#take this while i finish the tr draft

[saeun]

unfortunate situations aki, denji, yoshida | megumi, itadori, toji.

[theglitchywriterboi]

DEATHS DINER CHAPTER ONE [DRAFT TWO]

Authors note:

Okay, so I'm not gonna post the first 11 chapters of draft two [not that I've gotten that far] as I'm writing all 5 books before finishing the second draft of Deaths Diner, so it'll probably change loads BUT I THOUGHT IT'D STILL BE FUN TO POST THIS SO ENJOY & LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK [& how you think it compares to draft ones chapter one !!!!] Anyway, on to the chapter <3

It was an abnormally cool day. The sky was its normal tint of grey though, so Vlad paid it no mind. His thoughts far off from the world around him as he gently stroked his sleeping boyfriend Tricks head, fingers moving through thick dark brown & orange curls, slowly grazing the bullet hole on his head.

Sat on the fountain, thunder rumbled in the distance, which wasn’t scheduled for today, but Vlad was too lost in his own world to notice.

He looked down at his sleeping boyfriends head, removing his hand from Tricks hair, moving it down to softly rub his soft golden brown cheek.

No one really came here besides Vlad & two other people, one of which being Trick. It was mostly barren around these parts. The ground was a dark grey, only a bit darker than the sky above it. There wasn’t much if any foliage, besides some dead bushes & trees - even those were sparse. But Vlad loved it here.

He loved days like this - being able to sit & relax with his boyfriend. Days like this didn’t come often anymore. Even today his father had called him six times, but Vlad ignored every call. He knew this would come back to bite him, but he didn’t care.

His father had gotten more intense about training him.

It’s not like Vlad was to take over anytime remotely soon, but his father for whatever reason acted as though any day now he’d take over.

Vlad thought this was weird. Before, his father would’ve had to have been forced by higher ups to bring Vlad along, but now he had a million & one things he needed Vlad for.

Rain dripped from the sky, causing Trick to begin to stir. They had been previously been watching the clouds above slowly drift before Vlad had fallen asleep. Rain wasn’t planned for today.

“Fuck whys it rainin’” Trick grumbled, groggy from just being awoken, “Did one of your siblings mess with the weather or something again?”

“Um, I don’t believe they have - they normally send me a message,” Vlad said. He uncoiled the antennas wrapped around his neck, checking to see if he had any miss messages. Just as he suspected, he did not. “Plus remember the last time they messed with the weather? The weather guy nearly killed them,” The two laughed at the memory. Thunder roared even louder than before, but the two were too engrossed in their conversation to pay it any mind.

His siblings were accustom to mayhem. Ages ago, they had gotten all the Lites to for walls around the residents homes. Vlad thought that was particularly mean given circumstances, but they didn’t mess with the residents often.

Another time, they had put some Lites in the river, so when Vlad was doing his work, a bunch of Lites ambushed him. Unfortunately, they had done this when Vlads father had been inspecting his work - he knew they planned for it as they all knew when his father comes down.

But the aforementioned messing with the weather. Not horribly long ago, only about a decade or two, they had broken into The Weathermans tower & messed with the controls. Vlad didn’t quite understand how they were able to, given the fact the buttons are on him, and while he’s by far not a small fellow, Vlad just didn’t understand how it took him around thirty minutes to realize.

Vlad was the youngest of his siblings & his older siblings were accustom to pissing people off. Not all of his siblings lived here - only four did. They were the troublemakers… Well, three of them were. But he doesn’t like to think about the other too much. His other two, not so much. They were both a bit rebellious & outspoken. The Weatherman & his father hated them for that. Not like he & his troublemaking siblings were obedient, not at all. But those two were hard to convince to do something they didn’t believe in. With his other siblings [and himself] they just couldn’t be bothered to kick up a fuss about most things. Only one was like those two, the oldest. But…

“Yeah I mean - you know how bad you have to screw up to piss someone off so much so they almost kill something that can’t die?” Trick said with a laugh.

Footsteps pounded on the concrete as someone ran in their direction. Vlad & Trick stopped talking to see who it was.

Treat - Tricks sister & Vlads friend, was running towards them. Her dark brown & orange curls were pulled into a ponytail atop her head. Instead of her hair cascading down her back, the curls stuck up in the air, though a few fell down her face on either side - she had the same golden brown skin as Trick. Though instead of a bullet hole, she had a large gash on her neck.

As she ran towards them, Vlad could see her eyebrows were furrowed & her face wore a frown.

“D-did you guys hear that?” She asked, her voice shaking with anxiety & panic. Her eyes were glued to the sky, as if it were about to fall out at any second.

“That thunder? Its probably nothing,” Trick said dismissively while Vlad nodded in agreement, “It’s probably just maintenance or somethin’”. That was plausible to Vlad. If it wasn’t his siblings screwing around, then The Weatherman was probably doing unscheduled maintenance. It wasn’t at all common for him to do it with no notice, but it wasn’t unheard of either.

Treat shook her head at that.

“I-I just went to see him - he had no idea what was happening. His buttons weren’t working either,” She explained. Now that was alarming to Vlad. Him not knowing what was happening was extremely concerning - even when people were screwing with the weather, he still knew he could feel the buttons being clicked & pressed for one thing, but his buttons not working? He hardly left his tower anymore, not since he disappeared, but he could still feel every change in the environment. And he always knew the cause.

Trick was about to dismiss the notion something was wrong once more when Vlad cut him off.

“Are you sure?” Vlad asked seriously. He had no reason to ask - she wasn’t a joker like that. At least not anymore. Not as long as he’s known her. But he had to be sure.

Just like he thought, she nodded. “Y-yeah,” She began, stumbling over her words as she spoke “I-I was over at the diner when when I-I heard the first clap of thunder, s-so I went to go see him to see what was up as this wasn’t scheduled a-and he was all panick-y & ushered me out” She explained. That was even more concerning. He was a dick sometimes, but he was never panicked. Not even when someone messed with the controls. Not to mentioned he LOVED Treat - so much so he joked that until her & Tricks parents died he’d be her fill-in father [he didn’t extend the same sentiment towards Trick]. That was something in itself as he hated most beings. There was only one person he liked other than her.

Shes more or less his mentee, he loved teaching her things, so for him to rush her out? Something must’ve really shaken him.

Vlad thought for a moment, before standing abruptly, causing Trick to fall off his lap.

“Hey!” Trick pouted, but neither paid him any mind. Vlad felt his anxiety rise to Treats level as the conversation pressed on.

“What do you think is wrong?” Vlad asked. He presumed she wouldn’t know anymore than he did - if The Weatherman didn’t know what was up yet, he doubted she would’ve.

“I-I don’t know,” She began, before she took a moment to remember the events that led her here, “I did hear a crash - a-at least I think I did,”

Vlad tensed. None of this should be happening - at least not now, he wasn’t trained for it to happen now.

“Where did the crash come from?” He asked. Maybe it’s unrelated. Maybe its a completely different thing to freak out over.

Treat though for a moment, before looking around, & pointing northeast from the spot they were currently at, “Uhm… Over there,” She said. Just as Vlad feared. There were only two things in that direction. Vlads siblings & the door.

He thought for a moment on what they should do before he decided to speak, “We should check it out,” He said, attempting to making his voice sound more confident in this choice than he actually was.

In response to his idea, Trick groaned while Treat flapped her hands up & down.

“I-I think we should tell your dad,” She said, fidgeting with her hands & looking around as she spoke.

Trick, who already wasn’t pleased with the notion of trekking all the way to wherever that crash happened, scrunched up his nose at the thought of going to see Vlads father. Vlad wasn’t thrilled with the idea either.

“Do you want to tell him?” He asked. It was well known that although his father ran The Waiting Room [where the dead go before they’re placed in an afterlife], he hated the dead - even though he ruled over them. He seemed to have a particular disdain for Trick & Treat, especially Treat. Perhaps it was because she was so friendly with The Weatherman. That was Vlads best guess at the very least.

“W-well no…” She trailed off as she spoke, still anxiously fiddling, something she normally did. Vlads father was also very busy & while he called Vlad all the time now, he still hated being contacted when he wasn’t the one to reach out to him. Vlad contacting him would probably result in the same fury that would’ve been sparked had Treat contacted him.

“Exactly,” He replied, before turning he attention to Trick.

“Well I don’t wanna go!” He said stubbornly. “I don’t wanna go on a wild goose chase for something that’s probably just your older siblings dicking around. I just wanna stay here & relax & cuddle” He said with a frown, “Plus on the chance there is something wrong - that sounds like a lot of work & I don’t want to end up double dead” Vlad laughed in response to the last addition to Tricks rant.

Vlad bent down to Tricks eye-level, grabbed his hand, & softly spoke, “My love, you cannot be double dead, I’ve told you this before,” He began, “Plus, when was the last time we did something adventurous?”

“I can think of plenty of adventurous things we did last night,” Trick replied with a stupid grin & a wink, causing Vlad to momentarily lose his composer. “And you don’t know that! What if there’s zombies & they try to eat me?”

“I uh- We-” Vlad started, stumbling over his words, face still hot from what Trick had said, “When was the last time we, the three of us did something adventurous,” He clarified “And I told you - zombies aren’t a thing here!”

“Well weather The Weatherman can’t stop isn’t a thing here either,” Trick rebutted. While the two debated on if they should go, Treat stood there watching the two, not intervening in support of either side. Though Vlad knew she was wary of going, so while he assumed she also didn’t put much stock into her brothers arguments, it was a safe bet to guess she wanted Trick to win. In any other situation he would’ve dropped it, but… If this is what he thinks it was, it was far too important for him to let go.

“Come on, I’m sure it’ll be fun,” Vlad tried “And I thought you liked risks” he joked, poking at Tricks bullet hole on his head. To the unfamiliar, this may have been a tasteless joke - the other dead sure didn’t like him making that joke to Trick whenever the three trekked to town. But it’s been ages since Trick died, so he was no longer hurt by the thought of his passing.

“Hey, this wasn’t my fault! One of my few injuries that actually wasn’t due to me dicking around,” He said, even though that wasn’t wholly true, it was mostly true though, “Fiiiinnnnnnneeeeeee, I’ll go… But if I die, you’ve got to visit me in Super Hell, got it?”

“If double death becomes a thing & in turn makes Super Hell a thing, yes, I will visit you,”

Vlad stood brushing dirt off his knees as he did, before holding out his hand to help Trick stand, which he accepted.

Once both boys were standing, Vlad turned to Treat, “Are you ready to go?” He asked. She paused for a moment, anxiously fidgeting with her hands.

“Oh uh… Y-yeah of course!”

Let's go then!” Vlad said with a smile. And so the three headed off in the direction of the crash, and unfortunately, where The Door was.

Living in this world was pretty nice - in Vlads opinion at least. He of course was biased, seeing as he rarely left it. And for one of the underworlds [or rather, the waiting room for all of them], it was very pleasant.

It was dark and gloomy like most of them yes, but there was an ever-present sense of cheer.

The Deaths would bring the dead here to assign them an afterlife to go to.

Some went to a more… Traditional idea of hell/the bad afterlife. Some went to a specialized death place - car crash deaths, murder victims, etc. young deaths - normally young adults or teens 15 or older [for humans at least - the cut off/start depends on what species you are. Theres some 80 year olds there, to a human like Trick & Treat thats beyond elderly, but to an elf thats practically a tween] went to a universe of their own, while people younger than that normally stayed here until their parents/guardians passed. Not all left though. Though the majority went to either a good afterlife or a practicing afterlife. Where they had the capacity to learn & grow before their final placement. Not all learned.

It was a long complex process, so there was a town were people stayed before placement. After the shock of dying & the fear of being all alone, people enjoyed branching out. Making friends with other dead people, talking about their life before dying, where they think they’ll go. It was nice.

Time also worked differently here. 1 year could pass in a normal universe, while 700 pass here, but then 20 years could pass in the same normal one, but only five months would’ve passed here. It was confusing, for Vlad & the town folk.

No one really lived here full time besides Vlad, The Deaths, Vlads Father, & The Weatherman. Trick & Treat were very special cases - something Vlads father tried to fight, but after The Old Ones talked to him, he had to relent. He did retaliate by making the trios lives [or lack there of in the twins case] a living hell any chance he could. Even their most long-lasting residents weren’t permanent, at least they hope they weren’t.

Vlads antennas buzzed as he sensed his father was calling him. He shook it away. Today was his off time, he wasn’t on call. Whatever it was, it could wait until tomorrow.

As they walked, they passed The River Of Souls.

The river was filled with lost souls - those who had panicked upon learning they were dead. It wasn’t a normal stress or panic, most people didn’t handle it well. Expecting beings to react rationally when learning of their demise was an unrealistic assumption. This was more. It was more intense than your average panic or mourning the life you had.

It was hard to decern, unless you were associated with the death system. Even after years of being here, Trick & Treat still didn’t fully understand.

“We should stop for a second,” Vlad said. The other two stopped, while Vlad walked over to where he kept his fishing pole.

Some souls were able to be fished out - that was Vlads job [part at least]. While the majority… They were doomed to bob around aimlessly in the river forever. He hoped it was nice afterlife for them. The sound of their wails was something the trio were used to at this point.

He had seen one though that appeared to be ready to come out.

He threw a line in near the area he had seen the soul & waited. There was no special way to get them out, the pole was just a conduit that gave the lost ready enough of a connection to pull themselves out.

Finally, after a few moments of waiting, there was a tug.

Vlad held tightly onto his pole. The pull wasn’t too hard, but it was only a matter of time before.

“WAAAAHHH-” Vlad shouted. He had being doing this job for ages, but sometimes they were a bit more aggressive than usual, causing Vlad to on occasion [like this one] to stumble forward. He turned his foot to be parallel with the river, and dug it as hard a he could into the ground to prevent himself from falling in.

