Malenko

So, last place in the group, then?

I read the players already said they will play the cup final. Nevertheless, for a few of those players, it could be their last game for them.

That's not even half of it. Back when they lost their first leg quarter-finals vs Atletico Madrid he insulted the players on facebook or whatever social media platform it was. As a response the team captain tweeted something about them being good professionals and doing the best they could every game and that it would be better if he was able to show support rather than silly rants on social media. A bunch of players retweeted it. He suspended the whole lot. An emergency team meeting later everyone was back on the team. They actually beat Atletico Madrid in the 2nd leg and went on a short winning streak until they lost the last league game of the season and chaos ensues. Also, 'crime is part of everyday life' - His reaction to the attack.

From the UEFA webpage: For 2018/19 they will be ... UEFA Champions League holders (1) UEFA Europa League holders (1) Top four from associations ranked 1st to 4th: Spain, Germany, England, Italy (16) Also on their webpage: An association may have a maximum of five teams in the group stage

Rules change now and then, but currently Europa League winners don't affect the number of teams qualifying through the domestic league, which is why there were 5 teams this year. However it still doesn't have "4 guaranteed spots via the league though nowadays". Just as an example I'll use the one given before. If Liverpool and Arsenal won the CL and EL and both ended up outside of the top 4, the 4th placed team wouldn't qualify.

I didn't mean to. Sorry. I just meant 5 is the maximum number of teams at the moment but exceptions have been made before when the maximum number was 4. Nothing else.

Spurs would be demoted to the Europa League. Since the Liverpool-Everton situation over a decade ago, UEFA allows 5 teams from the same country in the CL in case a team outside of the top 4 wins the CL (at the moment, the EL is good enough for that), but you still can't* get a sixth. * You couldn't get a fifth spot back then, so the same way they changed it back then, they could change it again.

Bogdanovic. I admit, even though the Pacers had won the regular season series I wasn't expecting them to win this one in the playoffs. I just thought, "the playoffs are different, I can't see LeBron losing in round 1". Not so sure anymore, to be honest.

I wonder how Save Ferris sound live nowadays. The new EP sounded so different. I mean, it's expected if you change every member but the lead singer, but still. I was expecting it to be similar to what she was doing back then. I assume they still play more than half a dozen songs from "It Means Everything" so I'd still have a good time there.

Well, I hope Chris Paul gets a ring. It's the first time I feel he can actually get it (beating the warriors once they are fully fit will be very tough but it's still possible, I think) and I wouldn't want him to retire without it. Both hornets and clippers were dreadful without him. These rockets aren't. He's not at his peak obviously but he doesn't need to be anymore and he's still good enough. Also, looking forward to see how far the sixers go. Inexperience is often a factor, however I wouldn't be super surprised if they reached the conference finals. Celtics have too many injuries, Bucks seem beatable although they have some good players so you never know. I'm already assuming they won't have a hard time with Miami but who knows. Raptors and Cavs will face each other beforehand if both reach the conference semis. It seems very possible.

To be fair to Saric (who you haven't mentioned but still) he's unlucky to be in a team with Simmons and Embiid, both extremely popular players. Midway through the season, when Embiid was dealing with injuries and Simmons was in a (slight) slump he was playing great and no one took notice. I feel he'll be a sixth man by the time Fultz is 100% fit (next season) and I feel he's so much better than that. Regardless, the Sixers were fun this year, but they'll be a ton of fun next year if management doesn't mess up.

In my opinion Simmons has been better. Donovan Mitchell is having a very good season on a team that's having a surprisingly good season, even though I think a lot of it has to do with Gobert as well. I feel his season is overlooked because Mitchell is the nice story on the team this year, but when you look at their record since he came back, you can't help but feel he doesn't get enough praise. As for being a rookie or not, not everyone wins RoY in their draft year. While it's true that most of them were different situations, such as Larry Bird or David Robinson who just didn't go to the NBA immediately, you also have Blake Griffin who got it exactly in the same situation as Simmons.Also, I don't think anyone doubts Joel Embiid would have won it last season had he played enough games. If you're playing your first games in the NBA, you are a rookie. Simple as.

