'Looking down their nose at you': GameStop frenzy showed a fresh contempt for hedge funds. Why do Americans hate them? Updated 2:25 pm EST Feb. 11, 2021 In the middle of a pandemic and slow economic recovery, Americans think they’ve identified their Wall Street villain: hedge funds. Their nemesis is summed up in a few searing images: a hedge fund manager who makes millions betting that the subprime mortgage market will collapse, without warning them. Or another relaxing on a yacht as the economy tanks. Years of anger culminated late last month when a group of angry small-time investors on Reddit took on a few of those firms in the GameStop “short squeeze” frenzy. That spurred millions of others to join in, as their effort to drive up the price of a stock perceived as undervalued soon shifted to a campaign to “Stick it to Wall Street." They used the "squeeze" to rally the share price and make profits for themselves while forcing the hedge funds who had bet it would fall to buy it to prevent greater losses. What are these funds, and where does this resentment come from? Hedge funds, known for using higher risk investing strategies, are private investment vehicles that typically wealthy individuals use to get higher returns. They control more than $3 trillion in assets globally. They've angered many Americans by gutting companies such as former American retail icon Sears, causing layoffs and engaging in questionable financial practices that contributed to the near collapse of the U.S. financial system in 2008, experts say. 'This is life changing': Meet the Redditors behind the GameStop saga “Most people see it as guys in suits looking down their nose at you,” says Adam Bixler, 28, an active user on the WallStreetBets Reddit forum, whose members led the charge against the funds. “How I feel is probably how a lot of people feel when thinking about the financial crisis and the massive wealth inequality that exists in this country.” Radio Shack, Toys ‘R’ Us and Payless ShoeSource, along with mall-based retailers such as the Limited, Wet Seal, Claire’s and Aeropostale faced further financial woes after hedge funds and private equity firms loaded them up with debt. A fight is raging in the stock market: Should you worry about your 401(k)? Where to get vaccines: CVS, Walgreens to begin delivering COVID-19 vaccines on Friday “The idea that you can crack open a hedge fund like a piñata and redistribute all this money to people in the form of a short squeeze is very appealing,” says Bixler, who lives in Boonton, New Jersey, and works as a product manager for a company that makes software and tools for the advertising industry. “These are the stimulus checks that everyone wanted.” Proponents of hedge funds say the firms identify and support distressed industries such as retailers and newspapers. These funds are owned by groups of big investors pooling the savings of millions of unionized workers, such as teachers and firefighters, who count on hedge funds to grow and protect their nest eggs. Even so, hedge funds are viewed as vultures by many Americans. Kaysha Apodaca, an emergency room nurse in Dallas, was furious last summer when she lost thousands of dollars after CytoDyn, a biotechnology company she owns, was hammered following a negative report from a “short selling” research firm, about one of CytroDyn's drugs in clinical trials. The post with the research was later pulled. This year, Apodaca thought she missed the opportunity to jump in and buy GameStop or AMC, so she supported the Reddit campaign against hedge funds by investing a few thousand dollars into shares of Nokia, another beaten-down stock discussed on the forum. “I hate hedge funds. Even if this goes to zero, I’m OK with it. I’m not selling, just to prove a point,” Apodaca said. “Hedge funds have unfairly made money off retail investors for years. Now they’re getting a taste of their own medicine.” For Iris Findlay of Orlando, Florida, joining the movement was a way for Americans to show their strength in numbers. “I’m definitely not OK that there are so many billionaires hoarding their wealth while people are struggling, especially during the pandemic,” said Findlay, 31, who is disabled and retired from the Air Force. A large portion of hedge-fund assets are owned by institutional investors, such as pension funds and endowments. Hedge fund research has been critical in exposing an array of accounting fraud scandals in recent decades, including the one involving energy firm Enron. “Hedge funds do play a very important role in the financial ecosystem, but at the same time, they have a PR problem,” says Andrew Lo, a finance professor at MIT Sloan School of Management. They are an easy target, experts say, because some high-profile managers' massive wealth offends Americans who struggle to make ends meet. Michael Burry, founder of Scion Asset Management, is an investor whose billion-dollar bet against the housing market was chronicled in Michael Lewis' book "The Big Short." He personally collected $100 million and made $750 million in profits for his investors. These managers “are seen as multibillionaires that really don’t care about the public good and are focused on enriching themselves and their investors,” Lo says. “But I think that’s a caricature, especially given that hedge funds now have become much more institutionalized as pension funds and endowments are investing in these financial vehicles.” Who do Americans blame? When asked who was the “most in the wrong” in the trading mania that set off one of the biggest short squeezes in history, nearly half of Americans polled said it was either hedge funds (27%) or online brokerage Robinhood (22%), according to a Harris Poll survey conducted Jan 29-31 that was given to USA TODAY exclusively. Just 8% said it was the Reddit retail investors on the WallStreetBets forum, who angered hedge funds that had bet GameStop's stock would remain low. The small-time investors used the forum to help drive up the prices for shares such as GameStop, theater chain AMC Entertainment and several other companies. Many respondents were angry that hedge funds were shorting stocks – betting that the share prices would fall – of companies that average people use and love, according to John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll. “This wasn’t just an attack on a few weak companies,” Gerzema says. “These are companies that are a part of middle-class America and ordinary people’s lives.” How did these funds begin, and how did they grow into such big villains in the minds of so many? What are hedge funds? Hedge funds are financial partnerships between a professional fund manager and investors who pool their money into the fund to earn active returns. Hedge funds can be traced back to the 1940s when Alfred Winslow Jones, an investor, sociologist and former Fortune magazine writer, created a "hedge" by “shorting" stocks he thought were poised to fall. The "hedge" was meant to reduce risk and protect against market fluctuations. It was unconventional at the time but remains the basic strategy for these funds. Hedge fund strategies today are more diverse and run the gamut of extremely risky to fairly conservative. There's another theory about the origin of hedge funds, and this one is connected to a more beloved figure. Some people credit the founding of hedge funds to Benjamin Graham, a mentor to Warren Buffett and the author of "The Intelligent Investor" – the bible of everyone who loves Buffett's method of investing. Buffett, one of the world's richest people and a folksy inspiration to small-time investors, argued that Graham managed a fund with a "hedge"-like strategy in the 1920s. So you made a bundle on GameStop: Get ready to pay the taxes How did hedge funds evolve? Hedge funds have gained in popularity over the past two decades after many of them delivered hefty outsize returns in either up or down markets, an attractive selling point for savvy investors. Some of the world's largest hedge funds include Bridgewater Associates, founded by billionaire Ray Dalio; Renaissance Technologies, founded by billionaire Jim Simons; and Pershing Square, run by Wall Street billionaire Bill Ackman. They have historically charged much higher fees than mutual funds, which are professionally managed funds that invest in stocks, bonds or money market instruments. Since hedge fund managers are nearly always paid a performance fee, or percentage of the gains they create, they have a strong incentive to make money for their investors. For the hedge fund managers to earn performance fees, their investors have to make money first. Hedge funds charge an expense ratio and a performance fee. The common fee structure is known as two and twenty – a 2% asset management fee and a 20% cut of generated gains. How did they become villains? While many Americans lost money during the depths of the financial crisis, some big-time investors did astonishingly well, including those who predicted and profited from the buildup and collapse of the housing and credit bubble in 2007 and 2008. For those Americans who had their livelihoods upended in the financial crisis, it left a bad taste in their mouths, experts say. “They’re associated with ruthless financial institutions that are out there to make money and not care where it’s coming from,” says Itay Goldstein, a professor of finance and economics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. A big winner from that time is billionaire investor John Paulson, a hedge fund manager who netted $20 billion in profits when he bet against subprime mortgages at the peak of the credit bubble in 2007. In general, short sellers keep stock prices in check by voicing their opinion on where they believe a stock is valued, says Dennis Dick, head of markets structure and a proprietary trader at Bright Trading in Las Vegas. “I’m concerned with this public image that ‘evil short sellers are betting against America’ and that it’s ‘un-American to short stocks,’” Dick says. “It’s not like every short seller is making bets against America. They’re making calls on whether a stock is overvalued or not.” GameStop: Reddit ran a 5-second Super Bowl ad in honor of WallStreetBets, GameStop stock volatility The hedge fund industry has faced a rough stretch in recent years and underperformed the broader stock market but produced its best return in a decade at 11.6% in 2020, according to data provider Hedge Fund Research. Some received a boost from shares of technology firms and companies that focused on goods that people used when stuck at home during the pandemic. Americans who don’t invest directly in hedge funds still receive a benefit from the returns that hedge funds generate, according to Daniel Smith, a partner at ACA Compliance Group, an advisory firm for financial services. Of the $4.5 trillion in state and local pension plans, about 6.9% is allocated to hedge funds, according to data published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. ”Hedge funds help secure the retirement of more than 26 million teachers, firefighters and other public employees by helping pensions navigate all market conditions and meet long-term financial obligations,” says Bryan Corbett, president and CEO at Managed Funds Association, a hedge fund lobby group. GameStop and questions of power The rollercoaster involving GameStop, Reddit and Robinhood has prompted Capitol Hill’s harshest criticisms of Wall Street in years. Several prominent lawmakers on Capitol Hill have warned of such moments, cautioning that companies and hedge funds have too much power. One of these lawmakers, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is well known for her disapproval of Wall Street, called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to address the dramatic swings surrounding these companies. Warren wrote in a letter that it is “long beyond time for the SEC to act” and asked it to investigate the rallies in GameStop, AMC Entertainment and others that “have seen huge shifts in their share price driven by similar internet reading schemes.” "These wild fluctuations are just the latest indication that many private equity firms, hedge funds, and other investors, big and small, are treating the stock market like a casino, giving little consideration to the companies, communities, workers, and consumers that may be affected by these risky bets," she wrote. The House Financial Services Committee will hold a virtual hearing Feb. 18 regarding “recent market volatility” involving GameStop and the other companies. According to Politico, the CEO of Robinhood, Vlad Tenev, is likely to testify. GameStop-Robinhood stock revolution: Not a secure retirement plan Does the movement have legs? Questions have been raised as to whether the populist movement threatening to disrupt the financial system will be sustained. It’s too early to tell, experts say. “It has the potential to gather momentum. It depends on whether we see other related episodes in the next few weeks that show the same kind of patterns in the financial markets," Goldstein says. "We live in a period of so many unusual things going on that it will probably take the edge off this event." Hedge funds such as Melvin Capital Management took the brunt of losses from soaring stock prices of GameStop and other heavily shorted stocks. Others made a ton of money on the rally, including Senvest Management, which had a profit of nearly $700 million, The Wall Street Journal reported. “Is it sticking it to Wall Street? Only temporarily, but in the long term probably not,” Goldstein says. “At the end of the day, the sophisticated financial institutions will find ways to recuperate and make money out of this.” Lo of MIT agrees. “This incident highlights the growing dissatisfaction, distrust and dislocation that many people feel with respect to the financial sector,” Lo says. “It suggests that people are sick and tired of being disenfranchised and being pushed around by large financial institutions.” Contributing: Savannah Behrmann

SEATTLE

It goes without saying, but one franchise should definitely end up in Seattle, as the Supersonics of course. It's been quite a letdown for the city that PBC moved the team to OKC after their acquisition of the team. The city is now updating the Climate Pledge Arena, formally known as the KeyArena, (one of the reasons for the team's relocation) with the arrival of the NHL team, the Seattle Kraken. The Sonic fans have been clear and vocal since the move that they could still support an NBA franchise without a doubt.  

KANSAS CITY

The state of Missouri surprisingly does not house an NBA franchise and hasn't since the departure of the Kansas City Kings in 1985. The city seems to support their professional sports franchises and has an arena downtown that could be suitable for the potential NBA team (with some renovating I'd presume - it seems nice but I am not familiar enough with the facility). It seems the market is significant enough to support an NBA franchise so it should be an option.  

CINCINNATI

The city has an MLB and NFL franchise, so it is not inconceivable that they could support an NBA franchise (being that they did up until 1972 with the Cincinnati Royals, before they moved to Kansas City). I'm not sure who the NBA fans in Cincinnati support, but I'm guessing the Cavs aren't popular enough to have strong support across the entire state of Ohio. Kentucky, just south of the city across the Ohio River, has a significant passion for basketball, so that could fortify the market/support for the potential team. A lot has changed since the early seventies but it is still a question whether or not they could fund a new arena in the city or they can just renovate the arena downtown (Heritage Bank Center).  

LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas is clearly a viable option for an additional professional franchise after the city has proven it can support the Golden Knights and, seemingly, the Raiders (who already have a broad fanbase). They have a viable arena to play in and can gain support with tie-ins with the casinos to help occupy the arena with visitors as they develop a local fan base. The NBA already has a presence there with summer league as well so I can see it happening.  

TAMPA BAY

I guess we will get a general idea of how much the city can support an NBA team with the Raptors playing in the city for the upcoming season (obviously without attendance given the circumstances). The Rays have their issues with attendance and the Bucs are perennial losers sans a few years in the late nineties-early 2000s (I've actually been a big Bucs fan since 1997, as I grew up in Los Angeles with out an NFL team at the time), so it is up for debate if they can support an NBA team, especially with Orlando being so close by. It is a significant market and the Lightning seems to garner a lot of support and have a nice arena downtown they could share with the potential NBA franchise (something they'll be doing this year), so it seems feasible.  

SAN DIEGO

This poor city, a city I love and plan on moving to one day, has lost two professional franchises to Los Angeles (and the Rockets to Houston). Both the Chargers and Clippers should still be in SD in my opinion, given their putrid reception in Los Angeles and the significance of the city of San Diego. The Clippers are still not accepted in Los Angeles after all these years and are only there because dumbass Donald Sterling forced the relocation in the 80s. The city has struggled to fund stadiums in the past but it would be great to see an arena downtown, a la Petco Park. Worst case, they renovate the Pechanga Arena (formerly known as the San Diego Sports Arena) but realistically I'm not sure the city wants an NBA franchise, I have no clue.  

