#guy who was drafted into said leadership position after the death of a friend and former leader

[fmab]

cayde-6 and rodimus are literally the same guy to me

[jonghoshoe]

Hearts Awakened, Love Afraid

Proofreading? idk her, I almost lost this entire fic I refuse to read through it all rn.

Summary: Seonghwa hasn't had a letter from Hongjoong in weeks, he finds out why.

Pairing: Seonghwa x Hongjoong, side Wooyoung x Yeosang

Word Count: I finally hit 3k words :)

Contains: I honestly don't know what to put. It starts okay but gets sad real fast, there’s death and mentions of blood, homophobia, references to suicide ig? Maybe a descent into madness too.

It’s fucking dark ok.

@mingi-ivity

Used lyric prompts from @taesblue . ‘’Can I trust you if I give you myself?’’ And ‘’Will you now forever remain out of reach of my arms?’’

-

It’s barely dawn when Seonghwa receives the letters, stacked up high and bound with a ribbon.  He recognises it as being from one of his shirts as a child, he and Hongjoong had play fought that day, and when it’d torn off he had insisted that he kept it, fabric still attached and fraying thanks to the expert seamstress. 

The collection of writings is passed to him by a masked man, an associate of Hongjoong apparently, he wouldn’t give his name but Seonghwa feels as if he’s seen him before once, when Hongjoong had brought him to a lovely garden as children, it was by a small house at the edge of the city. Hongjoong knew him supposedly, though the man was a teen at the time. Despite face now being covered. He’s almost positive it’s him. He’d told them his name back then, Seonghwa doesn’t remember what but it was something biblical. 

Seonghwa and the masked man don't exchange many words, the man simply confirming his relation to Hongjoong, saying that he had passed and had wanted these passed on to him.

It isn’t until the twilight of that day when Seonghwa finally has time to read the pile of letters, his royal duties taking up so much time of the day. And he can already feel his gut wrenching when he reads the note atop the pile.

If you’re reading these then something has happened and I have no use in keeping them. Maybe something has been revealed, I’ve gone missing or been killed, maybe I just finally needed to let things be known. Maybe my whole crew has been compromised. 

‘Seonghwa.

Throughout the years I've written many letters left unsent to you, sneaking me into your lessons has paid off after all. Had I been illiterate like most who are as unfortunate as me, you may have never kept in contact for so long. 

Please take the time to read my letters, I know most of it is inconsequential now, but I feel bad having never sent these.’

The handwriting is shaky, Seonghwa has seen Hongjoongs writing, as recently as just a few years ago, though it was rarely tidy, it was generally steady, he can’t help but worry for what state he must have been in while writing that.

He worries even more for what’s been left unsaid. Hongjoong had kept in touch with Seonghwa even after becoming a pirate and a fugitive, he was well liked in the city and seemed to make as many friends as enemies wherever he went, so he’d always found somebody to deliver the messages back to him.

It’s unfortunate they had to resort to letters, but after they’d both grown up a little more and were told the implications of their social statuses. They rarely had time to meet anymore. Seonghwa always gave his friend as much gold as he could when they met though, as a helping hand but also so Hongjoong could buy the stationary for writing his letters, which Seonghwa had encouraged he send.

The first letter is easily recognisable, Hongjoong had always signed his letters as a child with badly drawn stars, insisting they reminded him of Seonghwa.

They go pretty standard as far as letters go, nothing too surprising in the content of them, but Hongjoong had always been a perfectionist, and most of the letters compiled here are similar to ones he’s already received, likely first drafts. It’s cute that he kept these, the first draft is always less thought out than the edited final one, but for Hongjoong, who wears his heart on his sleeve, Seonghwa supposes these are rather embarrassing, none of his emotions held back as he scrawls whatever came to mind that he’d wanted to tell his friend. 

The letters begin to stray as he grows older though, Hongjoong must be in his late teens at the time of the first one.

‘Seonghwa!

Work today was so much more exciting than usual. I have a secret to keep! I obviously can’t send this to you because of that, but I’ve written to you so much that it’s easier to do that than write a diary entry.

You remember Wooyoung and Yeosang? They went on a date during our break today! But they told me I can’t tell anyone, Apparently boys aren't allowed to date eachother?

I think that’s unfair, They’re both so in love! I can’t imagine having to hide that from anyone! They’ve been together forever and can’t even say they love one another? It makes me sad, Imagine if you couldn't openly love anyone? What a depressing world that would be!

I don’t really have anything else to say, but I never knew boys could like boys! Can girls like girls too? Can you like both? I wonder if I’ll ever like a boy.

-Hongjoong’

Seonghwa chuckles at the letter, clearly it hadn’t been sent in case it had been lost and his friends were outed. Now he supposes Hongjoong sees no reason to hide the truth anymore.

The next letter is dated to a week after the event.

Apparently, there are no rules at sea, you can do and be whatever you want! That’s why there’s so many of them! San said he’d ask his friend about it next time he comes to town, so Wooyoung and Yeosang can love freely!

‘Seonghwa!

Today was awful, the boss caught Woo and Yeo holding hands and fired them! For holding hands! When we all met later for dinner together, San mentioned he knows a guy, a pirate!

That sounds so romantic and cheesy, leaving behind an uncaring world to sail the sea with you beloved. Sounds like the plot of a romance novel!

-Hongjoong’

I might go with them, apparently a life of piracy is the most free you can get, I’d like that. I think it’d be nice to not have to worry about everything I do here, about living, about working, about whether my friends will be okay.

I don’t know how I’d message you though, I doubt I can send letters from the sea!

Ah, so that’s what had spurred his life of piracy. He’d wanted freedom for himself and his friends. Seonghwa feels a little bad now, he’d berated Hongjoong for what he’d done when he first found out, calling him irresponsible for doing something like that.

Of course it was all in his head though, Hongjoong had already taken to the sea by the time he found out, and never stayed anywhere long enough for Seonghwa to send him a letter, he could only receive them.

The next letter is dated two days later.

He’s assured us we’ll be okay now though. Also! I learned that the pirate is the same guy we went to the garden with as kids! It almost seems like fate.

‘Seonghwa.

We had to leave in a hurry, I never knew that my friends love was illegal! They were going to be arrested and Sans pirate friend was at the docks so he let us board with him. We couldn’t prepare for this at all, I can only write this because I keep it my stationary in my bag at all times!

We’ll have to work here, a boat doesn’t take care of itself after all. Nor does a crew feed itself. But we’re assured we’ll be safe. He trusts we’d never do anything we aren’t supposed to so he and the older pirates said they’ll mentor us!

Gosh- I probably can’t send this, too much detail that others shouldn’t know. It happens a lot right? People try and intercept royal mail? I’ll need to rewrite this before I can send it to you. Make it less harmful for you if it gets out. Can’t have the public hating you for talking with a pirate now can we!

-Hongjoong’

That explains the rush then, why he was here one day and gone the next. Seonghwa wonders when Hongjoong had first been able to send his rewritten letter.