See, the lost souls - the ones still unready to come out of the river, didn’t like it when one left.

Vlad watched as other souls pulled the ready one, attempting to make it stay.

Leaving wasn’t just about wanting to & feeling ready. They also had to be strong enough. It wasn’t a matter of literal physical strength - they didn’t have a physical form, they were equal sized balls of blue light. It was a matter of mental strength. At least thats what Vlad believed.

The soul pulled on the pole, while the others pulled on it. Vlad almost thought it was doomed to be lost once more when it popped out.

Vlad grabbed his net, barely catching it before it smacked onto the dirt ground.

“What are you gonna do with ‘em?” Trick asked.

“Ah well… I’ll just carry them until we can bring them to town. A little field trip I suppose, before they get their temporary home?”

“How sweet of you,” Treat said jokingly, “Can I see them?” She asked. She & Trick both enjoyed coming to the river with him, but Treat particularly enjoyed spending time with the lost.

The sound of heavy boots & guns clinking & clacking together filled their ears, while the strong sent of gunpowder filled the air.

Oh no Vlad thought to himself. He was about to try & hide Trick, Treat, & the recovered soul, but due to the fact the land was as barren as ever & a tall figure was already looming over them, he didn’t have time.

One of his older siblings.

“HEEEEEYYYYYY VLADDY!” Sling shouted, as they rushed over to them, before pulling Vlad into a big bear hug & lifting him high off the ground.

“Hi Sling…” Vlad replied. Don’t get him wrong - he loved his siblings, but they, especially Sling, could be… A lot. “Can you put me down now?”

“Oh right,” They said, putting him down.

Vlad took after his father, but Sling having being spawned through different means & for a different purpose, the two didn’t look similar. Though Vlad didn’t resemble any of his siblings. Sling for example, like the others of their siblings that were produce in the same manner for the same purpose, was extremely tall. Vlad, compared to humans, wasn’t short, but compare to his own? He was tiny.

Where Sling differed from their siblings was their attire. They wore a long black trench coat, with black boots, & a black mask that obscured their face. Guns could be seen inside their coat, along with several on their back.

“So, what are you three doing all the way out here?” Sling asked.

“That’s really none of your business, we’re kind of in a hurry-” Vlad said. He didn’t mean for it to sound as harsh as it did. But it was true - they were in a hurry. Trick & Treat may not realize why they were in such a hurry, but they were. Vlad attempted to start walking when Sling grabbed him by the collar, stopping him in his tracks.

“Oh I think it very much is my business little bro. You know you’re not supposed to be over here in any situation, so it’d be a shame if I was forced to tell your dad you AND your friends were wondering around over here,” Sling said. Vlad knew they probably weren’t going to tell his father - they hated him just as much [hell, maybe a bit more] than Vlad did. But at the same time… Sling was a wildcard at times & did enjoy causing problems… Vlad thought for a minute before responding.

“Fine,” He began begrudgingly, “Treat heard a crash in this direction, so we’re going to check it out…” He said. He attempted to not indicate where exactly they were going, but either Sling was too smart & knew Vlad enough, or they had also heard the crash, but didn’t bother checking it out until now.

“Going to the door huh? You were always the more behaved one of us - but I like the switch up. Sounds fun! I’ll be right back, don’t go without me or I’ll tell your dad!” They shouted excitedly, trotting off to go do who knows what. Vlad tried to call out after them, but it was no use.

There wasn’t much out here - a few buildings where Vlads siblings lived, as well as the diner [though not in the direction Sling went nor in the direction Vlad was planning to go].

“W-where do you think they’re going?” Treat asked quietly. They could be doing anything. Going to the door themselves to check out the situation, or just general dicking around. Knowing them they could be gone for hours before deciding to waltz back here.

“I have no idea,” He sighed. He loved his siblings, but they could be a handful at times. Especially the ones that resided here. It seemed as though all his more mellow[ish] siblings left here…

A good few minutes passed & Vlad was about ready to suggest they just go, when the strong sent of chemicals filled the air, nearly making him choke.

Turning around he saw Sling with two people following close behind them.

One jumped & moved around manically, laughing & talking to themselves. Xe held several glass bottles & vials in xyr hand. Xe had even more bottles & vials on a holster wrapped around xyr boney body, it formed an X around xem. Xe were wearing ripped [or burnt?] brown shorts & no shoes or socks.

The other was stood there stoically, her long black dress flowing behind her. She had a longsword on her back. While he couldn’t see them, Vlad knew she always had knives & daggers hidden all over her body. Compared to Sling & the other, she seemed very annoyed to be here.

“Okay, we’re ready,” Sling said, moving forward towards the door.

“Clay? Nic? What did they tell you?” Vlad asked.

“They said you were planning on checking out the door,” Clay said, her voice bland & bored. She enjoyed messing with Vlad as much as her other siblings did, as well as watching the three panic exploring places only meant for deaths [not that they were allowed to often], but talking? That wasn’t something she was too fond of.

Nic didn’t say anything, only nodding xyr head up & down enthusiastically through twitchy pulls & movements.

“That’s- we’re not not going to- ugh, whatever… Lets just go now?” Vlad grumbled.

With that they set off.

Vlad lead the way to the door, Treat still held onto the soul Vlad almost forgot it was there, until she spoke up.

“A-are we bringing them with us?” She asked after a few minutes of walking.

That was something he had forgotten to factor in. It wasn’t the best idea for a soul, especially a newly healed one, to get near the door. He really should’ve considered this sooner…

Before he could come up with a response though, Sling plucked the newly UN-lost soul out of the net, adjusting their stance, before dropping the soul & kicking it as hard as they could far off in the distance.

Then they turned around & kept walking.

“Why did you do that?!” Vlad exclaimed.

“What? It needed to get to town, so I kicked it to town. Much faster than waiting for us to get done with whatever you’ve got planned,” They explained matter factly.

“That- you could’ve-” Vlad was at a loss for words, so when it became clear he couldn’t formulate a response, they all kept walking. This time with Sling leading their trek, though Vlad followed close behind them.

Soon they reached the furthest point Vlad had previously been allowed to go. A large withering oak tree stood before them, a large dark forest laid behind it. That’s where the door was.

They all began to step in.

It was unnaturally dark in the forest. No light of any kind - even on the rare occasion The Weatherman planned a sunny day [not that today was one of them], the forest was always… Unaffected. Drowning in darkness. Only one person could light it up, but they we’re here right now. Flashlights & Artificial lights did work, but not too well, not that Vlad had the foresight to attempt to bring anything anyway.

Vlad stood close behind Sling, who was walking through the forest with ease. There were no trails or paths of any kind, it seemed as though the deaths walked through these trees by memory alone, all while leaving no tell they were there.

“Aren’t you glad we came?” Sling joked, nudging Vlad in the arm.

Clay took lead this time, while Sling followed behind her. Vlad was behind Sling, practically glued to them due to the darkness. He didn’t know what order Trick, Treat, & Nic were in.

Leaves crunched beneath the deaths heavy boots as they made their way deeper inside the forest. It was dark outside the forest, but inside? Inside it was basically fully black. But his siblings walked through with ease, while he stumbled into every tree, tripped over every rock, & repeatedly got a face full of leaves.

Deaths had better vision than most other life forms - Vlads kind included. It was something that came up so little, it still surprised Vlad how effortlessly they moved in the darkness. While he did have better sight than Trick & Treats kind, it was nowhere near the level of the deaths. He wondered, if it was this dark for him, how dark was it for Trick & Treat? Or was it so dark, that it could no longer be compared?

“Wait wait wait,” Trick said, breaking the silence that had previously only been filled with the sound of rustling leaves & branches breaking. “I think we should link up”

“What?” Sling asked.

“Ya know - make a chain so we don’t keep running into shit?” Trick explained. It took a moment for Sling to respond.

“Um… Okay… You guys do that then.” They said.

So Trick, Treat, & Vlad attempted to do so. Vlad cautiously stepped, practically shuffling around while aimlessly feeling the air. A few moments went by, when Sling let out an impatient sigh, before a hand grabbed Vlads, & stuck it into someone else's, before moving on.

“There, can we go now?” Sling asked, having connected the currently sightless. Vlad nodded, though he wasn’t even sure if Sling was looking at him, but when he felt another hand grab his currently available one & start walking, it was safe to assume they had seen him.

“Oh uh - Maybe someone with better vision should stay in the back so they can see if someone gets lost?” Treat suggested.

“Nics back there,” Sling dismissed.

“Maybe she means someone whos a bit more… Open to talking?” Vlad replied.

Sling just sighed, before the sound of shuffling could be heard, but no one let go of Vlads hand, so he presumed it wasn’t Sling. A fact that would be confirmed a moment later.

“Thank you Clay-e,” Sling said in an annoying playful tone. Vlad heard her grunt in response - which was her nice was of saying ‘you’re welcome’.

Based off the sound of people talking, Sling was now leading the group, with Vlad directly behind them, Trick held Vlads hand, & he assumed Treat held Tricks hand. He didn’t know if Clay was after Treat or if it was Nic. If it was the latter, that’d be unfortunate, because while Nic was harmless [at least to the already dead], xe did scare Treat. When asked she couldn’t explain why, it was simply xyr intensity. Clay probably wouldn’t bother her, but in all honesty, as far as Vlad could tell, it seemed as though Treat had a crush on her. But a crush is a lot better than being scared.

They walked through the darkness, not really talking, just focusing on their destination [and for Vlad, not tripping & bashing his head in. Just because Trick & Treat couldn’t die doesn’t mean he was granted the same privilege].

Vlad almost wanted to ask Sling if they were almost to the door when, after what felt like forever… He felt like he could actually see something.

It was a bit disorienting going from full black to light.

In the distance, bright blue & green lights filled up the forest. But there was something else. Vlad was sure Sling had noticed it at the same time he had, because as his eyes trailed down from the tall trees now illuminated, there was a soft, barely visible [to Vlad] red glow.

Vlad didn’t know what it was, but he knew it couldn’t be any good, given the fact Slings hand tensed upon seeing it.

[chuuyrr]

Hi! Can I request scarlet witch!reader transport everyone in jjk universe to tokrev universe because she misses Mikey? The toman boys are happy to see her again but gojo and the other student are confused because they don't see any curse spirit, then they realize its reader power. Thank you!

scarlet witch! baby fushiguro! reader returns to toman

jujutsu kaisen x reader

masterlist of the series

warning(s): possible jjk & tokyo revengers spoilers

consider this request as the part two of scarlet bb fushiguro joins toman post :) thank you so so much for requesting and for being patient, i haven't written any requests in a short while—it warms my heart to be able to write a jjk x tokyorev request again <3

(p.s. the ones i previously slash recently posted are drafts i worked on bit by bit since school started, i'd write parts by parts whenever i get breaks and stuff, and speaking of tokyo revengers—my very tr series entitled venom is currently on-hold, i still got writer's block for it am so sorry 🧍‍♀️)

requests are open for a short time only :D

it's been a long time since you traveled. you absolutely missed toman, especially mikey. ever since you told gojo, megumi, and his friends about the gang and uniform you were wearing, they forbade you from going back—giving a light scolding about how dangerous universe traveling is, how you are still inexperienced, and how gangs are bad—but we both know that's not stopping you. you spent the next few months practicing your chaos magic behind gojo's back, and once you had gotten the hang of it, you were able to return with one attempt this time—except you accidentally brought company.

you appeared in an abandoned lot. a dispute between two gangs had just finished, leaving unconscious and battered men scattered everywhere. paying no mind to your surroundings, you bolted towards a short-blond-haired boy and cried, "mikey! mikey!"

"..[name]?" you heard him utter your name.

mikey perked up at the sound of your voice. after turning around, his gang charisma subsided. with a gasp escaping his lips, he ran towards you, meeting you in the middle of the lot to hoist and toss you in the air before embracing you.

"[name]-chan! it really is you!" mikey beamed with joy.

it didn't take long for the other members of the tokyo manji gang to trail after mikey to see you. in an instant, you were smothered with tight embraces and headpats. the founding members, takemichi included, really missed you. if anything, they were incredibly happy to see you. it's been so long since they last saw you.

"what took you so long?" mikey's face contorted into a pout as he took you from draken's arms.

you explained, "my daddy won't let me use my traveling powers."

"i mean, it's quite understandable. if i had a child that has wiggly-woos magic and traveling powers, i would forbid them too." mitsuya chuckled softly.

takemichi asked, ruffling your hair. "does your dad at least know you're here?"

your pupils dilated at the mention of your father. no, it's not that you didn't tell him. you didn't even have plans to tell him about coming back to toman. you could feel his energy, his presence in this very world, along with several more people. you brought them along with you. well, fuc—"[name]? [name]!" mikey shook you as he and the rest of the boys stared at you in concern.

"are you okay? shit, is it because of the dimension traveling?" draken panicked in concern.

"no, you don't understand!" you suddenly cried out to them. "i didn't come here alone."

"huh, what do you mean firecracker?" baji raised a brow at you in confusion before looking around the lot. "there's no else here, well aside from these jackasses." he uttered the last part of his sentence as quiet as possible.

"my daddy's here! even my gumi-nii and his friends. uncle nanami too!" you gasped softly as you cupped your face in your hands. "i accidentally brought them with me. they shouldn't be here.."

"hey, calm down." kazutora rubbed shapes on your back. "it's going to be okay, yeah?"

"we'll help you find them." pah-chin grinned at you.

your eyes lit up with hope, "really? you guys will?"

"of course, we will. so, cheer up, okay?" mikey smiled at you, pinching your mochi-like cheek, causing you to giggle. "think of it as an adventure with us. you'll get to ride motorcycles!"