VANCOUVER

No reason to think they couldn't support an NBA franchise again. Basketball has grown tremendously in Canada since the days of the Vancouver Grizzlies and the country has produced several high-level players in recent years. The Raptors are the lone team north of the border, so no reason to think a second team isn't viable. Vancouver has Rogers Arena ready to go so there wouldn't be an issue with an arena for the potential team.  

PITTSBURGH

Look, Pittsburgh could barely support the Pipers back in the ABA days (albeit a long time ago), so I'm not sure how popular basketball is in the city. It is not a huge market but the city shows strong support for the Steelers and Penguins (and I'm sure the Pirates to some extent even with their decades-long struggles). I think Pittsburgh is a beautiful, underrated city, with PNC Park being my favorite MLB ballpark. The potential team could share the arena with the Penguins so there wouldn't be an issue having to fund a new arena. Also, I know the city loves the black/yellow color scheme for their franchises so that is one less thing to worry about.  

ST. LOUIS

As mentioned above with Kansas City, it is surprising the entire state of Missouri doesn't have at least one NBA team. St. Louis had the Hawks for 13 years, before they moved to Atlanta, and housed the fabled Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA, so no reason to think the city couldn't support an NBA franchise again. I highly doubt both cities mentioned would get both expansion franchises, so I'm not sure which city is the more viable option. The team could share the Enterprise Center with their NHL team, the Blues, so there wouldn't be an issue funding an arena.  

BALTIMORE

I know it is very close to DC, but if DC and Baltimore can both support an NFL and MLB team, why can't Baltimore support an NBA franchise again, being they had an NBA franchise (that moved to DC, coincidently) in the past. I know the city has had its struggles for some time, but it seems like a possible landing spot to consider. I am not familiar with the condition of the Royal Farms Arena, but the team would ostensibly have a suitable arena to play in.  
 

Over the years I have thoroughly enjoyed throwing together playlists for different occasions (making coffee, working out, weddings, seasons, etc.) and thought I'd share! Please let me know your thoughts, favourite mixes, as well as recommendations for future playlists. All feedback is welcome! Hope you enjoy them:
That Weekend Feeling
Skip to the good bit; weekend grooves to wave away any weekday blues.
Awesome Mix: Ultimate Edition (Mixtape)
A great hero, named Kevin Bacon, once taught an entire city full of people with sticks up their butts that, dancing, well, is the greatest thing there is. The legend of Footloose comes alive with Awesome Mix: Ultimate Edition - Songs from and inspired by the Guardians of the Galaxy series.
Morning Motivation: Steal Some Sunshine
Soak up the sun with energetic jams and breezy classics!
I'd Drink To That: Party Playlist
Mix it up with a party playlist to keep the night buzzing.
I'd Sing To That: Carpool Karaoke
Pack up and take those pipes on a roadtrip! The catchy. The memorable.
Just Jams 🎧
Nothing but jams to fill a pair of headphones or stadium.
Brendan's Listen Local
Funky & Thumpy! Some of my favourite energetic jams, classics, and BBQ party starters from our local Australian & New Zealand artists.
Friday Fire
It's Friday! Friends. Family. Fun.
Groovin' The Brew
Nothing but rockin' party grooves on tap.
Diverse Pop Sounds
It's pop, but not as you know it.
Break Thru
Ear Candy.
Sunday Sesh
Beers & bangers on a weekend!
Run To Paradise
Set up goals, and knock them down with an energetic running playlist.
Summer Daze
The heat is on with a playlist of crisp summer tunes.
Autumn Mix: Volume 1
A breezy & brilliant playlist for the ever-changing Autumn seasons.
Chilled Pop
Soft, chilled winter pop songs.
Warm Tunes
Warm songs of Spring, like a comforting embrace.
A Mid-Summer Night's Drink 🍻
Lord, what fun these mortals be!
Wind Down 🌚
When the night winds down, so does some great music.
90's Baby! 📼
It is the sound of the roller disco, BMX bike track and arcade!
The Hip Hip Hop
Only the hippest of the hip. My modern and classic hip hop favourites.
Indie Bops: It's ALT Good
Get your alternative bounce on.
Not Your Final Form: A Workout Playlist
All the other licks with the pumped up kicks to keep you going during a workout. My favourites and a few other choice tunes for pushing harder, faster, stronger.
Easy On The Ears
Easy, Easy, Easybeats.
Life Is Good ☀️
Today is gonna be a good day.
Dial M For Music
Deep, cathartic music.
JOY
Smile.
Vibe Hard
Get into the zone, and vibe-out to infectious tunes!
Rock & Roll Never Dies
Who says rock & roll is dead? Commercial radio? It's always been around; you've just got to roll with it and look harder. Get your kicks!
Brainfood
Introspective acoustic, calming strings, uplifting anthems, and a touch of nature. Food for the brain, and perfect background noise for studies.
Game Night 🎲
For every occasion... casino, tabletop, videogames; a soundtrack to a brilliant game night!
Sizzlers: BBQ Playlist 🍔
Fire up the burner and the anthems with a barbeque playlist hotter than the bright ball in the sky.
Kickstart My Heart: Classic Rock Radio
Rocking all over the world.
Rush Hour
Grinding Gears.
Riff Raff: Party Rock
Some rowdy rock to turn up the night.
RE : FRESH 🍹
SUPERDOPE. Piña colada's and Caribbean Rum.
The Driver
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel.
Country Road
Might as well cruise. Might as well banjo.
Born to be Wild
Life's an adventure; you can't be tamed.
Night Moves: Dancing In The Moonlight
Unwind with the moonbeams. Night drives & night lives.
Funk Right Off
Get Funk'd.
Rambling Roses 💐
Beauty and Love are as body and soul. Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond.
Sweat. Reset.
Whatever it takes. 'Cause you love the adrenaline in your veins.
Power Pop: Marathon
Power pop to push and electrify a workout.
Cool Beans: Coffee Playlist
Recharge with some warm tunes.
Kitchen Crooners 🎀
Now we're cooking!
Now We're Cooking!
Tasty tunes for the Kitchen.
Pool Party
Dive in to great poolside swing.
Inspiration 💡 Takes Flight
Reach for the Sky!
Going Places
Always push forward.
First 💍
Songs for special days.
DisNeat - Taking The Mickey
Nothing but Disney favourites.
Road Trip: Spinning Wheels
Hear the call for adventure and hit the road.
Guilty Pleasures 🍨
You like the Grease soundtrack? Word.
Catchy AF POP
Pop that bops. Essentials and the catchiest of the catchy.
Acoustica
Stripped Back.
Playlist + Chill
Cool off with some chilled beats and sweet acoustic.
Making Waves
Unwind with breathy, breezy songs perfect for a walk on the beach.
The Playlist Of The Decade (New Years Eve)
We welcomed 2020 with the ultimate party playlist jam-packed with familiar throwbacks and modern favourites from the 2010's! Good times!
Rhythm Heaven
Step up and dance.
Sax on the Beach 🎷
Gratuitous? Nah! An instrument to elevate a song from good to great!
BedroX 🔥
Sparks.
Pump It Up: The Playlist of Champions 🏆
Winner winner, chicken dinner.
Retro Rewind
Twist & shout to killer Jukebox Classics.
Classic Se7ens
Nothing but 70's favourites.
Great Eight's
Nothing but 80's Favourites.
Noughty & Nice
Nothing but great 00's Throwbacks.
The Best Playlist Never Heard
It's unheard of!
Best Songs You Might Have Missed
Potentially slipped under the radar.
Songs for Soundtracks 🎬
Royale with cheese.
The Grand European Playlist
About to take off!
EPIC 🗡
Fortune & Glory!
SUPERHOT VR : ROCK
The champ is coming.
SUPERHOT VR : HIP-HOP
Kings never die.
SUPERHOT VR : ACTION
John Wick Schtick.
Cowboy Bebop : Spike Spiegel
Spike Spiegel is an ex-Syndicate goon and a bounty hunter aboard the Bebop. He is proficient in martial arts, zipcraft flying, and gunfights, but he also has comical and aloof sides of his personality. If there's three things he can't stand, it's kids, pets, and women with attitudes.
Cowboy Bebop : Faye Valentine
Faye Valentine is a coma survivor of over 50 years and she is trying to regain her memory. She got into a lot of debt upon entering this futuristic world, and she had to resort to a life of crime and hustling to survive... that is, until she decided to live on the Bebop and become a bounty hunter.
Cowboy Bebop : Jet Black
Jet Black is an ex-ISSP Special Forces Officer and the Captain of the Bebop. He is a bounty hunter and is called the "Black Dog" because once he sinks his teeth in he never lets go. Jet enjoys American Jazz music, taking care of Bonsai trees, and has a knack for investigative work.
Cowboy Bebop : Radical Edward
Edward is a net diver from Earth. Edward is a child prodigy for hacking and has an aptitude for anything mechanical, even though Edward has some eccentricities in other parts of her personality. For instance, Edward speaks in third person and sometimes behaves like a wild animal.
At The Movies 🎟
Lights, camera, playlist.
James Bond Classics 🍸
A martini, shaken, not stirred.
The Word Is Bond 🍸
The world is not enough; but this playlist comes pretty close.
Live Love LIVE
Blistering live performances.
Future Nostalgia
Neo-swing, retro swagger; it's future nostalgia.
B-Side Yourself
Hidden Gems, Deep Cuts & Rarities.
Punk'd
You're Gonna Go Far, Kid.
Building Houses: Hit By Hit
Baby let's play house.
Far ALT
A playlist rocking that weird shit.
Stay Home: The Safety Dance
Stay safe out there.
Day Tripper
A playlist for a long drive - a day trip.
In Tents
Music For Camping.
Roots
Bluesy classics to strut to.
All That Jazz
Get jazzy on it.
Focus Features
Take a breather.
Australiana
Paradise.
Drive Time
Coast to coast. Songs for a spin.
Stone Cold Classicals
It's classically classic.
Hall of Fame 💎
Songs for the career climbers and L.A. dreamers. Glitz & glam; all that jazz.
This is Halloween
Everybody Scream!
It's Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas!
Christmas Classics.
Just For Laughs 🎭
What a Joker!
Two Nights In Tao🎙
Karaoke? There's a first time for everything.
GAME
Take control.
Game On : Borderlands Psycho-delic
CHOO CHOO THE PAIN TRAIN'S COMIN'
Red Dead Redemption II
Songs For Bloody Duels, Whiskey-Fueled Gambles, and Rolling Desert Plains.
Energy Shot
Keep animated with an energetic dose of catchy music!
Party Fillers
A background mix for any event.
The Essential AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal, the band themselves call it simply "rock and roll"
The Essential One Republic
OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, guitarist Zach Filkins, guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellist Brent Kutzle, drummer Eddie Fisher and keyboardist Brian Willett.
The Essential Shinedown
Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed by singer Brent Smith in 2001. Shinedown has sold more than ten million records worldwide, and has had the most number one singles on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts out of any band, with 16.
The Essential Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa is an English singer and songwriter. After working as a model, she signed with Warner Music Group in 2015 and released her self-titled debut album in 2017. The success of the singles helped her self-titled album become one of the most-streamed albums on Spotify.
The Essential Preatures
The Preatures are an Australian band from Sydney. The band was formed in 2010 and features Isabella 'Izzi' Manfredi on vocals/keyboards, Jack Moffitt (guitar), Thomas Champion (bass) and Luke Davison (drums). The band won the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition with their song Is This How You Feel.
The Essential Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine, drummer Matt Flynn, keyboardist PJ Morton and multi-instrumentalist Sam Farrar.
The Essential INXS
INXS were an Australian rock band, formed in 1977 in Sydney. INXS was fronted by Hutchence, whose magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their new wave/pop style, the band later developed a harder pub rock style that included funk and dance elements.
The Essential Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The group, whose best-known line-up comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, are regarded as the most influential band of all time. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time.
The Essential Volbeat
Volbeat are a Danish rock band formed in Copenhagen in 2001. They play a fusion of rock and roll, heavy metal and rockabilly. Their current line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen, guitarist Rob Caggiano, drummer Jon Larsen and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen.
The Essential Chromeo
Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from blue-eyed soul, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk. As of 2018, the band has released five studio albums.
The Essential Queen
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals) and John Deacon (bass). With estimated record sales ranging from 170 million to 300 million, they are one of the biggest.
The Essential Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century.
The Essential Brian Setzer
Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the early 1990s with his swing revival band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra.
The Essential Florida Georgia Line
Florida Georgia Line are an American country music duo consisting of vocalists Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley. Their 2012 debut single "Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over seven million times, making it the first country song ever to receive the Diamond certification.
The Essential KISS
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley. Well known for its members' face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1970s with its elaborate live performances.
The Essential Sheppard
Sheppard is an Australian indie pop band from Brisbane, formed in 2009. At the 2014 ARIA's ceremony, they were nominated for Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Independent Release, Best Pop Release, Song of the Year, Producer of the Year, and Best Video.
The Essential Matchbox 20
Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), and Kyle Cook (lead guitar, vocals).
The Essential Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band that were formed in London in 1996 consisting of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion. Coldplay have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling.
The Essential Daughtry
Daughtry is an American rock band formed and fronted by namesake Chris Daughtry, who was a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol. Their self-titled debut album was released in November 2006 and reached number one on the Billboard 200. To date, Daughtry has sold over 9 million albums.
The Essential Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group, consisting of rappers will.i.am*, apl.de.ap, Taboo, J. Rey Soul and singer Fergie. Originally an alternative hip hop group, they subsequently refashioned themselves as a more marketable pop-rap act and have become best-selling artists.*

By now I think you've heard the big news about the Lion: They are looking into getting sold. After a solid decade of Hollywood perks, Anchorage Capital manager Kevin Ulrich is looking to off-load MGM in the midst of a pandemic after a series of tumultuous valuation drops.
Among the potential acquirers were Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Comcast. Among those, three are tech companies and one is a more traditional Hollywood media company.
There are some major hurdles to a potential deal, however. Danjaq, the IP holding company that owns Eon Productions and is run by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, owns merchandising rights and shares greenlight authority for all Bond movies. Distribution rights for movies like Creed and Casino Royale are divvied up between different companies. Reality TV assets, which were brought in to bolster their holdings, include Big Fish Entertainment, which among other things produces the now-cancelled Live PD. Debt hides in the balance books; any purchase would include about $2b, making the purchase that much harder to stomach.
For fun though, let's take a look at each of these four buyers to see how it could play into their strategies.
Apple: The much ballyhooed content lack for Apple might've motivated a deal back in the day, especially in 2019; indeed, the article notes that a deal with Apple that would've valued MGM at $6b was almost reached in 2018.

