John Wilmes

Chicago

Contributor at Freelance

Bert Gets Hurt: https://t.co/VDFpQT7Vgh / previously: Jad's Dad Milo /// [email protected]

Articles

OKC Vs Indy Is A Basketball Science Experiment - RealGM Analysis

3 weeks ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

Basketball is a great television sport. As with football, the optimal viewing angle is inhabited by the camera; you can sit at this angle in person, too, but it's prohibitively expensive, especially for the most important games. There are annoying things that production crews do which blunt this perfect perspective—like "hero shot" cutaways after notable baskets, or in-game interview segments that needlessly double-screen your monitor, shrinking the action.
Tyrese Haliburton Is Underrated

1 month ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

A few weeks ago, a portion of the NBA fraternity attempted to saddle one of their leading peers with an indignity. This was not the product of a conspiracy, but the result of an anonymous poll, the data from which suggested that Tyrese Haliburton is the most overrated star in the league. Watch him play enough, and you’ll quickly understand why players would say that, when granted secrecy. It’s not because he isn’t great.
The Denver Nuggets Vs The NBA - RealGM Analysis

1 month ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

The Denver Nuggets have finished their season. The 2024-25 season ended as the one in 2023-24 did: in the second round, in seven games, to a young frenetic defense. Denver’s roster problems are hardly different now than they were last May. Though they are large and skilled and tough, they are not especially athletic on either side of the ball, and they don’t have enough shooting, either, to keep endless swarms of defenders away from Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
The Never Ending Paranoia About The NBA Draft Lottery - RealGM Analysis

1 month ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

People are paranoid about how the world works. Understandably so. There is much that is poorly explained in terms of how our institutions do and don't function, and about who gets the spoils versus who has to eat poop sandwiches every day as a matter of survival. The world is, in other words, unfair—often in structural ways, but often, too, in random ways.
The Entropic Indiana Pacers

1 month ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

Tyrese Haliburton had a bad start to this season, and so did his team. During Thanksgiving weekend, the Indiana Pacers were just 6-10, and their star point guard was putting up dismal numbers: 38 percent shooting from the field, with just a 29 percent average from beyond the three-point arc.
Thunder Emerge As NBAs New Apex Predator - RealGM Analysis

2 months ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

It’s rare, in the NBA, that you absolutely know a lead as large as 26 points will be erased. Sure, no lead is safe anymore, as they say. Higher volumes of three-point shooting and heightened pace of play broaden the modern numbers in all ways, so when the Memphis Grizzlies steamed their way through a dominant start against the Oklahoma City Thunder last week in Game 3, leading 77-51 at halftime, of course there was plenty of suspicion that they might not finish with a victory.
The Nuggets And Clippers At The End Of Certain History - RealGM Analysis

2 months ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

It was pretty weird of the Denver Nuggets to fire head coach Michael Malone, with just three games left in the regular season. I said as much, last week, when the basketball world was still processing the shocking decision. That digestion is still ongoing. But we have since seen a three-game winning streak from the Nuggets, featuring some of the most connected team defense they’ve had all season.
Denver Throws Dynamite At Their Demise

2 months ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

I don’t know Nikola Jokic, and neither do you. This is true for any NBA player, but It’s even more true with Jokic. The Denver Nuggets’ three-time MVP is notoriously media-avoidant, appearing in only two brief national commercial campaigns despite his elevated pedigree, and refusing roughly ninety-nine percent of non-mandatory interviews; once, he appeared on teammate Michael Porter Jr.’s podcast. There may be a few other optional public discussions he’s participated in, but none come to mind.
Pistons Up Bucks Down - RealGM Analysis

2 months ago | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

In December, the Milwaukee Bucks looked like a title contender. Maybe they weren’t at the upper crust of that NBA populace. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard were clicking together like never before, though, and the team was taking on a more hard-nosed identity in their run to the NBA Cup title.
The New Bulls Charge

Mar 24, 2025 | basketball.realgm.com | John Wilmes

Only on occasion do the Chicago Bulls live up to their namesake. In the 2020s, they have rarely looked like a group of animals stampeding; their style has been more a veteran plodding, landing them near the middle of the league in pace, at best. But this season, though the season-long results haven’t been any better, the twenties have gotten to roaring in Chicago. The Bulls are third overall in possessions per game, and charge even more relentlessly since a trade deadline makeover.