The Best 3,000-Word Profile You'll Read This Month
Three great sports stories this week, a stat that broke my brain, and a Secret Base video that made me feel things about a team I don't even root for.
The Jokic Problem
The Ringer published a profile on Jokic that's the best thing I've read about the NBA this season. The "problem" isn't that he's too good — it's that he's too good in a way that's visually boring. His game is all geometry and timing instead of athleticism and highlight plays. The piece argues he's the most skilled player in NBA history but will never be the most popular, because his excellence doesn't translate to clips. It's a 3,000-word meditation on the gap between being the best and being the most watchable.
The Win Probability Chart
@statmuse posted a win probability chart from Tuesday's game that I saved immediately. The line looked like an EKG readout — nine lead changes in the fourth quarter, win probability bouncing between 30% and 70% every possession. The game itself was incredible, but the chart told a story that the broadcast couldn't: that every single possession in the last six minutes was essentially a coin flip. That's the kind of basketball that analytics people and eye-test people can both appreciate.
The 76ers Timeline
Secret Base dropped a new "Collapse" video on the 76ers and I watched all 45 minutes. I have no particular feelings about the Sixers, but by the end I was genuinely emotional about the Hinkie era. The video makes the case that "Trust the Process" was actually a rational strategy that got sabotaged by impatience at every level — owners, league office, fans, media. The tragedy isn't that it failed. It's that it was never allowed to succeed.
The Stat
Here's the stat that broke my brain: in the last 25 years, exactly two players have averaged 25/10/10 for a full season. One is Russell Westbrook. The other is Nikola Jokic, who has done it three times. And somehow it still doesn't feel like enough to make him the face of the league.