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What is krak Alakin fellow thermonuclear a
efforts. I am Damn Valley coming at

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you with my certified fan tabulous co
host Grant Hues. We are here because

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All Star fan voting has opened up
to make our All Star picks. We

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will get into the criteria we use
to decide on them in one second,

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but first, please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us if

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If you're on YouTube, hit that
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on YouTube if you need to know
that. If you're watching on YouTube,

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you don't need to know that.
I think that's everything, So go if

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you've done all those things, word
of mouth recommendations, retweet our promo,

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shout us out on Twitter, anything
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build the community. But shout out
to all the Allegiance loyal og listeners who

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will continue to be with us every
single episode. We heart you forever as

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well. I believe that's it,
which means we get to the most important

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question of the podcast, Grant,
how the heck are you doing? I'm

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doing great. I watched some great
NBA basketball sporting games last night, and

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I'm excited to talk about All Stars
because voting opened a couple of days before

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this will go up, so it
seems like a good topic to discuss.

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I don't know about you, but
something like this where we have to really

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just pin down who we think.
We'll talk about the criteria a little more

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detail before we really get started.
But like this really forces you to kind

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of just synopsize the season, and
it's like one of those things that's not

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always the most fun to do,
but it does give you kind of a

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baseline to go forward at the like
an official one third mark. So yeah,

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I'm I'm glad we're doing this.
It's a good exercise and I think,

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you know, hopefully we'll have a
few surprises. There are disagreements that

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kind of get some conversation going.
I am in agreement with everything you said.

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It's a very overwhelming process, though, you have to sit down and

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then really do it, and I
thought I'd be better prepared because of doing

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MVP ladders every other week, and
I just wasn't. It was just like,

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wow, this is still really fucking
hard, Like, Okay, I

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have some names that I know are
going to be in here, but sorting

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them through and then who qualifies for
what I think what's most important though,

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And you would you know, you
would sent me this before we had started

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a few like a few days before
we started. We are picking who we

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think should make the All Star team
right now, and so it's not you

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know who we think is going to
make it. We're not even scaling ahead

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and saying, well, we think
player X is going to play a lot

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better or miss a lot of time
from here on, so we did not

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select him. And so I think
it's important for listeners, watchers whoever to

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note that this is more of an
picks as a snapshot in time, because

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I think some of these names might
be in danger of falling out a little

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bit in the weeks and slash months
to come. Yeah. Yeah, so

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I that that brings up, But
I wanted to ask you so we approach

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it similarly, where it's it's it's
very much like who we think automake it

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not what you know, how many
votes will to use last year's an example,

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will Andrew Wiggins get and somehow be
a start. It's like not predicting

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who will actually be there. But
I wanted to know because there are a

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couple really conspicuous cases where this matters. How much are you weighing, if

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at all, playing time to this
point, Like whereas if you have a

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cutoff for you know, if you
didn't exceed x minutes, or if it's

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less you know, defined than that, do you have something like that informing

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your decision? And we'll just say
it. In the case of guys like

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Anthony Davis and Steph Curry who are
gonna miss a month apiece, it seems

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like minimum, how did you weigh
that, if at all, in making

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your dear choices. So for right
now, the injuries didn't impact it as

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much of the players who were recently
injured, But for guys like Kauai or

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Paul George where the playing time is
already deflated, and where you know,

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there's guys who've played a lot more
minutes, like we're talking at this stage

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of the season. If you've played
eleven hundred minutes versus someone who's played seven

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fifty like that is a pretty big
difference in my book, And I try

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not to view All Star like that, and I also don't team record is

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not oh, this team is first
in the East, so they need three

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All Star I don't. I don't
make picks like that, and I also

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won't make picks. You know.
The Grizzlies are so good, so they

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need to have two. I would
love to fit Desmond Bane on my list,

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not to get ahead of us shows
with the snubs, but maybe if

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he hadn't missed, hasn't missed so
much time like that, he would have

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been able to have a case over
again. We don't want I don't want

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to get into the names, but
the injuries are probably the toughest for me

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because part of me is like and
it's it's when we're talking awards too,

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doesn't it matter more about the impact
than the availability? Strops shout out listener

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from Discord comment on one of our
YouTube channels saying the best ability is ability,

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not availability, and I agree to
that's some extent, but when the

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margin for how good they've been really
isn't that like looking at the guards specifically,

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in the West, when the margin
isn't that, like, you know,

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when the margin is so thin between
everyone to begin with, or if

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unless it's someone who's like demonstratively and
I think this has been the case with

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Joel and bead Like you can kind
of throw away the minutes played with him

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just because he's been so dominant that, yeah, you're gonna pick him over,

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You're gonna pick him over brook Lopez, who is play like, I

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don't even know brook Lopez a lot
more minutes. I know he's appeared more

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games. So like that's something that
that I struggle with, is the definitely

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the minutes played, but I don't
the record stuff just doesn't bother me.

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And then the injuries, Yeah,
if it's impact that they're playing time to

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this point, but if you stack
up like Steph Curry's been numbered two of

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my MVP ballot for the past month, I know that's going to change.

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But I can't just discount everything he's
done when we're recording this, and he's

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only missed when he met two games
to this point, like since the injury.

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So that's where I land. And
I don't know how you handled it

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well. I brought it up because
that was the thing I struggled with most.

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It's like, I know that those
like Davis and Curry, for example,

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are going to miss enough time to
where, like, you know,

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within two weeks, we'll have to
be thinking about them, you know,

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like Paul George for example, someone
who's kind of on the cusp, or

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even Embiid who's played enough, but
you know, does by then, does

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like thirteen hundred minutes outweigh six to
eighty or seven fifty I don't know.

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So I have some like kind of
I had some struggles with that, and

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honestly, in a lot of cases
it sort of came down to positional depth,

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like, yeah, you know,
what do I can I is there

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a really good candidate that is,
say, worse than Curry, that has

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been worse than Curry, but by
that, you know, but in a

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matter of days or weeks will have
played significantly more minutes than him versus this

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situation with Davis or Embiid or whoever
else you know we're talking about. So

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I just want to basically I ask
you that so I can get out in

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front of this and say, there
are a couple of decisions I made that

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I feel really conflicted about and just
we may as well just get into it.

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But yeah, so that's one of
the tricky balancing. Actually. The

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other thing last thing I'd say before
we start is if there's, you know,

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all things being equal, I'm gonna
lean a little towards, you know,

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statistically, if things are close,
I'm gonna lean towards the guy that

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I think, I know, I
believe to be just the better player and

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going. And that's basically subjective,
and it depends a lot on like last

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year or the last three years,
or you know, what's he being asked

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to do. Situational There's all these
like non statistical criteria that I use to

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break a lot of ties or even
close calls it. You know that if

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you just really went straight numbers,
there are some guys that I think you

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could argue like I short changed,
But we'll see. We'll see how you

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feel and how the listeners feel about
that. And they're not meant to be

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Vendetta's. And the final thing that
all say that's tough is even though they've

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broken it down into front court and
backcourt, you still run into some issues

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where I didn't know what to do
with Joan Brown because everything from the defensive

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data to where he's actually playing,
in part because of the RW three injury

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to start the year points him as
a three. I think he will be

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eligible on the ballot to get in
as a shooting guard, and I'm sure

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people have probably named him as a
shooting guard to make things easier. I

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try to look at it's not where
a player starts. I look at the

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possession data where they've played the most, and I do look a lot at

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sort of defensive roles where I've really
tried to figure out, like, hey,

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could I just make Luca a wing? That would have made the West

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so much easier? But I can't. You can't do it, And so

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I try to look at everything,
and that's what that impacts your ballot,

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Like we might have gentlemen brown in
different spots, but I think I think

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he will be eligible at the two. I just didn't feel right putting him

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into that slot. Yeah, I
went the other way. I just tried

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to get the best players on there. However I could with like a semiological

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justification for what position I have im
at, so hopefully that all creates.

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So do you want to start east
or west? I'll let you. I'll

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let you pick since I kind of
threw this topic at you. First,

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let's do the East, And I'm
thinking, how do we want to do

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this? Do we want to break
it down by backcourt and front courts?

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So we'll go through backcourt. Yeah, Bett, let's do backcourt starters,

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front course starters, and then reserves
for each and then the wild cards.

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Then we can talk about snubs too
for each each conference. I'm wondering,

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dude, should we be talking about
it though, like backcourt starter? Oh?

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Because I guess there could be spoilers
in the front course starters if we

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get the backcourt reserves, right,
let's do it. So, who who

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are your backcourt starters? So in
the East, the easiest one for me

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was Donovan Mitchell. He's just you
know, the thermonuclear af you might say

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he has been He has been that
and for a really good Cavs team that

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has had ups and downs. But
he's just the guy that is driving that

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team. I just I don't really
know what the argument against him starting would

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be. I assume you don't have
one. The trickier one for me is

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the other backcourt starter in the East, and I went with Terris Haliburton.

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I think there are a couple guys
with good cases, but it's just,

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you know, he leads the league
in assists, he leads the league in

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potential assists. I think he's a
huge factor in why the Pacers have been

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surprisingly, you know, not one
of the worst teams in the league,

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who play with a bunch of you
know, great pace the ball moves,

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and I think he's just kind of
integral to that. He's not a great,

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you know, shutdown defender, but
he's in the passing lanes. He

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does impact the defense, which I
think distinguishes him from a couple of guys

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that maybe people will be surprised we
didn't even make our All Star teams,

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let alone start in the backcourt for
the East. So those are my two

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in the East. I feel really
good again about Mitchell, but Haliburton,

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I think there's there are good arguments
that we could have gone a different direction.

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So you didn't need to because I
went the same direction. And I

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don't Donovan Mitchell. I don't know
what he is the lock. There's probably

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a debate to be had in the
second spot, and I think if you

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view Jalen Brown as a guard and
want to put him here, I think

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that's probably the name that would get
the most love. But Tyrus Alibert's averaging

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over nineteen points tennessis one point five
steals, shooting better than thirty seven percent

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on his threes. There are two
players in NBA history who've done that for

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00:11:00,759 --> 00:11:05,519
an entire season, Magic Johnson and
Chris Paul. Yeah, that's like,

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00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,039
that's legit. Maybe it's a matter
of open pool if you prefer Jalen Brown

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here. Okay, fine, Tyres
Haliburton has been legit hashtag while he serviac's

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00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,519
an idiot, and I just I
try not to get mad about I mentioned

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00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:18,960
this year. I try not to
get mad about what local team broadcast say.

