Morgan played Thomas Wayne in the opening scenes of BATMAN V SUPERMAN.   We know that there's an upcoming move (supposedly) based on FLASHPOINT, and in that, rather than Bruce becoming Batman, his father does instead.  What if the DCEU are clever and tie this alternative reality into the cast change... handing the cowl over to Morgan.  Personally I like it.  Recasting Batman without recasting Bruce Wayne.  Morgan is in his 50s, and currently plays the violent Negan in THE WALKING DEAD.

BRAD PITT

No, really.  Like Morgan, Pitt is in his 50's, but he's still got that good-looking, swagger (perfect for an aging Bruce), and he'd be a pretty commercial choice I think. Plus, Pitt is a pretty decent actor.  He'd be able to display a few different facets for the caped crusader, and might be able to channel that dark SEVEN vibe, tying in with Matt Reeves'  noir detective tale.

Now, I should probably start wrapping this list up.   I've already listed 10, but there's still two more I think deserve a mention.  One positive, one negative. 

JAKE GYLLENHAAL

Now, you're probably expecting Jake to be the positive, but no.  I do not like the idea of him playing Batman.  He's not right for the role.  So why am I including him now?   Gyllenhaal was a possible casting way back when Christian Bale was cast.  As were Joshua Jackson and Wes Bentley.   I'd actually rather Bentley get given the shot of any of them, but Jake gets the mention because apparently Matt Reeves may have his eye on him.   I'm not against JG as an actor, in fact I'm looking forward to his turn as Mysterio in SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME over at the MCU.  I just don't think he'd be *my* Batman if he were to be cast.

Which leaves us with...

OSCAR ISAAC

I saw Isaac's name pop up on another list, and you know what... I wouldn't mind it.  I wouldn't have thought of him myself,  He's half Guatemalan, half Cuban, which would add ethnicity to the character that had typically been played by straight up white American or Brits, with being as controversial as, say casting Idris Elba (who, incidentally has joined the DCEU as Deadshot, replacing Will Smith).  Isaac is suave enough to play Bruce, and intense enough to play Batman.  He's a good actor, and now has quite a following thanks to his part in the current STAR WARS trilogy.  Of the twelve candidates listed here, he's definitely up the top end for me.

It would have been quite easy to fall in with listing every dark-haired furrow-browed actor in Hollywood, but I tried to streamline the list a little.  Personally for me, my tick rests near Urban still, although I accept it's unlikely.   It's going to be interesting to see who they do go with in the end.  There was a lot of negativity against Affleck's casting, but I think most can agree he's been a highlight of the DCEU.

Whoever get's cast, will be filling the shoes of  Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Affleck.   Soon, I'll also be looking at the supporting cast - including an actor I almost included here as a potential Batman, but then realised I'd love to see him as a Riddler...

[quartusbellum-blog]

ARCHIE for the role of SIRIUS BLACK, using the faceclaim BLAIR REDFORD.

Your application for Sirius is stunning, and incorporates lots of little details which flesh out the character wonderfully. You’ve portrayed the complexity of Sirius’ current situation so well, and there is some truly beautiful writing here. I am very excited to welcome you to Quartus Bellum!

ooc details

Name: Archie

Age: Twenty five

Pronouns: She/her

Activity Level: I’m a current PhD candidate, so my time is pretty strapped. I am also coming out of a writing hiatus, so I’m a little rusty, but this game was so alluring I just thought I’d be an idiot to pass up some world building and exploring. I can probably be online a few times a week, but I can promise lengthy replies in lieu of my absence. I hope that’s okay. I would definitely like to keep the mod team updated on things if I’m away for whatever reason, just so we’re on the same page and everything!

Other: No triggers! But thank you very much for asking. I’m just extremely motivated and intrigued by this plot, so I have to give major kudos to such an arresting idea. Please also note that I am applying from a mockblog I have created for the purpose of this application.

Acknowledgement: I acknowledge that the themes of this game may include triggering elements. I also acknowledge that my character may be harmed, coerced, or even killed (with player’s consent) during paras/events or may cause harm to or kill others during paras/events.

                                                 ჻    ჻    ჻   ჻

general ic details

Name: Sirius Orion Black

Age: Twenty one (November 3rd, 1959)

Ships: Chemistry. Full disclosure, the biography given for Sirius gave me a lot of Sirius/James feelings (like, a lot), but I also really ship Sirius/Remus. I write Sirius as gay, but overall I’m pretty relaxed about writing relationships provided they’re realistically depicted and well-paced.

Gender/Pronouns: Genderfluid (he/him or they/them)

Face Claim: Blair Redford (x), Luke Pasqualino, Sean Teale * * I’ve gone back and forth between these three for ages... Ordinarily I write the Black family as POC, so after a Great Struggle™ in which I seriously admired Luke Pasqualino in “Snatch”, I decided to do something different and go with Blair Redford. Now, I do have a possible headcanon around Sirius and Regulus being half-brothers, so that can give the Regulus player some freedom around choosing a faceclaim, as I know matching ethnicities can be tricky (especially as Blair is half unspecified Native American). I will say, however, that I am open to discussing Sirius’ faceclaim, so if you’re unsure I’m happy to talk about it with you.

                                                 ჻    ჻    ჻   ჻

biography:

Sirius wasn’t supposed to live past twenty one.

It’s a morbid, private thought, one best left for murmuring into the black velvet of late nights, supine with firewhiskey and muggle cigarettes. See, Sirius never expected to make it to sixteen, but then a certain shaggy-haired idiot named James F. Potter happened, and Sirius’ fears went out the window (literally – have you ever tried to pry open the latch of a very old semi-sentient house that doesn’t want its heir to escape? Harder than it looks). When the war started, Sirius accepted the likelihood of his imminent death with little fanfare. It was easier, anyway, to throw himself into missions and the gutsy bravado that gripped 1979 like a fever. The city was alive: subtropical clubs; the tongues of strangers; heady muggle music; the Order laughing, packed into some tiny apartment, drunk off their tits. And even before that haze dissipated, they all felt immortal. The war was real, of course, but so were they, and Sirius was young, and dumb, and he was one of the best duelers by far, so why shouldn’t he take to the streets, Doc Martens smacking the pavement, dodging after some Death Eater? The Black household was one shrouded in death, what with the dusty portraits of forgotten ancestors, their eyes following you in the gloom, and his own mother’s obsession with mortality, as if the Pox that claimed their father was a mere token of magic’s cruel whim to give and take away. The Marauders filled him with hope; the Order stoked those embers to flames. But there was always something within him, some stoic knowledge, that this was too good too last. He was a Black: his blood ran thick as oil.

If anyone asks (which they don’t, because despite his newfound control, Sirius can still be frightening), losing James was more than a sucker punch to the gut. The Order had lost so many brave witches and wizards at the height of the war, but those terrible deaths were nothing compared to James’ disappearance. No, not disappearance. Kidnapping. Theft. They stole Prongs from Sirius’ useless fingers, swept him away for good, and Sirius was powerless. Maybe that was what hurt most of all: knowing that no matter how deeply he felt for James, how fortifying and achingly tender their friendship was, it just wasn’t enough. Sirius thought he was incapable of love before he met James. But where did that get him? The yawning dark of an empty flat; shaking hands in the cold dawn light; the blood-pound of fear in his jugular, drumming hard enough to make his eyes spot black. Sirius didn’t give himself a chance to mourn, to wonder, to do anything other than drown himself in the rescue effort. The loss of Dumbledore was similarly shattering, but Dumbledore was more figurehead than individual: a manifestation of everything the Order wanted to be. James was real: he was blood and bone. He was laughter and the glossy gold of a snitch, he was private jokes and intense bravery. He was Sirius’ counterbalance. And then he was gone.

Sirius isn’t the same. None of them are. Everything they’d fought for was extinguished in twenty four hours. That might partly explain Sirius’ habitual visits to the muggle world. Disguised as Padfoot is as good as being invisible. He can slip through their ordered, ordinary world, and feel, at least for a few hours, that his pathetic excuse for an existence hasn’t been obliterated close beyond repair. Sirius tells himself they’ll claw it all back. Dumbledore, James, the Ministry. There is a terrible anger within him that is beyond anything he has ever felt. It is cavernous, infinite, far darker and bruised than any reservoir of loathing for his family. It is so intense that he cannot even speak about it. Sirius has always been a little frightened of how deeply he feels, but this redraws those boundaries. That feeling that his life is on a countdown has compounded. Sirius is willing to do anything to take back what is rightfully theirs. He spent his youth at war. It makes sense he’ll die at war too. He’s ready to throw open his arms and embrace the abyss, laughing in delirium, Is that all you’ve got? Well come on then!

                                                 ჻    ჻    ჻   ჻

my character is:

HOW IS YOUR CHARACTER LYING TO THEMSELVES (AND HOW IS THIS SHOWN EXTERNALLY)?

Everything is fine. Everything is, of course, not fine, and is in fact irreparably fucked. But the alternative to Sirius’ externally calm demeanour is Sirius totally losing his bottle, and no one can have that, mainly because it would be the least useful thing he could do for the cause. Sirius is used to being someone people admire – there was no shortage of that in school, and even in the early period of the war: someone catching his eye hopefully, waiting for his go ahead; the mere recollection warms him with a rare, near-forgotten sense of purpose – but it’s quite another to have the final say in something. Sirius doubts himself so much. He’s not exactly a rational thinker. His vengeance is cold and cruel, that is certain, but even that type of behaviour is inherently emotional. Sirius revels in disorder: he enjoys feeling unmoored, likes not knowing. He’s not like Moony or Peter, who needed some semblance of routine to feel comfortable. Sirius quite likes feeling out of his depth; discomfort demands action. But he’s not good at communicating that, and he struggles with giving solace to someone who very badly needs to know that things are under control. Sirius hasn’t quite stooped to going, “There, there,” and patting someone awkwardly on the shoulder, but it’s close to it. He’s the first to loudly suggest a drink at some muggle pub after a disastrous mission, and he’s the last to leave, still nursing his beer long after everyone else has straggled home. Sirius isn’t eloquent like James; he isn’t calm like Moony. Hell, he doesn’t even have Wormtail’s pragmatism (before he betrayed them all, the absolute fucking bastard). Sirius is waiting for someone to catch him out. He’s not built to be a leader. The only thing he’s good for is a shag and a fun time. Right? He’s not… he’s not what they think he is. He’s useless. He’s a joke. It’s a joke. But it’s a fine joke. Ergo: everything is fine. It has to be. Otherwise he’ll drag everyone else into the flames with him, and if there’s anything Sirius is truly frightened of, it’s someone else recognizing just how deep the streak of darkness within him runs.

YOUR CHARACTER’S JOB (WHAT DO THEY DO AND HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT IT?)

Sirius is dedicated to the Ashen Phoenix. Even when the Order of the Phoenix still existed, when it was little more than a ragged group of idealistic Hogwarts graduates and wayward aurors, when Dumbledore’s vague effluence alternately inspired or infuriated them, back when the war seemed – well, not winnable, but certainly surmountable – even then, Sirius was too much. Too brash, too rough, too much of a muchness that made people like old Mad Eye growl under his breath about upstart sprogs. There was something to be admired in Sirius’ explosive determination, even as his reckless behaviour and breathless duels with Death Eaters was more exasperating than useful. “What?” he’d retort defensively, to a room of tired Order members. “They were asking for it.”

Sirius had always been too much. When everything – when James – when it all went to utter shite, it’s probably no wonder that Sirius lost whatever loose grip on sanity he’d ever had, and tossed it all in to band up with Mary and Lily. Lily, whom he could barely stand on a good day, who suddenly became one of the most important people standing stalwart against the uncertain scaffolding containing his so-called life. Was it really that surprising? Sirius has always privately regarded his grip on reality to be tenuous at best. Combine that with a deep, unwavering streak of hatred for blood purists, and you’ve got a terrible combination. Successful, sure; but dangerous. He can’t afford to be the rambunctious “upstart” that once semi-terrorized the Order of the Phoenix, nor can he sit about on his laurels, skulking in espionage or plotting elaborate shadowy schemes. Sirius’ patience runs thin at the best of times. No, instead he’s squashed himself into a rather uncomfortable box between “probably could be classified as a war crime” and “slightly morally questionable but still alright enough to make Evans begrudgingly admit that was a good idea”. It’s not a comfortable fit, and Sirius still isn’t sure how he ended up growing up so bloody fast, but he’ll do anything to turn back the tide of the darkness that now laps menacingly against their throats.

Aside from that, he spends quite a lot of time inadvertently posing as a muggle homeless person. Or a big shaggy dog. In comparison to being a magical fugitive, it’s almost like going on holiday.

ADDRESS THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHAT YOUR CHARACTER IS CURRENTLY DOING AND WHAT THEY WOULD PREFER TO DO.

Sirius does not like responsibility. It smacks of adulthood, and Sirius never thought he’d live to see that, let alone become a ruddy pillar of virtue. It’s not that he intensely dislikes fussing over details for the Phoenixes, but it does not come naturally to him – he’s no James, put it that way (James, who was forever buzzing around them all in a manner simultaneously carefree and watchful, who’d jokingly suggest you get a jumper otherwise you’d get a cold, you bellend, so just go grab one, oh, and would you get him a chocolate frog on the way, thanks). Sirius actually doesn’t like people looking up to him. What does he know? He’s just some irresponsible dog who’d much, much rather zip away on his motorbike to blast You-Know-Who’s bits off, and sod the consequences. If he didn’t have Mary and Lily keeping him in check, Merlin knew where he’d be. Probably sharing a cell with Dumbledore. Knitting scarves and gossiping. Some lark like that. Instead he’s relegated to asking mundane questions like, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” and, “Wait, try this healing charm.” Sirius listens to his own blather and wants to be sick. He feels the words can no one see I don’t know what I’m doing! burning every inch of him, pounding against the underside of his skin, flaring across his pained expression. “I want James back,” he said (thoughtlessly) to Lily once; and she’d shot him a look and said, “We all do.” You don’t get it, Sirius thought. I want him back because I need him. I can’t do this on my own. I need him.