The letters continue for a while, mostly uneventful, they mostly consist of Hongjoong writing down his conflicting feelings regarding the position he’s found himself in. Seonghwa also learns the pirates name is Eden, he thinks that must be the man he saw today. Though why he is somehow still here when Hongjoong and his crew are, remains a mystery.

‘Seonghwa.

We were separated from Eden today, things went wrong and we ended up on opposite ends of the city we were in. We left as soon as we could. Eden said we should leave before him if anything like this is to happen. We have a rendezvous point. In case we’re separated. An island a long way North from here. Hopefully he’ll be okay.

I’ve been appointed leader now, it’s...weird. I never saw myself as being in a leadership position, he said I was most fit for it in his absence. I don’t see how, but I’ll have to live up to it now.

Is this how you feel, Seonghwa? Being in a position of power that you didn’t ask for? I can’t imagine royalty have much say in their succession to the throne.

You must have been crowned by now, It’s been years since I left. I wish I were able to say the real reason. I probably could by now, but I’ve kept it so long. I can’t even remember exactly what it was.

Our newest additions, Mingi and Jongho, have been a big help. They’re always a reliable shoulder to lean on in times like this. I might go visit them later, They’re good listeners. I don't know what lead them to this life, they’re both such kind people.

Though I suppose so were Wooyoung and Yeosang.

I don’t know if I’m ready for a leadership position, no matter how temporary. And if Eden doesn’t return...

I don’t want to think about that now. I’ll go above deck, maybe I can distract myself. Yunho is good at cards, maybe I’ll play with him for a bit.

I wonder if these diary-letters will ever see the light of day. If they do, I hope they’re only read by you Seonghwa.’

Hongjoong hadn't signed off the letter this time. Maybe he was so eager to distract himself that he forgot.

He relates to him, about the leadership thing. Seonghwa hadn’t at all wanted nor been prepared for taking on the throne. But he had to anyway after the passing of his parents, nobody else was eligible. The people will probably grow tired of him soon, he refuses to take a wife. And if he can't make an heir then he leaves nobody to ascend to the throne when he himself dies.

Good, it should be kept that way. Let him be the last one to be forced into this.

The next few letters are as expected, detailed accounts of what happened while they sailed to their destination. Mostly just Hongjoong getting used to leading everyone. Yeosang and Wooyoung were wed, apparently the captain is able to do that. It sounds like a lovely evening, even in Hongjoongs hungover description of it the following day. There’s a letter detailing their arrival to the island, and that strange things had been happening. It gets the most concerning about three days in though, as they tried to go inward to climb a small mountain there for the best vantage point.

‘Seonghwa.

We’re at the base of the mountain now. Everyone keeps joking that San should have no trouble climbing it. I can tell they’re on edge though.

We aren't alone here. I’m certain of it. We all feel as if someone is watching us. 

Things are out of place that shouldn’t be, or go missing, or we’ll think someone is there and then they’re not. There isn’t much in the way of living beings around us, so we can’t possibly chalk it all up to that.

I can't wait to get off this damn island. I don’t know what’s here and frankly I don’t want to. Whatever it is, as long as it doesn't follow us back onto the ship then we’ll be fine.

Hopefully we aren’t just all going paranoid.

I can find moments of peace in moments like tonight though. I’m up in a tree, impractical for writing, I know. But the leaves block out the sky.

I like watching the sky, the stars remind me of you. I wonder if you watch it too?

I don’t know what life I wanted, But now I’m sure this isn't it. I was so stupid as a child, if only I’d known about my feelings sooner.

I think I may be in love. With you.

This is so disjointed, maybe I’m going crazy after all.

It’s so stupid, I can never return now, I can’t leave my friends and by now we’re wanted in most places near our home, likely there too.

That’s what you get when you try to teach a bunch of kids to steal, we only didn’t get caught because we were so fast. We wanted freedom, and we were willing to run until our legs gave out beneath us to get it.

All I know now is this is not the life I want. It’s the one I've chosen, but it wasn’t a very thought out choice.

If I could fix things, I’d return to you, maybe confess my feelings. You were always so accepting weren't you? I’m sure even if they aren’t reciprocated, you’d never hate me for it. But I can’t return, not now. If could, Can I trust you if I give you myself? Would you hide me away from the world? So I could finally be with you?

Will you forever remain out of reach of my arms?

I would continue writing, but something is happening in the distance, it may be nothing, but I should wake everyone and check just in case. ‘

Yet again, it isn’t signed off. Seonghwa is worried, not even processing this letter before he moves onto the next one. It’s barely legible in words and writing.

‘ Seonghwa!!!

Its us its us itsus???

More us? They look like us

they arent us, we are us.

firefirefire so much fire

and smoke and mirrors

the sea? will I find them through the sea??

they came through mirrors??

where were the mirrors?

they have the answers

I should go

I need answers

they said they have them

what answers?

do I have questions?

bloodbloodblood

they were bleeding

are they real?

are they hurt?

theyre us are we hurt?

are we real?

I need answers

I have to go

through the mirror through the water through the sea

I need to go

will I come back?

maybe I can if I go

im sorry I cant give you all happiness

I wish I could give you freedom

if I get answers

I need answers

I need you

I need Seonghwa

I miss Seonghwa

I love Seonghwa

I want him iwanthimiwant

take me back take me back rewind it all

take me back to him

how?’

break the clock

bring me back

i want out

When Seonghwa finally reads the last letter, the writing is neat, but it isn’t Hongjoongs.

Seonghwa can’t bring himself to read the last letter, not after this.

Hongjoong loves him?

What does he mean by more of them?

Why is he only saying all of this now?

I don’t know what happened, Everyone is missing. I’ve searched all over the island and found nothing.

‘Seonghwa.

I’m sure you’ll recognise my name from Hongjoongs letters. I’m Eden.

I’m going to return to you and give you his letters, you deserve to have them. It’s the least I can do for the both of you.

I don’t know why I’m not being affected like they were.

I don’t know you, But Hongjoong talked about you often, I always wondered when he’d come to terms with his feelings, it seems that it was too late.

I can't give you anything to bury, but I found a piece of his shirt beside his letter, I don't know why it's bloodied, but you should have it more than I should.

I'll leave it in an envelope with the letters.

I’ll tie the stack with his ribbon, though I suppose it’s really yours. 

He never took it off in the entire time I met him.

I hope despite all of this, you can somehow carry on.

-Eden'

I won't stay long, I should return to the sea, I should warn people about the island.

I hope for your sake that our paths never have to cross again.

'Carry On'

Seonghwa doesn't know if he can. Doesn't know if he'll ever get over what he and Hongjoong could have been, ever get over the haunting words of his last letter, if he'll ever stop keeping that shredded piece of cloth in his pockets until it's nothing but threads.

Seonghwa doesn't know if he'll ever be able to carry on without Hongjoong.

He just wishes he knew where the island is. Wishes he could search for Hongjoong himself, he needs to see with his own eyes that he's not coming back.

Because he has to come back, there's so much they missed, so much they could have done, could have been.

He needs to know what happened, he needs to know what Hongjoong saw, what made him walk into the water to find answers, what took Hongjoong away from him. Seonghwa has been waiting all this time for Hongjoong to come back, for him to maybe change his appearance and return with a new name, to finally be able to see him again.

