On the other hand...

I do vouch for Bobby Marks:

“The Heat could do a sign & trade and also use the $14.1 MLE. All the sudden Miami could get better awfully quick here so we’ll keep an eye out for Miami.

“The Heat get Duncan Robinson’s early termination exercised. I know people are like, well, that’s not the language. I don’t care. He basically declined the option in his contract. They are sitting pretty right now.

“Robinson is going to get the $10 million he gave back somewhere. I don’t know if it’s going to be with the Heat. It could be in a sign-and-trade. We’ll keep an eye on Miami. But Miami is in a position to do a sign-and-trade and also, perhaps use a $14.1 million non-tax mid-level exception. All of a sudden, Miami can get better awfully quickly here.”

Orlando, and,

Heat Miss Out on Yet Another Offseason Target

The Miami Heat’s offseason frustrations continue to pile up. This time, it’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker slipping through their fingers.

I didn't know we had our fingers on him, indeed I don't know who NA-W is. This is from Athlon and I do not vouch for Athlon. However, we are like the last one standing in musical chairs.

Alexander-Walker had been on Miami’s radar as a potential backcourt upgrade, an athletic, two-way wing who could bring defensive versatility and secondary playmaking to a roster in transition. But once again, the Heat stood pat while another team made the aggressive move.

I agree with the general sentiment.

8:30 pm:

Denver

Dallas

Still no my oh Miami.

7:04 pm:

Memphis
Houston
Memphis again
Utah
La-La Clip-Clip
BKLN

Miami? Crickets.

I am sorry to be re-reading Bleak House. Reading for the first time, I should say, the parts I had elided previously. But, as with Richard and so many others who just had to get to the bottom of Jarndyce v Jarndyce, I am glad that I now know, or am knowing, how the case really stands.

Nabakov said in his lectures that Dickens' greatest strength was as "story-teller." Bleak House tells too many stories. Some of them it tells very well. Others, Eather's Narrative, it tells poorly, and the good get lost in the bad.

Public Occurrences June 30, 2025

8:34 pm private occurrences: I'm going to give this time to shake out and give myself time to have to think cooly. If AP's report is not retracted or conclusively refuted, I may be done with Israel.

7:14 pm

74 killed in Gaza as Israeli forces strike a cafe and fire on people seeking food

Outrageous. Netanyahu is a war criminal.

Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said.

One airstrike hit Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City when it was crowded with women and children, said Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside.

And Trump is his enabler. The United States is complicit in this.

Netanyahu will visit the White House next Monday as Trump presses for a ceasefire in Gaza

AP

Cat Worm

Public Occurrences June 29, 2025

CIA chief told lawmakers Iran nuclear program set back years with strikes on metal conversion site

CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical U.S. lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran’s lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran’s nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a U.S. official said Sunday.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for U.S. lawmakers last week.

(AP)

Okay! I actually can buy that. All you have to do is take out, but completely, one key link in the program and but for a shoe the battle was lost. If you're a Trumpie this more detailed than "completely obliterated", and more plausible.

8:22 pm:

Russia Pounding Ukraine, Which Loses F-16 and Pilot; Zelensky Calls for U.S. Help

6:59 pm

Russia hits Ukraine with biggest air attack of the war

Assault marks sharp escalation in campaign, as Zelenskyy calls for more western help with defence systems

Financial Times Because of the pink paper, see?

4:44 pm

Trump Did It

Head of IAEA Says Iran Can Restart Uranium Enrichment in "Months"

Iran has the capacity to start enriching uranium again - for a possible bomb - in "a matter of months", the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has said.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the US strikes on three Iranian sites last weekend had caused severe but "not total" damage, contradicting Donald Trump's claim that Iran's nuclear facilities were "totally obliterated".

"Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there," Grossi said on Saturday.

Frankly speaking, Trumpie's beumbs were Operation Midnight Marshmallow.

On Saturday, Grossi told CBS News, the BBC's US media partner, that Tehran could have "in a matter of months... a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium".

He added that Iran still possessed the "industrial and technological capacities... so if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again."

...

Under a 2015 nuclear deal [JCPOA] with world powers, Iran was not permitted to enrich uranium above 3.67% purity [They're up to 60%] - the level required for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants - and was not allowed to carry out any enrichment at its Fordo plant for 15 years.