Sirius does not want to turn back the clock. Despite his irreverent mindset, Sirius isn’t a fantasist. He’s emotionally charged and often irrational, but he doesn’t indulge in make-believe. There is no way things are going back to normal. There’s not even a fragment of what they left behind: those few months after school ended and before the war began, when London was besieged by an oppressive summer humidity, and the Marauders tumbled in and out of parties, drinking and laughing, carefree and stupid; the sanctity of Hogwarts, and how innocent they’d been; even old Regulus, with his pinched, shrewd expression, but the way his eyes would loosen and warm whenever Sirius ruffled his hair and affectionately called him a tosspot. Sirius cherishes these slivers of the past, counting them out like his last coins, weighing their treasure in the palm of his hand. The memories he makes now are bleak. Undernourished effigies of a world devolved. Sirius might feel beset with fear about the future, but he is still… adaptable. He was at sixteen, when he left home on a wing and a prayer, and he is now, at twenty one. No more clever, and a great deal more out of control, but able to adapt, change, mold, mend. Sirius recognizes the strange surrounding landscape and has vowed, if silently, to learn its routes, to memorize its violent topography. Survival. That was what his parents had always taught him, right? That pure blood dominates. The Marauders taught him that too, albeit in compassionate terms of friendship and trust, things Sirius had to re-learn at eleven and still is, in a way. The Order drilled him in guerrilla warfare. Dumbledore’s capture stripped him of complacency. And James… Well, survival demands vigilance. Survival turned him into something else: someone sharper, more serious, blackened around the edges. Sirius doesn’t want to turn back the clock because that would mean leaving this new version of himself behind. And like it or not, this is the only version of Sirius sodding Black that could ever make it out the other end. So, tits up to you, Voldy. This bitch ain’t going nowhere.

OOC QUESTIONS

WRITING SAMPLE:

[ REDACTED ]

EXPLORATION:

A LONG-AWAITED REUNION — One of the major subplots for this group is, of course, the return or recapture of James. From Sirius’ perspective, I think James returning to his life would signal a number of critical things – it might even be a turning point in his characterization. I see Sirius at the moment as barely hanging on. Stress exacerbates his pre-existing feelings of insufficiency and vulnerability, so he is at a stage as a member of Ashen Phoenix where he’s strung out and exhausted, burning the midnight oil, hollow-eyed and discomfortingly stoic. The loss of James was an enormously heavy blow, and that’s no overstatement. If James was somehow returned, I think that would fill Sirius’ sails with the winds of renewal and hope. He and James were a double act; they were shadows of each other. Without him, Sirius feels like a fraud.

PLAYING NICE — Sirius has never been good at pretending. His emotions run close to the surface, flashing in his quicksilver eyes at the slightest provocation. It never used to take much for him to plunge from a euphoric high to a turbulent anger, his moodiness as tempestuous as a tide. But that’s not how you lead people. You can’t expect people to see past your thunderstorm behaviour to the reality of the situation: that Sirius has always felt a split second away from free-fall. Most people aren’t like James, or Moony, or even bloody Wormtail – they can’t see that it’s all an act; that Sirius’ vulnerabilities run swift and deep, and his bravado is just a reliable way to deflect unwanted probing. Since Mouldy Voldy started swinging his shriveled old cock around, Sirius has had an abrupt about-face. It’s never easy, and he often forgets that he’s supposed to be playing nice. In fact, one could make the argument that he hasn’t changed much at all: he’s still a moody bastard. But sometimes he takes a deep breath instead of bursting in rage; sometimes he clenches his fists instead of flying for his wand. I would like to explore Sirius working hard to keep a lid on his temper, particularly given the success of Ashen Phoenix relies, at least in part, on him keeping it together for a little while longer.

THE IMMORTALITY OF REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK — Reuniting Sirius and Regulus is a massively important subplot for me, and I think it could have powerful consequences in this group. I’m not sure how Sirius will take Regulus’ vampirism – it’ll certainly be interesting to find out. In another context I could see him falling about in horrified laughter, because now Regulus will get to hang around with Walburga forever. But I wonder now if their prolonged absence from each other will stir within Sirius a long-buried sense of responsibility. He’ll probably start worrying about Regulus, terrified that the new Dark Ministry will hunt his brother down and exterminate him. He might even (gasp!) become horribly over-protective, hating himself all the while for needling Regulus about “feeding” and all that dosh (”Shut up!” Sirius snaps as Regulus raises a single eyebrow. “It’s not like there’s a manual about becoming a bleeding vampire, is there?” A pause. “No pun intended.”) No doubt there’s a degree of irony in an ex-Death Eater suddenly becoming the prey of his old buddies, but Sirius isn’t a masochist. As stupid as Regulus has behaved, they’re still brothers. Even before the war turned for the worst, Sirius still missed him. Yearned for him to be back. Regulus was the biggest idiot in Britain, but he was Sirius’ idiot, and if Sirius had heard more than a whisper about his brother he would have probably done something very stupid to rush to his side. Call Sirius a lot of things, but being disloyal could never be one of them.

EXTRAS:

I have created a mockblog for this group, which is the account I am submitting from. You can find it here. I have also written some general headcanons, which you can find below!

Sirius started getting muggle tattoos during the war. The first war, that is, back when they all thought it’d be over by Christmas. He’s got about seventeen, possibly a few more, all in black ink, most of them done in poky muggle tattoo parlours buried in the heart of London, but a couple of them are magical: the dragon across his left shoulder blade, for example, which sneezes fire when you tickle it just right. It’s an eclectic collection that illustrate Sirius’ natural whimsy: a series of ancient runes that Moony told him meant something cool (although Sirius has since suspected Moony was an absolute tosser, and the runes in fact spell “totally gullible gobshite”); an elaborate diagram of the planets in the middle of his back; a broom that zips around his arm (James’ fault, that one); an anatomically dubious pin-up girl (Sirius wanted a guy, but the tattoo artist looked frightening, and Sirius wasn’t in the mood to go toe-to-toe about his sexual preferences); and, for reasons best left alone, ancient constellations scattered most of his chest. There are some other tattoos squashed in here and there – a Gryffindor lion, a protection symbol that Moony literally laughed aloud at when Sirius showed it off – that are mainly impulse decisions. Sirius loves them all. The ink is so black against his brown skin, the magical designs flickering in the corner of his eye, and it all gives the illusion of him appearing alive, ever in motion, an intricate living illustration.

Sirius still owns his motorbike, although it’s too dangerous to ride it. Some arsehole (Bellatrix, probably) ratted him out, and now everyone and their mother is on the hunt for a sleek black motorbike. He isn’t stupid enough to ride it, no matter how burning the urge, although sometimes he does go out to Clapham, where he’d parked it in a muggle garage, just to linger over it for a few stolen moments. One day he’ll blaze it right over London, preferably in celebration of Balding Voldy’s bloody demise. One day. He will.

Sirius is gay. The revelation came unobtrusively. He’d always known there was… something awry. You’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to be surrounded by all of those posh pureblood birds growing up and feel nothing more than resignation at their proximity (their brothers were far more intriguing). Sirius played along for a bit at school, going out with a few girls, making out with McKinnon at more than a few parties. It was all serviceable, except for the fact it was tremendously boring, and if there was anything Sirius resented, it was feeling confined. He came out (very loudly) in his sixth year (in the middle of the Great Hall; it was quite the gossip for a week or so), and has since been perfectly content with advertising his sexuality at the nearest opportunity. He’s no blushing violet, put it that way. While Wizarding society is more or less accepting of sexuality (his parents notwithstanding: Sirius was still expected to marry and produce an heir; and that thought, of dragging some brat into the world through duty alone, turned his stomach), the fragmentation in muggle society is something else. Sirius is still too enthusiastic about muggle life to ever really fit in – he’s been asked innumerable times if he’s a tourist, which absolutely delights him – but the gay and lesbian rights movements in recent years has captured his attention. He’s kept up with the news about protests, and once apparated into an alley adjacent to a march for queer liberation. We’re here, the muggles chanted, we’re queer! We won’t disappear! The feeling was incredible. Wixen didn’t have anything like this – it was all just taken for granted. But the fight of the muggles. Their determination; their spirit. Their strength in demanding what was theirs. It left him breathless, and for the first time in his life, proud.

Sirius spends a lot of time as Padfoot these days. It’s just easier. He’s a dab hand at disguise charms – had to be, when the war started to turn truly dark and a Black blood traitor head on a spit was a coveted prize – but outside of a handful of people, Sirius’ animagus form is a secret. Lily knows, of course, as does Macdonald, but they have to. Slinking around London as a dog makes for surreptitious travel, even if he’s taken on some bad habits as a human. Fleas genuinely are the worst, alright? He can’t help scratching himself fiercely at the slightest itch.

The way Sirius dresses now is a diluted version of the summer of 1979. Back then, London was a heaving cesspool of cramped, humid clubs, gigs outfitted in leather and gelled spikes, tight chokers, and a casual, careless androgyny that made Sirius’ heart beat fast. Back then he didn’t give a toss. Now, of course, he’s no longer a naive graduate, and the world has grown dim. He usually wears a leather jacket over some band t-shirt, a pair of black ripped jeans, Doc Martens. That’s toned down, for him. While a lot of the jewellery has gone, Sirius’ fingers are still bejewelled with rows of heavy silver rings, and a dragon tooth earring swings from his left ear. His eyes, once glittering with flirtatious humour, are ringed dark with wariness; and his cutting bone structure has sharpened with one too many missed meals. Sirius is probably physically bulkier than he was at school, simply because sleeping rough and hauling arse after a dozen Death Eaters tends to fill you out, but his body is still lean, with an echo of that languid grace that whispered of pureblood ballrooms and charity galas. Sirius’ hair has grown long, and he usually ties it sloppily away from his face, but he stays clean shaven… most of the time. Lily once said he looked like a Lennon on a bad trip after Sirius reappeared after a rendezvous in Dublin for four weeks. He’s still trying to figure out if that was an insult.

[your-dietician]

NBA playoffs: Trae Young is due for a big raise

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/nba/nba-playoffs-trae-young-is-due-for-a-big-raise/

NBA playoffs: Trae Young is due for a big raise

Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.

The postseason is where reputations are built, defined, crushed and over analyzed. It’s also—in a higher stakes environment that helps rationalize the existence of a multi-billion dollar basketball league—where the real money is made.

For every soon-to-be-free agent sometimes all it takes is one great playoff game for strengths to define who a player is, as any and all debilitating flaws get overlooked at the negotiating table. Impress under the brightest lights and bags of cash will follow. Here are several candidates who’ve positioned themselves to receive a raise this offseason, in some form or another.

Extension Eligible

Kevin Huerter (made $2.76 million this season, Hawks)

Even after his 27-point Game 7 heroics, it feels unlikely the Hawks extend Huerter with John Collins’ contract situation still unresolved and hefty-to-humongous paydays on the horizon for Trae Young, Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter. But, at only 22 years old, this dude is ideal in the role Atlanta needs him to fill and grow into. He can shoot (44.2% on spot-up threes and 59.3% on pull-up twos during his first postseason), run a reliable second-side pick-and-roll and compete well enough on defense to dissuade opponents from seeking him out as a target.

Heading into the conference finals his playoff True Shooting percentage is 59.6%, with handles that are tight enough to create shots for himself (that deep, between-the-legs step-back three over Tobias Harris in Game 7 was ravishing) and others.

The Sixers tried to hide Seth Curry on Huerter in Game 7 and the abuse was so bad Doc Rivers decided to start the fourth quarter with Shake Milton, after Milton hadn’t played a second in the game’s opening three quarters. Late in the fourth, with their season on the line after Rivers subbed Curry back in the game, Atlanta gave Huerter the ball and told him to feast.

Players who are 6’ 7”, with a high release, who can run off screens and/or slither around with a live dribble are coveted for a reason. Huerter isn’t quite as good a shooter as Davis Bertans or Joe Harris, but given his own off-the-bounce creativity and versatile defense, the contracts those two signed last offseason ($80 million over five years and $72 million over four years, respectively) are right around what he should ask for.

Quickly, look at how Huerter fights to deny Harris on this post-up. Guarding up a position (without fouling) when forced to do so is increasingly valuable for any guard/wing who wants big minutes in a playoff series.

Pending what the Hawks do with Collins (more on him later), Bertans/Harris money might sound steep for a third or fourth option who, if Hunter and Reddish get healthy and make the leaps they should, may not even start next year. Maybe the Hawks can leverage their inability to offer a larger role in extension talks and lock him into something that’s more like the three-year, $35 million deal Memphis gave Dillon Brooks last February. If no agreement is reached, they could also run into a situation where Huerter signs an even more lucrative offer sheet as a restricted free agent. Losing him for nothing would not be good.

Deandre Ayton ($10.02 million, Suns)

Even before he capped off the most impressive, important game of his entire career with a buzzer-beating dunk on Tuesday night, Deandre Ayton was the most meaningful revelation in these entire playoffs. The Suns would be wise to lock him up with a maximum extension as soon as they can. After a run that includes Ayton’s neutralization of the league MVP in a decisive second round sweep, there’s no avoiding the inevitable. Pay the man. In a couple years it may even look like a bargain.

According to Synergy Sports, 27.5% of Ayton’s possessions were post-ups during the regular season. In the playoffs, that number has dropped to 9.2%. Related: His possessions finished as a cutter and roll man are both up 10%. The shift has made Ayton one of the postseason’s most efficient players, with a 71.9 True Shooting percentage that only ranks behind Rudy Gobert and Curry. There’s nothing hazy about who he is and what he can do with the ball, be it cramming a lob or cradling an entry pass after a rim run.

Ayton has been as fierce as anyone snatching rebounds in traffic, but will be tested by a Clippers team that eventually needs to go small and force him to step out of the paint on defense. (In Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, he looked more nimble in drop coverage than in Game 1.) But that’s life for any center in today’s NBA. As a complementary, essential force who hasn’t looked the least bit overwhelmed by playoff intensity, Ayton needs that max ASAP. Even in a draft that featured Luka Dončić and Trae Young, the Suns should have zero regrets about taking him number one.

Mikal Bridges ($4.36 million, Suns)

There hasn’t really been any single breakout moment for Bridges in his first postseason. In fact, his effective field goal percentage is actually down quite a bit compared to what it was during the regular season.

He is not vital in the same way Chris Paul, Ayton or Devin Booker are (Bridges has not recorded a single isolation play in the entire playoffs, per Synergy Sports), but there might not be a more ideal plug-and-play piece in the entire league right now. Every cut Bridges makes is done with conviction. He moves the ball and, critically, embraces a relatively limited ask inside Phoenix’s system without trying to do too much (some of which he could if he had to).

Defense is where Bridges shines, and why statistically evaluating his impact is a bit tricky. He can hound a range of player types, from zippy point guards to beefy forwards, and tracks ball-handlers around screens like he’s reading a road map. It’s uncanny. If he continues to improve at the same rate on offense that he did this year, by sprinkling more off-the-dribble punch on top of his reliable outside shot, $90-100 million won’t be out of the question, whether the Suns want to fork it over after this season or have their hand forced in restricted free agency. Every single team in the league would kill to have Bridges on their roster.

Michael Porter Jr. ($3.5 million, Nuggets)

Porter Jr. is eligible for a five-year, $168 million max extension, coming off a postseason in which he spent legitimate stretches as the best offensive/worst defensive player on the court. This particular situation is layered enough for its own column, but for now let’s just say the Nuggets would be wise to observe MPJ for one more season, then let him hit restricted free agency. There’s little downside in doing so. Given his back injury, a long-term commitment before they absolutely have to make one could be disastrous.

Trae Young and Luka Dončić (doesn’t matter)

Max now. Max forever.