In 2018, Mr. Ulrich, by then the board chairman, and others on the board fired Mr. Barber for having early, unsanctioned conversations with Apple to sell the studio for more than $6 billion. The preliminary talks fell apart when he was ousted. Minority shareholders protested, with Owl Creek founder Jeffrey Altman sending a letter to the board saying Owl Creek and other shareholders wanted a deal.

From an accounting perspective, there are some serious perks to buy MGM. Say you spend 8b to get The Lion plus debt; assuming 4,000 movies and 50 100+ hour TV shows, that means you got 13,000 hours for about $600k per hour, pretty cheap all things considered and a fraction of what it would have cost to get the equivalent amount of content at Apple TV+ production prices (seriously where does that money go I don't see it on screen). Plus you get a full-fledged studio with Emmy credentials on the TV side and blockbuster franchises on the feature side; Fargo and Handmaid's Tale alongside Rocky and Bond.
Now here's the question: will Apple actually buy MGM? Their biggest M&A to date was the acquisition of Beats for $4b, and that came with technology that they could use for Apple Music.
This $6b offer came in 2018, before Apple had an in-house studio and any library to speak of. So far, they've been weathering the pandemic surprisingly well; they've managed to keep a steady drip of content between stuff like Ted Lasso and Tehran, while also building up their own in-house production arm (presumably at significant expense).
What this gets Apple now is a still not-insignificant franchise portfolio as well as a library of 4,000-ish movies plus TV shows. That's nothing to sneeze at, but it's still a far cry from the benefits that would've come from acquiring MGM earlier. If your only goal is library, then you don't spend $6b on it. Indeed, I don't think Apple will. Whether Ulrich will be willing to accept a deal for, say, $4b is an open question. My bet would be no.
Amazon: Same deal for Apple, though slightly less urgency because they already have a homegrown studio.
Facebook: Now this is interesting. Facebook exited the scripted content business pretty recently but there is a cognizance that content keeps users coming back to platforms and they need that content. Buying MGM would get them a fairly significant unscripted division with producing roles or control over valuable formats; among other things, they would own Botched! and have producing roles in several Real Housewives franchises, Survivor, and Shark Tank. That having been said, I see any deal that involves the House of Zuck to involve a private equity company like Vine Investments or something that will take command of the library and other such assets - that way, Facebook isn't overpaying for one component.
Comcast: And the more traditional content company. There are interesting synergies that come with ownership by Comcast, but also big stumbling blocks. Their justification for buying Dreamworks was turning a low-margin business like movies into high-margin businesses like consumer products and theme parks. Similar thinking wouldn't be applicable to MGM, at least with regards to Bond; as mentioned before, Danjaq controls Bond's merchandising rights, and Comcast is pulling back investment in Theme Parks hard in the wake of the pandemic (many, many people got fired recently, unfortunately).
Still, control of Bond is important when Comcast is the owner of Sky, a European media company. That alone may end up making a lower-valued deal for MGM "worth it" for the cabler. A sale of MGM might also spur Danjaq to sell the rest of their rights to the property, though I wouldn't hold my breath. An Mi-6 land in Comcast's planned "Epic Universe" Theme Park in Orlando could make a great replacement for the now problematic Fantastic Beasts/Ministry of Magic land that was planned before.
Additionally, weetening the deal for Comcast are a myriad other smaller-scale IPs and franchises that could help beef up their portfolio and generate lucrative TV or movie revivals; among them are Stargate: Atlantis, Teen Wolf, Rocky, Robocop, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Addams Family, Jump Street, Pink Panther, Legally Blonde, Carrie, Bill & Ted, and Poltergeist. Rights to adapt the musicals to film would also be taken; Dirty Rotten Scoundrel and Legally Blonde: The Musical are tantalizing possibilities.
Tolkien properties like The Hobbit are presumably still tied up in rights tangles with New Line and the Saul Zaentz company, as well as Tolkien's estate. So far as I can tell, Zaentz owns merchandise, New Line has license for the film rights - but not necessarily/fully TV? - and the Tolkien estate own Theme Parks. Look, if MGM had sole rights, it'd be a Disney subsidiary by now.
In terms of TV: Epix, I assume, would be on the chopping block. Steve Stark's MGM/UA Television appears built to be a prestige-outlet (Fargo, Perpetual Grace LTD, Vikings, Handmaid's Tale, though they're programming more sci-fi and general interest stuff like Clarice and Condor) and can thus complement the more genre/thriller-y UCP. By the same token, Orion TV would get retired. The dedicated formats division could be a component of Universal Alternative; Evolution Media, producer of Botched, can be kept as a separate division. Other assets, like Christian Film and TV producer Lightworkers, Live PD producer Big Fish, Mexican Media joint-venture Gato Grande, and Linear Channel Impact, can be sold.
MGM Films could go either way, De Luca has a relaxed relationship with Donna Langley so I could see her protecting him for a while. The best case scenario for him IMO is a FOX 2000 type situation where the team is dedicated to producing a small slate of good, lower-mid budget movies that are intended for Oscar season. Trouble is, Fox 2000 had like, 16 employees including assistants, and MGM is a full-on studio, so the overhead's gonna be a lot higher. Distribution and Marketing would also presumably gonna get pink-slipped, unfortunately; unlike Disney, Universal has ample infrastructure for distributing those sorts of movies. Not helping him would be if any of MGM's movies bomb. Overall, I think MGM has a strong enough brand to where it'll survive as Universal's New Line Cinema, a smaller-scale division with occasionally unclear branding (ironically, De Luca was NLC's President of Production). I am, however, left wondering if execs like Pam Abdy would tolerate being in charge of a glorified boutique when they signed on to be part of a studio.
Orion Pictures is in an awkward place in the case of a Uni merger. Their historical brand is as a genre outfit and said brand was revived in recent years with releases like the 2019 Child's Play and The Prodigy. However, they've recently pivoted to making it an outlet for underrepresented voices... but haven't had the chance to actually make that pivot public with some theatrical releases (or even projects). That leaves Langley and co with a choice regarding what to do Orion: keep it as a genre label, keep it as a minority-focused label, or retire it completely.
Now the plus side is that the overhead is likely to be small; the downside is that unlike say, Sony, Uni has little patience for prodigious numbers of labels (hence how short-lived experiments like reviving Gramercy as a label were, and stuff like selling off Rogue Pictures), so that bodes ill for the continued survival of Orion. Uni also already programs tons of minority-focused movies in general, so it's unclear if the brand would stand out in the broader company. On the flipside of that, Universal's large number of minority-focused Overalls (Will Packer, Jordan Peele, Malcolm Lee, Eva Longoria, SpringHill, Justin Lin) could help feed Orion's pipeline; I would imagine people like Michael B. Jordan, Taika Waititi and The Rock being wooed over to a producer deal with Universal by the presence of a dedicated minority-voice division designed to put out passion projects related to their heritage. The real test of whether or not Uni would want to nurture Orion as that kind of brand would be if they put out the next Jordan Peele movie through them.
Overall, it might be worth it to keep Orion around and see where it goes. If it doesn't work out, they can always just promote Alana Mayo as an EVP in Universal proper and retire the label completely. If Universal really wanted a genre label that badly, I would suggest taking a minority-stake in Blumhouse first.

GODDAMIT. BEEN SITTING ON THIS FOR A MONTH, AND NOW IT'S ALL BEEN BLOWN TO SHIT.

Maybe it stays the same since Morey was likely 'inspired' to step down so that Tilman could get the China money back and will continue assisting the new regime from the shadows, but as I have no clue at all what the future is going to bring and don't want to re-write this piece for the planned 'GM write-up' series that was supposed to be starting after the Finals, I'm just gonna drop it here and let anyone else who wants to take over do it.
FUCK TILMAN FERTITTA.
I'm out.

State of the team

After a disappointing bubble performance that did not end in a Championship, many people are questioning if the Rockets window has officially closed. In all likelihood, it has; but it is not yet locked, so with the right moves it can be opened enough to squeeze out another deep run or two that can finally break through if the team finds a brick of luck for once.
What those right moves are and how to accomplish them are the challenge posed to Daryl Morey and his crew. There are a number of constraints that will make this difficult, including a lack of draft assets and moveable contracts that are not integral to the team's success, but the most challenging proposition will again be owner Tilman Fertitta's finances.
While some critics may believe that the Rockets small ball experiment was a failure, management will likely point to the fact that 'defense' was not nearly as much of a problem in the playoffs as 'offense' and that Russell Westbrook's obvious impairment from a quad injury was the primary factor in underachieving desired expectations. The general belief in the front office is that the formula is not broken so much as unlucky. Another couple of chances will hopefully bring the health necessary for a breakthrough.
Daryl Morey's top-stated priority entering the off-season was re-signing coach Mike D'Antoni. Well, D'Antoni ended any talk of that by opting to take his services elsewhere before the team plane had even departed Orlando. This leaves the team in search of a new head coach before any other moves can really be considered, since whoever gets the position will likely hope to have a bit of say in any of the roster decisions that need to be made.
The team is casting a wide net in their search having interviewed candidates like frontrunners Tyronn Lue and Jeff Van Gundy, as well as Kenny Atkinson, Wes Unseld Jr., and Stephen Silas. The new coach will need to garner the instant respect of a veteran-laden team (possibly possessing enough cachet to actually inspire a different style of play?), and may need to fulfill Fertitta's desire to make headlines, favoring a big-name hire. It must be included that there is even a slim chance that D'Antoni returns to the role now that Doc Rivers has swooped his pre-supposed landing spot in Philly, but I expect the final candidates may come from the following list of assistant coaches and thus (completely coincidentally) cheaper names in case a need arises to go in another direction:
Sam Cassell - The former Rockets legend is currently serving as an assistant coach for Doc Rivers. Frequently cited as one of the top assistants ready to take the next step. As a former All-Star point guard, he may be able to command the respect of Westbrook and Harden enough to offset his lack of head coaching experience. His big balls could "Make Houston Clutch Again".
John Lucas - The Rockets Assistant Coach is very familiar with the system and the current players. He provides continuity and a cheap, short-term contract that would allow for an easy 'out' if things do not work in the next year or two (which is the optimistic extent of the title hopes for this current iteration of the Rockets)
Chris Finch - An ex-RGV Vipers Head Coach now working as an assistant in New Orleans. He is a savant on offense, on very good terms with Morey and his philosophy, and due for his 'chance' in the bigs. Given the success of Nick Nurse, another coach who won a G-League Championship for the RGV Vipers, I feel as if Chris Finch should end up getting the call (although he appears to have dropped off the radar).
The new head coach will have a challenging job of needing to instantly compete with a roster of vets who are notorious for not being as flexible in their approach to the game as might be desired. This team is not only 'set' in its ways mentally to the point where an attempt to change the team philosophy could easily backfire and result in another lost season, it is also relatively 'set' in its ability to make personnel changes. So expect the new coach to provide more of an 'extension' of the current Moreyball philosophy than a completely different style.