He needs his own answers now.

To talk with him, laugh with him, smile with him.

If he knew what he does now, to maybe even marry him.

Maybe he'll go down to the docks tomorrow, the sailors always love to chatter and gossip. if Eden is true to his word. Maybe Seonghwa can find that island, 

Find Hongjoong.

[authorracheljoy]

Ethan Ask 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31 32 35 36 37 38 40 41 44 45 46 47 49 50

1. What is your OC’s favorite color?

Green ^^

2. Does your OC collect anything? What do they collect?

Ethan doesn’t collect anything in particular, nope!

3. What kind of things is your OC allergic to?

He’s pretty allergic to pollen so~

4. What kind of clothing does your OC wear?

Casual stuff I guess?

5. What is your OC’s first memory?

Joining his sister, Annabelle, in fort making..

6. What’s your OC’s favorite animal? Least favorite?

His favorite animals are tigers and… he doesn’t have a least favorite? (at least not yet!)

7. What element would your OC be?

WATER!

8. What is your OC’s theme song? 

He… doesn’t have one (yet)!

9. Do you have a faceclaim / voiceclaim for your OC?

No and no!

Although.. in my dream cast, he was Logan Lerman so~ Take with that what you will XD

10. What deadly sin would best represent your OC?

Envy~

11. What are your OC’s hobbies?

He’s a wannabe DJ ^^ He likes collecting record and vintage CDs and shit! 

12. How patient is your OC? How hot-headed are they?

Heh, Ethan’s the most patient character to EVER exist! 

But.. even he has his limits :X

I’ll just say this: Ethan would only blow up if a close friend lied to him or.. kept secrets from him.. big secrets-!

13. What is your OC’s gender / sexuality / race / species / etc.?

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Heteroromantic Demisexual

Race: Caucasian 

Species: NOT SAYING

14. What foods does your OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?

Sweet and spicy foods are his favorite :)

Ehhh he’s not a fan of seafood though? Like… sushi especially~

16. What does your OC smell like? 

He.. doesn’t have a specific smell? XD

Toni doesn’t go around smelling the people around her, OK?!

17. How do they make a living? What kind of job do they want / not want? What is their dream job? What do they think of their current job?

Ethan makes a living by going on missions as a vampire hunter, DUH! He also helps out at the New York Public Library so. That’s a part-time endeavor, though. He doesn’t hate this job or anything, but he is also obsessed with music and nostalgia (thanks to his parents) and his dream job is definitely to be a professional DJ!

18. What are your OC’s greatest fears? Weaknesses? Strengths?

Jesus, that’s a loaded question.. umm. To be as brief as possible…

Fears: Heights and losing loved ones

Weaknesses: He trusts too much/puts too much faith into people that he loves/cares about~

Strengths: Great leadership skills and confidence

19. What kind of music do they listen to? Do they have a favorite song?

Ethan listens to anything and everything, but he has a soft spot for dubstep! Skrillex is his favorite band, but he doesn’t have a favorite song; it changes constantly ;)

21. What personal problems/issues do they have? Pet peeves?

He sorta has the same pet peeves as Toni, i.e. annoying/rude people. I don’t think I can get into Ethan’s personal problems/issues without issuing a SPOILERS tag so.. sorry!

22. What kind of student were they/would they be in high school?

Straight-A student, no question!

23. What is a random fact about your OC? 

Gosh… umm… Ethan can’t stand screamo music! 

I know I said that he liked listening to everything, but he tries to avoid THAT type whenever he can.. XD

24. What is their outlook on life? What is their philosophy / what do they think in general about living?

Ethan’s outlook is pretty positive/optimistic. He generally feels like he’s protecting humanity by being a vampire hunter, so that’s always good :3 As for his thoughts on living and life, well… he’s dealt with a lot of death in his life. Surely not as much as Toni has, but… Ethan sees vampirism as a true curse and that’s really why he hunts vampires and kinda resents them a lot, especially HENRI :X

25. What inspired you to create them / how did you create them? Were they originally a fancharacter? What was their personality / design like when you first made them?

Ethan was basically the second character I ever created for the series, actually! Even before Henri Sinclair was a thing, it was just Toni and Ethan! Two best friends, nothing more! Of course… I based him on a friend I knew in middle school (who was also named Ethan, go figure, right?) who was very friendly and… ehhh I might’ve had a crush on him XD But that doesn’t matter! Ethan was always going to be the best friend of Toni, but.. while I finished up the first draft of the third (and at the time LAST) book, I realized that some of my readers really liked Ethan and wanted him to be happy and in a relationship with Toni. Obviously, this was impossible and a minority happenstance since people really shipped Henri and Toni but WHATEVER! 

Anyway, so that’s why - in the prequel - I gave them more chances to grow up together. Ethan and Toni

26. Who is the most important person in their life? Why? Who is the least important to them (that still has an impact) and why?

Most Important: Ehhh it’s a mixed bag between his mother, Toni, Clary, and Hannah! All equally important and loved

Least Important: Stephen Church might be Ethan’s would-be enemy if they weren’t both hunters, but I’d say they learn from each other all the same. Ethan still respects Stephen!

27. What kind of childhood did your character have?

Sorry but I’m pulling a SPOILER card for this one! 

It’s genuinely important and must be secret!

28. What kind of nervous habits do they have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds of addictions?

Ethan doesn’t really have any nervous habits or addictions, at least none that are relatively important to his character ;) 

At least not yet~

29. If they could choose their epitaph for their grave, what would they choose?

“Keep Living” or something like that!

31. What is their most traumatic memory/experience? What is their favorite memory?

I can’t answer the first part of this for SURE but-

Ethan’s favorite memory is any moment he got to hang out with his big sister~

32. If they could have one thing in the world, what would it be?

Ethan doesn’t want anything; he’s perfectly content~

35. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?

He focuses a lot on the present and future, and rarely the past. I’d say he has a good imagination, but he doesn’t let him lose sight of reality or anything like that. I wouldn’t say he’s worried 24/7, but he can get anxious about the lives of his friends (lookin’ at YOU, Toni!)

36. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Ethan wants to make a difference in the world, especially through protecting humanity in the face of the supernaturals, mostly the vampires! Compulsively, though, he really wants to have a connection with someone

37. What’s something that your character does, that other people don’t normally do?

Uhhhh nothing that I can think of on the spot?!

38. What would your character do with a million dollars? 

Buy DJ equipment of course~

40. Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?

Ethan’s going on a mission! He wears black to blend in with the shadows (even though he’ll be sticking out in a crowd once he’s at the venue)! He would either go with Toni or Clary on the mission!

41. What does your character do when they’re angry? Why?

It’s very, very rare but Ethan blows up when he’s angry. Then a few seconds later, he’d go silent. Hell, he might even cry. Like I said, though, this rarely ever happens!

44. How does your character react/ accept criticism?

Ethan is pretty cool-headed about criticism!

45. If your character was given a slice of pineapple pizza and they HAD to eat it (or something bad would happen), how would they react? Do they even LIKE pineapple pizza?

