1⃣ Training-session THREAD - examples from trainings I did... while working in SKN St. Pölten Some of my principles mentioned and explained: 📌Central Oriented Attack 📌Find open behind opponent next line 📌Diagonality / Verticality 📌Local 2v1 ▫️11v11 possession game with a pitch constrained to wide zones (yellow stick) + central zone (red-stick) ▫️Teams where given 1p / progression from wide zone & 2p via progressions from the centre ➡️ thus forcing the team to prioritize central progressions ▫️As seen in the video > white team finds open foot player by playing out wide but still prioritizing and creating conditions to progress via the centre through the diagonal focus and lay-off options to support the forward pass 📽️Metrica Sports | Metrica Nexusshow more

8v6 | Build Up vs Pressing | Phase of... Play ⚽️ Created On: Sport Session Planner #SundayShare #SundayShare ✅ Build up vs Press. 🧱Set-Up: ➡️ On half a pitch, set up the playing area as shown. Across the halfway line, bolt on a 5-yard scoring zone. ➡️ Place a pair of mini-goals centrally, and position escape gates in the wide zones of the pitch. ➡️ At the opposite end, have a larger goal defender by a GK (🟢 👕 Teams: ⚫️s vs 🔴s plus 🟢 (GK) 🛝How to Play: ☑️ The 🔴s play out from the back and score by dribbling through a wide gate, or scoring 1st time off a set into the mini goals. No players are allowed to enter the red zone. ☑️ The ⚫️s press, regain possession of the ball, and score in the larger goal. 🚧 Constraints: 🏆Reward: Double points a regain and a finish within 6 seconds. 👨‍🏫 Review: The collective press of the ⚫️s. 🚫 Restriction: The 🔴s only have 5 passes to score. @Tactica1Thinker Lloyd Owers Osku Partonen 205 Academy The Sporting Resource Peter Prickett | TheBeardedCoach Jamie Birch SessionShare @ExchangeCoaches Mo Hicham Souisse 🇺🇸 🇲🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Allenaremania.com The Coaching Familyshow more

⚽️ 8v6 Phase of Play | Attacking Wide Areas|... Cutbacks + Crosses Created on: TacticalPad® ☑️ Aim: ✔️ Combine in wide areas and create scoring chances using crosses or cutbacks. ☑️ Space and Set Up: ✔️ Half pitch: Funnel pitch toward mini goals. ✔️ 3 Mini Goals in a line centrally 🥅. Approx 5-8 yards from centre circle ⭕️. ✔️ Attacks are alternate ⚽️1️⃣: ⚫️s try to combine and score in large goal. ⚽️2️⃣: 🔴s build up and score in mini goals. ☑️ Play the Game: ✔️🔴s defend the large goal and score in any of the 3 x mini goals 🥅. They line up in a 1-4-3. ✔️ ⚫️s score in the large goal and defend the 3x mini goals 🥅. ✔️ ⚫️s line up in a 3-3 but they have 2xFB operate on the diagonal lines of the pitch. The FBs are behind the attack to recycle the ball ⚽️ for the ⚫️s. ☑️ Notes: ✔️ Encourage ⚫️s to use 2 and 3 player combinations to get behind the 🔴s defence. ✔️ Playing wide is a preference but if the 🔴s offer a clear central route to goal then use it. ✔️ Wall passing, Set passes, Overlaps and Underlaps are great moves to help players create chances. 🔁 Flip the roles of the players to allow them to practice attacking and defending. Temisan Williams @TheCoachesArea Lloyd Owers @FootballTrnng Brett Godwin The Sporting Resource Felix Lehmann @ExchangeCoaches The Coaching Family @RJPcoach TheBeardedCoach 205 Academy Tom Skeath Breakthrough Soccer 𝗙𝗖𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯 | 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 goTeam! Sports 🇬🇧 🇺🇸show more

Hexagons and Octagons Those who follow football and coaching... will be well aware that there are trends that emerge and become the great break through in coaching, only to vanish quite quickly. A few stick around and become a staple. Such as the rondo, or the 4v4+4 Guardiola rondo variation. One that did not stick around in the coaching collective consciousness that possible should have was Thomas Tuchel’s use of hexagonal and octagonal playing areas in training sessions. Tuchel explained that cutting off the corners and angling the pitch forced “sharp diagonal” passes that would help break the press. The positioning of players outside the hexagon/octagon or players close to the edges will be manipulated into an open body shape by the angles of the pitch. Players are impacted by environmental constraints and embodied cognition, where the geography of the playing area influences their actions. This influence spreads to the creation of triangles and diamonds within the playing area due to the “funnel” like nature of the playing area. We can use the cut outside angles by placing bounce or target players on the exterior, influencing the movement and organisation internally. The inside players will not have to move wide as those areas are occupied. The internal players will seek to create passing angles using the positioning of the outside players and their internal team mates. The diamonds and triangles will appear. If we leave the spaces on the outside empty players can move to fill the spaces. These act as free spaces to receive from the goalkeeper or open spaces for attackers to overlap into, encouraging attacking combination play and crosses. A different way of using the space is to remove goals and goalkeepers from the ends and place bounce/target players on the outside. Players now can combine with the outside players, when they do so they are then free to finish into the outside goals. The condition can be extended to combining with the target player in the opposite side of the pitch before scoring, adding an element of switching play. The hexagon and octagon are versatile spaces that help to replicate aspects of the game. By funneling the spaces we impact players body shape, ability to play forward quickly, team shape (or small group shapes), players cutting in, defending centrally, the types of combination used and the angles of line breaking pass (diagonals). The angles are hugely significant for teams that value combinations and possession football, Straight passes and receiving angles are much easier to intercept and carry high risks for being counter attacked. Short diagonals can bypass players and attacking shapes, creating angled connections. If an angles pass is given away there is still a risk of being counter attacked but there is more chance of having players around the ball to regain possession. To counter press. The question that emerges is should we then be using hexagons and octagons more? If they are of greater benefit than squares and rectangles, why use them? Should all pitches, including those of a small sided nature be hexagonal? Can the rondo square be replaced by the rondo octagon?show more

Brysen Wright, RareBreeds 12U 6'2 180, Wide Receiver St.... Augustine, Florida The best player on the field was obvious for Sunday's main event of the Youth National Championship presented by Battle Sports. Wide receiver Bryson Wright is the prototype as a pass catcher. Massive frame that is already Power Five ready despite still in middle school. He is filled out and with six-plus years of development before he can even enter a college weight training program, he passes the eye test better than most top wide receiver prospects in the 2024 class right now. An addition to the already star studded RareBreeds perennial Yfbplayoff winning squad, Wright has brought a 'Florida swagger' to a team that dominated 40-14. "The coaching." said Wright on what has elevated him to the top of his age group. "I've been working with the right coaching, learning how to not be selfish and always just do the best I can. Normally tall, bigger guys can't play the way I play. I'm athletic for my size and that's really the biggest part of my game that makes me different." Intangible-wise he checks every single box the same as his size. Wright was able to run multiple routes and did not simply rely on being the biggest skill position player on the field. He is a natural catcher of the football and showed it on a highlight-worthy one-handed grab in the left corner of the endzone early in the contest. On an in-breaking 10-yard route, Wright took a reception for 40-plus for a score proving he can mix in some explosiveness and speed to being a massive target. Ohio State, Florida State, North Carolina and Georgia are schools he hopes to hear from once he gets to the high school level, but he may not have to wait too long. College coaches are already taking notice of the advanced offensive weapon and he could end up one of the few middle school prospects to earn Power Five offers before even deciding where he plays high school ball.show more