Unrestricted Free Agents

Reggie Jackson ($2.3 million, Clippers)

“A lake of battery acid surrounded by a forest fire at the base of an active volcano” is a fairly accurate way to describe Reggie Jackson in the 2020-21 NBA playoffs, a setting where he’s yet to discover the bottom of his bag. After hitting countless big shots in the first round, Jackson saved the Clippers several times in Round 2 before finishing the Jazz off with a few unreachable floaters over Rudy Gobert in Game 6. We’ve reached a point where you expect every single shot to go in, regardless of where, when or how it leaves his fingertips. In Game 2, he tap danced in front of Bridges for a moment before launching an off-balance push shot along the baseline. It dropped, of course.

Compared to last year’s playoffs, Jackson’s minutes have doubled. Unsaddled from any playmaking responsibilities, his scoring average has shot up from 4.9 to 17.3 points per game, while drilling 46.9% of his spot-up threes (good for third-highest among all players who attempted at least four per game). There are 122 players in NBA playoff history who’ve ever launched at least 100 threes. Of them, Jackson ranks second in True Shooting percentage (at 65.6%) behind only what Steph Curry did in 2017.

The Clippers have Jackson’s Early Bird Rights, meaning they can only offer 175% of his current salary on a new deal. It’s hard to believe he’ll be satisfied with that amount, considering he’s only 31 years old and, with Kawhi Leonard out, arguably the second-best player on a title contender. Whoever’s looking for instance offense will want Mr. June (one of the better nicknames ever bestowed by the great Ian Eagle).

Nicolas Batum ($2.5 million, Clippers)

After somewhat of a renaissance season where he went from overpaid disappointment to a critical starter on a contender, Batum might be having the finest postseason of his entire career. His True Shooting percentage, PER, and Win Shares are all personal highs, while his small-ball center act have given the Clippers a rotational trump card. According to FiveThirtyEight, Batum ranks second in Wins Above Replacement. He’s also first in steals.

Thanks to his last contract (a massive five-year, $120 million deal) the 32-year-old is still owed almost $19 million over the next two seasons, so it’ll be interesting to see how Batum treats his upcoming free agency. His fit in Los Angeles has been mutually beneficial, but if he wants a decent raise he should be able to find it elsewhere. (The Clippers can only offer 120% of Batum’s current salary.)

Tim Hardaway Jr. ($18.9 million, Mavericks)

The Mavericks are in an obvious state of disarray, with no head coach or principal decision maker in the front office. To state the obvious, their timing could be better. With Luka Dončić now eligible for a five-year, $201 million supermax extension and Kristaps Porzingis’ max deal currently standing as one of the more burdensome in the league, this offseason offers a slight window for Dallas to upgrade its roster with cap space before likely losing it for the foreseeable future.

Further complicating matters is Tim Hardaway Jr., their second-leading scorer during the first round. At 29, THJ’s strengths and weaknesses are well known. There are moments where he looks like a star (go rewatch the first two games against the Clippers) and times where he completely disappears (go rewatch Games 4 and 7). With that understood, the Mavs can’t afford to lose his shooting. They also should probably diversify their offense with wings who can create for others and defend multiple positions.

Josh Richardson was supposed to fill that role, and it’s always possible that he will after picking up his player option next season. But with Dončić’s patience fraying, that’s a gamble Mark Cuban may not be willing to make. Instead, do they take the money that would go to Hardaway Jr. and give it to (Luka’s friend) Goran Dragic and someone like, say, Otto Porter? What about Danny Green and Will Barton?

There are a lot of moving pieces around Dallas right now, so it’s unclear just how flexible they’ll be once free agency kicks off. But for Hardaway Jr., it’s entirely possible that another team (how about the Grizzlies?) will look at the market and believe his exact skill-set is what they need to take a meaningful step forward. If so, don’t be surprised if the starting price on that next contract is above $20 million.

Jeff Green ($2.56 million, Nets)

Green’s postseason was brief. He only appeared in seven games and took just 33 shots before the Nets were eliminated. But in that snippet he was pretty good! At 34, after a solid season on the best offense in NBA history, Green’s 27-point Game 5 (during which he took eight threes and only missed one) made Kevin Durant’s historic performance that night possible.

Green also held up fairly well (not great, far from atrocious) when switched onto any of the Bucks’ three best players. But age, the Nets’ early playoff exit and his own admitted desire to stay on a team that can only offer 175% of his current salary on the next contract decreases any likelihood of Green receiving a large financial raise—though his tune might change if another team is willing to throw some/all of their mid-level exception at him.

“I go out and just do the work,” Green recently told the New York Times. “And I let my agent handle the logistics of the contract terms, but it is confusing to the point of, ‘What else do I need to do to prove that I’m not a minimum guy?’”

Cam Payne ($1.97 million, Suns)

Even with Ayton’s lob etched forever in history books, Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals should be remembered as “The Cam Payne Game.” He was unstoppable, finishing with 29 points and nine assists, all of which the Suns needed to win. Even though his effectiveness has dropped a bit from the regular season (few pick-and-roll ball-handlers have been less efficient in these playoffs), Payne is the primary reason Phoenix is up 2-0 instead of tied 1-1. Anyone looking for a backup point guard will call his number come July.

Restricted Free Agents

John Collins ($2.76 million, Hawks)

Collins’ contract negotiations have played out in public since he reportedly turned down a four-year, $90 million extension in December. There were stretches of Atlanta’s first-round series against the Knicks where that decision looked regretful. Collins was tentative and borderline confused with the ball, driving into crowds, missing open shooters, forcing bad shots. There were bone-headed fouls committed in Round 2, too, where Collins played like someone in his own head, trying to do too much.

But Collins eventually settled down and began to thrive with bursts of energy and athleticism that were too much for Philadelphia’s frontline, especially on the glass. He yammed on Joel Embiid’s head several times (including in Game 6, inspiring the greatest t-shirt that has ever been designed), hit the biggest corner three of his life (down four with 2:15 left in a critical Game 4) and was massive on defense, stifling Ben Simmons in transition and taking a few important albeit painful charges to the chest.

Even with Onyeka Okongwu waiting in the wings, Clint Capela playing well on both ends and Hunter potentially thriving as a small-ball four someday soon, it’d still be a surprise if the Hawks don’t give Collins what he wants this summer. He has priceless on-court chemistry with Trae Young and might still be Atlanta’s second-best offensive player, despite the slow start. A max would probably be an overpay, but not to the point where it wouldn’t have value in a trade at some point down the line.

Bruce Brown ($1.6 million, Nets)

If the Nets won the title, Brown would have been a folk hero, and keeping him would have been more difficult than it should now be. He’ll make more money than he did this year, but not by the margin we would’ve seen had they gone a little further, with Brown starting, screening, rolling, floatering his way into the heart of a rival GM.

More NBA Coverage: • How It Feels to Watch The Team You Built Thrive Without You • Ben Simmons’s Flaws Laid Bare In Potential End of the Process • Best Trade Packages For Ben Simmons

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[junker-town]

The NBA’s 12 biggest surprises so far

Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images

This is what has surprised us in the NBA this season.

We’re nearing the quarter-of-the-year mark in the 2019-20 season and the Lakers are on top, Giannis Antetokounmpo is angling for his second straight MVP award, and the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George Clippers look so hard to stop. In some ways, October and November have gone how we thought it would for the NBA’s elites.

The middle and lower rungs of the league aren’t playing how we thought, though. Nearly 20 games into the season, it might be time to start accepting what we’re seeing as fact, not fluke.

Here are the biggest surprises so far.

The Miami Heat are legit

There were tempered expectations in Miami, even after signing Jimmy Butler over the summer. The Heat have just one superstar and a fleet of role players who couldn’t make the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference last year. Now, they’re 12-5, with the ninth-best net rating in the league, ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers and Houston Rockets.

The addition of Butler isn’t the only reason for the improvement in Miami, though he’s turned into an incredible playmaker averaging a career-best seven assists. Bam Adebayo is making a leap as an elite defender averaging nearly three steals and blocks combined per game, and a career-best 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kendrick Nunn is also a Rookie of the Year candidate, Duncan Robinson is filling in a shooting role, Justise Winslow is a good defender and Goran Dragic has embraced a bench scoring niche. The Heat are for real.

The Phoenix Suns could make the playoffs

The Suns have been one of the NBA’s worst teams for four straight years. The team brought in Ricky Rubio, Aron Baynes, and Dario Saric in the offseason, but nobody took them seriously as a playoff contender. Now, they’re 8-9, sitting at No. 8 in a Western Conference that isn’t nearly as scary as it once was.

Rubio taking the lead at the point has freed Devin Booker into the best season of his career so far, and that’s been everything for Phoenix. Booker’s shooting a career-best 42 percent from three, and a best-ever 63.8 percent true shooting for 25 points. Baynes, in place of a suspended Deandre Ayton, has turned into a Most Improved Player of the Year candidate, averaging 15 points and six rebounds on 42 percent three-point shooting. The Spurs, Blazers and Pelicans are all off to horrid starts to the year. That last spot in the West looks like the Suns’ to lose.

Luka Doncic might be MVP

Smart people knew this day would eventually come for Doncic, but nobody knew it would happen in the second year of his career. Doncic is averaging 30 points, 10 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game on 62.5 true shooting. Doncic is everything for the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas sits at 11-6 because of an offense the 20-year-old orchestrates, and looks likely to make its first playoff appearance since 2016. The Suns and Kings really passed over this guy. Good grief.

Andrew Wiggins is better than ever

After the first few games of the season, we were eager to write Wiggins off as a completely average player in the NBA who failed to reach the hype of a lottery pick, better yet a No. 1 pick. But Wiggins is finally figuring out how to use his physical tools to win.

In his sixth year, Wiggins is averaging a career-best 25 points per game with four rebounds and three assists. His true shooting percentage is a career-high 55 percent, his turnover percent is at an all-time low, and for the first time in his career, his win shares per 48 minutes are above league average. Taking the most three-points shots of his life and fewest long-twos, Wiggins is enjoying the best shooting numbers of his career, and the Wolves are now 10-8. Minnesota could be on its way to its second playoff appearance since 2005, if Wiggins can keep delivering.

Dwight Howard is good again

After Dwight wasn’t good in L.A. the first time, or Houston, or Atlanta, or Charlotte, or Washington, he’s playing very well with the Lakers this season on his second stint with the franchise. LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ Lakers are off to a 16-2 start, and Howard’s played a key role in it — by playing in a more restrained role than ever before.

Howard’s taking less than four shots per game, but making 75 percent of them. He’s finishing lobs and layups from the superstars of his team, and fitting in well as a role player, a position he’s finally accepting. Howard’s also making a huge mark on the defensive end, where the Lakers rank second-best in the league. Dwight’s back, and nobody thought that’d be possible.

Chris Paul hasn’t had any drama in OKC

Paul got a crap deal when he was shipped from a good Rockets team to a tanking Thunder one after being swapped with Russell Westbrook. With Paul George out of town, Paul is stuck with Danilo Gallinari, Steven Adams, and a bunch of young players. That’s not where superstars want to be in the final years of their career.

But so far, there’s been little drama in OKC. The Thunder are 6-11, and Paul’s averaging 16 points, six assists and four rebounds sharing the guard spot with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Will the good times last? Maybe not. But for now, Paul’s having a nice impact in OKC.

The bottom of the Eastern Conference sucks

The top six teams in the East are the Bucks, Raptors, Heat, Celtics, Pacers and Sixers, and it’ll probably finish that way in whatever order. The rest has been ugly. Disappointingly, the Nets haven’t been as good as we thought, and no other team has stepped up. Those last two playoff spots might go to really undeserving sub-.500 teams.

After the top six, the Nets have .500 record, and everyone else is below that. Every other team has a negative net rating, with the Magic leading the pack, being outscored by 1.01 points per 100 possessions. Will the first round of the playoffs be brutally lopsided? Looks likely.

The Spurs are a mess

Gregg Popovich and the Spurs have defied logic for years, but finally San Antonio’s outdated system isn’t working. The Spurs are 6-13, being outscored by 3.45 points per 100 possessions, ninth-worst in the league, and there’s little reason to believe that without a trade, anything will change. DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge don’t fit. This year could be San Antonio’s first to end during the regular season since 1997.

The Pacers without Victor Oladipo are pretty good

We’re all awaiting the return of Oladipo, one of the 2017-18 season’s breakout stars who suffered a ruptured quad tendon in Jan., but Indiana’s doing pretty well in his absence. The Pacers are 11-6 with the seventh-best net rating in the league, and thriving with their new offseason signee, Malcolm Brogdon.

Brogdon’s averaging career-highs in scoring (19) and assists (8.1), leading the Pacers’ offense. Damantas Sabonis and T.J. Warren have been steady too. The Pacers will be even better when Oladipo returns, but they’re playing well enough without him now.

Carmelo Anthony is back in the NBA

Carmelo Anthony went 376 days without playing an NBA game until the Portland Trail Blazers signed him in November. Five years ago, Melo struggling to find an NBA job was unthinkable, but poor stints with the Rockets and Thunder showed glaring flaws in his game. Those flaw still exist, and Anthony still isn’t very good (especially defensively), but he’s scoring 17 points on 45 percent shooting.

Melo’s fun for fans to watch (for half of the game) and that’s enough to appreciate (for now). Another chance was never guaranteed.

Markelle Fultz is a pretty good player

Few athletes have had a stranger start to their career than Fultz. After a tumultuous two years in which a shoulder injury forced him to reinvent his jump shot, he’s found a landing spot with the Orlando Magic, and he’s turning into an NBA player.

Fultz is a starter in Orlando, where he averages 11 points and four assists per game. He still only shoots 21 percent from three, but 50 percent overall, and he’s a capable defender with more than a steal per night. Is he a superstar No. 1 pick? Absolutely not. But he’s playing like a serviceable player, which we hadn’t seen before.

The Wizards’ offense is amazing

Without John Wall or Kelly Oubre or Tomas Satoransky or virtually any good player they’ve had on the roster the last couple of years not named Bradley Beal, the Wizards have somehow scraped together the second-best offense in the league. They score 114.89 points per 100 possessions, behind only Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks. They space the floor really well, and shoot 38 percent from distance. Beal is having a career year, scoring 29 points per game, Thomas Bryant is scoring 14, Davis Bertans 13, and even a revitalized Isaiah Thomas is scoring 11. The Wizards are painfully bad to watch defensively, but nobody saw an offensive juggernaut coming.

[ramajmedia]

Film Festival 2019 Preview: 12 Biggest Movies With Oscar Chances

From Joker to Jojo Rabbit, check out the most anticipated releases from the fall festival season. As the summer moviegoing season comes to an end and the major glut of blockbusters dries up until Christmas, Hollywood’s focus turns to fall and the endless chaos of awards season.

