Long post ahead. I've tried to jot every basic thing that I've learnt. I've a used a para or two from a post by Aayu (her dad owns reddit btw) because I thought she phrased it good. I've included about things that I personally had experience with for this to be authentic but the word is "mostly" tho. So I hope this helps you. If you think I've misinformed anything, comment it down below.
Getting started in Skincare can be overwhelming, what ingredients do what, what all are safe, what all are soothing, in what order should they be layered, at what frequency are they supposed to be used. Basically, there are too many questions, too much stuff to learn, and too little experience. So, I’ll tell you all about the things I’ve learned during the last 10+ months and if you can avoid the mistakes I’ve done, this article would have served its purpose and can rest in peace.
A little disclaimer: while I’d like to think of myself as a person that does quite decent research no matter what the subject, I’d like you to take my advice with a pinch of salt. Do your own research thoroughly before you add a product into your routine.
So, since this is a dummies guide I’ll try and help you make a routine for yourself. I’ll add my advice at the end, based on experience and I hope this would be your greater take away as the rest info can be found anywhere online. And by no means do I mean you guys are dummies btw.
Firstly, let’s address why skincare? As much as we’d like our life to be a perfect bubble, we know that it isn’t the case. Skincare can help every single type of skin. Your skin breaks out? Sure, we can do something about it, you get dry patches on your skin? Sure, we can manage that too, you have no problem with skin whatsoever? We can help your skin be that way till your friends are all old and wrinkly. The idea of skincare is just to provide what it needs for it to remain in a zen state by keeping it happy.
Your skin can just do fine with as basic a routine as Cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen. Rest all is needed for that extra push if you will. Skin, as fascinating and self-sufficient a thing it is, sometimes needs help to function properly. Let’s tackle this baffling thing that skincare is by focusing on one product at a time.
I loved this paragraph that has been put together by AsainBeauty on Reddit.

Understanding what works for you and making informed purchases are a bit of a chicken-and-egg conundrum seeing as you won’t know your skin until you start using a routine, and you won’t know what to purchase until you know your skin! That being said, there are a lot of products out there that work for the majority of people and maybe safe initial purchases, based on your skin type and skin concerns. There may be a perfect product out there for you, but it may take some time to find it as you will have to figure out what specific ingredients your skin likes, which ones it can’t deal with, and which ones are just meh.

Cleanser

We all know that our face similar to our body needs washing too. So, whenever you’re choosing a cleanser make sure it is as gentle as it can be. It shouldn’t be over stripping no matter what. If you have a squeaky clean face after you wash your face and you feel like “ oh my face seems to be pretty clean now, in your face dirt and bacteria ha!, I won’t let you become a zit on my face today” then you’re in trouble. As we know our skin, being an intelligent thing that it is, normally produces oil for preserving itself. But when your face is over cleaned, if that’s a word, your skin rings the emergency alarm and asks for more oil production. So now you might feel like your face is greasy all day long. If you’re a dry skin person then guess what you’re in for more trouble. So, it’s important to choose something that doesn’t strip away your natural oil. I’d advise staying away from the whole anti-acne facewash lines we have, as none of them actually benefit you. Your facewashe should have a pH between 4.5 to 7. pH of products is important for maintaining skin barrier integrity, your skin has an acid mantle (protective barrier on the surface of skin composed of sweat, skin oils, and dead skin cells) that gives it its pH value. This mantle is a thin layer on your skin that protects you from bacteria, virus, fungi making it soft and supple, disrupting this layer can cause effects like inflammation, dermatitis, dry and dehydrated skin. Pollution, pathogens, cleansers, soaps and even water might disrupt your mantle, so it’s important for your cleanser to have a low pH so that it doesn’t make your skin squeaky clean. I know I just complicated the shit out for something like a cleanser, but don’t worry you’ll find a ton of recommendations for cleansers in that pH range.
And 60 seconds should be the max time you should spend washing your face.
Your typical face cleansers are actually used as a second cleanser. There is actually an oil-based cleanser that people use to remove the dirt, make-up, pollution, sunscreen at the end of the day. You can’t actually use oil for this purpose as there’s a risk of it remaining on the skin, even after the second cleanse, and therefore clogging your pores. Oil Cleansers or micellar water or cleansing balms are the better choices for first cleansing as they have emulsifiers that breakdown the oil and therefore helping you remove dirt and makeup along with oil. You might actually be fine without incorporating the first cleanser but many people often report that it actually made a difference, helping them. You can skip cleansers in the morning and it might actually benefit you, remember how we talked about stripping your face of Its natural oils.
Some loved and affordable products: Cetaphil Gentle cleanser, Simple refreshing Facewash.

Moisturizer

This is just more of a trial and error sort of thing. Just choosing a moisturizer with non-comedogenic ingredients (pore-clogging ingredients) would be fine. Oily skin people can like gel textured moisturizers, dry skinned people can benefit from something thick. Typically, the thicker the product, the more moisturizing it is. If you’re oily I’d advise you to stay away from all-natural moisturizers as they usually have too many oils in them and they might clog your pores and you might end up with closed comedones (or clogged pores). There are three things in moisturizers emollients, occlusives, humectants. Emollients provide your skin with required moisturization helping your lipid barrier (your skin has lipids and ceramides and all kinds of stuff) therefore keeping it healthy, Oils, shea butter, ceramides are examples of emollients you can find. Humectants bring moisture to your skin from air thus preventing your skin from getting dry, Glycerin and hyaluronic acid are two main used Humectants. Occlusives prevent water loss from your skin, oils, silicones, dimethicone, mineral oils are examples of occlusives you can usually find in products. These three in a moisturizer can help your skin restore its skin barrier therefore keeping it healthy and happy while minimizing the possibility for irritation. Things to consider when evaluating how well your moisturizer works: • Does it leave your skin feeling bouncy and supple? Happy and healthy, not dry and tight, is what a good moisturizer is aiming for. • How long does that moisturized feeling last? If it only lasts an hour or two, you may want to find a different moisturizer! Perhaps try a thicker moisturizer, like a cream or a balm. If your moisturizer is gentle enough, doesn’t break you out, and does what it’s supposed to do, that’s awesome! Go ahead and enjoy it as part of your skincare routine :). If it turns out that your product irritates your skin, gives you acne, or doesn’t do what it should, it might be time to try a different one!

Sunscreen

It’s the most important step period. Whatever you might be doing to your skin, if you aren’t using sunscreen it would all be a waste.
Sunscreen has the following benefits: • Reduces the risk of skin cancer • Prevents hyperpigmentation • Reduces signs of aging • Protects against signs of photodamage (fine lines, etc.) • Prevents burns (dark-skinned people aren’t affected much)
Things to remember before buying sunscreen: 1. The more the SPF the better it is. 2. It should be waterproof 3. It shouldn’t break you out obviously 4. I’d advise you to stay away from the whole natural line again. 5. If you have dark skin, avoid sunscreens with high percentages of physical filters (zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) as they’ll lend a white cast to your skin. Chemical sunscreens are your best bet. 6. If you have sensitive skin, you may prefer to look for an all physical sunscreen or a physical/chemical combination sunscreen — chemical filters (Oxybenzone, Avobenzone, typically organic ingredients) may cause stinging and irritation for some people. 7. The higher the Pa+++ rating the better protection you get.
Korean Sunscreens (from CosRx and Purito perhaps) are great, they tend to be moisturizing while providing an adequate amount of sun protection
This is it for people that usually have healthy skin or normal skin, from here on you can make your skin better but you’d have to be careful with giving your skin that extra push for dealing with aging, pigmentation, scarring, etc. I’m all up for it, if I can better myself in any way possible, and achieving great things always involves a tad bit of risk as you’d be treading in unfamiliar territory. You can minimalize the risk by studying more about it and all things worth having require effort now, don’t they? I’m just making it sound dramatic because I messed up and I don’t want you to mess up.
After following a basic routine for a few months and building a healthy skin barrier, you can start adding actives to your routine that benefit you and up your skincare game a notch. But do not enter the actives zone unless you’ve found a good Cleanser, moisturizer, and Sunscreen routine. After nailing your basic routine wait a month or two before introducing a new product and introduce a single product at a time. Be patient skincare takes time to show any results.

Let’s talk actives now.

AHAs: Alpha hydroxy acids or it is called, are exfoliating agents that work on surface-level helping you clear out tiny bumps on your skin (CCs). AHAs brighten your skin too helping with hyperpigmentation as they work on the surface level. Even though using acids on your skin sounds terrifying, don’t worry much they are well-researched ingredients and do wonders to your skin. Glycolic acid, Lactic acid (Milder), Mandelic acid (Milder) are commonly found ingredients.
BHAs: BHAs are oil-soluble ingredients so they work at the pore level. The soak up the oil clogging the pore that was about to become a pimple. These help people with acne a lot. Salicylic acid, betaine salicylate (Milder) are commonly found ingredients.
PHAs: PHAs are really mild ingredients and can be very well treated by people with sensitive skin. All these ingredients are exfoliating ingredients that are naturally derived (from almonds, sugarcane, beets, etc;) and can be found in various formulations and products like toners, essence, moisturizers, sometimes cleansers (but these make very less difference as they don’t sit on your face longer). Start with the smallest percentage you can find and start introducing it once a week. No matter what the product says, don’t start anything with the recommended usage. Start bringing it into your routine by using it once a week for a month or so and then increase it to twice a week. You can really irritate your skin if you aren’t careful enough. Be patient, they’ll help you.
Over exfoliation: This is a thing and if you happen to do this, that is exfoliate more than you are supposed to, your skin is going to freak the F out. You’ll damage your skin barrier, deal with more breakouts, your skin will remain red for long periods of time so don’t overuse a product that you have never used before. (I’ve had to deal with this btw)
Niacinamide: This is an active form of vitamin B3 that helps with pigmentation, sebum production and therefore reducing the size of your pores. This ingredient is really well tolerated by everyone and often is referred to as a holy grail ingredient.
Now the I haven’t had experience with ingredients like vitamin C, Retinoids, Azelaic acid, and others yet and so I can’t speak from personal experience but research them thoroughly if you’d want t get into them. They can make your situation worse if you don’t use them carefully. Since I’m a dummy too I’d want to stay away from them for now.
Purging: Also learn about purging. Whenever you’re introducing any actives your skin becomes worse before it gets better (worse as in you’ll deal with more than you usually do, so it changes from person to person). Purging is only possible if you are using products with active exfoliants, such as AHAs, BHAs, scrubs, peels, or retinoids. Why? Because exfoliation causes your skin to push the blockages inside of it out to the surface. Therefore, you can’t really “purge” from using a new moisturizer or new sunscreen. If you feel like you are “purging” after using a new moisturizer (or new product without any actives), you are probably just breaking out from the product. This usually lasts for a few weeks. Watch this video to know more.
Also, here’s a guide on adding products I found recently that might help you.

Skin Concerns

First knowing what skin type you have, helps a lot. Go through this video and then you can understand what might help your skin.
Let’s get through skin concerns now and let’s begin with the most common issue “Acne”.
Oily skin people usually have to deal with acne compared to dry skin people. The frustrating thing about acne is there isn’t a single thing you can point out to be the potential cause. There are literally a ton of factors that can trigger acne. So, first, let’s understand why you breakout. Our skin is made up of pores right and these pores usually have hair follicles, and there are sebaceous glands in these pores that produce oil to nourish your skin and the follicle. But we being humans we shed skin cells quite often and this is called skin cell turnover (about 50% of the dust around you comprises of dead skin cells). Sometimes when too much oil is produced or too many dead skin cells are shed our pores usually make a cocktail of oil and dead skin cells blocking our pores and these are clogged pores. There’s this bacteria called p.acne that enters this cocktail sometimes to party, and when our body detects this invasion it sends white blood cells to fight them off and it becomes this pus-filled pimple. Lack of sleep, stress, hormones, food, etc. can also trigger acne from inside messing up the oil production and skin cell turnover.

Regulating Sebum Production:

1. Look out for ingredients like Niacinamide, green tea.
2. Moisturize your skin so your skin doesn’t have to.
3. Use a cleanser that isn’t over stripping.
4. Include facial oils to lock in the moisture, it really can be a game-changer. Look out for oils with high linoleic acid like Rosehip oil or squalene as they are light on the skin. (oils high in oleic acid can help dry skin by providing sufficient nourishment as they tend to be rich).

Managing dead skin:

Exfoliants: Exfoliation is the way to help our skin with managing its skin cell turnover. You might be familiar with scrubs we usually find in the market. Scrubs are labeled under physical exfoliation. Even though people have been using physical exfoliation for a long time, it is actually proven to be not skin-friendly. The grains in scrubs usually cause micro-tears in your skin and might aggravate aging. Also, avoid scrubs if you have breakouts on your face, or maybe just avoid the region you have the breakout. If it’s cut open it might lead to further inflammation, pigmentation and makes you more susceptible to have another breakout. If you are choosing physical exfoliation make sure the grains are as tiny as possible. I actually find chemical exfoliators beneficial and safe. About which I’ve added in the Actives section. Pigmentation: There’ two types of Pigmentation. One is PIE the other is PIH. PIE is the red spot you usually have after the pimple situation. It is usually red as vessels below the skin are damaged. If you further irritate your skin or expose it to sunlight your skin triggers melanocytes to produce more melanin to save keratinocytes, therefore resulting in PIH. This is the dark spot that you see after the pimple situation. Pigmentation takes months to heal so your best bet is to prevent it from happening. So, what can you do to prevent it? Firstly, stop picking at your pimples. It just irritates your skin and more irritation equals more damage which equals more recovery time. Don’t go under sunlight if you don’t have sunscreen on. It is generally advised to wear sunscreen even though you are indoors. If you don’t wear sunscreen with enough SPF, there’s no point in doing any sort of treatment for those spots. It would all just be a moo point. So, wear sunscreen kids.
For reduction of pigmentation, you can add niacinamide, AHAs, Vitamin C, azelaic acid to your routine. But sunscreen first.

Dry skinned beauties:

Dry skinned people are usually more susceptible to aging so, it’s really important to hydrate and moisturize your skin. You can add ingredients like Hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and choose moisturizers that are usually thick in consistency. Also, add toners and essences for hydration. You can also lookup slugging online. Follow Charlotte Palermino on Instagram for advice.

Advice from experience

I had to learn these things the hard way as I f’d up way too much and I literally gambled with my skin, which I strongly advise you against btw. I was just an idiot honestly, hope you take away these things.

1. Asian beauty over everything: This is just a personal preference actually as they usually tend to be really really mild and beginner-friendly.
   
2. Keep your skin happy. Do not irritate it no matter what. If you find that something is irritating your skin dump it no matter how much you’ve paid for it or just use it on your body. Also, keep your routine really simple. The more products you add the more you are susceptible to irritation and the less you’ll know what might have caused it.
   
3. Don’t underestimate the damage products can do. Introduce any sort of product with caution, always stay on the back foot. Introduce anything in small amounts. You don’t need a ton of ingredients and products to have healthy skin, keep it simple, and only introduce products according to needs.
   
4. Always always always start with the least potent product you can find, to help your skin get used to it.
   
5. No essential oils. Essential oils do more bad than good usually. They might trigger serious irritation, speed up aging. No tea tree oil topical application and all, trust me on this. There were way better ingredients out there that you can experiment with.
   
6. No fragrance can be the way to go if you can find it. Usually, companies don’t disclose the ingredients they’ve used for fragrance and so some ingredient present in there might trigger irritation.
   