Seedance 2.0 on Higgsfield AI The level of shot... planning behind this sequence is what stood out to me most. Every camera move, action beat, and character interaction is mapped out before generation, making the final result feel much closer to a professionally storyboarded action scene. Full open-sourced prompts & assets below: Shot 4 — arrival from the hallway. Camera in the dim corridor, blue-haired girl and black-haired boy sprinting toward the wooden classroom door, scythe and hammer in hand; they burst through into the grey daylight room and plant their feet, weapons raised, sizing up the monster. Shot 5 — monster's first move, wide. Monster lunges forward with a wide clawed swipe, sweeping three desks aside in one motion; camera pulls back fast to keep the full swipe in frame, wood splintering across the tile floor. Shot 6 — boy dodges, low tracking. Low tracking shot following the boy sliding under the swipe, hammer dragging sparks off the floor as he repositions behind the monster's flank. Shot 7 — girl's opening strike, close-up slow-mo. Close-up slow motion, blue-haired girl closing from the opposite side, scythe blade catching the monster's forearm, hot pink ichor spraying in thick suspended arcs against the window light. Shot 8 — monster retaliates, whip-pan. Monster whirls and back-hands her mid-recovery; whip-pan follows her body skidding across a row of desks, papers scattering, before she catches herself against a chair. Shot 9 — boy's counter from the flank, dutch angle. Dutch-angle shot, boy swinging the hammer into the monster's exposed hind leg from behind while it's still turned toward the girl, joint buckling under the impact, monster staggering off-balance. Shot 10 — regroup, mid-fight dialogue. Both fighters land back to back in the center of the room, weapons still raised, monster recovering its footing a few meters off; camera does a slow circular push around them. Boy (Japanese): 「息合わせるぞ、上と下で。」 (Translation: "Let's sync up — high and low.") Girl (Japanese): 「了解、合図出して。」 (Translation: "Got it, give the signal.") Shot 11 — boy attacks from behind, low wide. Low wide shot, boy sprinting around the monster's blind side as it turns to face the girl, hammer rising for a full swing into its back, driving it forward off-balance. Shot 12 — girl leaps, upward tracking shot. Camera tilts and tracks upward with her as she springs off an overturned desk, scythe raised high overhead, silhouetted against the window light as the monster staggers directly beneath her. Shot 13 — slow-mo descent and kill strike. Slow motion, girl descending in a full arc, scythe driving down through the monster's shoulder and central eye, a scream tearing from her throat as hot pink ichor bursts upward around the blade; monster's roar collapses into a low groan. Shot 14 — collapse, wide static. Wide static shot, the monster's mass folding inward and crashing face-first onto the tile floor, dust and loose papers scattering outward, the room settling into stillness.Shot 15 — aftermath, general plan. Wide general shot, both fighters standing over the fallen monster, weapons lowered, chests heaving; boy lets the hammer head drop to the floor with a thud, girl wipes pink fluid off her cheek and starts laughing between breaths, boy laughs too, leaning against a desk, both grinning and shoulder-checking each other in the overcast daylight.show more

🚨NO,THE GAME OF POLO WAS NOT INVENTED IN MANIPUR!... 📌 The claim by Meiteis that an obscure figure named King Kangba of Kangleipak (Manipur) invented Polo (sagol kangjei) around 5140 BC or 7200 years ago is bereft of any logical foundation, historical truth or archaeological evidence. In fact, There is not a single trace of such a king in any CREDIBLE historical record, inscription or archaeological source. 🐎Even more absurdly, DNA analysis by Archeologist indicates that horse domestication began only around 2200 BC or 4200 years ago. (a full 3000 years after the fanciful legend that an obscure king of a non existing kingdom conceived a sport dependent on an animal not yet domesticated). 📍The true roots of Polo can be traced to the mounted nomads of Central Asia, who played an early form of the game which was as much a test of horsemanship & combat readiness as it was a sport. These early matches, sometimes involving up to a hundred riders per side, tested not only horsemanship but also coordination & combat readiness. 🚨By the 6th century BCE, these nomadic horsemen, ancestors of the modern Mongols & Persians had developed rudimentary forms of polo or Chovgan (čowgân), which soon spread across the vast steppes of Asia. As these tribes migrated & founded empires, they carried the sport with them into Persia, present-day Iran. There, around the 5th century BCE, polo evolved from a rugged tribal contest into a refined into a regal persuit. The Persians are rightly credited with transforming polo from a war exercise into a game of into an aristocratic team sport, eventually adopting it as their national sport. 📌 In fact, the first recorded polo tournament between the Turkomans & Persians dates back to around 600 BCE, 2600 years ago with the Turkomans emerging victorious. The term "Polo" is believed to derive from the Balti word "Pholo" or "Pulu" (Tibetan for "Willow branch"), which corrupted to "Polo" hinting at its deep cultural connections along the Silk Road. From Persia, polo's influence spread far & wide, westward to Byzantium, eastward to Tibet, China & Japan & southward into the Indian subcontinent. Each civilization not only adopted the sport but also infused it with its own traditions & values. By the 7th century CE, polo had reached as far as Japan from China. 📌 The Mughals were chiefly responsible for taking the game from Persia & reintroducing or popularizing Polo in the Indian subcontinent. It was Emperor Babur, in the 16th century who established & formalize the sport in India, where it flourished as a royal pastime. (It had already long been played in China and Japan, but had died out by the time the West came in contact with those countries). Earlier, the game's harshest incarnations even saw the use of human or animal heads in place of balls, a practice that eventually gave way to the pulu, a ball made from willow root. 📌 The British Colonial officers stumbled upon the game of Polo only in the mid 19th Century AD, when the Manipuri king, seeking British protection from Burma, threw himself upon British protection, turning his kingdom into a protectorate state under their suzerainty. Enthralled by the sport, the British carried it back to England & across Europe, dressed it in Victorian polish & gloablised it under imperial Patronage while packaging it as their latest civilised pastime. 📌 But make no mistake, The game of Polo's cradle was never Manipur's Valley & to suggest that Polo originated in Manipur is not only a distortion of history but an illusion of history. Long before Manipur's chronicles even began & thousands of years before Manipur (Kangleipak) even entered recorded time, the game of Polo had already flourished across the steppes of Central Asia for centuries, sustained by the skills of Mongolian horsemen, Persians Nobles & warriors whose bloodline predated both the British & the Meiteis by Millenia & whose ancestors knew no such name as Britain, let alone Manipur or Kangleipak.show more