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I find it more comical than anything. But like when they're when it's

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00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:28,200
an unhinged like that and you're using
you know, we had people in our

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00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,120
Instagram comments were pointing out, well, that was a bad shot by Tyrise

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00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,240
Haliburton one like step back contested three. So it's been something that Tyrese Haliburton

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00:11:35,279 --> 00:11:37,879
can hit too, even if you
don't like the shot. Imagine using bad

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00:11:37,919 --> 00:11:43,559
shot selection to prop up Julia's fucking
Randall in the process. That's my mini

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00:11:43,639 --> 00:11:46,919
rant here is I don't know if
it's because he plays with the Pacers or

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00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,120
because like they're even when they were
you know, kind of on fire,

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like they faded into the backdrop.
He's been an All Star starter to me,

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Like there's again, I will listen
to cases for other people, but

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if you don't even think he's an
All Star stuf what he's done this season,

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00:12:01,799 --> 00:12:05,000
I would question what your what your
All Star roster looks like, Yeah,

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that's tough, and I think it
points to the bigger issue of of

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00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:11,200
you know, there are media votes
that affect this and like granted, All

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00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:16,159
Star births don't matter as much usually
to like say contract incentives or Supermax criteria

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00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:20,159
or whatever as all NBA does,
but you know, it's not nothing and

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00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:24,799
if you have it, so I
think I think it's just kind of we

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00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,039
need to get to the point where
if you're employed by the team or our

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00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,720
team adjacent, you just you can't
be a media voter for All Star.

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00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:33,440
And it just it's not everybody that's
that way, but if you kind of

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00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,000
go around the league and you spend
enough time on League Pass, it's not

203
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just the studio host, which Serbiac
was in that case, but every you

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know, the vast majority of home
commentators are you know, they're they're catering

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to a home audience. Their bias
has come through, even if they don't

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start that way. I think just
constantly speaking in a favorable light towards your

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team is just going to color your
opinions and you're gonna see these. It's

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just it's it's it's It seems like
an easy fix to just not have media

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that are employed by a team vote
for All Star just because this is this.

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I don't know if Zerbiak has a
vote. I assume he does.

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He's not the problem. He's just
there's lots of guys that have opinions like

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that that I think. It's just
if you're trying to make this a meritocracy

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at all, which maybe the All
Star Game isn't. Maybe it's like it's

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an exhibition. It's supposed to be
fun. Whatever. It's got to come

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out of contract incentives then though,
and like sp citing it is like important

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discords. No excuse me, is
what I would say. And but if

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you're going to tie it to contract
incentives, you need to bounce. I

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don't know if Serbiak has a vote
either, but you need to bounce that

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type of bias from it. Yeah, and it's again, it's not just

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him. That was just kind of
the egregious example. Most recently, he

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called Tyre Tobbert and I want to
be All Star, said he was in

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the second year when he's in his
third, and then he was saying that

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someone like Julius Randall's deserves to make
it over him. They don't even play

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in like the same All Star voting
field, and I just can't. Julius

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Randall's like the king of shitty crunch
time shot selection and so like, I

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just can't imagine using that as the
the springboard. So I get you're catering

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to an audience, but that was
just every so often they're just these even

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when you're like trying to account for
what you're expecting, it's inflammatory and stupid.

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And that was one of those instances
where it was inflammatory and stupid.

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Yeah, not a great. Look. Who do you have starting in the

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east front court. I'm assuming we're
gonna have the same three here. I've

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Jason Tatum, Kevin Durant and Janis
attend to COOPO. Yeah, I do

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too. Obviously, embet is the
is the surprising exclusion there we can.

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I mean, we may as well
talk about him now because he's obviously on

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both of our ballots. But Boilers, sorry to jump ahead. I mean

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it was this difficult for you.
I didn't really have much trouble there.

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No, I don't. I don't
like Kevin Urrant leads the league in minutes,

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and it's just I've kind of ignored
the Nets whenever I'm talking about important

239
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discussions is like, oh, They're
gonna eventually implode, And like I've had

240
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KD like sort of deflated on my
MVP ladder because at one point the nets

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weren't good and then'm like, well, I mean you tried to leave this

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team. Do I factor in you? You contributing to submarining this like fucking

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shit show. And now it's just
like Katie's been too good there. Janie

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has been done. The Bucks are
just quietly the best team the moleague.

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Again, Like, I feel like
we should be talking about that a little

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00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,639
bit. He's been He's had some
issues at the charity stripe on some of

247
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his jumpers. Those have had peaks
and valleys, but he's just remains super

248
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dominant, especially on the defensive end. And then Tatum. We've seen some

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pullback lately. It feels like and
his three balls not falling at the same

250
00:15:24,039 --> 00:15:28,879
click, especially same clip, especially
off the dribble, but gets a line

251
00:15:28,879 --> 00:15:31,639
more better driver than he was the
vision like when he is like we've seen

252
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an assist pull back too, but
like, this is someone who can really,

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unless he's playing the Warriors, can
control a game as just the primary

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offensive vocal point. And so I
don't even know. I guess in bid

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would be the only other name you
would consider here. But I know we're

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not supposed to factor in sample size, but when you start to factor it,

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like at that point, it's he's
played seven hundred and fifty minutes and

258
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I think all these all three of
these guys are over a thousand, and

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so I think that gets pretty tough
to put him there. I think too,

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you know, team success isn't a
huge driver for me. But you

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know the fact that to my mind, certainly the Bucks and Celtics have met

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or exceeded expectations more effectively than in
beat sixers have. That's not all his

263
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fault. But you know, even
even the nets, like if you factor

264
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,080
in sort of like how did you
think they were going to do in you

265
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know, September based on just everything
that was going on, and there they

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are, you know, surprisingly looking
like a top four seed in the East,

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and the Sixers I think probably injuries
have had, you know, a

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role to play in it, but
have been a little more disappointing. So

269
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you know, it's not the it's
not the defining you know piece of that

270
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argument. It's the playing time to
just full disclosure for me, although I

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was wrong, Jannis is about eight
hundred and twenty minutes versus Ebat at seven

272
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hundred and fifty, so that gap
is not that wide. I just think,

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I mean, Janice has been the
more valuable player to me this season.

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So yeah, I mean I don't
feel like we need to Yeah,

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that's I mean. I watched I
watched all of Bucks Pelicans last night and

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Jannat was just so you get these
little reminders every so often, not just

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like you said, how the Bucks
look like the best team in the league.

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Again, that guy, he's just
there's never gonna be a game ever

279
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where someone is trying harder than him, and like when you marry that with

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just his like physical abilities, it's
just the floor for that team is so

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high just because even if he's you
know, six for seventeen and can't make

282
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a free throw and whatever, he's
still just going to be the best player

283
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on the floor from an effort perspective, by like a mile all the time.

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He might actually just end up even
going six or seventeen still be the

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best player on the floor because of
the just the amount of attention he commands

286
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and then the defensive damage he's able
to inflict. Right, yeah, okay,

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00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,319
so I'll throw to you again?
Why not? So this is where

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00:17:40,319 --> 00:17:42,559
it gets much more difficult. We
already mentioned Himbid, who do you have

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as your other two East front court
reserves? Front court reserves? So I

290
00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:53,119
have Jalen Brown, Pascal siakam and
then as we mentioned already, Joel Embiid.

291
00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,599
Like I said I was going to
put. I put Jalen Brown in

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the front court. He put in
the back court. Whatever. He's been

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00:17:57,839 --> 00:18:03,960
spectacular this season, basically at twenty
six points per game, really good efficiency

294
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inside the r because assists have been
pulled up, they're still not like these

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00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:11,599
super complicated passes, but he's been
great. Siakam is might be an All

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NBA player, even though I have
him as a reserve in that, like

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we start to extrapolate how many games
does he play? But the Raptors have

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sucked. That's not really his fault. He's still during this stretch where their

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two and nine. As we're recording
this, like he's averaging over twenty five

300
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points per game, the lifeblood of
their offense. He's hit. I think

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he's shooting like thirty five points seven
percent from three during that stretch. I

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00:18:29,599 --> 00:18:32,839
guess you could look at his playing
time and be concerned that this would be

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00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,279
like a little bit ambitious, because
I think he had a a doctor injury,

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00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:37,960
was it. But he's still over
He's played more minutes than Hibad.

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And like, if we're comfortable putting
in bad here and the Raptors, like,

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00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,319
if you want to get into the
team's success equation, they've still got

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00:18:44,319 --> 00:18:48,240
scored opponents by sixty one points when
Siakam's on the court this season, And

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so he is the loan player,
And I don't know how much this is

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a factor into like he right now
is the loan players, separating them from

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complete irrelevance. And I think there's
value in that. But he's also just

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been incredible. Yeah, I I
so, I have two different guys,

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but both of the guys you mentioned
are also elsewhere on my ballot. So

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the two I went with, and
again this I wanted to preface this was

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this is where it got difficult.
I have Bam Auto Bio and Jimmy Butler,

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and one that feels weird to have
two heat players when the heat I

316
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:23,519
think have we would all agree have
been you know not you know, have

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00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:29,279
not played at a level that meets
expectations. But I think, and I'll

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00:19:29,319 --> 00:19:32,559
make this argument for some other situations
where I have two all stars from a

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00:19:32,599 --> 00:19:36,480
team you would not expect. I
don't feel like anyone would argue that those

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00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,319
two are the problem with for the
Heat. It's a depth issue. It's

321
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:41,599
it's there's just not enough shock creation. There's it's you know a lot of

322
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,960
things have kind of come to a
head. But if you just kind of

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00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,519
compare some of the candidates, like
Siakam, I agree. I think he

324
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:55,119
may suffer from what you said,
as the Raptors have just been so they

325
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,359
look so bad lately and have been
such a disappointment in so many predictable ways.

326
00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,400
You want to like impute some of
that to him, But it's just

327
00:20:02,599 --> 00:20:06,079
it's just not the case. Siakam
could absolutely start, but Butler, I

328
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,680
think it's been kind of overlooked and
the playing time is an issue for him.

329
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,279
I mean, he's played twenty games. Siakam is at twenty one out

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00:20:12,279 --> 00:20:15,319
of Baio's at twenty eight, some
other candidates that could have been here,

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00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:18,440
you know, closer to thirty games. But Butler, if you just you

332
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,559
know, box plus minus is the
best of sort of anyone we've mentioned in

333
00:20:22,599 --> 00:20:27,160
this, you know, better than
Siakam's value over replacements higher. You know,

334
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,240
we're just going into some of the
tie breaking like catch all stuff.