Typically, the lion’s share of releases that come under this umbrella start in September and run until the end of December, which is the cut-off date for Oscars' qualifications. This year, there are plenty of potential candidates vying for critics’ and audiences’ attention, and most of them will be making their debuts during the major film festivals of the fall season. The four biggest festivals of this period are - in chronological order - Venice, Toronto, Telluride, and New York. These are the festivals you can expect the most hyped-movies of awards season to play at in some capacity, and for good reason.

Related: Disney Won Summer 2019 (& It Wasn’t Even Close)

The past two winners of the Golden Lion, Venice's highest honor, were nominated for or won Best Picture. Nine of the past decade's 10 winners of the Toronto People's Choice Award either won or were nominated for Best Picture, too. The batting average for fall festival season and Oscar success is too good to ignore, so studios jostle for attention amid crowded slates. This year, the stakes seem higher than ever and the offerings more varied and exciting than we’ve seen in a while. Here are some of the most anticipated releases from the major fall film festivals of 2019.

Once Warner Bros. decided not to take Todd Phillips’s reimagining of the Joker’s origin story to San Diego Comic-Con (along with the rest of their upcoming titles), rumors swirled that it was because they were choosing to submit it to festival season instead. However, even the most optimistic fans could not have predicted just how much hope the studio has in this movie. Not only will Joker make its world premiere playing in competition at the Venice Film Festival, but it will also make its North American debut in Toronto soon after, followed by its New York premiere at NYFF. It’s not uncommon for one movie to play all three festivals but unheard of for a comic book title to do so. Make no mistake: Warner Bros. is hoping to take Joker all the way to the Oscars. This build-up of hype and critical clout is certainly an excellent strategy for doing so, with the film’s star, Joaquin Phoenix, having previously won Best Actor at Venice and set to receive TIFF’s very first Best Actor award next month.

This will be the first year of Fox Searchlight working under the Disney banner, and critics are eager to see how invested the company is in releasing the kind of esoteric, small-scale, and awards-baity titles that the studio has made their name from. The biggest and possibly most controversial title on their slate in 2019 is Jojo Rabbit. Directed by Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit tells the story of a young German boy during World War 2 who is fiercely dedicated to the Hitler Youth, and how his life changes when he discovers his mother has been hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. He also has an imaginary best friend who is Adolf Hitler, played by Waititi himself. It’s certainly a movie that will incite conversations, and alleged Disney sources have already started talking to the trades about their concerns with such a potentially shocking movie. However, Waititi is a master of tone, who can juggle big laughs with darker emotional beats, and this is the kind of story that only he could make for general audiences. All eyes will be on Jojo Rabbit for its world premiere at TIFF, where Waititi will also receive the festival’s new director award.

A new Martin Scorsese movie is always a cause for celebration, and The Irishman is a long-time passion project the director has wanted to make for many years now. His first feature film since 2016's Silence - which was a box office disappointment - The Irishman brings together some of Scorsese’s most iconic collaborators, from Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci to editor Thelma Schoonmaker and screenwriter Steven Zaillian. Based on the story of Frank Sheeran, The Irishman follows the life of a mob hitman and his involvement in the Bufalino crime family as well as the role he may have played in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Not only is it Scorsese's most expensive movie, with a reported budget of $200 million, but it's Netflix's priciest endeavor, too. The streaming service remains a much-contested topic on the festival circuit, but it will be hard for even the biggest skeptics to avoid or dismiss The Irishman as it makes its world premiere at the New York Film Festival.

Last year, the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, about the life of beloved children’s entertainer Mr. Rogers, was a surprise box office hit. Now, the biopic is here with none other than Tom Hanks, taking on the lofty role of one of the nation’s most popular pop culture figures. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood comes to us courtesy of Marielle Heller, who made waves last year with the Oscar-nominated drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Her take on the Mr. Rogers story follows an elderly Fred Rogers as he is being profiled for a magazine piece by a cynical journalist, played by Matthew Rhys. Marielle Heller has a deft and layered approach to biopics that helps her stand out in a saturated field, and the prospect of Hanks playing this universally adored figure is sure to set off many an awards prediction. Expect floods of tears at screenings when A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood premieres at TIFF.

Related: Mr. Rogers: Did A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood’s Train Scene Really Happen?

One of only a handful of titles playing at Venice, Toronto, and New York, Noah Baumbach’s latest drama, Marriage Story, to be released by Netflix, sees him once again returning to deeply personal territory. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson star as a married couple whose coast-to-coast divorce begins to push them to extremes neither could have predicted. Baumbach is no stranger to making movies about divorce. 2005's The Squid and the Whale was a semi-autobiographical exploration of his own parents' split. The buzz around Marriage Story has been especially loud, with praise singled out for both Johansson and Driver, the latter of whom has a very busy year ahead of him between this, The Report (also playing the festival season), and, of course, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Netflix has a full slate this year for awards season, so expect them to push this hard.

Oscar-winning actress Renée Zellweger was everywhere in the early 2000s but took an extended break in 2010, appearing only sporadically in projects. In 2019, she's attempting a comeback by playing one of the most beloved and recognizable figures in Hollywood: the oft-imitated but never replicated Judy Garland. Judy, directed by British theater director Rupert Goold, will have its world premiere at TIFF in what is sure to be a much-talked-about screening. The story takes place in 1969 when Garland, at the very end of her life, headed to London to perform a series of sell-out shows that were some of her very last concerts. Biopics are a staple of festival season and sure to make an impression with Oscar voters, but Zellweger has a tough job ahead of her with Judy, especially since she seems to be doing all her own singing in the role.

Writer-director Armando Iannucci is best known for his political satires, from The Death of Stalin to award-winning TV series like Veep and The Thick of It. The Personal History of David Copperfield takes him deep into the Dickensian territory but don't be too quick to write this off as just another historical drama. Dev Patel plays the eponymous protagonist while an all-star cast, including Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw, Peter Capaldi, Benedict Wong, and Gwendoline Christie, fill out the illustrious ensemble. Making its world premiere at TIFF, with its British premiere to follow at the London Film Festival, David Copperfield was recently picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight, which signals at least some positive things for the company under Disney’s ownership.

There are a surprising amount of movies playing at this year’s festival season that are adapted from articles. Hustlers may be the most anticipated of this bunch, if only because of its truly irresistible hook. Based on a piece from New York magazine, Hustlers follows a group of strippers, led by Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez, who decide to take on the rich Wall Street jerks who visit their club every night and fleece them for all they have. Written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, with Adam McKay and Will Ferrell on producer duties, Hustlers has a tricky tone to nail. How do you tackle what these women did, acknowledge the Robin Hood-esque fantasy of it, but not romanticize just how dark the truth got? It’s a tough job but the movie also has serious indie breakout potential and it remains depressingly rare to see a film with a female majority cast alongside a woman director. Hustlers will make its world premiere at TIFF.

Donna Tartt, despite having only written three novels, is one of the most celebrated American authors of her generation, and her third novel, The Goldfinch, won her the Pulitzer Prize. Despite the major impact she has had on literature and pop culture, Hollywood has never dared to adapt one of her meaty and extremely long books until now. Clocking in at over 800 pages, turning The Goldfinch into a movie was always going to be an immense undertaking, and one sure to be highly anticipated by the millions who read it. Directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn) and starring Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, and Sarah Paulson, the drama follows the coming-of-age of a young man who survives a terrorist attack in an art museum and the painting he clings to as a source of hope as his life spirals downwards. Tartt's work has always embraced the Dickensian in its scope and emotional depths, so taking a book this long and condensing it two-and-a-half hours will not be easy. The Goldfinch has its world premiere at TIFF, one week before it opens nationwide on September 13.

Director James Gray is a critical darling, but his work has struggled to find commercial success in the United States (although he remains extremely popular in Europe, especially France). However, Ad Astra has the potential to break out in a bigger way. Brad Pitt stars in the lead role, following on from a strong summer with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as an astronaut sent on a life-changing mission. He journeys to the outer edges of the solar system in hopes of finding his father (played by Tommy Lee Jones), a fellow astronaut who mysteriously disappeared many years before. Gray compared the story to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and noted his desire to make as realistic a depiction of space travel as possible, which is a fascinating direction for him to take with his first foray into science-fiction. The movie has had its release date bumped around a lot this year, which often doesn't signal good news, but with Ad Astra making its world premiere at Venice, the hype remains very much in its favor.

In-between working on Star Wars movies, director Rian Johnson took some time to make a murder mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie’s work, and he compiled a major all-star cast for his efforts. Knives Out, which will have its world premiere at TIFF, features Daniel Craig, Lakeith Stanfield, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Christopher Plummer. Plummer plays a legendary crime novelist who is murdered during his birthday party, leading detectives Craig and Stanfield to investigate the case, with every member of the family a suspect. It's always exciting to see what a director who is a key part of a major franchise does in their downtime, and Johnson returning to his love of low-key genre fiction for a re-imagining of a classic set-up is too good to resist. It remains to be seen if Knives Out has awards appeal or will simply be marketed as a fun winter season caper in-between the blockbusters, but whatever the case, it's sure to have audiences intrigued.

It’s safe to say that Christian Bale, regardless of the project, is almost always included in Oscar conversations. Following his latest nomination for Vice, he returns to the biopic genre with James Mangold’s take on one of the most notorious rivalries in motoring history. As the title suggests, Ford v Ferrari takes on the battle between two of the biggest names in cars as they raced at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans competition. Bale and Matt Damon play the driver and engineer brought on to Team Ford to help them defeat the dominant Italians of Ferrari. This is a pricey movie - one with a rumored $97.6 million budget - and a starry cast to match, but it's also now a Disney title that needs to be handled carefully. Will the studio give it the full red carpet treatment following its world premiere at Toronto?

Next: 2019 Fall Movie Preview: The 30 Films to See

source https://screenrant.com/film-festival-2019-best-movies-oscar-preview/

[charles-alexander-potter]

♛ OUT OF CHARACTER ♛

✘ NAME/ALIAS, AGE, & PRONOUNS

Nutteh is what I go by. There’s a somewhat lame, convoluted story behind it, but I’ve been using it for years - why stop now?

I’m 23 years old.

She/her pronouns.

✘ TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY

CST, and given that I’ve got a full-time job and several needy critters I’d say my activity would be somewhere around a 7 or 8 on average (with 10 being the highest activity level). Obviously it’ll fluctuate a bit, but I have no doubt I’ll be able to swing at least an hour or two a day for replies and such.  

♛ IN CHARACTER ♛

✘ DESIRED ROLE:

Charles Alexander Potter -- A grand name - fierce, strong, promising, and everything Charles’ parents were sure their baby boy would grow to be. How could he not? His bloodlines were full of grit and grandeur; they didn’t know that his name would be just about the only imposing thing about him.

✘ CHARACTER APPEAL: His surname drew me in before anything else, honestly. As readers we know so little about the Potter family beyond James, and it didn’t occur to me that a Potter almost definitely attended Hogwarts alongside Tom Riddle himself. So that was a major draw. I also liked how unexpected Charles’ personality turned out to be; I’m more of a James-esque type of person - extroverted, irritating, etc. - so to see a Potter portrayed as bookish and brooding caught my attention, caught me off-guard. It’s atypical of me to cast a glance at male characters like Charles, if I’m being honest; I’ve played Hermione pretty extensively over the course of my roleplaying “career,” but any male characters I play tend to be more extroverted in nature. So, I think the novelty of a male bookworm combined with my knowledge of how to write left-brained characters would be an exciting sort of challenge.  I see a bit of Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin in him as well, a combination that really intrigues me. Charles might even end up being some kind of example as to what Peter could have been, which is a role that I’m both curious about and anxious to take on. I’m already getting out of my comfort zone exploring the Riddle Era - might as well go all-in, right? Who wants to play a character who doesn’t scare them just a tiny bit?

✘ WHO ARE THEY? Charles Potter is a scholar. He is a thinker. His brain is his best asset, and he is the first to admit that it gets much more exercise than any other part of his body. Quiet and bookish, he seems like a textbook wallflower, but wallflowers don’t typically keep company with people like Declan Prewett and Leo Yaxley. What, then, drew them to him? It’s a question not even he has an answer to, but unlike nearly every other question he’s faced with, he doesn’t mind not knowing. Perhaps, he hopes, it was because they saw something in him - some kind of hidden potential. Charles has plenty of potential - he’s a brilliant student with an old family name - but potential of the unscholarly kind? The potential to be brave, to be daring, to make a real, tangible difference? That’s something he remains uncertain of. 

✘ ANALYSIS:

birthdate — October 17th, 1927 – Charles was born in autumn, coming into the world so quietly that his mother feared the worst. It wasn’t until he was given a good hard slap that he finally cried out, but even then he was reserved. Like the scales of his Libra sign, Charles’ demeanor is balanced and nearly always has been, but that is just about as much stock as he’s comfortable putting into astrology; it’s an interesting subject, to be sure, but he remains guarded. It’s also worth noting that his birthday puts him in a bit of an awkward spot when it comes to his year at Hogwarts. With an October birthday, Charles is automatically at a  different age than most of his peers. They catch up eventually when their own birthdays roll around, but this slight age staggering is a contributing factor in Charles’ overall maturity level; it’s probably another reason why he tends to have more friends in seventh year than sixth. 

 gender identity & pronouns — Cismale, he/him pronouns.

sexuality & romantic preference — Charles is heterosexual, though it isn’t uncommon for others to be doubtful of that. Considering how painfully shy and awkward he is, he doesn’t appear to be interested at all in either sex, but the truth is that he is attracted to women - just quietly so. He was a late bloomer, certainly, but a bloomer nonetheless.

wand — Beech wood, eleven inches, with a phoenix feather core – As a young boy, Charles was the perfect candidate (and eventual match) for a beech wood wand. They’re suited to wise and inquisitive owners, and the more Charles’ skills improved, the more subtly and precisely his beech wand began to perform. Similarly, a phoenix feather core meant that Charles’ wand sat on the shelf for quite some time before finding him. A finicky core and a finicky wood reflected the fine-tuned precision with which Charles approached nearly everything in his life, and now, at the top of his class and with undeniably impressive skills, it’s clear that no other wand would have sufficed.   

boggart — Charles’ boggart morphs into the Aviators - Declan, Leo, and Bellavie - all of whom turn away from him and pretend he doesn’t exist. Above all else, Charles fears being alone. Now that he’s had a taste of true friendship, he doesn’t think he could handle the life of a loner again. 

amortentia —  The musty odor of old books on mahogany shelves, the grass after a rainstorm, baking bread, leather, black tea.

patronus — By age fifteen, Charles was producing a corporeal patronus. His professors didn’t seem surprised to find that he could do it, but they also couldn’t pretend not to be impressed when a sharply defined raven erupted from the end of his wand. A highly intelligent and inquisitive bird, but one that isn’t difficult to overlook, the form of Charles’ patronus makes perfect sense. 