⭐️❄️ 1ST CALL SNOW MAP ❄️⭐️ I’m comfortable enough... now to put real numbers on a forecast map — not raw model output, but a forecast built from actual meteorological reasoning. This forecast is based on: • Snow ratios • Lower DGZ placement • Front-end focused snowfall • Dry dew points early • Mixing potential near 800 mb (~6,000 ft) as coastal redevelopment occurs 🩶 ZONE 1: 4–6" Lower Manhattan • Long Island • NJ Coast • Philadelphia The front end of this storm should deliver 4–6" of snow, with locally higher amounts, before a transition to sleet and possibly freezing rain. ⚠️ I do NOT see this turning into “just rain.” Ground temperatures will be in the upper teens to lower 20s — meaning freezing rain is a legitimate concern and should not be ignored. 🟦 ZONE 2: 6–10" Interior North/Central NJ • North Shore LI • Upper Boroughs • Lower Westchester • Lower Fairfield CT Soundings support some sleet here, but also a longer-duration front-end snowfall. This is a challenging transition zone — and there is still a realistic scenario where no meaningful changeover occurs due to strong dynamics. ➡️ Higher-end totals are very much on the table. 🟪 ZONE 3: 10–15" NW NJ • Poconos • Lower Hudson Valley • Central CT This area benefits from very high snow ratios for nearly 90% of the storm before eventually shifting to wetter snow. I am very confident that areas in purple do not switch to sleet or freezing rain. This is the jackpot zone. 📌 SIDE THOUGHTS This is my First Call. Adjustments will be made. Forecasting for more than 7+ million homes is never perfect — especially in a setup with this many microclimates and boundary-layer challenges. But this is the best possible forecast with the data we have right now. More updates coming. Stay tuned ON tv UNTIL 10AM PIX11 News ❄️📺show more

Recently did an interview with the lead developer of... Knight's Path on the title's future release and the state of the industry. The Western AAA gaming industry has shifted its focus away from its core audience, favoring products for smaller, less engaged demographics. This shift has led to a noticeable disconnect between large publishers and their traditional fan base. This has, however, created an environment for indies to thrive. They can prioritize authenticity and community, crafting games that resonate with their players and that is exactly the case with Knight's Path. In December of 2023, Knights Path: The Tournament was released to Very Positive reviews on Steam. It is a short medieval RPG featuring challenging combat, an immersive progression system, and a nice little story. It served as an announcement, a combat concept demo, and a teaser for the forthcoming open-world RPG Knight's Path, which is currently in active development. I asked what their plans were regarding the scope of the full release. While you might get the impression that Knight's Path is an arena fighting game, that’s not the case with the full release. "Knight's Path will be a proper open-world, story-driven RPG. Of course, as a small indie team, we’re keeping the scope modest. The open world will be compact but dense, featuring one town, one village, castle ruins, forests, valleys, and other areas to explore." Many gamers would agree it is better to have a limited number of fully fleshed-out areas than to present a gigantic, empty world. This has been a major criticism levied towards recent releases like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and even modern Assassins Creed, which tends to rely on repetitive gameplay loops scattered across an overly large map, which can feel more like busywork than meaningful exploration. I have always believed that quality over quantity is the best way to go. The team has also made this a priority with things such as the story and weapon types. "We plan to include three main weapon types: longsword, sword and shield, and bows. These will feature the full progression system seen in the demo, with skill levels such as Novice, Adept, Expert, and Master. Players will need to learn individual skills from different trainers to progress. In addition, we’re introducing secondary weapons like spears, halberds, and other polearms. These won’t have RPG-style progression but will still offer variety in combat." Regarding the story, they plan to be bold and strive to create a 16-28 hour-long main campaign. "The story will be divided into four chapters, with each chapter offering around 4–7 hours of gameplay. As in the demo, the player character begins as a nobody, slowly learning how to wield a sword and eventually becoming a knight. However, the progression will be much more realistic than in the demo, where the peasant hilariously transformed into a champion in just four days." This is a far cry from many games that are released nowadays. In just 2024 alone at a glance, the AA release Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn provided an average of 8 hours of content, Princess Peach: Showtime at 10 hours, Silent Hill 2 Remake at 15, and even the GOTY winner Astrobot holds an average playtime of 10 hours. A major issue within the industry is the way we are treated by the people who only have jobs because of our favorite hobby. In 2024 the gaming industry is forecasted to generate $208.7 BILLION dollars, up from 5.4% in 2023. Compare that to Hollywood, which is a measly $12.3 billion. The gaming industry employs 727,000 individuals in the United States alone. So, you'd think these people would have a little bit of respect for gamers, though so many who are vocal on social media show nothing but contempt for us. Perhaps this is because of fear if they do not show loyalty to a cause or "fit in" that they may not secure funding or genuinely believe in what they preach, but the team behind Knight's Path isn't worried about that. "We are independent developers, and we plan to stay independent so we can stay true to our vision. Knight's Path is a game made by gamers for gamers. We’re prioritizing fun gameplay above all, and we firmly believe this is exactly what gamers want." I also raised some questions about their big plans moving forward. In the demo, one of the major criticisms I had was with the voice acting. I had guessed it was done via AI, which was confirmed. "You guessed correctly– the voice acting in the demo was done by AI, and it was probably the loudest critique we received, and we totally understand why! Back then, we didn’t have much of a choice, but for the full game, we don’t plan to use any AI voices. Luckily, after the demo release, many voice actors reached out to us, volunteering to lend their voices to the full game. We absolutely plan to answer their call and give them that opportunity." AI can be a useful tool, especially for developers starting out who can't commit a lot of money to voice acting or just want to see a version of the product that's closer to what they envision the full release to be, but going from that to real voice actors will bump the experience to the next level. I myself played the demo in its entirety and really enjoyed my time with it! I thought the game was reminiscent of Gothic 2 and even The Witcher. I was happily surprised when I didn't encounter any bugs or glitches and while some areas have not been fleshed out like the voice acting, I would recommend putting the game on your wishlist to see what this team does in the future when they finally deliver their updated demo and the eventual full release of the game.show more

I’ve never shared the full inside baseball on the... inside fastball that broke my jaw April 5, 2008 at Ole Miss, we were facing projected 1st rounder and future Big Leaguer, Lance Lynn Before it became widespread, Lance had success pitching towards the top of the zone with a fastball that appeared to rise He got me out my first at bat on a high fastball that I should have laid off So my 2nd at bat I told myself to see the ball down in the zone My eyes jumped from his release point to the area I was trying to see the ball down to. I never ended up seeing the pitch until .01 before it hit me If you’ve ever gotten hit in the face, you don’t know what happened at first. So it took me about half a second to realize what happened When I did, I fully expected to spit teeth out and when I leaned over to spit and saw that only blood came out, I assumed I was fine Then I heard the Ole Miss head coach yell “it hit his bat,” because the cracking of my jaw sounded like a foul ball off a mental bat I turned around and yelled “shut the fuck up” at their dugout and proceeded on to first base My trainer came up to me and his first words were “oh fuck,” Knowing that was poor bedside manner, and that I was probably very fucked up, I joked “you’re not supposed to say that,” At that point I knew I was coming out of the game but I was so full of adrenaline that it didn’t hurt and wouldn’t begin to hurt for a couple hours Both the pitcher and coach felt so bad after it happened that both came to apologize to me at the end of the inning while I was beside their dugout being tended to by my trainer and their doctor I actually had to walk to the parking lot through the stadium seats and all the fans looked at me in horror as I had a white bloody rag hanging off my face. It was surreal watching their reactions to my blood We drove over to an Oxford medical center that was clearly not the best location for me to be in, so my coach’s wife drive me up to Nashville to get surgery that night We got swept that weekend and I got my jaw wired shut for the first of 6 weeks I stupidly tried to come back and play the following week. My coaches let me as I was medically cleared to hit with a face mask, but the rest of my season I was a different hitter I was hitting .400 at the time of the fracture, 2nd in the SEC, with 2 months left in the season I finished the year hitting .312. Meaning I flipped from one of the best hitters in the conference to one of the worst before and after the incident Despite finishing my Vandy career 7th on their all time hit list, this play is what I hear about the most when I return I’ve been lucky that I haven’t had much issues with my jaw thus far post incident, although I did find out that 2 of the nerves of the impacted teeth are dead, and I will likely need to get one of those teeth extracted at some point When they showed me the X Ray it was a clear break. A scary image that could have been WAY worse if it were 3 inches higher, as I likely would not be able to see out of my left eye (and wouldn’t be as handsome as I am) Anyway, to have interesting ideas you must have interesting experiences and this was certainly oneshow more