335
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,960
So and then when you watch Butler
play, he's still kind of just the

336
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,480
same guy where he's you know,
high usage, he's not really making threes,

337
00:20:37,519 --> 00:20:41,319
but sixty two percent true shooting.
That's you know, by far and

338
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,480
away the best of any of the
players we've mentioned here other than Embied that

339
00:20:45,519 --> 00:20:49,400
are you know, potentials for front
court reserves. And then Autobio. You

340
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:55,079
know, he is still so valuable
to the heat and maybe it's a problem

341
00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:59,319
that he is where he is in
the pecking order, but he's probably the

342
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,599
best perim defender among bigs. I
mean, I watched him defend Haliburton,

343
00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,519
you know, almost exclusively. What
was it a week or so ago,

344
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,680
and that wasn't that Haliburton was over
nine and just couldn't get anything against Autobio

345
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,720
on the perimeter. He's not a
shot blocker. The Heat needs someone to

346
00:21:15,759 --> 00:21:21,000
do that. But you know we've
seen Autobio'll be super valuable in deep playoff

347
00:21:21,079 --> 00:21:25,079
runs because of his defense. So
and when you marry that with what's I

348
00:21:25,079 --> 00:21:26,640
mean, what's the averaging? I'm
talking about him like he like I need

349
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,759
to justify this, but he's at
twenty point seven points, nine point eight

350
00:21:30,799 --> 00:21:33,759
boards, three point three assists,
fifty two point eight percent from the field,

351
00:21:33,759 --> 00:21:37,000
making eighty four percent of his free
throws. Like that's an All Star

352
00:21:37,039 --> 00:21:41,359
reserve. I think it's just I
balked a little bit at we're really gonna

353
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,519
have two Heat guys here when you
know there are we're going to exclude some

354
00:21:45,559 --> 00:21:48,759
guys from teams that have similar records
that you know, have similar like Fantasy

355
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:53,000
or box score level production. But
you know, do I guess, since

356
00:21:53,039 --> 00:21:56,720
we're kind of I'm messing this all
up, do either or both of Butler

357
00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,680
and auto Bio feature on your ballot
anyplace else they will, and one of

358
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,839
them would have gotten them not here
if I'd put Jayon Brown in the guard

359
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,880
spot, which is if I if
I had my druthers and wasn't being such

360
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,759
a stickler here, I'd probably do
that just because I'm not married to like

361
00:22:11,039 --> 00:22:17,839
one of my backcourt picks, so
I probably wouldn't went with at a Bio,

362
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:19,240
maybe just because he's played so much
more. But there's something to me

363
00:22:19,279 --> 00:22:23,119
about being like the central focus of
your offense, which is why I appreciate

364
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:29,440
what Siakam's done so much this year, But like it's sort of splitting hairs

365
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,039
because you look at him. Jimmy
Butler play basically the same amount of playing

366
00:22:32,039 --> 00:22:33,960
time, and so I get where
you're coming from. A Butler Butler's even

367
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:37,519
hit a higher clip of like the
modest number of threes that he takes this

368
00:22:37,559 --> 00:22:41,039
regular season, and just the pressure
that he's able to put on defenses and

369
00:22:41,079 --> 00:22:44,519
get them in rotation and have them
overreact, and the passes he's able to

370
00:22:44,559 --> 00:22:48,240
make out of them. I totally, I totally understand that one but these

371
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,160
two will appear elsewhere on the ballot
because they got both my wild card spots

372
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,039
and so I don't know, like's
wild card like more insulting than making flat

373
00:22:56,039 --> 00:22:59,799
out reserves, Like if you weren't
going to be a starter, I don't

374
00:22:59,799 --> 00:23:03,480
really know that it matters. So
they both are on my All Star ballot.

375
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,960
That's how I view it. Like
wildcard feels like, you know,

376
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,240
it's the last consideration you make.
It's where you squeeze guys onto the roster.

377
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,119
But it's really not that different from
reserves, and it's got more to

378
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:17,680
do with just positional depth again than
anything else. For me, who do

379
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,480
you have as your east backcourt reserves? So I have That's where I have

380
00:23:21,519 --> 00:23:25,640
Brown, And I think I'm not
sure what I would do if I had

381
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:26,960
to, if I had to make
him a front court player, I think

382
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:34,119
i'd probably bump, probably bump Auto
Bio down to wildcard or just off altogether.

383
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,920
But if Brown wasn't a difficult pick, I mean he was even like

384
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,519
since I called him a guard,
I think you could make a decent case

385
00:23:41,559 --> 00:23:45,920
that he might be the guy that
should push Haliburton for a starting spot.

386
00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,920
But I mean, second best player
on you know, what was the best

387
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,279
team in the league for a while
may wind up that way. It just

388
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,880
you know, he's he's making tons
of two point jumpers, which I think

389
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,920
if you're looking for like a point
to be skeptical about, that's probably where

390
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,640
you'd go. But he's still just
the twenty five a night guy, good

391
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:07,400
enough defender, has improved off the
dribble, gets to the back. It's

392
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:10,759
just you know, he we know
what Jaylen Brown is at this point,

393
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,920
and even if his two point jumper
shooting regresses a little bit, uh,

394
00:24:15,279 --> 00:24:18,359
he's still going to be worthy of
this spot. So that's my one.

395
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:25,519
The other is Drew Holiday. I
I think probably that you could make a

396
00:24:25,559 --> 00:24:30,119
decent statistical argument against him, just
because nothing really leaps off, you know,

397
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,680
forty five percent from the field,
thirty six percent from three, you

398
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,000
know, nineteen points a game.
That's anything, you know, lower than

399
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:41,119
twenty. You kind of feel like
you need to make some kind of excuse

400
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,240
for But I'd just say, like
he's again arguably one of the best defensive

401
00:24:44,279 --> 00:24:49,039
guards in the league. He's been
the Bucks no worse than their third best

402
00:24:49,039 --> 00:24:52,960
player. He's probably right there with
Brook Lopez. I think he probably you

403
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,759
know, if you're asking me who
I'd rather have just in a vacuum,

404
00:24:56,799 --> 00:25:00,400
I think He matters more to me
than than Lopez does just under eight assists,

405
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,880
five boards, gets a bunch of
steals. Just he's an all star

406
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,400
to me. And the fact that
again we've seen him be a vital piece

407
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:12,559
of a championship team kind of breaks
any ties or you know, knocks down

408
00:25:12,599 --> 00:25:17,359
anybody else that might have better cosmetic
numbers. Yeah, I mean, look,

409
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,319
he's been so important to them as
a playmaker while Chris Middleton's missed all

410
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:25,440
that time. And even just like
his regular season perimeter game is there's there

411
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:27,039
again, they're going to be like
these stretches where he sort of kind of

412
00:25:27,039 --> 00:25:32,000
implodes and then he can have these
wonky finishes. But the like the off

413
00:25:32,039 --> 00:25:34,799
the dribble Drew Holiday Jumper in the
regular season as a weapon, and so

414
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,319
I don't need him to have up
above the twenty points per game threshold,

415
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,880
especially when you look at the defensive
workload that he's carrying, you know,

416
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:48,640
in tandem with all of that.
And so he made he made my east

417
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,039
backcourt reserves list. I had my
final spot down because I had Jaalen Brown

418
00:25:53,079 --> 00:25:56,680
his front court. If everyone remembers, it came down between Jamal and Brunson

419
00:25:56,799 --> 00:26:00,799
and Demard rozen for me, and
I didn't know what to do. I

420
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,599
ended up leaning towards DeMar Derozen because
it feels like he's playing more of a

421
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,440
heliocentric role. But I also don't
know if that actually matters, because part

422
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:14,079
of what's so appealing about Jalen Brunson
is the scalability here and Demardosen shooting better

423
00:26:14,079 --> 00:26:17,759
on twos and he takes you know
that he's doing well for mid range again,

424
00:26:17,759 --> 00:26:21,160
he still gets to the foul line
a ton, and he's like he

425
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,039
is the driving force, like as
a playmaker for Chicago's offense. That's not

426
00:26:25,039 --> 00:26:29,240
necessarily a compliment at this point.
Neither of them are adding like a ton

427
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,119
of value defensively, although Jalen Brunson
definitely probably looks better on that end of

428
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,839
the fourth than Derosen by like a
pretty wide margin at this point. So

429
00:26:37,079 --> 00:26:38,559
I could see this spot changing for
me, but it's hard for me to

430
00:26:38,559 --> 00:26:42,720
ignore just like, oh, twenty
six points fifty two percent shooting from beyond

431
00:26:42,759 --> 00:26:48,599
the arc, and he is still
per impredictable leads the league and clutch win

432
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,039
probability added, and so like that's
still someone who is able to get you

433
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,240
buckets in these really tough situations,
even when look the bowls have not been

434
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,200
winning, they suck, they feel
hopeless. The Knicks around a winning streak.

435
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,799
So I don't feel great about putting
Joe and Brunson in the snubs department,

436
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:07,200
but I have I have DeMar Derozen
as of right now. Yeah,

437
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,480
De Rozen was probably my toughest cut, and I might have just looked too

438
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:18,559
too hard at just the Bulls being
incredibly you know, underwhelming. Yeah,

439
00:27:18,559 --> 00:27:22,359
so I guess I guess I may
as well just go into my reserves.

440
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,680
Brunson is one, and Siakam we've
already discussed as the other. And really

441
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:33,000
I mean Brunson over de Rosen.
I mean, I guess you know,

442
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:37,640
their roles are sort of similar in
that they're they're so vital to like their

443
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,920
offense is really getting anything done,
you know, if you go down,

444
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,039
I'm trying to look at, you
know, to break ties, trying to

445
00:27:45,079 --> 00:27:49,400
look at like RPM or Raptor or
things like that. The Rosen's thirtieth and

446
00:27:49,799 --> 00:27:55,000
Raptor wins above replacement. And as
I'm looking, I don't see Brunson for

447
00:27:55,039 --> 00:27:56,680
a while. Let me see where
he's at. Brunson's twenty second. So

448
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,359
there I'm vindicated. Brunson is way
better than Derozen and we can end the

449
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:06,319
discussion. I mean, the advanced
metrics love John Brunson more than they do

450
00:28:06,559 --> 00:28:10,079
Demard Rosen. Yeah, it's it's
tough because you look at you know,

451
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:14,519
Derozen's on I'm pretty sure he's right
at sixty percent true shooting and he's right

452
00:28:14,599 --> 00:28:19,160
under Yeah, sixty on the nose
twenty nine percent usage. Brunson is fifty

453
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,319
seven point nine percent true shooting.
Slightly lower usage twenty six point one.

454
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:30,359
Brunson actually turns it over more way. Higher assist rate does grade out better

455
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,960
marginally defensively, although just surprising to
see that Derozen just by wind shares and

456
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:38,839
defensive box plus minus like neither's been
you know, great shakes, but it's

457
00:28:38,839 --> 00:28:44,640
Brunson narrowly for me and team success
and roll and like just you know,

458
00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:48,960
what's the word. Even how integral
Brunson is I think because if you take

459
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,920
Brunson off off the knicks, like
we're just sort of back to where we

460
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,440
were where the biggest problem is like
who's making plays, Who's you know,

461
00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:00,720
finding these cracks and he's given them
like a crunch time compass. That's that's

462
00:29:00,799 --> 00:29:04,319
huge for them and Derozen you know
last year was at a million clutch shots

463
00:29:04,319 --> 00:29:07,200
and is great. Like again,
this isn't like an indictment of Dorozen.

464
00:29:07,279 --> 00:29:11,960
I just feel like Brunson for me, has had a you know, marginally

465
00:29:11,039 --> 00:29:15,319
better season. What where did Kyrie
Irving factor into this discussion for you?

