The Tufts Daily - Thursday, November 19th, 2020

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VOLUME LXXX, ISSUE 44

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Thursday, November 19, 2020

Youth voter turnout in 2020 presidential election proves instrumental in Biden victory

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Tufts cannon is pictured on Election Day on Nov. 3 painted in support of President-elect Joe Biden.

by Jack Maniaci

Contributing Writer

The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) recently published data on young voters and their role in the 2020 election. The research found that turnout among young voters increased significantly and played a vital role in determining the election’s results.

Jen McAndrew (LA’96), director of communications, strategy & planning at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, described the importance of youth turnout.

“In a few key states … young people really made the difference for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” McAndrew said. “That would be in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, among others.”

She added that Biden’s victory also relied on the turnout of young people of color.

“Youth of color, in particular, are really the driving force behind youth turnout and behind young people’s support for Biden and Harris,” McAndrew said.

According to Lauren Soherr, a Tisch Scholar working with CIRCLE, the research also tracked issues that had a large impact on young voters. Among young Biden voters, these included both the COVID-19 pandemic and racism.

“We found that [for] a lot of youth, their top priority and their top concern was the pandemic. And for youth that did experience a family member or relative [who] died of the coronavirus, those youth were more inclined to vote for Joe Biden,” Soherr, a sophomore, said. “And we also saw that a big issue among youth for this election was racism.”

Research Program Coordinator Peter de Guzman

said that an important part of CIRCLE’s research is the Youth Electoral Significance Index ( YESI), which researchers use to determine the impact young voters have on elections in different areas. “[ YESI is] an index in that we take multiple variables, and we bring them together to find a score that we use to rate different congressional see TRACKS, page 2

Tufts to launch new graduate initiative designed to connect data science, policy

by Jack Hirsch

Contributing Writer

Tufts will launch a new program called “BigData@Tufts: Educating Policy-Savvy Data Experts and Data-Proficient Decision Makers.” This interdisciplinary initiative aims to bridge gaps between science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and non-STEM

disciplines to better inform policymaking.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding the program through a grant amounting to almost $3 million; it was awarded under the NSF’s research traineeship program. Led by Shafiqul Islam, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, the project will include nine

faculty members and over 140 graduate students from across disciplines and schools at Tufts, according to Islam.

“This is about re-inventing … graduate education in the data sciences,” Abani Patra, director of the Data Intensive Studies Center at Tufts and one of the co-principal investigators of the grant, said.

Patra believes the grant will be instrumental in building

Tufts’ data science research and education programs.

“The grant allows you to explore new ideas [and] come up with new paradigms that then have to be institutionalized and sustained,” Patra said. “One of the goals [of the grant] is raising institutional capacity in data science education and training”.

Patra further explained that BigData@Tufts will equip

WEEKENDER / page 3

SPORTS / back

THE TURF MONSTER / back

Malcolm Turvey shares excitement for upcoming COVID-eo Film Festival and Competition

NFC playoff picture gains some clarity in Week 10

Suns, Thunder both see beneficial trades

graduate students to analyze data in a specific context.

“It’s one thing to learn about data in the abstract — ‘here’s some data to go play with.’ It’s quite another thing to learn about data in context,” he said.

In their proposal to the NSF, Islam and his team detailed see SCIENCE, page 2 NEWS

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WEEKENDER

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FUN & GAMES

4

OPINION

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SPORTS

BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, November 19, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Alex Viveros Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL

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BigData@Tufts invites data scientists to use formal knowledge, thoughtful practice

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Colorful trees are pictured near Tisch Library on Oct. 22. doing, and then the other side SCIENCE is the social science, humancontinued from page 1 ities sorts of people … [the] the disconnect between those kind of folks who can conwith a deep background in data struct narratives but don’t science and those with more have a sense of the concepts policy-oriented expertise. in data science,” Hammer “The failure to bridge said. “And so the idea of this the gaps between numbers is to build up something that and narratives creates sig- brings those together.” nificant bottlenecks to eviIslam noted that the prodence-based, interdisciplin- gram intends to train stuary decision making, espe- dents into two types of procially at the ‘messy’ interface fessionals: “policy-savvy between human and natural data experts” for those with systems,” the proposal reads. a STEM background to gain David Hammer, a co-prin- ground on policy analysis, as cipal investigator, chair of well as “data-savvy decision the Department of Education makers” for those from nonand a professor of education STEM disciplines to acquire and physics and astronomy, rigorous quantitative skills. echoed the statement.