FSD 14.3.5 Down Under initial review Let me start... right at the top by saying that in my 2.5 hour drive, I had 2 instances of a critical issue which I'm sad to say, in my opinion is a blocker to any wide roll-out of this build. The issue is shown in the clip below, which I'm calling the "Wiggle of Death". Half way through the roundabout you can see the steering wheel start wiggling from left to right as the car heads straight for the curb. Had I not intervened, it could have resulted in an impact. The other instance was the same behaviour, only towards a curb while turning right in a car park. Sorry guys, but it is what it is. It's what early access testing is for. On a more positive note, several major issues have been addressed in this build: FIXED: 🎉110km/h zones - they work perfectly now! Locked in at 115 in hurry, 112 in standard and 109 in chill. We don't talk about sloth on this account 😆 🎉 Follow distance / tailgating is resolved. Hurry now feels super comfortable and standard sits just a little further back again. 🎉 Lane changes were not a problem the entire drive. Every single one felt natural. I never really had many issues on 14.3.3 though tbh INCONCLUSIVE Speed sign recognition - I didn't have any instances today of it misreading a speed sign, however I didn't pass any 90 signs this time which have been most problematic on 14.3.3 - need more testing to confirm either way Exits on freeways - Didn't have any instances of it trying to take incorrect exits on freeways, though this had only happened a couple of times to me on 14.3.3 so need more data to confirm either way UNRESOLVED School zones - same issue occurred near my house where the car goes 40 regardless whether school zone is active or not and did not read the END SCHOOL ZONE sign to signal it to return to the speed limit. Didn't test during school zone hours though. Brake jabbing / hard braking due to indecisiveness at roundabouts - still had several occurrences of this tonight. Not particularly unsafe, but still uncomfortable. REGRESSION Noticed a couple of random slowdowns on the highway for no apparent reason. Nothing major, just strange. CONSLUSION A real shame about the Wiggle of Death, because other than that it's a really solid build and has fixed the major usability issues from 14.3.3. I'm hoping for a quick fix from the Tesla AI team. I logged lots of snapshots and some disengagements for them to review.show more

Pretty over catching flak for just existing on peanut's... server. let's recap the "yOuRe RuInInG tHe SeRvEr" narrative: - Spent a lot of dedicated time helping teach/decorate/guide new people through the game - Suggested the SAM site solution to peanut in S2 (which fixed the problem for the whole server) - The imbalance of team numbers was a "fun problem" so I suggested the naval war as numbers are not nearly as important and everyone will have more fun doing it - Farmed my ass off to not only build a big cool fantasy base for Peanut in S1, but also to supply materials for multiple RPers and others who were struggling to get stuff on their own across every wipe so far. - Coupled with the point above, before peanut had pheetus to farm for him, I also secretly supplied his team with nearly a box of low grade and cloth overnight (really difficult resources to get) so they could continue playing with meds instead of needing to spend a day grinding for them. I never told him or anyone but everyone on stream new we did it to support the nut. - Went out of my way on multiple occasions to go on rescue missions to save people from the deep sea, cargo, and oil rigs I understand that people only see things through the point of view of their streamer, and don't know what I'm doing on my stream, but I spent the entire current wipe just hanging out with my friend, recruiting noobs to do silly ninja role play with us while teaching them about the game. One morning, without asking, I got a DM telling me I was unrestricted and could use guns, so I took an AK out to the deep sea and killed scientists (poorly) and it caused the entire server to lose their minds. Suddenly i have 20k hours (this number increases every time i hear about it), am going to use my 'expert builder skillz' to raid bases, and will abuse everything. Except I didn't do any of that. I still did stupid ninja RP for another 30-40 hours having silly interactions and using C4 for things like "Door breaking ninjitsu" until I was getting harassed to the point where I might as well have joined a sweaty pvp team anyways (so I did, and I did it out of spite). After joining said team I've still mostly only used pistols, not that it matters, but just wanted to include this. I'm too autistic and frustrated to understand how people are coming to the conclusion that I'm such a villain, kind of wish y'all would just tune in and watch instead.show more

Seedance 2.0 Takeshi's Castle (Roller Game version) prompt 🎎... Authentic 1980s Japanese television game show broadcast footage, realistic recreation of original Takeshi's Castle ENG camera footage, natural handheld camera with subtle shake and tracking, broadcast video noise, analog grain, limited dynamic range and color saturation of the era, slight color bleeding on highlights, chaotic energetic atmosphere of the original show. No reference images provided. Generate the entire scene from the text description. 0-3s: [Wide handheld tracking shot from the side] A determined young Japanese male contestant in his mid-20s, short black hair, wearing a bright orange tracksuit with white stripes, white sneakers and a white headband, sprints confidently from the wooden starting platform onto the first of several large spinning cylindrical logs floating over a murky pond. He runs with pumping arms and focused expression as the log begins to rotate slowly beneath his feet, causing his body to wobble slightly. Water ripples and splashes lightly around the base of the logs. 3-6s: [Dynamic medium tracking shot moving alongside] He leaps to the second spinning log at a slightly higher level, landing with bent knees to absorb the impact. The faster-rotating drum spins his feet out from under him; he flails his arms dramatically to regain balance, torso leaning left then right, face shifting from concentration to surprise. The log's wet surface glistens as he struggles to stay upright. 6-9s: [Closer side profile action shot with motion blur] Pushing forward to the third log, his right foot slips on the spinning wet wood. He lurches forward violently, arms windmilling, body twisting as he tries to recover by crouching low. His left leg dips into the water creating a splash, but he pulls it out and continues with desperate momentum, the rotating cylinder throwing off his rhythm. 9-12s: [Dynamic tracking shot from a three-quarter angle] He attempts a running jump to the next log but the combined spin and his forward speed causes him to lose all balance. His body tilts backward sharply, legs kicking in the air, arms reaching out for nothing as he begins to fall off the side of the log. 12-15s: [Impact focused shot with water dynamics] The contestant falls backward off the spinning log into the pond with a huge explosive splash, water shooting up around his body. He submerges briefly, then resurfaces gasping and flailing, completely soaked, as the logs continue their relentless spinning in the background. His expression is one of shocked defeat mixed with the show's signature comedic failure. High fidelity recreation of 1980s analog broadcast video, visible natural grain and broadcast noise, realistic motion characteristics of old ENG cameras, coherent but slightly imperfect physics and movement as seen in original Takeshi's Castle episodes, era-accurate color response and limited dynamic range, stable character with the natural imperfections of analog footage, no modern digital sharpness or artifacts.show more