✘ CONNECTIONS:

Declan Prewett – Charles was familiar with the Prewett family well before attending Hogwarts. Pureblood inner circle soirees often brought the two together, but Charles never did more than watch the Prewett boy tussle with the others. The Prewetts were rather like the Potters in their beliefs, though Charles’ family was less outspoken. The boldness with which Declan and his kin expressed themselves enticed Charles, and he found himself smirking behind his books at Declan’s cutting remarks to Abraxas Malfoy and the like during whatever gathering they were forced to attend. Before Hogwarts, he might have spoken to Declan once or twice, but for years he was content to watch, studying the way the golden boy carried himself and the way his smile seemed to draw praise from everyone it touched. As far as Charles was concerned, Declan was the epitome of all things Gryffindor, so when the two eventually crossed paths it was like being initiated into a club he was supposed to have joined ages ago. For Charles, Declan represents inclusion. As intangible as the Gryffindor can seem, he is a warm and welcoming person, and Charles is endlessly thankful for that; after all, were it not for Declan’s ability to see his potential, there’s a good chance he never would have realized it at all.   

 Leo Yaxley – Charles, very attracted to people who say what they mean and what they believe, was just as familiar with Leo’s parents as he was with Declan’s. Simon Yaxley was a hero - Renfred and Lenora quietly commended his work, but Charles would be lying if he said he didn’t revere him. By extension, then, Leo seemed just as untouchable as his father. Charles’ eyes were filled with stars when it came to the Yaxleys, but 1939 stood to show that having a family name within the Sacred Twenty-Eight didn’t protect you from the consequences of your actions - especially not when those actions slighted other pure-blooded families. Simon Yaxley’s death sent a shudder through the wizarding community, but no one was affected quite like Leo. Seeing as he was at Hogwarts at the time of his parents’ deaths and Charles was not, Charles didn’t see firsthand how much he struggled. By the time September came around again and Charles finally boarded the train to Hogwarts, it was almost impossible to tell that Leo had been through Hell and back. He was resilient and fierce, flanked by Declan and fearless in the face of opposition. Circumstances had changed for him, and yet here he was, still just as steadfast in his beliefs as his father before him. Charles was incredibly impressed, and he remains so to this day. He knows now, of course, just how hard the last seven-odd years have been for his friend; ever perceptive, he’s learned how to read between the lines when it comes to Leo Yaxley. He sees the pain behind the valiant facade, and he can’t help but notice the way Leo’s eyes change when Declan - his left and right arm - is around.  

Bellavie Chambers – The warmth emanating from Bellavie always reminded Charles of his mother. She was a bright, golden light in a rough-and-tumble Gryffindor world, but…she was also a Gryffindor, and such a fact could not be forgotten. Charles learned very quickly not to write her off as a hatstall; after all, a girl who ran with wolves like Declan Prewett and Leo Yaxley was bound to have some wild blood in her. Still, Bellavie’s kindness drew Charles in from the beginning. He always felt safe around her, and he was considerably less intimidated by her at the outset than he’d been by Declan and Leo. Perhaps her muggle heritage had something to do with that? Curiosity always made him less timid, and muggles were an unfailing source of wonder. He probably ran her ragged with questions about her family, her community, and when he learned that her father and brothers had fought - and were fighting - in the muggle war, he did it all over again. Her heritage might have had a hand in drawing him to her, but her spirit kept him close. He is continuously inspired by her kindness in the face of prejudice and hatred, things that she endures firsthand and at a steadily increasing rate. Charles is not a very fun person to pick on - he isn’t reactive - but mention Bellavie and he can’t help but take the bait. The first time he heard someone call her a “mudblood,” he ended up in the hospital wing with broken glasses and a black eye. His response came as a shock even to himself; he always kept a level head, always thought through his actions carefully, methodically. He wasn’t a “hit first, ask questions later” type of person - but, it seemed as though the lion inside him was not caught in a perpetual slumber. 

Irma Weasley – She absolutely fascinates him. He doesn’t want to treat her like a specimen in a museum - she wouldn’t let him anyway - but his curiosity often gets the better of him. He finds himself staring at her sometimes, brow knitted, but it isn’t because he’s disgusted - quite the contrary. For years now he’s wanted to ask her about…well, about herself. About everything. The Oinker lies open on his four-poster more often than not, but he finds the content less interesting than the way Irma writes. It captivates him. She speaks with a wisdom that he can only hope to have, and the questions he has for her dance on the tip of his tongue until he’s sure they’ll explode from him. But, something holds him back. What if Irma thinks him rude? What if she finds his questions intruding, scrutinizing? It isn’t just her experiences he’s interested in, though, and after six years of little more than pleasantries exchanged between them, he’s still trying to find the best way to convey this. 

 ♛ WRITING SAMPLES ♛

✘ PARA SAMPLE(S):

Charles squinted down at his parchment, struggling to read his own handwriting in the waning light. The library had nearly emptied; dinner would be served in the Great Hall soon, what with twilight fast approaching outside the castle walls. Aside from the scratching of his quill, the stacks around him were silent. Students were bustling outside in the corridor, no doubt reconvening after a long day of classes. Charles stayed where he was, planted into a chair by the window with the last, feeble rays of sunlight filtering through his dark curls. He shifted, leaning ever closer to his parchment. He really should have known better - he already wore glasses, and it would only take a second to turn up the oil lamp beside him - but, that would mean separating quill from paper, something he wasn’t quite ready for yet. The wheels and cogs in his head were practically visible, turning ever faster in sync with the feverish pace of his writing. His brow knitted, and he used his right index finger to push his spectacles back up the bridge of his nose. With a final flourish - a final, confident jerk of his quill across the parchment - he paused, straightening. Brown eyes darted over his scrawl, and almost as an afterthought he reached over and turned up the flame in his lamp.

 ‘A Potions prep never looked so good,’ he mused, somewhat facetiously. He’d be the first to admit that his handwriting wasn’t easy to read, but he didn’t think someone would need to take two terms of Ancient Runes to decipher it either (as Declan was so fond of putting it). Maybe if he wrote better, he thought, he’d have the pleasure of being accepted into the Slug Club. He almost snickered to himself - almost. Slughorn’s pack of elites wasn’t something Charles was itching to join, especially considering some of the people his Potions professor considered “elite.” Leo and Declan were included in the circle, of course, so Charles couldn’t discount the club entirely; however, the amount of old pureblood surnames that cropped up on Slughorn’s guest list made him quite glad he wasn’t invited. He supposed he was just a bit too boring and predictable for Slughorn’s taste, which sat just fine with him. As much as he liked Leo’s and Declan’s company, he was still very much an introvert at heart. It was nice to have an evening to himself from time to time, to spend a bit of time talking with Bellavie about things less intense than the mounting blood war and Riddle’s Knights. 

Coming suddenly to his senses, Charles glanced down at his wristwatch. He squinted again. If he left now, he’d make it to the entrance hall just in time to catch Bellavie on her way back to Gryffindor Tower. He hadn’t made any concrete plans with her, but she was always accommodating, so he rose from his seat and stretched, his joints exploding into a symphony of cracks and groans. He heard Leo’s voice in his head: “And here’s Charles, our grandfather…or great-grandfather, it’s always hard to be sure…” His lips curled into a smirk, and he dragged a hand through his hair. The Forbidden Forest had turned into a hulking shadow in the hazy purple light of dusk, and Charles considered it for a moment from the window, still clutching his quill; the side of his left hand was dark with ink smear, but it was such a common occurrence that it might as well have been a birth mark. ‘The hazards of writing with your left hand,’ he thought, giving the smear a half-hearted rub before reaching for his things. 

By the time his parchment, ink, and books were tucked safely into his bag, the lights in the library had dimmed even further. He seized the handle of his lamp and emerged from his nook, moving with long, deliberate strides toward the exit. He’d been right in assuming that he was alone - not a soul remained among the bookshelves, the librarian included - so he set the lamp carefully atop the front desk and turned to leave. Just then, though, something caught his eye. The notice board beside the library’s double doors had a new addition. 

“N.E.W.T PREPARATION COURSE” it read, its letters so absurdly large that Charles couldn’t have ignored it if he tried. But, Merlin, he wished he had. Dark eyebrows twitched toward one another, and his jaw set; his grip tightened on the handle of his bag, but despite the desperate itch in his legs, he couldn’t seem to move. He was frozen, standing alone in the library with a wave of emotion crashing over him. Anxiety bubbled about like a hot potion in the pit of his stomach, and he swallowed hard. Brown eyes traveled over the next line: “Seventh Years Only.” 

Ever since befriending Declan and Leo, Charles had dreaded this. Even at the ripe young age of thirteen, he was not naive; there would come a time when the two of them would be finished at Hogwarts, and as much as he wished he was older, he would have to be left behind. He fancied himself one of them, thought of himself as an honorary seventh year…But nothing he did would change the fact that they’d be well on their way to becoming Aurors before he even left Hogwarts. Charles handled this truth the way he handled all other unpleasant emotions - he buried it. He shoved it back into the dark recesses of his subconscious, fighting it valiantly every time it threatened to emerge. Lately, however, it was getting harder and harder to conquer. 

The library doors swung open, snapping Charles none too gently out of his reverie. He flinched, and he found himself staring into the face of a bewildered-looking third year. “Sorry,” she muttered, but he shook his head, stepping aside and sweeping a hand toward the stacks. “No, um…my apologies. After you.” The girl disappeared just as quickly as she’d come, it seemed, and Charles was alone again. He raised an index finger to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and with a brief, heavy sigh he pushed through the doors, his thoughts as focused on the present as he could get them.

✘ HEADCANONS:

–> Charles is the only son of Renfred and Lenora Potter, but it’s a title he doesn’t necessarily carry with pride. He remembers, as a young boy, long nights lying in his bed, listening to his parents in the next room. The headboard slammed repeatedly - desperately - against the wall for hours, and more often than not the next several weeks would find his mother withdrawn and his father irritable. Ever curious, it wasn’t long before Charles asked his mother what was happening. Her face remains burned into his memory; the way it fell, the way lines appeared on its surface and added far too many years to an otherwise youthful visage. With pale, trembling hands she cupped Charles’ cheeks and fixed her gaze onto his. “Charles,” she breathed, one corner of her mouth twitching, “my love.” She smoothed a bit of hair away from his forehead. “We’re trying to give you a brother.” Later, Charles would cock his head at his mother’s specificity - surely a sister would have been just as welcome? It would have, of course, but a family within the ranks of the “Sacred Twenty-Eight” needed all the heirs it could get, and Lenora and Renfred were no fools. There was more to it than that, though; anyone with eyes could see that Lenora Potter was bursting with love, and all she wanted was to give more of it.

There was a time, fleeting but poignant, when a flicker of hope ignited in his parents’ eyes. It was like the first days of summer had come to the Potter household, and to it alone. But, it vanished before long, and Lenora locked herself in the master bedroom for what seemed like an entire year of Charles’ life.

Charles didn’t mind being the only child, but the longing and determination his parents showed for the birth of another made him uncomfortable. Perhaps he was not enough for them? Maybe this was his fault? Guilt gnawed at him from the inside out, and at a painfully young age at that. Every passing glance at his mother threatened to incite a wince, but the unconditional love with which she showered him eased those thoughts until they were comfortably numb. That’s where Charles stands now, nearly of age and ready to strike out on his own. He loves his family just as much as any son would, but deep down in the dark recesses for his mind there is a small, nagging voice. 

“You’re all they’ve got,” it says. “And you’re not enough.”    

–> Lenora Potter’s love for her son was so great and so palpable that it could almost be cut with a knife. Renfred, however, was more reserved in his affections. He wasn’t unkind and he never acted cold or distant, but Charles always felt the weight of scrutiny upon him whenever the two were together. Parents expect things of their children - great things - and Renfred was not alone in that. A wonderful flyer in school (and in general), Charles’ father was adamant about mounting his son onto a broom as early as possible. At the ripe young age of five, Charles marched out onto the lawn with his father, carrying an old spare broom and dragging its bristles over the grass. He trembled, but Renfred’s determination was infectious; Charles swung a short, scrawny leg over the handle, but his anxiety coupled with entirely not enough confident control over his own body turned the whole thing into a disaster. He took off like a bullet from a gun, and even though he was, by some miracle, able to stay on the broom, he collided with the corner of the storage shed and  was knocked out cold. 

The next thing Charles can remember is the family hounds licking his face. He woke to find himself in the sitting room, Lenora and Renfred bent over him with faces so white they could’ve been ghosts. He had broken his right arm and sustained a pretty serious injury to his head; he wore a bandage wrapped around it for weeks, and once it was removed only a nasty scar (hidden by the hair above his right ear) remained. His arm healed entirely; one of the perks of being young and pliable. In the late stages of learning how to write at the time of the accident, however, Charles found that he could no longer use a quill with his right hand as he’d grown accustomed. He could have waited for his arm to heal, taking up writing again once he could properly handle a quill; but, ever persistent and fascinated with the written word, he learned how to write with his left hand. When it came time for him to learn wand work, it was the left that held the wand. He wasn’t crippled or broken - not by any means - but Renfred never seemed to forgive himself. He was very clearly disappointed that his son would never be a great flyer like the Potters before him, but he refused to hold that against Charles. He would live up to his name in other ways, he believed, but there was a certain amount of guilt added to the scrutiny Charles felt under his father’s dark-eyed gaze that made him squirm.

 –> Charles was always convinced he’d be sorted into Ravenclaw. His mother, also a Ravenclaw during her time at Hogwarts, had instilled in him a passion for wit and learning at an early age, so it came as quite the surprise when the Sorting Hat declared him a Gryffindor. Unlike some of the other pure-blooded families and their children, the Potters never set out to turn their son against any house in particular; but, Renfred was a very proud Slytherin in his day, and it was safe to say that Charles hadn’t really proven himself to be chivalrous or daring or any of the others things a Gryffindor was supposed to be - at least not yet. Still, his parents didn’t hold his odd placement against him. He wasn’t made to feel like a black sheep, but that didn’t mean he never did. His first year at Hogwarts was rather lonely; he excelled in all of his classes, of course, but he found making friends difficult. He hung back from the rabid Gryffindor Quidditch fan-base, and he often sought solace in the library rather than the noisy common room. The thing about Charles, though, was that he was used to being on his own. His childhood had been spent largely in his parents’ small library, and he’d never had many playmates his own age. Loneliness was commonplace. As far as he was concerned, that was how things were supposed to be. However, everything changed during his second year when the Aviators adopted him as one of their own. They were older and exactly the sort of people Charles never envisioned himself keeping company with, but even when he felt like pinching himself he knew he could never look back; from that point on, he felt included - he felt like he belonged - and he realized that lions are nothing without their prides. 

