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Earlier this week, it was reported that Kevin Love would sign with the Miami Heat after he and the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed to a buyout during the final season of his four-year, $120 million. The South Beach partnership makes sense for a few reasons.

Miami could certainly benefit from some frontcourt shooting and legitimate size at the 4 spot. The likes of 6’5 Cody Martin, 6’4 Haywood Highsmith, and 6’7 Jimmy Butler have often held down power forward this season. The Heat also welcome versatile floor-spacing in the frontcourt. Martin has a bit of on-the-move gusto, while Butler rarely hoists threes and Highsmith is a stationary release valve who doesn’t always elicit defensive concern. Last year, P.J. Tucker was a static corner specialist.

Duncan Robinson’s decline has hindered the schematic possibilities at times — this year, Robinson has appeared in 29 games, all off of the bench, is playing 18.1 minutes a night, and is connecting on 32.9 percent of his attempts from behind the three-point line. A malleable shooter with size like Love is a legitimate boon to the rotation. While Love isn’t a Robinson-esque nomad, he provides a sizable range of options as a shooter. He’s comfortable working off of ghost screens, which the Heat love to deploy with Robinson, Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, Gabe Vincent, and Martin. His pump-fake-into-a-sidestep three remains formidable. He has a bit of chops firing on the move. He’s a heady relocation artist.

Miami values versatile shooters a good deal in its offense, particularly for those enjoying secondary roles. Love meets the criteria. Given two of its focal points, Butler and Bam Adebayo, are paint-oriented scorers, the more spacing, the better. The lack of downhill juice cramps its 25th-ranked offense substantially, but the decline in long-range shooting from last season is another prevalent factor. The Heat led the NBA in three-point percentage at 38.6 percent a year ago and are down to 28th at 33.7 percent this year.

Love doesn’t alleviate the driving shortcomings directly, but he should help with the latter issue. He could ease the tension of a compact court as well because defenses grant him notable respect beyond the arc as a big man. That’s not the case for Highsmith, Butler, or Tucker. Even Martin isn’t a “stop at all costs” marksman. Love, meanwhile, legitimately draws the attention of the opposition.

I don’t know how often Miami will feature it, but Love’s passing remains quite useful. He’s a steady decision-maker and should see a fairly seamless transition into the Heat’s dribble handoff system. He discerns proper reads, can capitalize when doubled on post-ups, and is a timely processor when openings arise. His outlet passing pairs aptly with Butler’s proclivity to leak out for seals and early offense chances as well.

Whether it’s organic or intentional, I certainly expect the veteran’s playmaking to bolster the offense. If Love and Adebayo share the floor for long stretches, Horns and Delay sets where either is a choice to facilitate the offense for off-ball scorers/shooters should be part of the playbook. Giving Adebayo’s interior exploits, a viable outside presence who brings his own playmaking credentials in the frontcourt is a worthwhile addition.

Part of the question for Love’s holistic offensive signature is whether he can rediscover the levels he was at from deep prior to this season. He’s only shooting 35.4 percent beyond the arc after netting 38.4 percent of his looks between 2017 and 2022. The possession-by-possession impact will lord over opponents, but he needs to convert the actual opportunities he receives. He’s not been the mismatch scorer of yesteryear, shooting just 46.7 percent on twos and typically failing to find much success when he dares to venture inside the arc these days.

Cleveland relied on him for long stretches last season as a bench hub in which he blended outside shooting and interior scoring against undersized defenders. His success there fueled his genuine Sixth Man of the Year candidacy that lasted roughly two-thirds of the year. Can he do that in a pinch with the Heat? Or, is he destined to be a long-range specialist whose value is tied to volume and versatility rather than volume, versatility, and efficiency, which complements his low-block work?

Love’s viability as a rotation cog for a team with playoff aspirations hinges mightily on the scope of his offensive contributions. The defense is quite limited, and I worry how he fares in a system like Miami’s that prioritizes movement skills and multifaceted responsibilities. Love isn’t mobile. In the Heat’s switch-heavy, no-middle scheme, that could spell trouble. Ground coverage is paramount, especially with digs and stunt-and-recovers. Those may be tasks Love can’t complete regularly.

They endure Herro’s struggles because of his perimeter creation. As Robinson’s jumper has waned, his defensive flaws haven’t generally been worth weathering from their perspective. Love’s might not be, either, if his offensive production looks similar to his time in Cleveland this season.