EXODUS: Help Darren Stallcup Move Out Of San Francisco... After dedicating the best years of my life to save San Francisco, I have made the heartbreaking decision to leave this great beautiful city behind. I did the best that I could every day and I know so many honest good caring San Franciscans out there are hurting just as much as I am and I've met so many of you who desperately want the same healing and recovery for this city that I do... The truth is... the daily chaos, lawlessness and human suffering on our streets are not accidents but a deliberate result of a cruel, sick game engineered by corrupt politicians and non-profits who benefit from the suffering of the less fortunate. I don't hate everyone who votes differently or works in non-profits... there are plenty of decent people trying to help, but far too many bad apples in the Democratic party are working hand-in-hand with these organizations to keep the crisis alive. I'm infuriated by this broken, predatory system that devastates the vulnerable, attacks those trying to help and enriches those who have blood on their hands... all on the taxpayers dime. That's why I'm done playing along and refusing to sacrifice my life to their endless failure. Yet even as I leave, I'll never stop fighting for the less fortunate by demanding secure treatment beds, real enforcement against fentanyl dealers and sober housing that actually saves lives instead of enabling death. I can continue my art, music and citizen journalism in another city that is cleaner, safer and dare I say more friendlier to me, a conservative Patriot who loves our great beautiful country. Day and Night I walked these streets up and down the block, handing out food, clothing and blankets to the less fortunate while listening to their stories. Through citizen journalism, I documented the homeless crisis on the ground, sharing videos and photos to raise awareness. I spoke passionately at City Hall meetings, demanding accountability from leaders who seemed indifferent. I appeared on national and international television to share my story with the world about the fentanyl genocide devastating our city. Today, with a heavy heart, I regret to inform our community that I am relocating to a safer area outside San Francisco. I can no longer tolerate the chaos and stress of day to day survival in this city. It has taken an undeniable toll on my physical, mental and spiritual well being. Our corrupt and incompetent local and state leaders have deliberately enabled chaos on San Francisco's streets, creating a perpetual crisis that funnels billions of taxpayer dollars into the hands of corrupt non-profits and organizations. These entities thrive on the suffering of the less fortunate, profiting from endless contracts for shelters, outreach programs and harm-reduction initiatives that fail to reduce harm or homelessness. Harm reduction is causing more harm. Progressive policy is making everything progressively worse. I am done being a guinea pig in their social experiment. Year after year, billions have been spent, yet the humanitarian crisis has only worsened, with more tents, more overdoses, and more despair. Fentanyl overdoses are on the rise, homelessness numbers are climbing and our public spaces have all but deteriorated, all while the same politicians get elected year after year. It is a calculated system of human suffering and I am done living through the nightmare every single day. I've been documenting the truth about San Francisco's streets for years, but as I prepare to leave for good, this frontline perspective might go with me unless I am able to find a nice small town where I can continue my work from afar. If my story has ever opened your eyes or fueled your fight, I ask you to show love to my journey. My work in our community began with a deep compassion for those suffering on the streets and I poured my energy into helping the homeless directly. My home burned down to the ground, I know what it's like to have nothing and work your way up from rock bottom. Every day, more people overdose and more people show up in San Francisco from all over the country. It's a never ending cycle. I have lost too many family and friends and I refuse to be next. I am profoundly tired of the fentanyl genocide that has turned my once beloved city into a hell hole. I have seen one too many open air drug markets, claiming thousands of lives each year. The drug dealers operating freely, the human feces and needles littering streets and sidewalks, the judges letting the fentanyl dealers out of jail, the fentanyl showing up on playgrounds and in schools, the women giving birth on the sidewalk, the still born babies found in port-o-pottys, the people jumping off of buildings, the people living in the sewers, the non-stop every day looting of our grocery store, the robbery of our local restaurants, the targeting of our mom-and-pop shops, the risk of riding public transportation, the waking up to burglars kicking in my door and fighting them off, the sound of going to sleep to people screaming and waking up to emergency sirens, the billion dollar tech offices and third world conditions across the streets, the constant threat of The Big Earthquake, power outages, infrastructure breakdown, skyrocketing cost of living, it's all become unbearable. Homeless encampments blocking public spaces, the high risk of fentanyl exposure and rampant property crime have eroded any sense of normalcy. Personal safety threats from erratic behavior, boarded-up stores and political hostility weigh heavily on me. I no longer desire or wish to endure these heartbreaking struggles. Building a life for myself, let alone a family, in this decay, is almost impossible. The frustration with leftist policies enabling open drug scenes, health risks from biohazards and store closures reducing access to essentials has taken its toll. I have personally witnessed at least a dozen grocery stores close down and my heart is broken as I wonder if I am slowly living in a food desert because of rampant, unchecked crime. They defunded the police and the judge releases criminals out of jail the next day. I am sick and tired of fighting off the same bad guys every day. The Urban decay is not just in areas like the Tenderloin, SOMA and Union Square, but all over the city. The difficulty in regular social life is noticeable and everybody is on guard making human connection even more challenging unless you are a millionaire. I walk into small businesses, stores and restaurants and all the workers are on edge wondering what chaos will happen that day. Tourists ask me what is happening to the city? All I do is shake my head. This is not the San Francisco I grew up in. My City has become unrecognizable. The Full House Days are long gone and it will take years, if not generations, for San Francisco to recover from all the damage done. Years of frontline activism without any city wide solutions have left me absolutely drained. Every day feels like the same nightmare, repeating the same chaos day after day without end. I don't want my life trapped in this cycle of sirens, screams and unchecked decline. It's time to step away from this chaos. I do not want to die here. The threats to personal safety, the constant exposure to violence and humanitarian crisis has become too much for one lifetime. I shouldn't have PTSD from living in San Francisco, but I do. Honestly, we all have survivor's guilt. I refuse to let this environment claim my future or my dreams. Relocating means saving my health, mental well being, spirituality and opportunity to thrive elsewhere. No more waking up and counting the bodies on the sidewalks or navigating hazards just to live daily life. I deserve a chance to build without the shadow of this humanitarian crisis looming over everything. I've sacrificed my personal health, safety and years of my life on the frontlines for the vulnerable while our local leaders profited from their pain... now, to keep fighting, I have to leave everything behind and start over. If this battle has ever meant something to you, please do consider supporting. As I pursue my American dreams in a new place, I carry the lessons from San Francisco with me forever. I will always cherish the memories and good times. This city will always have a place in my heart. San Francisco is my hometown. I continue advocating for change from afar, but with renewed energy in a safer environment. This move allows me to build a stable life, free from the nightmare that has defined too many years of life. Thank you to all my family and friends that have supported my work, I fought valiantly but now it is time for a tactical retreat. My time in the trenches, on the frontlines are over. I can't believe I made it out alive. Here's to new beginnings and the hope that one day, San Francisco heals.show more