–> The Potters were not a pure-blooded family reminiscent of the Malfoys or the Blacks. They were proud, yes, and they cherished the bloodlines that had come before them, but the high-headed, “holier-than-thou” attitude of many Sacred Twenty-Eight families did not extend to them. Charles was never raised to think of muggles or muggleborns as “less than.” When the pureblood soirees brought him within earshot of school-age Lestranges and their ilk, he listened to them scoff at their muggleborn classmates, calling them “mudbloods” and turning up their noses at the very idea of them. This never failed to make Charles uncomfortable, and it was something that, whenever he brought it to his parents’ attention, was met with somber headshakes and quiet assurances. “Don’t use that word, Charles,” they’d say, “and don’t ever assume you’re better than someone because of where you come from.” What he always found confusing, though, was that Renfred and Lenora uttered this in hushed voices. Conversations of that nature only happened behind the doors of their modest countryside home, far away from any pureblood ears. He never doubted that his parents were good people, but, if what they were telling him was what they truly believed, then why wouldn’t they tell anyone else? The Prewetts, the Yaxleys, the Weasleys…they were all vehemently outspoken pure-blooded families. Why couldn’t the Potters be the same?

Cue Mr. and Mrs. Simon Yaxley’s murder, 1939. Fragile connections within the pure-blooded community began to falter, and Charles was suddenly jolted into a place of clarity. So that was why his parents played it safe. Unlike many boys his age, however, he kept himself from adhering blindly to their example. For weeks - months, even - eleven-year-old Charles lay awake in the dark, night after night, staring up into the blackness and tossing thoughts back and forth in his head. As somewhat of a scholar, it had always behooved him to remain neutral, to consider both sides of an argument without bias. He hovered in what he would later describe as a “moral gray area” for far too much time, and it wasn’t until he connected and fell in with the Aviators that he truly “chose a side” in the wizarding blood war - the one he’d barely known about beforehand because he didn’t have to. Now, the Resistance is as much a part of him as it is of Declan, Leo, and Bellavie. Any kind of prejudice disgusts him, and the injustice of it all weighs so heavily upon him that he finds it difficult to sleep at night. Unlike a lot of his peers, he is fascinated by the muggle news. He finds out what he can about their conflicts, their wars, and their current situation is dangerously similar to the one brewing in the corners of the wizarding world. The parallels baffle him, but not quite as much as  his fellow wizards’ efforts to ignore them.

–> The bookshelves of Charles’ childhood bedroom are stuffed with journals. Notepads upon notepads lay jammed between muggle histories and wizarding literature alike, filled from cover to cover with the ramblings of a lonely, inquisitive boy. A quiet child, the cacophony of thoughts in his head couldn’t always be easily expressed; he never had many friends, and the ones he did have didn’t share his interests. He needed an outlet, and that’s where his notebooks came in. He’d scribble away after a day of broadening his mind in the library, or after wandering in the orchard near his home. It was a daily ritual, and it was one he found essential to keep his thoughts in order. Even now, well into his schooling, he keeps a stack of journals in the trunk at the foot of his four-poster. His reflections and musings fill page after page, and he truly believes that cataloging things in such a way keeps him sane. 

[jobsearchtips02]

8 companies offering up to $60,000 hiring bonuses right now

In January, more than 200,000 jobs were added to the economy, signaling a strong job market start for the new year.

As employers work to fill these roles, not only are they offering exciting perks and benefits, but they’re also offering hiring bonuses in hopes of attracting and retaining the best talent.

Job searching site Glassdoor created a list of eight companies that are offering hiring bonuses up to $60,000 for select roles in various locations. Topping the list is Banfield Pet Hospital, which has several locations across the U.S. Right now, the company is offering temporary signing bonuses that range between $2,000 and $60,000 for veterinarian positions.

Take a look below to see what other companies are offering exciting bonuses and relocation assistance for new employees.

Monty Rakusen | Cultura | Getty Images

1. Banfield Pet Hospital

Bonus details: Banfield Pet Hospital is offering temporary sign-on bonuses that range between $2,000 and $60,000 for select veterinarian positions, according to Glassdoor.

Hiring for: Doctor of Veterinary Medicines, Associate Veterinarians and Licensed Veterinary Technicians

Hiring locations: Jenkintown, Penn.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Minnetonka, Minn.; Winston-Salem, NC; Little Elm, Texas; Geneva, Ill.; Virginia Beach, Va.

Click here to view open jobs

2. Caterpillar Inc.

Bonus details: Welders at Caterpillar Inc. are eligible for a $2 per hour retention bonus after 60 days on the job, according to Glassdoor. At Caterpillar Inc.’s engine plant in Lafayette, Ind., the company is also offering electricians and machine maintenance employees $5,000 in moving expenses if they lived at least 75 miles from the plant’s location before being hired, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Hiring for: Electricians, Welders

Hiring locations: Lafayette, Ind.; Decatur, Ill.

Click here to view open jobs

3. Memorial Sloan-Kettering

Bonus details: The hospital Memorial Sloan-Kettering is offering pathologist assistants with less than three years of experience a $5,000 sign-on bonus and pathologist assistants with more than three years of experience a $10,000 sign-on bonus, according to Glassdoor. Lab technologists who are hired by the company are offered a $4,000 sign-on bonus and an “attractive night shift bonus plan.”

Hiring for: Pathologist Assistants, Lab Technologists

Hiring locations: New York, NY

Click here to view open jobs

4. Lockheed Martin

Bonus details: Lockheed Martin, an aerospace and defense company, is offering a $10,000 sign-on bonus for select roles in certain locations, according to Glassdoor.

Hiring for: Systems Administrator, Software Engineer, Mid-Level Software Engineer, Database Engineer, Sr Java Software Engineer, Senior Systems Administrator, Cyber Intel Analyst

Hiring locations: Hanover, Md.; Annapolis Junction, Md.; Scott Air Force Base, Ill.; Linthicum, Md.

Click here to view open jobs

5. PepsiCo

Bonus details: PepsiCo offers a $2,000 sign-on bonus for select roles, with $1,000 being paid out after 30 days and another $1,000 being paid out after one year with the company, according to Glassdoor.

Hiring for: Lead Experienced Fleet Technician, Experienced Fleet Tech/Diesel Mechanic, Driver, Bilingual Customer Care Advocate

Hiring locations: Pittsburgh, Penn.; Albany, NY; Auburn, Maine; Burlington, Vt.

Click here to view open jobs

6. Raytheon

Bonus details: Raytheon, a defense and manufacturing company, offers a sign-on bonus up to $40,000 to select candidates with top secret clearance, reports Glassdoor.

Hiring for: Principal Software Engineer, Scrum Team Member, Scrum Team Lead, Software Engineer II, Principal Software Architect, Sr. Software Engineer, Sr. Principal Software Engineer, APEX Program SW Scrum Master

Hiring locations: Aurora, Colo.

Click here to view open jobs

7. Burke Williams

Bonus details: Burke Williams, a spa company, is offering sign-on bonuses that range between $300 and $1,000 for select roles in select locations, reports Glassdoor.

Hiring for: Massage Therapist, Men’s Spa and Laundry Attendant, Women’s Spa and Laundry Attendant, Manicurist, Spa Esthetician

Hiring locations: San Francisco, Calif.; Pasadena, Calif.; Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Click here to view open jobs

8. Exact Sciences Corporation

Bonus details: Exact Sciences Corporation, a molecular diagnostics company, is offering a $10,000 sign-on bonus for clinical laboratory technical supervisors, according to Glassdoor. Other laboratory roles are offering sign-on bonuses that range between $1,000 and $3,000.

Hiring for: Clinical Laboratory Technical Supervisor, Laboratory Trainer, Supervisor Lab Service Engineer, Supervisor Laboratory Processing

Hiring locations: Madison, Wisc.

Click here to view open jobs

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Don’t miss: These are the 20 best jobs in America in 2020, according to a new ranking—and they’re hiring

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/8-companies-offering-up-to-60000-hiring-bonuses-right-now/

[biofunmy]

Believe in Giannis Antetokounmpo. But the Milwaukee Bucks?

I’d usually wait until after the N.B.A. season to take stock of all the basketball takes I got wrong and issue a mea culpa. But with slightly less than half of this campaign completed, I am finding that the season has flummoxed me more than any other in my years of watching basketball. So many trends I thought I was seeing have already reversed themselves, some in spectacular fashion.

So I need to come clean. New year, new me, as they say.

There was the time I predicted the Knicks would make the playoffs. I considered out loud whether the Toronto Raptors were that much better than the Knicks after they lost Kawhi Leonard. I speculated that Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns would become a candidate for the Most Valuable Player Award after his hot start. I wrote that the Philadelphia 76ers “look like a top contender” with their approach of valuing height over shooting and starting four players at least 6-foot-8. I unironically wondered if the Phoenix Suns were for real.

It’s easy — and fair — to laugh at me now. And many of you have! The Raptors appear to be resilient and deep. The Knicks were 10-24 (and minus one head coach) going into Friday night’s game after a three-game winning streak. The Timberwolves are in the midst of yet another disappointing season, and the chatter is that Towns wants out.

The Suns are the Suns, and the Sixers, tall as they are, have been just O.K.

I’ve been trying to figure out where I went wrong. With the Knicks, I overlooked how much fit matters and put too much weight on new talent. With the Suns, I thought a new culture under Monty Williams and the addition of solid veterans like Aron Baynes and Ricky Rubio would reverse years of lackadaisical franchise building.

But more than all of that, the game has been harder to predict because of greater parity than usual. And injuries — lots of them. They have affected league standings more than in any season in recent memory.

I’ve been more Nostradonotbelieveme than Nostradamus. But here’s a fresh batch of takeaways as we enter a new decade, and along with that, hopefully more accuracy.

Don’t trust the Bucks.

The Milwaukee Bucks are 31-5, easily the best record in the league. They are beating teams by an average of almost 13 points a game. They have Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has only improved, especially as a shooter, since his M.V.P. Award-winning campaign last year. They are the best defensive team in the N.B.A. and play at the fastest pace. They have several fun role players, including Donte DiVincenzo, George Hill and the Lopez brothers. There is an outside chance that the Bucks win 70 games.

But.

I predicted the Bucks would make the finals this year. And now I’m taking it back, especially after watching their Christmas Day loss to the Sixers. I underestimated how much better the rest of the Eastern Conference is compared with previous seasons. And I’m skeptical of a team with only one elite playmaker.

In the playoffs, as games slow down and defenses key in more on Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton won’t be a strong enough secondary playmaker to take much pressure off Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee reminds me too much of the 2009-10 Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James: a world-beating superstar surrounded by O.K.-to-good role players who fizzled out in the second round.

The Bucks are sixth in the N.B.A. in running isolation plays, according to the league’s tracking stats, further fueling my skepticism. Antetokounmpo’s usage rate is nearly 38 percent — on pace for a career high, by far. That’s a lot to put on him in the playoffs. A miffed Bucks fan would point out that Antetokounmpo plays only 31 minutes a game and that the offense barely dips with him on the bench. Or that no team has outscored its opponents by as many points, on average, as the Bucks since the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, one of the greatest teams of all time. All true! But I surmise that this will change in the playoffs.

(I pre-emptively apologize for being totally wrong about this.)

The Nuggets are disappointing — but not a disappointment.

The early national television games featuring the Denver Nuggets were filled with pronouncements of disappointment, in spite of their 10-3 start. It was noted that there was something missing from this team. That Nikola Jokic wasn’t himself. That once again, the Nuggets needed more from Jamal Murray and Will Barton.

And yet, Denver finds itself in second place in the Western Conference. It has won 10 of its last 12 games. Jokic, after a less-than-stellar beginning to the season, reasserted himself in December, averaging 20.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists on an efficient 62.9 true shooting percentage. The Nuggets have done all this despite playing below-average defense since Dec. 1. And much of their recent schedule has been soft, including a double-digit win at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers, who were missing James that night. But there’s no discounting a road win on Thursday against the Indiana Pacers, who have been dominant at home.

The Nuggets are one of those teams that are extraordinarily difficult to gauge. They have a bona fide M.V.P. talent in Jokic, and every top-tier contender needs one of those. They have solid surrounding talent, with Murray, Barton and Paul Millsap, and productive players who don’t try to do too much, like Mason Plumlee. The rookie Michael Porter Jr. is making the most of his recently expanded playing time (due to the team’s injuries), averaging 15.5 points a game in his last four contests on 74 percent shooting. If he gets comfortable on the court, watch out.

The Nuggets are second in the West — only three games behind the Lakers before Friday’s action — and on pace for more wins than last season.

Yet, you want more from the Nuggets. You expect them to have made a leap the way the Bucks have. Sure, they’re in second place in a tough conference. But while the Nuggets are outscoring their opponents on average by about 4 points a game — more than last season and good for ninth in the league — they’re not dominant. They do just enough to get by. For the third straight season, they are playing at one of the league’s slower paces. They don’t drive to the basket often, but they move the ball well.

The team is not especially great at anything, but after struggling to score to start the season, Denver has had a top-five offense since the beginning of December. That’s a start.

The Nuggets aren’t disappointing per se, but this season is another second-round playoff exit in the making. Still, not to worry, Denver fans. Before you take up the pitchforks, remember that given my recent track record, I will most likely be toasting the N.B.A. champion Nuggets come June.

Sahred From Source link Sports

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Here are 7 coaches that could replace Dwane Casey for the Raptors

Casey was fired on Friday.

The Toronto Raptors fired head coach Dwane Casey on Friday morning, four days after the team was swept by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight season. Despite winning Coach of the Year in the coach’s vote, and winning a franchise record 59 wins en route to the No. 1 seed, Toronto is opting to go in another direction.

Now they’ll enter a free agent coaching market that’s hitting its peak. Three new head coaches have already been signed: James Borrego to the Charlotte Hornets, David Fizdale to the New York Knicks and Igor Kokoskov to the Phoenix Suns. The Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons are still interviewing candidates, too.

Here’s a list of potential replacements for Casey in Toronto, including those who have already interviewed for other head coachng jobs this summer, in alphabetical order.

Mike Budenholzer

Budenholzer was the Atlanta Hawks’ head coach for the past five years, and an assistant with the Spurs for 17 years before that. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, he’s going to get “close inspection” for the Raptors coaching vacancy.

Budenholzer’s won four championships as an assistant under Gregg Popovich, and was named Coach of the Year in 2015 when the Hawks won 60 games as the No. 1 seed in the East. That team was swept by LeBron James’ Cavaliers in the conference finals.

Budenholzer is clearly looking for a win-now situation, abandoning a rebuilding Hawks franchise, and the Raptors could be a fit.

Becky Hammon

Hammon has been an assistant coach with the Spurs under Gregg Popovich since 2014. In 2015, she became the first female to not only head coach an NBA Summer League game, but win a championship. Four Popovich assistants have interviewed for head coaching positions including Hammon, who is in consideration for the Bucks’ vacancy. James Borrego already signed with Charlotte.

Before coaching, Hammon spent 15 years in the WNBA, earning six All-Star nods and two All-First team selections. In 2016, she was named one of the WNBA’s best 20 players of all time.