2021 Houston Rockets Roster and Salary

PLAYER NAME	SALARY CAP HIT	DETAILS (contract values rise)
Russell Westbrook	41,358,814	2 more yrs + player option
James Harden	41,254,920	2 more years + player option
Eric Gordon	16,869,276	4 more years
Robert Covington	12,138,345	2 more years
PJ Tucker	7,969,537	expiring
Danuel House	3,717,000	2 more years
Ben McLemore	2,283,034	expiring
Chris Clemons	1,517,981	2 more years of team options
David Nwaba	1,862,250	team option
TOTAL	128,971,157

Things look relatively straight-forward for the Rockets. All of their main rotation guys are already signed and set to return with the exception of Jeff Green and Austin Rivers. The Rockets are prime candidates to start the season off by basically "running it back".
Considering Green has enjoyed great success in Houston's system and seems to have established good chemistry within his role in the system, he will absolutely be considered an important piece to re-sign. He has played on minimum-level contracts for the past few years, so unless another contender surprisingly decides to use part of their MLE on him, he should be able to return on a 1+1 veteran minimum contract.
Austin Rivers has a player option for $2,369,663. It is considered highly unlikely that he will opt-in to this (although he will be welcomed back with open arms if he does). If he leaves, the team will likely look to find a replacement ball-handleperimeter defender.
The hopeful addition of Jeff Green to the list of signed players takes the team to a total of 10 contracts, meaning Morey will look to add 5 more players into the fold.
Positional needs:
The Rockets took one big step closer to the idea of 'position-less' basketball by banishing their traditional centers last season. The big question is, will they continue this philosophy into 2021?
The answer to this may partially depend upon who the next coach is. As previously stated, the advanced age of this particular roster resulting in an extremely small window for success, combined with the players' familiarity with the current roles and system and the reduced off-season leads me to believe that the small ball experiment will continue into the 2021 season. Not only was it proven effective offensively at unlocking the best version of Russell Westbrook since his 2017 MVP campaign, the hybrid switching system the team utilized in the first half of the season to account for Clint Capela's reduced ability to guard perimeter players was not as successful as the switch-everything system the team implemented in the playoffs; so unless the team can get a larger center who can effectively switch 1-5, it is unlikely that 'Center' is going to be seen as a top priority.
Look for the team to try to focus their search on finding long, stretchy, big forwards, as they did with the late-season signings of Jeff Green, DeMarre Carroll, and David Nwaba. They will also try to fill the position of 'tertiary ball handler' should Rivers choose to go elsewhere.
Although Austin may sign another 1+1 minimum deal with the team, it is more likely that he will look for a bigger role (and payday) on another team. There is a small chance he could be used in a sign and trade (Houston has his Early Bird Rights allowing him to sign a contract up to around $8M), so he may serve as salary filler in building a larger sign & trade, but note that such a move will surely push Houston well into the luxury tax, bringing us to...
Luxury Tax Issues:
The expected threshold will probably fall around $132-133M. Houston is brushing up against that with only 9 players under contract currently.
Bear in mind that ownership has suffered catastrophic economic distress this year due to Fertitta's business interests in casinos and restaurants (not to mention that he was never interested in paying tax even in better times with a stronger team). Unlike this season, next year should see a large cash pay-out to non-tax teams as many contenders who were below the tax last year due to their participation in Free Agency will be utilizing exceptions that push them into the luxury tax (Golden State in particular has been making overtures at filling its TPE, which would result in one of the largest tax bills on record). Despite his questionable claims that he is financially solvent and ready to pay tax to field a contender, Tilman Fertitta will be happy to be an owner that avoids paying tax again and instead receives a check from the league. Daryl Morey will have his work cut out for him to achieve that, but after accomplishing it in 2019 and 2020 with masterful tax-reducing moves at the trade deadline, there is little doubt he can (and likely will) do it again in 2021. 2 years ago, he reduced Ryan Anderson's $20M contract through a series of moves to Iman Shumpert's $12M and last year he reduced Capela's $17M hit to Covington's $11M bill. Eric Gordon's $17M is the obvious candidate for reduction this year, and there are a variety of ways in which it could be done.

Potential roster moves

Draft
Per usual, Houston does not have any draft picks. They do have almost $5M in cash remaining with which they could purchase a draft pick (potentially even 2 late ones); but most likely Morey will work the pool of undrafted talent to try to find a couple new 2-way contract candidates.
Free Agency:
There are unlikely to be any major moves in the off-season aside from signing 6 players to veteran minimum contracts. Jeff Green and Gerald Green are likely signings. Michael Frazier may have earned a promotion to the main squad, but will more likely continue to stay in the G-League on a 2-way contract. Tyson Chandler and Austin Rivers are candidates who are less likely to be re-signed, but may end up filling the same roles they did this year. Otherwise, expect Morey to take fliers on guys who have high upside in the system that are cut by other teams or don't get the larger contracts they are hoping to find and willing to take short term deals in Houston in an effort to rebuild their value.
Although technically below the tax, using the Full MLE would hard-cap the Rockets at a level providing almost no flexibility for in-season maneuvers, something Morey despises, so the taxpayer mini-MLE is the only practical option available this off-season. However, if avoiding the luxury tax is a priority (Narrator: "It is."), then using the MLE at all is not going to be feasible. Houston has avoided using the MLE for the past 2 seasons (with the exception of utilizing small portions of it to lock up undrafted players on cheap 3-year deals), and is likely to follow in that path this year.
Morey traditionally does his best work at the trade deadline, and will likely look to that time frame again in the 2021 season.
There is one (unlikely) way that the Rockets could utilize their full MLE - by sending a current player to another team for less salary in return, leading us to...
Trades:
The Rockets do not have a lot of positive-value contracts they can part with that are not a critical part of their core.
Danuel House is on a good contract, and the team may be looking to move him if they believe his bubble antics were problematic for future chemistry. He could likely be moved with no problem. This would also be an easy way to cut a couple million dollars in salary, if necessary.
PJ Tucker and Robert Covington are also on good deals, but are crucial to the Rockets scheme. It is extremely unlikely they will be dealt. James Harden and Russell Westbrook are also unlikely to go anywhere in the off-season. If disaster strikes or a deal that can't be refused arises, then there is a small chance one or more of these 4 could be moved at the deadline.
As stated before, Eric Gordon is the most likely candidate to be traded. While his improved bubble play may have gotten his contract closer to 'neutral' value, it is likely that a pick would need to be attached to it in order to bring back a player of value, particularly from a rebuilding team, which is also the traditional place where he could be sent into cap space to avoid bringing back 80% in matching salary. However due to his age and injury history, he is probably only of interest to a team that fancies itself as 'contending' for something. There is a small chance that he could be sent to Golden State, as his contract fits within their Traded Player Exception and he fills a position of need, but it is unlikely that Houston is anxious to improve a conference rival (however, the idea that he could possibly bring back draft capital and increase the size of the league's payout check to non-taxpaying teams make this a scenario that can not be discarded outright).
Sending Gordon into space is the best way for Houston to access its full MLE (as well as creating a hefty TPE of their own). However, it would likely have to happen in the window after the draft and before free agency shakes out in order to be an option. And it would likely entail losing Houston's only first round pick that is available for trade, making later moves more difficult (so I don't expect this to happen).
Available Picks that can be traded:
​

YEAR	ROUND	DETAILS/NOTES
2021	1	worst of HOU, OKC, MIA
2022	1	cannot be used this year in conjunction with the 2021 pick
2021	2	swap rights with Philadelphia
2024	2	from GS

*All of the team's own second round picks from 2024 and beyond
Houston does not have a lot of draft capital. Morey will surely look to use the 2021 first at the trade deadline to move a contract, allowing him to keep the 2022 first (Houston's last tradeable first round pick thanks to the Stepien Rule) for use next year if necessary.
Possible scenarios:
Which contract(s) and for what type of deal are the only questions, and only time will tell what those needs are (best player available/positional need/salary cap savings) and how to best fulfill them. There are a ton of options and no one can tell what sort of needs or opportunities will arise by mid-way through next season. But by waiting to strike until that point, Morey maximizes his potential to do the best thing for the team going forward, whether it is a small move for tax savings, a big splash for a disgruntled superstar, or even the beginning of a total rebuild.
Waiting until the deadline also gives guys like Gordon and Westbrook a chance to overcome the injuries that plagued them in 2020 and raise their trade value. Trading either one of these contracts for multiple smaller contracts (at 80% value) is the fastest and easiest way to get to within striking distance of avoiding the tax again this year, and allowing Morey to 3-peat in cap wizardry.
I suppose I'll predict that 1) Gordon and a pick will be headed someplace like Philadelphia, who could use his shooting (maybe for Josh Richardson and Zaire Smith?) or perhaps, 2) Morey will work with Monte McNair in Sacramento to do a deal for someone (maybe Nemanja Bjelica and Jabari Parker?), much like he did with his other recent protégé-turned-GM, Gersson Rosas, at the 2020 deadline.
Of course, there is always the chance that Fertitta will find some money in his couch cushions, or have a come-to-Jesus moment that inspires him to pay the tax, which would open up the possibility of trading for a player who makes equal or more money or potentially even using the MLE this year. In the extremely off-chance that that happens, a perfect candidate would be Myles Turner in Indiana, who would provide the stretch-big rim protector that would fit so well in Houston's system. Aaron Gordon would also fit really well into Houston's system as long as he can hit a corner 3. Doing either of these trades and avoiding the tax is within the realm of feasibility if another contract (e.g. House or Tucker's) is included with Gordon's.
And to wrap this up, a few potential FA targets to use the MLE (or a potential S&T) on if it somehow becomes possible: Serge Ibaka, Jerami Grant, Aaron Baynes, Davis Bertans, Bogdan Bogdanovich, a Morris twin, Danilo Gallinari, Anthony Davis.

10 Ridley Scott: Ridley Scott has, for some odd reason, received accolades that far outpace his actual accomplishments. He’s made one entertaining film, Gladiator, and a host of second rate films masquerading as masterpieces. Blade Runner is a bizarre and massively overpraised mess. Thelma and Louise is liberal tripe, although it does provide the best imagistic summary of modern feminism: two irritating “independent” women driving themselves off a cliff. White Squall is the single most depressing film ever made. Black Hawk Down is loved by conservatives because it isn’t anti-military, but that’s about the only praiseworthy element to a film that is an endless series of quick cuts between white guys who look alike in their helmets. Who’s been killed? Who’s still alive? You have no way of knowing. Then there’s Kingdom of Heaven, which is an homage to the “religion of peace” and a slap at Christianity through and through. Alien is slow. GI Jane is hysterically terrible. Plus, it’s got Orlando Bloom, who has about as much charisma and credibility as Al Gore. Scott is a key player in the rise of the infernal shaky-cam, which is not only biologically inaccurate (the human eye adjusts for bodily movements), but incredibly annoying. For that alone, he should be exiled to a land without cameras.
9 Michael Mann: All style, no substance.
8 David Lean: Everything Lean made is too long by at least half an hour. I know it’s mortal sin to suggest that Laurence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Ryan’s Daughter are anything less than masterpieces, but … they’re all less than masterpieces. Great Expectations was good. Everything else was downhill.
7 Darren Aronofsky: Aronofsky is a talentless dud who has bamboozled his way into Hollywood upper echelon. Every film he’s ever made is a disaster. Pi is a jumble of nonsense that starts nowhere and goes nowhere. It may be the worst film ever made. Watching it made me want to rip out my own retinas, then replace them through surgery, then rip them out again. Of late, Aronofsky has been spicing up his chaotic, disordered crap with explicit lesbian sex scenes, a stylistic trait he apparently cribbed from David Lynch (don’t worry, we’ll get to Lynch shortly). Requiem for a Dream is noteworthy only in that Aronofsky somehow convinced Jennifer Connolly to participate in a lesbian scene involving mutual anal sex and a dildo (the scene, by the way, is meant to be depraved, but therein lies Aronofsky’s problem: he’s got to have sympathetic characters before we feel bad for them). The fanboy press is already agog over rumors that his newest ode to depravity, Black Swan, will feature a sex scene between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Clearly, his target audience is pathetic losers in college dorms looking for an excuse to watch girl-on-girl action in the name of art. Not one of his films has been a major commercial success. Yet somehow, someone keeps giving him money. It’s enough to make one question the existence of a beneficent God.
6 Mike Nichols: No. Just no. The Graduate is contemptible and snort-worthy spoiled 1960s-child angst. The ending of that movie alone makes it unworthy of human viewing. All future directors take note: having your main characters staring blankly into nothingness is not an ending. It is a cop out. Nichols’ directorial style is ordinary and he picks bland material. And he was an icon for the Baby Boomers. If that’s not a sign of their mental disturbance, I don’t know what is.
5 David Lynch: Pure and absolute suckage, with the exception of The Elephant Man. Lynch is one of those annoyingly “deep” directors we’re all supposed to puzzle over. Forget it. There’s nothing worth puzzling. He’s as empty as they come, and he makes up for it with graphic sex scenes, just like his imitator, Aranofsky. John Nolte calls Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, “Mesmerizing, sexy, frightening … and all driven by a visionary director who created a hypnotic puzzlebox unlike anything we’ve seen before or will again.” Uh … no. This movie makes no sense, doesn’t try to make sense, and then fills the vacuum with Naomi Watts and Laura Harring feeling each other up. This ain’t great moviemaking. It’s Vivid Entertainment spliced with the worst of Raymond Chandler. Unfortunately, that just about sums up Lynch’s career.
4 Quentin Tarantino: I recently watched Inglourious Basterds and marveled at Tarantino’s skill. But he is a gifted high school child given a camera for his birthday, and entranced with his knowledge of cinema. Which means, in simple terms, he doesn’t know how to tell a story. His films are Wagnerian: long periods of boredom and “artistic” violence punctuated by moments of utter brilliance. To paraphrase William McAdoo on Warren G. Harding, Tarantino’s films are like an army moving over a landscape in search of an idea. Sometimes Tarantino’s films actually capture a struggling thought and bear it triumphantly a prisoner … until the idea dies of servitude and overwork. Tarantino is to homages and gore what James Cameron is to spectacle. Unfortunately, he is also to plot what Cameron is.
3 Woody Allen: He’s pretentious and unbearable. His movies are like nails screeching on a chalkboard, only with less humor. He is as nerdy as Peter Orszag, but he acts out his fantasies and illuminates his insecurities in film and expects us all to watch. It’s okay for a director to be self-centered – Orson Welles was famously self-centered. But you actually have to be an interesting person in order to spend that much time focusing on yourself. Allen isn’t. He’s a whiny narcissist with sexual inferiority issues. And no one except for him cares about the status of his penis. As a side note, he made Diane Keaton into a “legitimate actress,” which alone should qualify him for the Seventh Circle of Hell.
2 Martin Scorsese: In the musical Damn Yankees, a group of hapless baseball players sing the following lyric: “You’ve gotta have heart / All you really need is heart!” Martin Scorsese never saw that musical. His films are entirely devoid of anything resembling likable characters. They are cold and calculating and ruthless – and boring. Nobody cares what happens to Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed (in fact, in one screening I saw, people cheered when he got it in the head). The Aviator takes as long to tell as Howard Hughes did to live. Gangs of New York featured a brilliant performance from Daniel Day Lewis, and not much else (on a side note, there is no excuse for killing Liam Neeson in the first ten minutes of a film). Casino is nasty, brutish, and long. Goodfellas is similarly disgusting – you feel the need to take a shower after watching. Why anyone would want to spend several hours of his/her life with coke-snorting Ray Liotta and Co. is beyond me. The Last Temptation of Christ is baffling. The Color of Money is a snooze-fest (if you want to see a directorial clinic rather than Scorsese’s garbage, try Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, to which The Color of Money is a sequel). Raging Bull is gross. Mean Streets is gross and soporific. Taxi Driver is perhaps the most overrated film in Hollywood history — dreary, grungy, and subzero. Scorsese has never seen a main character he liked, a villain he hated, or a pair of editing scissors.
1 Alfred Hitchcock: He’s not even close to the worst on the list, but he’s certainly the most overrated. He never made a great film. He was the Stephen King of the silver screen: he made films with great premises, but he never knew where to go from there. The psychoanalysis at the end of Psycho is laughable. North by Northwest relies on the tried-and-true random helpful coincidence to save our hero, time and again. It brings to mind one of Twain’s rules of writing, directed toward Fenimore Cooper: “the personages of a tale shall confine themselves to possibilities and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author must so plausibly set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable.” Not so much for Hitchcock. Spellbound once again relies on amateur psychoanalysis. Notorious is the same movie as Rebecca. Rear Window makes one reach for the fast-forward button. Vertigo makes one reach for the cyanide. The Birds quickly becomes inane. If you want to see good Hitchcock, rent Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Restricted to the one hour medium, he’s at his best. Left to his own devices, he’s slightly better than mediocre.