Graduate students at “There are the engineers Tufts will be able to enroll in who can calculate things but BigData@Tufts concurrently can’t construct compelling with their graduate degree pronarratives about what they’re gram, according to Hammer.

He further explained that the program will be weaved into courses as “modular course elements,” which will allow students to complete the program without lengthening the time it takes to graduate.

Islam elaborated on the four integrated data skill areas that make up the modular course elements.

“If you want to be a data scientist, you need some formal knowledge, you may need some practice techniques, you need some thoughtful practice and you need some wisdom,” Islam said.

Hammer also shared that in addition to these elements, the program includes another component named “problem-focused immersion.”

Islam explained that the initiative will invite its students to meet every other week to

discuss a particular problem, and they will subsequently create a project to address the problem. A student who completes this component will receive a certificate.

Hammer illustrated how problem-focused immersion would function, using COVID19 as an example.

“Analyzing and making recommendations for [COVID-19] policy could be an example of such a problem which is an area for data science … what is affecting the rate of infection, how much of it is urban density, how much of it is mask-wearing, how much of it is local policies,” Hammer said. “[That could become] a problem-based immersion for a team of people with complementary expertise to be working on.”

Islam said he expects the program to start fall 2021.

CIRCLE continues to compile election data, determines barriers to voting TRACKS

continued from page 1 districts and states for senate, presidential and congressional races,” de Guzman said.

Soherr explained how CIRCLE’s research allows it to compile election data and determine barriers to the ability for young people, and often young people of color, to vote.

“We try to examine [how] those polls relate to things like access and looking at barriers, particularly for youth of color,” Soherr said. “For example, access to information on absentee voting, early

voting, voting registration and trying to better understand access for different groups, and how to break down those barriers to make the election more accessible.”

In addition to recognizing these barriers, CIRCLE uses surveys to track youth political behavior, which includes the activism that many took part in this year.

“We also look at attitudes so there’s that question of trust and a political process and interest to be politically motivated,” Soherr said. “We were able to see groups that expressed a significant interest in political motivation. Young Black and [Latina] women in

our poll showed that they were the most politically motivated — we’re able to also see how youth were very involved in social movements.”

McAndrew said that CIRCLE’s findings are also used to help ensure that young people are able to vote.

Companies like Snapchat and Lyft have used information from CIRCLE to provide services to increase participation among young voters.

“As a result of that data, Lyft actually offered free and reduced rides to the polls in 2018 … many other rideshare companies, Uber and the bike shares, they all followed that lead,” McAndrew said.

“Snapchat is another company that used our research to design [its] voting engagement platform in this election and I think that they registered well over a million people to vote.”

According to de Guzman, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the primary method of voting for many people, leading to the expanded use of mail-in ballots.

“We’ve seen, in the past 10 years, an expansion of laws that do offer more options to register and vote. So some of these are in response to the COVID19 pandemic and we’ll see if there’s public support for them to stay after,” de Guzman said.

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WEEKENDER

3 Thursday, November 19, 2020

Weekender: Malcolm Turvey previews COVID-eo Film Festival and Competition

VIA TUFTS FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES PROGRAM

A poster for the Tufts film and media studies program “COVID-eo Film Festival and Competition” is pictured.

by Tuna Margalit Arts Editor

For the first time in its sixyear existence, the Tufts film and media studies (FMS) program will hold a student film festival and competition.