Ettore Messina

Messina has been an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio since 2014, and head coached top European teams over the last 29 years. In that span, he’s won four EuroLeague titles, two EuroLeague Coach of the Year awards, four Italian League championships and five Russian League championships.

He’s filled in for Popovich as head coach of the Spurs for brief stints in the past, including the final two games of San Antonio’s postseason run this year.

Nick Nurse

Nurse has been the Raptors assistant coach since 2013, and could be a candidate to promote into Casey’s role.

The 50-year-old has been assistant coaching since 1989 for college teams including Northern Iowa and South Dakota, and head coached European teams between. He was the head coach of the then-D-League’s Iowa Energy for four years, followed by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers team for two seasons after.

He won D-League Coach of the Year in 2011, and won the championship in 2011 and 2013.

Monty Williams

Williams is currently the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Spurs, a job he’s had since 2016. Prior to that, he served as the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans head coach for five years, assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers for five years, and one year as an Oklahoma City Thunder associate head coach. As head coach, Williams made the playoffs twice and lost in the first round of both.

Williams was also an assistant coach for two USA national teams that won gold, once in the 2014 World Cup and once in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Williams spent nine years in the NBA before coaching, playing for the Knicks, Spurs, Nuggets, Magic and Sixers.

Jerry Stackhouse

Stackhouse is currently the head coach for the Raptors’ G League team, Raptors 905. He’s been their head coach since the 2016-17 season, and was an assistant the season before. In two seasons as head coach, Stackhouse has coached Raptors 905 to the best defensive rating in the league both years. He won the then-D-League championship in 2017, as well as Coach of the Year honors.

Through all the struggles a G League coach has to face, including players getting called up and constant roster change, Stackhouse’s consistency is impressive.

Before coaching, Stackhouse spent 18 years in the NBA as a player for eight teams, making two All-Star Games for the Detroit Pistons.

Stan Van Gundy

Van Gundy was fired by the Detroit Pistons after four underwhelming years as head coach and president of basketball operations. The Pistons made one playoff run in Van Gundy’s tenure, losing in the first round.

His firing ended his third head coaching stint. He previously spent five years with the Orlando Magic and two with the Miami Heat. He spent 20 years before that head and assistant coaching at various colleges including Wisconsin, Fordham, Vermont, Canisius and UMass Lowell.

Van Gundy has been to one NBA Finals in his tenure with the Orlando Magic in 2009, but lost to Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers in five games.

[flauntpage]

The Outlet Pass: The NBA is Back and Zach LaVine is Unstoppable

Last year I ventured to analyze every side of the NBA through this column, but instead of exploring all 30 teams as randomly as one possibly can, I’m going to break things down within a rotating group of categories to make it all more digestible. (They’re all pretty self-explanatory, but just to give a quick example, “Film Session” is a category where I’ll break down a possession or two—or three or four—and then explain why they’re relevant. I promise none of this will be complicated!)

It’s a work in progress, and figuring out how to organize it the best way I possibly can will be fluid. If you have any questions, ideas, or comments, feel free to shoot me an e-mail or ask away on Twitter. Now, without further ado, welcome to The Outlet Pass’s second season. And, as ever, thank you for reading!

Film session

The 0-3 Oklahoma City Thunder might be in trouble. Heading into tonight’s game against the Boston Celtics, they have the least efficient half-court offense in the league and rank 29th in transition. They don’t pass and they can’t shoot. Not great!

The Thunder rank dead last in three-point accuracy from above the break and the corners, and are 29th from the mid-range. Everyone is shooting below 30 percent from deep except Paul George (who barely clears it at 31.3 percent); Terrance Ferguson, Jerami Grant, and Russell Westbrook are a combined “I’m not even mad, that’s amazing” 3-for-27. Nerlens Noel, Hamidou Diallo, and Steven Adams scare no one from the outside.

A three-game shooting slump is nothing to panic over. Alex Abrines will eventually heat up, George and Dennis Schröder will eventually settle down, and (somewhat superficial) stretch fours like Grant and Patrick Patterson should find some type of rhythm as the season goes on. What Oklahoma City can’t control is how defenses choose to play them—but they can control how they respond. When the floor is cramped, as it usually is, they often choose to swim upstream instead of taking what’s given.

It’s that lack of an extra pass that does those low shooting numbers no favors. They rank 28th in passes per game, 29th in assist points created, and 26th in secondary assists. (The Thunder are somehow fifth in potential assists, but, yeah, that’s neither here nor there.)

Here are a few examples:

Being that it’s Adams taking this shot from one of his sweet spots, what happens isn’t the most terrible result. But with Draymond Green sinking that far in off Patterson, a little action on the weakside might be beneficial. Either immediately kick the ball out to an open shooter or maybe have Patterson back pick Steph Curry to free up Ferguson.

Here, Schröder forces weak-side help on a drive into the paint, but instead of flipping a pass to Grant in the corner, he tries to float in a difficult layup over a collapsing Warriors defense. And on the play seen below, Grant is obsessed with attacking Klay Thompson in the post even though Abrines is wide open in his line of sight:

Two of Oklahoma City’s losses have been without their best player, a guy who averaged a triple-double two years in a row. That’s true. It also doesn’t change the moral of the story: in 2018, nothing humbles an offensive star quite like a cramped floor. Westbrook will find the rim because he’s a bull and that’s his matador, but, on the whole, high pick-and-rolls run by him and (especially) George will turn into mud more often than not. Until they add another outside threat (Andre Roberson isn’t it), get used to seeing this:

Nemanja Bjelica couldn't care less about guarding Grant in the corner. The Thunder’s spacing is terrible, but besides crashing the glass as often as they can and making open shots when they appear (surprise: no team has been worse on wide-open threes), perhaps feeding whoever the defense chooses to ignore until the floor loosens up a little bit isn’t the dumbest idea.

The Trade Machine

The Phoenix Suns do not have a point guard and, assuming they don’t want to pay Trevor Ariza $15 million on their way to another postseason-less campaign, they should probably think about acquiring one—as futile a move as it might be. But before we look at two semi-realistic options, I want to take a deeper look at why getting a real point guard is so important.

New Suns head coach Igor Kokoskov is implementing the same hand-off-saturated system we’ve seen in Utah since Quin Snyder took that job. The Suns are averaging the second-most passes per game (about 13 more than the Philadelphia 76ers led the NBA with last season), and despite their youth and athleticism, a whopping 84.9 percent of their offensive possessions have come in a half-court setting, which is second to zero teams. (In four of the last five years, Phoenix has placed top-five in the percentage of their possessions that began in transition.)

Life is different in a system that demands structure and orderliness. In Phoenix’s home opener, Kokoskov just about lost his mind when Isaiah Canaan veered off script by faking a handoff, keeping the ball, and mucking up the action’s intent. Nothing against Canaan, but confident, stable point guards don’t do that. They organize and let teammates sink into their natural roles while assuming more play-to-play pressure than anyone else. Devin Booker at the point in crunch time is fun and not the worst thing for his individual development, but it’s also not a consistent winning formula. Jamal Crawford is not the answer, either.

The list of semi-realistic options is long: there are expensive stars who may be declining (like Mike Conley and John Wall), intriguing restricted free agents to be who’ve yet to prove they can handle their own team but, depending on who you ask, have the talent to do so (Terry Rozier, Malcolm Brogdon, D’Angelo Russell), and established-but-still-improving vets who aren’t that expensive (Ricky Rubio, Marcus Smart).

There are more names to fill in, but my favorite fit is Rubio. He already knows the system, doesn’t need shots, and is the best passer named. Just about anything is possible in today’s NBA, but there is an extremely slim chance Utah disrupts its momentum by jettisoning an important starter. They’re too good. But what if the Jazz receive an offer that’s too good to pass up, then talk themselves into Dante Exum’s progression as a logical long-term partner beside Donovan Mitchell?

If the Suns really want Rubio, they can go after him as a free agent this summer. But that’s what a smart franchise would do. So long as Robert Sarver is the owner, Phoenix is not that, which brings me to the player I most want to see in a Suns jersey...

If there’s any candidate for the Blake Griffin treatment before this year’s trade deadline, it should be Wall, a supremely gifted maestro who’s currently stuck in Ernie Grunfeld’s purgatory and owed a cap-crippling extension that runs until 2023. He turned 28 in September. The Wizards are 1-3, and Wall is 2-for-17 beyond the arc. If they can get off that contract and pick up a valuable asset or two, they should do it in a heartbeat.

Phoenix’s position is harder to justify, given they’re clearly rebuilding around Booker and Deandre Ayton, neither of whom is older than 21 years old. But if headlines and relevance are a priority over patience, growth, and sensical decisions, then what the hell, right? (Wall, Booker, Ariza, Ryan Anderson, and Ayton is not a bad starting five!)

Phoenix has assets to dangle. Would T.J. Warren, Josh Jackson, and Milwaukee’s awkwardly-protected first in 2019 (that’s top-seven protected in 2020 and unprotected in 2021, which doubles as the final year of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s contract) be enough for the Wizards to bite? In reality, probably not. But they should. And the Western Conference would be that much more interesting going forward.

Character Spotlight

If I was the GM of a team that’s dangerously thin at center, Damian Jones, Golden State’s most recent (and intriguing) fifth wheel, would be an unhealthy obsession. Jones is 23 years old, seven feet tall, athletic, mobile, long, and instinctive. So far, he looks like a more responsible version of what the Warriors had with JaVale McGee.

He’s started every game and has made a league-leading 85.7 percent of his field goals, but the best part is he may ostensibly be available before the trade deadline! Golden State already has Kevon Looney, Jordan Bell, and a recuperating DeMarcus Cousins at the five spot. Meanwhile, Draymond Green will play center when it matters most, Kevin Durant is also seven feet tall, and Jonas Jerebko can moonlight at the position if need be. But more on that later.

Jones is good. As an anchor, he can defend pick-and-rolls in myriad ways, protect the rim, and stand up opposing centers who want to battle in the post. As of Wednesday, he had the sixth-most box outs in the entire league despite logging at least 20 fewer minutes than everyone who ranked higher, while opposing shooters are really struggling at the rim when he’s protecting it.

Jones battles, runs the floor, and is already a menacing vertical spacer. He’s also established enough capital with Steve Kerr to stay in games despite early foul trouble, as has already been the case twice this season. The next two possessions came right after he picked up his second foul, yet there’s no drop in his activity.

One minute later, he deflected a Derrick Favors lob that led to a Durant dunk on the other end. Sure, there was that whole ordeal where his would-be-game-tying layup was blocked by Juan Hernangomez, but for the time being, Jones has quietly morphed into a significant steal.

With a $2.3 million team option next season, before he’s eligible to become a restricted free agent in 2021, Jones is someone the Warriors may not be able to afford long-term. At the same time, Looney and Cousins are both unrestricted free agents this summer, while Bell can be restricted. It’s not that crazy to plot a scenario where Jones is not only the last big standing, but a consequential building block for whatever this roster evolves into over the next few years. Small ball is nice, but Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Karl-Anthony Towns are coming.

A Bold Take

Zach LaVine will be this season's scoring champion. In the first four games of a four-year, $78 million contract that the Chicago Bulls were heavily criticized for feeding into their cap sheet, he dropped 129 points with a 69.5 True Shooting percentage and 33.3 usage rate. He's scored at least 30 points in every game, and Monday night LaVine mutilated the Dallas Mavericks, doing as he pleased against every pick-and-roll coverage Rick Carlisle threw at him.

So, how do we go from witnessing a four-game inferno to making a prediction that feels even hotter? To begin, let’s first identify a few parameters that don’t make the idea look that insane. For starters: the three-point line. It’s become a fluke-inducing game changer—the sort of variable that makes inconceivable events feel possible. And LaVine doesn’t need anybody's help taking advantage.

He has the conscience (or lack thereof), legs, and willingness to pull up from 25 feet seven, eight, nine times per game. He can create his own shot from anywhere on the floor, whenever he wants, and looks faster and stronger than he did before he tore his ACL, with more sway over his own NASA-regulated athleticism. Dribbles aren’t wasted; he’s becoming a carnivore who’s learned not to play with his prey.

Here he takes a stagger screen from Jabari Parker and Robin Lopez, sees a crack in Dwight Powell’s coverage, and jackhammers his way into the paint with a right-to-left crossover. One play later, Chicago ran the exact same action, but this time LaVine rejects the screen (at the very beginning, watch how he tries to confuse Dorian Finney-Smith by pointing at where he wants the pick) and finishes with a dunk. There’s no hesitation.

LaVine has more than enough tools to attack from all three levels, with an ability to separate behind the three-point line, dance in the mid-range, and finish strong at the rim (as he did with his left hand against Joel Embiid in Chicago’s opener). It’s impressive, and, on this roster, will unleash itself beneath a dark cloud of necessary selfishness. If LaVine moves the ball, there’s a slim chance he’ll get it back (especially when Parker is on the floor—the Bulls do not pass!). He’ll also operate in lineups that feature big men who can space the floor. Look how far out Bobby Portis stands in the clip below, trying to drag Ben Simmons away from his help responsibilities. Now picture Lauri Markkanen in the same spot:

There are more outside factors that support LaVine’s chase for a scoring crown: 1) Chicago will rarely, if ever, taste a fourth-quarter blowout in their favor, trotting out defensive units that quickly surrender gobs of points without any resistance, 2) We exist in an era that’s defined by selfless All-Stars who’re happy to sacrifice their own numbers for the chance to team up with other All-Stars, 3) And, again, the three-point line’s incessant takeover of NBA aesthetics. Combine all this with LaVine’s own improvement and it’s easy to see how he’s set up to contend for, if not win, the 2019 scoring title. So many of his buckets will be empty calories, but if he manages to sustain even 80 percent of what’s already on display, LaVine’s contract will become a steal. (His defense hasn’t been awful, either!) Even if it’s due to a flurry of circumstance, he’ll also be the NBA’s top scorer.

Small Sample Size Theatre

Kemba Walker was a breakout topic of conversation during the season’s first week. In five games, he’s averaging an efficient 31 points. And even though an eventual return to Earth is more probable than not, there’s also some reason to believe that we’re witnessing a “late” career leap. Walker probably won’t do what Steph Curry did in 2015, but why can’t his upcoming season mirror the explosion detonated by Isaiah Thomas two years ago?

Right now he’s the league’s fifth-leading scorer, and not to subtweet Dwight Howard, but look at how good Walker was last season when Howard wasn’t on the floor. Those numbers are a dagger, and speak to how much better he can be in small (shout out to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at the five), spread lineups that also feature big men who can pass on the move. Consider the mind of a defense as it tries to stop him in the pick-and-roll. If the screener’s man drops, well, Walker made 38.1 percent of his pull-up threes last season and through five games is 15-for-38 (that’s both accurate and a ridiculously high volume). If you trap or bring the screener’s man level with the pick, execution is key. Whenever he splits a screen, it’ll make you think about paintings in the MOMA.