"okay, but who is taking [name] with them?"

with that, the founding members of toman fought all over again over who you would be riding with like last time. thirty minutes had already gone by and they were still arguing, so you decided to step in and randomly pick a person you'd do with, and you chose mikey, mostly because you miss him the most.

unlike before, toman bought you a helmet and it was mitsuya and draken who convinced mikey and the rest to buy you one for your safety. it was the same color as your chaos magic, scarlet. after mikey helped you put it on, you got on his CB250T and with that, you and the rest left to search for your family.

the jujutsu sorcerers of the tokyo school were incredibly confused as to why everything was weird. all of a sudden, there was no more cursed energy. gojo yanked down his blindfold to take a better look at his surroundings. something was very wrong. they were no longer in the school; they were somewhere in shibuya, and speaking of shibuya, it looked different.

"this isn't a domain expansion, is it?" megumi looked at his gojo-sensei.

gojo shook his head, brows furrowing. "no, it's not. i don't feel or see any cursed energy, unless my six eyes stopped working."

"uh, guys?" everyone's heads turned towards yuji who suddenly became pale.

maki raised a brow. "what is it?"

"the year of my phone says it is 2008.." yuji swallowed thickly before showing each and everyone the date being displayed on the screen of his phone.

"we traveled back in time?!" nobara screamed only to get her mouth clasped by a hand—specifically by maki's hand.

the dark green haired woman whispered yell, glancing at the people passing by. "shhh! you'll attract us unwanted attention. panda is attracting enough attention already."

"no wonder things looks different." nanami rubbed his temples as he shook his head. "but how is this possible? this can't be a cursed technique or domain expansion, is it?"

"what if.. what if it was [name]'s doing?" gojo hypothesized, crystalline blue eyes widening as the thought of you crossed his mind.

"huh, but didn't you leave [name] to fushiguro's sister?" nobara blinked in confusion.

"i did leave [name], but what if she used her dimension traveling powers again and brought us with her?" gojo's hands now closed into fists. "what if this isn't our world?"

"then, that could explain the lack of cursed energy and spirits." nanami exclaimed.

"we should find [name]. she's the only one who can bring us back." panda said as toge nodded, muttering "salmon" affirmatively.

"how are we going to find her though?" nobara's face faltered into a frown.

"maybe she's at the musashi temple. remember when she told us about this biker gang she became a part of? [name] she met them there and it's where they hold gang meetings." megumi pointed out.

"we better get going. that shouldn't be far from where we are." gojo nodded his head.

all of them made their way towards the temple, and they couldn't help but stare in awe of their surroundings. they still couldn't believe they were back in the year of 2008. things have certainly changed since then, from trends to gadgets. it was a very nostalgic trip.

by the time they arrived at the temple, a horde of motorcycles came speeding at them, causing gojo and the rest to halt. as hundreds of men came for them, they spotted you with a scarlet helmet, riding a motorcycle accompanied by a blonde boy they weren't familiar with. gojo was the first one to recover from shock and ran towards you. his eyes widened when he saw the guy with you carrying you in his arms. although the blonde boy was about his students' age, something about his aura alarmed gojo.

when you opened your mouth to speak, you were taken from mikey's arms. your eyes widened to see gojo, your dad, now holding you firmly in his arms and nanami, along with the first year and second year students, surrounding you in a protective stance.

"oi, the hell are you doing with [name]?" the first division captain, baji, scowled at the four who stole you from them.

"how did he manage to take [name] from mikey that fast?" takemichi gulped.

gojo readied his technique and yanked down his blindfond. "don't worry, kikufuku. i got you, we got you."

"wait, no—you don't understand!" you panicked, your eyes dilating.

"i say we beat the crap out of these guys." draken cracked his knuckles, eyes hardening into a glare, assuming your dad, brother, and his friends were affiliated with the gang they had just pummeled.

"hand us, [name]." it didn't take long for mikey to go into 'toman leader' mode.

"i said stop it!"

as you screamed, a shockwave of your immense red power dispelled and scattered across the abandoned parking lot as everyone was held in place and prevented from tearing each other's faces off.

"don't hurt mikey and his friends!" you cried out to gojo, who was frozen in place by your red psionics. "they're the gang i told you about. they're nice people!"

mikey and the rest of toman's gaze softened at the sight of you defending them. "[name].."

once everyone had settled down, you released them from your chaos magic. as you made your way towards mikey, you hugged him by the waist, burying your face in his abdomen. the short blonde boy sighed and ruffled your hair, eyes still cautiously gazing at the confused and surprised looks of the jujutsu sorcerers.

"so, you're the gang that my baby told us about.." gojo began, blinking profusely.

mitsuya quipped, evidently confused. "baby?"

"that's my daddy." you lifted your head up to them as you explained briefly, pointing at the tall, white-haired man with your index finger.

"that's your dad?!" a series of gasps and surprised looks elicited from the tokyo manji gang in unison.

you took the initiative to explain to gojo and everyone about the tokyo manji gang once again. they were given reassurance that mikey's gang had done nothing wrong to you and that they were good people. sure, they beat up other gangs, but they look after each other like family. you also reminded mikey and the others about the existence of jujutsu sorcerers and how your family and brother's friends were sorcerers. as soon as you explained everything, you brought them all together and got them to reconcile.

"we're sorry for trying to fight you." draken bowed and so did the rest of the gang. "we didn't know that you were [name]'s dad."

"it's alright, kiddo." gojo managed a laugh. he still couldn't shrug off the fact that this tall blonde boy with a dragon tattoo embedded on his head was as tall as him.

"daddy, can i stay with toman for a little longer? pleaaase." you clung onto gojo's pant leg and gave him the puppy eyes as you pleaded. "i promise i'll take us back home later."

"oh, alright." gojo sighed in defeat. the limitless sorcerer picked you up from the ground and approached mikey.

pulling down his blindfold once again, he looked at the blonde and each and everyone else straight in the eye. "i'm leaving my baby in your hands for a little while. please, don't get [name] into such acts of violence."

"we won't." mikey took you from your father's arms, nodding determinedly. "we'd never let [name] get hurt."

"yeah, [name]'s a part of toman now. if anything, she's under our utmost protection now." pah-chin grinned.

it didn't take long for gojo and everyone to warm up to the tokyo manji gang when they saw the way you were treated like a younger sibling. it was very clear that these boys had grown fond of you, especially mikey, whom gojo had a bad first impression of. the short-blonde boy loved you to bits. from the way he would carry you, feed you dorayaki, and ruffle your hair lovingly, but most of all, it was your bright and happy smile that convinced them.

this world wasn't too shabby at all. it's no wonder you returned. maybe universe traveling isn't so bad after all, but they still found it weird how this world lacked cursed energy and spirits.

[writeblrfantasy]

okay so! you all said you wanted it, so here you go: my writing process.

1. i get an idea. i wish i could say there is a pattern to the way i get ideas but there really isn’t. could be an aesthetic or a color scheme or a character that i have in mind, sometimes it just comes to me. trs was a product of tumblr pictures, pawns was born out of my love of villain/hero relationships and master/slave relationships, queen & captain was a female take on merlin. it’s something different every time.

2. if i decide it’s a wip i want to pursue and plan, i start writing everything i know in a planning document, plot, character types, names, worldbuilding, anything like that. i create a part of the document just for the plot, and over time i fill in that and everything else i don’t know. i set aside a couple hours to do research for names i want.

cont’d

3. plotting. i always start out my wips by plotting instead of pantsing. i divide the story into three loose acts and write down every scene I know and leave blanks for the ones i don’t and * for names i don’t have yet. i make every unwritten scene orange (don’t ask me why, I just do)

I always know the beginnings (and usually the ends) of my stories, but middles give me a lot more trouble. usually there’s a lot of dialogue in quotes that I know I want to put in that scene in my outline. dialogue is my strongest point and what comes to me most easily, so I always have a lot of this!

ex: (this is some of the plotting for trs, which I still have)

it always ends up a mess, but i get it pretty well.

4. writing. once i’ve plotted everything i can and am confident I can get going, I start writing in a different document. i suck at titles, but if i happen to know what the title is going to be before i start writing, i of course i title the document that. if not, i write something random. if there’s still names for minor characters i don’t know yet, i just put *. with every scene i finish, i turn it green. if i’m doing nanowrimo i am pretty good at knocking out a few thousand a day unless i’m really busy that day. often i will get stuck and have to take a break, but i always get back on my feet.

often all the scenes i’ve planned don’t add up to a word count i’m happy with, and almost always does the actual book deviate from the plan. i think up new scenes as i go and use my outline loosely for inspiration largely during the middle. writing my first draft is my favorite part of the whole process!

if it’s a wip i’m really pumped up to write and work on everyday, these days it takes me about 2 months to write. this wasn’t always the case, but i’ve completed several wips in this time frame. trs took 4 months, but that was the first wip i ever completed and it was also 110k. so that’s a bit different.

5. editing. once i finish my first draft, i may take a day off just to recharge and celebrate, but i am not the type to take six weeks off before i start editing. i just don’t have the patience lol. i do very, very little editing while i’m doing my first draft, so when i go back in to edit, i have a mostly fresh outlook on it. does this mean i won’t go back and edit things again months or years later? no, i do that often. but this is what i do in the moment.

editing (in chronological order, i don’t usually jump around the doc much) takes me about a week or maybe two and i generally add 10k by the time i’m done. i’m an underwriter so i don’t take much away in editing. i will admit editing is my least favorite part of writing but it’s so, so necessary.

6. i might go back in and spot edit and do spell checks and all that, but this is generally when i’m done! wips (not nanowrimo) usually take about three months total and averages out at about 70-75k, with exceptions, of course. after this i send it to my friends and let my mom read it, and my darling best friend is kind enough to make a list of her favorite things about it. i have a special color in my journal (purple!) to write that i finished a book that day.

there you have it! my writing process! i hope this was interesting to read, and if you made it all this way, write moo in the comments! let me know what y’all think. what are your writing processes like? do we do any of the same things?

[tiemeupspidey]

Fucking Idiot

Series: Dog Mom Life

Relationship: Tom Holland x Reader

Warnings: Cute Fluffness & Swearing

(you should know by now that I swear all the time in my imagines lol)

Word Count: 1,000

A/N: Sorry I posted this late but I love you all!! I really wanted to type something about his nose getting broken for a second time.

me working on future posts like v

[Reader’s POV]

  Today you were walking Tessa out in town for a little while. You needed to be out and about since it was healthy for the baby. Of course people snapped pictures which made you uneasy without Tom. One man came close and Tessa barked at him to make him go away. She was protecting you and the baby.

   You had an hour before Tom’s flight would land so you thought this opportunity would be great. Harrison wasn’t responding to your messages since he told you to stay off of social media. His warning was it could harm the baby if I got stressed. Of course you wanted to look but you took Harrison’s word for it.

“Hey your Tom Holland’s wife right?” a teenager asks coming up to you and Tessa. Giving her a smile you nod.

“Can I please take a picture with you?I-I mean if you don’t mind, My friends will never believe me” She gushes pushing up her glasses. Freckles adorned her cheeks, your heart wanting your daughter to be sweet as this.

“Of course love get your phone out” She pulls her phone out of her bag while you tell Tessa to sit. She angles the camera so all of you are in the frame. Tessa’s tag was wagging and hitting your ankle.

“Thank you so much! You’re going to be a great mum, Tom is lucky to have you! Bye Tessa, tell Tom Roxy says Hi!” she waves before walking down the street. Her backpack bouncing as she ran towards the bus that pulled up to the curb.

“Alright Tess let’s go stop at the store real quick and pick something up yeah?” Tugging her leash a bit we head towards a grocery store. Thinking you wouldn’t get too much because you had to carry it all back.

-

[Tom’s POV]

“Mate how bad is it? Do you think she’s going to freak out?” I ask Harrison opening up the camera on my phone. Looking at my reflection I cringe at the sight. My gaze moving to Harrison with fear in my eyes.

“Dude it’s so bad, she’s going to flip her shit… you know it’s going to be worse since she has all those extra hormones thanks to the baby…” Harrison laugh before looking back at his phone. Rolling my eyes I feel a pain of guilt from lying to her.

   Recently she texted me asking if everything was okay because of what Harrison said to her. Yet in reality everything is not okay. My face is swollen, it’s bruised and sensitive to the touch. I couldn’t even cover it with makeup. I miserably failed at trying to cover it up and just gave up in general.

   I FaceTimed her before I broke my nose on set that day. We were wrapping up week two of Chaos Walking and I fucked up again. My fans gave me so much shit for it. Literally a walking meme,I saw so many memes about me. I still get teased about not saying croissant right. Quackson will forever be the meme of my existence.

“I told her not to check social media so she wouldn’t stress out because I’m not losing my goddaughter to you being careless on set Tom” Harrison remarks sending a quick glare to me. Harrison hasn’t looked at me like that before.

“You’re exaggerating, I couldn’t possibly cause that” I deny looking at Harrison as if he was insane. Me be the cause of my daughter’s death?

“It’s possible Tom, women who are pregnant and go through high amounts of stress can lead to a miscarriage.. I swear I’ve done more research than you mate” his tone laced with seriousness but teasing me. I couldn’t tell if he was more serious than teasing me.

“Shut it Harrison, I’m the father of this baby.. I’m supposed to know more here” I say pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket. Opening up my instagram and taking a scroll through. Another text message pops up on my notification bar.

Love of my LIFE:

Tom are you sure everything's okay?

You:

Yeah everything’s fine love, see you in a few hours.. Give Tess a kiss for me and I’ll see you tonight for dinner with the family since I’ll only be home for two days..