🚨 OPERATIONAL UPDATE: ISRAEL U.S. WAR WITH THE ISLAMIC... REPUBLIC - Reporting Window: LAST 24 HOURS • Iran widened its fire again with a broad evening missile barrage on central Israel and continued attacks across the Gulf, including a drone strike that hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport • Israel intensified strikes across Iran, with reported hits in Tehran, Qazvin and Alborz industrial areas, plus continued pressure on missile infrastructure and launch cells • Hezbollah kept the northern front active, including a direct rocket hit on a building in Kiryat Shmona, while Israel deepened its Lebanon campaign and Katz publicly framed the objective as a security zone up to the Litani • The diplomatic track moved forward, but only in the strangest possible way: Trump says talks are progressing, Iran still publicly denies direct negotiations, and multiple reports now point to JD Vance as Tehran’s preferred American interlocutor • The big picture is unchanged: the war is still live on every major front, but the center of gravity is shifting toward a contest over how it ends, who gets to define victory, and whether the Gulf will stay adjacent to the war or be pulled fully into it The most important thing to understand about the last 24 hours is that this was not a quiet period masked by negotiations. It was the opposite. The battlefield remained active from Tehran to southern Lebanon to Kuwait, even as Washington and Tehran edged further into a murky negotiation channel. That is what gives the last day its character: not de escalation, but simultaneous escalation and diplomacy, both moving at once. Open source reporting reflects the same picture, with repeated indications of strikes in Tehran and Qazvin, attacks near Baghdad airport, a Kuwait airport fuel fire, and a large Iranian barrage toward central Israel late in the window. **Special thanks to Michael W for your continued contribution to the open-source intel picture behind these updates. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🚀 IRANIAN MISSILE FIRE ON ISRAEL Iran kept up the pressure on Israel in two different ways over this window. Earlier in the cycle, a cluster warhead strike wounded nine people in Bnei Brak, with additional damage in Petah Tikva, while Hezbollah fire from Lebanon killed a woman near Mahanayim Junction and wounded several more in Kiryat Shmona. Later, near the end of the reporting window, Iran launched another broad barrage toward central Israel, with warnings stretching across Gush Dan, Sharon, Wadi Ara, Samaria, Judea and the Dead Sea region. Open source reporting you provided tracked that second wave in real time, showing how broad the alert footprint was even though initial reports indicated no immediate casualties from that specific evening barrage. This is what stands out operationally: Iran’s missile campaign is not gone, but it looks increasingly built around selective disruption rather than the huge opening barrages of the war. The salvos are still dangerous, still capable of civilian casualties and still capable of producing visually dramatic and politically effective moments, but they are landing against a backdrop of steadily intensifying strikes on Iran’s launch network. That makes each successful hit feel more deliberate and more strategic. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✈️ THE AIR CAMPAIGN OVER IRAN KEPT MOVING Israel’s strike campaign inside Iran also remained broad and geographically layered. Reuters reported renewed Israeli strikes as talks were being floated through intermediaries. Open source intelligence adds texture to that by showing repeated reporting from open source channels of impacts in eastern and western Tehran, the Alborz industrial zone in Qazvin province, and additional blasts reported across Khuzestan and other regions. There were also repeated reports of targeted assassination attempts in east Tehran, which fits the broader pattern of not just degrading launchers and production nodes, but also hunting the people tied to them. The color here matters. This no longer looks like a campaign limited to air defenses and obvious military compounds. The picture from the last 24 hours is of a system being pressed from multiple angles at once: missile depots, industrial support zones, launch crews, command elements and regime infrastructure in and around Tehran. Open source reporting reinforces that sense of breadth, especially the repeated references to Qazvin and Alborz secondary explosions and to ongoing heavy activity over Tehran. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚡ THE ENERGY WAR IS STILL HOT The clearest new regional energy development in this window was Kuwait. Reuters reported that a drone attack hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, causing a fire but no casualties. That matters not because the material damage was catastrophic, but because it again shows Iran or Iran aligned actors reaching directly for civilian and logistical energy infrastructure in Gulf states. This was not an abstract threat anymore. It was a live strike on a functioning international hub. Your outbox tracked the same event quickly and repeatedly, alongside additional open source reporting about nearby attacks and power disruptions in Kuwait. At the same time, the diplomatic and military discussion around the Strait of Hormuz kept shaping everything else. Markets moved on talk of a U.S. proposal and possible hosted talks in Pakistan or Turkey. Oil eased on negotiation optimism, but the underlying structure of the crisis remains the same: Iran still retains the ability to disrupt shipping and energy confidence without fully “closing” the Strait in a formal sense. That is why even modest signs of diplomacy can move oil sharply, and why even a localized drone strike in Kuwait still carries outsized weight. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇱🇧 LEBANON IS NOT A SIDESHOW The northern front kept boiling. Reuters reported that Israel now intends to occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, with Defense Minister Israel Katz explicitly describing a “security zone” concept. That is not rhetoric you use if you still think this is a short punitive phase. At the tactical level, Hezbollah continued to demonstrate that it can still impose costs, including a direct rocket hit on a building in Kiryat Shmona and earlier casualties in the north. Meanwhile, open source reporting pointed to Israeli strikes in Nabatieh, Rashidiya, Bchamoun and broader southern Lebanese infrastructure, which matches the picture of sustained pressure rather than episodic retaliation. The broader meaning is straightforward. Israel is signaling that if the Iran war ends inconclusively on the Iranian front, it does not intend to leave Hezbollah’s northern threat structure intact and simply hope for the best. Lebanon is being shaped now as part of the endgame, not just the current fight. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇮🇶 IRAQ STAYED ACTIVE TOO Iraq remained active in the background, but it should not be treated as background noise. Open source intel reporting includes repeated reporting on a targeted U.S. strike on a vehicle near Baghdad airport and continued militia related activity tied to U.S. positions and proxy structures. That comes after the prior cycle’s major strikes on PMF and militia command nodes. It fits the larger pattern we have now seen for weeks: Iraq is not the main theater, but it is still one of the places where the war keeps trying to widen horizontally. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌍 THE NEGOTIATION TRACK GOT STRANGER, NOT CLEARER Trump is still publicly presenting the talks as real progress. Reuters reports that Pakistan conveyed a U.S. proposal, with Pakistan or Turkey possible venues, and that Washington has floated a broader framework dealing with nuclear capability, missiles and proxies. At the same time, Iran continues to publicly deny meaningful direct talks and has toughened its public stance, insisting on guarantees, compensation and no rollback of its missile deterrent. What makes the last 24 hours more interesting is the growing focus on who would even talk for the United States. Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post reporting both indicate that JD Vance is increasingly central to the diplomacy, with Tehran reportedly preferring him over Witkoff and Kushner. The diplomatic track here appears as both real and deeply unstable, with questions about who on the Iranian side actually holds authority and whether Washington is now seeking an end state short of outright regime collapse. That shift matters because it tells us something important: Washington increasingly seems to be searching for an off ramp that still looks like victory, while Israel and Gulf allies appear much less comfortable with ending this war before Iran’s military and proxy architecture are degraded further. That tension is now one of the defining features of the conflict. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📌 WHAT MATTERS MOST RIGHT NOW 1️⃣ The war is still fully active across multiple fronts Iran hit central Israel again, Kuwait airport was struck, Lebanon stayed hot and Israel kept pounding targets inside Iran. Negotiations did not replace combat. They were layered on top of it. 2️⃣ The pressure on Iran’s internal military system keeps deepening The accumulating pattern of strikes in Tehran, Qazvin, Alborz and other areas suggests a campaign that is still broadening the target set, not narrowing it. Open source reporting in your files strongly supports that picture. 3️⃣ The diplomatic track is real, but it is not clean Trump is selling progress. Iran is denying direct talks. Vance is becoming more central. And nobody looking at the battlefield would conclude that the war is genuinely close to stopping on its own. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ BOTTOM LINE The last 24 hours painted a clearer picture than some of the recent reporting windows. This is no longer just a war of salvos and counterstrikes. It is now a war over end states. Iran is still trying to prove it can widen the cost map, not just hit Israel but keep the Gulf under pressure too. Israel is still trying to prove that sustained, system level degradation inside Iran can continue even while diplomacy swirls overhead. And Washington is trying to find a formula that can stop the war without looking like it backed down. That is why the reporting feels different now. The battlefield is still violent, but the arguments over how this ends are becoming just as important as the strikes themselves.show more