7. If you find a red spot you see before the pimple pops up, it usually means something irritated your skin and now it is Inflamed. Spot treating it with pure aloe vera gel helps a ton. You can try wow 99% aloe gel (the only product I trust enough from wow btw).
   
8. STOP TOUCHING YOUR FACE.
   
9. Pimple popping isn’t worth the shit you have to deal with later at all.
   
10. Give your product some time. Sometimes it might not be the product that irritated your skin so don’t jump on that trigger quick.
    
11. No product is going to change your skin overnight, there is no miracle product out there. So, stop being impatient and using it more than you can handle. There is nothing called overnight transformation. No face mask will resolve all your issues. Rome was not built in a day. Skincare is an everyday habit, consistency is a must. Sometimes breakouts/purging can cause you a lot of anxiety. This can make you go overboard and cause more harm than good. Please be patient with your skin and trust the process.
    
12. Don’t be too harsh on yourself, dealing with acne can be hard and takes a toll on our mental health. Just remember it doesn’t define you and you can do something about it.
    
13. With great power comes great responsibility. The ingredients you find people mentioning online that made a difference for them can be really good but if you don’t use them carefully, you might have to deal with more.
    
14. Skincare is a marathon, not a race. Remember that the efforts you’re putting in will benefit you in long term.
    
15. Start reading the ingredients list, you’ll eventually know why there is a specific ingredient in there with time. Use https://incidecoder.com/ to read the ingredient label before purchasing a product.
    
16. Only move to the next product if you’re sure that the current one you’re using doesn’t irritate you.
    
17. Listen to your skin, not to reviews not to YouTubers. Monitor & observe your skin closely. If some advice is producing negative results even after consistent efforts, no matter how many people claim the advice is working for them, drop it, and vice versa. Learn to observe what causes your skin to react positively/negatively. People are paid to make reviews online if you have a channel on YouTube or they sed products free of cost for them to review (barter) so don’t take reviews too seriously unless you trust the source. (primarily wow and mama earth).
    
18. NO DIY. Some natural things that are safe to put on your face are honey, aloe vera, tomato masks now and then for brightening(it has lactic acid in it), and you can spot treat pimples with a mixture of turmeric and milk. Don’t overdo any of these either.
    
19. Sleep early ( I can’t seem to do this but it literally changes your skin game), stay hydrated, change pillow covers often, wash your towels, so basically make sure everything that comes into contact with your skin is clean.
    
20. We are all different. Our skin is not the same. Our environment is not the same. Our genes are not the same. What may be too much for me maybe too little for you and, vice-versa. Please patch-test before you try any new product.
    
21. Skincare YouTubers and Instagrammers: Beauty Within, Liah Yoo, James Welsh, Cassandra Bankson, Hyram, Lab muffin, Samapti Banerjee, Charlotte Palermino, Gothamista, these are some people that I follow.
    

Enjoy the process, enjoy taking time for yourself. Happy skincare people.
Credits: Reddit: skincareaddicts, Asianbeauty, indianskincareaddicts.
Edit: Adding a previous post of mine
Skincare is a journey, so here's some things that help improve your skin quite a bit.
1. Sleep: Sleep is such an affecting factor when I look back. When I was in college I used to sleep at around 4-5 am (just being a normal millennial I guess) and my skin was bad most of the time, there were several other factors that contributed to it too but sleep was definitely one. I realised this recently when I had been in a motorcycle accident and had to have surgery. After the surgery I used to sleep at around 12-1 am and during the initial stages of my recovery and my skin rarely if ever broke out. So yeah even though it's hard to put your phone down missing out on watching those food videos and all just remind yourself you need to have better at any cost.
2. Pillow covers and Bed sheets: If you've ever heard any Youtuber talk about this trust them it's true. When I had the accident I told you about I broke my collarbone, So I couldn't turn around when I'm asleep so my face was never in contact with the bed during the night and as a result my face was clear. I was able to pin this down when I started recovering. I could sleep on my right side (collarbone is broken on the left side) after a while and in a few days my face started to break out on my right side. It was weird kind of, no spot on my left side but a few pimples on my right. So yes Bed sheets and pillow covers do matter. I don't use a pillow but I don't change the bedsheet regularly being the lazy 21 yr old I am, So I try sleeping on my back most of the time. But this isn't effective all the time, so sheets do matter.
3. Water: Come on now what problem do you have with drinking water, just drink plenty of water everyday and stay hydrated. You have literally nothing to lose and everything to gain so just drink your damn water.
4. Digestion and Bowel movement: Include more fibre into your diet for better digestion. Have a big glass of warm water after you wake up empty stomach, it really helps. A healthy gut results in healthy skin.
5. Diet: Stay away from sugar, unhealthy fats, Dairy products. Include healthy fats that are rich in omega 3 like walnuts, egg yolks, flax and chia seeds, and sea food if you're a non vegetarian. My skin quality was always poor , I get strech marks even with the slightest change in my body, so I started adding omega 3 religiously although I don't know if it's made any difference.
( Maintain moderation in diet and you'll be fine)
6. Don't touch your face: It's so hard not to do this but this might be a game changer. No matter how much you want to touch the pimple that's gonna pop out in a day or two refrain from doing it. If you have to touch because it's itching or for some other reason wash your hands properly before hand. I've become too conscious of this recently, I use my right index finger for whenever I need to touch my face. So I avoid touching anything with this finger and it kind of seperates itself on it's own whenever I'm using my hands. Wash your hands at all costs before touching your face.
7. Keep your hair clean: This way you can reduce the acne around your hair line.
8. Don't irritate your skin: Learning to listen to your skin a great skill imo. I never understand if the product is bad or it's just purging and I end up irritating my skin most of the time. I don't understand when my skin is agitated , might be because I don't observe enough, but don't over use anything and stress your skin, any product takes a bit time to show any result. Skin care is a marathon kind of thing, results won't appear instantly so embrace this journey and keep learning :-) 9. Your facial oil is good: It's just produced to retain the moisture on your face. Don't strip it away to get a squeaky clean feeling after you wash your face, this'll just result in more oil production and as a result P. acne gets more feed.
10. Use a Clean Towel: It's comes in contact with your face so there's no need to stress on how important it is for your towels to be clean. Or if you have the patience just air dry your face.

So focus on getting your basics right because if you don't get these right no amount of skin care products can help.

This post consists of me rambling about Embiid, Jokic, KAT, AD, Giannis, and Porzingis. (Be warned, it's pretty long.)

Giannis, AD, and KP have primarily played PF this season, but they're still bigs.

(EDIT: Added Bam and Siakam.)

By the way, why mention Porzingis, you might be thinking, since he hasn't been as good as the other players on the list this season? Well, I thought it would only be appropriate to include KP, as he was the OG "Unicorn" as crowned by KD in 2016, as a 7-footer who can shoot and defend at a high level:

"He can shoot, he can make the right plays, he can defend, he's a 7-footer that can shoot all the way out to the 3-point line," Durant said, according to ESPN's Royce Young. "That's rare. And block shots -- that's like a unicorn in this league."

For the purposes of this post, a "unicorn" is a tall player with All-NBA potential who spends a decent amount of time defending bigs and possesses a strong offensive skillset (hence someone like Rudy Gobert is omitted, as he's a defensive monster but has a more limited offensive skillset).

Embiid is a borderline case with his more old-school, post-oriented offensive skillset, but he's at least a decent and willing shooter from midrange and 3, separating himself from the bigs of yore, and besides, he also makes for a nice contrast with some of the others on the list.
Before we begin...
This post steals/references numerous ideas from the excellent Thinking Basketball YouTube channel, run by Ben Taylor. I highly recommend you also watch these highly informative, well-made, and entertaining player breakdowns (note, some of these were made in 2019, so some statistics they reference might not reflect these players' 2020 production):

• Joel Embiid, 2019
  
• Nikola Jokic, 2019
  
• Karl-Anthony Towns, 2020
  
• Anthony Davis, 2020
  
• Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2019
  
• Kristaps Porzingis has yet to receive a player breakdown. He does appear in this discussion about the Mavs' historic 2020 offense, though.
  
• 2019 top 10 players breakdown, which includes Embiid , Jokic , AD , and Giannis
  

Some terms I'll be using:
per 75 = per 75 possessions, i.e. points per 75 possessions = measure of a player's scoring rate. Each season and each team has a different pace, so adjusting for pace like this allows us to compare players' scoring more fairly than PPG. (Why 75 possessions? There isn't any grand reasoning- the average *(edit) high-usage modern NBA player simply uses roughly 75 possessions/game, so "per 75" stats are perhaps easier to intuitively understand for most people than "per 100" stats, which are available on Basketball Reference.)
TS% = true shooting percentage, i.e. a player's scoring efficiency, basically FG% but accounting for 3-pointers and free-throws
rTS% = relative true shooting percentage, i.e. how efficient a player's scoring is compared to league average scoring efficiency, which is 56.4 TS% in 2019-20 according to Basketball Reference
ORTG and DRTG are a team's offensive and defensive rating, respectively, with numbers taken from Basketball Reference.
rORTG = relative offensive rating, i.e. how good a team's offense is compared to league average offensive rating, which is 110.4 in 2019-20 according to Basketball Reference.
PnR = Pick and roll, DHO = Dribble hand-off

Joel Embiid | "The Process", "Do-a-180"

In a nutshell: Philadephia 76ers C, 7-0, 250lb, All-Star. Basic stats: 23.4/11.8/3.1/0.9/1.3 with 3.1 TOVs on 47.4/34.8/81.4 splits (59.3 TS%), 44 games played. Advanced: 0.203 WS/48, 5.2 BPM.
The good:

• Monster low-post scorer: Embiid has an excellent scoring rate (~28 points per 75). He does most of his damage on offense by being the most prolific post-scorer in the league (91st percentile in post scoring efficiency, 1st in frequency by a large margin), where Embiid's massive frame and Hakeem-esque post-game allow him to make opposing big men look helpless and draw fouls at a heady pace with his relentless bully ball.
  
• Decent scoring efficiency: +3.0 rTS%, it mostly results from a monstrous free-throw rate (10.5 FTA per 75, 81.4 FT%) and elite scoring in the paint (72 FG% from 0-3 feet). His midrange shooting has improved to an acceptable 41% too, and his 3P shooting is a decent 35%. He's been slightly less efficient in the playoffs (56TS%, +1.1 rTS%), with the caveat being that he was afflicted by injury and that the Raptors had an all-time-great playoff defense and former DPOY Marc Gasol, who made his life a nightmare (18/9/3 on 53TS% that series).
  
• DPOY-level defender: Embiid is an amazing defender, stemming from his elite rim protection (1.3bpg, Sixers defense improves by 7 points when he enters a game). His mammoth frame, length, and first-class shot-blocking instincts at the rim have given him a Gobert-like deterrent-effect on offenses, making opponents thinking twice about attacking the basket. The Sixers have 105.1 DRTG with Embiid on the floor, which would rank 3rd in the league. Even when he's having a bad day on offense, he can recover his impact on the other end - he was a +84 over 7 games against the Raptors last playoffs despite shooting poorly from the field, testament to his incredible defense.
  

The not-as-good:

• Heavy feet: Embiid can be slightly lead-footed when switching onto perimeter players, and can be blown past on closeouts. He's still a decent perimeter defender overall, as his length and timing can allow him to recover well with strong contests from behind.
  
• Spotty vision/passing: JoJo has as many turnovers as assists. His decision-making falters somewhat under defensive pressure. His dribble is a bit loose, too, which doesn't help in this aspect. He can make basic passes out of double-teams, though more advanced reads are beyond him for now.
  
• 3P-shooting has some room for improvement: He came into the league shooting 37% in his rookie year, so he's regressed somewhat since then. He's shown marked improvement this season though, making 34.8% of his threes. Joel's next step will be attempting more 3s, since he currently takes fewer than 4 threes a game. His excellent FT% (81.4%) and passable midrange efficiency (41 FG%) bode well for future improvements in his 3P shooting.
  
• Durability: Health will perhaps always be the biggest concern with Embiid- he's consistently missed an average of 20 games/year over his past 3 seasons. When he does see the court, he's generally been great.
  

Nikola Jokic | "Joker", "Big Honey"

In a nutshell: Denver Nuggets C, 7-0, 253lb, weak MVP candidate. Basic stats: 20.2/10.2/6.9/1.2/0.7 with 3.1 TOVs on 52.8/31.4/81.3 splits (60.4 TS%), 65 games played. Advanced: 0.209 WS/48, 7.6 BPM.
The good:

• Passing prodigy: Best playmaking big in NBA history and one of the best passers in the league, period - Jokic's vision is reminiscent of a 7-foot Magic Johnson. He makes every single pass in the playbook quickly and accurately, never looking at his target in order to throw off defenders, adept at using his eyes to manipulate defenses. His outlet passing is the envy of any point guard - throwing outlets like this mid-rebound is unfair. Jokic runs Denver's offense from the high post, as the Nuggets' bevy of guards and wings whir around him for DHOs and PnRs. He rarely ever misses high-% layup-passes, and his otherworldly vision (helped by his 7ft frame allowing him to see over defenders) encourages his teammates to move and cut off the ball because he'll almost certainly get the ball to them the moment they make themselves open. Joker's height and wingspan allow him access to passing lanes not available to most guards and wings, deftly flicking it to teammates around the outstretched arms of defending bigs. Jokic can lob to his more athletic teammates, pitch bounce-passes to cutters through the tiniest of passing windows, no-look skip-passes to 3P-shooters, and is even capable of blending in passes with his shooting motion as he reads the help and rifles the ball neatly into a wide-open teammate's shooting/scoring pocket. For me, he's right up there as one of the finest passers in the game.
  
• Very good, efficient scorer: 23.2 points per 75 on +4 rTS%, mostly stemming from his versatile post game and decent midrange scoring (45 FG%). He's also got excellent touch around the rim, mixing in some floaters and hooks (elite 60.2 FG% from 3-10 ft), along with throwing his weight around in the post and pump-faking defenders into oblivion to get easy looks at the rim (elite 73 FG% from 0-3 ft). He also likes following his own/opponent misses- he has 3 offensive rebounds a game. Encouragingly, there exists some precedent for Joker elevating his offensive production when the team requires it - he put up 25/13/8 on +4.8 rTS% in 2019 playoffs, up from 20/11/7 on +2.9 rTS% in the 2019 regular season.
  
• Not a bad team defender! : Sound positioning and good hands(healthy steal rate for a big, ~2%) + his size and length allow him to retain good value on defense. Denver's defensive rating actually improves by +1.6 points when he's on the court.
  
• Clutch play: Jokic has been one of the most clutch players in the league this season- he even had two game-winners against the Sixers and Wolves. The Nuggets are ranked 5th in clutch-win% in the league (26-14 record in clutch situations) largely due to Jokic's play.
  
• Durability: Jokic has always been highly durable, having yet to miss a game this season. He's missed a grand total of 20 games in his entire 5-year career.
  

The not-as-good:

• Paint-defense: Jokic doesn't offer too much in the way of rim-protection (low block rate for a big, opponents shoot a pretty high 63 FG% in the paint when Jokic is the nearest defender). Although, as mentioned previously, his good positioning and size/length plus IQ/anticipation make him an adequate/decent team defender, often making smart rotations to stall opponent forays to the rim.
  
• Perimeter-defense: He also suffers from some of the the same heavy-footedness that Embiid has when switched onto non-bigs, albeit to a higher degree.
  