Love of my LIFE:

Met one of your fans today, Her name is Roxy and she says hi! I’ll make sure dinner is ready for everyone tonight. Love you xx

-

[Reader’s POV]

“C’mon love let’s head inside so we can get ready for everyone coming over..” Ushering Tessa to walk into the house. Carrying the bags inside the house and setting them down real quick. Standing back up straight you lock the door behind you.

   Leaning down to reach for the bags and groaning because you can’t reach them. Squatting down and grabbing the bags. Swearing underneath your breath because now you can’t stand back up.  Placing your hand on the door handle you manage to pull yourself up somehow.

   Tessa walks by tilting her head looking at you struggling. A laugh escapes your lips cause she looks so damn cute. Tom was normally the one to help you up but now that he’s been gone filming it’s been harder. You’ve had to adapt to doing things without him around.

  “I wish you could be human sometimes” you sigh once you’re fully situated and not feeling off balance. You were currently three and a half months pregnant and luckily your bump wasn’t huge. Your mother had a huge bump but luckily so far you haven’t exploded.

    Time went by quicker than you thought as you made dinner in the kitchen. In between everything you set up the table with the essentials. Setting wine glasses out for Tom, Nikki, and Dom. You couldn’t wait to have alcohol again but that wouldn’t be for a while.

   Stirring the sauce in the pan and a separate sauce in case anyone had an allergy to mushrooms. You couldn’t remember which of the twins couldn’t have it so you just made two sauces. Paddy preferred marinara sauce but he called it “Red Sauce.” You never made Quinoa because Tom was sick of it ever since he could only eat that on a diet he had for a film.

    You were turning into a mom and were remembering what people liked and didn’t liked. Only reason is because you’ll have to do that when your daughter is born and as she grows up.  Your phone starts ringing making you come back to reality. Taking it off the charger you answer it bringing it up to your ear.

“Ello love, we just picked up Tom so we’ll be there in an hour okay? Traffic got crazy because of the fans knowing Tom was coming home”she explains through the the conversations going on in the background. You could hear Sam and Harry insulting each other and Paddy’s laughter.

“You two knock it off! Your mum is on the phone” Dom’s voice stern making the car go silent. Nikki thanks him for getting them to be quiet.

“That’s fine Nikki, I just have to finish the pasta and another dish so everything should be ready by then” your hands busy as the vegetables are being cut.

“I love you Darling! Ow Paddy stop!” you hear Tom’s voice in the background making you smile. Paddy is probably doing something and probably pinched Tom. Not thinking much of it you say I love you too before hanging up.

[Tom’s POV]

“Your face is fucked” Sam snickers pulling out his phone from his pocket. He takes a quick picture making me upset.

“Fuck you Sam, I’m already scared as it is..”

“Yeah scared of your pregnant wife” Harry’s laughter is joined by Sams. Rolling my eyes from their annoying comments.

“Tom did you not tell her about your nose?” Paddy asks re zipping his jacket up. Nodding my head Paddy’s eyes widen.

“But.. Tom lying isn’t nice” I was getting chastened by my youngest brother, great.

“If she swears at you I won’t be surprised” my mum turns in her seat to look back at me. Guilt growing in my chest, thanks everyone.

“Mum.. I was just trying not to freak her out” I defend myself huffing a breath out looking away from her gaze.

[Reader’s POV]

   Sighing in content when everything was done. Tessa was roaming around the kitchen looking for food that may have fallen. Heading up the stairs carefully towards our bedroom. I go to the closet to change my outfit since it had flour on it.

     You spilt flour on yourself when trying to make cookies for the boys but mainly Paddy. He loved the cookies you made and would come over sometimes to make them with you. The boys would come over to check on you and the baby when they could. His brothers have such a sweet side to them when they aren’t messing with Tom.

   Pulling another pair of maternity leggings on and grabbing a tank top out of the dresser after. Going to the closet you pick out a gray cardigan and slip it onto your arms. The fabric warming you up, the draft in the house made you chilled. Another reason why you missed Tom being home because he is so warm at night.

   Looking at yourself in the mirror and turning to the side. A smile on your face as you see your bump, it’s so damn cute. Heading out of the room you head back downstairs. Tessa following you everywhere you went. She was like your own personal guard dog when you were home alone.

   Tom’s voice comes from the foyer of the house. Reaching the last step with Tessa she jumps over to Tom. Nikki walking in with some flowers, a smile on her sweet face. Dom walks in waving at you before taking his jacket off. Looking back at Tom’s face you see his skin around his nose is bruised and swollen.

“Thomas what happened to your face?” You ask placing your hands on your hips. He slowly looks up from Tessa giving you a small smile. Sam and Harry coming in , their conversation ending.

“I uh.. Fuck. I broke my nose on set darling” Tom explains making panic flood through your system.

“You fucking idiot, that’s the second time you’ve done that.. You lied to me what the hell” annoyance in your tone but who are you kidding? You weren’t that surprised he broke it again.

“Fucking idiot” Sam and Harry say simultaneously making Tom groan. The boys laugh high fiving each other. Paddy stumbles in looking at everyone laughing at Tom. 

“Hey, what did I miss?” he asks, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. Nikki ruffles his hair trying to stifle her laughter.

“Let’s just say Tom learned his lesson for lying” she explains leaning down and kissing Paddy’s head.

“Alright everyone go serve yourselves, food is in the kitchen.. Also Paddy I made some cookies for you” you smile over at him. He takes off towards the kitchen followed by Sam and Harry.

“Tom why did you lie to me?” you ask stepping down from the stairs. He stands up walking over to you once everyone is in the kitchen.

“I was embarrassed okay? I’m really sorry love.. Can you forgive me?” Tom’s eyes looked pained and you felt bad. Ugh these hormones flip on and off like a switch.

“I can forgive you, but you have to put an ice pack on that right now.. Don’t be stubborn or else” You point your finger at him sternly. Pecking him on the lips you then take him to the kitchen.

   Going into the kitchen you walk over to the fridge. Opening the freezer you grab a bag of peas out. Handing them to him he puts the bag on his nose wincing. Laughing at how silly he looked with the bag on his face. It was good to see him home even if it was just for a little while.

“I love you” a smile on your face as you looked at Tom. He takes his free hand grabbing one of yours.

“More than yesterday?” He asks with a cheeky grin. Rolling your eyes you nod.

“Yes Tom, more than yesterday” His smile always making your heart flutter. Your love for him grows more and more each day.

[hitachihanoi]

The Sole Method You Should Be By using for Come up with My Essay for Me Web-based Found

What Is Important To Do to discover more regarding Create My Essay in my situation On line Prior to when You’re Left Out In the event you order from us, you will find a draft of the papers that should be specified your article writer goes while in the acceptable track. Talk with your exclusive writer via the internet, the affected person who can art your essay prior to when it’s best. Putting into action an essay blogger on the web isn’t as pricey as many people today talk about. You can start by authoring an intro. Bear in mind you could also look for well-versed in the samples of author’s earlier do the job. Along side method of creating, you’re more than likely so as to get your hands on your article writer and provides considerably more guidelines to these people. Exactly What Is So Fascinating About Jot down My Essay i believe Web-based? Talking about precautions in prose is somewhat various. It’s the initial (and likely only) possiblity to bring the reader’s consideration. Your reader assignment help uk will want to bear in mind just what persona is beginning to feel in particular targeted issues. Releasing Compose My Essay for Me Web-based Adequately, our sophisticated high-quality custom made simply writing service is accurately what you are looking. When it regards lengthy orders placed, they’ll be instantly broken into some portions for you together with your writer’s safety and benefits. All of us simply want to definitely feel get when working with a company or perhaps a gifts.

Our experienced freelance writers from several educational qualification know your wants and are usually ready to increase their company. Some students are familiar together with your totally focus. Many students set plenty of function into not working on their give good results. The Down-side Chance of Come up with My Essay in my situation On line You’re prepared to make contact with your paper blogger Now it’s not essential to compose towards purchaser guidance team and see for a reaction to see how the custom-made of the buy would be heading. These kind of cases incorporate a rude feedback, a radiant opinion, or even joyous affirmation. Write down My Essay in my view On the web If your Client’s request for revision doesn’t meet up with all the abovementioned conditions, a surplus payment for the revision is usually necessary. Use sub-headings to remain to keep up outcomes of exactly the same nice along, that https://uk.payforessay.net/ is definitely much easier to review and look at. Your Client is just not capable to have a repayment in case the Purchase is revised through the journalist and the thing is that fixed. Obtaining Post My Essay personally On the web Inserting your arrangement incorporates 2 ways. Whilst you’re asked to make available your sensitive information, it is just utilized to increase the grade in our instructional solution, to contact you in case there is any pressing issues about your purchase as well as to affirm your get or if perhaps your card was developed with out approval. The quantity of more deeply cost will undoubtedly be made the decision by the exec from the acquire.

The Upside to jot down My Essay personally Via the internet Buying an individu guidance on the web isn’t a problems but only in case the seller can take you excellent grades. You won’t be require for virtually every research listing. You should purchase the highest cost for reduced rates, which have a 15% diminishment. Just in case it seems like much easier, take into account discovering a couple of basic questions that you have as you think of the subject place. At present, amongst the most usually put to use solutions to address instructional challenges is acquiring drafted forms. These days you can find hundreds and countless businesses featuring custom-made essay creating guidance, whilst your endeavor would be to elect for one that would satisfy your demands, like, quite possibly the most honest companies is NitroEssaysWriting! In most cases, websites like these typically find newbie writers who don’t have obligatory experience to pay extra for faculty themes for several kinds of duties. Never be concered about editing right up until you’ve executed the write. Surprisingly, essays are a couple of the the very first higher education projects university student have to have aid in.

You will find several several http://oas2018.manas.edu.kg/index.php/tr/duyurular/337-introducing-buy-essay-online-729 essay versions and it’s essential to learn what is predicted individuals. Comprehend how your make up will be looked at. Exploration essays are demonstrated that they are on the list of trickiest to create. Discovering the sort of essay anticipated will allow you to come up with the right set up. There are certainly a substantial amount of vital stuff that make essay writing assignments this sort of time consuming project to finish. The very first thing you must be crystal clear about before beginning your essay may be the almost essay you intend to be authoring. Just take a while give some thought to what you intend to present to your visitors and why. At the same time along with the England Essay Help out undergraduates are not able to get interested in sufficient time but delight in a full existence. You’re granting the organization the possiblity to respond honorably. What Every person Dislikes About Prepare My Essay for me personally Internet and Why Writing custom paperwork is known as a complicated . employment, mainly unless you have ample being familiar with about a distinct content you’re assigned. Use the composing to assist you consider that your papers by way of. In the event the report is ready, it will probably be available for acquire.

The post The Sole Method You Should Be By using for Come up with My Essay for Me Web-based Found appeared first on Hitachi Hà Nội.

[thrashermaxey]

Roos Lets Loose: Who is the Fantasy MVP?

  Welcome to the second edition of “Forum Buzz,” a column where I dissect popular recent posts from the DobberHockey Forums. Pretty much anything within the forums might be covered, other than trades (those usually will get their own separate write-ups on the site and are also covered in the next day’s Ramblings) and signings (those tend to be dissected in Alex McClean’s weekly Capped column). With that out of the way, let’s dive right in!

  Topic #1 – Is it time to give up on Jesse Puljujarvi?

This reminds me of the question about Pavel Zacha from my recent mailbag column, in that it’s asking about a player oozing with upside but who’s struggling more with each passing season. Accordingly, to provide insight about Puljujavi (JP) I’ll need to assess many of the same data points as I did with Zacha.

Let’s start with IPP, or the percentage of points JP received on goals scored while on the ice. The key with IPP is if a player has a nose for scoring and is mainly saddled with poor linemates, his IPP should be high, in turn boding well for him to succeed if he’s put into the right circumstances and/or with the right linemates. In JP’s case, we know he has a mere 38 points in 139 NHL games; but is he doing the best he can under his given circumstances when gauged by IPP? The answer seems to be no, as for 2017-18 and 2018-19 (when he combined to play 111 of his 139 career games thus far) his IPPs were, respectively, 54.1% and 56.3%. Couple that with 5×5 team shooting percentages of 6.64% and 5.83% in those same seasons, and a picture is painted of a player who not only doesn’t help generate offense (hence the low team shooting percentages) but also doesn’t find a way to grab points on the few goals actually scored while he’s on the ice (hence the low IPP).

In cases like these I also like to examine a player’s performance on the PP versus the man advantage minutes he’s received. That’s a bit difficult when it comes to JP, who’s PP Time per game has shrunk from 49 seconds to 45 to 27 in his three seasons. Still, we get some visibility from 2017-18, as that season he played in 68 games while averaging those 45 seconds with the man advantage. Looking at the data though, he didn’t do much with that PP time, seeing the 263rd most PP minutes among forwards yet tying for the 267th most PPPts. Although no one could rightfully expect him to put up boatloads of PPPts given this deployment, he didn’t shine enough to demonstrate he deserved additional PP Time or was capable of doing more with less. In other words, another non-positive sign.

Lastly, we need to examine the extent to which he’s played with talented players, and how he fared. This season he played about 10% of his shifts with Connor McDavid, but in doing so tallied 22% of his points. Last season he played just under 35% of his shifts with McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, but in doing so generated 55% of his points. There are two ways to look at this – (1) he’s only good if propped up by better players, or (2) he could play better if given a fair chance to skate more often with true talent.

Were it not for JP producing well when skating with the best Edmonton forwards, I’d be prepared to write him off completely, especially with him needing to recover from double hip surgery which might lead to him having a slow start and finding his way further into the doghouse. Of course, all of this might be moot inasmuch as he’s a restricted free agent this summer and a viable candidate to be traded given his lack of success and Edmonton’s new GM likely wanting to put his own stamp on the team. Long story short, I wouldn’t give up on JP in a full dynasty league; but in keepers where 200+ forwards are owned, I think you can safely toss him back into the draft pool either to select him again or to let him give one of your other GM’s gray hair.