466
00:29:15,359 --> 00:29:21,640
Did you just write him off like
I did because he sucks like I did

467
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,519
initially, But then I you know, as I was having such a hard

468
00:29:25,519 --> 00:29:30,720
time figuring out like just the Brunson
DeRozan discussion, then you really expand it

469
00:29:30,799 --> 00:29:33,279
and think, like, well,
how how much isn't Kyrie at least worthy

470
00:29:33,279 --> 00:29:37,079
of that? On stats? He
probably is. He's right, a sixty

471
00:29:37,119 --> 00:29:40,079
percent true shooting again, great shot
creator all, you know, all the

472
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:45,160
Kyrie stuff, but if you know, if like actually being a positive factor

473
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,440
on your team matters, he really
hurt the team for a long stretch of

474
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,079
the year and is the main reason
that we have all these reservations about the

475
00:29:52,119 --> 00:29:57,000
Nets sustainability and you know how explosive
they are and like all the wrong ways.

476
00:29:57,039 --> 00:30:03,240
So I did. I didn cosider
him when it seems pretty clear that

477
00:30:03,279 --> 00:30:07,359
the East wild cards were other than
Siak. I'm gonna there's some you know,

478
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,640
there are possibilities to get a handful
of names in there, but not

479
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,920
seriously, I assume you wasn't a
factor for you. No, the numbers

480
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,039
may get tough, and it's just
like, oh, he's played almost as

481
00:30:17,119 --> 00:30:19,519
much as or as Drew Holiday at
this point. I think it may maybe

482
00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:22,920
even if not more. I haven't
updated the minutes. Yeah, he's played

483
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,279
more than Drew Holiday. I just
that stuff matters to me. And it's

484
00:30:26,319 --> 00:30:30,440
like, I, you know,
I think that he seems like he either

485
00:30:30,839 --> 00:30:33,519
maybe learned from what happened or gets
it now. I think that's even generous.

486
00:30:33,519 --> 00:30:36,279
I wouldn't even go as far as
saying that, but he hasn't done

487
00:30:36,319 --> 00:30:38,759
anything to fuck with the nets since
then, and so that's a plus.

488
00:30:38,759 --> 00:30:42,359
But like that, the baseline has
to be higher. And when you're talking

489
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:47,400
about at this level, I think
every factor matters. And if you can

490
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,759
if you're even at risk of being
a detriment for your team because of what

491
00:30:49,799 --> 00:30:52,480
you say, because of your beliefs
of what you do off the court,

492
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,359
that matters. And it's just like, do you know this isn't he missed

493
00:30:56,359 --> 00:31:00,200
time with COVID, although he probably
would have been out and about any way,

494
00:31:00,279 --> 00:31:03,319
But my like, he this was
his own doing, and so I

495
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,640
don't I don't even know how to
wake that him. This wasn't an injury,

496
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:11,240
this was a choice, and so
I think that that, you know,

497
00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:14,720
I just I can't consider him for
this. I can't, like,

498
00:31:14,839 --> 00:31:18,759
maybe if we're closer to January and
like now the sample size have grown so

499
00:31:18,839 --> 00:31:21,279
much and the nets are still winning, They're not fattening up on an easy

500
00:31:21,279 --> 00:31:25,000
schedule. He's been really good when
he's on the floor, but I'm gonna

501
00:31:25,079 --> 00:31:27,960
lean toward players that I trust are
going to be on the floor. Yeah,

502
00:31:29,039 --> 00:31:32,519
it's not it's just not the same. I think it's more fair to

503
00:31:32,559 --> 00:31:41,119
compare the reasons for his absence or
unavailability to like someone that's just like taking

504
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,319
really terrible shots on purpose or something. Not that he's doing that, but

505
00:31:44,359 --> 00:31:48,400
like there's a willfulness and there's like
an agency to the rescue him being out.

506
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,720
That's different than he pulled a hamstring
or whatever. You know, it's

507
00:31:52,759 --> 00:31:57,200
just it's all stars. I feel
like at least part of the criteria is,

508
00:31:57,599 --> 00:32:01,119
you know, you're some level of
like unequivocal positive for your team,

509
00:32:01,119 --> 00:32:05,759
and that just can't really be said
for him. And I think most,

510
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:07,559
maybe not most, I think a
lot of people will just disagree because they

511
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,559
view it needs to be just about
basketball. Or you even said all stars

512
00:32:10,559 --> 00:32:15,640
in exhibition. How do you not
want Kyrie in the exhibition? And regardless

513
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,559
of what the spirit of the game
is, if we're treating these selections like

514
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:22,119
it matters, like it's a privilege, like it's an honor, he just

515
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,200
doesn't deserve it. I don't.
I got that's not that's not spicy.

516
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:30,440
Who's your toughest snub in the East? I got a lot, So I'll

517
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:31,519
list the snubs. Since you have
so many, I'll list the snubs that

518
00:32:31,519 --> 00:32:35,200
I wrote down. John Brunson ended
up being the toughest snub I had,

519
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:37,720
Brook Lopez, Jared Allen, Evan
Mobley was in there for me to Trey

520
00:32:37,759 --> 00:32:43,440
Young and then I did. I
did write down Kyrie and but you I'm

521
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,119
interesting who else was on your The
toughest one for me was probably Brunson.

522
00:32:45,119 --> 00:32:50,359
The DeMar derozin versus Brunson debate.
I won't say it kept me up at

523
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:52,640
night, but it's something I thought
about before I went to bed prior to

524
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,240
recording this. Yeah, that's the
dedication that I love to hear. Uh

525
00:32:57,359 --> 00:33:01,240
Derosen for sure of Porzingis. Guess
I actually had on there. You know,

526
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,640
he was with Derozen kind of like, man, am I really going

527
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:08,480
to leave him off and put Brunson
on? But the more I looked at

528
00:33:08,519 --> 00:33:13,319
it, the more the record mattered, the more the larger body of work,

529
00:33:14,079 --> 00:33:16,000
you know, kind of mattered because
Porzingis, I think most would agree,

530
00:33:16,079 --> 00:33:20,960
is playing about as well as he's
ever played this year, and it's

531
00:33:21,039 --> 00:33:23,319
not it hasn't really been in service
of a very good team. Maybe,

532
00:33:23,519 --> 00:33:27,200
you know, honestly, maybe it's
not fair because if Brad Bill had been

533
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:30,480
healthy all season, maybe the Wizards
are closer to five hundred and maybe where

534
00:33:30,839 --> 00:33:35,680
it's really like just a coin flip. I mentioned Derozen Brook Lopez was tough,

535
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,279
and it's partly because he went off
for thirty last night and just was

536
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:43,400
blocking everything and getting Zion like two
and three times in a row on layup

537
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:47,000
attempts. And you really the game
last night against the Pelicans, I guess

538
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,279
I should just say Monday night really
was about as good a distillation of what

539
00:33:52,359 --> 00:33:54,319
he does for the Bucks as you're
ever going to see, just spacing the

540
00:33:54,319 --> 00:34:00,640
floor, hitting threes, dominating interior, the interior on defense. Just couldn't

541
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:02,640
quite get there, even though I'm
sure he's up over forty percent. I

542
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:07,039
think from deep I think he went
in last on Monday at thirty nine points.

543
00:34:07,079 --> 00:34:12,639
Something Irving I considered mobile and Allen, I mean Trey Young and Dejanta

544
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,880
Murray. The Hawks are over five
hundred as we're recording this. Murray though,

545
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,559
it just hasn't been as good as
last year as usages down as a

546
00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:23,920
sister way down, and Young is
what is yet thirty percent from three twenty

547
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:28,239
eight percent when I was putting this
together, Murray's out shooting done from three

548
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:32,039
do Jan Murray's at thirty five plus
percent. It's rough, it's rough.

549
00:34:32,079 --> 00:34:38,719
And then again, how much I'm
not gonna lie the weird Nate McMillan back

550
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:43,079
and forth from a couple of weeks
ago, and then the whispers coming out

551
00:34:43,119 --> 00:34:45,639
I think from Sam Amack that like
if you pulled the Hawks and it was

552
00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:50,239
a he goes or or the other
guy goes, they would side with McMillan

553
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:54,519
like that. That's significant to me
maybe it shouldn't be Harden hadn't played enough.

554
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:59,280
Darius Garland just hasn't been quite as
good as last year when he was

555
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:04,239
an All Star. I thought about
Anne Road splits have been wild and that's

556
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,800
gone home versus just wild. The
guy can't stop getting hit in the face.

557
00:35:07,039 --> 00:35:09,119
You know, he started the year
with that eye. Last ration,

558
00:35:09,159 --> 00:35:14,280
he got cracked last night. Just
he's gonna I think he might need to

559
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,519
get fitted for a mask. But
yeah, that the two biggest are De

560
00:35:16,599 --> 00:35:22,440
Rosen and Porzingists for me, and
you know I would not I would not

561
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,719
begrudge anybody for putting either of them
on over Brunson or you know, like

562
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,599
Aute Bio, even Butler, I'd
be fine with that. Wow, I

563
00:35:29,679 --> 00:35:31,239
was so the aude Bio. Butler
felt like even though their wild cards me

564
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,639
had to be on there. I'd
be more if you were fungible with the

565
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:37,960
brunts in De Rosian spot for us
is the one that I feel like where

566
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,320
you can get creative and oh if
I shoehorned Jalen Brown until guard Spot bounce

567
00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:44,000
them and then I could fit someone
else on in the front court. Yeah,

568
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:45,559
you know what the thing is like, we got Haliburton as a starter.

569
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:50,159
I wouldn't shock me if he just
didn't make it, just because like's

570
00:35:50,199 --> 00:35:53,079
not not talking about not talking about
deserving, but just talking about what the

571
00:35:53,159 --> 00:35:55,639
votes are gonna be. Wow.
I mean as a starter, he's not

572
00:35:55,639 --> 00:36:00,519
gonna make it as a starter.
We know that that's but I would assume

573
00:36:00,559 --> 00:36:02,360
that he would make it. I
hope he does. He's one of my

574
00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,719
favorite players to watch in the league. So that's the East for us.