And even if you squeeze the ball out of his hands, there’s a good chance your weak-side defense will somehow get punished by an open three. This skip pass was awesome:

In the same vein as Thomas, Walker’s three-point shot forces the defense to remain in code red whenever he has or doesn’t have the ball, but in order for him to sustain his efficiency there must be an aggressive willingness to drive, finish, and draw fouls in the paint. So far he’s averaging about half as many free-throws per game as Thomas did in 2017, with the lowest free-throw rate of his career. If Walker wants to reach that next tier and legitimately find himself in the MVP conversation, obviously Charlotte needs to exceed expectations and bump itself as high as a five or six seed, but also he needs to score efficiently at a high volume against teams that will view slowing him down as steps 1, 2, and 3 to victory.

This Stat Feels Important

The Milwaukee Bucks have scored a lower percentage of their points from the mid-range than every other team in the league, including the Houston Rockets. Right now, they’re at 1.7 percent. Last season, they finished at 13.7 percent, which was ninth-highest in the league.

Given what we know about their new head coach, their old head coach, and the ceiling this roster’s all-around talent has yet to discover about itself, that first stat feels like the moment in any classic horror movie where the babysitter tries to call 911 right when the power goes out. If you aren’t a Bucks fan, you are that babysitter.

Digging a bit deeper into Milwaukee’s offense, we already knew Brook Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova would allow Giannis Antetokounmpo to demolish everything in his path, but it’s jarring how quickly this team has adopted and taken advantage of Budenholzer’s five-out system. Antetokounmpo is having a field day, sure, but it’s easy to overlook just how beneficial an equal-opportunity/mid-decade-Hawks outlook would be for the supplementary pieces, too. There’s more freedom to shoot threes, yes. More importantly, with an open paint, there’s more space to cut, move, dive, and slip for easy layups.

At times, Milwaukee’s half-court offense looks like the Warriors, with split cuts that force defenses to pay attention and communicate all over the floor. The system is a beast unto itself, and taming it while Antetokounmpo breathes fire in your face can’t be fun.

Related: the evolution of Khris Middleton’s shot chart deserves its own thousand-word essay, but for the time being here are the basics. According to Basketball-Reference, the 27-year-old’s career three-point rate heading into this season was .322. Right now it’s .508! In Milwaukee’s first five games last season, Middleton only made three three pointers. This year, he’s already drilled seven against the New York Knicks, five against the Indiana Pacers, and three a piece in the Bucks’ opener in Charlotte, and last night’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

With an easy stroke, long arms, and a high release, Middleton should’ve already cemented himself as one of the most feared high-volume deep threats in the NBA. Instead, Budenholzer’s offense was the key to accentuating a more valuable part of his game.

Even though Lopez gets called for a foul, it matters that Milwaukee is actively looking to free Middleton up from downtown by incorporating subtle wrinkles like the off-ball drag screen seen above.

Strictly talking personnel, the range and length that Milwaukee has accumulated over the past few years comes with a futuristic identity. It’s nice to see them finally embrace such a fashionably effective style of play to go along with it.

What The Hell Was That?

Last season, when they were the fastest team in basketball, the New Orleans Pelicans liked to race up the floor and begin a possession with a small-small side pick-and-roll, then have the screener (be it Jrue Holiday, E’Twaun Moore, Ian Clark, or whoever) slip towards the basket. It almost always resulted in a layup.

In New Orleans’s home opener against the Sacramento Kings, the Pelicans got extra tricky. As they appear to get ready for a time-out—watch Anthony Davis slowly walk towards the sideline—Holiday stands on the right wing ready to execute their signature action, then darts backdoor to catch Elfrid Payton’s bounce pass.

Bravo, Pelicans. That’s some next-level duplicity right there.

This Has Nothing To Do With Basketball But…

Erik Spoelstra definitely wore a maroon blazer during a game last week and for that he should be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame tomorrow. That is all.

Character Spotlight (Bonus)

There’s almost something vaudevillian about Vince Carter beginning his 21st season as the starting power forward in Atlanta, the garage-rock band version of an NBA franchise that’s currently in the first stage of an appropriately depressing rebuild. Carter is 41 years old and last Wednesday night he suited up as the second-oldest opening day starter in league history (shout out to The Chief).

To be clear, the Hawks didn’t sign Carter to help them win games. At the start of Atlanta’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, it took three minutes for Lloyd Pierce to replace Carter, who was valiantly trying to stay with Kevin Love. But the impact he should have on younger teammates is kind of cool!

“It definitely is [surreal], and he’s gotten a chance a couple times to tell us some stories,” rookie Kevin Huerter told VICE Sports. “I think a couple weeks ago was the anniversary of when he had the dunk in the Olympics over the seven-foot guy, and we watched that as a team during film and he walked us through what he was thinking, so I mean that was a cool moment.”

Huerter had just celebrated his second birthday when Carter committed that memorable murder, but even now it’s awesome to watch him hustle around the court, lopsided score be damned, to do legendary stuff like this:

Carter is more than a motivational speaker, though. He played fourth-quarter minutes in Atlanta’s comeback win against the Dallas Mavericks last night. God bless this man.

The Outlet Pass: The NBA is Back and Zach LaVine is Unstoppable published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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Factbox: McCain’s wife counted among his possible successors in Senate

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Cindy McCain, wife of the late Republican U.S. Senator John McCain, has emerged as one of the more prominent names of possible appointees to succeed him, along with several former members of Arizona’s congressional delegation.

FILE PHOTO: Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

The appointment rests with Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who has said he would wait until after McCain’s burial on Sunday to announce a decision and is not considering himself for the job. McCain died on Saturday from brain cancer at age 81.

Under state law, the replacement named by Ducey would assume McCain’s seat through the 2020 U.S. general election but would need to run for election that year to fill out the rest of McCain’s term, which ends in January 2023.

Ducey might, therefore, appoint a “caretaker” successor –

someone without longer-term political aspirations – to give the Republican Party more time to consider its best nominee for 2020 and beyond. That choice could hinge on the outcome of this year’s congressional elections.

McCain and Arizona’s junior U.S. senator, Republican Jeff Flake, who is retiring at the end of this year, were both outspoken critics of President Donald Trump, a dynamic that put Arizona at the forefront of deep divisions within the Republican Party.

Trump tweeted his support on Monday for Ducey’s re-election bid. The governor was expected to easily win his party’s nomination for a second term in Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary.

The following is a list of the some of the names most frequently mentioned as possible appointees to succeed McCain, according to Republican political consultants and various media outlets, including the state’s leading newspaper, the Arizona Republic.

CINDY MCCAIN

The 64-year-old Phoenix native is a philanthropist and controlling owner and chairwoman of the Hensley Beverage Company, a beer distributor founded by her father. She also has taken a prominent role in the fight against human trafficking. The couple met in 1979 and married the following year after his divorce from his first wife, Carol.

JON KYL

Former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl served with McCain in the Senate from Arizona and rose to the position of Republican whip, the second-highest leadership post in his party’s Senate leadership. He served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before he was first elected to the Senate in 1994. He retired at the end of his third term in January 2013. He voted against the Obamacare healthcare law. Kyl, 76, now works as a lobbyist at the law firm Covington & Burling and is helping to shepherd U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh through the confirmation process.

FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and his wife Cindy celebrate under confetti during a rally at Pontiac-Oakland County International Airport in Waterford, Michigan January 9, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Young/File Photo

KIRK ADAMS

Kirk Adams, 45, is the governor’s chief of staff and a one-time candidate for the U.S. Congress. He is a former state lawmaker who served as speaker of the state House of Representatives.

EILEEN KLEIN

Arizona state Treasurer Eileen Klein was appointed to that post in April by Ducey after the incumbent left to become chief financial officer of NASA. She also previously served as president of the Arizona Board of Regents, overseeing the state’s university system, and was chief of staff for former Republican Governor Jan Brewer.

BARBARA BARRETT

Businesswoman Barbara Barrett, 67, is a former U.S. ambassador to Finland who unsuccessfully ran for Arizona governor in 1994 as the first Republican woman to seek that office. Barrett also was deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and vice chair of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board. She is married to Craig Barrett, retired chief executive of Intel Corp.

JOHN SHADEGG

Former U.S. Representative John Shadegg, 68, served 16 years as a member of Congress from northern Phoenix, before retiring at the end of his eighth term in January 2011. He is currently a partner at the Phoenix law firm of Polsinelli PC.

MATT SALMON

Matt Salmon, 60, served two terms in the Arizona state Senate before two stints in the U.S. House of Representatives – from 1995 to 2001 and from 2013 to 2017 – in a district based in Mesa, Arizona. He later became vice president for government affairs at Arizona State University.

KARRIN TAYLOR ROBSON

Karrin Taylor Robson is a business leader and lawyer who founded her own land-use company. Ducey appointed her to the state Board of Regents in June 2017.

Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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PHOENIX | Arizona Republicans brush off talk about McCain Senate seat

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PHOENIX | Arizona Republicans brush off talk about McCain Senate seat

PHOENIX — Sen. John McCain’s legacy was thrust into focus nearly one year ago when he announced his brain cancer diagnosis. The six-term Senator and decorated Vietnam War veteran is now fighting the illness from his beloved Arizona, and filling the role of one of the few Congressional Republican voices to publicly rebuke Trump administration decisions.

Yet the question of what happens if McCain steps down from office before 2022 is a lingering one, casting an uncomfortable haze around the future of a seat that can’t quite ever be filled.

“John McCain is a one-of-a-kind politician, and there’s no replacing him,” said Stan Barnes, an Arizona Republican consultant. “No one serving in political office today remembers a time when John McCain was not representing us in Washington.”

Some Arizona Republicans have criticized conversations about the future of McCain’s seat as inappropriate. But reflections around the 81-year-old statesman’s life, legacy and status as a national political figure have resurfaced via a new HBO documentary, “John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and his new memoir, “The Restless Wave.”

The McCains have a family retreat south of Sedona, Arizona, along tree-lined Oak Creek. Daughter Meghan McCain was married there.

She said on KTAR’s Mac and Gaydos radio show Tuesday that she’s been trying to visit her father every other weekend. She said he’s strong, walking, talking and hanging in there.

“Everybody’s just dealing with it the best they can,” Meghan McCain said.

Following a decorated military career that included spending more than five years in prison camps, McCain entered the political arena in the early 1980s. He went from the House of Representatives to being elected to the Senate in 1986, following Barry Goldwater who retired. McCain gained a reputation as a lawmaker who was willing to stick to his convictions rather than go along with party leaders. It is a streak that draws a mix of respect and ire.

Matt Salmon, a former Arizona congressman, said McCain was instrumental in his own political career —along with countless other Arizona Republicans. Much like Goldwater, McCain’s been “the godfather of Arizona politics” for decades.

Salmon said McCain exemplifies how to stand up for one’s convictions and constituents regardless of the wants of party leadership. During the late 1990s, Salmon drove a successful effort to remove Newt Gingrich as Speaker.

“I don’t know that I would’ve had the courage to go do something like that without a maverick like John McCain paving the way,” he said.

When Salmon was elected to Congress, McCain, as a mentor, was supportive, loyal and quick to share his dry sense of humor.

“He said to me, ‘Congratulations Matt, now you’re part of the problem,'” Salmon said.

McCain’s maverick ways have pressed on in the era of President Donald Trump. He continues to release statements and tweets from Arizona. Following Trump’s decision to not endorse a G7 statement with other global trade leaders, McCain tweeted a message to U.S. allies that said in part “Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t.”

Sen. Jeff Flake, Arizona’s junior senator who is not running for re-election, said McCain’s mantra of “country before party” sets him apart from other senators. Flake praised his honesty and transparency, as witnessed in the recent documentary.

“He was open about his mistakes, and his failings, and that’s part of what’s so endearing about him,” he said.

Flake said during a recent visit with McCain at his home, the two sat on the deck for about an hour and talked about what they miss about Arizona politics, the kind that put party and partisanship aside. Flake said he’s concerned that Arizona voters may miss out on having an independent voice that they’ve grown accustomed to when McCain is no longer in office.

“Today’s politics kind of reward those who stick with the crowd,” Flake said. “The incentives are not here to be independent and it takes a strong personality, like John, kind of an outsized personality, to pull that off.��

Former Arizona congressman John Shadegg said most lawmakers don’t work as hard as McCain. He cited town hall meetings in Arizona that McCain held in non-campaign years. One time at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport, Shadegg was speaking with McCain but had to cut the conversation short when “about a hundred people” came over to talk to the senator.

“There’s a personal side to John McCain, which is very different than the public John McCain, and one that you can’t help but like and respect,” Shadegg said.

Some of the state’s Republican voters have been critical of McCain for not being conservative enough. In 2016, primary challenger Kelli Ward came within 11 percentage points in a four-way race after running as a more conservative alternative. A few years before that, a censure effort from the state party called out McCain for campaigning as a conservative but voting more moderate.

On the flip side, McCain’s service and his ability to stick to his convictions have earned him respect from Democrats. McCain’s vote against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act shortly after he announced his diagnosis further endeared him to those who might disagree with him on other policies, Democratic consultant DJ Quinlan said.

“He did have his high profile moments where he was really willing to stick it to his party,” Quinlan said.

In the event McCain steps down from his Senate seat before 2022, state law requires the governor to fill a vacancy with an appointee of the same political party who will serve until the next general election. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey hasn’t been keen on speculating. He and his wife Angela visited John and Cindy McCain about two weeks ago.

“To anyone who uses this as an opportunity to speculate or fan the rumor mill: Washington DC’s obsession with this when there is no issue to be discussed is disgraceful,” Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said in a statement.

Yet rumors abound, with names being suggested as possibilities to fill the seat as an appointee, such as Cindy McCain, former Sen. Jon Kyl and former state attorney general Grant Woods.

Republican consultant Barnes called replacement rumors “desperate barbershop gossip,” though he said he understands the uncertainty some might have about the exit of such a dominant figure from the political stage.

“That particular Senate seat has been an outsized, powerful voice on the floor of the United States Senate, and you just can’t overstate the importance of that phenomenon,” Barnes said.

Some had wondered whether McCain’s seat would be up this year if he left office before May 30, the deadline for candidates to file signatures to get on the ballot. That opportunity is likely closed — meaning the next general election where a candidate could run for the seat would be 2020 instead of 2018. Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s office has said her office won’t speculate on responses to possible vacancies, and will make any decisions once a vacancy becomes available.

Salmon said he doesn’t think anyone can fill McCain’s shoes. He recalled a trip to Vietnam where he saw a monument to McCain.

“His voice is not just an Arizona voice,” he said. “It’s a world voice.”

He said many are wishing McCain well and hoping for the best.

“He’s one of the toughest guys I’ve gotten to know,” Salmon said. “It’s not a disease that most people diagnosed with are successful at fighting. But they’re not John McCain. He’s a fighter.”

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By MELISSA DANIELS, By Associated Press

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