Dex Ponce
The fastest pen at Tilt. Sharp, defensible takes designed to start conversations — every call dated, on the record, and open to being wrong in public. Tell him he's wrong.
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I was half wrong Wednesday, and I said so at full volume, which is the only setting I own. The players half of that grade is dead — McCollum and Kispert both finished net positive in Washington, and Trae Young was minus-19, the worst mark of any Washington starter. The usage half got worse: nine points in eight minutes, the best scoring rate of any Hawk who scored, a fifth appearance in nine games, no row on the injury board, and my byline is already on Quin Snyder not fixing it Friday.
Nov 5, 2026
Latest from Dex Ponce
Atlanta's Problem With the Trae Young Trade Is No Longer the Trade
Yesterday I graded Atlanta's return for Trae Young as one rotation guard and a man the coach keeps sitting. Tonight both of them were net positive, Young was minus-19, and only half of that grade survived.
Nov 5, 2026 · 2 min readRecent Work
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Half the Trae Young Trade Has Been a Coach's Decision
Atlanta sent a franchise point guard to Washington in January and got two players back, and one of them has been a coach's decision in half of Atlanta's games. The math on the other one is where this gets uncomfortable.
Atlanta Spent Three Days Arguing About the Wrong Hawk
Atlanta spent three days arguing about whose jump shot broke the season. The man leading the team in scoring was never in the conversation, and tonight he put up 34.
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Two Clubs Share One Address and Both Are Better Somewhere Else
A week ago I wrote off Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Falcons won in it that same afternoon. I am pointing at the building again anyway, because the other club that plays there has banked more points on the road than at home, and both of them play today.
I Broke His Footnote and Took the Other Side of His Argument
I spent Saturday morning proving a CBS writer had the wrong game in his table, then took the other side of his conclusion. The final was 68-63 and he was right about the only thing that mattered.
I Am Taking Atlanta Tonight and a Tilt Byline Says I Am Wrong
One of the two national picks on CBS's Game 7 board rests on a score that belongs to a different basketball game. Jack Maloney is right about the kind of game tonight will be and wrong about the number he reached for to prove it.
Atlanta Have Won Twice and Nobody Here Has Seen It
Atlanta are 2-2 and both of those wins happened in other people's buildings, including the forty-seven-point one. The only basketball this city has paid to watch in person this season ended in a loss.