I don't think I would call it rebuilding anyway.  They are still building the team they want.  Aldridge is probably done and Blake might be thinking about going elsewhere.  I'm sure they'll be able to grab some interesting free agents.  It took the Miami Heatles 2 years to get a Finals win and they had more talent than the Nets do.  I think the main guys will be motivated to come back for one more year.  At that point Kyrie will probably have to look for another team as I'm sure the Nets are fed up with him already and his contract is up after next season.  Then they'll be looking to build a team around Simmons.  Next year is their shot at a title, and maybe even Durant's last good shot as his career begins the downhill slide.

Not tempting for me friend.  I'm not sure I'd even be interested at 200:1 odds.  If the Warriors do make the Finals, you have to assume that it's on Stephen Curry's back and he'll be the one getting the MVP.  It would take an awful lot from Klay over the entire series for him to squeak out the honors over Steph.  Not to mention we're still only in the first round.  There's a good chance the Warriors won't even make the Finals (although I think they will).  There's also a chance Klay could get injured.  You have to remember he is fresh off of an injury and besides not being probably 100% back to his old self, he's got to be thinking he needs to stay healthy in the back of his mind.  

I haven't looked at the odds, but I think Giannis has to be the favorite at this point.

People have grown so accustomed to lying in their daily lives that in spite of being an honest person, I find that most people take what I say as not being truthful. Try telling my story at a bar sometime… I’ve literally been laughed at for saying things I don’t even think are hard to believe. I imagine if I told my entire story, 999 out of a thousand people would call me a liar. Want to see this in action? I’ve been giving away Bitcoin on a weekly basis for 10+ years now and people still call my organization a Ponzi scheme and I’ve even been left negative trust for my good deeds, because the reality that I’ve been giving up so much money for so long when I didn’t have to seems too hard to believe to be true for most people so they assume it’s a lie. Funny how human nature works. People are quick to put their own immoral beliefs on others and assume that everyone is as shitty a person as they are. The sooner in life you learn this, the better.

The only ones I'm seeing in stock for MSRP are the low hashrate models, which I wouldn't want to buy anyway.  Are you seeing Founders Editions for MSRP somewhere?  I'd love to hear where because I could stand to pick up a few more GPUs.  Although, I may wait a couple of months to see if there's an official release date for the 4xxx series cards from Nvidia.  That would also mean avoiding the summer heat and loading up for winter, which is always my preference.  I'm still mining with 1080ti's and VII's so I may just wait for the 4xxx series, but if I were seeing 3080s or 3090s for MSRP that could do their full hashrate, it would be a decision I had to make.

Bitcoin's economy relies heavily on price increases over time.  Without these increases we would see a death spiral in mining participation and likely an exodus of investment.  This would be catastrophic for Bitcoin as the leader in crypto market caps.  You can expect the billionaires investing in it to do everything in their power to make sure this doesn't happen.  So while a million dollar estimate may be a bit of fantastic claim for clout on social media, it is likely the price will be much higher than it is now come 2025.  If not, it will be the second red flag to pull your money out of Bitcoin that I've seen.  Personally, I believe we won't see a price crash until after the ETFs are approved and done dumping their shares on investors to take their funds and get them on the hook for eternal management fees.

I don't know...  Even without Booker it seems like the Suns should be able to cover a spread that large...  Maybe not, but at home I think it's definitely more than a possibility.  It seems like Zion is not going to make an appearance this round, as his injury updates have been lacking outside of saying that he is playing 5v5 basketball scrimmages, just not with the team.  I think it's likely we see Booker before the end of this round, and the Suns could definitely use him back.  From looking at the box scores you can see just how much they're missing his scoring.  BI has been on fire for the Pelicans also.  I think if Booker is out the rest of the series, the Pelicans could upset and see round 2, where maybe we'll get to see Zion play.  Shamefully, I'd rather see Zion play this year than see my hometown team make the next round of the playoffs...

Watching this Nets/Celtics game and you can see the Nets players giving up. They aren’t putting in any effort on defense and are just bombing 3s. I think this fourth quarter is going to be ugly to watch. I hope I’m wrong and we see Kevin Durant step up and do something amazing to win the game, but as soon as they went down 15 you could see the fight in them die. Nash is tossing Blake Griffin out there to try and get some new energy, but even Dragic is half trying out there. Claxton also looks like he’s going to break the record for the most missed free throws without a make in the playoffs. He’s currently 0-9 with Shaq holding the old record of 0-8.

I just read that the real reason Ben Simmons is sitting out of this game was that he was worried if they lost he would be the first player in NBA history to be eliminated from the playoffs in 2 consecutive games. That is a pretty amazing statistic and would likely lead to more mental issues for Ben if it happened. So maybe this is a move to protect him for the future. If this is how he’s thinking then there’s no chance we see him until the next round. I’m sure that he’ll have some explaining to do if they win tonight and he isn’t in uniform for game 5… I want the Nets to win just to see how this drama unfolds.

I don’t think the Celtics have a chance against the Bucks… It is starting to seem like they’re going to finish the Nets off tonight though. I feel like with Ben Simmons not playing now, they’ve basically given up on this season. Instead of embracing this Ben Simmons narrative and trying to win 4 straight and go into the next round, they’re going to let him sit out and then have a nice excuse for why the team failed this year. I guess we’ll see if KD comes out to defend his legacy and if they do get the win then we can see how Ben’s back feels then… Something tells me he won’t be making an appearance this round no matter what happens.