• 3P-shooting: Jokic's outside shooting has been pooinconsistent (31.4% from 3), though with some flashes of potential (he shot 40% in 2018, 39% in 2019 playoffs). His solid shooting from the midrange (45%) and from the FT line (81%) bodes well for him stretching out more succesfully in the future.
  
• Is perhaps too selfless on offense: Especially compared to the other behemoths on this list, Joker could probably afford to call on his own number slightly more often when it comes to scoring. I doubt his coaches or teammates would mind him scoring more, given how efficient and unselfish he normally is, and given Jamal Murray is a much less efficient scorer (-0.5 rTS%) than Jokic despite taking more shot attempts than Nikola. Jokic is clearly capable of elevating his scoring, as mentioned earlier. Given that Denver's offense is generally quite good (+2.1 rORTG this season, +2.6 rORTG last season), I don't think Jokic will necessarily change what he's doing as it's been working decently so far. However, if he wants to run a truly elite offense or be considered one of the league's best offensive players (along with Steph, LeBron, Harden, Doncic etc.), he could think about starting to score more.
  

Karl-Anthony Towns | "KAT"

In a nutshell: Minnesota Timberwolves C, 6-11, 248lb, All-Star level. Basic stats: 26.5/10.8/4.4/0.9/1.2 with 3.1 TOVs on 50.8/41.2/79.6 splits (64.2 TS%), 35 games played. Advanced: 0.205 WS/48, 7.8 BPM.
The good:

• Elite, multi-level 3-point threat: KAT is already probably the best 3-point shooting big in NBA history, taking into account volume and efficiency - he's shot 41.2% from 3 on 7.9 attempts per game this season. (For reference, Klay Thompson, from 2015-2019, averaged 42.3% from 3 on 7.7 attempts per game.) The only players to shoot more accurately than Towns on at least as many attempts this year were Duncan Robinson (44.5%, 8.4) and Dāvis Bertāns (42.4%, 8.7). KAT's shooting is is in rarefied air. He doesn't just stand in a corner and wait for Jeff Teague or DLo to pass him the ball, either. He shoots these off-the-dribble, catch-and-shoot, stepbacks, pick-and-pop, diving around screens like he's some oversized Reggie Miller. The spacing and gravity he provides the Minnesota offense with his shooting and off-ball movement is tremendous. He destroyed the Jazz once earlier this season by hitting 7 threes and pulling reigning DPOY Gobert all the way out to the 3-point line, pushing their paint-centric defensive scheme to the breaking point. The Wolves improve by 12 points on offense when he's on the court.
  
• Well-rounded, exceptionally-efficient scorer: His offensive impact isn't limited to shooting, not by a long shot- close out on him too hard and he'll drive to the rim, where he's finishing at an elite 72 FG%. He barely takes any midrange shots- only 7% of his total shots come from there. His post game, however, is decently efficient (61st percentile), though he doesn't utilise it as much as Embiid or Jokic. Overall, due his incredible outside shooting, rim finishing, and decent foul drawing(8.8 FTA per 100, 79.6 FT%), his scoring output is extremely impressive- 27.2 points per 75 on amazing efficiency (+8 rTS%).
  
• -Decent passer: KAT's passing has come along this year (4.4 APG), making good reads when he's doubled in the perimeter or in the post and finding cutters with regularity. He has a passable AST/TO ratio for a big (1.4:1).
  
• Good post-defense: He's good at defending other post scorers (eg. Embiid, AD), where he can take advantage of his length and strength.
  

The not-as-good:

• Not great at most other aspects of defense: His blocks (1.2 bpg) are more the result of block-chasing than good positioning. He's poor at navigating pick-and-roll defense. He's possibly the most laterally-challenged of the bigs in this list, his transition defense is bad, and he often falls for pump fakes. He shows potential for becoming a good rim protector- when he does manage to get in front of his man and get his hands up in time, his opponent rim DFG% is pretty great (~50 FG%)! However, his motor and defensive-IQ aren't the best- he can be found ball-watching sometimes or falling behind opponent plays, losing track of cutters or getting stranded in no man's land. Overall, Minnesota are nearly +8 points better on defense with Towns off the court. (The usually defensively-challenged Wolves were a top 10 defense for a period when KAT missed 15 games earlier on in the season, thought that was also partly because his replacement Gorgui Dieng was a defensive god.)
  
• Some holes in passing game: There's still room for improvement in this aspect. He's still relatively turnover-prone, and misses open high-% passes under the rim sometimes.
  
• Durability: Prior to this season, this was one of Town's greatest strengths- he didn't miss a single game during his 1st 3 seasons and only 5 games his 4th season (last year), and that was only because he got into a car accident. This year, however, the script has changed- he's missed 30 games with a sprained knee followed by a fractured wrist.
  

Anthony Davis | "AD", "The Brow"

In a nutshell: Los Angeles Lakers PF/C, 6-10, 253lb, weak MVP candidate. Basic stats: 26.7/9.4/3.1/1.5/2.4 with 2.5 TOVs on 51.1/33.5/84.5 splits (61.4 TS%), 55 games played. Advanced: 0.262 WS/48, 8.5 BPM.
The good:

• Excellent all-round volume-scorer: 27.8 points per 75, on ~ +5 rTS%. AD has a versatile scoring arsenal, capable of shifting his offensive game to fit cleanly within different offensive schemes (e.g. higher pace in NOLA vs. LeBron's more methodical half-court style). Possesses a variety of post-moves, hooks, spins, fakes, stepbacks, turnarounds, etc.; has a passable face-up game with a good handle, moves like a guard and capable of athletic finishes at the rim. This season he's been skilled at leaking out in transition to receive LeBron's outlet passes. His scoring has translated well to the playoffs- he's averaged 27.3 points per 75 on ~ +5 rTS% in his 3 playoff series.
  
• Vertical spacer: All-time lob-finisher (75 FG% from 0-3 feet). Davis's catch-radius is one of the best in NBA history. Just throw it up in the general direction of the rim and he'll make it work somehow with his touch and athleticism. His addition to the Lakers is a major reason why LeBron's leading the league in assists (2.8 of LeBron's 10.6 assists/game go to AD). It's an underrated part of his game as it allows him to fit with a variety of teams and mesh well with ball-dominant stars.
  
• Decent passer: This is mostly based on his last season at New Orleans, which was his peak year as a passer. In the 2019 season, with their starting PGs missing significant time due to injury, the Pelicans leaned on Jrue Holiday's versatile playmaking gifts more, but they also parked AD in the high post and ran offense through him from there, letting him weaponise his own threat to score by feeding cutters with neat interior pocket passes or spraying kickout passes to shooters when he got doubled. He averaged 4.4 assists and only 2.0 turnovers prior to his trade request, producing a very efficient 2.2:1 AST/TO ratio. However, AD's playmaking has regressed this season (only 3.3 APG, uninspiring AST/TO ratio of 1.25:1) as he's gone more off-ball than in 2019 with LeBron manning point full-time in LA.
  
• DPOY-level defender: Highly likely to finish in the top-2 in voting this season. His weakside rim-protection is elite - the Lakers have had a top-3 defense due in no small part to his efforts. He's highly switchable, too, capable of jumping onto guards and wings as required and scaring them silly. His motor has been excellent and he closes out hard on shooters. He's handsy as well, with good defensive instincts- he has a good eye for anticipating plays and jumping passing lanes. His steal-rate is elite for a big, and he hasn't gambled too much this year, either. He often cleans up mistakes by teammates, allowing them the freedom to play aggressive defense on the perimeter because they know that he's always got a watchful eye out to pounce on any perpetrators who make it past them. Works well in tandem with the Lakers bigs (Dwight/McGee) so that if either of them gets beat, he is still there to protect the rim. Strangely enough, the Lakers' defensive rating actually improves when he sits, likely because LeBron paired with Dwight/McGee are too much for weaker opponent bench units to handle.
  
• Surprisingly healthy: The opposite of KAT - durability is generally considered a weakness of AD's, but this season he's missed only 8 games. Good stuff!
  

The not-as-good:

• 3P/Midrange Shooting: Much like Embiid, AD's 33.5% 3-point shooting on 3.5 attempts/game isn't awful, but it isn't good enough to consistently garner defenders' respect either. His midrange efficiency isn't great, either, too, at about 38 FG%. The latter isn't too detrimental to his overall scoring game, however, as it at least allows him to keeps defender honest in the post. Regardless, his foul drawing (8.3 FTA per 100, 85 FT%) and elite rim finishing does allow him to compensate for his relatively weaker jumper.
  
• Ability to run an offense: It remains to be seen whether AD can run an efficient team offense as a primary initiator, like a slasher like Giannis/LeBron/Kawhi or a full-time high-post operator like Jokic in Denver or Kevin Garnett back in the day on the Wolves. Perhaps further improving his handle or his strength will allow him to do so, since he already proved he possesses decent playmaking vision in New Orleans last year. When LeBron's been off the court this season, his decision-making on-the-ball has been inconsistent at times. Even so, as things stand, the Lakers still have a good offense (+2.6 rORTG) with AD playing primarily off-ball, so I doubt that's going to change much in the foreseeable future.
  
• Some areas for improvement on defense: Ball-watches every so often, though greatly improved from last season. Quicker guards can still occasionally blow by him. Misses the odd help scenario. Gambles sporadically for steals, though it works out for him more often than not. The KAT's and Embiid's and Giannis's of the world have sometimes caused him trouble before, though he often holds his own too.
  

Giannis Antetokounmpo | "The Greek Freak"

In a nutshell: Milwaukee Bucks PF/C, 6-11, 242lb, strong MVP candidate. Basic stats: 29.6/13.7/5.8/1.0/1.0 with 3.7 TOVs on 54.7/30.6/63.3 splits (60.8 TS%), 57 games played. Advanced: 0.282 WS/48, 11.5 BPM.
The good:

• All-time-level slasher and rim-finisher: Elite drive-and-kick game that is the crux of Milwaukee's 7th-ranked offense. A monster in transition, and getting increasingly comfortable as a shooter in half-court situations. Has some post-moves too, with some basic fadeaways, flip shots, and hooks, made all the more dangerous with his incredible wingspan. Has started taking more midrange and three-point jumpshots off-the-dribble this season.
  
• Elite volume scorer: Giannis has the highest scoring rate in the league (yes, higher than James Harden), on good efficiency: 32.9 points per 75 on ~ +4.5 rTS%. He is the likely MVP, leading a historically good Bucks team while averaging only 30.9 minutes per game. There are some worries that elite playoff defenses (most famously, the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 ECF) can limit his scoring output (22/14/6 on 52 TS% that series), but it's really only the very very best of defenses, with ideal personnel and scheme, that have proven that they can slow him down. He mowed down Boston's 1st- and 7th-ranked defenses in consecutive postseasons, to the tune of 26/12/5 on 62 TS% in 2018, and 28/11/5 on 62 TS% in 2019. What the Raptors accomplished in 2019 isn't easily replicable.
  
• Transition terror: The most prolific transition scorer in the league, with his long, long strides, speed, length, and poweskill around the rim. Also, shoutout to his huge hands and underrated handle for letting to him to move as fast as he does with the ball.
  
• DPOY-level defender: The favourite to win the award this season, he's a high-level rim-deterrent with his length, instincts, and athleticism. Opponents score an anemic 41% at the rim when Giannis is the closest defender, the best mark in the league. He's also a skilled perimeter defender. Milwaukee improve by +8.0 points on defense when he's on the court (they have a ridiculous 98.7 DRTG when Giannis plays), and he rates very highly on the majority of available defensive impact metrics. 2019-20 Milwaukee are one of the best defensive teams ever, and Giannis is the best overall defender on the team. He's long, fast, twitchy, and strong, capable of switching 1-5 without batting an eye. With the Lopez twins walling off the rim, Giannis is free to roam and generally wreak havoc where needed, scaring shooters off the line, providing weakside rim-help as required, shadowing ball-handlers step-for-step and occasionally stamping their layups onto the glass with his huge paws or simply clouding their vision with his massive reach. When he is beat by a guard/wing on the perimeter, he doesn't chase blocks, instead staying grounded and disciplined, often funneling these slashers to the equally-long waiting arms of human fly-swatter Brook Lopez at the rim as the Bucks' game-plan decrees, while he stalks them from behind, helping effectively make the paint a no-fly zone. Much like AD, his condor wingspan shrinks passing lanes and deters high-leverage interior passes.
  
• Decent passer: An adept and willing passer for a 7-foot human, gathering 5.8 APG this season. He's skilled at lasering kickouts to Milwaukee's armada of shooters if his initial penetration fails/draws help defenders, and has some success making tight interior passes near the rim.
  
• Durability: Giannis is rarely injured.
  

The not-as-good:

• Some areas to improve in terms of passing/vision: Has room to improve in terms of interior passing, sometimes doesn't recognise open cutters or the passes themselves can be off-target etc.. Turnover-prone at times, has imperfect decision-making if he's under intense ball-pressure by elite defensive bigs/wings (guys like Bam, Embiid, Jonathan Isaac). Notably, the Raptors' monster playoff defense led by the length and IQ of Kawhi/Gasol/Siakam greatly tested his passing ability and decision-making last playoffs, leading to him turning the ball over much more often than usual (5.5 assists : 4.2 turnovers).
  
• Poor outside shooting: Giannis has become much more comfortable taking these shots, attempting nearly 5 a game this season, but he's still not very good at making them (30.6 3P%). Defenses still heave a sigh of relief when they see him pulling up for 3. He's also shooting 38% from midrange, which isn't much better.
  
• Some areas for improvement on defense: Has occasional lapses on off the ball, arriving late on help, whether due to motoball-watching or not recognising plays until it's too late; can get blown past by quick guards due when he closes out sometimes (though his length/athleticism helps clean up some of his own errors); has trouble navigating screens sometimes because he's so large. Like AD, elite post-players can still overpower him on occasion, but luckily for Giannis there aren't that many elite post players any more.
  
• FT shooting: This could be an aberration, but his FT-shooting has greatly regressed this season, at 63 FT%. This can limit his effectiveness on offense in clutch situations (notably, he shot a ghastly 58% from the line against the Raptors in last season's ECF), and put a cap on his overall scoring efficiency. Prior to 2020, he's shot 74% in the regular season, so he's certainly capable of being a decent FT-shooter.
  

Kristaps Porzingis | "KP", "Unicorn"

In a nutshell: Dallas Mavericks PF/C, 7-3, 240lb, Sub-All Star. Basic stats: 19.2/9.5/1.7/0.7/2.1 with 1.6 TOVs on 42.0/34.9/77.6 splits (54.0 TS%), 51 games played. Advanced: 0.129 WS/48, 1.5 BPM.
The good:

• Potential elite shooter: Porzingis's offensive potential still lies mainly in his incredible shooting (40% from 3 in 2018), though he's yet to recover that elite form this season. However, he remains highly dangerous, taking a wide variety of threes at a very high rate (7.1 attempts per game) and hitting a decent enough percentage of them (35%) that defenders have to respect his shot. In his last 14 games, he averaged 37% on 9.1 attempts per game. Much like KAT, he's a dynamic shooter, shooting off movement, off-the-dribble, off-the-catch (& pick-and-pop), pulling up from well behind the 3-point line, etc., spacing the floor for Dallas's resident offensive genius Luka to go to work.
  
• Good rim finisher: He finishes very well at the rim (72 FG%).
  
• Elite paint defender: Porzingis flashes All-Defensive value with his rim-protection (led the league in blk% in 2018, is 6th in blk% and has very good paint DFG% of 49.5% in 2020), and defensive instincts. The Mavs improve by 3.2 points on defense with Porzingis on the floor. His oft-maligned rebounding has greatly improved this season, too, snagging almost 10 boards a game, up from 6.6 in his last healthy season on the Knicks.
  

