It is February of 2026, and I am thinking about February of 2016. That was ten years ago, which is a significant amount of time for a person or a dog, though less so for a mountain. It was the first time the All Star Game came to Canada, and I remember it was very cold. People from warmer places looked confused by the wind, which felt like it was personally offended by our existence.
The memories are mostly blurry now, like looking at an old receipt in your pocket. Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon jumped very high for a long time. Kobe Bryant was there, and now he is not. Everything feels like a circle that never quite closes.
The Current State of Floating
We find ourselves in the 5th seed as the break arrives. This is a very comfortable place to be, like the middle seat on a bus where nobody is sitting next to you yet. We are three games ahead of the Orlando Magic, a team that seems to exist primarily to remind us that Florida is a peninsula.
We trail the Cavaliers by two games for the 4th seed. We are technically three games behind the Knicks for the 3rd seed, but they hold the tiebreaker, so it is actually four games. Math is often a cruel way to spend an afternoon. Our strength of schedule is perfectly in the middle, which is appropriate for a team that is neither soaring nor sinking.
Conversations and Efficiency
During the game against Detroit, Cade Cunningham told Scottie Barnes to "give it to me" after a bobbled drive. This is what they call trash talk, though it sounds more like a request for a gift. Scottie is our cornerstone, and Cade is theirs, and they will likely do this for another decade until their knees sound like gravel in a blender.
Speaking of doing things well, RJ Barrett is currently more efficient than Derrick White. I do not know what to do with this information, but it feels good to say out loud. Derrick White has very good hair and plays for a team in Boston. RJ plays here and is from here, which makes the efficiency feel more local, like buying honey from a guy on the side of the road.
The Threat of Choice
There is talk of an expansion draft this summer, which is a stressful hypothetical. We have to pick eight players to protect, which is like choosing which of your children gets to stay in the house during a storm. If we lose someone like Chris Boucher or a steady backup, the universe will continue to expand, but our bench will feel slightly more empty.
I think about 2007 often. Jamario Moon was on the team then. He could jump very high but he was not an All Star in 2016. Now we are here, in 2026, wondering if we should protect a third string point guard from a team in Las Vegas or Seattle. It is probably best to just watch the game and try not to think about the wind outside.