Catch the full episode: https://www.wealthformula.com/podcast/224-multifamily-macroeconomics-in-the-twilight-zone/
Buck: Welcome back to the show everyone. Today my guest on Wealth Formula Podcast, he's been on the show before. He's economist Ryan Davis. He actually joined us at one of our last Wealth Formula meetups. Of course, the last one we had was canceled but Ryan was at the one before that. He serves as a chief operating officer at Witten Advisors and provides fact-based research analysis and discussion to help clients like us formulate their apartment strategies and these insights and for investment decisions for multi-family development and buy/sell opportunities which as you can imagine we're all looking for some of this advice these days. Ryan has a PhD in economics from the University of Texas. Ryan, welcome back to Wealth Formula Podcast.
Ryan: Thank you. Glad to be back.
Buck: Yeah it's been like a pandemic ago when we last talked right? Listen, you know I want to kind of jump into the whole you know what the heck is going on, I mean the overall, if you would, you know kind of give me your overall assessment of the economy. I mean obviously we know these huge drops in GDP etc which were expected last quarter. How is this all affecting real estate asset prices especially you know apartments which is you know is our interest and something that you specialize in?
Ryan: Sure so yeah the great unknown is the pace of the recovery. So we had that big drop through April in terms of employment and then we got a bounce back in May and June and the hope was that it was going to be a V-shaped recovery. But then we saw virus cases ramp back up in the second half of June into the early part of July and the local economy started rolling back some of their openings and so with that, we've kind of stalled out recently. So we'll get the July numbers this Friday for overall payroll gains and that could I think the consensus is anywhere between one, one and a half million jobs it could be negative so who knows but it looks like the hope for a v-shaped recovery in the economy has kind of stalled out after the first two months of optimism. And so we think that going forward we won't see any the worst is behind us really and so we won't see you know the big losses that we experienced in March and early into April so kind of what we're calling for right now is for the national economy to continue to add jobs for the remainder of the year and then beginning next year a recovery should emerge and that would sustain demand for housing and ultimately apartments going forward. In the near term as far as multi-family goes we expect some pain through the end of this year and then into the early part of next year. In terms of pricing power, if we had to boil it down to one number it's rent growth so year over year effective rent growth we think that declines to eight percent rent cuts this year and into the early part of 2021. That varies considerably on a local market basis I think our worst-performing market is Metro New York City probably no surprise there but then also many of the other gateway markets such as Boston, LA, the Bay Area, etc. We expect rent declines to be lower than that eight percent across the board, however many of the inner west, Texas, southeastern market should outperform still see rent declines but not closer to five/six percent range at the depth and so we expect near-term pain but then as we get out into 2021 and afterward and the economy begins to add a lot of jobs we would expect rent growth to return to multi-family. And then what that means for pricing in terms of apartment assets for right now in the second quarter hardly any deals trade at hand so it's really tough to get a sense of where pricing is and with the deals that have traded though the cap rates have remained relatively stable which is a good sign. We've heard from some of our merchant builder clients where they had assets they had constructed and were going out to the market to sell in the early part of April they were saying 10 discounts in terms of the compared to pre corona levels but that has since come back in the last 45-60 days and maybe it's only one to two percent in terms of the haircut that they're seeing out there right now. And there's a just a ton of capital that wants to get back into multifamily at the same time there's hardly any distress out there right now so there's a lack of available to you know supply to buy and so everyone is just kind of in this standstill there's a big ass gap because buyers aren't willing to pay yesterday's prices for assets but sellers aren't willing to give any you know deep discounts right now and so it's kind of a standstill and we’ll see how all this plays out.
Buck: Yeah you know it's really interesting we're obviously you know through, you work with Western Wealth Capital, one of my partners and you know it's funny because we were kind of thinking well maybe there'll be some real buying opportunities but you know we've seen a little bit maybe just you know from buyers who are sellers who just are just wanting to get out while they're ahead maybe they made some money you know maybe they and at this point you know they're just thinking let's just cash out and maybe they're willing to take a little bit less but for the most part you know if you look across our own portfolio and it might be because it's largely again Texas and Arizona, etc that and maybe it's because it's mostly working-class B and you know high C class apartment but our portfolio you know the numbers are just as good as they've ever been in terms of you know occupancy in terms of even our we're still raising rents. And so when you look at that you're like well I mean how do you expect there to be any you know smoking deals out there if the sellers really aren't feeling any distress. So is there a difference you know when you look at something like a B and C class apartment scenario versus A right now or have you been able to break that down a little bit because I think the people I know who are in the A-class and new build are you know they're certainly feeling things a little bit more than we are.
Ryan: Yeah so what we've heard from some of our clients in terms of early on so may June in terms of rent collections class A's were actually from a nationwide perspective actually exceeded the class B and C product. Now we don't think that will continue going forward and the main reason is that new deliveries that are coming online they will compete with the existing top of the market product and so we think that it will be short-lived in terms of the top of the market outperformance and another part is due to just the nature of this downturn where low-wage sectors were hit extremely hard in April, got some bounce back in May and June but the leisure and hospitality sectors lower-paying positions those have been the most impacted so far. But going forward we don't think that this downturn would be any different than prior recessions in terms of the class A leading the way down in terms of jobs and occupancy and also rent growth or rent cuts in the near term. So class A’s will lead the market down but then as we get out into the later part of next year and into early 2022 then class A's would outperform the broader market. So yeah we think through the end of this year until early next that B's and C's will hold up relatively better but that's mainly a function of just the competition that it takes to get these new projects they will get leased up it's just a matter of the market-clearing price and so those have to compete those could be mostly with the top end of the spectrum and so we see big rent declines and concessions in the class A space going forward.
Buck: You know there's this thesis that's going around in the multi-family space and you know I've been sort of you know looking at it this way too for a while though I'm starting to you know feel like it's maybe not gonna happen is this idea that there's going to be a potentially before we really rebound and start heading up again that there’ll potentially be a you know big tsunami of defaults and things like that. Right now at least what I'm you know seeing and hearing about in terms of the lending markets and in terms of these properties, there really isn't much indication of that right now is there I mean what do you think?
Ryan: No at least not in the short term I mean again there's it goes back to my earlier comment there's been no distress really and so that is due mainly to the huge stimulus packages that have been passed those from a fiscal standpoint and a monetary standpoint which is it's crazy to think that GDP declined at an annualized rate by 32 however incomes soared and so that's all due to the stimulus that we saw and so that's helped prop up renters incomes and allow them to pay rent. Now going forward I think some of these the number of defaults I don't think there will be a tsunami, at least that's how we view it right now, ask me again in a week and it could change, but I think that the defaults will be very market specific and so those geographies that have been hit harder we'll see a larger number but many of the Texas markets, Phoenix, Denver, southeast high growth markets where you've got this short-term tailwind in terms of folks at the margin more and the trends that have been in place for years of folks moving from gateway markets into these inner markets will be kind of you know given a stairway shot really in the near term and so that would help to prop up multi-family fundamentals and so yeah if you're expecting a tsunami of defaults in any of those markets that I've mentioned again it kind of gets a little bit granular in terms of you know potentially Orlando might have some problems just with the amount of supply and then the you know low-wage in tourism industries being impacted more dramatically and that would lead to some weakness in Orlando but out outside of that maybe Houston you could argue you know somewhat but outside of those two and those those areas of the inner west Texas, southeast Florida should be but hold up you know relatively well and I would think that the main stress points will be out you know on the coast in California potentially portland we do think seattle holds up relatively well and then northeast in terms of you know New York and Boston as well so I think it's very locally market driven.
Buck: Yeah it's interesting you know we did we were a little worried about Houston too but our you know Houston portfolio is actually doing awesome it's not having any problems at all which is which was you know again, knock on wood that’s what it's been so far. Let me ask you another question you mentioned the pent-up demand of you know money on the sidelines waiting to get back in and you know and in many situations, they have to get back in right they're mandated to deploy capital and that sort of thing do you the one thought that I've had through this is you know multi-family and well multi-family in general has held up so well during this period of time does that potentially create a situation where you know the big money that's coming in starts looking at this even harder as potentially a little bit of a hedge or a little bit of safe haven. What what do you guys think is going to be the effect of that you know the relatively stable performance and then ultimately you know having all of this money on the sidelines,? Do you see paradoxical even further compression of cap rates over the next couple years? What's your thought on that?
Ryan: Yeah and so kind of pre-corona our forecast was for cap rates to continue to decline and you know taking a step back it was mainly driven by global factors with the aging populations across the globe that have built wealth up and all that investment needed to be placed somewhere. And so those trends were driving returns lower for longer and so those are the demographic that have not been affected by the pandemic. And so just from a global standpoint, we're expecting returns across all assets whether stocks bonds you know all classes of real estate whether it's multi or industrial retail office, etc those returns would continue to head lower. Now we've had the pandemic and we've seen multi-family and industrial hold up exceedingly well and who knows what to make of retail office and lodging just lots of pain and in those sectors and so if you need to be allocated to real estate then multifamily and industrial or where you want to be at least in the short term and especially if you're looking for consistency of returns and you know risk-adjusted on a risk-adjusted basis you know multi-industrial or have outperformed other asset classes and so really to get into the lodging office retail space probably more opportunistic mindset in terms of those assets may need to be repositioned etc and so I think a lot of that money that's out there is not looking to get there's a lot that's looking for that type of asset turnaround story but there's also a lot of money out there that needs the stability. And so that should continue to compress cap rates or put a really put a cap on that cap rates and so it would be no surprise if cap rates on an aggregate basis hold steady and maybe even decline despite a deterioration in short-term fundamentals and part of that is due to the long-term belief in apartments going forward and so yes there's a short-term dislocation where we expect some move-outs that you know this year actually there are a lot of move-outs that we expect and so there's going to be a lot of doubling up folks moving back in with their families but then there's going to be pent up demand as we as that recovery takes hold next year and that will be released and so we see leasing to be through the roof next year and then out into 2022. Then at the same time as that demand story improves in the short term we see starts decelerating dramatically so we've we're going from a 400,000 unit run rate to about 200,000 units by the early part of next year. And so new production is going to get cut in half now that we don't get any benefit of that immediately so we have to wait till later part of 2022 and 2023 before we see that slowdown and production really lift fundamentals and so I think everyone is seeing that yes there's some short-term disruption in the multi-family market right now, but the long-term drivers are there and if you have the capital to wait out this very painful period in the short term then there will be major benefits after that we should see after next year.
Buck: Now one of the things you said I think earlier is that the worst is behind us do you believe that's the case in terms of rent growth and you know rent cuts and that sort of thing right now?
Ryan: I think the worst is behind us in terms of the economy. I think that going forward we should continue to produce job gains on a monthly basis, though this next report could see some layoffs we'll see the consensus is one million one and a half. In terms of multi-family we do not think the worst is behind us we think that fundamentals will continue to deteriorate into the early part of next year we think that you know kind of right now in terms of year over year rent growth in the early part of this year let's call it three, three and a half percent we've since gone down to zero percent in the second quarter. So on a quarterly basis we've seen some dramatic rent cuts, again this is on a national basis and then as we move forward we see occupancy dropping by about three percentage points into the early part of next year, rent declines of about eight percent through the remainder of this year into the first quarter of next year and so no we do think that there will be some deterioration and fundamentals going forward. On the flip side of that might present some opportunities and so any assets that were purchased specially in your space in terms of if they were bought at the top of the market at the end of last year in the early part of this year and now that value-add story isn't there where you might not be able to get the rent bumps that you were expecting so some of those assets will have to be recapitalized and so that might present some opportunity as the year progresses but again like you said we haven't seen that materialized so far.
Buck: Yeah that's the tricky part right I mean it's sort of like I think when you're on the buy side here you're saying well I mean these prices that we're seeing right now you know with prolonged you know low-interest rates which we can pretty much guarantee at this point for a period of time and then the pent-up demand. It's sort of like okay well I mean this actually might be one of the better times to buy if you consider what could potentially happen in the next you know 18 to 24 months in terms of you know explosive growth. When you look at those indicators that you're you know that you're talking about that may lead to some of the more explosive growth metrics what markets come to mind the most for you?
Buck: Now one of the things you said I think earlier is that the worst is behind us do you believe that's the case in terms of rent growth and you know rent cuts and that sort of thing right now?
Ryan: Yeah so our general geographic areas that we like we like the southeast, parts of Florida, Texas and the inner west. We really like Atlanta, we like South Florida though there's a little more pain in the short term some of our clients are saying it kind of in terms of you know rent collections you know northeast but also yeah LA but then South Florida is outperforming those two areas but still lagging some of these other markets. So we like the Texas markets long term the interwebs you have Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake as well. We like Seattle that's an outlier on the west coast but then the other markets whereas in the Bay Area we expect those you know rent growth numbers to average four, four and a half percent which stack up really well across the nation but for those markets that's a recession pretty much and so compared to what's normal and the cap rates you have to pay the rent growth numbers there kind of you know lackluster. So the midwest the markets they won't be hit as hard but still they don't get that explosive growth going forward and so we really like the inner West Texas, southeast of Florida markets and you know part of that has been driven being driven by the migration flows. So domestic migration numbers have really helped out all of these markets we've seen outflows from the northeast boston new york the bay area Southern California we've seen migration outflows from those markets into the you know inner west you know Las Vegas the inland Phoenix, Denver you know people moving from the coast into those markets and then you know also parts of texas as well but then in terms of the northeast the flows that are coming in to the Nashvilles the Charlottes, Raleighs, Atlanta, Florida markets we and then also Texas as well and so those trends have been accelerated at least in the short term, but it's important to remember that those have been going on for a decade at least even more and then other markets and so it's not anything new but at the margin that will support many of these other markets.
Buck: Yeah on the west coast I mean there's that flight to Arizona as well right from California. One of the things that you know is worth talking about is what effect this has had you know the pandemic and the recession on the lending market, with Fannie and Freddie and you know how that might be playing into any of the growth or lack of growth.
Ryan: Yeah I think on the financing side you know debt for stabilized assets it's there and it's cheap you may have to you know have higher reserves than you've had typically but for the most part it's there and so that's part of the appeal of buying assets right now with these record low interest rates. So I think for stabilized assets yeah it's there for new construction it is dried up considerably and this is a change in the last 30 to 60 days and so the fed does a survey each quarter of banks and their tightening of multi-family construction lending standards and that the latest report shows 70 percent of banks tighten their multi-family construction loans last quarter which we haven't seen those levels since 2008/2009. And so I think part of it's the lenders are trying to make sense of what they have in terms of all these other asset types in terms of real estate or retail, lodging, office loans, they're trying to you know spend a lot of time working those out and so then you add on the uncertainty in terms of the economic recovery etc, they've pretty much put a halt on new construction loans. And so that's been a big change here in the last two months call it. Then on the equity side I think returns have been increased but still available and interested but you know a lot of you know equity and especially focusing in on the new starts pipeline if all the deals that have been started are continuing and it's kind of a mixed bag from our clients in terms of are you seeing delays or actually some other clients that reported these they were able to speed up the timing in terms of getting able to get trucks into sites very easily and then also the construction workers that were on you know working on hotels motels those have come into the apartment sector and so that's provided more manpower in terms of getting these deals done. And so those that were under construction are continuing to proceed, those that were capitalized I think that but haven't begun those have been they haven't pulled out completely they just said let's press pause to see let's say can we get any break in construction costs over the next several months and so the equity and banks they're still willing to do it move forward on those deals that have been capitalized but are you know slow playing it. And then you get to the others where there's land sites and they hadn't been entitled and haven't been capitalized those deals we think have been shelved for right now and so it kind of where some opportunity could be is on the land side of you know potentially purchasing some land sites that might be teed up for development as we get further along in this recovery.
Buck: Again one of the things that you're saying though in terms of construction loans not being there again it helps us for those of us who have apartment portfolios already that are already there that that again goes to the issue of a simple supply and demand issue which we can benefit from if there's not a whole lot of new builds. You know this is a major driving variable in in apartment buildings nationally can you give us a little bit of the idea of you know just not being able to keep up with you know population growth in various parts of the country, can you give us a little bit of you know sort of a thousand-foot view on the perspective on how big of an issue that actually is?
Ryan: I don't know if it's that big of an issue you know on on the whole and I think that you know some of these higher growth markets in terms of where we've you know call it the Atlantas and North Carolina markets, Central North Florida, Texas, the inner west regions where we've seen large population growth statistics you know high growth markets but they're also they also tend to be the highest in terms of supply for housing and so it's more easy to build in those markets especially you know out as you get away from the know central cities etc and so where we've seen the the biggest barriers to supply are out on the coast and so we've seen you know job growth be pretty good in those markets but the supply hasn't kept up at all and so that's why you're seeing you know these big you know rent affordability you know problems in the coastal markets and so we think that supply not keeping up with the population dynamics is more of a coastal problem but then you know as you get into the markets that are more accepting of new development then you know we've seen housing supply increase at a rapid clip in many of these other markets I think you know Austin you know even through the June of this year permit activity for multi-family continued to set it reached big big levels and so I think year to date in Austin it's already pulled permits on almost 10,000 units already which is you know huge numbers. And so I do think that while these population growth numbers and some of these markets are you know off the charts especially compared to you know some of the coastal markets, that supply has been able to keep up there and so yeah you see pockets of where you know rent growth you know bumps up to you know five, six percent levels, it's especially that was the case in Phoenix and Las Vegas over the past two to three years where those markets were leading in terms of rent increases but they tend to you know be markets that you know will accept more new supply and so that will tend to even out over the long term.
Buck: How's Vegas doing out of curiosity because that one was just crushing it. It seemed it seemed a little dangerous you know it seemed like one of those markets where it's like wow is it real or is it one of those things that's just gonna go back to Vegas.
Ryan: Yeah exactly and yeah kind of thinking that you know before kind of goes back to your comment earlier about people moving from the coast to getting in their car and driving to the riverside and then Las Vegas and Phoenix and so it was benefiting from a real out-migration from expensive coastal California. That said that just the nature of this pandemic crushing leisure and hospitality and the conference circuit that the job losses in Las Vegas I think you know through April into May led the nation. We've seen some a bit of a bounce back there but really the question is you know how fast does the the conference you know a circuit come back, how fast are people willing to travel to casinos, I know they have already, but I think that pre-corona the growth was real and yeah absolutely now it's a little bit different you know market in terms of the cost and you don't want to go in there and if you're a developer you don't you know want to build a high-rise there and so your strategy is a little bit different but so far it's held up relatively well, all things considered, but still a lot of weakness that is materializing in Vegas.
Buck: Interesting stuff. Well listen I don't want to keep you all day long, Ryan, but it's been great talking to you. Where can we learn more about your work?
Ryan: Sure. Probably the easiest is wittenadvisors.com you can go there, all our contact information is there, feel free to reach out with a phone call or send me an email anytime and I'll be happy to give you more details on the services that we provide and how we add value to many clients that are in either owner, operators, developers, equity or lender clients.
Buck: Fantastic thanks again and we'd love to have you again you know in a few months to reassess where we are at.
Ryan: All right. Sounds good. Looking forward to it.
Buck: We'll be right back