  *

If you have any questions that you’d like Rick to answer in his next mailbag, please send them to admin@dobbersports.com or you can find him in the Dobber Forums under the name ‘rizzeedizzee’. Thanks!

*

  Topic #2 – Is Evander Kane this season’s fantasy hockey MVP in roto leagues?

Even when he was producing at a lower scoring rate and missing games due to frequent injuries, Kane was fantasy gold with his stat stuffing in the areas of SOG, PIM, and Hits. This season, Kane is poised to produce his highest ever scoring rate and, if he returns soon from injury, play his second most games in any regular season; so does that make him the fantasy hockey MVP of 2018-19? It’s close, but I say no.

No question Kane’s numbers are the stuff roto dreams are made of, as he’s on pace for over two Hits and two PIM per game, more than 3.5 SOG per contest, plus a full season scoring pace of 65 points and a goals per game rate above 0.4. Without considering PIMs, since 1997-98 (when the NHL started tracking Hits) just two other players have met the other criteria in a season while playing 60+ games– Alexander Ovechkin (12 times!) and Jeff O’Neill (back in 2001-02). When factoring in PIM, however, while Ovi also has averaged at least one PIM per game he never averaged 1.5 per game in any of these 12 seasons.

Of course, kitchen sink leagues also tend to count +/- and PPPts, two areas where Kane is far from elite; and some count either Hits or PIM but not both. Are Kane’s deficiencies enough to lose him the 2018-19 fantasy crown? Who else would it go to? Brent Burns is just okay in Hits, decent in Blocks and PIM, but superb in SOG, PPPts, and scoring, to go along with a +16 rating. Or there’s Nikita Kucherov, who’s just okay in PIM and Hits, yet superb in pretty much every other area.

But here’s the key beyond Kane’s stats – Burns and Kucherov would’ve cost a poolie far more to acquire (in terms of a draft pick or trade) as compared to Kane. In fact, in Yahoo leagues Kucherov was drafted third overall on average and Burns 18th, versus Kane at 56th overall, making Kane a far better return on investment (ROI) than Burns or Kucherov. But I think Kane isn’t even the 2018-19 ROI MVP – that would go to Morgan Rielly, Jake Guentzel, Mark Giordano, or Elias Lindholm or who were drafted, on average, 106th, 109th, 110th and 145th respectively in Yahoo leagues, with Lindholm being the choice in my opinion due to his draft position and all-around contributions.

Aside from MVP arguments, the question is what to do with Kane in keepers. It boils down to whether you think he’s finally got his head screwed on straight in San Jose and can keep doing what he’s doing for years to come, or instead is on an extended honeymoon not unlike when first with Atlanta/Winnipeg before his injuries plus off-ice and effort issues crept in. My take is, it’s called sell high for a reason. Most likely there’s a GM in your league who’s prepared to pay – probably even overpay – to get Kane on his or her fantasy team in hopes of the same multi-cat contributions but perhaps with even more points. If so, I think you should be able to fashion a trade where you emerge ahead, plus, in doing so, rid yourself of the risks of owning Kane.

  Topic #3 – What should poolies do about John Gibson for the rest of the season?

Since his return, Gibson has played quite well, having given up two or fewer goals in four of his previous five games through the weekend; yet as we saw before he went on IR, he was regularly getting shelled and, in doing so, hurting fantasy owners. Given this, is it worth holding onto him, or rolling with another goalie during either the home stretch of your roto league or your H2H playoffs?

One key is the news that emerged about Gibson’s injury. It turns out what apparently kept him out of the lineup was an issue with his teeth that was exacerbated when he collided with a teammate. With his teeth now removed, he should be back to his old self, as opposed to a situation where either he could be prone to reinjury or might still have lingering effects of the injury.

That doesn’t address the issue of the team in front of him – the one which is, among other negatives, the fifth worst at giving up shots per game and seventh worst at PP conversion percentage. The detrimental effect of playing for the 2018-19 Ducks is evident in Gibson’s even strength and PP save percentages being the lowest since he took over as the full time Anaheim goalie in 2016-17.

This having been said, teams like the Ducks often finish strong because of pride but also players realizing there might be serious housecleaning in the offseason, prompting them to step up their game. Even still, it could be an slightly uphill climb in that the Ducks play five of their remaining 11 contests on home ice and have fewer games against the NHL’s worst teams (one versus LA, one against Edmonton, and one against Vancouver) as they do against very good to great squads (two versus Calgary, one against Winnipeg, one versus San Jose), with the rest being against teams that are either borderline playoff teams or slightly worse.

Considering all the data, I’ll say in Gibson I trust. When on top of his game he’s arguably a top five NHL netminder in terms of pure talent. And now apparently 100% healthy and on a Ducks team likely looking to end a disappointing season on a positive note, I believe he should be a top 10 netminder over the remainder of the 2018-19 regular season, which is more than good enough to merit a spot in your roto league’s home stretch or H2H playoffs.

  Topic #4 – Is it worth running with Shayne Gostisbehere or Dougie Hamilton over the remainder of the season instead of Seth Jones?

What this question really was asking is whether Hamilton will finally start to produce his usual gaudy second half numbers and if Ghost will recapture his past magic enough to make either one better to own than Jones over the rest of the 2018-19 campaign. While I usually like to look most at data and comparables in framing my answer, I think this is a great opportunity to illustrate how poolies often fall into the trap of overlooking the bird in the hand in favor of what I’ll refer to as “Fantasy FOMO.”

Jones is quietly elite, having produced not just the 14th most points among all blueliners since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, but also being a great end of season performer in his own right, posting 20 points in his final 16 games to end 2017-18. His problem is he’s caught in that area between being a superstar and merely great – a Steady Eddie, so to speak. In contrast, Hamilton and Ghost are currently underperforming for the season but have both been great at times in the past. Poolies often fall into the trap of being tantalized by these types of players, since there’s a chance to get them for a reduced price and because they don’t want to miss out if they do turn things around – hence Fantasy FOMO.

I’m here to tell you that fantasy FOMO, despite its powerful lure, is not something which should be driving your decision making. It preys on fear and emotion, rather than sound judgment. Fantasy FOMO can rear its ugly heading not just in situation like this, but also cause you to exercise bad judgment in taking unproven talents with supposedly high upside over reliable players all but assured to outperform the potential breakout youngsters. It’s up to you to resist Fantasy FOMO, or at least dig deep enough to see if it equates to rational decision making. In this instance, resisting Fantasy FOMO means going with Jones and his solid track record – including during the late portion of a season – over Ghost/Hamilton, both of whom did indeed play great at times in the past but who look to be in bad situations that make it unlikely – on paper – they’ll revert to their former greatness by the end of 2018-19.

  ********

Questions needed for Mailbag column

As a reminder, I’m always seeking questions for my monthly mailbag column, where I answer your fantasy hockey questions. Please continue to send me your questions either by private messaging them to me (rizzeedizzee) via the DobberHockey Forums or by sending an email to admin@dobbersports.com with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/fantasy-hockey-rick-roos/roos-lets-loose-who-is-the-fantasy-mvp/

[puclpodcast]

PDL Week 0 Draft Analysis and Power Rankings

PDL Season 3 Draft Recap

After a successful draft for season 3 it is time once again to over analyze every team and see if they are up to standards. This year I’m going to be analyzing each team based off a set list of criteria that I think are very useful to have on a good team. I will also be briefly giving my thoughts on the each coaches draft and how I think it might fare. I’m looking at all teams post draft before any trades were made. I will be ranking all 24 based off the following criteria:

Do you have 2+ Stealth Rock setters?

Do you have 2+ Hazard Removers?

Do you have a Fantasy Core (Steel, Dragon, Fairy)?

Do you have a Fire Water Grass Core?

Do you have a Pokemon with speed 110 or more?

Do you have a Pokemon with Speed 50 or less?

Do you have a Pokemon with Spikes?

Do you have a Pokemon with Toxic Spikes?

Do you have a Pokemon that can set up?

Do you have some Speed control? (Webs/TR/Tailwind)

Do you have a Grounded Poison pokemon?

Do you have a Ground type?

Do you have a cleric (Heal bell /Aromatherapy)

Did you effectively choose Z captains?

Were both Physical and Special attackers drafted?

To see the full teams and roster check out the HUB:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UODS5_FFXCFhRCDKVbv0QZbmHR4bg5hcUIvipL2pkJs/edit?usp=sharing 

With that let’s jump right into the draft analysis.

Corsola Cola Division

Columbus Gallade: 14/15

Overall a very good draft. The only thing missing from the draft is a mon that could set up spikes. The cores are a little weak with the fairy type being Granbull and the grass type being leafeon but I’m really excited to see how he uses it. There is lots of set up potential on both the physical and special side so prepping for this team is not going to be easy to do.

Pittsburg Piplups: 12/15

This team hasn’t completed the Fire Water Grass core, which while not necessary to a good draft but it does help out a lot. While the team isn’t weak to hazards not having a grounded poison type means toxic spikes become more useful against this type of team. The sand core I think will work really well this year especially with excadrill which is a terrifying mon both defensively and offensively. Make sure you have an answer for it.

Hartford Wailords: 10/15

The weakest part of this team is the reliance on Silvally. The team has several 1 type mons or mons that fill double up on typing without hitting a lot of important types for a draft such as ground, dragon, and fairy. This leaves Silvally for have to fill those roles. Not only that but Silvally is the only defogger on the team. While there are 2 rapid spinners most times they will not want to have to run rapid spin in order to have good coverage. I’m excited to see how Puckbud will pilot this team.

Edmonton Entei: 13/15

There are 2 big issues i have with the draft and they are not completing either core. Not having a fairy type in draft league i think is an issue with most teams having a powerful dragon type. The other issue is not having a water type to finish that core. I feel that leaves holes in the team. Despite some weaknesses it is a top rated team for hitting all the other boxes.

Pewter City Golems: 10/15

This team has a good mix of Stealth Rockers and defoggers but the double golem pick is a little questionable since they basically fill the same role. Otherwise it seems like a decent draft. Not having any spike setters or a grounded poison can be an issue if used against them.

Heartland Haunter: 10/15

Hazards and Hazard removal are what are keeping this team from being higher. Ferrothorn is the only main hazard setter and i’m not particularly fond of the defoggers of Scyther and Koko. However I’m a huge fan of the Koko-Ferro-Goodra core and there are a lot of other good mons on this draft. I think the coach may want to rethink a z move or two but otherwise I think it has a lot of potential.

  Green Tauros Division

Republic City Fire Furret: 13/15

The only thing missing from Clod’s team is the option for spikes and Toxic Spikes but other than that this team is fairly solid. A good mix of offense and defense with decent speed tiers overall. Not much more I can say about my team.

Blackfoot Scrafty: 12/15

This is a really interesting team. There are a lot of lower tiered threats on this team that deserve their spot. The only things going against them are not having a ground type in their draft. That and their team is relatively slow so don’t bring trick room. I’m really excited to see how Rotted pilots this team.

Minnesota Nidokings: 12/15

Snag has drafted a very defensive team this year with mew. It looks like he had a plan going into the draft and then some of the later picks seems to be filling in gaps for his team rather than playing with synergy, but it is snag and he will find a way to do some great things with it!

Belper Beedrill: 14/15

This draft has almost everything you would want in a draft. Good defense, hazards and good removal. The only thing I can fault is that there really isn’t a good mix of special and physical attackers. The team is overwhelmingly physical and I think lacks some special power but with the ever improving british gent, I’m sure he will make up for it.

Star City Staraptors: 14/15

This is another really solid draft missing just spikes from full points. I really like the offensive presence that this team emits. Between Krookodile and Heatran there is a lot of potential and a lot of mind games trying to prep for this team.

Manitoba Magnezone: 14/15

This is one of the best teams drafted this year. It has so much potential. It can do almost everything you want to be able to do in draft league. We haven’t seen M-Sceptile shine in draft league yet… maybe this year will be the year!

  Toxapepsi Division

Miami Delphox: 13/15

On paper this team looks disgusting but then when you take another look at it, you realize there is no fairy type on the team. That isn’t a bad thing but it is important to know, especially when team building. Fack is an incredible battler so I know he will make up for it. I think the Infernape Celesteela core is disgusting along with Manaphy and thundurus-I. An offensive team that is going to be a nightmare to prep for.

Thundurus From Down Undurus: 13/15

Sparky has drafted an deadly team this year. There is a lot of physical power with good set up options however, he does lack the special offensive power. Sylveon is the most offensive special threat, while that isn’t bad it isn’t that good either. That might be a point of weakness for them throughout the season but i wouldn’t count sparky out. He is very capable and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

San Antonio Squirtle Squad: 12/15

This might be one of my favorite drafts of the season. Jeremy drafted such good value in every tier and has an incredible draft. The only issue is that he doesn’t have a fairy type. It isn’t needed for a successful draft but it is nice to have. I just personally love a lot of these mons in draft league like Gengar, escavalier and miltank. I’m sure Jeremy will put this team to good work.

Clearwater Magmar: 14.5/15

This is another team that is so close to full points. You may notice the half point that was given and that is because of the lack of physical power on the team. There are several threats like nidoking and hawlucha however nido is usually run mixed and hawlucha needs an SD before it can do any real damage. However it is a team that can do everything you need. Very solid draft.

Glittering Cave Gardevoir: 10/15

I feel that TheBoyGardevior left a lot on the table. After the draft concluded I think he had over 200 free points unused which is not the most ideal thing. This team has a lot of duplicate typings which could be an issue. Granted they are types that do synergize well together. I’m excited to see how he can use this rag tag group of mons to riot against the other teams.

