NBA thoughts

Raptors first

• I'll admit, I'm curious what a team with Marion could do for a full season. He impressed me in this stretch run, and at the right price I'd not be disagreeable to his return.
• Bargnani might one day be a superstar. His potential is tantalizing, but he's still a huge defensive liability. The team, on average, is outscored by 6.4 points when he's on the floor. Hopefully he does develop more acute defensive instincts somehow this summer. Oh, and some more body definition. Professional athletes should never, ever look less in shape than the average dude at the gym.
• Bosh, in my mind, is still overrated. He's really really good. But to put him in the same class as Chris Paul and Dwight Howard (and Al Jefferson. What, do injuries discount a half season of work to Raptors TV staff?) is a little disingenuous, no? I mean, Bosh is good. But he's not special. He's penultimate tier talent in the NBA, which is nothing to sneeze at. But it's not the top.
• This team could be in the playoffs as early as next year if they get a real bench. Like, even just three guys to play the 1-3 spots for 15 minutes a night serviceably. That's really all it'll take. Simple. Honestly, did you watch Cleveland vs Philly tonight? The Cavs played with only bench guys and still almost won. Remember how Sasha Pavlovic used to START for that team? The dude barely plays now, he's like 10 on the depth chart. That is a team with depth. Instead, we started guys named Patrick O'Bryant, Jake Voshkul, Will Solomon, and Joey Graham this year. Ouch.
• With that in mind, I'm more excited for this off-season than I was about the entire second half of the year.

Playoff Predictions

Cleveland over Orlando in the Eastern finals.

LA over Dallas in the Western finals.

LA over Cleveland in the Finals.

Upsets

Miami over Atlanta (EC round 1)

NO over Denver (WC round 1)

Dallas over San Antonio (WC round 2)

Asides from that, I see the upper seeds wining all their matchups the rest of the way. I can barely contain myself. This is by far my favourite time of year for sports.

I feel like a certain medical student

In that, I find myself quite attracted to the unfortunately underage Yuna Kim after she won the World Figure Skating Championships last week. I didn't bother watching the women's since there were no Canadians in contention, but I did manage to catch the full long-program on Youtube HD, and I must say she really put on a show.

Of course, I assume she did, since I don't actually know anything about figure skating. But the NBC announcers sure seemed to say she did. And she set a world record, shattering 200 points in the new scoring system by SEVEN. (This is apparently a big deal, like running a three-minute mile for figure skaters. I have no clue either way; the judging rules all seem arbitrary to me.)

What I do know is she's 18. And she's a World Champion. And she trains with Brian Orser right here in Toronto (I assume because it's essentially Korea with lots of ice). She's also quite cute. This, all wrapped together, is an appealing total package.

Does getting older make me more open to dating girls below my half-age-plus-seven threshold? I used to be super opposed and completely unattracted to anyone more than one year younger than me. Am I starting to just care less, or am I turning into some sort of lecherous old man?

The real question however:

Do you think she's had any work done? I'm skeptical of those weak looking double eyelids...