Ethan isn’t really a lover of pizza (I know, shocker!) but I’m sure he’d like pineapple pizza if he ate it on a dare or something ^^ After all, he likes sweet things!

46. Your character is given a voodoo doll of themself. What do they do with it? Do they see if it actually works?

Ethan would probably just shove it in his closet and do nothing with it XD

47. Can your character draw? What do they like to draw? Do they doodle?

Ethan doodles, but I wouldn’t say he’s a full-blown artist!

49. Does your character like candy? Do they get sugar rushes? What are they like when they get a rush?

The only sugar Ethan consumes is in the soda he drinks so XD He’s not much of a candy guy~

50. If your character was presented with imminent and unavoidable death/fatality, how would they react? Would they try to avoid death anyways? Would they try to make their last days count?

Ethan’s the type of person who would definitely make his days count (as he does that already) and he wouldn’t try to avoid death at all. He’d just… accept it!

Man, I’m late with this and I know there are others, but I felt like getting through some asks today so

[junker-town]

Anfernee Simons is Portland’s golden ticket into NBA title contention

Elevating a nice team into title contention despite barely playing as a rookie? That’s just another way for this gifted 20-year-old to push his own limits.

Anfernee Simons isn’t allowed to try his most impressive shot in an NBA game. It’s a form of basketball sorcery few can process, let alone immediately master, that first emerged when he was a senior at Edgewater High School playing H-O-R-S-E against his head coach Jason Atherton.

The two challenged each other after practice and during gym class. H-O-R-S-E provided an opportunity for Simons to test himself by showing off a bold menu of trick shots, while placating a competitive spirit that turned every contest into a life-or-death event.

Dunks weren’t allowed, so Simons dealt letters with his limitless range, firing from the overlapping volleyball court that approximated an NBA three, or behind an arbitrary black line drawn nearly 40 feet from the rim. (Simons later asked Atherton, if he could shoot it during a game. “I told him if I call out ‘Black’, go ahead and fire it,” Atherton says. The coach finally granted permission on senior night.)

Simons enjoyed exploring his own limitations, which remain untapped. This is how The Shot was born. Imagine the deepest corner three possible, tucked a couple feet behind the NBA’s line. Now step over the baseline, out of bounds and behind the backboard. Impossible, right? Simons calls it his “safe shot.” Basic geometry politely disagrees.

The first time Atherton saw it, he wondered if Simons had secretly spent hours practicing on his own time. Nope. It was improvised.

Simons made the shot on his first try, then again when Atherton dared him to repeat it. According to his coach, in all the games they played together Simons drilled this exact shot at an 80 percent clip. “The first couple times I shot it, I’m like ‘I don’t know how the hell you’re doing this!” Atherton laughs. “He’s comfortable no matter where he is.”

Back then, Simons was a prodigious teenage question mark who barely weighed 160 pounds. Today, he’s a 20-year-old wildfire of natural talent entering his second season with the Portland Trail Blazers. It’s a season prefaced by towering expectations. As a rookie, Simons gave the team several reasons to be excited. But it’s his innate ability to make a complicated game look like a cakewalk that separates him from so many other young guards.

“The thing I’m most excited about is how easily the game comes to him,” Blazers general manager Neil Olshey says. “It’s very hard to put guys on the court that can’t score, and it’s something that comes very natural for him. It’s easy for him.”

Everything about him is casual, but Simons meets challenges imposed by coaches, opposing players, parents, and especially himself, with the restlessness of a master chef restricted to boiling hot dogs. “Some of the shots that are tough shots, he doesn’t make them look tough,” Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts says. “When he drives in the lane, there’s just an easiness to it.”

Simons can score at the rim, from mid-range, and behind the three-point line, but his outside shot is his calling card. It starts with wrists that make opponents feel like reality is in fast forward. One second, the defenders are crouched in a sound stance, arms out, feet staggered, and jumpy. The next, they’re yolk in a skillet.

“When I was young I’d just push the ball up. It was one motion,” Simons says, describing his unique jumper. “Usually when guys get older they make it two motions, so I kind of kept it as one motion and it’s still working out.”

Simons’ skillset is lined with cashmere. He says he models his game after Jamal Crawford, with a hint of teammate Damian Lillard’s aggressive mindset. Justin Zormelo, a private skills trainer who works with Simons, says Lillard is a fair comparison, but also recognizes Klay Thompson’s sense of calm. “I think if you combined [Dame and Klay] that’s who he is,” Zormelo says. “A rough draft copy of those two guys.”

The Blazers knew it’d be hard for any rookie to crack their rotation in 2019. They finished the previous season with 49 wins and one of the league’s deepest, most expensive rosters. “Risk tolerant” was how they viewed their draft strategy. Selected with the No. 24 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Simons only played 141 minutes during his entire rookie season, patiently waiting for garbage time to show what he could do while Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic lifted the Blazers to another No. 3 seed.

“I think when his career is over, they’re all gonna say, ‘Where was he picked?!’” -Rick Pitino

Riding the bench wasn’t easy, but Olshey constantly reminded Simons he was a lottery talent who didn’t play for a lottery team. The opportunity to learn from one of the league’s best backcourts would pay dividends in the future.

“One of the things Dame and I talk to him about is his pace. I always tell him ‘You don’t have to go 100. Find your 80, find your 75 at first, and then progressively speed it up’,” McCollum says. “He’s got the total package, man. He’s 20 years old, not even old enough to drink.”

Olshey recently called Simons the most gifted player he’s ever drafted, a list that includes Lillard, McCollum, Blake Griffin, and several more notable names.

“He is not currently the best basketball player I drafted. He’s not the most functional player that I drafted at the time of the draft,” Olshey says. “But just in terms of his natural gifts at his age, and his God-given talent, it rivals anybody else that I’ve drafted in my career. Now, I don’t know if he’ll reach that ceiling as a player and put it all together, but the things that you basically can’t teach, in terms of just intrinsic talent, he has.”

With one of the highest payrolls in the league, the Blazers need low-cost production to elevate their established starpower. That not only makes Simons one of the most important people in the organization, but, given how open the league’s title race appears to be, he’s also one of the most essential young players in the entire NBA.

How soon can Simons bloom into the necessary source of internal growth the Blazers need to achieve their ultimate goal? Is he their golden ticket, or a tantalizing project that can’t live up to expectations? That development is caked into their short-term future as much as the long haul.

Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images

Anfernee Simons during his 35-point breakout performance at the NBA Summer League. “He’s as talented as anyone we’ve ever drafted,” Blazers GM Neil Olshey said.

It’s an early July morning in Las Vegas as Simons sits on a beige couch in the Four Seasons lobby. A matted flat-top adds five or six inches to his willowy 6’3 frame. He leans forward and folds his arms.

Those who know Simons sum up his personality with words like “shy” or “extremely quiet,” followed by “humble” and “polite.” They’re not wrong. Minus the retro concords and baby face, he could pass for a member of the Queen’s Guard. Limp eyelids rest above lips that don’t budge unless they must, and when they do, his voice carries only a brief hush. No handlers, coaches, trainers, brothers, sisters, cousins, teammates, childhood friends, or agents stand to the side. Instead, Simons is escorted into the lobby by his parents.