Tufts students will have their short films screened to the community on Thursday, Dec. 3 via Vimeo and Facebook. Students from every Tufts campus can submit their work, as long as it is two minutes or shorter. Aside from the two-minute limit, there are no restrictions on the form of these films. As the event webpage states, “We welcome all forms of filmmaking, including narrative fiction, documentary, experimental, animation, or hybrid forms– whether polished productions or iPhone footage.”

The Daily had the opportunity to sit down and discuss this exciting event via Zoom with Malcolm Turvey, director of the FMS program and professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture.

The Tufts Daily (TD): [Why haven’t there been] Tufts student film festival competitions like this in the past?

Malcolm Turvey (MT): It’s only really in the last couple of years that we’ve had a critical mass of students coming out of our program, who would be willing and able to do a festival and competition of some kind.

So, last year, we almost did one, and for various reasons we decided not to, but we always

thought that we would do one in the very near future. And then this opportunity presented itself. So we decided, it’s time to start this. So I think we do hope that it will be a regular event. Obviously once the pandemic … has passed us by, it will no longer be a “COVID-eo” film festival and competition.

But now that we have a critical mass of film production students and a general film production culture at Tufts, along with the requisite equipment and facilities and so on … I think we are in a place where we can hold a regular festival of some kind.

Though the hope is that only this year’s festival is COVID19-adjacent, Turvey explains that the unique experience of being a college student and living through a pandemic is a solid raison d’être for such a film festival.

MT: The primary impetus for the festival was a sense of disconnection from students.

This current situation presents a lot of challenges to all of us. One of the challenges it presents to faculty and staff is that, when you see students, you’re either on a screen … or you are seeing them in a lecture hall or a large room at some distance, and everyone’s got a mask on, right? So the sense of … both disconnection and not really knowing how students are doing in the current situation was what really prompted the festival.

So we really are looking for films that reflect, in some sort

of interesting or innovative way, on life under COVID. As this is a competition, there will be prizes for select filmmakers. First and second places will receive $200 and $100 prizes, respectively.

Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges, made up of various FMS staff. Though all in the FMS program, some of the judges will not have a filmmaking background. Turvey, for example, who teaches film history but not filmmaking, will be a judge.

MT: We want a kind of range of views. We don’t just want filmmakers to judge these films.

TD: You want the Rotten Tomatoes critic score and the Rotten Tomatoes audience score.

MT: That’s a good way of putting it.

Turvey emphasizes that the judges are not looking for anything in particular in the shorts, aside from an honest representation of how COVID19 is affecting day-to-day student life. This is not to say that the films have to be non-fictional, documentary-style accounts. The point is that the films should strive to be as true to their creator’s COVID19-altered psyche as possible.

Turvey provided some film history knowledge when asked about how he thinks COVID-19 will affect professional cinema in the coming years.

MT: One of the interesting … things that people talk about in the current situation is the influenza epidemic of 1918. And one of the astonish-

ing things about that epidemic, given how many people [were] killed and how lethal it was, is just how little trace it left on culture. It’s very hard to find references to it within novels and plays and poems and films and so on. Remember, by 1918, Hollywood is going very strong already, so it’s not as if there isn’t a film industry. I wonder whether, you know, it’s been such a … depressing and difficult time that people will want to move on pretty quickly. That would be my guess. Now, of course, I’m sure there will be films and television shows, et cetera, that make reference to it or even are about it, but I have a sneaky feeling that we’re all going to want to put this behind us as quickly as possible. Again, I could be completely wrong. But it is interesting to think about that precedent of the [1918] influenza epidemic and how little impact it had on culture.

The competition will undoubtedly be a fresh way to cultivate a film presence at Tufts, but it is not the only event the FMS program hopes will do so.

Turvey points to a biannual industry night, where “[the FMS program has brought] back typically between … 20 to 25 alums who have high profile positions in the film and media industries, in journalism, in public relations and marketing, in talent management, in filmmaking, in TV and so on. That event usually attracts between 100 and 150 students … and many

of those students aren’t [FMS] majors. [They are] students who are interested in some sort of career in the [FMS] industries,” according to Turvey.

He also highlights the frequent film screenings and guest lecturers that the FMS program has brought to campus.

