John Wilmes

Chicago

Contributor at Freelance

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

Articles

The Never Ending Paranoia About The NBA Draft Lottery - RealGM Analysis

2 days 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 week 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 weeks 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

4 weeks 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

1 month 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

1 month 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

1 month ago | 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.
What Of The 2025 Dark Horse Contenders - RealGM Analysis

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

“I think that who you are in the regular season, that’s who you are in the playoffs,” said Nikola Jokic over the weekend. He wasn’t saying this after a win; far from it. His Denver Nuggets had just lost to the bottom-dwelling Washington Wizards, at home, 126-123. The night before, Denver had just barely put in enough effort to beat a Los Angeles Lakers team missing four starters, 131-126.
The Thunder And Rockets A Prescription For NBA Depression - RealGM Analysis

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

If you follow the winds of discussion around the NBA, online and in mass media, you will experience very little of the game itself. Favored in this ecosystem are overexpressed impressions formed from highlights or—more often—purely from imperfect memories and irrational feelings. These utterances, the most animal of human communicative impulses, are very valuable in today’s eldritch, transitioning economy, tying itself to flimsy masts as the digital leviathan tramples over everything.
Disaster Capitalism At The NBA All Star Game

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

The NBA’s new format for the All-Star game could have been a success. Dividing the field of honorees into smaller teams who play quick games in a short tournament is a novel enough concept that, at first, it did seem to inject new competitive life into the evening. This felt especially true when Victor Wembanyama, there for the first time, terrorized the floor with his uniquely spacious capacities.