“If you didn’t know who Anfernee was, you’d have no idea that he’s one of the best basketball players in the world,” Atherton says. “That’s just kind of how he carries himself.”

Early last season, McCollum was tired of seeing Simons and fellow Blazers rookie Gary Trent Jr. wear cut-up jeans to games. He arranged for Antar Levar, McCollum’s clothier, to measure them for custom suits. Simons eventually settled on blue, gray, and glen plaid super 130’s from Cacciopoli, but the process wasn’t easy. Levar, who works with nearly 150 professional athletes and celebrities, was caught off guard by Simons’ extreme reticence.

“It was like pulling teeth out of a baby trying to get him to speak!” Levar laughs. “When I would show him stuff, he would barely be like yes or no. He’d be real subtle, real quiet, like ‘Nah, nah, nah,’ and then he’d say ‘Yeah, I like that. Nah, nah, nah.’’ It was real quick, and I was like, man, this guy, he’s not gonna say nothing!”

McCollum chuckles telling his version of the story: “Like they say, you’ve got two eyes, two ears, and one mouth for a reason.”

The Player Empowerment Era is wrapped inside a generation defined by self-promotion, but Simons is unassuming in a way that’s far from performative. He seems uncomfortable answering questions about himself, unsure how much to reveal or whether any of it is actually interesting. He doesn’t watch League Pass “unless there’s a good game on.” He’s content with a monotonous life pervaded by Marvel movies (Captain America: Civil War is his favorite), and video games.

Simons understands the importance of making new connections, but opening up takes time. Before his professional career began, Simons’ father Charles couldn’t remember seeing him chat and laugh with teammates on the bench. “He’s not a talker by nature,” Charles Simons says.

Perennial silence is not a deal breaker for NBA stars (see Leonard, Kawhi), but coaches throughout Simons’ life have tried to draw him out of his shell with unique leadership opportunities. At IMG Academy, where Simons spent a post-graduate year after high school, he handled the ball in critical situations and also collected his teammate’s uniforms after games. Even after he broke his hand in early October, Simons still participated in every conditioning exercise instructed by the coaching staff. Whether it was a grueling suicide drill or a simple down-and-back, he obsessed over finishing first and setting an example.

“We put him in positions where he has to deal with people, step up, and hold himself accountable,” IMG Academy’s post-grad head coach John Rhodes says. “You have to start with yourself before you can get others to follow, right?”

Portland’s staff grabbed the baton. The Blazers made Simons their starting Summer League point guard for several developmental reasons, one being it forced him to deal with teammates in ways he hasn’t before. “I still want him to be more assertive and more vocal,” Blazers assistant coach Jim Moran told reporters in Las Vegas. “Running the team, he needs to be more communicative.”

Simons agrees. “I’m used to not saying anything on the court,” he says. “Now it’s more, you’re running the team. You need to make sure everybody is in the same boat.”

Born in a suburb just north of Orlando and named after Magic icon Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway — as a fellow Tennessean, Charles was a fan — Simons could breeze through traffic cones with a live dribble by the time he was five. A family friend who coached one of Florida’s most prominent AAU teams worked him through basic drills. Simons shot on 10-foot rims and always used a regulation-sized NBA ball.

When organized games began two years later, referees allowed the kids to commit violations without penalty. Dribbling was optional for everyone … except Simons. “I was the dad that never let him play like a little kid,” Charles laughs.

Entering his freshman season at Edgewater High School, Simons was a 5’8, 130-pound, 13-year-old paper clip. Continuing a habit that began in the park eight years earlier, he spent two hours after the varsity team’s practice working on his game, and would constantly pester Atherton about the gym’s availability.

As a way to let his frail body catch up to a budding skillset, Simons reclassified down to the 2018 class after his sophomore year. He had spent most of his minutes playing off the ball, and opponents took advantage of his size on defense. Heading into his junior year, Montverde Academy, the same program D’Angelo Russell and Ben Simmons attended in prior years, had an open spot on their team. Simons was at first hesitant to transfer, but his parents encouraged him to step outside his comfort zone.

Montverde wasn’t a perfect fit. His playing time fluctuated, and the 40-minute commute from his parent’s home to campus was inconvenient when practices required a 3 a.m. wakeup call. But the experience had immense value. Simons himself detected immediate growth, and others now say Montverde was a pivot point in his trajectory.

“I just think it helped him understand that he played on a team with a lot of really good players,” Montverde associate head coach Rae Miller says. “Practices at our place are usually much harder than games because it’s so competitive.”

Simons re-enrolled at Edgewater the following season, three inches taller and the owner of previously unthinkable athleticism. By then, he was heavily recruited by several programs, including Louisville. Rick Pitino, the school’s former head coach, personally attended every one of Simons’ AAU games, scouting him with the same attention he gave Donovan Mitchell and Terry Rozier.

“I told the assistant coaches, ‘I’m recruiting Anfernee. He’s my guy,’” Pitino says. “I said ‘I’ll take care of him, you take care of the other guys.’ He’s done some things dunking the basketball, my mouth was open when I saw him do it.”

Simons committed to Louisville in the fall of 2016, but plans fell through when an NCAA corruption scandal led to Pitino’s termination soon after. In an effort to bulk up before his freshman season at another school, he pivoted to a post-grad year at IMG Academy, where first-class strength training facilities and a helpful nutrition program allowed Simons to get stronger. (Also, it’s where Penny Hardaway’s son Jayden became Simons’ teammate.)

At IMG, Simons put mesmerizing performances on film. A sky-high ceiling helped him become the first American-born player since 2005 to enter the NBA without first competing overseas or in the NCAA. During a lengthy phone conversation with Olshey before the draft, Pitino repeatedly referred to Simons as a steal who’d eventually make whoever selects him look like a genius. “I think when his career is over, they’re all gonna say, ‘Where was he picked?’,” Pitino says.

Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images

Anfernee Simons during a pre-draft photoshoot in 2018. He was expected to attend Louisville, but chose to spend a year at IMG Academy due to Louisville’s involvement in the NCAA corruption scandal.

The first time Zormelo worked with Simons, he told him things few 18 year olds ever hear: You can make all-star teams. You should score 40 in an NBA game. When a team gives you the green light, 50 points will be an expectation.

At the time, Simons had knee tendinitis and couldn’t work out any longer than 30 minutes without limping. In addition to bringing in a specialist who helped build up his quad and alleviate the pain, Zormelo had Simons train against G League players. At first, their physicality and strength was too much. One week later he made the rim look wider than a manhole cover. “Those guys couldn’t guard him,” Zormelo says. “Nobody could guard him.”

A few months after, Simons held private pre-draft workouts in front of about 20 NBA teams. Wanting to silence any doubt about Simons’ body and game, Zormelo made a risky and unusual decision to put live defenders on him before every drill. “He was unconscious for three days,” says Zormelo, who’s trained Kevin Durant, Paul George, and myriad other NBA stars. “He had some of the best workouts I’d ever done, or ever seen.”