However, Trump abandoned the agreement during his first term in 2018, saying it did too little to stop a pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions.

Iran retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions - particularly those relating to enrichment. It resumed enrichment at Fordo in 2021 and had amassed enough 60%-enriched uranium to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, according to the IAEA.

BBC

Cute Story

Italy’s American football league played its championship game on Saturday.

In Toledo.

Toledo, Ohio.

It was as if some American sumo enthusiasts took their show to Tokyo, or an amateur baguette maker tried to set up shop on the streets of Paris.
...
And a few thousand Americans turned up in the summer football doldrums between college and N.F.L. seasons and paid to see them.

It looked a lot like a typical American football game with tailgating, coaches on the sidelines, refs in striped outfits and players banging heads after a touchdown.

...

The sight of two football teams from a European nation facing off in a Midwestern American city raises the question, though: How did this happen?
😂
...
A city without a major league or top college team has embraced the game.

“It might not make a lot of sense, but it’s fun,” Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz of Toledo said on social media. “We got points for raising our hand and saying, ‘Heck, we’ll do it.’”

Yes, you do, Mayor K! 🙌👏

Wish the New York Times did more fun stories.

A Medical Mystery, Unsolved

Last early evening I was boredly reading some ESPN headlines. Jonathan Kuminga, check; Mark Williams traded again, check. Kristaps Porzingis traded. I read a headline about it on draft night but didn't feel drawn to read it, oh what the hell, it's 6 o'clock Saturday night, it's not like I have a hot date or something.

"Mysterious illness". Ah, yes! I remembered now. Gasping for breath on the sidelines when he came out in the playoffs. Missed a bunch of games with a respiratory infection, noi, in February. Came back and wasn't himself. Easily fatigued. Ineffective on floor. Head coach Joe Mazzulla said Porzingis "couldn't breathe". Porzingis described his symptoms in vivid, though still mysterious, terms: 

-"really, really fatigued. Not normal";
-“My system is not perfect right now, not working the way it should. I could just lay down over here and just take a little nap."
"I'm not sure [what it is]. Even right now, I played 11 minutes and I'm gassed."

- "Many, many weird things;”

-"extremely weird";

-"many symptoms that were super weird”.

-Ominous terms, too:
"I haven’t been this sick, probably ever, in my life.”

Sounded like COVID or "Long COVID", whatever that is, if it exists. Why didn't Beans just tell us what was wrong with him?! Why the mystery? 

Brad Stevens, or Pete Buttigieg, one of them, "revealed", that's the new buzz word in headline clickbait, "revealed" the "mysterious illness": Post-Viral Syndrome (PVS). Which isn't really a diagnosis.

Medicine has this brilliant technique for dealing with things that their brilliance can't figure out, they give them official-sounding names that are really gobbledygook. They even have a three-tiered code for bullshit. Syndrome is at the bottom; it's the height of bullshit. "Use 'syndrome' for a 'constellation' of symptoms that don't add up to anything that you can diagnose", students must be told in medical school. So Post Viral Syndrome wasn't really a "reveal". What was the virus that he was post from? There were five candidates: common cold, COVID-19, flu, pneumonia, Epstein-Barr. The "Celts" in their "reveal" removed the fig leaf only to show that it was not COVID. 

Epstein-Barr. Have a glancing familiarity with Epstein-Barr. USMLE with Dr. Ana. "See? When you make an actual diagnosis, a novel one, you get to put your name on it. It's not a bullshit 'syndrome' anymore. You're immortalized with a disease."  I didn't associate Epstein-Barr with breathing difficulties and extreme fatigue in world-class athletes, though, I associated it with cancer. My medical education is still in the toddler stage. Looked up Epstein-Barr.

Epstein-Barr virus. See, I didn't even know that. It is the, or one of the, most prevalent viruses in human beings. 90% of adults worldwide have, or had, it! And it does lead to cancer in a small percentage of cases, I hadn't misassociated the two. When I read that it was a virus certain loose atoms in my mind connected virus generally and cancer generally. There is, or was, maybe it has been debunked, a medical theory that cancer generally has a virus at its source. "I bet", to self, "Epstein-Barr is the source of that theory."