Has been a while since I've given an update... so here's a breakdown of where Sappy is at right now and what we're focusing on going into this year. Pre-amble: With altcoins & NFTs the market is definitely not the same as it was before. I think this is obvious to everyone but I've noticed there are still japanese soldiers that are convinced old tricks and mechanics work. They don't. Liquidity is thin; people want to bid assets that feel like "real companies" not vacuous memecoins. There's still room for memecoins, social currencies, and "utility tokens" (I would say without these functions, tokens are hard to justify versus equities). I'm not part of the camp that thinks there will never be hyperspeculation in crypto again, because there will be; we all love ponzis and PvPing each other onchain. Just not with solved games -- people need something new and fresh. So the overarching plan is to continue building for users, sustainable revenues that aren't tied to directly to crypto, and doubling down on the areas that we've already found PMF / Brand Market Fit. Then leaning into crypto during cyclical periods where liquidity is sloshing around at an accelerated rate. Where we've found early PMF / what we're leaning into: Roblox: we're going to continue to go hard and accelerate here. It's our main objective to ship more seal/brainrot focused games across most genres to cast as wide of a net as we can for the brand, and to also iterate and see what works and stays sticky. Our initial incursion into Roblox was very successful peaking at 2M+ MAU and still sustaining a large portion of that player base... for all of its success, that was a relatively amateur first attempt; we've been setting up better AI pipelines for Roblox development that makes it reasonable to ship many more games and 10x those player counts in totality. It's my belief that Roblox is the sandbox whose audience will be the most valuable on the internet once they are grown up. That intense feeling you get when you see a TikTok referencing an old game you enjoyed on the PS2 or the Gamecube, or when you see a Pokemon card is the exact same feeling the youth of today will get when reminiscing on the things they enjoyed engaging with when they were younger. Fortnite and Roblox are functional equivalents to the old school consoles and exactly where that is taking place. Which is why as much as I care about scaling revenues through Roblox, the long term brand equity gained purely through being popular on the platform is totally invaluable. It also can heavily convert to merchandise sales today if all touchpoints for the brand are dialed in (which is why brands get overcharged so much by Roblox dev shops for the same ROI that only cost us a few thousand $). We have the playbook, it's just about iterating new concepts and then aggressively scaling. Brand Expansion & Merchandising: I've started to create a content pipeline that is easily repeatable, cost efficient (costs next to nothing through either AI or smart reusable concepts), while still being very tasteful and meeting our quality standards for the brand. We are mostly focusing here on reaching people where they're at through nostalgic/emotional content, or just being visually stimulating through carefully curated aesthetics. Content that isn't superficial and touches people in a memorable way. I've attached some examples to the post so you can see what I mean rather than just read it. I don't think it's long until larger brands start doing this at scale, but it's always good to be ahead of the curve and most importantly winning on taste -- knowing what will resonate with people and what won't has always been our edge. The purpose for these accounts is not only to rack up attention but also to begin converting those into sales of both of physicals (plushies & gacha collectibles) and digital avenues like our games, and any other apps we produce. Because they're offshoot accounts it's also a lot easier to be aggressive/experimental with said conversion strategies. Sappy Studio: I'm wrapping everything like Omnia, and everything else into this category because they're all tangentially related. Beginning with Omnia, our current focus is gearing up for Season 0 which involves players competing in the ranked ladder for a prize pool that has rewards through Monad Momentum as well as a player-funded prize pool. This season will be fairly simple with us mostly logging retention, deck building habits, as well as qualitatively observing how aggressively players push the combat system. Deeper monetization wont exist yet outside of the player buy-in (to be eligible for P2E rewards). Beyond that our overarching principle this year is to focus heavily on risk-to-earn mechanics where a portion of that excess value is circular i.e. revenues flow back to prize pools or other parts of the economy, treating the game almost like a protocol where the objective is to amass TVL or player liquidity. Social is also a big focus, and that means implementing the Open World hub which from an infrastructure perspective has already been built out and tested by all of you previously. Right now we are scaffolding the environment in 3D and working through how that hub should look and feel, so players are excited to hang out & idle together while they're queuing. For sappydotlol, what I'm about to say is still early days from a design perspective so a lot can change, but I'm pushing the site in the direction of being a virtual game console. An intersection between Nintendo & Myspace where users can play, trade, and socially interact in a way that's deeply personalised; a breathe of fresh air from the hostility of the current internet. If you go back to my thesis on Roblox above and the game console references, you can kind of see how this will all sequentially tie together. In essence, the strategy is to acquire a critical mass of players through traditional platforms like Roblox, and use that attention and trust to provide an onboarding funnel for web2 users into our own sandbox filled with a mixture of our own browser-based experiences as well as an aggregation of others. The aim is to make the platform a breath of fresh air & bunker from the enshittified platforms like TikTok/IG/X where users are actually served in ways that delight rather than agitate, and where self-expression is incentivised. Closing: As always everything here is subject to change but I've never felt more conviction in our direction until now; I know exactly what we need to do and how, with everything aligning with our team's strengths. Very excited and grinding through things to the point where I'm getting headaches and can't sleep from being hyperfocused for long periods of time lol. There probably has never been a better time to join the ecosystem from a price to fuck around and find out perspective.show more