The not-as-good:

• Very limited playmaking: KP's passing/vision remains his weakest suit (1.7 assists/game). He's actually improved slightly this season, being a more willing passer and participant in Dallas's dynamic offense, but his assist rate still lags in the single digits, at 8.6% (for reference, AD's is about 15%, KAT 23%, Jokic 34%), and he has almost as many turnovers as assists.
  
• Scoring efficiency/shooting: His poor shooting to start the season coming off a serious injury hurt his efficiency, which is currently 2 points below league average (-2 rTS%). He averaged an excellent 60TS% in his final 14 games, though, signs that he was rounding into form before the quarantine hit.
  
• Not a great perimeter defender, but still decent: With his lanky 7'3'' frame, he's not the best at closing out to shooters (opposing players hit 40% of their threes when he's the closest defender), and while he can move his feet decently for a big and he's surprisingly athletic, his fundamentals defending the perimeter and effort can seemingly be lacking sometimes: he's often "flat-footed, erect", and doesn't always have his hands up.
  
• Durability: KP has missed a season and a half prior to this one with a torn ACL, and missed 15 games this season too. His health remains a huge asterisk, though it's promising that he was healthy and playing games up until the quarantine hit - he played 20 of the Mavs' last 25 games.
  

That's it for today. Thanks for reading!
**JUST KIDDING, I FORGOT ABOUT BAM.

Bam Adebayo | "Bam", "Bam Bam"

In a nutshell: Miami Heat PF/C, 6-9, 255lb, All-Star. Basic stats: 16.2/10.5/5.1/1.2/1.3 with 2.8 TOVs on 56.7/7.7/69.0 splits (60.6 TS%), 65 games played. Advanced: 0.175 WS/48, 3.6 BPM.
The good:

• Versatile inside scorer: 17.6 points per 75 on +4.2 rTS%. Bam was a revelation for the Heat this season, utilising his length and explosive athleticism well to finish at the rim (both from half-court and in transition), scoring at an elite rate (73.5 FG%) from 0-3ft. He's an adept lob-finisher from Miami's guards, with about 72% of his total baskets being assisted - for comparison's sake, AD, a similarly adept off-ball rim-finisher (albeit on better efficiency and much higher volume), has about 64% of his total baskets assisted. Similar to AD, Bam's far from a one-trick pony when it comes to scoring, often running pick-and-rolls and hand-offs with Miami's army of guards and wings (he has especially good chemistry with Duncan Robinson and Jimmy Butler) to find clean looks at the rim. He often employs his 7.1ft wingspan and athleticism to rebound team misses (including his own), with 2.5 offensive rebounds/game either resulting in tip-ins or neat passes to open teammates. He's got surprisingly deft touch further away from the rim, too, with little floaters, finger-rolls, and hooks in the paint (outside the painted area), finishing there at an impressive 45% rate (his hooks are especially efficient, going in 56% of the time). Outside of the paint, his short-midrange game is money, too, for a big, finishing 42% of his short midrange attempts. Going any further than that, though, yields diminishing returns for Bam - he shoots a woeful 19 FG% outside 16 feet. Fortunately for Miami, though, Bam sticks to his strengths, with only 7% of his total shot attempts coming from outside 16ft.
  
• Elite passer for a big: Outside of Jokic and Draymond, there isn't a better passing big in the game today. His 5.1 assists/game are impressive enough, but it's the way he goes about getting these dimes that stands out. Coach Spoelstra has effectively given him the keys to Miami's offense this season for a reason- his offensive IQ is excellent, and he routinely makes quick and smart decisions with the ball in his hands. As stated earlier, he's Miami's primary high post operator, with Bam's dribble handoffs (DHOs) and PnRs with their guards being one of the primary features of their offense. His low post passing is great, too, often setting up Miami's other bigs with adept interior bounce passes and lobs when the help commits to him, and he can drive-and-kick to the Heat's shooters as well, Giannis-style. In transition, he's fully capable of and willing to grab a defensive rebound and start the break on his own - he's got a really good handle for a big - either creating his own score with that elite paint finishing we talked about, or making quick kickouts to Duncan Robinson for transition 3s. If a transition score doesn't happen at first, he will push for a quick DHO with a guard, with Bam's elite screening and Miami's elite shooters meaning that said 3PA is highly likely to go in. Bam is highly active on offense, too, always either scoring, setting a screen, or orchestrating from the elbows.
  
• Elite, multi-positional defender: In the words of Zach Lowe's excellent piece on Bam, he is "addicted" to defense. Bam is an incredibly high-motor and versatile defender, and is already an All-Defensive lock in his first season as a starter. His steal rates (elite for a big) and block rates speak for themselves, but his versatility is what stands out the most - he's equally capable when switched onto Stephen Curry as he is Giannis Antetokounmpo. Opponents shoot worse from every spot on the floor when Bam is the closest defender (43 FG% overall), be it from 3 (33.8%) or in the paint (55.8%). Bam's footwork and fundamentals guarding the perimeter are impeccable, shuffling perfectly along with guards and wings as they try to dribble past, reminiscent of Draymond or KG, and his strength and wingspan allows him to bang down low with the behemoths of the league as well, despite standing at 'only' 6-8. He's a ferocious and competitive rebounder, too, a major contributor to Miami's 3rd-ranked defensive rebounding rate.
  
• Durability: Bam has played in every single game for Miami the past two seasons.
  

The less good:

• Some gaps in playmaking: He's a bit too excitable sometimes, and can turn the ball over trying to squeeze the ball through tiny gaps between defenders' arms near the rim. I love his aggression and offensive ideas, though - these high percentage passes put a lot of pressure on opponent defenses. His AST/TO ratio of 1.8:1 is still fantastic for a player who's helping Jimmy Butler run a strong Miami offense (+2.3 rORTG) for the first time. He can miss the shooting pocket occasionally too, and his vision isn't perfect, missing open teammates on occasion. With more experience and once he becomes a more dangerous scorer, he will presumably become a more effective passer as passing-lanes become more open when he starts to command more defensive attention.
  
• Non-existent 3P shooting: Bam is (correctly) completely ignored by defenders on the perimeter (once again, he shoots a horrendous 19 FG% outside 16 feet). The Heat's system masks these flaws, making great use of his physical gifts as a fantastic and physical screener and elite passing big in DHOs and PnRs. His shot selection helps issues, too, as the vast majority (93%) of his shot attempts come inside 16 feet. On other teams with fewer offensive weapons, his lack of spot up shooting would likely become a larger issue.
  
• Lower scoring rate than peers: Bam's scoring rate pales in comparison to some of the other guys in this list, and there will be a ways to go before he becomes a primary scoring option. His post game is below average (40th percentile), his ISO-scoring is only barely passable (50th percentile). In the PnR he's proficient as both a roll-man (67th percentile) and, amusingly, on very low volume, as a ball-handler (84th percentile). Perhaps expanding his post-game will allow Miami to run more offense through him like Denver do with Jokic, or Philly with Embiid/Lakers with AD. Alternatively, he could practise and develop his handle and outside-shooting more, lean into the more guard-like qualities of his game.
  
• Some defensive flaws: Bam's rim protection lags behind the best (Gobert, AD, Lopez, Embiid, Giannis, Draymond, Isaac etc.), and larger centers can still finish over him on occasion- his 6'8" frame probably comes into play here. While Bam's man defense is impeccable, his team defensive impact seems to lag behind slightly- he's possibly a touch slow on help rotations occasionally or ball-watches sometimes. Miami's defensive rating with Bam on the floor would rank around 12th in the league (109.6 DRTG, +0.8 rDRTG), and it "only" improves by +1.7 points when Bam enters the game. However, defense, of course, is a team effort- the Jazz's seemingly perpetual top-5 defense dropped to 11th this year, even though Gobert hasn't missed a step - losing defensive stalwarts in Favors and Rubio probably contributed to the descent. In Miami's case, key starter Duncan Robinson isn't a great defender, and they lack good defensive bigs outside of Adebayo; backup Cs Leonard and Olynyk (primarily shooters) are woeful rim protectors, and Jones Jr is decent but mostly plays SF. It's perhaps to Bam's and Butler's (and Spoelstra's) credit that the team has a positive defensive rating at all.
  

EDIT 2:

- Mike Prada of SB Nation on JAREN JACKSON JR.

- PASCAL SIAKAM

This post consists of me rambling about Embiid, Jokic, KAT, AD, Giannis, and Porzingis. (Be warned, it's pretty long.)

Giannis, AD, and KP have primarily played PF this season, but they're still bigs.

(EDIT: Added Bam and Siakam.)

By the way, why mention Porzingis, you might be thinking, since he hasn't been as good as the other players on the list this season? Well, I thought it would only be appropriate to include KP, as he was the OG "Unicorn" as crowned by KD in 2016, as a 7-footer who can shoot and defend at a high level:

"He can shoot, he can make the right plays, he can defend, he's a 7-footer that can shoot all the way out to the 3-point line," Durant said, according to ESPN's Royce Young. "That's rare. And block shots -- that's like a unicorn in this league."

For the purposes of this post, a "unicorn" is a tall player with All-NBA potential who spends a decent amount of time defending bigs and possesses a strong offensive skillset (hence someone like Rudy Gobert is omitted, as he's a defensive monster but has a more limited offensive skillset).

Embiid is a borderline case with his more old-school, post-oriented offensive skillset, but he's at least a decent and willing shooter from midrange and 3, separating himself from the bigs of yore, and besides, he also makes for a nice contrast with some of the others on the list.
Before we begin...
This post steals/references numerous ideas from the excellent Thinking Basketball YouTube channel, run by Ben Taylor. I highly recommend you also watch these highly informative, well-made, and entertaining player breakdowns (note, some of these were made in 2019, so some statistics they reference might not reflect these players' 2020 production):

• • Joel Embiid, 2019
• • Nikola Jokic, 2019
• • Karl-Anthony Towns, 2020
• • Anthony Davis, 2020
• • Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2019
• • Kristaps Porzingis has yet to receive a player breakdown. He does appear in this discussion about the Mavs' historic 2020 offense, though.
• • 2019 top 10 players breakdown, which includes Embiid , Jokic , AD , and Giannis

Some terms I'll be using:
per 75 = per 75 possessions, i.e. points per 75 possessions = measure of a player's scoring rate. Each season and each team has a different pace, so adjusting for pace like this allows us to compare players' scoring more fairly than PPG. (Why 75 possessions? There isn't any grand reasoning- the average *(edit) high-usage modern NBA player simply uses roughly 75 possessions/game, so "per 75" stats are perhaps easier to intuitively understand for most people than "per 100" stats, which are available on Basketball Reference.)
TS% = true shooting percentage, i.e. a player's scoring efficiency, basically FG% but accounting for 3-pointers and free-throws
rTS% = relative true shooting percentage, i.e. how efficient a player's scoring is compared to league average scoring efficiency, which is 56.4 TS% in 2019-20 according to Basketball Reference
ORTG and DRTG are a team's offensive and defensive rating, respectively, with numbers taken from Basketball Reference.
rORTG = relative offensive rating, i.e. how good a team's offense is compared to league average offensive rating, which is 110.4 in 2019-20 according to Basketball Reference.
PnR = Pick and roll, DHO = Dribble hand-off

Joel Embiid | "The Process", "Do-a-180"

In a nutshell: Philadephia 76ers C, 7-0, 250lb, All-Star. Basic stats: 23.4/11.8/3.1/0.9/1.3 with 3.1 TOVs on 47.4/34.8/81.4 splits (59.3 TS%), 44 games played. Advanced: 0.203 WS/48, 5.2 BPM.
The good:

• • Monster low-post scorer: Embiid has an excellent scoring rate (~28 points per 75). He does most of his damage on offense by being the most prolific post-scorer in the league (91st percentile in post scoring efficiency, 1st in frequency by a large margin), where Embiid's massive frame and Hakeem-esque post-game allow him to make opposing big men look helpless and draw fouls at a heady pace with his relentless bully ball.
• • Decent scoring efficiency: +3.0 rTS%, it mostly results from a monstrous free-throw rate (10.5 FTA per 75, 81.4 FT%) and elite scoring in the paint (72 FG% from 0-3 feet). His midrange shooting has improved to an acceptable 41% too, and his 3P shooting is a decent 35%. He's been slightly less efficient in the playoffs (56TS%, +1.1 rTS%), with the caveat being that he was afflicted by injury and that the Raptors had an all-time-great playoff defense and former DPOY Marc Gasol, who made his life a nightmare (18/9/3 on 53TS% that series).
• • DPOY-level defender: Embiid is an amazing defender, stemming from his elite rim protection (1.3bpg, Sixers defense improves by 7 points when he enters a game). His mammoth frame, length, and first-class shot-blocking instincts at the rim have given him a Gobert-like deterrent-effect on offenses, making opponents thinking twice about attacking the basket. The Sixers have 105.1 DRTG with Embiid on the floor, which would rank 3rd in the league. Even when he's having a bad day on offense, he can recover his impact on the other end - he was a +84 over 7 games against the Raptors last playoffs despite shooting poorly from the field, testament to his incredible defense.

The not-as-good:

• • Heavy feet: Embiid can be slightly lead-footed when switching onto perimeter players, and can be blown past on closeouts. He's still a decent perimeter defender overall, as his length and timing can allow him to recover well with strong contests from behind.
• • Spotty vision/passing: JoJo has as many turnovers as assists. His decision-making falters somewhat under defensive pressure. His dribble is a bit loose, too, which doesn't help in this aspect. He can make basic passes out of double-teams, though more advanced reads are beyond him for now.
• • 3P-shooting has some room for improvement: He came into the league shooting 37% in his rookie year, so he's regressed somewhat since then. He's shown marked improvement this season though, making 34.8% of his threes. Joel's next step will be attempting more 3s, since he currently takes fewer than 4 threes a game. His excellent FT% (81.4%) and passable midrange efficiency (41 FG%) bode well for future improvements in his 3P shooting.
• • Durability: Health will perhaps always be the biggest concern with Embiid- he's consistently missed an average of 20 games/year over his past 3 seasons. When he does see the court, he's generally been great.