In rare cases, EBV causes mono, "kissing disease," which results in, "extreme fatigue (Porzingis), fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph nodes." (not Porzingis, as far as is known (which isn't far)). "Post-infectious chronic fatigue syndrome has also been associated with EBV infection.[63][64]" No mention of breathlessness either, the other major Porzingis symptom. 

I read on. The details hooked me deep:

EBV...is the first human oncogenic [cancer-causing] virus to have been discovered and to this day, it remains the only human pathogen that can immortalize and transform cells in vitro (Niedobitek, 1999). Epstein Barr

Nothing like firsts and "immortalize" to revive my old detective habit of mind. I read on.

"Immortal": a cell line is immortal--and this is the only immortal cell in humans--when somehow it is able to evade the normal life, and death, cycle. It just keeps on growing and multiplying. Never heard of such a thing. 

There was an Irishman who spent some 20 years in British colonial Uganda in the 1940's and 1950's. He noticed Ugandan children with a weird jaw cancer. In 1958 he published his findings in a British medical journal. His name was Dennis Parsons Burkitt and he got the jaw cancer named after him, Burkitt's lymphoma. Burkitt's lymphoma, t(8;14) (Anki flashcards)! Was familiar with Burkitt's lymphoma. Burkitt's lymphoma was one of the cancers caused by Epstein-Barr!

How was the connection made between what was to be called Epstein-Barr virus and Burkitt's lymphoma? By hunch and legwork, as a lot of cases are solved by detectives: 

In 1961, Epstein, a pathologist and expert electron microscopist, attended a lecture on "The commonest children's cancer in tropical Africa—a hitherto unrecognised syndrome" by D. P. Burkitt, a surgeon practicing in Uganda...(Wikipedia)

I read on. This detective story has an unhappy ending. The perp is identified but cannot be located and locked up, i.e. no vaccine for EBV is available--for a weird reason. The last text entry in Wikipedia on EBV:

Although under active research, an Epstein–Barr virus vaccine is not yet available. The development of an effective vaccine could prevent up to 200,000 cancers globally per year.[12][13] The absence of effective animal models is an obstacle to the development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against EBV.[24]

"The absence of effective animal models"??? Yes, you see, proposed vaccines for EBV cannot be tested ethically on humans because it causes cancer, so researchers have used, mice, monkeys, rabbits, and hamsters, all of which are lacking a certain human element. I actually read the scientific article on this insurmountable obstacle.

A Chinese team was working on a vaccine with human subjects, but,

Due to the biosafety standards imposed in vaccinology, this initial clinical study was not pursued.

Another test on humans, by a Belgium team, using Chinese Hamster Ovary,

...seemed to attenuate the severity of the disease associated with EBV infection; on the other hand, they did not prevent the infection itself (Tangye et al., 2017).

On and on.  Researchers were hoisted on the petard of the prohibition on directly injecting humans with some form of EBV because of its oncogenic properties, and no effective vaccine exists:

Last but not least, another major obstacle [to a vaccine] consists in the absence of efficient animal models, affecting not only the development of prophylactic vaccines, but also research on therapeutic vaccines (Rühl et al., 2020). 

The Boston "Celtics" express confidence that Kristaps Porzingis will be free of his "many symptoms that were super weird" and can play this summer for his native Latvia in the European Basketball Championship. Easy to be confident when you have off-loaded a mystery. It is now Team Latvia's problem, and the Atlanta "Hawks" problem, to which Boston traded Porzingis. 

Good Sunday morning P's and Q's! I have a story, true, to tell when my synapsies statt firing.

Public Occurrences June 27, 2025

Trump is desperately trying to win a Nobel Peace Prize that his nemesis, Barack Obama, won. Trump believes he should have won it "four or five times". Maybe he'll win it for not bombing Iran🤷‍♂️.

4:36 pm:

"We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country. They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also. Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Following Trump's announcement, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both turned negative, retreating from the record highs they had reached earlier in the day.

cnbc

Kasparas Jakucionis

Grades on Heat first-rounder Kasparas Jakucionis range from A to D+

🙄 Sports intelligence is nearly as dumb as Trump Artificial Intelliigence

A look at the opinions and the grades of a move the Heat did not even forecast being an option.