He also isn’t a credible backup 5 because of his deficiencies laterally and vertically, incapable of offering effective coverage in drop, at the level, hedging, or switching. He’s not a secondary rim protector, either. His rebounding remains quite practical (99th percentile in defensive rebounding rate), but Miami is already fourth as a team there, although fortifying a strength is certainly a positive.

For as enticing and natural as the fit is offensively, I really worry about Love defensively with the Heat. The Cavs are the league’s third-ranked defense anchored by two domineering rim protectors. They’re starved for frontcourt shooting and excised Love from the rotation a month ago. They presumably decided these defensive imperfections were too much to overlook.

Miami is a similarly excellent defense like Cleveland. The paths to that mark are starkly different, though. Ranking third in opposing rim frequency, Miami aims to keep teams away from the rim altogether with rangy perimeter options, aggressive help rotations, and Adebayo’s instincts and swarming limbs. Ranking 21st in opposing rim field goal percentage, the lack of interior size is an issue when teams get there, but teams mostly fail to get there.

Cleveland is 19th and second in those respective categories. With narrower point-of-attack selections, it funnels offenses to the hoop and erases them once they’ve arrived. It’s the inverse of Miami. Conceivably, Love can survive defensively in the Cavaliers’ approach because of backline reinforcements. I’m not so sure he can with the Heat’s style, though it’s possible the superior surrounding perimeter context is better suited to cover for him than in Cleveland.

A change of scenery could absolutely rectify some of the hurdles facing Love. I don’t want to downplay that possibility. Miami has a history of fashioning preferable roles for those who maybe didn’t have one elsewhere. Love’s offensive arsenal matches head coach Erik Spoelstra’s inclinations and could fill clear gaps in the current rotation; Spoelstra’s schematic creativity may also unearth ways to paper over Love’s blemishes.

The defense, however, continues to gnaw at me when I envision how this experiment plays out. Ultimately, it all leaves me a bit more worried than optimistic.

SZA has been named Billboard‘s Woman Of The Year for 2023. In celebration, she did an interview with the publication on the heels of her sophomore SOS album dropping in December.

Not only did SZA reveal that there’s a deluxe version on the way, but she also opened up about exactly how she feels about her mega hit, “Kill Bill.” The song reached No. 2 on the charts, making it her biggest song to date.

“I knew it would be something that pissed me off,” she said. “It’s always a song that I don’t give a f*ck about that’s just super easy, not the sh*t that I put so much heart and energy into. ‘Kill Bill’ was super easy — one take, one night.”

The vengeful-but-fun video drew a significant amount of attention, too, as it pulled inspiration from the Tarantino flick and had a cameo from Vivica A. Fox.

Still, SZA also noted that she did want to change things up from any expectations that fans might have had after her 2017 debut, Ctrl, saying, “I know people wanted ‘Broken Clocks,’ ‘Love Galore,’ and all that other sh*t again, but I departed from that by choice. Not because I couldn’t do that again; it was just because I wanted to grow. I wanted to do something completely different.”

It’s clear that the pivot has worked out in her favor immensely.

As the YSL RICO trial continues, one of Young Thug’s co-defendants has requested that it be declared a mistrial, according to Law&Crime Network producer Cathy Russon via HipHopDX.

Jayden Myrick, aka SetTrip, filed a motion for mistrial on Tuesday (February 21) through his lawyer Gina Bernard, who argued that Myrick’s Sixth Amendment right to a fair and impartial jury has been violated by discovery material being shared with the public.

A previously signed court order prevents discovery material from being shared on social media or to official news sources but what appears to be a video of cooperating witness’ testimony to police has been circulating on social media for the past week.

Therefore, says Bernard, “While said evidence may not directly implicate my client, it along with all of the publicity and courtroom incidents since the start of this trial that have not been the result of any conduct of my client, Jayden Myrick, make it impossible for him to receive a fair trial, as well as a jury that is honestly and truly fair and impartial.”

Among those courtroom incidents were scenes in which fellow co-defendant Yak Gotti’s mother was arrested for trying to sneak him contraband, another co-defendant was tased by court deputies after handing Thug a pill, and multiple members of YSL accepted plea deals to avoid longer sentences.

The trial is expected to continue for at least six months — and potentially as much as nine months.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Usher is undoubtedly becoming the unofficial king of Las Vegas, thanks to his My Way Residency. Even with a career spanning 30 years, the singer has continued to find ways to honor the acts before him in his music by way of samples while finding inspiration in today’s newer acts.