Rochester’s Scalding Volcanians: 12/15

Dennis, despite not having Mimikyu, has a good draft. He showed us in the past what he can do with Volcanion and again it returns to cause more mayhem. I especially love the kecleon pick, because it has so many viable sets in draft league and with protien it can type change like a true chameleon.

  Rhyhorn Steakhouse Division

Kona Diamond Head: 14/15

Seth and Ozzy have given into the darkness and drafted semi stall with some breakers. Reuniclus and Clefable are draft league all starts the require prep to be done in order for them not to take complete advantage of your team. I do find this team to be very slow and post draft they still don’t have a water type. I think that is crucial to a good draft but maybe they can make a transaction to acquire one or show us that you don’t need them.

San Antonio Espurrs: 15/15

Sublime checked off every box with this draft. Hazards… he has it. Removal he has it. Set up he has a lot of it! This is a team that took full advantage of the tier list and found some hidden steals in the lower tiers. I really like this team and think that it is probably the most complete. Hats off to you Sublime. Good draft!

Salt Lake Combee: 12/15

Lynian has a really bizarre team in my mind. It looks like he wanted to go one direction and ended up changing half way through. That is also what makes it so interesting and difficult to prep against. Lots of bulk and lots of offensive power. You never know what he is going to bring week to week. I know lynian will show us some fun strats and surprise us all.

San Paulo Scizor: 12.5/15

I really like what Dell has drafted this season. He has good bulk to pair with Zard Y and and Bulu. Outside of those 2 mons I find that his team lacks power. A lot of mons need to set up in some way before they are a threat which in draft league isn’t as easy to do. I think dell is in for a real challenge this season fighting in a tough division and conference.

Houston Zeraora: 11/15

Despite some of the type duplicates and shared weaknesses of the mons of this team, I actually like what Aggie drafted. I think the Aurora Veil offense that he has will be really tough for teams to deal with if he gets a chance to set up. I think this team will be underrated until Aggie shows us it’s true potential.

Dayton Dragonites: 14/15

Dexio drafted an overall solid team. It is comprised of a bunch of mons that have good potential and can be deadly in the right hands. Charizard is tough to play with because of it’s rock weakness, but if you have 4 other defoggers and rapid spinner then it may not be an issue at all. I think we are in for a team with this team because it has so much potential.

POWER RANKINGS

Four times this season we will have power rankings for PDL season 3: Post Draft, after week 4, 8, and right before playoffs. Geo and I will both be sharing our rankings along with the community average submitted by the other coaches. For this first ranking I will be purely going off the numbers of the draft analysis, not taking into account the coaches ability. Geo will give his thoughts below and then we will have the community rankings all side by side. We are only ranking the top 12. These are bound to change as the season goes on and do not take into account any trades these teams have made. If you don’t see your name the best thing you can do is win your games and prove you deserve to be on the list.

Geo’s Rankings

So for my rankings this time around it based mostly on draft. I would say 70% the other thirty percent comes from what I could figure out about you as a coach and a player (recent placings in PUCL tourneys etc.). I can already see a few people who ranked maybe a little lower than you would expect and a few probably higher than you would expect. Ordinarily it would be switched and from the weeks following as I do these it will probably reflect that. We have a few new people in the league (new to me) so I am very excited to see how they perform. One of the greatest things though, is that the gap between the ‘top’ tier and ‘bottom’ tier drafts are lessening. As is play among the coaches. So good luck to everyone and happy hunting.

Community Rankings

For the Community rankings we had about 17 people participate. If someone was ranked 1st they received 12 points, 11 for second and so on down to 1 point for 12th. Then we summed up the numbers each coach got and ordered them in descending order and those are the Community Rankings. The point values overall were very close so you never know what will happen on the next go around.

Without Further Ado here are the Week 0 Power Rankings:

  Clod9

Geo

Community

1 San Antonio Espurr Miami Delphox Republic City Fire Furret 2 Clearwater Magmar Sao Paulo Scizor Miami Delphox 3 Columbus Gallade Thundurus From Down Undurus Columbus Gallade 4 Kona Diamond Head Columbus Gallade Thundurus From Down Undurus 5 Star City Staraptor Belper Beedrill Kona Diamond Head 6 Belper Beedrill Republic City Fire Furret Sao Paulo Scizor 7 Manitoba Magnezone Pittsburg Piplups San Antonio Espurr 8 Dayton Dragonite San Antonio Espurr Star City Staraptor 9 Miami Delphox Blackfoot Scrafty Pittsburg Piplups 10 Thundurus From Down Undurus Star City Staraptor Houston Zeraora 11 Republic City Fire Furret Salt Lake Combee Blackfoot Scrafty 12 Edmonton Entei Minnesota Nidoking Clearwater Magmar

  As you can see we don’t agree on the rankings. Now it is up to you to show us and the rest of the community just what you can do. Who knows, you may even end up on here next time. Until then, Happy Battling!

from PDL Week 0 Draft Analysis and Power Rankings

[flauntpage]

The (Relatively) New Lineups We Can’t Wait to See

One of the great pleasures heading into every NBA season is generated by the new. From watching marquee free agents, draft picks, and trade acquisitions blend into an unfamiliar environment to closely observing how fixed cores will avoid an obsolete fate. Anticipation builds because change is constant, and nobody really knows what's going to happen until they take the floor.

Five-man lineups don't provide the clearest barometer, but they do help clarify how each team is choosing to adapt, whether their goal is to stay on top or climb the league's mountain. Here's a look at several different units that hold relevance heading into the 2018-19 season. Some are more obvious than others, but all of them deserve your attention.

Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford

They’ve looked rough in the preseason—the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls were the only two teams with a worse offensive rating—but of all the iterations in Boston, this exact grouping was built to dominate today's NBA with a comfortable foothold in its future. At worst, this is Death Lineup karaoke, with Horford as an older, calmer, better shooting/less nimble version of Draymond Green, Irving’s offensive wizardry hoisting the entire franchise to a higher level, and three interchangeable stars (either in the making or cemented) on the wing.

They can switch just about everywhere on the defensive end (a quality that’s especially helpful when the game spurts into open-court chaos) with five players who can create their own shot against opposing teams that try and defend them the same way. Everyone can shoot. Everyone can pass. Everyone has either made an All-Star team or has the potential to do so for years to come. We only saw this unit play five minutes last season. This year, the Celtics will only go so far as it can take them.

Chris Paul, James Harden, Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker, Clint Capela

Much has been made about Houston's ostensible stumble through a momentous offseason. The loss of Trevor Ariza and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (two ideal complementary pieces), the addition of a teetering Carmelo Anthony, and associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik’s sudden retirement gave birth to a meditation on Houston’s staying power as a juggernaut. Most, if not all, of the discussion is little more than concern trolling.

At the end of the day, Houston will open the 2018-19 season with five of its most important players back from a 65-win team that could’ve/should’ve won it all. This particular group isn’t new, but it might as well be: Paul, Harden, Gordon, Tucker, and Capela have only registered 24 minutes. (In the 45 possessions they logged during the playoffs, Houston outscored its opponents by 15.6 points per 100 possessions.) The Rockets may blow this to bits with a mid-season blockbuster trade that includes one of these key contributors (likely Gordon and/or Tucker), but if they keep it together there won’t be a more effective or complementary collection of talent found in any one unit outside Golden State (and maybe Boston).

There are four back-breaking three-point shooters—two of whom double as first-ballot Hall of Famers and all-galaxy playmakers—surrounding a rim-rolling paint protector who gets notably better every year. In the final five minutes of a close game, how do you stifle this offense? Seriously. How do you attack a committed and disciplined defense that switches everything with above-average pieces at just about every position? Sure, they’re a little small—Ariza’s absence hurts most here—but all of them play larger and stronger than their height, thriving inside a system that emboldens them to behave like running lava.

Last season’s Rockets were one of the best teams to ever fall short of a title. In year two of the Paul-Harden era, they may be even better when it counts the most.

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins

Deep analysis isn’t required here. Given the stakes, relevance, and staggering aesthetics, anyone not interested in seeing how Boogie Cousins (however healthy) fits in with the most impressive foursome in NBA history might as well quit the NBA for good.

Victor Oladipo, Tyreke Evans, Bojan Bogdanovic, Domas Sabonis, Myles Turner

My first thought was to have Thaddeus Young in for Sabonis, not knowing if Nate McMillan could find someone for his third-year big to defend in the last five minutes of a close game. But Young isn’t a good enough outside shooter to tilt the scale in his favor, so Sabonis gets the nod for being a superior passer who can really squeeze a defense from the post. Good luck out-rebounding the Pacers when this group is on the floor. It’s unclear how many teams will be able to combat Indy’s sheer size on either end when this lineup is on the floor.

Beyond having two centers share the frontcourt, what's most intriguing here is the absence of any one "true" point guard. Instead, Oladipo and Evans will complement each another on both ends, toggling back and forth as capable playmakers who can finish at the rim, knock down a pull-up three, and run an effective pick-and-roll with either Sabonis or Turner.

Oladipo is the breakout star and franchise jewel, coming off a season in which he won Most Improved Player and made an All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defensive team. But let’s back up and examine Evans for a second. What a variable. Take a look at how his numbers compared to Oladipo’s last season. According to Synergy Sports, Evans ranked in the 86th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball handler and the 83rd percentile in isolation, doing his best on a Grizzlies team that was headed nowhere. Life will be even easier in Indiana, especially in this unit, where he may be the third (or even fourth) option. It’s hard to find a better spot for Evans at this point in his career.

Elsewhere, last season Bogdanovic made over 40 percent of his threes and posted a 60.5 True Shooting percentage (both career highs), while Turner is already one of the league’s most intriguing young bigs, a shot-blocking madman who can roll or pop. Bogdanovic will likely regress, but if he can at worst remain static while three others (especially Oladipo) display some growth, this unit will be a nightmare.

Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, DeAndre Jordan

This obviously won’t be seen until Barnes returns from his hamstring injury, but it could be worth the wait. The Mavericks have Dirk Nowitzki, but elsewhere they are fledgling. Smith Jr. and Doncic are the future. Barnes, Jordan, and Matthews are each within a few seasons of their respective primes. Together, they possess a dynamism that’s been missing from every lineup Dallas has put on the floor in over a decade.

If Jordan gobbles everything from the glass, can stay healthy, and still suck help defenders off the three-point line on hard dives towards the rim, so many of Smith Jr. and Doncic’s growing pains will fall into a safety net. If Barnes, in a contract year, doesn’t hijack the offense and lets part of his game selflessly revert back to the space it occupied in Golden State (this is wishful thinking but not out of line within the context of this unit), Carlisle’s system can be more fluid. And through it all, if Matthews can (hopefully) hold it all together as a grizzled veteran with the team's lowest night-to-night variance, there's no reason why this lineup can't close tight games and post a positive point differential.

Some of this logic requires a leap of faith, for sure. And so much of it is inspired by Doncic’s preseason highlight reel. But even if they aren't great, you won't want to miss them.

Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Stanley Johnson, Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond

There’s a certain amount of nostalgic charm attached to a lineup like this. It features a jaunty point guard who’s supported by a sniper at the two and covered by an athletic wing, with a robust, true-number-one-option at power forward beside a mountainous center tasked with anchoring the defense. On the surface it screams old school, and that's why there are so many reasons to hate it. These five players were all in Detroit last season, but played just about zero minutes at the same time (only four possessions, per Cleaning the Glass). Aside from poor health, the reason why is obvious: There’s not nearly enough spacing or anything close to a defined pecking order on the offensive end, while exploiting them on defense shouldn’t be too hard, given their inflexibility.

But Drummond added a new dimension to his game last year. Stan Van Gundy placed him higher on the floor and let him showcase a passing ability that boosted his assist rate up to 14 percent—more than the sum of his previous three years combined!). Meanwhile, Griffin is uniquely dominant when healthy. Nobody his size rivals his vision or ball-handling ability. It helps form a frontcourt tandem that may be able to do more than tread water when accompanied by the right pieces.

It’s unclear if Detroit has those pieces, but Johnson is still only 22 years old, with the girth and quickness to defend four positions in a pinch. Jackson is two years removed from life as a slightly above-average point guard, and Kennard is the one cast member who can loosen up the floor when he doesn't have the ball. I don’t necessarily think this group will exceed its modest expectations, but the ceiling is higher than people think, especially with Dwane Casey at head coach, able to coagulate a defense that’s already good but can stand to be better.

Rajon Rondo, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, LeBron James

This is the exact opposite of the group seen above, with a degree of unconventionality that's both breathtaking and hardly a surprise to anyone who’s watched the NBA evolve over the past six years. I don’t know if it will be good, or if Luke Walton will even be willing to utilize Rondo and Ball at the same time—in tight space with no true center and only one recognizable spot-up threat—but please check your pulse if you're not curious to see how it'd do.

Why not experiment and see how far Einstein-level basketball IQ and absurd talent can take you? LeBron at the five isn’t a new concept, but as the league continues to downsize—a trend no other player is more responsible for—he’s positioned to take advantage in lineups that surround him with players who can see segments of the game develop before they actually do. They turn a defense's crack into a calamitous breach with next-level anticipation. Between LeBron, Rondo, and Ball, it's hard to think of another group that's ever unleashed so many innovative passers at the same time.

Hart and Ingram are here to enjoy it all, from beyond the arc and against awkward closeouts. Outside shooting is an issue throughout L.A.'s roster, but this group will invent ways to make it a non-issue—if they get a chance to play.

Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam

As is the case for so many different teams, we don’t really know what Toronto’s best five is right now. But as NBA teams start to favor mischievous off-the-bounce slashers over 3-and-D statues, VanVleet has to be on the floor over Danny Green. A case can be made for Dorell Wright's wingspan in that spot, but Siakam, Lowry, Leonard, and Anunoby are more than enough to make this defense one of the league's best.