CBS Sports: A. “I understand the concerns. His skill and his basketball acumen are his best assets. He has good size, skill and processing instincts. However, he didn’t shoot the 3 particularly well and he had a high turnover rate. I understand why people are nervous, but you just put a chip on this guy’s shoulder and sent him to the Miami Heat. This is terrific value. If you’re a Heat fan, you are ecstatic about this. They’re rebuilding without bottoming out. They’re not interested in tanking.”

The Ringer: A. “Hard to say why Jakucionis plummeted this far, but the Heat are getting the second-most creative playmaker in the draft, behind only Egor Demin. The most important detail here is Kasparas is very capable of scaling down, playing off the ball, and bringing that creativity to the second or third action of the offense, which will be important in a system where Tyler Herro will often eat first. Opposing Eastern Conference fan bases are mad that this happened, if that gives you any idea of how well the Heat did (yet again).”

Oh, are we back to the brilliant "Heat", "yet again"? Two words: Justise. Winslow.

Sports Illustrated: A. “Jakucionis saw the longest fall of any prospect previously being projected to go in the top-10. If there wasn’t a concrete reason for the fall, the NBA just let Miami get a blue chip lead guard prospect without tanking.”

NBC Sports: A-. “This high grade is based on the fact that this is a quality pickup this late in the first round. The Lithuanian who came to Illinois via FC Barcelona is a strong floor general who understands how to run an offense and is a creative passer. He averaged 15.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists a game last season. He slipped down draft boards after a rough Big 10 season with concerns about his shot (32.6% from 3) and defense. That said, coming off the bench as a secondary shot creator alongside players like Tyler Herro, he could find a role where he thrives.”

[In other words, good value, not necessarily good. The "Heat" does find good value, usually in the G League, which is why they're 44-38 for ELEVEN STRAIGHT SEASONS.]

Yahoo Sports: D+. “The Heat were probably hoping for Walter Clayton Jr. with this pick. For every beautiful assist Jakučionis had as a freshman, there’s an equally ugly bone-headed turnover. He had 11 games this past season with more turnovers than made shots. As a primary creator, he’s not a Tyrese Haliburton type. Think more along the lines of Spencer Dinwiddie; he’s one of your guys on the roster, but he’s not THE guy.”

[Jeez, I don't think this is D+ either! That would mean there were several better guys available to the "Heat".]

ESPN: Graded Heat as one of two “biggest winners” of the first round, along with the moves by the Phoenix Suns. “It was surprising to see Jakucionis — the No. 11-ranked player on our top 100 big board — fall all the way to No. 20. Any temporary disappointment over the money he lost was probably replaced by the realization he landed in arguably the most desirable situation of any guard prospect in this draft — a team desperate for shot creation and playmaking. He’ll also fit in perfectly from a culture and toughness perspective. Jakucionis’ ability to play any of the backcourt positions gives the Heat significant lineup flexibility when operating alongside Tyler Herro in the backcourt. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him eventually emerge as the franchise’s future point guard, thanks to the savvy he displays running pick-and-roll and his exceptional feel for the game.”

The Athletic: No grade, but commentary from former NBA executive John Hollinger. “This is a bit of a slide for Jakučionis, who was seen by many as a potential top-10 pick, but I also think it’s a more realistic landing spot for a guy who probably projects as a combo guard off the bench more than a long-term starter. Miami could use a guy like him, though, because he can handle the ball and shoot stepback 3s; he offers a nice contrast in the backcourt to defensive bulldog Davion Mitchell.

[So not even good value, "realistic" at 20. Bench player, not starter. We're going to have an All G League bench for shur. This is reasonable commentary to me]

Bill Simmons: The noted podcaster termed the selection a steal. “As usual somebody good in the draft falls to Miami. Jakucionis is good. … I’m watching rooting for the Celtics to trade up because he was one of my favorite guys. And then Miami, as usual…It always happens for them. Jakucionis falls to them. It just bothers me. I think you shouldn’t get that guy at 20. … It’s really annoying to me. And they’re going do some S&T with Kuminga. And guess what, he’ll be good for them too. Then all of a sudden, I’ll be like, Jesus Christ we’re back with the Heat? We thought we killed them. We thought we cut their head off. They’re back?”