575
00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:07,960
You want to, let's jump to
the West. Who are your backcourt West

576
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,679
starters? Just go right in.
This is gonna be really hard. My

577
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,400
backcourt West starters. I didn't think
we're hard. I thought they were locks,

578
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:17,440
as in Lukadanci and Steph Curry Right
now, I don't look if you

579
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:21,880
want to try and project forward,
but as of right this moment, I

580
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:23,639
have Steph Curry as a starter.
He's been one of the two most valuable

581
00:36:23,639 --> 00:36:28,400
players in the league for me to
date, and his three point volume and

582
00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:30,679
efficiency's just absurd. You look at
how much he's able to impact the Warrior's

583
00:36:30,679 --> 00:36:36,119
offense just in terms of uplifting other
players shot opportunities, even when he isn't

584
00:36:36,159 --> 00:36:39,719
necessarily directly assisting them. I just
watch alas I could say, just watched

585
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:44,559
the Warriors and like slow down a
half court set where Steph Curry doesn't touch

586
00:36:44,639 --> 00:36:46,000
the ball and then go watch one
where he's not even on the floor,

587
00:36:46,039 --> 00:36:50,320
and it's just night and day.
So this was easy for me. If

588
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:52,320
we were getting in most Steph's injured, how long, how much time is

589
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,599
he gonna miss? That's not as
a right at this moment, it's not

590
00:36:54,639 --> 00:36:58,800
a factor. And so this is
who I would pick right now. And

591
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,079
this was really easy, even though
there's all the depth in the back court

592
00:37:02,159 --> 00:37:07,719
of the West is absurd, So
I don't mean to sort of dismiss other

593
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,639
candidates here. And again, if
we were doing this in three more weeks

594
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:15,800
or something, it might be different. But I thought this was easy in

595
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,760
the moment. So it was hard
for me just because I didn't know what

596
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:22,320
to do with the two factors that
the main thing is the depth of the

597
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:29,079
West backcourt. There's like there's what
maybe five guys that you would consider even

598
00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:32,239
up against like say Donovan Mitchell if
they were in the other conference as like

599
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:37,119
a lock starter, maybe six,
And I just didn't know what to do

600
00:37:37,159 --> 00:37:40,159
with the injury there's so many deserving
guys. I did go with Curry,

601
00:37:40,199 --> 00:37:44,039
but it was hard because we'll get
to all the other candidates. There's so

602
00:37:44,039 --> 00:37:47,159
many guys with great cases that are
just starting caliber or all stars based on

603
00:37:47,199 --> 00:37:52,400
what they've done so far, and
the potential miss time is just such a

604
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:55,679
it gave me pause. But all
the numbers you mentioned, like the on

605
00:37:55,800 --> 00:38:01,360
off splits are just ridiculous, like
steps sixteen point three net he's third in

606
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:07,239
Raptor second, and estimate estimated plus
minus first and offensive box plus minus all

607
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,880
the aesthetic stuff you mentioned where the
offense is a total slog if he's not

608
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:14,480
out there and or Jordan Pool's not
having a career night against the Raptors,

609
00:38:14,519 --> 00:38:17,360
that looks pretty good, but that's
been once this year. So that and

610
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:21,199
then Luca like is there. I
don't know what you even really say,

611
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,800
like he just you know, had
a record setting number of thirty point games

612
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,440
to start the year. We haven't
seen for like sixty years. You have

613
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,199
to invoke Chamberlain to you know,
anytime you're invoking Wilt stuff, it's just

614
00:38:32,639 --> 00:38:36,719
as a compared sufficiency is climbed from
like, oh, well, the three

615
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:39,599
wasn't falling and now it's just as
climb he's been. The Mavericks can be

616
00:38:39,679 --> 00:38:44,960
unwatchable at points, but Luca has
been just absolutely fantastic well. And to

617
00:38:45,119 --> 00:38:47,960
that point, like the unwatchability is
tied to his ridiculous usage, which he

618
00:38:49,039 --> 00:38:52,280
led the league in the last two
years, and it's up over those levels

619
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:57,000
this year. But he's more efficient, so he likes so kill Haws and

620
00:38:57,079 --> 00:39:00,280
Discord had pointed out and watch the
game for obvious reasons because Luca wasn't playing

621
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:04,840
the Mavericks without Luca basically used kemba
Walker in that role, and so that's

622
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,119
more of an indictment now to me. And that was the question we've had,

623
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:09,920
is I'm not gonna go off this
one game sample and say, oh,

624
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,480
it's all the MAVs fault, but
it's the MAVs have not put him

625
00:39:13,519 --> 00:39:15,639
in a position to play differently.
And this never seemed like an issue of

626
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:20,280
he is insisting that he has to
play this way and they tried to use

627
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,679
him in different other modes. They
have not been built to do so,

628
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:27,760
and they don't even incline to even
test out like different other operations, and

629
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,760
so I think that vindicates him to
some extent. It's one game. But

630
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:35,400
I'm just saying that framing vindicates any
concerns you have about is he part of

631
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,480
the problem in Dallas? It's definitely
a good data point because we really haven't

632
00:39:38,519 --> 00:39:43,519
had one like that, Because to
me, that's kind of the biggest absolute

633
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:50,239
macrost of macro questions is who's driving
this for the Mavericks, Like who is

634
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,960
deciding this is how we're going to
play because it's hard to argue. I

635
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:59,599
mean, it works, they're the
MAVs offense is good and Luca in this

636
00:39:59,679 --> 00:40:04,679
role is why? But is it
that Dallas just doesn't trust other people like

637
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,760
that? That the coaches they've had
because they've gone through a couple aren't inventive

638
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:12,519
enough to just sort of play a
more movement egalitarian stock. It's it's tough

639
00:40:12,639 --> 00:40:16,800
and and the fact that they did
it without Luca that's compelling and it does

640
00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:22,039
vindicate him a little bit. But
yeah, it's just like we're we're off.

641
00:40:22,199 --> 00:40:25,400
We have to go tangents because there's
no possible argument that he shouldn't start

642
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,800
the all start he used the lock. If you want to start getting into

643
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:30,599
steps availability and what's it's going to
be? Okay, fine, but Lucas

644
00:40:30,639 --> 00:40:35,840
here, Yeah, there's no zero
zero question. I guess we could.

645
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:38,440
Yeah, let's just do let's do
front front course starters before we get to

646
00:40:38,519 --> 00:40:46,519
the zillion other guards that you have
there. I have Yokich another lock really

647
00:40:46,559 --> 00:40:51,760
close to the level of of Luca. Again, you have to do a

648
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:53,559
bunch of wild comparisons. The funny
stats of you was, you know,

649
00:40:53,599 --> 00:40:57,920
play efficiency rating, say what you
want about it. It kind of favors

650
00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,079
big guys sometimes and guys who get
to pensive rebounds, and it's kind of

651
00:41:01,079 --> 00:41:07,440
one of the dinosaurs of catchalls.
But so you know, he's hair's breadth

652
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:09,760
away from matching the all time single
season high he's set last year, and

653
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:15,199
he's kind of like deferring more and
so he's just not piling up a bunch

654
00:41:15,199 --> 00:41:20,800
of you know, points and everything. But he's also shooting sixty two percent

655
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,199
from the field nine assists per game. Just like, I don't know why

656
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:29,760
I'm continuing to justify this as a
Lucas situation where he's just the best offensive

657
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:34,880
big guy in terms of the total
package. Maybe we've ever seen he's great.

658
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,199
He had forty twenty seven and ten
the night before I grey is like

659
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,199
ticked up too recently because he was
definitely trying to defer more. And I

660
00:41:40,199 --> 00:41:44,840
mean Michael Porter Junior being absent definitely
hurt that. I mean, look,

661
00:41:45,159 --> 00:41:47,280
you cite the archaic peer which from
shock that you did, but like he's

662
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:52,079
second in value over a placement player. He's first an estimated plus minus like

663
00:41:52,199 --> 00:41:54,840
he's been, he's been dominant,
So yeah, he was. He was

664
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:59,760
the easiest front court selection in the
Western Conference for me. And the best

665
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:02,840
of those is Raptor. Raptor has
always loved him more than because it always

666
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:06,760
loves his defense for some reason.
I don't know what goes in that makes

667
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,920
that the case, but you know
he has in terms of of wins above

668
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:15,280
replacement judge by Raptor, he's basically
two ahead of the second place player,

669
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:19,039
which is Don Chech, who we
just went on about being the biggest lock

670
00:42:19,199 --> 00:42:22,519
on planet Earth. So it's just
like, what however you want to get

671
00:42:22,559 --> 00:42:28,079
there? The other two Zion is
one I felt pretty comfortable about. He's

672
00:42:28,159 --> 00:42:31,079
one of two guys averaging twenty five
points with the sixty percent true shooting percentage

673
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:37,039
the way that the Pelicans have,
you know, just put the ball in

674
00:42:37,039 --> 00:42:40,199
his hands and let him facilitate,
let him be, just make stuff happen

675
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:45,280
downhill. He leads the league in
paint points per game. Just the Pelicans

676
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:50,840
have the second best point differential in
the conference. You know they this is

677
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:57,000
without like fifteen They've only gotten fifteen
games from Brandon Ingram. So defensively,

678
00:42:57,039 --> 00:43:00,280
he's trying harder, He's paying more
attention. First two plays of the game

679
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:05,239
against the Bucks on Monday, he
had like alert steals that you know,

680
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:07,880
we're him paying attention and anticipating and
just going and getting the ball. I

681
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:13,280
can't remember a stretch last year where
there were two possessions in a row that

682
00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:16,719
that happened, So no problem there. The other one's Anthony Davis. Kind

683
00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,599
of the same logic as Curry.
He's like a top five, top six

684
00:43:20,639 --> 00:43:24,519
guy, and most of the catchalls
he's fourth and raptor crazy box plus minus.

685
00:43:24,519 --> 00:43:29,400
He was really the only reason the
Lakers had a good stretch of this

686
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,519
season. Would have been a Defensive
Player of the Year candidate, may still

687
00:43:32,519 --> 00:43:37,280
be if he gets back on the
good side of that month timeline. So

688
00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:42,159
I have no problem if if Davis
doesn't make it for people as a starter

689
00:43:42,559 --> 00:43:45,119
just because of the playing time stuff
and the Lakers suck, but that had

690
00:43:45,159 --> 00:43:49,360
nothing to do with him. So
those are my start Do you have the

691
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:52,280
same two others or do you think
of something? And they were they were

692
00:43:52,519 --> 00:43:54,599
they were easy for me to go
there. You're not considering the playing time

693
00:43:54,639 --> 00:44:00,679
thing. Davis is, like Davis
should be ahead of Williamson probably, yeah,

694
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,880
yeah, I mean sure at this
moment, but like Zion has just

695
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:06,920
been incredible and I can't, I
can't get over every time. I shouldn't

696
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:09,239
still take me aback, but like
someone with his build, having his just

697
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:13,679
like nimble feet and ball handling and
the ability to change or it just doesn't

698
00:44:13,679 --> 00:44:15,760
make sense. He's I tweeted the
other night that he is, oh my

699
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:21,400
fucking God personified, like he's oh
mfg incarnate. Basically, Davis was a

700
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:22,920
monster and you mentioned the defensive player
of the year. He wasn't really getting

701
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:27,199
a lot of love in that.
He was everywhere during that stretch. It's

702
00:44:27,199 --> 00:44:31,960
like if you're gonna gravitate towards Brook
Lopez or Bam Matabayo or og like I

703
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:36,239
totally get it, but like he
was, he was in he was going

704
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:39,800
to be in that conversation like he
was at that rate and I didn't consider

705
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,719
like these were the three. I
think if you were gonna say, well

706
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:45,239
you have to remove Davis off,
that becomes an interesting conversation. And so

707
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:49,639
if we're throwing if you have the
availability concerns that you want to project forward,

708
00:44:50,039 --> 00:44:53,559
it still just feels like Zion and
Yokis are just easy locks for the

709
00:44:53,639 --> 00:45:00,199
starting slots here. Yeah, I
agree, what about west backcourt reserves just

710
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:05,639
jumped to there. So I had
Shay Gild just Alexander and Devin Booker as

711
00:45:05,679 --> 00:45:08,599
my two reserves. Shay comes awfully
close to having a starters case, and

712
00:45:08,639 --> 00:45:13,639
I think he will depending on how
much time Steph Curry misses. Will the

713
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,280
voters see it that way? He's
just been incredible. When you look at

714
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:22,039
there is no we talk about Luca's
centrality. Shay gis. Alexander's right there.