Instead of just talking about it, I wanted to... go through it and really break it down to figure out the exact reason for the difference in Jalen Duren's play between the regular season and the playoffs. *LONG BREAKDOWN COMING* First, lets list how much the difference was: Iso in RS: 82nd %ile Iso in PS: 21st %ile Post-ups in RS: 88th %ile Post-ups in PS: 59th %ile PPP on drives in RS: 1.18 ppp PPP on drives in PS: 0.80 Layups in RS: 79th %ile Layups in PS: 19th %ile It was a staggering drop off. Shocking to many of us who watched him all season. So, what happened? Well, #1 I think mentally he was letting his struggles get to him and he started to play out of control. Something that suggests this to me is this stat: He started to figure some things out himself in isolation over the last 2 games against the Cavs. He had six isolation possessions in the final two games against the Cavs; he scored on five of those possessions and drew a foul on the other. Game 6 he started to look confident and really made them pay out of isolation. I really think a ton of it was he got hit with a punch early against ORL and really struggled to handle the pressure and struggles after, and just kept stacking and stacking. So, him being in his own head is #1 for me. #2: His handle got exposed quite a bit. In the regular season, he only had a 4.2 TO% in isolation, which is incredible. In the playoffs, though, that spiked to 20 TO%. On drives in the RS, he had a TO% of 4%. In the PS, it jumped to 13.3%. The first clip below shows how the right-to-left cross he loved doing all season was really taken away from him. Too loose of a handle, and he often got his pocket picked trying this exact move over and over. I think having his go-to move taken from him shook him a bit and left him scrambling a bit in his head to find a counter. The second clip shows, imo, him starting to lose trust in his handle. He immediately turns his back to the defender, which is what you do when you're worried about losing the ball. But, even then, he loses control of the handle and it ends up in a turnover. If I'm the Pistons, I'm showing all his turnovers due to his handle and working with him on tightening his handle and also helping him get comfortable with a counter/second move so defenders don't just sit on the right-to-left cross. #3: I think he really struggled to adjust to the playoff whistle. In the regular season, he drew free throws on 21% of his isolations and 31% of his post-ups. In the PS, it dropped to 14% and 11%, respectively. There were many possessions where in the RS he would've got free throws, but did not in the PS and he was frustrated. In the third clip, you'll see how physical he was being played by Mobley (which we all want physicality in the game). But, in the RS, he probably is getting FTA's here. There are many examples of this where it felt like a lot of his value during the RS was being able to draw FTA's on his drives, and in the PS, refs just allowed more physicality, and he struggled to deal with it. #4: Ausar-Duren duo. I believe in this duo, and I do not think this was the main reason Duren struggled. However, I am not blind to the fact that there were obviously some possessions that hurt Duren. In the regular season, Duen actually got less efficient when Ausar wasn't on the floor. However, in the playoffs, Duren went from 51 TS% with Ausar on the floor (302 minutes) to 64 TS% with Ausar off the floor (121 minutes). In the 4th clip, you really see how the lack of spacing caused a tough shot from Duren. He gets a step on WCJ going right, and probably would prefer to then just use his strength to create spearation. However, he sees Suggs sitting in the right gap off of Ausar, which forces him to spin left. Once he spins left, Paolo is completely leaving Tobias open. This is one of the reasons I really think DET needs a spacing 4 because this should be an easy kickout from Duren to a shooter. He still should've made this pass to Tobias, but a legit shooting 4 I think would relocate to the corner and make an easier outlet/easier to see for Duren. But, he still coulda made the pass, tbf. Either way, you see how the lack of spacing from both Ausar and Tobias forced Duren into a really awkward drive where he was forced into an extremely tough shot. I think if the passing returned from Duren, some of these situations wouldn't happen. Hitting Ausar early as he cuts into the space would work, or hitting Tobias (who again shoulda be making himself more available) beyond the arc results in better offense. But, also, having better spacing probably allows Duren to just get to his original move once he beats WCJ off the dribble. and lastly #5: He really just didn't play well. I can't include any more clips (I'll put some in the immediate thread reply to display), but he really just didn't play well. Missed *a lot* of looks we're used to him making. His touch around the rim left him, looked like he really felt rushed in the paint. He was struggling to secure rebounds after dominating the glass all season (during the RS, he averaged 4.3 second chance points a game, in the PS it dropped to 2.3). During RS, he had a 22.0 DREB%, which dropped to 16.0% in the playoffs. So, I think a lot of factors played into why he struggled so much in the playoffs. My takeaway is I don't think these things are unfixable; actually, I think they're very fixable. Experience of dealing with what playoff physicality is I think is going to help moving forward. All young players have to adjust to that--I think Cade really learned that from NY series to this playoff run. Tightening his handle and just having a second move to go to is not something that should be considered impossible. I'd like to believe it's pretty likely with how much he works and the raw skill he already has with his handle. Pistons adding a legit spacer at the four I think solves a lot and will make Duren's life a lot easier. The most concerning part is mental. And we won't know an answer to that until the next playoffs. Did this experience help him on his journey towards becoming mentally strong and prepared enough to move forward? Did this run help him find a routine that helps him lock in mentally, as many players have said they had to discover? Or will the pressure from struggling last postseason get to him this upcoming postseason? Will he let mistakes get into his head, compound them, and start playing rashly? I don't think the second option will be the case, but no one will know until the next postseason. Honestly, I'm more concerned and critical of his defense in the playoffs (which at times was pretty good and at other times was an incredible struggle), but that would require its own thread. My ending thoughts: I still very much believe in Duren. This playoff run showed he has areas he must sharpen up and learn from, but at 22 that shouldn't be a shocker. He is incredibly talented and made a large jump during the RS. The PS posed challenges he didn't quite have answers to yet. But another run of experience, another offseason of training, and another year older should lead him down a good path. I am fully supportive of paying Duren and extending him. I am not at close to 50 million dollars. 35-40 million is where I think they'll settle on, and I'm fine with that. But, he's gotta learn from these playoffs! Every offseason he's gotten better, I don't have a reason to believe Jalen Duren won't learn and improve again this summer. He's only 22.show more

A very good morning. Welcome to The Council Benji... This marks the third Skull in a little run. The first went to a fund I've never met. The second: through Eli Scheinman to a new collector/foundation who has been quietly entering the space in a very significant way across a number of collections whom I’ve never spoken to. Their new entrance enabled a wedding and start of a new married life for Conviction. In my very first conversation with him, we spoke about curses and commitments to the people we love. Since meeting got to talk through each step on that path, from letting go, what is imbued in the ring and ceremony of it all, a proposal, and on the way to the most important of the steps in pursuit of a blessed life. It is easy to get a little cynical on the over-leveraged exit stories that spring up from time to time, so it is a treat to watch one go towards a celebration that’s been building up in his life since the Skull was first acquired. And now: this. The third Skull and the first I can really write about as a shared story across both source and destination. An exit and an entrance. The exit: The Skulls of Luci were awarded as gifts 4 years ago. But before I'd minted Birth of Luci or painted the other 49, the first person in this space I showed the sketch of The Blueprint Skull to was actually Casey💎, when he was working at SuperRare . Casey was the very first person who onboarded me to NFTs, helping me navigate the early days of whatever it meant to even mint something. I explained the idea of gifting one to each person who bid in my first auctions. Though most of the Skulls went to the bidders, Casey's didn't. He didn't ask for one. I didn't tell him I'd give him one. But he helped me take my first steps here, and it's hard to imagine any of this making sense, or unfolding the way it has, without him. Since then, we've broken bread across continents, seen quite a lot of chortling margarita consumption, watched the rise and fall of a lot around us, weathered inter-Council dramas. He brought Laura El into The Monument Game, played as a Player, wore a Mask. Most of the vibe that started all of this, the wild west of it, feels faded in the broader space at times. But every Skull has a story and a person who helped us get here. Casey will always be the one who was there before any metric muddled the reason to care. The entrance: Last fall, Benji came over for a studio visit. We walked through Luci, the works, structure, and dream, as anyone who visits does. But we mostly talked about being a father and having a father. We discussed the very idea of "collection" stripped of accumulation, value, or signal, located more in the act or ceremony of it. What it was to grow up with a curious father who studied the edges of each thing he saw to know the next layer beneath why anyone might look or ignore it. That to pass this on is to pass on questioning, more than it is to pass on any kind of answer. The process of collecting can be perceived as an individual act of hoarding. For some it is maybe. But at its best, it's a way to bind through shared questioning, to bond in cooperation and competition with friends and family, it is the swapped story and meme of it all, and each object gathered along the way carries some shared memory that can, often does, and with intent: should; drift out of the object entirely. All in the psalm, always has been. The studio visit came and went. Soon after, a package arrived in the mail with two of the softest stuffed animals added to my daughter's own collection, now among her favorites. The Skull is a bonus to that, in the scheme of shared memory. For Rachel and I, while we are heads down making a body of work that unsettles us and excites us but demands unknown time to accomplish, it means a great deal to have this kind of support from long term people in the quiet process of making work we want to leave behind ourselves. Enormously grateful to Casey for the many years of support and friendship, to Benny for being a true patron, and to Benji for entering the arena for what I'm working on next. Welcome.show more