Period: 35.16 days

	Submissions	Comments
Total	970	21271
Rate (per day)	27.59	588.50
Unique Redditors	488	2756
Combined Score	92279	96521

Top Submitters' Top Submissions

1. 3255 points, 13 submissions: Bloggercoaster
   
   1. My daily cuarantine drawing! Today I bring you a crazy concept: do you remember "Loop the loop" at Coney Island in 1910? Well, what if instead of a loop it had been built a cobra-roll with a launched by slingshot system powered by steam and a water-pool brakes? Would you like to give a try? (545 points, 45 comments)
   2. I was cleaning my desk when I found this illustration I drew a few years ago of a Vekoma's Junior Coaster, inspired in some marine-coast theming. What do you think? (537 points, 40 comments)
   3. Since I am quarantined in my home (Barcelona), I have thought about making a daily coaster-related drawing and this is what I have done today (yay! I love homemade coasters!). I hope you like it! (451 points, 14 comments)
   4. Another old coaster drawing in my desk drawers. This time it's a Mack Rides wild mouse with an elevator lift system (inside the tower) and a pre-drop curve through a tunnel inside the mountain. Originally I thought of this design for Tibidabo park in Barcelona. I hope you like it! (388 points, 37 comments)
   5. New drawing! This time it's a Gerstlauer bobsled-coaster set in an alpine/forest theming. I made this design more than 10 years ago in NL1 and now I've decided to draw it. What do you think? (384 points, 20 comments)
   6. My daily quarantine drawing! Today I tried to draw the u/vekomatjex coaster model changing some proportions but trying to preserve the essence of the project with the utmost respect for the original. I hope you like it! (209 points, 9 comments)
   7. My daily cuarantine drawing! We are all familiar with the debate over whether or not Zamperla's Disk'o Coasters are real coasters. Well, my concept is to take this model further and turn it, once and for all, into a real coaster. Forget the physics for a few seconds, what do you think about? (199 points, 23 comments)
   8. My daily quarantine drawing today is dedicated to Alicia Stella, one of my favorite Twitter accounts, an essential reference on Orlando parks information and a great communicator. I hope you like it! (134 points, 13 comments)
   9. Daily drawing! I present to you a strange park located in high palaces and full of coasters, rides, towers and labyrinths. u/McyDworker won yesterday's challenge, so the name of the park goes in his honor. I hope you like it! (132 points, 12 comments)
   10. Looks like Groot and Pinocchio are'nt going to "enjoy" this flume-ride today... My daily drawing in moments of quarantine from Barcelona. Hope you like it! (81 points, 2 comments)
2. 2301 points, 7 submissions: flyingdrums
   
   1. Iron Gwazi Weekly(ish) Aerial Update: March 11th, 2020 - The Final Photo (556 points, 71 comments)
   2. Iron Gwazi Weekly(ish) Aerial BONUS UPDATE: 3/8/2020 - FINAL PIECES OF TRACK INSTALLED! (469 points, 62 comments)
   3. These dummies on Iron Gwazi earlier this evening. (424 points, 36 comments)
   4. Here's Tigris upside down because I legit don't know what else to post right now. (328 points, 16 comments)
   5. Iron Gwazi Weekly(ish) Aerial Update: 3/9/2020 - Two pieces of track remaining! (269 points, 55 comments)
   6. Cheetah Hunt diving into the trees (194 points, 7 comments)
   7. Iron Gwazi Aerial Timelapse - take 2 - Includes all aerial updates, fly by videos, and an aerial clip of testing. (61 points, 10 comments)
3. 2072 points, 12 submissions: vekomatjex
   
   1. Quarantine Coaster Day 10: Final helix reprofiled and completed, just a few minor tweaks to go! POV camera ordered as well so on ride footage will be coming this weekend (394 points, 19 comments)
   2. Quarantine Coaster Day Three! Working lift mechanism and first drop in place. Track needs widening a tad but that’s now a job for tomorrow! (304 points, 27 comments)
   3. Quarantine Coaster Update: It’s not a POV since the camera arrived broken, and none of the other supplies arrived at all, but I thought you all may appreciate a quick off ride shot in the meantime! (269 points, 16 comments)
   4. Quarantine Coaster Day 11: Track work complete! Just a couple of minor tweaks to go, so I’ll be back with you on Sunday when it’s all finished off with a full POV and more! (197 points, 18 comments)
   5. Quarantine Coaster Day 8: Turnaround complete and lift supports widened. Coming along quite nicely now! (194 points, 17 comments)
   6. Quarantine Coaster Day 7: Thought I would post a video today showing off the new track work, hope you all enjoy. Thanks for the continued support and feel free to ask any questions you may have. Next up is the return to the station! (180 points, 23 comments)
   7. When you can’t ride rollercoasters, build one. Quarantine coaster build day one, the station (a very wonky station) (171 points, 9 comments)
   8. Quarantine Coaster Day Four: Taking into account all your help I’ve come up with a new system for smoothing the track, as well as lining it to reduce friction! Excuse the janky supports, they’ll be fixed soon too. (89 points, 26 comments)
   9. Quarantine Coaster Day 9: Following some extremely dodgy arrow-esque transitions the final helix is half way complete. And don’t worry about the distance left, there are going to be brakes and a transport section. (88 points, 13 comments)
   10. Quarantine Coaster build day two: the lift hill. Getting my coaster fix whilst stuck inside! (69 points, 10 comments)
4. 1672 points, 5 submissions: JoPro_
   
   1. A treat for you all during the park closures: rare look at Journey to Atlantis Orlando's drop during a track walk. (642 points, 42 comments)
   2. Another lights on photo of Journey to Atlantis SeaWorld Orlando for you all to enjoy during quarantine! (542 points, 36 comments)
   3. Final Atlantis pic! An uncommon view of Mako & Kraken from the aqueduct of Atlantis taken during track walk. (318 points, 14 comments)
   4. RIP Iron Gwazi (for now) (159 points, 39 comments)
   5. 2020 Coaster Opening Dates Predictions Game (11 points, 22 comments)
5. 1458 points, 1 submission: RCJohnny
   
   1. POV -Custom Model Roller Coaster Built In My Bedroom! (1458 points, 127 comments)
6. 1394 points, 10 submissions: TGE
   
   1. Today is March 25th. HAPPY FURY 325 DAY! (455 points, 17 comments)
   2. Looks good, feels better. 69ft of White Lightning (233 points, 53 comments)
   3. Florida's native Hurricane! The front row's pop of air into this turnaround is a joy. (164 points, 22 comments)
   4. Alternate angle of Fury 325's famous treble clef (158 points, 3 comments)
   5. Who knows what tomorrow brings, so Mako today count! (112 points, 9 comments)
   6. Manta is vivacious (83 points, 11 comments)
   7. There are few places I'd rather be. Mako💙💜 (59 points, 2 comments)
   8. Copperhead Strike's Stengel dive, featuring airtime like a whippy wave turn. (55 points, 14 comments)
   9. The madness of Iron Gwazi's death roll and stall (44 points, 7 comments)
   10. What is your favorite speed hill? (31 points, 34 comments)
7. 1314 points, 17 submissions: CoasterLabs
   