715
00:45:22,039 --> 00:45:23,400
It's not necessarily on the same level, but he is. When you

716
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:27,880
look at like players who are averaging
at least twenty minutes a game, Luca

717
00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:30,360
is the only player who's getting more
of his made buckets without assists. Like

718
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:35,440
there's just Shay. He is the
absolute life force around which everything Oklahoma City

719
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,960
has built, he drags them to
competence or better in his minutes, and

720
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:43,840
he's been super clutch this year.
He might be. I saw it.

721
00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:47,639
It was a wild tweet from Brian
Koboski of Hoops Type that he's hit like

722
00:45:47,679 --> 00:45:52,840
more game winners this season than anyone
is hitting a single season over the past

723
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:54,840
decade. Already. It's like the
guy just has it. And I will

724
00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:59,840
say, like everything about his offense
we've known, like the change of cadence,

725
00:46:00,039 --> 00:46:02,800
his ability to cause havoc inside the
arc, even the passing the defense

726
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,800
is buying large been better this year. There's been some like push and pullback

727
00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:10,159
here and there, but like he's
been a lot harder screen this season.

728
00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:14,119
He's kind of just been more active
away from the ball, more locked in

729
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:17,039
on the ball. This is someone
who is still on the fringes of the

730
00:46:17,119 --> 00:46:21,400
MVP discussion. I ultimately don't think
the Thunder are going to remain relevant long

731
00:46:21,519 --> 00:46:23,840
enough to float him there, and
I think people will be uncomfortable giving MVP

732
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:28,440
to a playing guy, which is
that's another conversation to have about how we

733
00:46:28,519 --> 00:46:30,840
decide MVP. I'm not saying that's
right or wrong. That's just a different

734
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:31,880
discussions I'm not going to get into
it, but he's been one of the

735
00:46:32,599 --> 00:46:36,239
right now, I think I don't
like saying these off handedly, so I'll

736
00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:37,199
hedge a little bit. Like he's
been one of the top ten to twelve

737
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:39,800
guys in the league this season,
and so the fact that he's just a

738
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:45,280
reserve it almost feels icky. But
he was an easy reserve pick for me.

739
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:49,840
And then when you're looking at there
are a lot of options here when

740
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:52,360
you're looking at the Devin Booker spot, like John Morant, Damian Lillard,

741
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,519
Darren Fox, Desmond Bayine Baine,
I was able to rule out just because

742
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:59,599
he doesn't have the playing time at
this point compared to everybody else. Devin

743
00:46:59,639 --> 00:47:04,079
Booker, aside from being just a
human bucket and who now has this is

744
00:47:04,119 --> 00:47:07,159
not like he's already on a career
trajectory where you want him to be better

745
00:47:07,159 --> 00:47:09,280
than Mellow. He already has more
fifty point games than Melow though, isn't

746
00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:15,079
it just kind of weird to say
Devin Booker's twenty six So but he kept

747
00:47:15,079 --> 00:47:19,599
the Sun's afloat when CP three was
out, Cam Johnson was out. Yes,

748
00:47:19,639 --> 00:47:22,280
you got contributions from Michael Bridges and
DeAndre Aten and they've gotten like really

749
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:28,559
huge, you know, a great
impact from like a Joshua Cook. He's

750
00:47:28,559 --> 00:47:30,159
been good for them lately. Damian
Lees had some really big moments for the

751
00:47:30,199 --> 00:47:34,159
Sons. Cameron Payne has been like
a steadying force for them relative to last

752
00:47:34,199 --> 00:47:37,440
season, like Devin Booker is very
much Yeah, he went through that slump

753
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:38,320
and there are points where it looked
like he didn't have the same burst.

754
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:42,960
He might have been injured. This
dude has been He's on the fringes of

755
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:45,599
the MVP discussion too. He's maybe
inside the top ten of that right now,

756
00:47:45,679 --> 00:47:50,239
just like he was last season.
And I don't think we fully appreciate

757
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,039
how important he still is on offense
when you look at the number of double

758
00:47:52,079 --> 00:47:55,679
teams he draws, the decision making
he's made out of those, and then

759
00:47:55,719 --> 00:48:01,000
just his ability to work in different
capacities where we're sitting here like whoa Trey

760
00:48:01,039 --> 00:48:05,480
Young struggling in Atlanta and there it
feels very my turn, your turn,

761
00:48:06,079 --> 00:48:07,880
or Luca don Jitch like how you
have to build stuff around him, or

762
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:12,960
the same thing with James Harden,
where Devin Bookers are so comfortable moving everywhere

763
00:48:13,039 --> 00:48:17,280
without the ball that scalability of stardom
is I think rarer than we credit for

764
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:21,480
someone who is so good on the
ball, and he actually wound up being

765
00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:23,320
when I started to really think about
it, I dug into the numbers.

766
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:27,159
There's a lot of similarities and other
ways you go. But when I started

767
00:48:27,199 --> 00:48:30,760
to think about it just philosophically,
I felt like he was the right pick

768
00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:35,239
and that it wasn't necessarily all that
close. Yeah, I think the scalability

769
00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:37,199
or other than Curry, I think
he's by far the most scalable of all

770
00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:40,360
these guys we're going to consider for
west backcourt spots. I mean, maybe

771
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:44,480
Luca is, but like we've spent
talking about, we don't really know.

772
00:48:44,599 --> 00:48:47,360
Probably not right. I think,
Yeah, five, he's got a pair

773
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:51,159
of fifty point games. He and
Mbied are the only guys with multiple fifty

774
00:48:51,199 --> 00:48:53,480
spots this year. He's got five
forty point games. He's made at least

775
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:57,079
half the shots in all those games, so it's not like he's just out

776
00:48:57,079 --> 00:49:00,079
here, you know, gunning.
But again, and the through line for

777
00:49:00,079 --> 00:49:05,800
a lot of these guys Booker and
Sga I think are somewhat similar is like

778
00:49:06,119 --> 00:49:07,880
there's not a ton of help.
You mentioned that some of the Suns guys

779
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:12,719
you might not have expected have stepped
up, but like Payne and Tory Craig

780
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:15,920
are fourth and fifth on the Suns
in minutes. But like you've had no

781
00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:19,039
Crowder all year, you've had eight
and miss multiple games. A couple of

782
00:49:19,039 --> 00:49:22,639
times you've had Paul miss multiple games. His lift has been heavy. And

783
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:28,039
it's not quite the same as SGA
and the Thunder because I think people do

784
00:49:28,119 --> 00:49:30,679
when when when you're playing the Suns, it's like we got a game tonight.

785
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:35,159
When you're playing the Thunder, you
can let SGA most of the time

786
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:38,360
get forty and like everybody else on
that team is like twenty one years old

787
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:43,800
and has barely played professional basketball.
It's just like both of those guys.

788
00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:46,840
So those are my two as well, book Booker and SGA. They both

789
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:52,559
have had just massive roles for slightly
different reasons, Like the Suns didn't expect

790
00:49:52,599 --> 00:49:54,679
it to go this way, the
Thunder kind of did. But yeah,

791
00:49:55,119 --> 00:50:00,199
giltis Alexander leads the league and clutch
points, made free throws that it's just

792
00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:05,480
like, you know, that stuff
earned largely Russell Westbrook an MVP one time

793
00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:07,840
because he was just winning clutch games
for the same Thunder team over and over

794
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:12,800
and over. So if we're just
talking about All Star and you need to,

795
00:50:13,519 --> 00:50:16,519
you know, points to stuff that
distinguishes a guy that's like also averaging

796
00:50:16,559 --> 00:50:20,920
thirty a game. Lea's league and
drives can't be you can't stay in front

797
00:50:20,920 --> 00:50:23,599
of him. SGA's clutch stuff really
does matter. So so those two were

798
00:50:24,039 --> 00:50:28,800
you know, again, we'll get
to the other West backcourt guys, but

799
00:50:30,199 --> 00:50:34,000
just what a ridiculously just deep position. I think both of those guys you

800
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,239
could stack up against Donovan Mitchell,
like I said, and you would have

801
00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:40,800
a long conversation about who who would
start over him if conferences didn't matter,

802
00:50:43,039 --> 00:50:46,880
who were your West front court reserves? This, uh, this was where

803
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:53,360
I was kind of unfun. So
the first one is Lebron and I really

804
00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:59,199
did, you know, think more
than think beyond it's Lebron. He should

805
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:04,000
be an All Star just because that's
how it works. The others. Paul

806
00:51:04,039 --> 00:51:08,400
George, I'm open to the minutes
counter argument, but I think the Clippers

807
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:13,760
have, after some fits and starts, like they look like about as good

808
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,679
as anybody in the East record West
record wise. He was the main reason

809
00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:21,599
for that when he's been healthy.
And the third one is Demonta Sabonis,

810
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:27,320
who probably has the easiest statistical case
of it was three. But just you

811
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:30,679
know, to look at Lebron per
thirty six, and this is the other

812
00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:35,800
thing. He's playing tons of minutes
again, but per thirty six, he's

813
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,800
at twenty six point eight points,
eight point five boards, six point four

814
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:44,960
assists, shooting a lot more threes, not really making him but he's at

815
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:50,079
fifty just hundred fifty seven percent on
two's the defense comes and goes. I

816
00:51:50,119 --> 00:51:52,800
think he picks his spots. But
like we made this argument for another team,

817
00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:59,320
the Lakers being disappointing just to me
doesn't have anything to do with James

818
00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:01,599
and Davis. It's the fact that
three through the rest of the end of

819
00:52:01,639 --> 00:52:05,440
that bench is the worst in the
league, you know, arguably. So

820
00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:07,679
I don't have a problem with now
putting a second Laker on the ballot.

821
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:12,760
It just you know, I get
it. If you want to look at

822
00:52:12,800 --> 00:52:15,519
the team that's probably not going to
make the play in and say, how

823
00:52:15,519 --> 00:52:17,519
do they possibly get two All Stars? This is just an exception. There's

824
00:52:17,559 --> 00:52:22,239
two great players on the Lakers,
and like Lebron is one of them,

825
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:27,199
So uh, it wasn't you know, I'd be curious if you had anybody

826
00:52:27,199 --> 00:52:30,599
else over that. So bonus,
I think is the most important player on

827
00:52:30,639 --> 00:52:32,519
the Kings that have been one of
the more surprising teams in the league.