A few teams thought about taking Simons in the lottery. Even though his potential was Eddie Murphy circa 1979 — at one point he was a top-five pick in ESPN’s 2019 mock draft, right behind Zion Williamson, and R.J. Barrett — none would commit to a prospect who required such a long runway. Portland embraced the uncertainty and was confident he’d make headway on a timeline that didn’t force any immediate pressure on his narrow shoulders.

An early step toward vindication came in the first start of his career, which was also the last game of the 2018-19 regular season. With Portland’s key rotation players sitting out to prepare for the postseason, Simons scored 37 points to lead the Blazers back from a 25-point halftime deficit against the Sacramento Kings. It was a feat of technical excellence that was almost immediately overshadowed by an underlying message: This dude belongs.

In the process, Simons became the third teenager in NBA history to tally at least 37 points and nine assists in a game, the first two being LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Filter out assists, and Carmelo Anthony is the only addition to that list.

After the final buzzer, Olshey grabbed Simons in the locker room. Do you understand what you just did? The rhetorical question had an answer. Without a second of rest for 48 minutes, Simons locked Portland into the No. 3 seed.

That eventually bestowed an appreciative public with Lillard’s epic step-back over Paul George in Round 1 and McCollum’s status-elevating Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets in Round 2. All of that was lost on Simons, who only remembers how it felt to flow without worry, knowing the Blazers made only seven healthy players available.

“The innocence with which he looked at me,” Olshey says. “He was just excited to finally get an opportunity and play unfettered and not look over his shoulder.”

Simons continued to back up the hype at his second Las Vegas Summer League. He put the entire offensive package on display: cotton-ball floaters, step-back 25-footers, and coast-to-coast urgency with a lit-fuse live dribble. In his third game, as dozens of general managers, coaches, scouts, and executives across the NBA looked on, Simons carved up the Jazz for a Summer League-high 35 points. He left Las Vegas with an absurd 71.6 True Shooting percentage, 30.5 usage rate, and a spot on the Summer League’s All-Second team.

The Blazers view this tangible growth as a key to their future. By letting backup guard Seth Curry sign with Dallas and trading Evan Turner (who held the ball for more minutes than McCollum last season) to Atlanta for wing Kent Bazemore, Olshey purposefully cleared a path for Simons to contribute this season.

Zoom out and Portland’s rotation is volatile. For the first time since 2016, the Blazers will not start the year retaining more than 82 percent of the previous season’s minutes on their roster. No team in the league had more continuity over that stretch. “I think if we didn’t believe Anfernee was ready to step into that role then I would’ve played it safe and brought in a veteran,” Olshey says.

It’s easy to imagine scenarios where Simons breaks through to deliver moments that will foreshadow his staying power. The Blazers have successfully deployed three-guard units in the past and will use Simons, Lillard, and McCollum at the same time.

“I think with Anfernee’s size and athleticism and Dame’s ability to guard bigger players, that’s going to be a unique lineup for us,” Olshey says. Stotts also likes to platoon his starting backcourt, which will allow Simons to function as a more prominent weapon while one of Portland’s star guards gets some rest.

Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images

The Blazers are hoping Anfernee Simons follows the same development path as C.J. McCollum (right). “I would’ve been a lot more immature than he was at that age,” McCollum says.

The Blazers are optimistic Simons will follow the blueprint laid out by McCollum, another combo guard whose shot options are “all of the above” at any given time. Like Simons, McCollum barely contributed as a rookie. By his third year, McCollum’s scoring average eclipsed 20 points per game. One difference: McCollum was 22 years old when he debuted, while Simons doesn’t turn 21 until next June.

“I would’ve been a lot more immature than he was at that age. He listens well, he works extremely hard and I think he got more comfortable as the year went on,” McCollum says. “I’m sure he feels like this is a chance for him to get some minutes and I’m sure the organization is looking at his performance, his development, and trying to figure out when that time is. It may very well be this season.”

Simons doesn’t know what his exact role will be this year, but he expects more responsibility. Scoring is obvious, but his ability to defend opposing backcourts while running the team’s offense is a mystery. “He’ll have opportunities,” Stotts says. “And he’ll grow with those opportunities.”

Of course, expectations don’t always align with progress, so the Blazers will adjust if Simons fails to take a meaningful step forward. “We have other alternatives on nights where he’s gonna struggle,” Olshey says. “Or he’s up against matchups that he’s just not ready to handle yet.

But Simons is also the most exciting archetype in sports: an ascending phenom who is now positioned to make the most of his natural ability. He can be the explosive supplement Portland didn’t have in the past.

The best-case, short-term scenario is that Simons alleviates the scoring burden Lillard and McCollum have carried by themselves. Whether he lets those two stars operate more off the ball — Portland is high on Simons’ “game sense,” aka the ability to initiate their offense — weaves around screens himself, or isolates on the wing, defenders can’t ignore him. On paper, that could make the team’s offense unguardable.

The Blazers are experienced enough not to crumble if Simons can’t handle his new duties, but it’s hard to see them winning it all during this era unless he soars. Based on a lifetime’s worth of evidence, that shouldn’t be a problem. Becoming a meaningful contributor is a challenge Simons knows he’ll conquer sooner rather than later. Just like a game of H-O-R-S-E.

[hollywoodjuliorivas]