MT: My colleague, who teaches in the filmmaking part of the [FMS] program, Jennifer Burton … has a whole series of women-in-movies events, where women who are filmmakers, cinematographers, editors and so on … they come to campus to give talks. That kind of event does draw in a wider community, because it’s not just people who are interested in filmmaking who will come to an event like that. It’s also people who are interested, perhaps, from the more theoretical point of view. They’re interested in the issue of women in the film and entertainment industries.

Ultimately, Turvey attributes much of the bright future for the FMS program to its recent move into Barnum Hall.

MT: We’ve always had to borrow other people’s spaces to [put on events] in the past.

But now that we have our own spaces, [our own] environment, all of this will become much easier.

To quote Tony Soprano, “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor.” Tune into the COVID-eo Film Festival on Thursday, Dec. 3, and watch — or maybe even join in on — what looks to be the awakening of a wonderful, creative part of Tufts.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Fun & Games | Thursday, November 19, 2020

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Jack Clohisy The Weekly Rewind

Should we separate musicians from their music?

G

abby Barrett and Charlie Puth’s duet “I Hope” (2020) reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, a feat for Barrett, an “American Idol” alumna. However, during a politically divisive time, it is important to bring to light Barrett’s public support for President Donald Trump. As a musician with a massive influ-

Opinion ence, Barrett’s political stances are disappointing.

With an outpouring of support from artists for Presidentelect Joe Biden, artists who support President Trump in the mainstream seem few and far between. Barrett has been less vocal about her stance in the 2020 election, but if there’s any place to dig up information about an artist, it’s Twitter.

Barrett has liked pro-Trump tweets, including “Trump is asking all Christians to pray today at 4 CST (5pm Eastern time) when they go to the Supreme Court” and “President Trump announced this morning that he intends to sign the Born Alive Executive Order to protect babies born alive after failed abortions.” With over 88,000 followers on Twitter, Barrett is

using her platform to endorse President Trump.

Despite her political views, “I Hope” is a growing hit. After sitting for 46 weeks on the U.S. chart, her single with Puth completed the longest trip to the top five in Billboard Hot 100 history. Though “I Hope” sustained momentum on the chart for nearly a year, it is evident that Barrett has not used her platform for good during a time when social issues need to be discussed.

Barrett’s stances have the ability to alienate fans who may think differently. For example, Barrett’s public support for tweets about restricting abortion rights outwardly demonstrates her criticism of those who choose to undergo such an operation. The intent of music

5 Thursday, November 19, 2020

is to unite people — it is the language everyone speaks — so when Barrett chooses to publicize her harmful political opinions, she is effectively writing off fans.

At the 2018 national tree-lighting event in the White House, President Trump invited Barrett to perform. Barrett said she was “honored” to perform at the event and that it “was an amazing opportunity to represent America and the Lord.” Trump’s presidency has been one of controversy, divisiveness and turmoil to say the least, and for Barrett to go up on stage, ignorant of the issues plaguing this country, was a distasteful act.

Listeners can agree that “I Hope” is popular based on its chart performance, but do audi-

ences always have to separate artists from their art?

No, they do not.

Barrett is responsible for the impact she leaves by publicizing her opinions, so audiences are allowed to boycott her music. Sure, she can make a great song, but her stances are hindering much of the progress still needed in this country. No one is obligated to favor an artist based solely on musical ability; it is the character of artists audiences choose to invest in. In Barrett’s case, it’s completely acceptable to change the radio station when “I Hope” comes on.

Jack Clohisy is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Jack can be reached at jack.clohisy@tufts.edu.

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EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily.

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6 Thursday, November 19, 2020

SPORTS

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NFC Week 10 Recap: Brees, Brady, a bonanza

by Arpan Barua

Assistant Sports Editor

This previous weekend saw the continuation of the most unusual and strange NFL season to date. With rising COVID-19 numbers and empty stadiums, fans braced themselves for what would be another hectic Sunday in the NFL for the NFC side. With some teams cementing their consistency and others in free fall, Sunday helped us see with even more clarity the playoff picture for this expanded playoff season. Here is your recap of Sunday’s NFC games.