Nikola Jokic | "Joker", "Big Honey"

In a nutshell: Denver Nuggets C, 7-0, 253lb, weak MVP candidate. Basic stats: 20.2/10.2/6.9/1.2/0.7 with 3.1 TOVs on 52.8/31.4/81.3 splits (60.4 TS%), 65 games played. Advanced: 0.209 WS/48, 7.6 BPM.
The good:

• • Passing prodigy: Best playmaking big in NBA history and one of the best passers in the league, period - Jokic's vision is reminiscent of a 7-foot Magic Johnson. He makes every single pass in the playbook quickly and accurately, never looking at his target in order to throw off defenders, adept at using his eyes to manipulate defenses. His outlet passing is the envy of any point guard - throwing outlets like this mid-rebound is unfair. Jokic runs Denver's offense from the high post, as the Nuggets' bevy of guards and wings whir around him for DHOs and PnRs. He rarely ever misses high-% layup-passes, and his otherworldly vision (helped by his 7ft frame allowing him to see over defenders) encourages his teammates to move and cut off the ball because he'll almost certainly get the ball to them the moment they make themselves open. Joker's height and wingspan allow him access to passing lanes not available to most guards and wings, deftly flicking it to teammates around the outstretched arms of defending bigs. Jokic can lob to his more athletic teammates, pitch bounce-passes to cutters through the tiniest of passing windows, no-look skip-passes to 3P-shooters, and is even capable of blending in passes with his shooting motion as he reads the help and rifles the ball neatly into a wide-open teammate's shooting/scoring pocket. For me, he's right up there as one of the finest passers in the game.
• • Very good, efficient scorer: 23.2 points per 75 on +4 rTS%, mostly stemming from his versatile post game and decent midrange scoring (45 FG%). He's also got excellent touch around the rim, mixing in some floaters and hooks (elite 60.2 FG% from 3-10 ft), along with throwing his weight around in the post and pump-faking defenders into oblivion to get easy looks at the rim (elite 73 FG% from 0-3 ft). He also likes following his own/opponent misses- he has 3 offensive rebounds a game. Encouragingly, there exists some precedent for Joker elevating his offensive production when the team requires it - he put up 25/13/8 on +4.8 rTS% in 2019 playoffs, up from 20/11/7 on +2.9 rTS% in the 2019 regular season.
• • Not a bad team defender! : Sound positioning and good hands(healthy steal rate for a big, ~2%) + his size and length allow him to retain good value on defense. Denver's defensive rating actually improves by +1.6 points when he's on the court.
• • Clutch play: Jokic has been one of the most clutch players in the league this season- he even had two game-winners against the Sixers and Wolves. The Nuggets are ranked 5th in clutch-win% in the league (26-14 record in clutch situations) largely due to Jokic's play.
• • Durability: Jokic has always been highly durable, having yet to miss a game this season. He's missed a grand total of 20 games in his entire 5-year career.

The not-as-good:

• • Paint-defense: Jokic doesn't offer too much in the way of rim-protection (low block rate for a big, opponents shoot a pretty high 63 FG% in the paint when Jokic is the nearest defender). Although, as mentioned previously, his good positioning and size/length plus IQ/anticipation make him an adequate/decent team defender, often making smart rotations to stall opponent forays to the rim.
• • Perimeter-defense: He also suffers from some of the the same heavy-footedness that Embiid has when switched onto non-bigs, albeit to a higher degree.
• • 3P-shooting: Jokic's outside shooting has been pooinconsistent (31.4% from 3), though with some flashes of potential (he shot 40% in 2018, 39% in 2019 playoffs). His solid shooting from the midrange (45%) and from the FT line (81%) bodes well for him stretching out more succesfully in the future.
• • Is perhaps too selfless on offense: Especially compared to the other behemoths on this list, Joker could probably afford to call on his own number slightly more often when it comes to scoring. I doubt his coaches or teammates would mind him scoring more, given how efficient and unselfish he normally is, and given Jamal Murray is a much less efficient scorer (-0.5 rTS%) than Jokic despite taking more shot attempts than Nikola. Jokic is clearly capable of elevating his scoring, as mentioned earlier. Given that Denver's offense is generally quite good (+2.1 rORTG this season, +2.6 rORTG last season), I don't think Jokic will necessarily change what he's doing as it's been working decently so far. However, if he wants to run a truly elite offense or be considered one of the league's best offensive players (along with Steph, LeBron, Harden, Doncic etc.), he could think about starting to score more.

Karl-Anthony Towns | "KAT"

In a nutshell: Minnesota Timberwolves C, 6-11, 248lb, All-Star level. Basic stats: 26.5/10.8/4.4/0.9/1.2 with 3.1 TOVs on 50.8/41.2/79.6 splits (64.2 TS%), 35 games played. Advanced: 0.205 WS/48, 7.8 BPM.
The good:

• • Elite, multi-level 3-point threat: KAT is already probably the best 3-point shooting big in NBA history, taking into account volume and efficiency - he's shot 41.2% from 3 on 7.9 attempts per game this season. (For reference, Klay Thompson, from 2015-2019, averaged 42.3% from 3 on 7.7 attempts per game.) The only players to shoot more accurately than Towns on at least as many attempts this year were Duncan Robinson (44.5%, 8.4) and Dāvis Bertāns (42.4%, 8.7). KAT's shooting is is in rarefied air. He doesn't just stand in a corner and wait for Jeff Teague or DLo to pass him the ball, either. He shoots these off-the-dribble, catch-and-shoot, stepbacks, pick-and-pop, diving around screens like he's some oversized Reggie Miller. The spacing and gravity he provides the Minnesota offense with his shooting and off-ball movement is tremendous. He destroyed the Jazz once earlier this season by hitting 7 threes and pulling reigning DPOY Gobert all the way out to the 3-point line, pushing their paint-centric defensive scheme to the breaking point. The Wolves improve by 12 points on offense when he's on the court.
• • Well-rounded, exceptionally-efficient scorer: His offensive impact isn't limited to shooting, not by a long shot- close out on him too hard and he'll drive to the rim, where he's finishing at an elite 72 FG%. He barely takes any midrange shots- only 7% of his total shots come from there. His post game, however, is decently efficient (61st percentile), though he doesn't utilise it as much as Embiid or Jokic. Overall, due his incredible outside shooting, rim finishing, and decent foul drawing(8.8 FTA per 100, 79.6 FT%), his scoring output is extremely impressive- 27.2 points per 75 on amazing efficiency (+8 rTS%).
• • Decent passer: KAT's passing has come along this year (4.4 APG), making good reads when he's doubled in the perimeter or in the post and finding cutters with regularity. He has a passable AST/TO ratio for a big (1.4:1).
• • Good post-defense: He's good at defending other post scorers (eg. Embiid, AD), where he can take advantage of his length and strength.

The not-as-good:

• • Not great at most other aspects of defense: His blocks (1.2 bpg) are more the result of block-chasing than good positioning. He's poor at navigating pick-and-roll defense. He's possibly the most laterally-challenged of the bigs in this list, his transition defense is bad, and he often falls for pump fakes. He shows potential for becoming a good rim protector- when he does manage to get in front of his man and get his hands up in time, his opponent rim DFG% is pretty great (~50 FG%)! However, his motor and defensive-IQ aren't the best- he can be found ball-watching sometimes or falling behind opponent plays, losing track of cutters or getting stranded in no man's land. Overall, Minnesota are nearly +8 points better on defense with Towns off the court. (The usually defensively-challenged Wolves were a top 10 defense for a period when KAT missed 15 games earlier on in the season, thought that was also partly because his replacement Gorgui Dieng was a defensive god.)
• • Some holes in passing game: There's still room for improvement in this aspect. He's still relatively turnover-prone, and misses open high-% passes under the rim sometimes.
• • Durability: Prior to this season, this was one of Town's greatest strengths- he didn't miss a single game during his 1st 3 seasons and only 5 games his 4th season (last year), and that was only because he got into a car accident. This year, however, the script has changed- he's missed 30 games with a sprained knee followed by a fractured wrist.

Anthony Davis | "AD", "The Brow"

In a nutshell: Los Angeles Lakers PF/C, 6-10, 253lb, weak MVP candidate. Basic stats: 26.7/9.4/3.1/1.5/2.4 with 2.5 TOVs on 51.1/33.5/84.5 splits (61.4 TS%), 55 games played. Advanced: 0.262 WS/48, 8.5 BPM.
The good:

• • Excellent all-round volume-scorer: 27.8 points per 75, on ~ +5 rTS%. AD has a versatile scoring arsenal, capable of shifting his offensive game to fit cleanly within different offensive schemes (e.g. higher pace in NOLA vs. LeBron's more methodical half-court style). Possesses a variety of post-moves, hooks, spins, fakes, stepbacks, turnarounds, etc.; has a passable face-up game with a good handle, moves like a guard and capable of athletic finishes at the rim. This season he's been skilled at leaking out in transition to receive LeBron's outlet passes. His scoring has translated well to the playoffs- he's averaged 27.3 points per 75 on ~ +5 rTS% in his 3 playoff series.
• • Vertical spacer: All-time lob-finisher (75 FG% from 0-3 feet). Davis's catch-radius is one of the best in NBA history. Just throw it up in the general direction of the rim and he'll make it work somehow with his touch and athleticism. His addition to the Lakers is a major reason why LeBron's leading the league in assists (2.8 of LeBron's 10.6 assists/game go to AD). It's an underrated part of his game as it allows him to fit with a variety of teams and mesh well with ball-dominant stars.
• • Decent passer: This is mostly based on his last season at New Orleans, which was his peak year as a passer. In the 2019 season, with their starting PGs missing significant time due to injury, the Pelicans leaned on Jrue Holiday's versatile playmaking gifts more, but they also parked AD in the high post and ran offense through him from there, letting him weaponise his own threat to score by feeding cutters with neat interior pocket passes or spraying kickout passes to shooters when he got doubled. He averaged 4.4 assists and only 2.0 turnovers prior to his trade request, producing a very efficient 2.2:1 AST/TO ratio. However, AD's playmaking has regressed this season (only 3.3 APG, uninspiring AST/TO ratio of 1.25:1) as he's gone more off-ball than in 2019 with LeBron manning point full-time in LA.
• • DPOY-level defender: Highly likely to finish in the top-2 in voting this season. His weakside rim-protection is elite - the Lakers have had a top-3 defense due in no small part to his efforts. He's highly switchable, too, capable of jumping onto guards and wings as required and scaring them silly. His motor has been excellent and he closes out hard on shooters. He's handsy as well, with good defensive instincts- he has a good eye for anticipating plays and jumping passing lanes. His steal-rate is elite for a big, and he hasn't gambled too much this year, either. He often cleans up mistakes by teammates, allowing them the freedom to play aggressive defense on the perimeter because they know that he's always got a watchful eye out to pounce on any perpetrators who make it past them. Works well in tandem with the Lakers bigs (Dwight/McGee) so that if either of them gets beat, he is still there to protect the rim. Strangely enough, the Lakers' defensive rating actually improves when he sits, perhaps because Dwight/McGee are more than weaker opponent bench units can handle.
• • Surprisingly healthy: The opposite of KAT - durability is generally considered a weakness of AD's, but this season he's missed only 8 games. Good stuff!

The not-as-good:

• • 3P/Midrange Shooting: Much like Embiid, AD's 33.5% 3-point shooting on 3.5 attempts/game isn't awful, but it isn't good enough to consistently garner defenders' respect either. His midrange efficiency isn't great, either, too, at about 38 FG%. The latter isn't too detrimental to his overall scoring game, however, as it at least allows him to keeps defender honest in the post. Regardless, his foul drawing (8.3 FTA per 100, 85 FT%) and elite rim finishing does allow him to compensate for his relatively weaker jumper.
• • Ability to run an offense: It remains to be seen whether AD can run an efficient team offense as a primary initiator, like a slasher like Giannis/LeBron/Kawhi or a full-time high-post operator like Jokic in Denver or Kevin Garnett back in the day on the Wolves. Perhaps further improving his handle or his strength will allow him to do so, since he already proved he possesses decent playmaking vision in New Orleans last year. When LeBron's been off the court this season, his decision-making on-the-ball has been inconsistent at times. Even so, as things stand, the Lakers still have a good offense (+2.6 rORTG) with AD playing primarily off-ball, so I doubt that's going to change much in the foreseeable future.
• • Some areas for improvement on defense: Ball-watches every so often, though greatly improved from last season. Quicker guards can still occasionally blow by him. Misses the odd help scenario. Gambles sporadically for steals, though it works out for him more often than not. The KAT's and Embiid's and Giannis's of the world have sometimes caused him trouble before, though he often holds his own too.

Giannis Antetokounmpo | "The Greek Freak"

In a nutshell: Milwaukee Bucks PF/C, 6-11, 242lb, strong MVP candidate. Basic stats: 29.6/13.7/5.8/1.0/1.0 with 3.7 TOVs on 54.7/30.6/63.3 splits (60.8 TS%), 57 games played. Advanced: 0.282 WS/48, 11.5 BPM.
The good:

• • All-time-level slasher and rim-finisher: Elite drive-and-kick game that is the crux of Milwaukee's 7th-ranked offense. A monster in transition, and getting increasingly comfortable as a shooter in half-court situations. Has some post-moves too, with some basic fadeaways, flip shots, and hooks, made all the more dangerous with his incredible wingspan. Has started taking more midrange and three-point jumpshots off-the-dribble this season.
• • Elite volume scorer: Giannis has the highest scoring rate in the league (yes, higher than James Harden), on good efficiency: 32.9 points per 75 on ~ +4.5 rTS%. He is the likely MVP, leading a historically good Bucks team while averaging only 30.9 minutes per game. There are some worries that elite playoff defenses (most famously, the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 ECF) can limit his scoring output (22/14/6 on 52 TS% that series), but it's really only the very very best of defenses, with ideal personnel and scheme, that have proven that they can slow him down. He mowed down Boston's 1st- and 7th-ranked defenses in consecutive postseasons, to the tune of 26/12/5 on 62 TS% in 2018, and 28/11/5 on 62 TS% in 2019. What the Raptors accomplished in 2019 isn't easily replicable.
• • Transition terror: The most prolific transition scorer in the league, with his long, long strides, speed, length, and poweskill around the rim. Also, shoutout to his huge hands and underrated handle for letting to him to move as fast as he does with the ball.
• • DPOY-level defender: The favourite to win the award this season, he's a high-level rim-deterrent with his length, instincts, and athleticism. Opponents score an anemic 41% at the rim when Giannis is the closest defender, the best mark in the league. He's also a skilled perimeter defender. Milwaukee improve by +8.0 points on defense when he's on the court (they have a ridiculous 98.7 DRTG when Giannis plays), and he rates very highly on the majority of available defensive impact metrics. 2019-20 Milwaukee are one of the best defensive teams ever, and Giannis is the best overall defender on the team. He's long, fast, twitchy, and strong, capable of switching 1-5 without batting an eye. With the Lopez twins walling off the rim, Giannis is free to roam and generally wreak havoc where needed, scaring shooters off the line, providing weakside rim-help as required, shadowing ball-handlers step-for-step and occasionally stamping their layups onto the glass with his huge paws or simply clouding their vision with his massive reach. When he is beat by a guard/wing on the perimeter, he doesn't chase blocks, instead staying grounded and disciplined, often funneling these slashers to the equally-long waiting arms of human fly-swatter Brook Lopez at the rim as the Bucks' game-plan decrees, while he stalks them from behind, helping effectively make the paint a no-fly zone. Much like AD, his condor wingspan shrinks passing lanes and deters high-leverage interior passes.
• • Decent passer: An adept and willing passer for a 7-foot human, gathering 5.8 APG this season. He's skilled at lasering kickouts to Milwaukee's armada of shooters if his initial penetration fails/draws help defenders, and has some success making tight interior passes near the rim.
• • Durability: Giannis is rarely injured.

The not-as-good:

• • Some areas to improve in terms of passing/vision: Has room to improve in terms of interior passing, sometimes doesn't recognise open cutters or the passes themselves can be off-target etc.. Turnover-prone at times, has imperfect decision-making if he's under intense ball-pressure by elite defensive bigs/wings (guys like Bam, Embiid, Jonathan Isaac). Notably, the Raptors' monster playoff defense led by the length and IQ of Kawhi/Gasol/Siakam greatly tested his passing ability and decision-making last playoffs, leading to him turning the ball over much more often than usual (5.5 assists : 4.2 turnovers).
• • Poor outside shooting: Giannis has become much more comfortable taking these shots, attempting nearly 5 a game this season, but he's still not very good at making them (30.6 3P%). Defenses still heave a sigh of relief when they see him pulling up for 3. He's also shooting 38% from midrange, which isn't much better.
• • Some areas for improvement on defense: Has occasional lapses on off the ball, arriving late on help, whether due to motoball-watching or not recognising plays until it's too late; can get blown past by quick guards due when he closes out sometimes (though his length/athleticism helps clean up some of his own errors); has trouble navigating screens sometimes because he's so large. Like AD, elite post-players can still overpower him on occasion, but luckily for Giannis there aren't that many elite post players any more.
• • FT shooting: This could be an aberration, but his FT-shooting has greatly regressed this season, at 63 FT%. This can limit his effectiveness on offense in clutch situations (notably, he shot a ghastly 58% from the line against the Raptors in last season's ECF), and put a cap on his overall scoring efficiency. Prior to 2020, he's shot 74% in the regular season, so he's certainly capable of being a decent FT-shooter.