The musician doesn’t mind calling cap on the questioning of his talent, but giving other recording artists their flowers is as equally important to him. Late rap music icon The Notorious B.I.G. (real name Christopher Wallace), often referred to by the shortened name Biggie Smalls, is at the center of Usher’s latest praise session.

In an interview with GQ, the singer shared the story of sharing a studio with the late rapper. Although Usher wasn’t working on his own solo material, he stuck around to watch the rapper lay down his own music.

“He didn’t write anything down,” says Usher. “He lined up four blunts, ran it back, just listening [to the beat].” After three blunts, Biggie was ready to go to work. Usher continued, “He was the most profound talent I think I’ve ever seen in an MC. Coming up with sh*t off the top of his head, the ability to make things so vivid. That sh*t was profound, man.”

Even after the rapper’s tragic death in 1997, Biggie is still remembered as one of the greatest to ever touch a microphone.

The year 2024 probably sends shivers down your spine. “Another presidential election? Didn’t we just have one of those?” But there are things to look forward to next year. Avatar 3, for instance, and Furiosa. Speaking of prequels, 2024 will also see the return of House of the Dragon.

HBO and HBO Max content CEO Casey Bloys confirmed to Variety that it’s “a good guess” that Dragon won’t be eligible for the 2024 Emmy season, which ends on May 31, 2024. So, expect a summer 2024 premiere.

That may sound like forever from now, because it is. But at least we still have the rest of the season of The Last of Us, followed by Succession, which unlike Game of Thrones, will (most likely) not be getting a spinoff.

“I don’t think so,” Bloys said. “I always say ‘never say never.’ When we started talking about doing a Thrones prequel that was something that HBO had historically never done. I had some people internally saying, ‘This is crazy. What are you doing?’ That said, I think that there’s something about the universe that George created that lent itself to [spin-offs]. There’s a huge history, a lot of different families, a lot of different wars and battles. It doesn’t seem to me that there’s something in Succession where you would go, ‘Let’s follow just this kid’ or whatever. It doesn’t seem like a natural thing to me. But if [Jesse Armstrong] said I want to do this, then I would follow Jesse’s lead.”

This is the right call, unless it turns out the Roys owned a dragon at some point. Now that’s a show I would enjoy watching, in 2024 or otherwise.

(Via Variety)

As The Mandalorian gets ready for its Season 3 premiere, series creator Jon Favreau has revealed that Season 4 is already written even though neither Disney+ nor Lucasfilm have announced its renewal. (But who are we kidding? It’s coming back.) Favreau made the revelation during an interview with France’s BFMTV where he also confirmed that the spinoff series, Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew, will be arriving this year.

“Season 4, yeah I’ve written it already,” Favreau said. “We have to know where we’re going to tell a fully formed story. We had mapped it out, Dave [Filoni] and I, and slowly you start to write each episode. I was writing it during post-production. All of it has to feel like a continuation and one full story.”

According to Favreau, Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew will be connected to The Mandalorian as Star Wars adopts a Marvel approach to its live-action series, which is an interesting development considering Marvel is pulling back on its Disney+ series. Then again, none of the Marvel series have put up numbers like The Mandalorian, the crown jewel of Disney’s streaming platform. Via Variety:

“[Dave’s] doing ‘Ahsoka,’ which I’m producing with him. He’s the writer and showrunner on that. To understand what’s happening on other shows….‘Skeleton Crew’ all take place within the same ‘Star Wars’ time period. There’s a lot more things that we’ve got to keep in mind and also stuff that we’ve built up to from previous seasons of ‘The Mandalorian’ as well.”

Of course, hearing that The Mandalorian is ready to go for Season 4 is bittersweet news. According to insiders, the fourth season will reportedly end the main series starring Mando and Baby Yoda. However, it’s clear that Lucasfilm is rapidly expanding the Mando-verse, so there will be plenty of opportunities for Pedro Pascal’s character and his adorable boy to return for cameos. In the words of Luke Skywalker, “No one’s ever really gone.”

The Mandalorian Season 3 premieres March 1 on Disney+.

(Via Variety)

In the 1960s, the Little Golden Books series included a book called “Never Talk to Strangers,” a cute little sing-songy rhyme with a host of silly animals and an ominous, repeating refrain: Never talk to strangers.