Same here. I was ready to say the game was over and then all the sudden it seemed like the Warriors were going to win. A shame they took the loss but it was a close game and they’ll have another shot to get into round 2 soon enough. They had been playing the best basketball of anyone in the postseason so far I thought, so it’s a little sad they lost, but like I said, it was a close game and it could have gone either way. I don’t think this is too much of a setback for them. I’m sure they’ll bounce back and win the next one.

That seems to be a little too much of a blanket statement to possibly be true, but I get your point.

My expectation is that inflation will keep prices from looking as dreadful as they did in 2008, but the damage will be no less real.  Bitcoin will finally have to prove itself through a recession, and I think it's likely that it will be proven to be a speculative asset once the coming nightmare is over.  Billionaires seem to think it's going to be a safe haven for their funds, and I hope they're right, but I can't imagine they are.  I'm just curious if we're going to see one last selling opportunity before that happens and if the ETF approval is going to be a buy the rumor sell the news event, or if billionaires are really going to be able to prop up the crypto economy through the coming recession.

Peter Schiff is on Twitter accusing Michael Saylor of using his company's purchases to inflate the Bitcoin price so he can sell his personal stash at massive gains and buy back again lower to rinse and repeat.

https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status/1518014645960904704

This is extremely concerning if true, but not surprising at all.  This is the sort of manipulation that Wall Street has been doing for generations.  Michael Saylor is no different.  With Bitcoin he saw a chance to enrich himself and he jumped at it.  Now we all get to watch as he plays games with Bitcoin to get himself an insane amount of wealth and the Bitcoin community cheers him on as they're used as puppets in his shell game.  Gotta love it.  In it for the technology right?

Games are getting started early today.  90 minutes from tipoff for the Bucks vs Bulls game on ABC (nationally broadcast).  The Bucks are looking to take a 3-1 lead and all but banish the Bulls from the playoffs.  Being completely honest, I'm surprised the Bulls managed to win a game in this series.  While they had a great year and an amazing regular season record, they struggled all year long against good teams over .500.  I think they're a piece away from what they need to make a serious run at a title, and from the chatter it sounds like they might get it this offseason if the Lakers manage to pull off an Anthony Davis for Demar Derozan trade.  Maybe that will be the superstar they need to get them over the hump.

This Grizzlies vs Timberwolves game is coming down to the wire! Great game! I love see Karl Anthony Towns and Ja Morant’s Dads sitting next to each other and rooting for each other’s sons even though they’re on opposite teams. You don’t see that too often and it’s a great reminder that these are people with families who understand that life is more important than winning. If you’re near a television and you are reading this post in the next couple minutes, turn on ESPN. The last couple of minutes of this game are going to be great to watch although it’s looking like the Timberwolves might have a little momentum on their side.

Thank you for posting this. I don’t run a lightning node so I don’t think I can actually participate in any of these projects, but it’s nice to know that work is being done. Bitcoin appears to be falling behind and the lack of information about current projects on the Lightning Network as well as development kit info is seemingly difficult to come by. While I have no plans of interacting with Lightning anytime soon, it would be nice to know people are putting in work so that Bitcoin isn’t left behind as the world moves to web3 and metaverse/NFTs become what regular people are using crypto for.

I think Boston just made the decision to guard Durant extremely tight at the cost of leaving other players wide open. Blake Griffin was widely put in the game by Steve Nash to make some shots and try to spread the floor, but the Celtics just kept letting him shoot. It’s looking like the Celtics are going to put the Nets’ back to the wall and all hopes will be on Ben Simmons on Monday. I didn’t see this coming but the Celtics are playing great and their strategy is shutting the Nets down. Not the outcome I wanted to see, but you can’t deny that the Celtics are kicking the Nets ass up and down the floor.

Someone needs to make the argument to me about why gender can be fluid but race can’t be. It’s a weird liberal double standard that makes no sense. As they begin being so woke that they turn on themselves I imagine the next decade is not going to be kind to democrats at the polls. People are getting sick of mental illness being considered normal, crime being allowed to run rampant, and the government overstepping their boundaries to force their masks and fears on the rest of us. Now that people are seeing the damage this scamdemic has caused with inflation and the government lying and blaming Putin, I think it won’t be long before the swamp drains itself this time.

I’m getting ready to sit down and watch this Boston Celtics versus Brooklyn Nets playoff game. I am hoping that the Nets can manage to win one and make a series out of this because if they fall down 3-0 it might be difficult for them to come back even with Ben Simmons. Check it out on ESPN. Tip-off is about to begin. Maybe being in Brooklyn will give them the support they need to escape the game with a W. Rumors are that Ben Simmons will make his season debut on Monday, so I’ll definitely be looking forward to that regardless of what happens tonight.

That Suns game was close but you’ve got to love them getting the win and covering the spread. Booker is breathing a sigh of relief. Ayton put up 28 and 17, Chris Paul joined him with 28 and 14… They really stepped up. Trying hard to end this series before Zion gets the chance to come back. I hope we see this DeAndre Ayton going forward. You can see how he really takes a backseat when Booker is around, but he’s capable of greatness on his own. He was outstanding the first three quarters.