   1. Another day, another model. Finally finishing all the ones I started and never finished. Today: Larson Flying Scooters (374 points, 40 comments)
   2. Since I'm stuck at home I figured I'd try to get the StarFlyer up and running. Been working on it for a few years. (219 points, 28 comments)
   3. Spinning Coaster TEST RUN Had to raise the track another 4cm to make it around. No setting friction to 0 here. (90 points, 14 comments)
   4. The files for this model are now live. Gonna work on a small PLC for it now. (71 points, 4 comments)
   5. Functional Spinning Coaster Model; Day 3: track! I also changed the color scheme to more of a Jules Verne steampunk look and swapped out the lapbars for a nice red. Tell me what you think. 😊 (66 points, 9 comments)
   6. Functional Spinning Coaster; Day 4: Full circuit and rough patches. The track is almost complete, but I'm running into a few issues of binding in a few areas of the track, but sanding helps. Also, yes, those are tiny drive tires and yes they work. 😊 (61 points, 9 comments)
   7. Fully automated Flying Scooters Model Test Run (57 points, 7 comments)
   8. Functional Spinning Coaster Day 5: supports! The lift is a lot easier cause there's no banking, but doing the banked descent will be a bit tricky. I'm also currently having to redo the bogies for a 5th time cause of binding. 😵 (54 points, 2 comments)
   9. Teeny Tiny Top Spin (Posable!) (53 points, 7 comments)
   10. Functional Spinning Coaster Model; Day 2: Cars (50 points, 4 comments)
8. 1223 points, 6 submissions: cduarte125
   
   1. Phantom's Revenge @ Kennywood (525 points, 36 comments)
   2. Top Thrill Dragster @ Cedar Point (212 points, 21 comments)
   3. Classic shot of Six Flags Magic Mountain (189 points, 6 comments)
   4. The final turn on Phantom's Revenge @ Kennywood (162 points, 16 comments)
   5. This series of elements is one of B&Ms best maneuvers. Flight Deck @ CGA is a very good invert. (89 points, 16 comments)
   6. Steel Curtain @ Kennywood one year ago. (46 points, 2 comments)
9. 1124 points, 12 submissions: JamminJay1986
   
   1. Day 22 - Villain at Geauga Lake/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure (236 points, 28 comments)
   2. Day 21 - Giant Canyon Swing at Glenwood Caverns (157 points, 20 comments)
   3. Day 17 - Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain at Indiana Beach (143 points, 15 comments)
   4. Day 8 - Ozark Wildcat at Celebration City (105 points, 15 comments)
   5. Day 18 - Intimidator at Carowinds (85 points, 22 comments)
   6. Day 20 - Georgia Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia (75 points, 18 comments)
   7. Day 26 - Canobie Corkscrew at Canobie Lake Park (71 points, 15 comments)
   8. Day 24 - Thunderhead at Dollywood (69 points, 18 comments)
   9. Day 25 - Star Jet at Casino Pier (66 points, 9 comments)
   10. Day 15 - Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park (54 points, 12 comments)
10. 1120 points, 10 submissions: ThemeParkFan2020
    
    1. IRON GWAZI IS NOW TESTING! (photo by Midway Mayhem) (712 points, 188 comments)
    2. Iron Gwazi continues to progress at an amazing pace, as there's people test riding now! (187 points, 96 comments)
    3. Aerial video of Iron Gwazi testing from Midway Mayhem! (102 points, 29 comments)
    4. What is the first coaster you're riding after all of this is over? (37 points, 90 comments)
    5. Do you have any abnormally-high ranked credits, and if so, what are they? (25 points, 88 comments)
    6. You can travel back in time and visit any park at any point in it's history. Where and when do you go and why? (22 points, 48 comments)
    7. What are some good coasters WITHOUT a ton of inversions or airtime? (16 points, 75 comments)
    8. What are ten parks every roller coaster enthusiast should visit? (10 points, 27 comments)
    9. Busch Gardens Tampa Trip Report (3/15/20) (9 points, 13 comments)
    10. Sooo, I can't be the only one that thinks that BGT will get a clone of BGW's 2021 coaster, right? (0 points, 20 comments)
11. 1002 points, 9 submissions: collin_k25
    
    1. Vortex’s old Plot of land :( (255 points, 110 comments)
    2. Orion has LED Strip Like Fury (222 points, 21 comments)
    3. Now That's A lot Of Damage "Kings Island Vortex" (132 points, 34 comments)
    4. Orion and Vortex’s huge plot of land (103 points, 32 comments)
    5. Third Orion Train is white and great view of Area 72 Construction. (84 points, 7 comments)
    6. Did a little bit of editing on the Orion train from IAAPA (73 points, 2 comments)
    7. 2020 kings island map with Orion and without vortex 😔 source- kicentral , who is it from? idk (64 points, 25 comments)
    8. Orions 2nd train color. (38 points, 11 comments)
    9. Orion Lighting? (Kings Island) (31 points, 6 comments)
12. 958 points, 2 submissions: blockbrakes
    
    1. Fury 325 in colored pencil! (746 points, 60 comments)
    2. Thunderbird! (Redrawn from an older warm up drawing) (212 points, 12 comments)
13. 899 points, 5 submissions: RrevinEvann
    
    1. Gotta love a classic Arrow looper! (352 points, 56 comments)
    2. If a B&M cycles in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? (278 points, 25 comments)
    3. Six Flags has sent out an email concerning COVID-19. So far, it sounds like the parks will remain open, with increased sanitation at the parks (177 points, 61 comments)
    4. Six Flags pushed a survey today to see what the public thinks they should do at the parks to keep everyone safe (59 points, 18 comments)
    5. SFGAm removed their preview weekend from April 10th to 12th on the calendar (33 points, 1 comment)
14. 888 points, 5 submissions: ZoniesCoasters
    
    1. Got my 100th cred today on Texas Stingray along with my friend getting to 200! (490 points, 74 comments)
    2. EF-1 tornado very close to Six Flags Over Texas June 16th, 2019. (278 points, 31 comments)
    3. Found an old premier rides press packet. Might share the contents later (53 points, 12 comments)
    4. Strange double flange on Mr. Freeze at SFOT (36 points, 11 comments)
    5. I show you everything in my Premier Rides Press kit (31 points, 0 comments)
15. 834 points, 10 submissions: RedSoxCeltics
    
    1. I love the station for Superman:Escape From Krypton (254 points, 17 comments)
    2. Tatsuu's preztel loop : only time ive ever blacked out on a coaster (155 points, 26 comments)
    3. I love the sign for Goliath! (91 points, 25 comments)
    4. I might get a ton of hate, but this my all time favorite coaster. (87 points, 60 comments)
    5. Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom is my favorite drop ride. (58 points, 22 comments)
    6. I miss this place so bad (56 points, 9 comments)
    7. Coaster withdrawals are killing me so here is a picture of SFMM's coaster skyline. (44 points, 1 comment)
    8. Full Throttle's loop (41 points, 18 comments)
    9. Horribl e picture but I love Riddler's Revenge (35 points, 3 comments)
    10. When will we see a coaster break the 200 mph barrier? (13 points, 15 comments)
16. 795 points, 2 submissions: JFells
    
    1. Simplified version of my Fury 325 artwork! (422 points, 16 comments)
    2. Today I'm working on a masterpiece... (373 points, 33 comments)
17. 786 points, 2 submissions: CLE_CoasterCo
    
    1. Possessed @ Dorney. 1:120 Scale (498 points, 49 comments)
    2. Intamin track getting an extra bake under the UV light (288 points, 15 comments)
18. 777 points, 6 submissions: poland626
    
    1. Low Clouds over Kingda Ka (558 points, 33 comments)
    2. My Favorite Small Coaster No Long Standing, Crossbow from Bowcraft, NJ (112 points, 13 comments)
    3. American Dream just announced they will be closing and extending already purchased tickets (48 points, 13 comments)
    4. Great White at Morey's Piers, NJ (26 points, 2 comments)
    5. Anyone else ride the Wild Cat at Keansburg in NJ? (23 points, 4 comments)
    6. Where I found my love of roller coasters, stuck inside so I did a rewatch of 3 Ninjas High Noon At Mega Mountain (10 points, 11 comments)
19. 773 points, 5 submissions: JCoaster25
    
    1. Loving watching Kumba rip through its cobra roll. (433 points, 25 comments)
    2. Kings Island can have some gorgeous sunsets. (127 points, 7 comments)
    3. Current state of Mind Bender - SFOG. Happy opening weekend! (116 points, 43 comments)
    4. Closing out a Cedar Point day with a Frontier Town sunset. Late summer 2018. (Ft. Maverick and Steel Vengeance) (61 points, 4 comments)
    5. Stumbled upon this great video of a brand new Raging Wolf Bobs at Geauga Lake circa 1988. Includes a bonus POV of Big Dipper at the end. (36 points, 6 comments)