Tom Brady is still elite Coming off the back of a humiliating defeat to their divisional rivals, the New Orleans Saints­, Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were eager to bounce back with a victory against the Carolina Panthers. Early in the game, a check down pass to running back Ronald Jones II was caught with some butterfingers and eventually fumbled, allowing the Panthers to scoop it up.

Minutes later, former Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw a touchdown pass to put the underdog Panthers up 7–0.

The two teams went into the break tied 17–17. Ronald Jones II defined the third quarter with a breathtaking 98-yard touchdown run. From then on out, the Buccaneers began clicking on both sides of the ball, with Brady, Brown, Fournette, PierrePaul, Gronkowski and the rest of the 2015 NFL all-stars finding their entire rhythm. The Buccaneers ended up outscoring the Panthers in the second-half 29–6, with Brady finishing with a vintage 341-yard and three-touchdown performance.

Should the chemistry begin to click even more for this jugger-

Aiden Herrod The Turf Monster

A symbiotic Suns-Thunder trade

T

he biggest trade of the shortened NBA offseason is genius for both sides.

Let’s start with the oft-maligned Phoenix Suns, fresh off a surprising undefeated run in the Bubble, marked by clutch performances from blue-chip star Devin Booker and a very Suns-esque ending which still saw them miss the playoffs despite an 8–0 record in the restart.

Booker has often been, and has continued to be this offseason, the subject of trade rumors.

No player can stay with a single franchise for as long as he

naut offense, and we may have ourselves a real Super Bowl contender in the making. Final score: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 46, Carolina Panthers 23.

Could the Giants really win the NFC East?

In a year where nothing can be guaranteed, the NFC East continues to show its consistency and reliability with another horror show over the weekend. The Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants battled it out for what could be a pivotal game for the winner of the division. Yes, the 3–4–1 Eagles and the 2–7 Giants were competing for the top of an NFL division. You read that right.

The game started with Daniel Jones scoring an eye-popping 34-yard touchdown to put the Empire State up 7–0. Excluding a massive 56-yard touchdown run from the lightning-quick Boston Scott, the Eagles’ play on both sides of the ball was disoriented and disorganized, and Giants QB Daniel Jones ate them alive for it. Throughout the entire game, Jones dropped dime after dime, finishing with 244 yards and eventually a Giants win. This puts the Giants in a striking distance of the division title and a playoff berth. However, with a possible wildcard game against either the Buccaneers, Saints, Cardinals, Rams or Seahawks, both teams could be in for brutal losses.

Final score: New York Giants 27, Philadelphia Eagles 17.

Seattle in free fall Once deemed a top Super Bowl contender led by the MVP favorite Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks looked pedestrian and average as they geared up to face the Los Angeles Rams.

Hipster NFL fans’ prodigal son, Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay, lined up play after play to release their Hollywood aerial

attack. Rams quarterback Jared Goff lobbed throws after repeated play-action plays which saw the Rams go up 17–7. The second half saw an unusually muted Seattle offense unable to break Aaron Donald and his defense of angels.

Wilson and the Seahawks only scored three points in the second half as the Rams cruised to victory, giving both teams a 6–3 record.

However, in a generationally gifted division which consists of the defending NFC champions along with two teams now situated at 6–3, losing three of the last four games is simply not good enough for a Seattle team with major Super Bowl aspirations. With the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks all tied for the top of the division, neutrals should get their popcorn out to see how this division finishes. Final score: Los Angeles Rams 23, Seattle Seahawks 16.

Other scores from around the NFC: Packers squeak out a win against the Jaguars Yes, top of the NFC Green Bay Packers had a surprisingly tense and rigorous Sunday against a team currently competing with the New York Jets for the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft. The game remained close throughout, with Green Bay having to deal with explosive plays from Jacksonville Jaguars punt returner Keelan Cole. Heading into the final stretch of the fourth quarter, the Jaguars were actually winning the game 20–17 before a 75-yard touchdown drive led by Aaron Rodgers sealed the deal for his Packers. The Packers now sit atop of the NFC. Final score: Green Bay Packers 24, Jacksonville Jaguars 20.