I didn't name the band!

I love post hardcore. Steve Albini has been in a few more bands that you may like as well in case you don't know them yet like Rapeman and also Big Black, although this one has more of a punk feel but still post hardcore/noise rock. I'd recommend you newer stuff but a lot of times it's cleaner and more derivative and I feel you wouldn't enjoy it as much.

The Nuggets were actually in playoff position for a while and then they had a bad streak which just happened to happen right about when the Jazz were getting hot. Jokic is amazing and I wouldn't want to see him out of the playoffs even if he's just there to be out of it in the first round. Also during that bad spell there was that game they were actually leading at the end of the third and then Malone got upset at Jokic and Jamal Murray and left them out of the game for most of the 4th and they lost the game. All of this while being 8th in the west. I understand discipline and all of that but there's a time and place for everything and it shouldn't have been there and then. Then again I also wouldn't want Davis to miss the playoffs. The wolves sans Butler barely win any games so they may end up out of it after being third at some point.

This came back to the news because the Greek League had been suspended because of that, but now is back on.

I was expecting it to get worse to be honest, but I'm not going to go on a rant explaining with detail how overrated I feel Griffin is because I've done it enough in my life.

If you give your first pick + Tobias Harris + Avery Bradley + Marjanovic for Blake Griffin, why would you be tanking for? :\

Getting the best prospects allows those "bad" teams to have a shot at being good a few years down the line, which is something you don't get (or rarely get) in european sports with the pyramid system. In the NBA, even the Lakers and Celtics have had really bad periods in their history (I use those two as examples because obviously, they have won the most) and weaker teams have been able to win titles or at least go far. Pre-Jordan Bulls had been bad for quite a while until they got him at 3 (and then Pippen, etc..). The Warriors had gone through 2 really bad spells until they managed to become champions with a team based on 3 draftees, who weren't even selected in the top 5 picks, but still. These are not historically terrible teams because obviously, the Warriors had won titles beforehand and the Bulls were a playoff team in the 70s. That's not what I meant. I meant both teams got undeniably much better through their respective drafts - and bad drafts from those who picked before them in both cases. Would the Bucks have gotten to 2 finals in the 70s and win one if they hadn't been bad in 68 and get Kareem because of it? For sure they wouldn't. Obviously, free agency and trades allow some teams to stay competitive most of the time but a good draft still helps others, not to mention some teams need to win to stay profitable enough, because not every team will have enough money/following to remain in the league even while being terrible. I'm not a fan of tanking - I accept it as a means to an end that most teams use - but while the current draft system may not be perfect, I still wouldn't want to get rid of the draft system helping teams with worse records. Also, maybe next year with the rule changes, things will change a bit as well?

Er.. markieff Morris has been starting since 2014 and I don't remember him ever being sent down to the d-league/g-league and even Marcus was starting the last couple of seasons for the pistons and he hasn't been sent down in years.

He didn't debut. He returned yesterday. The rest I agree with. I'm not a sixers fan but at the moment I find them very entertaining to watch and so I'm happy these sixers are playoff bound.

Harden had a ton more potential than Ben Gordon. It's true he's not great defensively and he'll probably never be (which is still enough to be better than Gordon ever was) but he had great vision and understanding of the offensive game and scouts were aware of that even while he was at Arizona State. Were they expecting him to be dishing out 10 assists a game in the NBA? Probably not, but it can't be a massive surprise that he isn't a one-dimensional scorer because he never was. I agree playing with Westbrook and Durant, he would probably fail to reach his current level, since both would probably be ahead of him up to this day had the trio remained together, but that comparison is just not fair. The trade didn't look as bad at the time as it does today, but it always looked kinda bad. EDIT: "A ton" may be harsh, but still...

Very unique as well. Like it a lot. That's one of those albums I assumed you already had.

That damned album though.

I say yellow. The one below is both, though. http://c7.alamy.com/comp/FAJ4CY/two-tone-green-and-yellow-tennis-ball-isolated-on-a-white-background-FAJ4CY.jpg