At USC, a Hindu lawyer leads the spiritual way Varun Soni is one of a few to break the Protestant chaplain mold VARUN SONI, dean of religious life at USC, speaks during a service honoring professor Bosco Tjan, who was killed in December. (Photographs by Allen J. Schaben Los Angeles Times) SONI, middle, Father Richard Sunwoo, left, of USC’s Caruso Catholic Center and the Rev. James Burklo, associate dean of religious life, embrace at the ceremony for Tjan. () By Rosanna Xia Varun Soni straightened his shoulders and grasped the lectern, his dark suit flanked by the stately white robes of priests and ministers. A beloved professor had been stabbed to death. As USC’s head chaplain, it fell to Soni to help the hundreds gathered outside that day to process their loss. And so he spoke to them of the stories he’d collected, the pain he’d shared, the grief he had witnessed. And he offered words to help them, though not from the Bible or any other religious text. “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,” he said, quoting Maya Angelou, before he bowed his head in a universal “Amen.” Soni is an unusual college chaplain. He is a Hindu. He has a law degree. In 2008, when USC hired him as its dean of religious life, he was the sole head chaplain at a major American university who was not only not a Christian but not an ordained Christian at that. Today, at a time when differences — religious and otherwise — grow ever more fraught and complex, he remains all but alone in breaking the Protestant chaplain mold, except for a rabbi at Dartmouth, another at Wesleyan, a Buddhist at Emerson. “It’s very, very hard to divorce the pomp and circumstances of academia from particularly Protestant traditions,” said Dena Bodian, president of the National Assn. of College and University Chaplains. “Chaplains like Varun enable us all to rethink what chaplaincy in higher ed could look like.” The job, after all, is about much more than Christianity. As USC’s spiritual leader and moral voice, Soni oversees about 90 campus religious groups including atheists and agnostics, Baha’is and Zoroastrians. Inside and outside the lecture halls and dormitories, he bridges what he sees as the gap between the slow-moving wheels of academic change and a new generation’s impatience with tradition. He counters the tendency to split apart and subdivide with a message of tolerance, coexistence and respect. “If we want to know what religion is going to look like in the United States in 20 years, just look at what’s happening on college campuses now,” he said. “Particularly at a time when our country is so polarized, and people aren’t speaking to each other.” Soni himself exemplifies the many in the one. He holds five degrees — from Harvard Divinity School, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA’s law school and the University of Cape Town, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation in religious studies on Bob Marley as a spiritual figure who used his work to spread a divine message. As an undergraduate at Tufts University, Soni studied in India at Bodh Gaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment. He’s consulted for the Obama administration, produced a graphic novel and advises celebrity religious scholar Reza Aslan. The son of immigrant doctors, he was raised in Newport Beach, where he went to a Catholic elementary school and learned from his best friends, who were Jewish, and his grandfather, a Buddhist who grew up around Mahatma Gandhi. “Gandhi, that’s why I went to law school and studied religion,” Soni said, nodding to a framed portrait hung alongside the Dalai Lama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his office. “Those are my guys — people who brought together the spiritual and the scholarly world for the purposes of social change.” What better place to bridge these two worlds than a college campus? It’s not easy, Soni acknowledged, to guide a generation that grew up seeing religion as a source of terrorism and patriarchy, whose institutions covered up child abuse and preached discrimination. More and more millennials are rejecting formal religion but seeking a spiritual sense of purpose. It helps that Soni’s approach centers more on commonality than God. “We’re oriented around meaning and purpose and authenticity and identity and significance,” he said. “My concern is that as students leave traditional religious congregations, they haven’t been taught how to build an intentional community of like-minded people in a way that creates empathy and compassion and a sense of belonging. That’s compounded by the fact that this is a generation that was born into technology.… You may have 500 friends on Facebook, but what does that mean in real life?” Around campus, he’s facilitated interfaith retreats, promoted LGBTQ Bible studies and taught courses on misunderstood religions such as Islam and Sikhism. “My programming is my pulpit,” he likes to say. After the Trump administration announced a travel ban that alienated Muslims, his phone rang nonstop. Empowered by Soni’s inclusive approach, dozens of students, professors and religious leaders rallied alongside their Muslim peers and attended a local mosque, where they joined in the midday Juma’h prayer. “Varun does a good job of keeping us moving in the same direction,” said Dov Wagner, a rabbi at USC. Soni, who is 42, could be mistaken for a graduate student. His hair is cut in a fade. He often teaches in jeans. He knows how to speak to a generation used to abbreviations and hashtags. One afternoon, he walked his students through the religious history of northern India’s Punjab, where his family is from. He rolled up his sleeve to show them his Sikh kara , a delicate steel bracelet he has worn since his mother gave it to him when he was small. “Traditionally, these are much thicker and protected one’s wrist when you went to war,” he said, attempting to mimic a sword fight with his hands. “Luckily, my days of swordplay are over.” After class, one student came up and said he was Punjabi as well, then shyly reached out for a handshake. “Right on, Pun-ja-bis!” Soni cheered. Soni tries hard to reach everyone. As a way to include students who don’t believe in God, for instance, he hired a “humanist chaplain” to collaborate with other religious leaders on campus. “Because of Varun, these other chaplains aren’t threatened by me,” said Bart Campolo, who uses his skills as a former pastor to guide students in a secular way. “I’m not here to attack anybody’s belief system. They realize I’m just another guy trying to help students answer life’s ultimate questions.” Eugenia Huang, whose father died a week before she went off to college, said she was grateful to encounter Soni at a freshman dinner, at which he urged students to feel free to come talk to him. “I really liked the idea that he was about spirituality, instead of forcing any religion down my throat,” Huang said. “You often see people turn to religion when they’re sick or experiencing pain, and so I had always viewed it as something for the weak.” Now a sophomore, she is taking Soni’s global religions course, which has changed her thinking: “I’m learning that a lot of the times, people turn to religion for the community and they just want to know: What’s our purpose?” Soni also has inspired a number of non-Christian students to pursue careers in religious leadership. Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago has led the way in bringing college students of different faiths together. Founder Eboo Patel speaks of students who’ve learned from Soni as if they’re top players in a fantasy draft. The Buddhist who went to multiple divinity schools in order to one day be a campus chaplain like Soni. The Muslim doctor who is studying religious diversity as it applies to healthcare. “You don’t get interested in that unless you’re influenced by somebody like Varun,” Patel said. “Now multiply that by 25 or 50 young people a year, and multiply that by 10 or 15 years, and think about the number of people who are going into everything from diplomacy to chaplaincy to medicine to business who have a really refined sense of religious diversity.” As an ever more diverse group of religious leaders seeks positions on ever more diverse campuses, universities will need to let go of outdated assumptions about what a head chaplain should look like, said Adeel Zeb, the imam at the Claremont Colleges. “We’re at a crossroads,” said Zeb, who was elected recently as the first Muslim to lead the national group of college chaplains. “If you start defining a chaplain as a spiritual healer, an ethical leader and emotional healer on campus, regardless of anyone’s faith traditions, if you start focusing on the human emotions and the human spirit, it enables more diverse possibilities.” One day in February, dozens of USC religious leaders of many faiths gathered in a conference room next to Soni’s office. It was their first all-chaplain meeting since President Trump’s inauguration, and each came troubled by anxieties many of their students were feeling. Soni sat back and listened to his colleagues — Episcopalian, Catholic, Mormon, Buddhist, Jewish — weigh in on the hatred unleashed by the recent political rhetoric. “So what should our role be, running our different groups on campus?” Soni asked. “Is an attack on one religion an attack on all religions?” Campolo, the humanist chaplain, brought up the words of German Pastor Martin Niemoller, familiar to everyone in the room: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me. A fellow pastor led the group in a prayer. They stood in a circle, raised their right hands toward Soni and vowed as one to lead their communities on the path they all shared. rosanna.xia@latimes.com

[basketballandbs-blog]

Demarcus Cousins Trade Winners and Losers

Most likely by the time you read this word has gotten to you that the Sacramento Kings have traded their mercurial and volatile yet super talented center Demarcus Cousins along with small forward Omri Casspi to New Orleans in return for rookie Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and a 2017 first round and second round pick (via Philadelphia). Everything about this trade screams big deal on down to its timing (being announced roughly an hour after the All-Star game in which Cousins and new teammate and ASG MVP Anthony Davis played) so clearly there is plenty excitement around it and rightfully so. This is a move that changes the face of the bottom of the playoff this season and will have an exponentially larger effect on this face of the entire league for years to come.

Naturally when a trade of this proportion occurs the immediate questions to ponder are who won and who loss. Granted, most of us realize this is a fool’s errand since it may be years before we can truly assess how this pans out but the allure of talking about who got taken advantage of is too good to pass up. With that said leave it up to me, your prince of prognostication to help make some sense out of this……maybe.