Kristaps Porzingis | "KP", "Unicorn"

In a nutshell: Dallas Mavericks PF/C, 7-3, 240lb, Sub-All Star. Basic stats: 19.2/9.5/1.7/0.7/2.1 with 1.6 TOVs on 42.0/34.9/77.6 splits (54.0 TS%), 51 games played. Advanced: 0.129 WS/48, 1.5 BPM.
The good:

• • Potential elite shooter: Porzingis's offensive potential still lies mainly in his incredible shooting (40% from 3 in 2018), though he's yet to recover that elite form this season. However, he remains highly dangerous, taking a wide variety of threes at a very high rate (7.1 attempts per game) and hitting a decent enough percentage of them (35%) that defenders have to respect his shot. In his last 14 games, he averaged 37% on 9.1 attempts per game. Much like KAT, he's a dynamic shooter, shooting off movement, off-the-dribble, off-the-catch (& pick-and-pop), pulling up from well behind the 3-point line, etc., spacing the floor for Dallas's resident offensive genius Luka to go to work.
• • Good rim finisher: He finishes very well at the rim (72 FG%).
• • Elite paint defender: Porzingis flashes All-Defensive value with his rim-protection (led the league in blk% in 2018, is 6th in blk% and has very good paint DFG% of 49.5% in 2020), and defensive instincts. The Mavs improve by 3.2 points on defense with Porzingis on the floor. His oft-maligned rebounding has greatly improved this season, too, snagging almost 10 boards a game, up from 6.6 in his last healthy season on the Knicks.

The not-as-good:

• • Very limited playmaking: KP's passing/vision remains his weakest suit (1.7 assists/game). He's actually improved slightly this season, being a more willing passer and participant in Dallas's dynamic offense, but his assist rate still lags in the single digits, at 8.6% (for reference, AD's is about 15%, KAT 23%, Jokic 34%), and he has almost as many turnovers as assists.
• • Scoring efficiency/shooting: His poor shooting to start the season coming off a serious injury hurt his efficiency, which is currently 2 points below league average (-2 rTS%). He averaged an excellent 60TS% in his final 14 games, though, signs that he was rounding into form before the quarantine hit.
• • Not a great perimeter defender, but still decent: With his lanky 7'3'' frame, he's not the best at closing out to shooters (opposing players hit 40% of their threes when he's the closest defender), and while he can move his feet decently for a big and he's surprisingly athletic, his fundamentals defending the perimeter and effort can seemingly be lacking sometimes: he's often "flat-footed, erect", and doesn't always have his hands up.
• • Durability: KP has missed a season and a half prior to this one with a torn ACL, and missed 15 games this season too. His health remains a huge asterisk, though it's promising that he was healthy and playing games up until the quarantine hit - he played 20 of the Mavs' last 25 games.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading!
**JUST KIDDING, I FORGOT ABOUT BAM.

Bam Adebayo | "Bam", "Bam Bam"

In a nutshell: Miami Heat PF/C, 6-9, 255lb, All-Star. Basic stats: 16.2/10.5/5.1/1.2/1.3 with 2.8 TOVs on 56.7/7.7/69.0 splits (60.6 TS%), 65 games played. Advanced: 0.175 WS/48, 3.6 BPM.
The good:

• • Versatile inside scorer: 17.6 points per 75 on +4.2 rTS%. Bam was a revelation for the Heat this season, utilising his length and explosive athleticism well to finish at the rim (both from half-court and in transition), scoring at an elite rate (73.5 FG%) from 0-3ft. He's an adept lob-finisher from Miami's guards, with about 72% of his total baskets being assisted - for comparison's sake, AD, a similarly adept off-ball rim-finisher (albeit on better efficiency and much higher volume), has about 64% of his total baskets assisted. Similar to AD, Bam's far from a one-trick pony when it comes to scoring, often running pick-and-rolls and hand-offs with Miami's army of guards and wings (he has especially good chemistry with Duncan Robinson and Jimmy Butler) to find clean looks at the rim. He often employs his 7.1ft wingspan and athleticism to rebound team misses (including his own), with 2.5 offensive rebounds/game either resulting in tip-ins or neat passes to open teammates. He's got surprisingly deft touch further away from the rim, too, with little floaters, finger-rolls, and hooks in the paint (outside the painted area), finishing there at an impressive 45% rate (his hooks are especially efficient, going in 56% of the time). Outside of the paint, his short-midrange game is money, too, for a big, finishing 42% of his short midrange attempts. Going any further than that, though, yields diminishing returns for Bam - he shoots a woeful 19 FG% outside 16 feet. Fortunately for Miami, though, Bam sticks to his strengths, with only 7% of his total shot attempts coming from outside 16ft.
• • Elite passer for a big: Outside of Jokic and Draymond, there isn't a better passing big in the game today. His 5.1 assists/game are impressive enough, but it's the way he goes about getting these dimes that stands out. Coach Spoelstra has effectively given him the keys to Miami's offense this season for a reason- his offensive IQ is excellent, and he routinely makes quick and smart decisions with the ball in his hands. As stated earlier, he's Miami's primary high post operator, with Bam's dribble handoffs (DHOs) and PnRs with their guards being one of the primary features of their offense. His low post passing is great, too, often setting up Miami's other bigs with adept interior bounce passes and lobs when the help commits to him, and he can drive-and-kick to the Heat's shooters as well, Giannis-style. In transition, he's fully capable of and willing to grab a defensive rebound and start the break on his own - he's got a really good handle for a big - either creating his own score with that elite paint finishing we talked about, or making quick kickouts to Duncan Robinson for transition 3s. If a transition score doesn't happen at first, he will push for a quick DHO with a guard, with Bam's elite screening and Miami's elite shooters meaning that said 3PA is highly likely to go in. Bam is highly active on offense, too, always either scoring, setting a screen, or orchestrating from the elbows.
• • Elite, multi-positional defender: In the words of Zach Lowe's excellent piece on Bam, he is "addicted" to defense. Bam is an incredibly high-motor and versatile defender, and is already an All-Defensive lock in his first season as a starter. His steal rates (elite for a big) and block rates speak for themselves, but his versatility is what stands out the most - he's equally capable when switched onto Stephen Curry as he is Giannis Antetokounmpo. Opponents shoot worse from every spot on the floor when Bam is the closest defender (43 FG% overall), be it from 3 (33.8%) or in the paint (55.8%). Bam's footwork and fundamentals guarding the perimeter are impeccable, shuffling perfectly along with guards and wings as they try to dribble past, reminiscent of Draymond or KG, and his strength and wingspan allows him to bang down low with the behemoths of the league as well, despite standing at 'only' 6-8. He's a ferocious and competitive rebounder, too, a major contributor to Miami's 3rd-ranked defensive rebounding rate.
• • Durability: Bam has played in every single game for Miami the past two seasons.

The less good:

• • Some gaps in playmaking: He's a bit too excitable sometimes, and can turn the ball over trying to squeeze the ball through tiny gaps between defenders' arms near the rim. I love his aggression and offensive ideas, though - these high percentage passes put a lot of pressure on opponent defenses. His AST/TO ratio of 1.8:1 is still fantastic for a player who's helping Jimmy Butler run a strong Miami offense (+2.3 rORTG) for the first time. He can miss the shooting pocket occasionally too, and his vision isn't perfect, missing open teammates on occasion. With more experience and once he becomes a more dangerous scorer, he will presumably become a better passer as the passing lanes become more open when he starts to command more defensive attention.
• • Non-existent 3P shooting: Bam is (correctly) completely ignored by defenders on the perimeter (once again, he shoots a horrendous 19 FG% outside 16 feet). The Heat's system masks these flaws, making great use of his physical gifts as a fantastic and physical screener and elite passing big in DHOs and PnRs. His shot selection helps issues, too, as the vast majority (93%) of his shot attempts come inside 16 feet. On other teams with fewer offensive weapons, his lack of spot up shooting would likely become a larger issue.
• • Lower scoring rate than peers: Bam's scoring rate pales in comparison to some of the other guys in this list, and there will be a ways to go before he becomes a primary scoring option. His post game is below average (40th percentile), his ISO-scoring is only barely passable (50th percentile). In the PnR he's proficient as both a roll-man (67th percentile) and, amusingly, on very low volume, as a ball-handler (84th percentile). Perhaps expanding his post-game will allow Miami to run more offense through him like Denver do with Jokic, or Philly with Embiid/Lakers with AD. Alternatively, he could practise and develop his outside shooting more.
• • Some defensive flaws: Bam's rim protection lags behind the best (Gobert, Giannis, AD, Brook Lopez, Embiid, Draymond, Jonathan Isaac etc.), and larger centers can still finish over him on occasion (his 6-8 frame probably comes into play here). While Bam's man defense is impeccable, his team defensive impact seems to lag behind slightly- he's possibly a touch slow on help rotations occasionally or ball-watches sometimes. Miami's defensive rating with Bam on the floor would rank around 12th in the league (109.6 DRTG, +0.8 rDRTG), and it "only" improves by +1.7 points when Bam enters the game. However, defense, of course, is a team effort- the Jazz's seemingly perpetual top 5 defense dropped to 11th this year, even though Gobert's arguably been better on that end than he's ever been from the eyetest - losing defensive stalwarts in Favors and Rubio probably contributed to that. In Miami's case, key starter Duncan Robinson isn't a great defender, and they lack good defensive bigs outside of Adebayo- there's only so much one man can do; backup Cs Leonard and Olynyk (primarily shooters) are woeful rim protectors, and Jones Jr is decent but primarily plays SF. It's to Bam's and Butler's (and Spoelstra's) credit that the team has a positive defensive rating at all.

EDIT 2: Some exposition on per 75 by pbcorporeal

A modern NBA game has about 100 possessions (a little more actually). An important player will usually average about 34-35 minutes a game which is a little under 75% of the total minutes.
So per 75 brings the stats roughly in line with what we're used to a player's stats being on a per game basis so recognising what a "good" level becomes more intuitive (like using per 36 instead of per 48).

EDIT 3:

- Mike Prada of SB Nation on JAREN JACKSON JR.