[Now, if Miami gets Kuminga, who is coveted in the Left Bay, that would be something. But this is just Simmons schtick. He is all Beans, all the time and revels in his Post-Traumatic "Heat" Syndrome affliction.]

ESPN analyst Jeremy Woo: “This is excellent value for Miami, which could use a playmaking guard, and it was certainly a surprise to see him still available. The fact that he fell this far in the first place is arguably a travesty, and the Heat should be quite pleased with how this turned 

Ira Winderman, Sun-Sentinel

Post-Draft Analysis

Chaotic drafts like this one always produce a surprising fall or two. In this case, it was Jakucionis, a player we rated as a top-10 talent. Each of the top 20 slots viewed as potential landing spots chose to go in different directions, sending him into temporary free fall before finding a home with the Heat. This is excellent value for Miami, which could use a playmaking guard, and it was certainly a surprise to see him still available. The fact that he fell this far in the first place is arguably a travesty, and the Heat should be quite pleased with how this turned out. Jakucionis' pick-and-roll savvy and toughness should fit in nicely here, and there might be several teams regretting passing on him a year or two from now. -- Jeremy Woo ESPN

That is very doggone impressive!

Why Kasparas Jakucionis, Liam McNeeley and Danny Wolf fell on draft night

...none fell harder than freshmen Liam McNeeley and Kasparas Jakucionis, both of whom were projected as lottery talents throughout their college basketball season.

Kasparas Jakucionis (Illinois), selected No. 20 by Miami

Illinois' international star Kasparas Jakucionis entered the night ranked as a top-10 player on the board across the industry. He's a 6-5 playmaker who is highly skilled and savvy with the ball, able to score from all three levels and create for others with vision and talent as a passer.

He's not overly explosive, but his skill set and craftiness with the ball -- the passes he made and the shots he hit over the course of the season -- were intoxicating.

However, over the course of the college basketball season, one area became a glaring concern, which ultimately played out on draft night: his exceptionally high turnover rate at 25.4%.

To go with the sky-high turnover rate, Jakucionis also didn't shoot the ball at an efficient clip, connecting on just 31.8% of his 3s on the season.

There are questions as to how his game will ultimately translate in the NBA, but he found a home with one of the league's best franchises and best selectors in the draft in the Heat.

For Jakucionis, this is a big win. In Miami, he'll be playing for one of the best coaches in the league in Erik Spoelstra and will be baked into an elite culture. 

There's a case to be made that Jokucionis' game -- with his ability to operate in space, create out of ball screens and think the game -- will be better suited in the NBAthan in college. But then again, that is a very high turnover rate.

Travis Branham CBS

Public Occurrences July 26, 2025

On the other hand...

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi, reiterated Thursday that the damage done by Israeli and U.S. strikes at Iranian nuclear facilities “is very, very, very considerable” and that he can only assume the centrifuges are not operational.

“I think annihilated is too much, but it suffered enormous damage,” Grossi told French broadcaster RFI. The IAEA has not been allowed to visit any of the Iranian facilities to do an independent assessment of the damage.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, also conceded Wednesday that “our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure.”

8:57 pm

"Sounds good for TV but not real"

I thought I had read that these bunker buster bombs (GBU-57s) had not been used in real life previously. Turns out I had read that. The Guardian, June 18:

The effectiveness of GBU-57s has been a topic of deep contention at the Pentagon since the start of Trump’s term...
...
...defense officials who received the briefing were told that using conventional bombs, even as part of a wider strike package of several GBU-57s, would not penetrate deep enough underground and that it would only do enough damage to collapse tunnels and bury it under rubble.

Which is exactly what the after-the-fact preliminary damage assessment concluded.

The difficulty with using the GBU-57 to target Fordow, according to the two officials familiar with the DTRA briefing, lies in part with the characteristics of the facility which is buried inside a mountain – and the fact that the bomb has never been used in a comparable situation before.

“It would not be a one and done,” a former Dtra deputy director, retired Maj Gen Randy Manner, said of the GBU-57’s limitations, adding that Fordow could be quickly rebuilt. “It might set the program back six months to a year. It sounds good for TV but it’s not real.”