828
00:52:34,639 --> 00:52:38,599
He's averaging over six assists from the
center spot, over eleven boards, seventeen

829
00:52:38,639 --> 00:52:45,360
points, shooting over sixty percent from
the field. Defensively threes by the way,

830
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:47,320
just one point one to tem per
game. But that's yeah, that's

831
00:52:47,559 --> 00:52:52,599
nothing. Yeah, So yeah,
I think defensively, I still have questions

832
00:52:52,599 --> 00:52:54,800
about how he's going to hold up
in games that matter, but that's just

833
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:59,840
not a factor here. He's been
super and he's tell them better this season,

834
00:53:00,119 --> 00:53:02,119
sort of just like a baseline rim
protector. Yeah, and I thought

835
00:53:02,119 --> 00:53:06,719
he was going to. I don't
understand how that's happening because the number,

836
00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:09,360
you're right, you know, his
defensive field will percentage inside six feet is

837
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:13,639
surprisingly good. Just when you watch
him just never get off the floor,

838
00:53:13,679 --> 00:53:16,000
it's it's I don't know how it's
happening. But do you have anybody different

839
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:20,960
or have anything to add on those
three anyway? So Sabonis was the easiest

840
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,559
inclusion for me that he's just sort
of the through line that makes everything work

841
00:53:23,599 --> 00:53:28,639
for the Kings. And I think
he's sort of emboldened even Fox to be

842
00:53:28,639 --> 00:53:31,039
better about his decision making, both
on and away from the ball and the

843
00:53:31,079 --> 00:53:35,039
screens he set still open up a
ton of room for everybody. He was

844
00:53:35,079 --> 00:53:37,400
the when I was doing the front
court reserves of the West, he was

845
00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:38,000
actually my first guy. I was
like, all right, well, I

846
00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:42,119
know he's in. I went with
Lebron for pretty much everything you said.

847
00:53:42,119 --> 00:53:45,039
It's not a legacy pick because the
average twenty seven point six and a half

848
00:53:45,039 --> 00:53:47,800
of his per game, and he's
shooting almost fifty seven percent inside the arc,

849
00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:51,679
and like he's been a lot better
lately too, if that's going to

850
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:55,280
matter anyone at all. And then
so the final spot here came down to

851
00:53:55,400 --> 00:54:00,880
Lowry market and Paul George. I
went with Lowry Marketing. And Paul George

852
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:04,159
has been I think better than people
sort of credit him when he's actually been

853
00:54:04,199 --> 00:54:07,519
healthy. He's averaging twenty three and
a half points five assists, basically shooting

854
00:54:07,519 --> 00:54:10,039
thirty eight percent from three. Marketing
is sort of just I mean, he's

855
00:54:10,079 --> 00:54:13,760
been one, he's been great.
He's at twenty two point three points two

856
00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:15,400
point two assists, shooting forty two
point one percent from three on six and

857
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:19,679
a half attempts per game getting to
the foul line. I think more than

858
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:22,960
most people realize. And the other
thing with him is that, yeah,

859
00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:24,400
I mean the playing time thing here
matters. He does have, if you

860
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:28,760
want to go that route, almost
three hundred minutes more played than Paul George,

861
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,239
which, whether you think that matters
or not, whatever, the Jazz

862
00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:35,679
have been surprising. Marketing is a
huge part of that and has been their

863
00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:38,760
best player for the most part during
that stretch. And he opens up so

864
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:43,039
much because he's still more of an
anomaly for what he can do where it's

865
00:54:43,079 --> 00:54:45,280
depending on what spot you're playing him
on offense, you're not getting that shooting

866
00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:47,800
elsewhere. If you've been able to
steal minutes with him where he's more of

867
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:51,719
a wing, that's worth two because
of what he does when he puts the

868
00:54:51,719 --> 00:54:55,119
ball on the floor. And I
think I keep going back to the lineups

869
00:54:55,119 --> 00:54:59,159
too, so many of them that
he just helps unlock, and the spacing

870
00:54:59,159 --> 00:55:02,199
that provides for all the guards in
the ball hand probably other primary ball handlers

871
00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:07,079
in Utah's offense, and I think
that matters to me, and also look

872
00:55:07,159 --> 00:55:09,119
to this point if you wanted to, I will not play this card.

873
00:55:09,119 --> 00:55:13,840
That's did not factor into it.
But who has been who's been the better

874
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:17,000
team? Like do the end like
the All Star Game is in Utah and

875
00:55:17,079 --> 00:55:21,679
so like it's you know, the
Clippers are a little bit better, but

876
00:55:21,719 --> 00:55:24,079
like the All Star Game is in
Utah, so he's been more available.

877
00:55:24,159 --> 00:55:28,840
Does that factor into what you're doing
at all? Or does the fact that

878
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:31,280
it doesn't matter that the Jazz have
been shockingly okay, doesn't matter that they've

879
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:36,719
pulled back because now that the Clippers
haven't even had like pristine availability yet we've

880
00:55:36,719 --> 00:55:37,920
seen more of Kawai, more of
Paul George, and yet they're still have

881
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:40,119
the better record. So yes,
if you want to go with the better

882
00:55:40,159 --> 00:55:44,360
record, I understand the Paul George
pick, and I think in a vacuum,

883
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:46,559
Paul George is the better player.
Now again if we're fast forwarding a

884
00:55:46,599 --> 00:55:50,239
few weeks, but right now I
just have a tough time leaving marketing off

885
00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:54,119
because I think he's been a huge
part of the like the functional thriving in

886
00:55:54,199 --> 00:55:57,679
Utah, not just for what he's
done, but the way that it's sort

887
00:55:57,679 --> 00:56:00,960
of just opens up things forever.
Everybody else, Yeah, I think.

888
00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:05,119
I mean Market has the minute's argument. That's a big one, three hundred

889
00:56:05,119 --> 00:56:07,400
plus extra minutes, like you said. And the Jazz don't have the Clippers

890
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:10,239
record, but they do have a
positive point differential on the season and the

891
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:14,559
Clippers do not. So like,
if team success matters and you're gonna make

892
00:56:14,599 --> 00:56:16,000
well, the Clippers were eighteen and
fourteen or whatever it is, and the

893
00:56:16,079 --> 00:56:21,320
Jazz are I think sixteen, Yeah, seventeen and sixteen small, But you

894
00:56:21,360 --> 00:56:22,880
don't. I don't think. I
don't. I think it's at worst,

895
00:56:22,920 --> 00:56:27,239
it's a wash in terms of team
success. I think what makes me small

896
00:56:27,239 --> 00:56:30,440
couple. This sounds egregious on its
face that I went with market In over

897
00:56:30,639 --> 00:56:34,480
Paul George, and I don't think
it's as egregious even if I mean clearly

898
00:56:34,480 --> 00:56:37,400
you disagree so well, I do. But but marking In was like my

899
00:56:37,519 --> 00:56:42,519
most difficult snub. Sorry he doesn't. There's two more good guards I think

900
00:56:42,559 --> 00:56:46,559
we both have on the West wild
Cards, but they have all the points

901
00:56:46,559 --> 00:56:50,960
you said. I think the case
I would make for George while acknowledging that

902
00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:53,159
like I would have no problem if
market and made it over him, because

903
00:56:53,280 --> 00:56:59,360
three hundred plus minutes at this early
juncture, like really matters George, I

904
00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:04,039
think the Clippers sort of other than
John Wall And because Kawai has missed so

905
00:57:04,119 --> 00:57:07,920
much time, George has been tasked
with just so much like point guard stuff

906
00:57:07,960 --> 00:57:10,960
that he's had to do. And
so while Marking and does open everything up

907
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:16,280
for Utah and really matters and enables
other guys, George like whatever there whatever

908
00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:21,639
the notch above enabling is like George
I think has done that for the Clippers,

909
00:57:21,679 --> 00:57:25,159
Like he actually makes the offense semi
functional, which without him it just

910
00:57:25,239 --> 00:57:30,519
wouldn't be. And the defense,
we didn't you know, who cares about

911
00:57:30,519 --> 00:57:31,880
defense for an All Star Game.
But George is still one of the best,

912
00:57:32,079 --> 00:57:37,000
most versatile wing defenders in the league
and market and is just a different

913
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:42,039
type of player that doesn't bring that
kind of impact. But again, like

914
00:57:42,119 --> 00:57:45,639
if if I could have squeezed Marking
and onto, But here's the good news,

915
00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:49,199
We're going to probably have at least
one injury in the West that we're

916
00:57:49,239 --> 00:57:52,280
going to get a replacement or two, and I think Market is definitely gonna

917
00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:57,320
make the roster. But but he
was he he was my toughest Everything shifts

918
00:57:57,360 --> 00:58:00,760
too. If we assume that Anthony
Davis falls out of the discussion, either

919
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:04,159
because of his injury or just doesn't
get I imagine he'll still make it,

920
00:58:04,239 --> 00:58:07,880
but so that that shifts everything up. But that was this That was the

921
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:12,480
toughest decision for the West All Stars
from Yers the market because it again it

922
00:58:12,559 --> 00:58:15,880
sounds egregious, but I think because
of the minute's discrepancy here being so large,

923
00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:20,519
that it's not unfair to put market
in there. Who who did you

924
00:58:20,519 --> 00:58:22,360
have as your wild cards in the
West, though I had Dame Lillard and

925
00:58:22,440 --> 00:58:28,239
John Morant, and Lillard didn't really
factor in as a starting consideration, but

926
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:31,320
Marian at least initially did. Lillard
I think has only played twenty games,

927
00:58:32,320 --> 00:58:37,159
but basically he's been you know,
this is the guy that wasn't made I

928
00:58:37,159 --> 00:58:40,199
think six All NBA teams, and
you know, his last healthy season he

929
00:58:40,239 --> 00:58:44,599
was on one, and he's basically
putting up the exact same numbers as he

930
00:58:44,639 --> 00:58:47,920
did in twenty twenty one, like
twenty eight points seven assists, just under

931
00:58:47,960 --> 00:58:53,320
four boards, with like a forty
five thirty nine ninety split, like just

932
00:58:53,599 --> 00:58:59,360
you know, if he'd played twenty
five twenty eight games. Absolutely, he's

933
00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:02,199
in. I think we got to
discuss him with SGA and Booker, if

934
00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:07,199
maybe not Curry and Dancheous to this
point, because those guys are like,

935
00:59:07,639 --> 00:59:09,400
it's so tough. Who are you
bumping for? Dame or Jaw at this

936
00:59:09,480 --> 00:59:12,719
point? Yeah, and John,
I think people will say, well,

937
00:59:12,719 --> 00:59:15,639
look where the Grizzlies are in the
standings, you definitely need to bump Jaw.

938
00:59:15,079 --> 00:59:17,880
John missed some time to pen some
pullback on his three point percentage,

939
00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:22,519
has some weird like free throw excursions
this year, I trust. I think

940
00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:25,920
both Shay and Devin Booker have probably
been better defensively than him. Shay has

941
00:59:25,960 --> 00:59:30,239
for sure, and I would say
probably Devin Booker as well. Splitting hairs,

942
00:59:30,480 --> 00:59:32,840
splitting already thrice split hairs. But
they're on the All Star team.