- PASCAL SIAKAM

This is the sixth version of the NYAN risks document (based on v5 (v4 (v3 , v2 and original)). These are obsoleted periodically as the old ones get archived to allow for comments again via a new post, to re-examine the risks in light of changes, and for greater visibility.
The purpose of these documents is to provide a best-effort discussion of major risk factors in gambling on NYAN, modeled on the risks disclosure in a 10k (annual report) which is mandated for publicly traded companies in the United States. This document is provided with no guarantee that major risk factors have not been missed, and it is important to recognize my (coinaday) personal bias from holding about one-third of the total supply of NYAN.
Please comment on any risks which are not mentioned here or additional aspects of risks here you think should be further emphasized or any other possible disclosure you think would be helpful to a person considering gambling on NYAN.
Executive summary
Nyancoins have no exchange, no core developer at the moment, uncertain demand, have had inconsistent blocks, are very vulnerable to 51% attacks, have the potential for serious bugs, an uncertain legal situation, concentrated ownership, low liquidity, depend upon the Internet, may be addictive, and could make you wealthy, which has been alleged to lead to more problems.
Introduction: This is my best attempt to collect every major risk factor from buying Nyancoins, although I can offer no warranty of fitness for this information for any purposes. I believe in honesty and forthrightness. Having this available and obvious is a simple matter of basic decency. Much, hopefully all, of this information has been discussed previously in /nyancoins, but this document in particular is about being up-to-date and central. This page will be updated clearly as appropriate if situations change on a best-effort basis (which may mean updates do not happen for months at times, unfortunately; please ping for faster updates).
If you believe that I am missing something, please note any other major risks you see in the comments.
Exchanges:
Nyancoins are not currently traded on any exchange. It may be listed on one minor exchange but have no volume there. Obviously an unlisted cryptocurrency is in a bad situation. I hope to see us gain a listing on an exchange which supports low volume coins in 2020 but I have no current prospect of this and it should be considered a longshot at best.
Previously we traded on Trade Satoshi and prior to that on Cryptopia and prior to that on Cryptsy. All three exchanges failed us (Trade Satoshi delisted without allowing withdrawal; Cryptopia delisted and failed to provide withdrawal and then went bankrupt; Cryptsy went bankrupt). This is a further reminder that exchanges are a major risk and one should be extremely careful to not keep more coins on there than one can comfortably afford to lose.
In theory, there are decentralized exchange technologies, notably CATE; however, I think we currently lack some needed APIs for this. I'm not certain but we haven't demonstrated the capability yet. On-Reddit exchanges are also possible with tipbots, but require trust as they are not atomic. It should be possible to build an "exchangebot" similarly, although I'm not currently aware of one, but my concept would still have the bot as a trusted central party.
Atomic cross-chain transactions seem to me like a very promising core technology ultimately for building exchanges which can be more proveably secure. They could also allow exchanges to share a common listing protocol as well without having to trust the other exchanges (at least, beyond the core protocol development and maintenance; tanstaafl). This is not yet accomplished though and in the meantime we remain vulnerable to periodic exchange failures.
Core developer: Although we have good general tech support in this community and have put up supporting infrastructure, there is not anyone officially currently working on core client code. This is a significant problem for the long-term, although we are not in any immediate known need of changes.
ImASharkRawwwr has returned to the community and may do future client updates, but I'm leaving the lack of core developer risk unchanged until there is an update released. This is not intended as a slight in any way but merely being cautious in the risks document and recognizing that we aren't certain when or if there will be a next release.
Demand: NYAN was introduced in 2014 and during the second half of that year had so little demand that it almost died out. In January 2015 I got involved in the coin and for most of 2015 and 2016 I was the majority of the buying pressure. I base these statements on my recollection of the trading history so far and the fact that I have acquired more than 120 million coins, somewhere around 41% of the coins (latest hodling report, June 2017), as well as my observations that I had usually had the leading major bid, and usually the leading bid regardless of size.
In 2017, I have generally not been a major factor in the demand, as I haven’t had money to spare to gamble on NYAN. In June 2017, we have had a spike in buying from an unknown source.
It is unknown whether significant demand for NYAN will continue. Because its value is purely speculative, it is entirely possible that demand for NYAN could simply end. This is a fundamental risk in gambling on NYAN; it is entirely possible that its value will go to zero and not recover.
By the end of 2019, we lost exchange listing. I know of no current demand for NYAN. I hope to see us listed and demand exist in the future but should not be relied upon. NYAN last traded around 9 satoshi according to coinmarketcap but it may well not even trade that high even if relisted someday - there could be a flood of selling and no buyers.
Inconsistent blocks:
Although NYAN is designed to produce a block every minute, there have been times where there has been more than 24 hours between blocks. This results because of an imperfect difficulty function and low base hashing, along with price fluctuations, which can combine to have a low difficulty making the coin attractive for a flood of hashing power which can lead the difficulty function to overcompensate, leaving it stuck with a high difficulty no longer profitable to mine.
I haven’t observed this lately, that is, I don’t recall incidents of this in 2017, but I’ve been paying far less attention to it as well. It is entirely possible for this to recur, as the difficulty function is not fixed (it would require a hard fork to fix it). We seem to have more baseline hashing which helps to avoid this, but it is possible for us to lose that.
A workaround is to use large transaction fees (I've set my client to 337 NYAN) which is enough to cause pools to generally solve a block even if the chain were otherwise stuck. It may be possible to include a better difficulty function in a hard fork client, but it is unknown when if ever this would be done and it's not yet clear what design improvement if any would fix this.
51% attack: Because of the generally quite low hashing power on NYAN, it is highly vulnerable to a 51% attack. Either a leading pool or a new one could choose to do a denial-of-service attack, whether for extortion, lulz, or some other reason (like coinaday being annoying). Such an attack is capable of preventing any transaction processing for as long as it is sustained. I consider this a relatively low risk since I expect we would simply wait it out (and potentially not even notice such an attack for quite a while given the low volume of transactions currently), but it is definitely a potential vulnerability.
Bugs: It is possible that there are bugs in the underlying code. I have never read through all of the bitcoin or nyancoin code, of any version, nor even studied the original bitcoin whitepaper in depth (by the way, we oughta make up a nyancoin whitepaper or ten someday), meaning I have no professional or technical knowledge about whether or not the system is fundamentally sound. I've been going based on "it seems to be working, so it's probably fine", which is, shall we say, more of an engineering than scientific approach.
I have heard reference to a "time warp" bug vulnerability in the KGW difficulty function which Nyancoins has. I do not know details and my understanding is a fix to this would require a fork to change the difficulty function, so I do not anticipate a fix before NYAN3, the term for an eventual hard fork, but it is unknown when if ever this would be done. I consider this vulnerability to be likely to be related to the fundamental weakness to difficulty spikes after large amounts of hashing jumps on the network. Hostile (or simply passing interest with large capacity) hashing does degrade the performance of the network. As a workaround, this class of attack can be mitigated with a transaction to 'unstick' the chain after, since the difficulty function will adjust in the next block after enough wall-time has passed since the last block (so only need one high difficulty solve which can be triggered by a transaction fee).
Legal: Bitcoin faces uncertain legal situations in almost every country. Nyancoin is even more uncertain, as people tend to consider bitcoin and not address impacts on altcoins. Between the potential tax implications and banking regulations and currency laws, there are a wide variety of ways a person could make a felony-level mistake. This can be somewhat mitigated by merely buying and holding, as you won't be responsible for KYC/AML presumably (although an argument could be made in your purchase), and presumably unrealized capital gains wouldn't be taxable (but I am neither a lawyer nor accountant nor any sort of expert on the relevant accounting laws in any country).
Somehow getting legal opinions for Nyancoins in every country would be very useful in my opinion. If Bitcoin and altcoins are well-studied in a given country it should be relatively easy to adapt those opinions and research to Nyancoins, but it would still require some pro bono work in any case. So...hopefully we'll get some lawyer Nekonauts someday who are willing to semi-officially give us an opinion. In the meantime...hope that common sense can save you. If you sell Nyancoins directly, you're going to need to comply with the KYC/AML types of laws of your country. If you're going to do banking operations...may the central bank have mercy on your soul.
I think the best advantage we have is the same bitcoin had for its first years: we're too small for anyone to care. But since we plan to grow significantly, we need to be aware of our legal issues upon scale. Which is to say, whether or not you're allowed to sell 10,000 NYAN to your friend probably has a lot to do with whether your friend legally acquired whatever is being offered in exchange, and whether the value of what you get in return is above a certain level or not. I'm not going to try guessing that level precisely because I know I'll be wrong. $1 is probably fine. $10,000 is probably illegal without some significant licensing. I would suggest either not touching fiat or else deliberately capping it without verification after getting an independent local expert legal opinion.
concentration: The fact that I hold about 41%(? not sure the exact percentage as of Dec 2017 ; need to do updated survey to check; 41% sounds slightly high to me but I'll see...I'll try to update by the end of the year or shortly after) of the currently outstanding NYAN could be a major risk factor, particularly if I do not act in the best long-term interests of the strength of Nyancoins. For instance, I could pull my bids, sell only a small part of my holdings, crash the market, and potentially buy a lot of volume for a lower price. While I cannot foresee any circumstance under which I would do this, it is certainly conceivable that I could be financially, legally, or morally obligated to do so if I were to become insolvent.
Liquidity: There is very little trading activity in NYAN. Therefore, large purchases will drive the price up and large sales will drive the price down. This means that entering and exiting a position is likely to result in "slippage", so even if the price has increased slightly overall since the time before one entered a position to the time before one exits it, it is quite possible that the overall trade will be neutral or negative as a result of the pressure on the market. For an extreme example, my own position would be essentially impossible to exit from the market without crashing the price, and even so it would likely be difficult to find buyers even at a satoshi, based on that I currently am the majority of the bids on the market. This is closely tied to the concentration risk but if I were to exit NYAN for any reason or simply fail to continue to renew bids the liquidity would dry up even further.
At the end of 2019, having no exchange, there is functionally zero liquidity. In theory peer to peer trading could still be done but I’m unaware of any.
Internet outage: if the Internet goes down, we hit a very nasty scenario. We can't process transactions, and all the miners go into a race to make 'useless' blocks on their own. If the Internet were never to come back up, Nyancoins would be dead. If there is a daylong internet outage, the longest blockchain discovered after, presumably representing the most hashing power dedicated to empty blocks during that outage, will win. So I suppose the block rewards in that case are for having the faith in Nyancoins to keep hashing and storing the blockchain during the day without the Internet.
addictive: This was a curiosity to me when I started. Now it's an obsession for me. I'm constantly thinking about how I can help to smooth the path for Nyancoins to grow stronger and better and more valuable. You may find that once you start to realize the impact you can have upon Nyancoins, and that Nyancoins can have upon you, that you start to become addicted as well. It is possible to substitute another addiction in its place, such as dogecoins or pcp, but it is not recommended.
Nyancoin addictions are considered 'mostly harmless'. The exception is if you go 'full coinaday' and start to accumulate more than 10% of your assets in Nyancoins. In this, this is essentially a variety of gambling addiction. I would argue that it beats roulette because you can tilt the odds in your favor, but then, I would argue that, wouldn't I?
mo' nyan mo' problems: Some people have claimed that more money leads to more problems. Since nyan is money, it follows as a consequence of the conjecture. Should this be the case, your increasing nyan could potentially lead to such problems in the future as: enhanced attention from revenue collection services of all kinds (governmental and private), swarms of fake friends and gold-diggers, excessive risk-taking as a result of feelings of invincibility, an increase in certain varieties of targeted marketing, possible disqualification for asset-based welfare for you (or even your children, for instance college financial assistance), an inability to remember how many houses you own, or other serious problems.
Conclusion
The lack of any exchange trading Nyancoins is a major risk factor in its future survival. If it is listed, the lack of development is likely the next most serious. The coin currently survives but whether it will continue to do so in the future is far from certain. If those of us who have found or come back to NYAN choose to keep it alive, I believe it still has a chance at surviving into a stronger future.
This self-certified infallible message has been brought to you as a Public Service Announcement of the NYAN Public Relations Council, a transparent front organization of notoriously lovable philanthropist and major NYAN hodler coinaday.

This is the fifth version of the NYAN risks document (based on v4 (v3 , v2 and original). These are obsoleted periodically as the old ones get archived to allow for comments again via a new post, to re-examine the risks in light of changes, and for greater visibility.
The purpose of these documents is to provide a best-effort discussion of major risk factors in gambling on NYAN, modeled on the risks disclosure in a 10k (annual report) which is mandated for publicly traded companies in the United States. This document is provided with no guarantee that major risk factors have not been missed, and it is important to recognize my (coinaday) personal bias from holding about one-third of the total supply of NYAN.
Please comment on any risks which are not mentioned here or additional aspects of risks here you think should be further emphasized or any other possible disclosure you think would be helpful to a person considering gambling on NYAN.
Executive summary
Nyancoins have no core developer at the moment, uncertain demand, are traded actively on only one exchange, have had inconsistent blocks, are very vulnerable to 51% attacks, have the potential for serious bugs, an uncertain legal situation, concentrated ownership, low liquidity, depend upon the Internet, may be addictive, and could make you wealthy, which has been alleged to lead to more problems.
Introduction: This is my best attempt to collect every major risk factor from buying Nyancoins, although I can offer no warranty of fitness for this information for any purposes. I believe in honesty and forthrightness. Having this available and obvious is a simple matter of basic decency. Much, hopefully all, of this information has been discussed previously in /nyancoins, but this document in particular is about being up-to-date and central. This page will be updated clearly as appropriate if situations change on a best-effort basis (which may mean updates do not happen for months at times, unfortunately; please ping for faster updates).
If you believe that I am missing something, please note any other major risks you see in the comments.
Core developer: Although we have good general tech support in this community and have put up supporting infrastructure, there is not anyone officially currently working on core client code. This is a significant problem for the long-term, although we are not in any immediate known need of changes.
ImASharkRawwwr has returned to the community and may do future client updates, but I'm leaving the lack of core developer risk unchanged until there is an update released. This is not intended as a slight in any way but merely being cautious in the risks document and recognizing that we aren't certain when or if there will be a next release.
Demand: NYAN was introduced in 2014 and during the second half of that year had so little demand that it almost died out. In January 2015 I got involved in the coin and for most of 2015 and 2016 I was the majority of the buying pressure. I base these statements on my recollection of the trading history so far and the fact that I have acquired more than 120 million coins, somewhere around 41% of the coins (latest hodling report, June 2017), as well as my observations that I had usually had the leading major bid, and usually the leading bid regardless of size.
In 2017, I have generally not been a major factor in the demand, as I haven’t had money to spare to gamble on NYAN. In June 2017, we have had a spike in buying from an unknown source.
It is unknown whether significant demand for NYAN will continue. Because its value is purely speculative, it is entirely possible that demand for NYAN could simply end. This is a fundamental risk in gambling on NYAN; it is entirely possible that its value will go to zero and not recover.
Exchanges:
Trade Satoshi is currently the only exchange for Nyancoins with significant volume. If Trade Satoshi were to fail somehow, it is likely that this would have significant consequences for Nyancoins.
Previously we traded on Cryptopia and prior to that on Cryptsy. Both exchanges failed. This is a further reminder that exchanges are a major risk and one should be extremely careful to not keep more coins on there than one can comfortably afford to lose.
In theory, there are decentralized exchange technologies, notably CATE; however, I think we currently lack some needed APIs for this. I'm not certain but we haven't demonstrated the capability yet. On-Reddit exchanges are also possible with tipbots, but require trust as they are not atomic. It should be possible to build an "exchangebot" similarly, although I'm not currently aware of one, but my concept would still have the bot as a trusted central party.
Atomic cross-chain transactions seem to me like a very promising core technology ultimately for building exchanges which can be more proveably secure. They could also allow exchanges to share a common listing protocol as well without having to trust the other exchanges (at least, beyond the core protocol development and maintenance; tanstaafl). This is not yet accomplished though and in the meantime we remain vulnerable to periodic exchange failures.
Inconsistent blocks:
Although NYAN is designed to produce a block every minute, there have been times where there has been more than 24 hours between blocks. This results because of an imperfect difficulty function and low base hashing, along with price fluctuations, which can combine to have a low difficulty making the coin attractive for a flood of hashing power which can lead the difficulty function to overcompensate, leaving it stuck with a high difficulty no longer profitable to mine.
I haven’t observed this lately, that is, I don’t recall incidents of this in 2017, but I’ve been paying far less attention to it as well. It is entirely possible for this to recur, as the difficulty function is not fixed (it would require a hard fork to fix it). We seem to have more baseline hashing which helps to avoid this, but it is possible for us to lose that.
A workaround is to use large transaction fees (I've set my client to 337 NYAN) which is enough to cause pools to generally solve a block even if the chain were otherwise stuck. It may be possible to include a better difficulty function in a hard fork client, but it is unknown when if ever this would be done and it's not yet clear what design improvement if any would fix this.
51% attack: Because of the generally quite low hashing power on NYAN, it is highly vulnerable to a 51% attack. Either a leading pool or a new one could choose to do a denial-of-service attack, whether for extortion, lulz, or some other reason (like coinaday being annoying). Such an attack is capable of preventing any transaction processing for as long as it is sustained. I consider this a relatively low risk since I expect we would simply wait it out (and potentially not even notice such an attack for quite a while given the low volume of transactions currently), but it is definitely a potential vulnerability.
Bugs: It is possible that there are bugs in the underlying code. I have never read through all of the bitcoin or nyancoin code, of any version, nor even studied the original bitcoin whitepaper in depth (by the way, we oughta make up a nyancoin whitepaper or ten someday), meaning I have no professional or technical knowledge about whether or not the system is fundamentally sound. I've been going based on "it seems to be working, so it's probably fine", which is, shall we say, more of an engineering than scientific approach.
I have heard reference to a "time warp" bug vulnerability in the KGW difficulty function which Nyancoins has. I do not know details and my understanding is a fix to this would require a fork to change the difficulty function, so I do not anticipate a fix before NYAN3, the term for an eventual hard fork, but it is unknown when if ever this would be done. I consider this vulnerability to be likely to be related to the fundamental weakness to difficulty spikes after large amounts of hashing jumps on the network. Hostile (or simply passing interest with large capacity) hashing does degrade the performance of the network. As a workaround, this class of attack can be mitigated with a transaction to 'unstick' the chain after, since the difficulty function will adjust in the next block after enough wall-time has passed since the last block (so only need one high difficulty solve which can be triggered by a transaction fee).
Legal: Bitcoin faces uncertain legal situations in almost every country. Nyancoin is even more uncertain, as people tend to consider bitcoin and not address impacts on altcoins. Between the potential tax implications and banking regulations and currency laws, there are a wide variety of ways a person could make a felony-level mistake. This can be somewhat mitigated by merely buying and holding, as you won't be responsible for KYC/AML presumably (although an argument could be made in your purchase), and presumably unrealized capital gains wouldn't be taxable (but I am neither a lawyer nor accountant nor any sort of expert on the relevant accounting laws in any country).
Somehow getting legal opinions for Nyancoins in every country would be very useful in my opinion. If Bitcoin and altcoins are well-studied in a given country it should be relatively easy to adapt those opinions and research to Nyancoins, but it would still require some pro bono work in any case. So...hopefully we'll get some lawyer Nekonauts someday who are willing to semi-officially give us an opinion. In the meantime...hope that common sense can save you. If you sell Nyancoins directly, you're going to need to comply with the KYC/AML types of laws of your country. If you're going to do banking operations...may the central bank have mercy on your soul.
I think the best advantage we have is the same bitcoin had for its first years: we're too small for anyone to care. But since we plan to grow significantly, we need to be aware of our legal issues upon scale. Which is to say, whether or not you're allowed to sell 10,000 NYAN to your friend probably has a lot to do with whether your friend legally acquired whatever is being offered in exchange, and whether the value of what you get in return is above a certain level or not. I'm not going to try guessing that level precisely because I know I'll be wrong. $1 is probably fine. $10,000 is probably illegal without some significant licensing. I would suggest either not touching fiat or else deliberately capping it without verification after getting an independent local expert legal opinion.
concentration: The fact that I hold about 41%(? not sure the exact percentage as of Dec 2017 ; need to do updated survey to check; 41% sounds slightly high to me but I'll see...I'll try to update by the end of the year or shortly after) of the currently outstanding NYAN could be a major risk factor, particularly if I do not act in the best long-term interests of the strength of Nyancoins. For instance, I could pull my bids, sell only a small part of my holdings, crash the market, and potentially buy a lot of volume for a lower price. While I cannot foresee any circumstance under which I would do this, it is certainly conceivable that I could be financially, legally, or morally obligated to do so if I were to become insolvent.
Liquidity: There is very little trading activity in NYAN. Therefore, large purchases will drive the price up and large sales will drive the price down. This means that entering and exiting a position is likely to result in "slippage", so even if the price has increased slightly overall since the time before one entered a position to the time before one exits it, it is quite possible that the overall trade will be neutral or negative as a result of the pressure on the market. For an extreme example, my own position would be essentially impossible to exit from the market without crashing the price, and even so it would likely be difficult to find buyers even at a satoshi, based on that I currently am the majority of the bids on the market. This is closely tied to the concentration risk but if I were to exit NYAN for any reason or simply fail to continue to renew bids the liquidity would dry up even further.
Internet outage: if the Internet goes down, we hit a very nasty scenario. We can't process transactions, and all the miners go into a race to make 'useless' blocks on their own. If the Internet were never to come back up, Nyancoins would be dead. If there is a daylong internet outage, the longest blockchain discovered after, presumably representing the most hashing power dedicated to empty blocks during that outage, will win. So I suppose the block rewards in that case are for having the faith in Nyancoins to keep hashing and storing the blockchain during the day without the Internet.
addictive: This was a curiosity to me when I started. Now it's an obsession for me. I'm constantly thinking about how I can help to smooth the path for Nyancoins to grow stronger and better and more valuable. You may find that once you start to realize the impact you can have upon Nyancoins, and that Nyancoins can have upon you, that you start to become addicted as well. It is possible to substitute another addiction in its place, such as dogecoins or pcp, but it is not recommended.
Nyancoin addictions are considered 'mostly harmless'. The exception is if you go 'full coinaday' and start to accumulate more than 10% of your assets in Nyancoins. In this, this is essentially a variety of gambling addiction. I would argue that it beats roulette because you can tilt the odds in your favor, but then, I would argue that, wouldn't I?
mo' nyan mo' problems: Some people have claimed that more money leads to more problems. Since nyan is money, it follows as a consequence of the conjecture. Should this be the case, your increasing nyan could potentially lead to such problems in the future as: enhanced attention from revenue collection services of all kinds (governmental and private), swarms of fake friends and gold-diggers, excessive risk-taking as a result of feelings of invincibility, an increase in certain varieties of targeted marketing, possible disqualification for asset-based welfare for you (or even your children, for instance college financial assistance), an inability to remember how many houses you own, or other serious problems.
Conclusion
There are a variety of different risks in buying Nyancoins. I believe the most serious one is the developer issue. If those of us who have found or come back to NYAN abandon it, it could die. Otherwise, I consider the risks generally manageable, but exchange failure or a currently unknown bug could do serious damage to the ecosystem as well.
This self-certified infallible message has been brought to you as a Public Service Announcement of the NYAN Public Relations Council, a transparent front organization of notoriously lovable philanthropist and major NYAN hodler coinaday.