Top Commenters

1. a_magumba (2462 points, 673 comments)
2. friendofjudy (1662 points, 348 comments)
3. sonimatic14 (1568 points, 208 comments)
4. brain0924 (1399 points, 191 comments)
5. CheesecakeMilitia (1220 points, 151 comments)
6. JamminJay1986 (1212 points, 178 comments)
7. Tribefan1029 (895 points, 144 comments)
8. SignGuy77 (882 points, 183 comments)
9. dirkdiggler1992 (771 points, 98 comments)
10. TheBokaBreeze (704 points, 416 comments)
11. laserdollars420 (677 points, 95 comments)
12. jhoosteen (659 points, 71 comments)
13. fahrenheit1221 (607 points, 60 comments)
14. rdthraw (602 points, 92 comments)
15. bobkmertz (589 points, 97 comments)
16. collin_k25 (577 points, 66 comments)
17. nyargleblargle (550 points, 96 comments)
18. Qrispy_ (543 points, 73 comments)
19. CrimsonEnigma (533 points, 72 comments)
20. Dt2_0 (506 points, 183 comments)
21. provoaggie (494 points, 108 comments)
22. robbycough (493 points, 149 comments)
23. flyingdrums (476 points, 27 comments)
24. GatorAndrew (460 points, 57 comments)
25. Dynamiccoastersx2 (447 points, 92 comments)
26. Purple_and_Pancakes (444 points, 92 comments)
27. vespinonl (440 points, 135 comments)
28. waifive (430 points, 76 comments)
29. ThrillTraveler (425 points, 177 comments)
30. ThemeParkFan2020 (424 points, 39 comments)
31. MrBrightside711 (416 points, 73 comments)
32. TGE (413 points, 64 comments)
33. JCoaster25 (410 points, 72 comments)
34. aerosoul98 (404 points, 104 comments)
35. Millennium1995 (403 points, 48 comments)
36. CoasterLabs (394 points, 110 comments)
37. Conor_CBG (394 points, 28 comments)
38. 14thCluelessbird (382 points, 71 comments)
39. T-Pose-On-Tantrum (375 points, 74 comments)
40. BBToast (374 points, 64 comments)
41. RenoWolf200 (367 points, 66 comments)
42. Zaiush (364 points, 63 comments)
43. Coasterglitch (356 points, 99 comments)
44. fount3 (353 points, 47 comments)
45. Holiboy2112 (342 points, 23 comments)
46. railfan_andrew (339 points, 41 comments)
47. randy_25 (328 points, 108 comments)
48. CaptainPickle23 (326 points, 145 comments)
49. fedoraman59 (324 points, 69 comments)
50. ANaturalSicknes (323 points, 90 comments)
51. robertgrayson (323 points, 71 comments)
52. RrevinEvann (318 points, 41 comments)
53. supkarma (311 points, 33 comments)
54. CanobieCoaster (307 points, 56 comments)
55. iwassayingboourns12 (303 points, 71 comments)
56. WitheredTechnology (297 points, 10 comments)
57. vekomatjex (296 points, 66 comments)
58. svendust99 (294 points, 71 comments)
59. ArrowDynamics2002 (293 points, 54 comments)
60. Elementerch (290 points, 35 comments)
61. mcchanical (287 points, 60 comments)
62. Bi0Sp4rk (275 points, 53 comments)
63. alg0r1thim (275 points, 53 comments)
64. Imaginos64 (263 points, 33 comments)
65. Chayz211 (262 points, 48 comments)
66. NotANormalFieldTrip (257 points, 50 comments)
67. Bumblebe5 (255 points, 131 comments)
68. cmorgan9486377 (249 points, 49 comments)
69. ZoniesCoasters (248 points, 56 comments)
70. freddy_gruner (248 points, 26 comments)
71. joeyg107 (245 points, 70 comments)
72. 1000evan (245 points, 45 comments)
73. RCJohnny (238 points, 27 comments)
74. thedeathmachine (236 points, 59 comments)
75. fastal_12147 (236 points, 21 comments)
76. matthias7600 (232 points, 84 comments)
77. _scott_m_ (230 points, 20 comments)
78. FlyRobot (229 points, 72 comments)
79. disownedpear (229 points, 49 comments)
80. CrusaderOfDarkness (227 points, 44 comments)
81. gettinchippywitit (224 points, 27 comments)
82. Theme_Park_Critic (222 points, 57 comments)
83. karanut (219 points, 33 comments)
84. Unhappy_Score (211 points, 47 comments)
85. kiloPascal-a (211 points, 33 comments)
86. Lrod73 (209 points, 37 comments)
87. _trollercoaster_ (209 points, 22 comments)
88. C_Smallegan (208 points, 45 comments)
89. coasterchodes (201 points, 31 comments)
90. Bloggercoaster (200 points, 48 comments)
91. Ceramicrabbit (200 points, 43 comments)
92. wboyajian (198 points, 18 comments)
93. HnMn999 (197 points, 19 comments)
94. stanton1270 (195 points, 93 comments)
95. DafoeFoSho (193 points, 18 comments)
96. Steel_Nole (192 points, 56 comments)
97. twatchops (191 points, 34 comments)
98. 101gabed (191 points, 22 comments)
99. Ben43065 (191 points, 21 comments)
100. HauteConversion (188 points, 12 comments)
101. thor615 (187 points, 33 comments)
102. Version_1 (183 points, 34 comments)
103. Tremic (183 points, 3 comments)
104. AtomicChef (181 points, 13 comments)
105. Andy_and_Vic (179 points, 55 comments)
106. John-with-a-k (176 points, 37 comments)
107. SizzleMop69 (171 points, 42 comments)
108. Swift747 (170 points, 43 comments)
109. The_DILinator (168 points, 54 comments)
110. stopmakingsens3 (167 points, 33 comments)
111. StraightAssociate (165 points, 34 comments)
112. ImperatorSpacewolf (165 points, 18 comments)
113. lizzpop2003 (163 points, 33 comments)
114. ozthrills (162 points, 35 comments)
115. RollerCoasterCartel (161 points, 32 comments)
116. ctrum69 (161 points, 29 comments)
117. fishely (159 points, 24 comments)
118. EricGarbo (159 points, 13 comments)
119. donkey_tits (156 points, 34 comments)
120. barc_15 (155 points, 25 comments)
121. bttrflyr (154 points, 14 comments)
122. panopticon31 (153 points, 23 comments)
123. magicweasel7 (150 points, 20 comments)
124. Dadplscomebackim18 (148 points, 44 comments)
125. sheeple04 (148 points, 41 comments)
126. tallerthanusual (148 points, 24 comments)
127. HikeandKayak (148 points, 22 comments)
128. OdoWanKenobi (147 points, 29 comments)
129. stormrunnerer (146 points, 45 comments)
130. the_pantsmith (145 points, 32 comments)
131. Franky29x (144 points, 24 comments)
132. PolarCoaster_ (142 points, 31 comments)
133. CurbYourNewUrbanism (141 points, 14 comments)
134. davethefish (140 points, 8 comments)
135. trainman121 (138 points, 24 comments)
136. orngbrry (137 points, 46 comments)
137. Scientist78 (137 points, 36 comments)
138. CoasterThomason (135 points, 34 comments)
139. TheGP13 (135 points, 31 comments)
140. Heyohmydoohd (135 points, 23 comments)
141. AirbossYT (135 points, 9 comments)
142. jackbyrnetv74 (134 points, 51 comments)
143. nice-scores (133 points, 133 comments)
144. BigMothInDaHouse (133 points, 7 comments)
145. sandmyth (131 points, 29 comments)
146. cactus22minus1 (130 points, 22 comments)
147. Valleyfairfanboy (129 points, 49 comments)
148. CYB3R_TYSTYS (129 points, 38 comments)
149. DessertTwink (129 points, 28 comments)
150. Gnucks33 (129 points, 24 comments)
151. crs18Gamer (128 points, 36 comments)
152. coastercupcakeYT1 (128 points, 21 comments)
153. i-am-red-w (127 points, 46 comments)
154. ModsRussianFcks (127 points, 29 comments)
155. IsuzuTrooper (125 points, 38 comments)
156. iFanatic (125 points, 26 comments)
157. tofusnafu (125 points, 19 comments)
158. tideblue (124 points, 32 comments)
159. wjw42 (124 points, 26 comments)
160. TheInsaneLavaman (124 points, 25 comments)
161. yawetag12 (124 points, 11 comments)
162. WestLAStuff (122 points, 22 comments)
163. rayqrayza (122 points, 18 comments)
164. LaunchedLifthill (121 points, 30 comments)
165. Professor_Media (121 points, 24 comments)
166. BucsandCanes (121 points, 23 comments)
167. petuniabubbles (120 points, 55 comments)
168. itssohip (120 points, 22 comments)
169. bchris24 (120 points, 17 comments)
170. amanor409 (120 points, 8 comments)
171. X7123M3-256 (118 points, 24 comments)
172. Acrobaticfrog (117 points, 33 comments)
173. Gwanzi (117 points, 16 comments)
174. mynameiskrysta (117 points, 16 comments)
175. MidwestInfoGuide (115 points, 37 comments)
176. CHR0T0 (115 points, 14 comments)
177. TDChrisGO (115 points, 9 comments)
178. EmilSempels (114 points, 29 comments)
179. Taeshan (114 points, 28 comments)
180. ChewyChicken13 (113 points, 14 comments)
181. 705505 (112 points, 27 comments)
182. Hot_Moment (111 points, 34 comments)
183. CoasterKat95 (111 points, 23 comments)
184. -k1guy- (111 points, 6 comments)
185. WotDaHelll (110 points, 39 comments)
186. ChristopherJ2003 (109 points, 25 comments)
187. Swiftman (109 points, 11 comments)
188. galaxy-boi_02 (108 points, 40 comments)
189. spiderqueendemon (108 points, 20 comments)
190. Surgawd8 (108 points, 13 comments)
191. NeverTrumper2020 (108 points, 12 comments)
192. CoasterVic58 (107 points, 50 comments)
193. MrReality13 (107 points, 24 comments)
194. sledgehammer_77 (107 points, 20 comments)
195. MillenniumForce (106 points, 21 comments)
196. BadCommandCo_ (106 points, 18 comments)
197. beregond23 (105 points, 30 comments)
198. JustAGuyNamedSteven (104 points, 31 comments)
199. sawdummy (104 points, 13 comments)
200. TurboGwa2i (104 points, 10 comments)
201. ifitscool (103 points, 7 comments)
202. Hammock180 (102 points, 26 comments)
203. Needabiggercoaster (102 points, 19 comments)
204. Silver013 (102 points, 5 comments)
205. ill_tonkso (101 points, 26 comments)
206. codee66 (101 points, 22 comments)
207. Nuud (101 points, 20 comments)
208. awkwardimagineer (101 points, 18 comments)
209. ZachEllis3 (100 points, 22 comments)
210. S100hedake (100 points, 15 comments)
211. WellDamnJacqui (100 points, 13 comments)
212. condogdaddy69 (100 points, 4 comments)
213. A_BAD_REDDITEER (99 points, 21 comments)
214. SuperManlyDude (98 points, 24 comments)
215. ohmygoddude82 (98 points, 11 comments)
216. BlitheringEediot (97 points, 30 comments)
217. Ampu-Tina (97 points, 26 comments)
218. Majorkilljoy87 (97 points, 20 comments)
219. Technically_Can_Hear (97 points, 4 comments)
220. aqua_supreme (97 points, 2 comments)
221. Maverick360 (96 points, 16 comments)
222. N-427 (95 points, 14 comments)
223. Cabana (94 points, 25 comments)
224. corndogshuffle (94 points, 23 comments)
225. tylerokay (93 points, 14 comments)
226. williamconniff (93 points, 9 comments)
227. Absol1te (92 points, 46 comments)
228. BB5Bucks (92 points, 33 comments)
229. TPI2019 (92 points, 28 comments)
230. GigaG (91 points, 18 comments)
231. Mooco2 (91 points, 16 comments)
232. Jakinator178 (90 points, 21 comments)
233. calebkeithley (90 points, 14 comments)
234. themeparkjunkie98 (90 points, 12 comments)
235. Purchased_mods (89 points, 12 comments)
236. Thunderbird23 (88 points, 47 comments)
237. _SWX_ (87 points, 33 comments)
238. SMF1834 (87 points, 26 comments)
239. ImNotBeyonce (87 points, 6 comments)
240. 389Tman389 (86 points, 34 comments)
241. crazydiamnd76 (86 points, 28 comments)
242. CommonMilkweed (86 points, 22 comments)
243. darkmachine415 (86 points, 17 comments)
244. Fbastard3 (86 points, 7 comments)
245. GUlysses (85 points, 12 comments)
246. a-can-o-beans (85 points, 9 comments)
247. reallyweirdperson (84 points, 19 comments)
248. ScottDaySucks (84 points, 9 comments)
249. Saeis (83 points, 31 comments)
250. frankvlin (83 points, 29 comments)
251. qtip-pitq (83 points, 6 comments)
252. LegitXero (82 points, 15 comments)
253. InvisibleTeeth (81 points, 24 comments)
254. mn84wm33 (81 points, 9 comments)
255. lostinheadguy (80 points, 10 comments)
256. frito11 (79 points, 17 comments)
257. nkbvr (79 points, 16 comments)
258. OscarsWackyThrowaway (79 points, 4 comments)
259. Artificial100 (79 points, 2 comments)
260. oryp35 (78 points, 44 comments)
261. Gutnis (78 points, 26 comments)
262. tomgabriele (78 points, 10 comments)
263. AGoodEnoughUsername (78 points, 9 comments)
264. SlayerNb (77 points, 21 comments)
265. SharpReel (77 points, 14 comments)
266. sutadarkside (77 points, 7 comments)
267. yoshizbt (76 points, 44 comments)
268. Seasons-Of-Wither (76 points, 17 comments)
269. IhaveSonar (76 points, 16 comments)
270. cpshoeler (76 points, 11 comments)
271. stoned_by_sunset (76 points, 8 comments)
272. BlitzenVolt (75 points, 30 comments)
273. redveinlover (75 points, 22 comments)
274. spacemtfan (75 points, 18 comments)
275. throwawaycoasterguy (75 points, 6 comments)
276. Swiss_Reddit_User (74 points, 18 comments)
277. ATomRT (74 points, 15 comments)
278. Spartan117Rex (74 points, 13 comments)
279. sloec (74 points, 5 comments)
280. Fabian_XYZ (73 points, 30 comments)
281. teejayiscool (73 points, 29 comments)
282. PolandSpring39 (73 points, 26 comments)
283. SwissForeignPolicy (73 points, 21 comments)
284. flyinghiiiiiiigh (73 points, 20 comments)
285. WernerHengstenberg (73 points, 9 comments)
286. Carlscorn (72 points, 21 comments)
287. JaxerGaming (72 points, 18 comments)
288. Jamak2001 (72 points, 16 comments)
289. chris84bond (72 points, 8 comments)
290. CleanEggs-n-Flams (72 points, 3 comments)
291. TriableNine (71 points, 34 comments)
292. Brut-i-cus (71 points, 11 comments)
293. sweg420blaze420 (71 points, 6 comments)
294. Moobles18 (70 points, 14 comments)
295. harry_s_24 (69 points, 10 comments)
296. reissecup (69 points, 10 comments)
297. BRS_Dead_Master (69 points, 4 comments)
298. angry-gumball (68 points, 20 comments)
299. iiTsDANGER (68 points, 13 comments)
300. CoasterShots (68 points, 10 comments)

Top Submissions

1. POV -Custom Model Roller Coaster Built In My Bedroom! by RCJohnny (1458 points, 127 comments)
2. Anyone else collect nanocoasters? by RollerCoasterCartel (757 points, 148 comments)
3. Fury 325 in colored pencil! by blockbrakes (746 points, 60 comments)
4. IRON GWAZI IS NOW TESTING! (photo by Midway Mayhem) by ThemeParkFan2020 (712 points, 188 comments)
5. A treat for you all during the park closures: rare look at Journey to Atlantis Orlando's drop during a track walk. by JoPro_ (642 points, 42 comments)
6. Well, this is awkward... by tylerokay (639 points, 75 comments)
7. Cedar Point Sunrise via @cityofsandusky on Twitter by ballsonthewall (593 points, 32 comments)
8. Low Clouds over Kingda Ka by poland626 (558 points, 33 comments)
9. Iron Gwazi Weekly(ish) Aerial Update: March 11th, 2020 - The Final Photo by flyingdrums (556 points, 71 comments)
10. My daily cuarantine drawing! Today I bring you a crazy concept: do you remember "Loop the loop" at Coney Island in 1910? Well, what if instead of a loop it had been built a cobra-roll with a launched by slingshot system powered by steam and a water-pool brakes? Would you like to give a try? by Bloggercoaster (545 points, 45 comments)

Top Comments

1. 248 points: WitheredTechnology's comment in Well, this is awkward...
2. 171 points: flyingdrums's comment in Iron Gwazi Weekly(ish) Aerial Update: March 11th, 2020 - The Final Photo
3. 136 points: sonimatic14's comment in I don’t care if people say “this isn’t a coaster”, in these times of lockdown I’ll take any credit I can find. This is the only one that is currently operating (tomorrow it will also be locked down) and we drove 137km/85mi/1h 35m to ride it 10 times. My daughter’s 157th credit btw.
4. 135 points: Millennium1995's comment in POV -Custom Model Roller Coaster Built In My Bedroom!
5. 123 points: BigMothInDaHouse's comment in My daily cuarantine drawing! Today I bring you a crazy concept: do you remember "Loop the loop" at Coney Island in 1910? Well, what if instead of a loop it had been built a cobra-roll with a launched by slingshot system powered by steam and a water-pool brakes? Would you like to give a try?
6. 119 points: AtomicChef's comment in Emperor is testing!! (Credit: SeaWorld San Diego)
7. 116 points: Tremic's comment in IRON GWAZI IS NOW TESTING! (photo by Midway Mayhem)
8. 100 points: RCJohnny's comment in POV -Custom Model Roller Coaster Built In My Bedroom!
9. 100 points: friendofjudy's comment in Anyone else collect nanocoasters?
10. 95 points: aqua_supreme's comment in IRON GWAZI IS NOW TESTING! (photo by Midway Mayhem)

Generated with BBoe's Subreddit Stats