For generations, the “Don’t talk to strangers” message for kids has been as ubiquitous as “Wear your seatbelt” and “Look both ways when you cross the street.” But unlike those clear-cut safety rules, “stranger danger” messaging comes with some significant drawbacks and glaring omissions.

Mom and life coach Marcie Whalen shared why she and her partner don’t teach their kids the concept of “stranger danger” at all, and her alternate approach makes a lot of sense.

“Parents are trying to protect their kids, keep them safe. But most people are good people,” Whalen says. “And we want our girls to be outgoing and have conversations with people to be, in general, hospitable to those around them. And so instead of talking about strangers, we talk about strange behavior.”

Whalen points out the statistical truth that it’s far more likely that kids will be abused or hurt by someone they know rather than a stranger. “So I want my girls to understand what strange behavior is—asking them to keep a secret…asking them to go somewhere without their mom or dad—and my girls understand what to look for, whether it’s in somebody they know really well or somebody they don’t know at all.”

Watch her explain:

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“Stranger danger” may be catchy as a rhyme, but when we teach kids that strangers in general can’t be trusted, we instill a sense of fear about everyone they don’t know, which isn’t entirely fair and can quickly become confusing. Real life involves interacting with strangers all the time, so kids miss developing an important life skill if all they hear is that strangers might be dangerous. We also talk about the kindness of strangers being a good thing, so at what point do kids learn to stop fearing unfamiliar people and start reaching out with kindness?

In truth, some strangers will be more trustworthy and safe than some people kids know, so automatically feeling paranoid about every stranger won’t guarantee their safety. Kids who are old enough to be in situations where they might interact with strangers without a parent or guardian beside them are old enough to learn what kinds of situations to avoid and what behavioral red flags to watch for. Most obviously, we should teach kids some specific luring tactics to watch for with strangers, such as an adult asking a child for directions or for help looking for a lost puppy, in addition to the classic tempting them with candy. However, it’s also important that they know “strange behavior” isn’t always super obvious, so they should listen to their gut if something seems even a little bit “off” or questionable.

For parents worried about kidnapping, it may help to know that even the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children avoids the “never talk to strangers” message as well.

“At the National Center, we don’t teach stranger danger, either,” executive director Callahan Walsh told TODAY Parents. “We know that child safety is much more nuanced than just a rhyming phrase. There are inherent flaws with that strategy.”

Walsh shared that kids will often describe strangers as “mean” or “ugly” or “monster-like,” which isn’t the reality with most people who actually pose a threat. Teaching children to avoid strangers also might prevent them from seeking help from a stranger, such as a security guard, a store employee or a mom with kids, if they find themselves in a scary or dangerous situation.

Of course, knowing your own kid also comes into this equation. Some children are more naturally anxious and cautious, while others may be oblivious to potential dangers, so tailoring the messaging to a child’s temperament is wise. Whalen’s premise is solid either way, though. Most people are good, most threats come from people kids know and “stranger danger” is a simplistic approach to keeping kids safe that doesn’t take the whole of reality into account.

Have you ever wondered what happens at the dry cleaners? Or are you like me, who just assumed the people at the dry cleaners were wizards and never questioned their magic? Turns out, dry cleaners aren’t magic and there’s actually a pretty interesting explanation of how they came to be and what they do.

Melissa Pateras is known on Tiktok for her laundry knowledge. Seriously, her ability to fold laundry is hypnotizing. This time, she created a video explaining what actually takes place at the dry cleaner and the internet is aghast.

Before Pateras explained what happens in the mysterious world behind the counter of a dry cleaner, she asked a few of her friends what they thought dry cleaning was. Their answers were…interesting to say the least.

One friend surmised, “You put it in a box, right…and then you let some wind, really fast wind, blow around on your clothes and it wipes off all the dirt.” The friend, whose username is @unlearn16, continued with her working hypothesis, saying that the clothes are then blasted with infrared heat to sterilize the garments. While that is certainly an interesting theory, that’s not what happens.

Another friend guessed, “Dry cleaning is when they take all of your dirty clothes into this big dryer with a clean sheet that sticks all of the dirt to it from your dirty clothes.” This friend was also incorrect, and Pateras finally explained why after her friends dug deep into their brains for their best guesses.

Turns out dry cleaning was invented by accident when Jean-Baptiste Jolly spilled a kerosene lamp on his tablecloth, which dried cleaner than it was previously, according to Pateras.

