I was looking at a custom shirt from 2019 the other day. It was a simpler time when people believed in things, like parade routes and medium-range jump shots. Now we are here, in 2026, watching the Rockets beat the Raptors 113 to 99 on a Tuesday night.
The final score feels less like a result and more like a recurring dream. I am not saying it is a nightmare, because nightmares usually have a plot. This is just a sequence of fourth-quarter events where the basketball stops moving and everyone looks slightly confused about where the hoop is.
The Sunshine and the Seat
Darko Rajakovic is a very nice man who speaks often about how great the practices are. He seems encouraged by the process and the growth of the players. It is a bit like watching a house lose its roof in a windstorm while the architect compliments the quality of the foundation.
People are starting to talk about the hot seat (which is an uncomfortable metaphor for a job). They wonder if the player development expert is actually developing players or just watching them get older in real time. It is hard to tell if the issue is the coaching or if the roster is just a collection of parts that do not quite fit together, like a Lego set mixed with pieces from a board game.
The Wide Open Void
The Eastern Conference is reportedly wide open. This is a phrase that people use when they want to feel better about a mediocre season. The front office decided to stay the course instead of adding pieces to fortify the team.
The result is a feeling of being stuck in a loop. It is the last three years all over again, just with different jersey designs and more conversations about accountability. Some fans are saying they are finally free, though that usually just means they turned off the television before the post-game interviews started.
Old Shirts and New Problems
There is something lonely about holding a championship shirt while watching a team struggle to break 100 points in Houston. It makes you realize that 2019 was a long time ago. My uncle says that you cannot live in the past, but he also refuses to stop wearing his 1993 World Series hat.
Maybe this is just what basketball is now. We watch the games, we see the late-game collapses, and we listen to the optimistic quotes about tomorrow. I am not sure if we are getting better or if we are just getting used to it. Either way, the sun will probably come up tomorrow, and there will probably be another practice that Darko really enjoys.