Winner: Tyreke Evans

Before his arrival in New Orleans Evans spent his first four seasons with the Kings, winning Rookie of the Year with them during the 2009-2010 season. Injury and a lack of consistent play more or less got him out of town the summer of 2013 when the Pelicans signed him. Throughout his stint in The City he has seen similar difficulties with staying healthy and finding consistency when in the court. This allows him to go back to a familiar place and a situation that he knows (as dysfunctional as it is). I can actually see this being a positive experience for his career (much how Rudy Gay has been able to find success there).

Loser: Buddy Hield

And I couldn’t feel worse about it. Hield stole our hearts as the gritty gunslinger for the Oklahoma Sooners who led them to a very rare Final Four appearance. Everyone fell in love with the four year guard as the buzz around him heading into the draft was deafening. When he got drafted by the Pels the reaction was mostly enthusiastic. However, a very slow start to the season which saw him struggle trying to adjust to the new three point line and just the speed and physicality of the pro game hampered much of the enthusiasm exuded before he stepped foot on and NBA court. Even after a recent uptick in production it seems that New Orleans was already convinced that he probably wouldn’t be the guy to man the 2 spot for the next several years and decided to move on from him. Trouble is, he’s going to an organization that is pants-shittingly bad at developing young players. Best case, Hield does enough to navigate through some of the asshattery of the Kings organization and not let it kill his confidence or his game and ride his contract out in order get back on the market. But look at how good that is working for Ben McLemore. Scratch that, best case the Kings make another bone headed trade involving him in the next 12 months and he lands on the Spurs or something.

Winner: Omri Casspi

Casspi has been out a little over a month with a calf injury but before then he struggled to see the floor under Dave Joeger’s leadership. This is strange for a guy that is coming off of a career year in Sac-Town last season in averaged 12 points and nailed threes at a 41% clip. Casspi is also a pretty stout defender so he actually fills a well-known need at the 3 spot for the Pels as while they have seen flashes of adequate play from a number of guys at small forward has struggled to find anything that sticks there. Casspi and Boogie are also good friends so that helps. Most players would take exception to being thrown in as almost a companion piece in a blockbuster trade but Omri isn’t in the position to complain. Not that I think he would. Seriously YouTube Omri and Boogie videos, these dudes love each other.

Loser: Langston Galloway

In theory this is a more or less a lateral move. Going from one team with a stacked yet poorly utilized backcourt to an even more stacked backcourt that’s even more poorly utilized. But in all honesty this may be someone who just missed the train Silver lining, because I’m just that kind of dude, Sacramento’s backcourt is wrecked by injuries right now with only red-headed stepchild Ben McLemore and Darren Collison cleared to play in the Kings’ next tilt against Denver on Thursday. In addition, these two guys are very tradeable much like……well………EVERYONE ON THEIR DAMNED ROSTER! However, Galloway’s game is one that I think head coach Dave Joerger values and reminds him of his time in Memphis so the table is set for him to come in immediately and impress. He also gets to link up with fellow local boy Garrett Temple who was having a solid year given the circumstances before his hamstring injury that has sidelined him for the past few weeks. Then there is the rumor that he will be waived. With the attrition the Kings are seeing in the backcourt and the fact that he has a player option further complicates this.

Winner: Demarcus Cousins

This was a fitting divorce to a VERRRRRRRRY volatile marriage. Boogie and the Kings was that couple that you hated double dating with because at any moment they could erupt into a massive argument that totally embarrasses everyone involved and leads to hours of talking about them with your spouse. So now that they have put each other out of their collective misery (sorta) it’s time to discuss who won the break up. Right now, I’m going to go with Boogie. Sure, his numbers may dip a bit (as will AD’s) but his addition now gives New Orleans the most fearsome frontcourt in the league (no really let that set in). With Boogie, the key will be winning and winning right away. Admittedly, the Pellies don’t have the most attractive roster outside of this duo and Jrue Holliday. But with the space created with the bodies they gave up, the relatively not terrible anymore contracts they have on the books and a few days left before the trade deadline to fill holes (ahem, 2 guard spot) they can really go a long way in showing both of their frontcourt stars that they are serious about winning in the long term but they have to move fast. There’s also the matter of playing these guys together in a death line up and staggering their minutes. But this is a discussion better slated after the trade deadline when we have a better idea how this roster will look moving forward. But, in the now Boogie loves AD, is closer to home and will have a few weeks of just wrapping his head around a new, less toxic situation.

Loser: Sacramento Kings

I mean it’s the Kings y’all. They’re not losers because of the return on the trade per se, many around the league have expressed that this was about as good as they were going to get. This is more so about the culture of a franchise that put themselves in a position that forced their hand to trade off one of the most dominant players in the league over the past half-decade. There is the coaching carousel, including the part where they fired the only coach that Boogie jibed with, the fact that he has never played with an above average point guard, their failure in crafting a decent team around Boogie despite owning several high draft picks, the contentious relationship with the city and just the top down incompetency of the organization starting with ownership. I could go on and on and on about this but it would be superfluous (says the guy who is already at 1350 words). Best case, everyone in the organization immediately realizes how YUGE a loss this is and dedicate themselves to being a better organization moving forward. If this means blowing this up and trading everyone that isn’t bolted down (heads up, no one’s bolted down) so be it but there needs to be a clear and unified vision for this franchise from this moment. Either way, look a lot of moves from them in the coming days because this will be a good indication of what direction they are looking to take.

Dunno yet: New Orleans Pelicans

Sorry folks, but there are waaaaaaay too many moving pieces and waaaaaaay too many moves left to be made in the very near future before we can begin to call this. Sure, as mentioned earlier they now possess the most fearsome frontcourt in the league. However, this claim was much more meaningful five years ago. Don’t get me wrong this is still a game changer but there are questions about how they will look defensively along the perimeter and how to play them together in the death lineup (because you GOTTA play them together in the death lineup). There’s also the question of who will round out the lineup. Due to the departures of Hield and Evans the only 2 guard currently on the roster is E’Twaun Moore. Can Solomon Hill be able to get minutes at backup 4 where he is better suited? And in the long term will they be able to either re-sign Holiday or get another floor general of equal or greater value? Because as much as AD and Boogie are psyched to play with each other a good point guard is vital in keeping that love fest going. In a head to head comparison New Orleans definitely wins. They get one of the great talents in the league to pair with the great talent they already have and they moved a pair of guys that didn’t really move the needle for them, a guy that they want to do the whole free agency dance with and a pair of pick that they will most likely not miss (and if you look at New Orleans’ post AD draft history it’s probably for the better). Moreover what this does signify for the Pels is hope. The last time hope was present so heavily in a New Orleans team it delivered a Super Bowl. Sure a bit hyperbolic and no I’m not calling for 2017 Finals appearance for this group but if they can follow this up with a series of good moves and some good fortune we may be able to celebrate this team in some capacity sooner rather than later. New Orleans is a city that is lauded for its culture. Part of that culture is making more from less. We’ve seen it done before, let’s see how this plays out with a little help.

-H.B.