There's almost too much to like here. Leonard is at the four, with a mobile, 7'3" wingspan at center. Anunoby can't be left alone in the corner while Lowry and VanVleet wreak all sorts of havoc wherever they are. Picture an inverted pick-and-roll, with Leonard dribbling the ball as Lowry races up to blindside his man with a screen. How the hell do you guard that, with Siakam in the dunker's spot and deadly shooting along the perimeter? Few teams can. The Raptors are going to be so much fun.

The (Relatively) New Lineups We Can’t Wait to See published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[thornburgrealty]

Join cavaliers for training camp as non

At 5 175, McCalebb’s ceiling is a seldom-used gadget and return despite 4 speed. Islanders’ Nick Leddy: Picks up 41st point to set new career high. By and large, he makes open shots. I knew I could win it if I was similar to physique. TR: The Yankees’ pinstripes seemed to have been made for you, like a classy bespoke suit. It feels good just to be around. But that part of the job has never been a knock on Roseman. It’s just cheap hockey jerseys a matter of approaching each day and trying to get better and we’ve done that wholesale mlb jerseys thus far and it’s had good results, Gagner said. batted .343 on 84… The second would be ‘s Dave Bolland and his $27-million deal.

On November 12, Cueto finished second the National League Cy Award voting to Kershaw. is a fast-moving, high-energy show that covers everything you need to begin your day. Playing safety is not unfamiliar assignment for Webb, who started at nfl jerseys authentic strong safety for much of his senior year at Division I-AA Nicholls State. Because as we know, all cared about was just winning . Two days prior, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Goins displayed a 90-mph fastball and diversity his pitches to get three outs the 18th inning of a 3 loss to the Indians. It’s amazing the stuff that they keep track of and the information that you get back from that. I was the jail over there. He took the news about as good as he could, http://www.superzot.com/saku-koivu-jersey-c-1_3.html and he’ll go down there and work and get his game back to where it’s normally at. It’s no longer just about cheering for your team; it’s about tearing down the other. Offering insurance and securities products and services nfl jerseys authentic as a registered representative of Pruco, and agent of insurance companies.

And we’re hoping we get him back . We’ll revisit the wideout’s Week 2 status no later than Friday afternoon, once the Chiefs’ final injury report of the week is released. Branch, out of the University of Connecticut, ran a 4 second 40-yard dash at the 2008 NFL Combine and the Raiders went on to draft Branch the fourth round of that year’s draft. Toews, C The modern-day Keon, with more. But if anybody’s up to the challenge, it’s McPhee, said his former boss, President . No alternates; nothing. Couple guys I’m lower on are , Stochastic Processes: From Physics to Finance and Matz. O’Neil lets us go. The beauty of AB is that he can play anywhere.

Read Have you Garfield Vol. 1 ever had a dream which you find unfamiliar door a familiar setting or turn a corner and discover a whole neighborhood that you didn’t know existed? But why have both the NFL and NFLPA – Jones representing a clear present danger to fellow unionists – indulged his continued presence? Campbell played only 102 snaps as a rookie, but graded positively coverage and run support at PFF. WATCHING THE ADS Fox’s online stream cheap hockey jerseys get you most of the same ads shown on television. While he didn’t make any plays that hit the highlights reel, he played well enough, was position, and more importantly, kept Phillips off the field. When the photo shoot wraps, Edelman takes the elevator to The Media and Social Theory (CRESC) the street and waits outside the Ritz for his car. He could pursue opportunities lesser leagues but few, if any, pay Americans as well as the CBA. We it out of high school, with all the lifting and impact work they do. Empty pockets hindered travel, but the hardest days were the ones that led to empty stomachs. He doesn’t power his way upfield very often, but his rarely gets behind him.

No, not the battle between two first-place teams, the Nationals and nfl jerseys authentic Giants. According to http://www.authenticflyersprosale.com/steve-mason-jersey-c-1_5.html , the triple, which came on 86 mph cut fastball, was projected to travel 364 feet from home plate. I just grabbed whatever I had. Prev Next View All Getty The IRS couldn’t have cared less whether Pete bet on baseball or not — it just wanted him to cheap hockey jerseys pay his bills. Tandler: This keeps teams from grabbing multiple receivers to prevent a Hail Mary attempt at the end of half or a game and prevents them from holding multiple players on a punt attempt to run out the clock at the end of a game. Oregon • 7 of 12 passing for 96 yards and one wholesale mlb jerseys touchdown vs. Bumgarner just keeps adding to his regular- innings total year-over-year while increasing his strikeout rate . He returned healthy for the 1989 , however, after a poor start, Schmidt suddenly chose to announce his retirement San , on 29. After a Heisman Trophy, 20 wins and the SEC single-season record for total offense, there should be plenty of opportunities for Manziel to http://www.cavaliersprosale.com/tristan-thompson-jersey-c-1_11.html cash on his superstar status. Fantasy Impact It appears that Abdullah could return to the field 2016. Uehara, who was effective last before getting wholesale mlb jerseys drilled the wrist with a line drive, should remain stellar the eighth if age doesn’t catch up to him. Workouts: Workouts officially began and it’s nice to have everyone back together and what individuals have been working on during our time off. He would receive rave reviews, Ryan Strome Jersey Womens most notably from coach Rivera.

Box 357, Watertown, NY 13601 Tel: . leads all rookies Trevor Ariza Jersey Womens with 59 points 61 . The Repass Team.

from WordPress http://www.thornburgrealty.com/2018/07/02/join-cavaliers-for-training-camp-as-non/

[josephkgoeson-blog]

Ironman Canada - A 1st IM Race Report

Well, my 1st full distance Ironman was full of surprises and all around a great experience. The whole week before the event I barely slept with my mind already racing by visualizing each aspect of the day to come from packing all the various gear bags, to pacing strategies, and to how would I keep myself fueled, hydrated, and electrolyted? (new product idea: Electro-Lit) I re-watched Youtube videos about Ironman Canada (thanks Todd Malcolm!), transitions, special needs, etc. After a week of worrying, I must've gotten all that anxiety out of my system because by race day morning I was calm, focused, and cool as a cucumber.

Apologies for the length and occasional wonkiness, but I needed the mind dump.

The Swim

In most of my previous triathlons I've panicked when the gun goes off and swimmers are thrashing all around me jockeying for position in rather impolite ways. In these situations my wetsuit seems to shrink and my heart feels like it will explode right through the stretched Yamamoto rubber. Thankfully Ironman Canada instituted a rolling swim start where athletes self-seed in a queue according to their anticipated speed and your official race clock doesn't begin ticking until you cross the timing mat. So, while the gun sounded for age-group athletes ‪at 6:50 am, the competitive herd didn't drive me into Alta Lake until 7:02. As I positioned myself towards the rear, my experience was as chill as any of the 10 races I'd done to date.

In May I crashed my bike for the first time around mile 80 of the Oregon Gran Fondo, a 117 mile ride in Cottage Grove. Fortunately I was able to finish and went home without any injuries besides an enviable (assuming you're into scars) amount of road rash. Anyway, I was able to continue my bike and run training, but I didn't swim for 3 weeks while my left leg, side, and shoulder gashes healed. This really hurt my swim fitness and I made the mistake of easing back into training too gently, using the excuse of not wanting to get sore or some such nonsense. I regret not pushing myself more, but I mostly caught up by the time race day rolled around.

In the days before the race I swam in Alta Lake twice and both times the water was quite choppy. These practice swims were in the afternoon, though, and race day morning the water was pretty calm. I heard from 70.3 competitors that this was not the case for their race which started 2 hours after the full.

Going into the race I expected the 2.4 mile/3.8km swim would take me in the neighborhood of 1:25. I figured if I had a good day and caught on to a nice draft that 1:20 was possible but not likely. 1:30 was more probable considering how my times in training were. It turns out that tapering really works and I felt really strong in the water! There was no panicking and I saved energy by staying on other swimmers' feet. My swim time came in at 1:17:33, which I was excited about on my way to the bike racks as I pumped my arms and shouted to my wife and dad, "I feel great!"

I'm not sure how much faster I could swim in the future, perhaps 5 or possibly even 10 minutes with better technique and training. 10 minutes would, however, require a considerable effort, an effort probably better directed towards cycling where I have a lot more room for improvement. There's lower hanging fruit there.

T1

Exiting the water, a Japanese lady helped me strip off my wetsuit quickly which usually takes me an eternity. So, I'm pretty sure I'm getting t-shirts and bumper stickers printed saying "I love Japanese strippers". While I thanked her I didn't have the presence of mind to say arigato, though I did say annyeong haseyo to a Korean guy during the run. The rest of T1 went fine though my perception of how quickly I got ready for the bike and reality were very different. I must figure out how to transition faster and practice it if I'm serious about having a more competitive time. T1 time of 8:17.

The Long Bike

The bike portion is notoriously tough at Ironman Canada but is a gorgeous course with postcard views throughout the ride. My FTP is about 230 so my plan was to keep my watts at 70% of threshold which is about 160 watts. I've heard how hard it is to keep to this relatively low wattage at the beginning when you're all tapered and fresh and excited and it was true for me, too. I noticed several times that I was putting out 190 watts which is not sustainable for the ride, and a pending disaster for the run. I tried to back off, even coaching myself out loud. I haven't figured out how to upload my new Garmin Edge 520 data yet but I'm curious as to what my power numbers turned out to be.

Last September I did the Best in West Triathlon Festival in Sweet Home, Oregon, my first 70.3 race. I did the 56 mile bike in 3:09 with a normalized power reading of 190. The course is of course half the distance and roughly half the elevation gain as well, so I thought it could serve as a helpful predictor. Since I didn't want to put out 190 watts, I knew I'd be slower than 6:18, and so estimated about a 7 hour ride. Having set that expectation, I was happy with my time of 6:45:32 for the 112 miles.

I've never really had digestive issues before but partway up the Callahan climb I popped a Salt Stick caps which my stomach did not enjoy even though previously I hadn't any trouble with the product. I'll have to switch to something else like Endurolytes or most likely go back to plain old lower case salt.

The bad stomach lasted about an hour or so and otherwise I felt pretty good until about mile 90 when the temperature hit 89F/32C and the climbing out of Pemberton started taking its toll.  I changed my rear cog from an 11/25 to an 11/28 to help with the hills, but I think an 11/30 would've been even better. My speed and cadence was slow, slow, slow.

The closer I got to Whistler, the temperature got cooler which was a blessing. Had it stayed that hot I would have had a much tougher run. My T2 time was 9:41 which is super super slow even though it included a bathroom break and a short chat with my wife (my teammate and the love of my life).

The Marathon

A half mile into the run, I saw my dad who in April finished 12 rounds of chemo after being diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer and whose doctor recently said that he's cancer free! He used to run marathons and was always interested in triathlon but never quite got the hang of swimming. He started jogging with me asking how I felt. I said I can't believe I have to run a marathon now! He also asked if I thought I could sustain the 8:45 per mile pace which was my pre-race goal. Like Deng Xiaoping said about the French Revolution, I answered that it was too soon to tell.

Actually, for the first 5 miles I averaged something like 8:10 or so. But, no, this was not sustainable. I started slowing considerably and had to take what seemed like a lot of bathroom breaks. I stopped at nearly every aid station and poured ice and water down the front and back of my trisuit which kept me cool (note to self: avoid pouring water in your shoes next time!). My half marathon time was about 1:55 or so which I was happy with.

At mile 18.6 I stopped at a port-o-potty (called port-o-lets here and Honey Buckets in Oregon) and, feeling weak and dizzy, I leaned against the door while trying to pee. I was worried I was hitting the wall and this turned out to be the low point of the race for me. But I followed the Ironman hashtag of #DSDQDGU, standing for don't stop, don't quit, and don't give up. I kept going (slowly at first doing the Ironman shuffle) and fairly soon got my energy back and gradually lengthened my stride. Several times on the run I thought that if my dad could beat cancer, I could at least beat this course.

My stomach was acting up a bit more which was annoying and slowed me a bit but didn't force me to walk at all. That was a goal of mine: to not walk except through aid stations. And I did it! I was hoping to finish in under 4 hours, but I'm happy with my 4:08:03 and I finished strong with a final mile of about 8:30.

The last 3 miles felt pretty easy as I knew I would finish and my body overflowed with endorphins. I'm going to do it, I thought as my eyes watered up. The last half mile was especially awesome as my legs somehow found another gear that I thought was only reserved for shorter races. As I entered the finishing chute I pumped my arms several times and the emotions of pride and relief started to overwhelm me. What a feeling! Zhang Yan met me at the finish line with tears on her face. We did it babe! We did it!

All in all, I played the expectations game well with my swim and bike times faster than I predicted and the run within range. But, boy did my transitions suck! A combined total of nearly 18 minutes? That's ridiculous!

My total time was 12:29:06 which placed me 66th among the 177 men aged 40-44 and 349 out of 1,404 overall.

Things I did right and areas for improvement

Most definitely my biggest mistake was taking so much time off after the previous season. Finishing the 70.3 in Sweet Home in September was a big deal for me and a week afterwards I did my first century ride (Cycle the Lakes – highly recommended). I continued training hard through the middle of October as I was planning on doing my 1st full distance tri in December in Palm Springs, the HIT series. But I missed on the early bird discount registration fee, and decided that the price and travel expenses weren't worth it as our business was also going through a rough patch. This decision took the wind out of my sails and to mix metaphors my training fell off the cliff. This off season will be different.

What I got right was my bike training. I followed the high volume, full distance triathlon plan from Trainer Road which helped me improve so much. "TR" helped me the previous summer go from a typical untrained cyclist's FTP of 150 in June to 210 in September. This dropped to 186 when I tested this past February before climbing to 230 at the beginning of July. This gives me a watts per kilogram ratio of 3.4. Hopefully by increasing my power and reducing my weight this ratio can be more like 4.4 next year which would be awesome.