This is my first reddit post, so please excuse the length, as well as the quality. I’m currently struggling with a gambling addiction that I’ve had for around four years and find that nothing I do has succeeded in helping me overcome this addiction. I figured that other people have experienced a gambling addiction and have successfully overcome one, so I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts, advice, or comments on my situation, as well as gambling addictions in general.
As a kid, I’ve always had an addictive personality. I remember when I was younger, I would play video games for hours on end non-stop. One of my biggest regrets to date is not reading more as a kid. The cognitive ability of reading is one of the most underrated skills in life and my peers and friends who read for fun growing up are not only fast readers, but generally do well in school and life. At the time, I didn’t think much of my video game addiction as it was not harming myself or others. Little did I know, this small addiction would serve as a gateway to a larger addiction that would bring a lot of stress and problems in my life.
Fast forward to the summer after graduating senior year of high school. Growing up, I’ve always been really into soccer, playing competitively on a traveling club team since I was eleven years old. By my senior year of high school, I was committed to a prestigious university to play collegiate soccer. During my high school soccer season my senior year in the spring, I broke my foot in the league championship game against our rivals (which we won). This was the first time in my life that I’ve ever suffered a serious injury and let me tell you, I was not ready for the setbacks that I would face from it, both physically and mentally. For those of you who have never broken a bone, it is one of the most debilitating physical things that can occur to someone, especially if it impairs daily, routine activity. I had to use crutches or a knee scooter to get around everywhere and could not exercise, which caused a great deal of anxiety and jitteriness for me given that I’ve grown up living an active lifestyle. Around the same time, I had some friends who were talking about a casino that was only 15 minutes away from where we lived and it was also an 18+ casino. Given that I couldn’t really do much with a broken foot, I decided to make a trip to this casino to find out what people were talking about. Little did I know that this innocent, first trip to the small casino near my house four years ago would take me down a dark path of gambling.
I remember on my first trip to the casino, I was so excited that I grabbed a handful of cash (I think around $100) and drove as quickly as possible to the casino. When I tried to enter the building, a security guard stopped me and asked for my ID. Amidst my excitement, I realized I forgot my wallet with my driver’s license at home, which led me to speed home to grab it. On my way home, I was stopped by a police officer for going 15 miles per hour over the residential speed limit. The officer was nice enough not to penalize me for not having my ID, but I still received a $140 ticket. After that happened, I was in a pretty bad mood, but still determined to find out what it was like to wager money on a bunch of cards. I remember the first trip to the casino, I actually lost my $100 in about 15 minutes playing blackjack, which should’ve discouraged me from setting foot in a casino ever again. However, me being someone who thinks that they’re smarting than the average gambler, I went home that night and practiced memorizing basic strategy (a strategy that minimizes the house edge in blackjack), as well as studied card counting, specifically the Hi-Lo method (wagering more money when the remaining cards are favorable for the player).
Armed with this new knowledge, I was determined to beat the game and make money from my local casino, after all, it did cost me $240 the first time I went. The few trips after my first, I was making money pretty consistently. I remember there was one time I turned $60 into around $600 and other times where I would walk away making a couple hundred dollars. I didn’t think that gambling was a problem during this time as I was going with my friends, making money, and getting a crazy amount of adrenaline from the casino runs. Being at the blackjack table allowed me to forget about my anxiety and depression that gradually compiled due to my broken foot and the inability to exercise. It provided an escape from the limitations that my broken foot had instilled on me.
At the same time, I was working at Domino’s as a delivery driver, and remember taking the cash from the tips I earned each day that I worked (ranging from $60 to $200) and drive over to the casino to test my luck for that day. For those of you who don’t know, gambling is dangerous because winning money is really not that difficult; however, walking away with the money is a completely different story. A majority of times I went to the casino, I was up from my original buy-in at some point; however, that meant nothing considering I didn't walk away winning most of the time. I started spending more and more time at the casino, and eventually started losing money, including all the money I had previously won from the casino. The problem started getting particularly bad when I started lying to my friends about going to the casino. I even remembered multiple times where I would go with friends (who had more self-control than I did), and would stay longer than them (losing my ride) and resort to calling other friends to pick me up or taking a cab home.
To make matters worse, one of the things I’m most ashamed of to this day was gambling on the birthday of my girlfriend at the time which caused me to be late to her birthday dinner with her family. To make matters worse, I remember taking my girlfriend to dinner near the casino, stopping by the casino to redeem one of the bonus coupons they give you to entice you to visit more frequently, and having her wait in the car for an hour while I played blackjack. Despite having nights where I won over two grand in a matter of a few hours, I still ended up losing at least $3,000 that summer. Luckily, I was going off to college in St. Louis, far away from my hometown casino in Kirkland, Washington, which should have prevented me from gambling during my four years at college.
My Freshman year of college was rough, my foot hadn’t fully recovered so I was not able to play soccer to my full potential. On top of this, I had a difficult time making friends, and was in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable environment. I was surrounded by extremely wealthy, privileged kids from the Northeast, who grew up going to private school. Most of these kids have never worked a job in their lives. This made it a much more difficult time getting accustomed to my new school having grown up on the West Coast, going to public high school, and working throughout high school. Additionally, the way the social scene at my school works is through Greek life, as the population of social, normal people is pretty small. To make matters worse, as a guy, one of the only ways to have a good social life is joining a fraternity; however, since the fraternity houses are pretty small relative to state schools, many kids who rush don’t receive bids. I was unfortunate to be a part of that group when I rushed Freshman year. On top of this blow to my self-esteem, I underwent foot surgery since my foot was not making any progress healing. This caused me to have to rely on crutches and a knee scooter again for the next couple months. I was legitimately depressed and at the lowest low point of my life. I was not doing well in school, didn’t have a girlfriend, and felt like I didn’t have any close friends in general.
This was around the time that I discovered the realm of online gambling, a path that would unfortunately be worse than live casinos. Online casinos make it extremely easy to deposit real money into them, and coincidentally, pretty damn difficult to withdraw money. I remember visiting a casino called Bovada and making my first $100 deposit with my debit card. This deposit quickly lead to more $100 deposits, until I had lost around $1,000 playing online blackjack and poker in a matter of hours. At this point, I didn’t have a job so I was essentially gambling away money my parents had given me to spend on food and necessities. I was too ashamed to tell my parents about this problem, as they were extremely disappointed after I told them at the end of the summer after senior year of high school. Luckily, at this point in my life, I didn’t have too much disposable income to gamble away so the damages were minimal.
The next few years in college got better, I quit soccer and got into lifting, got into a fraternity, and made a lot of new friends, who I’m still close with to this day. Aside from getting into sports gambling for around a month and losing $1,000, I would lose between $1,000 - $2,000 whenever I would go home for winter break at the original casino I went to. Although this was a decent amount of money, I was still able to allocate some of the money that I earned from my college job towards personal spending and was just happy that I had the self-control to ration out a percentage of it that I was comfortable losing when I did gamble. The good thing was that I did not gamble too consistently my sophomore and junior year of college and more importantly, I was not obsessively thinking about it every day.
Now senior year of college was where everything took a turn for the worse and led me to all-time lows in my life. I remember playing poker for $25 buy-ins with my friends at my apartment every night for the first half of the school year. This wasn’t a problem financially since losing $25, was not a big deal to my financial health. Additionally, it was more of a social activity where most people weren’t too concerned about the money and were playing for a good time. This did negatively impact me; however, as I was constantly thinking about poker and gambling in general, all the time.
Around the same time, I got my signing bonus from the company where I will be working at in a couple months and started heading to the nearby casinos with my roommate to play blackjack. I remember the first night we went, I won $2,000 and he won $500 and that immediately hooked me back into the whirlpool of blackjack. I started going at every opportunity I got, which also led to the revival of my online gambling addiction. I remember specifically, one time when I was playing online blackjack, I turned $200 into $4,000, submitted the withdrawal request, but since online casinos take a long time to process the requests (intentionally as they want you to gamble the money away), I ended up losing the $4,000, along with another $1,000 or $2,000 on top of that as I was chasing my losses. I was actually making money at live casinos, but losing double the amount that I made online. This gambling ended up coming to a brief stop when I had lost my signing bonus and all the money in my bank account and I took a break for around a month or so.
The addiction started back up when I received my next paycheck from my college job. The instance, the check was deposited into my bank account and cash was available, I would race over to an ATM and withdraw money to gamble with. I quickly lost $1,000 of it back home when I took my friend who visited to a nearby casino. It was around this time he told me about an app where you can invest in stocks called Robinhood, so I put around $5,000 of that paycheck into stocks on the app. When I put the money in my stock account, I remember making a pact to myself that I would never touch a table game again. I mean “New Year, New Me” right? As you can guess, my pact didn’t last very long as I started playing live poker in the casino. I was so drawn to the appeal of winning money by making the right decision. I was actually profiting from playing live stakes poker, as I studied the game and had sound strategy. The dangerous part about playing live poker for me (I personally don’t consider poker as a complete gamble as there is skill involved), was that whenever I went to the casino to play poker, there were temptations awaiting me (table games). After a month or so of playing strictly poker, I started getting back into blackjack again, along with baccarat, and went to the casino 4-5 times a week. After draining all the money from the stock account, I started borrowing money from my friends as I knew I would get a big paycheck from my job at the time at the end of the school year. Additionally, I started dating my current girlfriend in January of that same year (whom I am currently dating) and love very much. I can regretfully say that gambling has not positively impacted my relationship with her in any way.
When my girlfriend and I went to California during spring break, I remember staying up all night on an online casino playing poker, blackjack, and baccarat after she fell asleep. I exhausted all my money in my bank account including maxing out my credit card, during that trip, and had to borrow money from my girlfriend, one of the most shameful things I’ve done to this date. Additionally, I remember one night where I promised her that I would meet her at a party my fraternity was hosting after I went to the casino to play poker with some friends. I drove two of my friends over, and one of my friends left for the party with my car, while me and my other friend stayed. We ended up playing poker the whole night, and despite being up a couple thousand dollars from blackjack, I missed the party and really disappointed my girlfriend. Some of the biggest fights that I have gotten into with my girlfriend were fueled by gambling. The monetary gains that result from the casino are always temporary because at any point in time, you can lose all the money in your bank account if you spend enough time playing games that are specifically designed to make you lose.
Additionally, my addiction has caused me to disappoint my parents and family. No matter how successful I become, I know they will always be worried about me since they know that this dangerous addiction can ruin my life at any moment, without giving any warning signs. I’ve read so many different stories about how this addiction leads to one of the highest suicide rates when people gamble their life away and feel like there is no way of recovering. I would really like to put an end to this problem, at an early age, before I allow it to affect my relationships with my friends and family.
I started skipping out on social events, and hanging out with my friends in general due to my addiction to gambling. All I thought about 24/7 was all the money that I would make playing poker and blackjack. At one point, I was betting 3 black chips like they were worth a few cents as opposed to one hundred dollars each on table games. I had to lie to my friends about going to the casino because I was embarrassed about that side of my life.
The summer after my graduation, I just continued to dig myself into a deeper hole. I would win money in real life, while losing money playing online poker and blackjack. After the big paycheck from my college job came in, I stored away a decent amount of money in my Robinhood stock account to invest, but in a matter of a few short months, I had gambled away most of that money. I’ve borrowed money from multiple friends, even my girlfriend, and have also exhausted my credit card on several occasions. The loss of money started affecting my play in live poker. I ended up losing $5,000 playing live poker, along with $15,000 online, and at least $20,000 in casinos. Even though I graduated from a prestigious university, and I have a solid job lined up in the fall, I battle constantly with this addiction and the urge to gamble with the hopes of earning all of my money back and being done with gambling once and for all. What started as a spark of curiosity turned into an escape from emotional pain and eventually into a lifelong attempt to break-even.
I've tried many things to overcome this addiction, but nothing has worked successfully. I'm posting on here today because I want to end this addiction once and for all. I figure if I post on reddit, I will at least have written down this commitment in a publicly available space.
TL;DR: What started as a curiosity about what gambling was turned into a four year struggle with this addiction that has led to financial distress, relationship problems, and unproductive behavior. Wrote this reddit post to seek advice on overcoming a gambling addiction, and would love to hear any thoughts, comments, or concerns.