1.28.25 Bolts: Hype Train
A Daily Thunder staple, rounding up of the most share-worthy news and notes.
Royce Young's 3 Things from the Thunder win in Portland.
Nick Crain (Forbes) on SGA's lead in the MVP race.
Beyond stats, Gilgeous-Alexander’s two-way impact can’t be undervalued. Not only is he arguably the league‘s most consistent scorer, but he is also a good defender. He finished in the top 10 in NBA Defensive Player of the Year votes last season and operates as an off-ball defensive playmaker who can jump passing lanes, force turnovers and spark points in transition.
Zach Harper (The Athletic) says Jalen Williams should be an All-Star.
I thought Williams should have been an All-Star last year, and I feel the same this season. He’s the second-best player on the best team in the West, and he’s great on both ends of the floor. The 23-year-old also doesn’t really have a flaw in his game.
Isaiah Hartenstein is proving to be a lot more than a high quality backup.
A mid-season review from our friends at Down to Dunk.
I enjoyed The F5's interview with Shri Khalpada of Cleaning the Glass.
Ultimately, we're all in the business of analysis—finding ways to process and visualize data to represent the truth in a way that's useful or interesting. In my experience, the key differences are in the technical constraints. Teams usually require a much higher level of detail and precision, which introduces different challenges throughout the stack, from data engineering to communication.