Which is exactly what it was.

8:01 pm

Trump Admin Conclusions that Operation Midnight Marshmallow "obliterated" Iran Nuke Sites Based on AI Models

Guardian:

Defense chief says US bombings degraded Iran’s nuclear sites, citing AI models over leaked intel doubts

[Hegseth]and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine, largely based that assessment on AI modeling, showing test videos of the “bunker buster” bombs used in the strikes and referred questions on a battle damage assessment of Fordow to the intelligence community.

...

Caine said the strikes were successful insofar as the attack matched a model developed by the Pentagon that he said predicted the destruction of the Fordow site. ...“The majority of the damage we assess based on our extensive modeling of the blast”...

3:43 pm

US gained nothing from strikes, Iran's supreme leader says

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: ...the US "gained no achievements" from strikes on its nuclear facilities...

...the strikes did not "accomplish anything significant" to disrupt Iran's nuclear programme, and described the retaliation against an American air base in Qatar as dealing a "heavy blow".

There is more truth in his statements than in Trump's (except for that last, the telegraphed strike in Qatar).

BBC

8:06 am

Yes, and like most media battles, he wins:

Trump wages all-out fight for control of Iran strike narrative

Axios

My social tolerance has the precision of a stop watch. I went to a good friend's going away party tonight. I wazed it and when I shut my phone down upon arrival it was precisely 5:03. I talked to some mutual friends and then listened to three of the farewell speeches. I felt my tolerance waning and reached into my pocket to check the time. I had forgotten that I had shut it off. when I booted it back up it was precisely 6:03 and I left.

 

Kasparas Jakucionis

G

6'5"205 lbsIllinois

7POS RK

10OVR RK

play

1:43

Kasparas Jakucionis' NBA draft profile

Check out some of the highlights that have made Illinois' Kasparas Jakucionis a top NBA draft prospect.

Pre-Draft Analysis

Strengths: Jakucionis dissects defenses out of pick-and-rolls with great positional size, smarts and playmaking savvy. There is considerable confidence in his shotmaking prowess.

Weaknesses: Not exceptionally explosive, Jakucionis struggled with turnovers and shooting consistency as opposing defenses locked in on him late in the season. He has some questions to answer on the defensive end and with learning to stay in front of quicker guards.

The verdict: Among the most polished pick-and-roll playmakers in this class, Jakucionis flashed a promising blend of size, feel, vision and toughness for much of the season. Though the scrutiny of carrying an offense through the rigorous Big Ten slate at 18 years old took a toll on him at times, the talent he flashed in his brightest moments leaves considerable room for optimism around his NBA transition. -- Jonathan Givony

Best pick-and-roll playmaker: Kasparas Jakucionis, G, Illinois

Top 100 ranking: No. 10

Jakucionis has proved to be a particularly challenging cover working with a screen in front of him, where his vision, creativity and acute sense of timing intersect to make him an outstanding operator. The vast majority of his offensive workload came in ball screens -- his 501 ball-screen possessions (among the highest totals in the country) led to a basket 41.7% of the time, including assists (65th percentile nationally), a number made more impressive by the fact the Illini didn't have consistent 3-point shooting or ideal spacing around him last season.

Jakucionis also became more comfortable getting to his own shot when defenses loaded up the paint, with his jumper becoming a viable counter for his average explosiveness around the rim. Though he presses at times, leading to aggressive turnovers, his size, unselfish mentality and instincts navigating traffic should translate well into an NBA role, whether it's as a full-time point guard or combo playmaker.

###

Jakucionis, born in Vilnious, Lithuania, was not supposed to be available to Miami. At top right, you can see that ESPN has him as the 10th-best player in this draft. ESPN projected us to take Liam McNeeley of Connecticut. So Jakucionis is a bargain for Miami.

But he, his parents, and his agent may not be thrilled that he is the "Heat's" bargain, that he fell to 20, and in particular to Miami, for if 80-year old Pat Riley doesn't change his ways (and what are the chances of that?) and the reputation as a player killer that he has, parents of prospects are going to tell the org not to draft their son, as he will not play for them. I would tell Riley so to his face if I were the parent of a prospect.