I learned a lot this year and made several mistakes I hope to correct so I can have a speedier season in 2018. This was my 2nd year doing triathlons and with wanting to do IM Canada, I did a lot of LSD, perhaps even overdosing. Of course LSD standing for long, slow distance, but you already knew that. Since I didn't have a great base of fitness, I thought this was the right approach, with the downside being longer recovery times when I could have been improving my speed instead. In any case, I now have the expanded capillaries needed for all day events and so can shift some focus towards strength and speed going forward.

In preparing for Ironman, I ran the Bend Marathon in April, my first. It was also my first podium as I placed 3rd in my age group (I turned 40 in January!), which made a special day even specialer, even if liberal usage Webster's doesn't acknowledge that as a word. My 3:39 time was better than expected especially considering the course was a bit long at about 26.5 miles.

Already mentioned was the Oregon Gran Fondo in May and in June I did the Tour de Fronds, another 117 mile ride but with about 10,500 feet/3,200 meters of climbing. It was a bit of a beast for someone who started cycling the previous summer. I did these races so I knew I could handle the distance and climbs in Whistler, and they definitely were confidence builders, but they may have hindered my training as fatigue overstayed it's welcome, making itself a nice home out of my legs. Anyway, I don't intend on doing a marathon or century rides next year so I can be more consistent as my training progresses.

So while I don't regret all the LSD and the trail flashbacks are great, I do wish I had started doing strength work earlier. Through the Facebook group Oregon Wild Swimming, I signed up for a "strength training for swimmers" class at Evolution Fitness in Portland. It was just what I needed even though it started less than 2 months prior to IM. I credit it with helping me drop more weight and tighten up my core. I plan on 2 or even 3 days of strength classes there after my wife and I get back from a camping trip around Jasper and Banff.

This coming winter will certainly be different than last when we spent 2 months back in Beijing where we had lived for about 6 years. I gained about 11 pounds/5kg through not exercising because of the smog (I like the term 'Airpocalypse') and too many visits to Burger King and Cold Stone Creamery (yes, there's several locations in Beijing). Even once we got back to Portland and resumed healthy eating and was training in earnest, the weight was really hard to shed. So, staying on top of my body composition is definitely a lesson learned. For the record I'm 5'8"/172cm and eventually came down from 158 pounds/72kg to 145 pounds/66kg 5 days before the race.

Besides the late addition of strength training, I also should have been running more intervals or some other speed work. This was a suggestion from my new riding buddy Phil, who I met during the Tour de Fronds. In his younger days when he had knees, Phil was a competitive runner having clocked a 2:42 marathon during Reagan's first term. He was spot on. My endurance really improved this year, but my speed suffered. My 10k last year at the Hagg Lake Olympic Triathlon was 45:43 and this year was 48:44, a significant drop. So, another lesson: more speed work!

Finishing Thoughts

Before the race I thought I would do a 1:25 swim, 7:00 bike, 4:00 marathon, with a total of 10 minutes for transitions. So, all in all I think I think I played the expectations game pretty well and really I'm thrilled with my time and the whole experience of Ironman Canada. There were so many, I mean so so many terrific volunteers who did so much to help those of us out on the course that even repeated thank you's don't do them justice. I hope they know how much they're appreciated.

What's next? In September I'm doing the Best in the West 70.3 again so I can see how I've improved from season 1. Then my last race this year will be in October when I'm running the Oregon Coast 50k, my first ultra marathon where the first 10k or so are on the beach before heading into some gorgeous wooded trails.

I hope to continue doing a full Ironman each year, but I haven't decided which one. I plan to sign up Ironman 70.3 Victoria for early June but afterwards is up in the air. I was thinking of the full in Los Cabos in November 2018, but I read on Slowtwitch that the race has been canceled which is unfortunate. Maybe Mont Tremblant near Montreal in July? Well, we'll see for all those plans because my real focus will be on the birth of our first child! Raising her will be our next great adventure and Zhang Yan and I can't wait to meet our baby girl who is expected January 26, 2018. We are naming her Madeleine Elizabeth after each of my grandmothers. Perhaps she'll be interested in Ironkids in 2021!

[flauntpage]

The (Relatively) New Lineups We Can’t Wait to See

One of the great pleasures heading into every NBA season is generated by the new. From watching marquee free agents, draft picks, and trade acquisitions blend into an unfamiliar environment to closely observing how fixed cores will avoid an obsolete fate. Anticipation builds because change is constant, and nobody really knows what's going to happen until they take the floor.

Five-man lineups don't provide the clearest barometer, but they do help clarify how each team is choosing to adapt, whether their goal is to stay on top or climb the league's mountain. Here's a look at several different units that hold relevance heading into the 2018-19 season. Some are more obvious than others, but all of them deserve your attention.

Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford

They’ve looked rough in the preseason—the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls were the only two teams with a worse offensive rating—but of all the iterations in Boston, this exact grouping was built to dominate today's NBA with a comfortable foothold in its future. At worst, this is Death Lineup karaoke, with Horford as an older, calmer, better shooting/less nimble version of Draymond Green, Irving’s offensive wizardry hoisting the entire franchise to a higher level, and three interchangeable stars (either in the making or cemented) on the wing.

They can switch just about everywhere on the defensive end (a quality that’s especially helpful when the game spurts into open-court chaos) with five players who can create their own shot against opposing teams that try and defend them the same way. Everyone can shoot. Everyone can pass. Everyone has either made an All-Star team or has the potential to do so for years to come. We only saw this unit play five minutes last season. This year, the Celtics will only go so far as it can take them.

Chris Paul, James Harden, Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker, Clint Capela

Much has been made about Houston's ostensible stumble through a momentous offseason. The loss of Trevor Ariza and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (two ideal complementary pieces), the addition of a teetering Carmelo Anthony, and associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik’s sudden retirement gave birth to a meditation on Houston’s staying power as a juggernaut. Most, if not all, of the discussion is little more than concern trolling.

At the end of the day, Houston will open the 2018-19 season with five of its most important players back from a 65-win team that could’ve/should’ve won it all. This particular group isn’t new, but it might as well be: Paul, Harden, Gordon, Tucker, and Capela have only registered 24 minutes. (In the 45 possessions they logged during the playoffs, Houston outscored its opponents by 15.6 points per 100 possessions.) The Rockets may blow this to bits with a mid-season blockbuster trade that includes one of these key contributors (likely Gordon and/or Tucker), but if they keep it together there won’t be a more effective or complementary collection of talent found in any one unit outside Golden State (and maybe Boston).

There are four back-breaking three-point shooters—two of whom double as first-ballot Hall of Famers and all-galaxy playmakers—surrounding a rim-rolling paint protector who gets notably better every year. In the final five minutes of a close game, how do you stifle this offense? Seriously. How do you attack a committed and disciplined defense that switches everything with above-average pieces at just about every position? Sure, they’re a little small—Ariza’s absence hurts most here—but all of them play larger and stronger than their height, thriving inside a system that emboldens them to behave like running lava.

Last season’s Rockets were one of the best teams to ever fall short of a title. In year two of the Paul-Harden era, they may be even better when it counts the most.

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins

Deep analysis isn’t required here. Given the stakes, relevance, and staggering aesthetics, anyone not interested in seeing how Boogie Cousins (however healthy) fits in with the most impressive foursome in NBA history might as well quit the NBA for good.

Victor Oladipo, Tyreke Evans, Bojan Bogdanovic, Domas Sabonis, Myles Turner

My first thought was to have Thaddeus Young in for Sabonis, not knowing if Nate McMillan could find someone for his third-year big to defend in the last five minutes of a close game. But Young isn’t a good enough outside shooter to tilt the scale in his favor, so Sabonis gets the nod for being a superior passer who can really squeeze a defense from the post. Good luck out-rebounding the Pacers when this group is on the floor. It’s unclear how many teams will be able to combat Indy’s sheer size on either end when this lineup is on the floor.

Beyond having two centers share the frontcourt, what's most intriguing here is the absence of any one "true" point guard. Instead, Oladipo and Evans will complement each another on both ends, toggling back and forth as capable playmakers who can finish at the rim, knock down a pull-up three, and run an effective pick-and-roll with either Sabonis or Turner.

Oladipo is the breakout star and franchise jewel, coming off a season in which he won Most Improved Player and made an All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defensive team. But let’s back up and examine Evans for a second. What a variable. Take a look at how his numbers compared to Oladipo’s last season. According to Synergy Sports, Evans ranked in the 86th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball handler and the 83rd percentile in isolation, doing his best on a Grizzlies team that was headed nowhere. Life will be even easier in Indiana, especially in this unit, where he may be the third (or even fourth) option. It’s hard to find a better spot for Evans at this point in his career.

Elsewhere, last season Bogdanovic made over 40 percent of his threes and posted a 60.5 True Shooting percentage (both career highs), while Turner is already one of the league’s most intriguing young bigs, a shot-blocking madman who can roll or pop. Bogdanovic will likely regress, but if he can at worst remain static while three others (especially Oladipo) display some growth, this unit will be a nightmare.

Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, DeAndre Jordan

This obviously won’t be seen until Barnes returns from his hamstring injury, but it could be worth the wait. The Mavericks have Dirk Nowitzki, but elsewhere they are fledgling. Smith Jr. and Doncic are the future. Barnes, Jordan, and Matthews are each within a few seasons of their respective primes. Together, they possess a dynamism that’s been missing from every lineup Dallas has put on the floor in over a decade.

If Jordan gobbles everything from the glass, can stay healthy, and still suck help defenders off the three-point line on hard dives towards the rim, so many of Smith Jr. and Doncic’s growing pains will fall into a safety net. If Barnes, in a contract year, doesn’t hijack the offense and lets part of his game selflessly revert back to the space it occupied in Golden State (this is wishful thinking but not out of line within the context of this unit), Carlisle’s system can be more fluid. And through it all, if Matthews can (hopefully) hold it all together as a grizzled veteran with the team's lowest night-to-night variance, there's no reason why this lineup can't close tight games and post a positive point differential.

Some of this logic requires a leap of faith, for sure. And so much of it is inspired by Doncic’s preseason highlight reel. But even if they aren't great, you won't want to miss them.

Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Stanley Johnson, Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond

There’s a certain amount of nostalgic charm attached to a lineup like this. It features a jaunty point guard who’s supported by a sniper at the two and covered by an athletic wing, with a robust, true-number-one-option at power forward beside a mountainous center tasked with anchoring the defense. On the surface it screams old school, and that's why there are so many reasons to hate it. These five players were all in Detroit last season, but played just about zero minutes at the same time (only four possessions, per Cleaning the Glass). Aside from poor health, the reason why is obvious: There’s not nearly enough spacing or anything close to a defined pecking order on the offensive end, while exploiting them on defense shouldn’t be too hard, given their inflexibility.

But Drummond added a new dimension to his game last year. Stan Van Gundy placed him higher on the floor and let him showcase a passing ability that boosted his assist rate up to 14 percent—more than the sum of his previous three years combined!). Meanwhile, Griffin is uniquely dominant when healthy. Nobody his size rivals his vision or ball-handling ability. It helps form a frontcourt tandem that may be able to do more than tread water when accompanied by the right pieces.

It’s unclear if Detroit has those pieces, but Johnson is still only 22 years old, with the girth and quickness to defend four positions in a pinch. Jackson is two years removed from life as a slightly above-average point guard, and Kennard is the one cast member who can loosen up the floor when he doesn't have the ball. I don’t necessarily think this group will exceed its modest expectations, but the ceiling is higher than people think, especially with Dwane Casey at head coach, able to coagulate a defense that’s already good but can stand to be better.

Rajon Rondo, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, LeBron James

This is the exact opposite of the group seen above, with a degree of unconventionality that's both breathtaking and hardly a surprise to anyone who’s watched the NBA evolve over the past six years. I don’t know if it will be good, or if Luke Walton will even be willing to utilize Rondo and Ball at the same time—in tight space with no true center and only one recognizable spot-up threat—but please check your pulse if you're not curious to see how it'd do.

Why not experiment and see how far Einstein-level basketball IQ and absurd talent can take you? LeBron at the five isn’t a new concept, but as the league continues to downsize—a trend no other player is more responsible for—he’s positioned to take advantage in lineups that surround him with players who can see segments of the game develop before they actually do. They turn a defense's crack into a calamitous breach with next-level anticipation. Between LeBron, Rondo, and Ball, it's hard to think of another group that's ever unleashed so many innovative passers at the same time.

Hart and Ingram are here to enjoy it all, from beyond the arc and against awkward closeouts. Outside shooting is an issue throughout L.A.'s roster, but this group will invent ways to make it a non-issue—if they get a chance to play.

Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam

As is the case for so many different teams, we don’t really know what Toronto’s best five is right now. But as NBA teams start to favor mischievous off-the-bounce slashers over 3-and-D statues, VanVleet has to be on the floor over Danny Green. A case can be made for Dorell Wright's wingspan in that spot, but Siakam, Lowry, Leonard, and Anunoby are more than enough to make this defense one of the league's best.

There's almost too much to like here. Leonard is at the four, with a mobile, 7'3" wingspan at center. Anunoby can't be left alone in the corner while Lowry and VanVleet wreak all sorts of havoc wherever they are. Picture an inverted pick-and-roll, with Leonard dribbling the ball as Lowry races up to blindside his man with a screen. How the hell do you guard that, with Siakam in the dunker's spot and deadly shooting along the perimeter? Few teams can. The Raptors are going to be so much fun.

The (Relatively) New Lineups We Can’t Wait to See published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/