Brees gets injured in a game that was a breeze Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints battled the battered and

bruised San Francisco 49ers on Sunday which saw the Saints cruise to a victory. The big news coming out of that game was the injury to Drew Brees who broke his ribs and suffered a collapsed lung after a nasty hit from 49ers defensive end Kentavius Street.

Final score: New Orleans Saints 27, San Francisco 49ers 13.

An NFC North battle for the (mediocre) ages The Minnesota Vikings went up against the Chicago Bears.

Scoring only two field goals in the first half, the Bears offense appeared absolutely devoid of any sort of coherent plan.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins broke his Monday night curse to bring his Vikings a morale-boosting victory. Meanwhile, the Windy City’s playoff chances seem grim, especially after the injury to starting quarterback Nick Foles.

Final score: Minnesota Vikings 19, Chicago Bears 13.

has and not expect some playoff success. This coming season will be make-or-break for Phoenix as they fight to keep their young star, who is widely regarded as a top-20 player league wide.

Enter Chris Paul, fresh off an exclamation point of a season where he took the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder on a wild playoff journey that saw the team go seven games against a loaded Rockets team. The success of Oklahoma City this season may have led to speculation that they could keep Paul, a perennially underrated point guard with endless accolades and one of the best IQs and playmaking abilities in basketball.

But Paul is 35, and the Thunder has been stockpiling draft picks like a hoarder since it traded Paul George and Russell Westbrook.

An aging point guard, whether or not they are still a star, doesn’t fit in the timeline of a team that looks to use its draft picks to contend a few years down the

line. Paul proved he can still play at an immensely high level, and Phoenix rightfully saw that and went all-in with their exciting young core by shelling out a draft haul to the Thunder.

For the Suns, Paul immediately makes them a top-5 team in the West, provided he can stay healthy and avoid that dreaded aging cliff. His playmaking on ball will give Booker plenty of opportunities to shine as the lead scorer. The Suns also have a steadily improving big man in Deandre Ayton, who should see benefits in spades as he caught lobs and dimes from Paul. This has the potential to be a scary big three if Ayton can make another jump, and if nothing else, the PaulBooker combo will be a force on offense. If the supporting cast can keep up its recent success in the Bubble and not fall back to earth, I project them to compete with teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State

Warriors for the third through fifth seeds in the NBA. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, has an almost comical stash of draft picks now. General Manager Sam Presti feels like an NBA 2K player taking the MyGM mode to its wildest extremes.

They played the Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul trade perfectly, getting one haul from Westbrook and flipping Paul for another. They certainly seem to have won the Westbrook trade given the turmoil he’s going through in Houston, and the Thunder now have endless options as they gear up to rebuild. They could use most, if not all, of the picks and flood their team with young talent, or shell out picks to acquire exciting young stars from the trade market. It will be exciting to see what Presti does here, and Oklahoma City should feel great about its future and great about its recent asset management given the circumstances.

For the Suns, I give this trade an A-. There’s risk in trading a lot of assets for a 35-year-old player, but Paul has proven he can maintain a great deal of value. The risk is minimized by the presence of a young, surging cast around the Suns’ stars. And the bottom line is that Booker can remain in Phoenix, happily playing on a higher-end contender. Keeping a young star like him separates the good franchises from the miserable.

For the Thunder, I give this trade an A+. This comes to show just how incredible the front office is at managing its assets, and not being blinded by a ragtag group making a surprise playoff appearance. They have a focus on the future, and they are squeezing as much value as possible from every meaningful asset they have.

ALL-PRO REELS / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Evan Engram of the New York Giants catches a pass during a game on Sept. 29, 2019.

Aiden is a junior studying film and media studies and entrepreneurial leadership. Aiden can be reached at aiden.herrod@tufts.edu