The laundry guru explained that while it was dangerous, the practice of cleaning things with kerosene continued until a less flammable method was discovered. But even the safer method is still fairly harsh, which is why dry cleaners take buttons off of clothing before running them through, she says.

This prompted one commenter to ask, “They really take the buttons off of every shirt?” to which Pateras replied that it only occurs if the buttons won’t withstand the chemicals.

If you’ve ever been curious about what happens at the dry cleaner, watch the video below. She takes you through each step.

@melissadilkespateras

What is dry cleaning #laundry #laundrytok #drycleaning #funfacts @Tracy Taylor @Unlearn16 @Ana Pac @Ashley Mathieu @Li

We know on an intuitive level that sleep is a rejuvenating process. After a really good night’s rest, we wake up refreshed with a clear mind. A 2019 Boston University study shared by Scientific American helps explain why this happens.

Researchers found that during non-rapid eye movement sleep (which happens at the beginning of the night) neurons shut down as blood flows out of the head, allowing space for cerebrospinal fluid, aka CSF, to flow in. This liquid pulses through the brain in slow, rhythmic waves, quite literally washing away toxic metabolic waste products.

So yes—while the term “brainwashing” might initially make us think of mind-controlling commercials and zombie apocalypses, it could actually be a gift from Mother Nature.

As explained in Scientific American, this research is the first of its kind to link CSF flow directly with the memory-consolidating function of slow-wave sleep. Laura Lewis, who co-authored the study, hopes that this connection will one day provide insight into neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, which is thought to be caused by a buildup of toxic proteins in the brain.

“We know that people with Alzheimer’s have fewer slow waves, so we may find they also have fewer CSF waves,” Lewis told Scientific American, noting that other psychiatric conditions like depression and schizophrenia, which can have symptoms of sleep disturbance caused by “different electrical signatures,” could also benefit from follow-up studies.

Studying CSF flow and slow brain waves together could also help illuminate the relationship between normal age-related impairments. As people age, their brains often generate fewer slow waves, which could affect the brain’s blood flow and in turn reduce the pulsing of CSF during sleep, leading to a buildup of toxic proteins and a decline in memory abilities. This is why Lewis and the team also hope to do more studies on older adults; previously only healthy adults participated.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway of this study: Never underestimate the power of quality sleep. It’s like our brain’s Marie Kondo, gracefully doing away with whatever doesn’t spark joy. Or maybe in this case, whatever doesn’t spark good health? Either way, it’s a habit that should be taken seriously.

Even though The Fast and the Furious franchise might seem like it is spearheading the “dangerous driving in action movies” trope, John Wick is steadily creeping up behind Vin Diesel and co!

In a new action-packed featurette ahead of John Wick: Chapter 4, Reeves details all of the various weaponry and tools that the assassin uses, and the list is getting pretty long because it now includes some fancy driving sequences. “We have all the John Wick swag: cars, new weapons, Jiu-Jitsu,” Reeves said, adding that they cranked it up a notch with this installment. “With Chapter 4, we took it to another level.”

With a new level comes months of training for Reeves, who has said that the latest flick has been the hardest physical role of his career thus far. “It’s been about 12 weeks of training. It’s new levels of action. You know, nun-chucks. Which was challenging,” Reeves explained, along with footage of him cursing out an innocent pair of nun-chucks. Does Vin Diesel have nun-chucks? Didn’t think so.

The actor continues, “John Wick action asks just a little bit more. And you see the effort and the commitment from the team. For Chapter 4 we wanted to bring the muscle cars back. We’re gonna have a sequence around the Arc De Triomphe,” he added, detailing the elaborate scene they shot outside the French monument.

Stunt coordinator Scott Rogers explained the logistics of the scene, “We tore all the doors off and lost the windshield,” Rogers said, adding that Reeves had to do a reverse 180, while reloading his weapons and shooting. This might sound like Fast and Furious-level action, but Reeves was up for the challenge. “He actually started getting too good in the car,” Rogers added. Hear that, Momoa?! Your time is up!

The latest installment in the series will follow Reeves as he continues his expedition to look cool in every country on the planet, this time taking production to Germany, Japan, France, and the US. As Reeves states in the clip, “Have we gone too far?” To which we say “NO!” The action simply cannot stop until Wick owns his own dog hotel.

John Wick 4 arrives in theaters on March 24, 2023

(Via Collider)