943
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:37,760
And I don't think Jaw or Dame
had a case for a start. I

944
00:59:37,800 --> 00:59:39,239
mean, I guess if you're deciding
to bounce Steff, the cases, oh

945
00:59:39,320 --> 00:59:42,920
Steph can't make it because of his
injury, and that's where you start to

946
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:46,800
open up the starting discussions. Yeah, I'm probably going Booker or SGA over

947
00:59:46,960 --> 00:59:51,880
Jaw for if if I got to
move Steff out of the starting group,

948
00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:54,559
and I'm not sure which way I'd
go, But like Loki, Morant has

949
00:59:54,599 --> 00:59:59,639
really cool like December, his numbers
are not good. He shooting splits have

950
00:59:59,679 --> 01:00:02,880
gotten kind of ugly, and he's
only averaging only twenty two and a half

951
01:00:02,920 --> 01:00:07,800
points a game in December. Scrub
the October stuff though, still when he

952
01:00:07,800 --> 01:00:09,960
was like, oh my god,
Jaw's gonna win MVP, I think you

953
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:15,440
know those games still count. So
who were your toughest snubs for the West?

954
01:00:15,719 --> 01:00:19,159
Marking him for sure, And the
only other one I really seriously considered

955
01:00:19,239 --> 01:00:22,159
was Darren Fox. But I just
there's no room. I just couldn't.

956
01:00:22,239 --> 01:00:23,559
I couldn't get there. He was
my hardest. I wanted to figure out

957
01:00:23,599 --> 01:00:25,599
way to get him on, especially
because I tweeted at the beginning of the

958
01:00:25,679 --> 01:00:30,719
year that Daron Fox is playing all
NBA for basketball. There's been he's his

959
01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:34,599
shooting has fallen off since then,
so there's that to consider. But who

960
01:00:34,599 --> 01:00:37,599
do you put him in over?
I think if we had to replace one

961
01:00:37,639 --> 01:00:38,840
of the six cards that we ended
up picking, because I I don't know

962
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:40,639
if I said this, I had
the same wild cards as you and John

963
01:00:40,719 --> 01:00:45,880
Dame. I guess he is the
best chance of beating out Dame. Yeah,

964
01:00:45,920 --> 01:00:49,480
I think that's fair. And if
Dame continues just to play and be

965
01:00:49,519 --> 01:00:52,119
available, then he doesn't really have
like that greater chance. So that was

966
01:00:52,159 --> 01:00:57,119
a tough snub for me. And
I also had Desmond Baye and then Paul

967
01:00:57,159 --> 01:00:59,960
George of course, who I didn't. Wasn't able to squeeze on anybody else.

968
01:01:00,519 --> 01:01:02,199
No, that's the thing is like, I mean, you know there

969
01:01:02,199 --> 01:01:08,159
are names like Gobert, cat like
Wiggins, but Williams, if he never

970
01:01:08,199 --> 01:01:12,119
got hurt, might have had a
stronger case. Yeah, but I mean

971
01:01:12,119 --> 01:01:15,599
he's missed too much time. And
I mean even Draymond has had like a

972
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:20,559
quietly a really good season. But
I didn't seriously consider anyone other than Market

973
01:01:21,000 --> 01:01:23,000
and Fox, both of whom I
think, again like have a great chance

974
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:27,519
of actually making it, just because
of injuries and guys that just don't play

975
01:01:28,119 --> 01:01:30,320
Market in especially like you said,
it's in Utah. There's like the stars

976
01:01:30,360 --> 01:01:32,679
need to a line, I think, and make we need to just get

977
01:01:32,719 --> 01:01:36,800
them on there. I was trying
to will it into existence. It'd be

978
01:01:36,800 --> 01:01:38,480
funny if they trade away both they're
All Stars right before they had the All

979
01:01:38,559 --> 01:01:42,000
Star Game and then still had an
All Star anyway, that would be that

980
01:01:42,079 --> 01:01:45,440
actually be kind of cool. I
would respect it. We didn't talk about

981
01:01:45,519 --> 01:01:49,199
James Harden at all. I'm just
jumping around now since we've basically finished,

982
01:01:49,199 --> 01:01:52,199
but just didn't play enough. I
think I think he might have had a

983
01:01:52,199 --> 01:01:57,679
case, especially because the East was, you know, not as guard laden

984
01:01:57,800 --> 01:02:00,559
as the West. But I'm just
trying to make sure we cover all the

985
01:02:00,599 --> 01:02:04,480
bases here. I didn't really have
anybody else on either conference that got serious

986
01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:07,519
consideration for me, I will say, unless I'm we were forgetting someone just

987
01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:13,000
like profoundly important. The West felt
very cut and dry in terms of,

988
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:15,960
Okay, these are like the fifteen
guys or whatever it ended up being for

989
01:02:15,039 --> 01:02:17,559
us that you can consider, and
there's not really much else. The East

990
01:02:17,920 --> 01:02:21,400
was a little bit more open ended
because, like you mentioned, I didn't

991
01:02:21,400 --> 01:02:23,079
have even have Jean Ta Murray or
Trey on my initial list of snubs like

992
01:02:23,159 --> 01:02:27,559
until you had mentioned something to me. So it's just like you could have

993
01:02:27,559 --> 01:02:29,920
went a bunch of different directions there. The West felt a little bit more

994
01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:34,440
finite in terms of the options.
Is there anyone you're this is just I'm

995
01:02:34,480 --> 01:02:37,559
just gonna stump you and throw you
an unfair question. Is there anyone that

996
01:02:37,599 --> 01:02:40,480
you're really disappointed? Like, didn't
like if you'd said at the beginning of

997
01:02:40,480 --> 01:02:45,079
this season, this guy will get
zero All Star consideration. Who would it

998
01:02:45,119 --> 01:02:50,079
bump you out that that was the
answer for Probably Darius Garland, Like I

999
01:02:50,119 --> 01:02:52,400
don't think he's been bad, but
he missed all that time and then he's

1000
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:55,280
been stopping start a lot for his
season. I think you could maybe I

1001
01:02:55,320 --> 01:02:59,480
was like pretty hopeful that James Harden
would be more part of this discussion.

1002
01:02:59,519 --> 01:03:00,960
Was it because he was just hurt? I do think mostly that's what it

1003
01:03:01,119 --> 01:03:05,519
was. Did anybody else strike that
for you? I think Garland would be

1004
01:03:05,519 --> 01:03:07,639
my pick there, but like I
didn't, you know, I didn't really

1005
01:03:07,639 --> 01:03:10,000
know what my hopes were. Maybe
been fleet a little bit, but I

1006
01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:13,880
apologize. Who who would it be? For you? No? I mean

1007
01:03:13,880 --> 01:03:16,000
there's a handful, Like Scottie Barnes
was one, like I was, you

1008
01:03:16,039 --> 01:03:19,119
know, I kind of hoped he
would make a leap, But really the

1009
01:03:19,199 --> 01:03:22,280
number one guy is Mobile because I've
gone to bat so many times just so

1010
01:03:22,719 --> 01:03:27,119
certainly saying that this guy's gonna win
more than one DPO, why, Like

1011
01:03:27,159 --> 01:03:30,519
he's gonna be the best player on
If the Calves are ever great, he'll

1012
01:03:30,559 --> 01:03:32,519
be the reason. And he's been
very good. I like gave him some

1013
01:03:32,599 --> 01:03:37,679
passing consideration, but there was really
no good arguments put him on there,

1014
01:03:37,800 --> 01:03:39,960
especially if you look at some of
the catch alls and the advanced metrics is

1015
01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:44,920
just not favorable for him. I
think Garland and Allen probably both have better

1016
01:03:44,960 --> 01:03:49,440
cases if you want a second Cavalier. But I thought Mobile was is a

1017
01:03:49,440 --> 01:03:52,280
little early. I think I thought
maybe the leap was gonna happen this year,

1018
01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:54,719
and it's just been like a mild
step forward. I think that's okay

1019
01:03:54,719 --> 01:03:59,199
though, just based off where he
started. And also he's twenty fifth in

1020
01:03:59,320 --> 01:04:01,840
vorp that's not that's not really that
low. I thought he was higher in

1021
01:04:01,880 --> 01:04:06,519
like maybe really hates him for whatever
reason. Wow, And you would think

1022
01:04:06,599 --> 01:04:11,760
that him being from Canada, that
wouldn't really be okay. He's also tenth.

1023
01:04:11,800 --> 01:04:14,519
I don't sight wind Shares anymore,
but just because it's in front of

1024
01:04:14,559 --> 01:04:15,400
me, he's tenth and wind Shares. I mean, the Calves are good.

1025
01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:17,960
Movie's part of it. There you
go, Yeah, maybe we're using

1026
01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,719
difference. EPM and Raptor didn't like
him, but I didn't look at wind

1027
01:04:20,719 --> 01:04:25,599
shares or would you say for people, really, isn't that high VARp?

1028
01:04:25,679 --> 01:04:29,719
That's impressive. He's been healthy,
that's helped. Do you want to take

1029
01:04:29,760 --> 01:04:32,079
us out of here? Yeah.
Like Dan said at the top, thank

1030
01:04:32,119 --> 01:04:35,559
you for listening. Make sure you
rate, review, and subscribe wherever you're

1031
01:04:35,559 --> 01:04:40,920
listening, whichever podcast apfter you're using. If you follow us on YouTube,

1032
01:04:40,960 --> 01:04:43,480
you see all the information there.
If you catch up with us on our

1033
01:04:43,519 --> 01:04:46,480
socials, join our discord that's where
we've gotten a lot of great discussion.

1034
01:04:46,559 --> 01:04:49,960
Everybody that's been active on there and
everybody that's joining. We're getting more people

1035
01:04:49,960 --> 01:04:54,639
all the time. That's awesome.
If you've done all those things. If

1036
01:04:54,639 --> 01:04:58,480
you follow us everywhere you can follow
us, Please just tell a friend if

1037
01:04:58,519 --> 01:05:00,960
they like the NBA and they want
you good coverage of stuff you're not maybe

1038
01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:03,639
going to hear about on some of
the national podcasts, and we'll get to

1039
01:05:03,840 --> 01:05:09,039
your team at some point, you
know, every week, probably with a

1040
01:05:09,079 --> 01:05:12,639
pretty good level of depth. If
that's an NBA fan in your life,

1041
01:05:12,719 --> 01:05:15,199
that describes someone, let them know, Let your enemies know, let people

1042
01:05:15,199 --> 01:05:19,119
you hate. No that that helps
to anyway, we go out the same

1043
01:05:19,159 --> 01:05:23,320
way we always do, with an
apology to Jared Allen, who think we

1044
01:05:23,400 --> 01:05:27,280
mentioned, but not seriously as an
All Star, but just a general apology

1045
01:05:27,320 --> 01:05:30,320
and once again a shout out to
the one and only Frank millikin