Hello, everyone, Welcome to the latest episode of Hardwoodknocks. This is Adam
fromle here with my always fantastic co host Dan for Valley. Fresh off a
vacation down in Florida, we are coming back to you with a slightly premature
but also maybe not so much, because we're really down to the stretch run
of the season Award Picks episode, where we're going to run through each of
the major NBA awards, including the not even really major Executive of the Year
award, go through our ballots top three for each one, top five for
MVP, and figure out who the favorites for these awards should be. Although
I think, as always we've both approached it as who we would be voting
for and not necessarily who is actually going to win, because sometimes there is
a rather sizeable discrepancy between those two methods of approaching this conversation. Before we
get into any of that, though, have to ask Dan, how's it
going. It is good to be back. I'm excited to start recording fresh
material. We did squeeze in a bunch of recordings before I left you at
Grant and myself, so that was great. It was good to hit the
reset plot in a little bit. You know, I suck it. I'm
plugging, and I once again still sucked. But I won't pretend that Pleach
Report is very generous with the amount of time and flexibility they were willing to
give me, and I tried to take advantage of it as much as I
could. I will be more active in discord now if anyone wonders why I've
been a little bit quiet and now I feel like the chatters down. I
don't want to have to be the reason we're having any chatter, but shout
out to our discord members, join the discord. Happy to be back,
though it's it's always like you get end of vacation blues. But now that
I'm back into the swing of things already, I'm rare to go. And
awards talk good place to start. I think there's still some changes that could
happen with three, maybe four of these awards, but for the most part,
the pictures set how are you doing? Though I'm surviving. I'm being
emotionally terrorized by a three year old on a daily basis who's just in full
fledged tantrum toddler nightmare stage. So it's I feel constantly exhausted, but I'm
hanging in there and enjoying some great basketball. Speaking of basketball, it's probably
time to begin with the awards. We said we were going to blow through
Executive of the Year since the writers don't pick that anyway, and it's one
that, as you mentioned, you can't even get betting odds for who are
your top three? Here, we're gonna make this a very abbreviated discussion.
Yeah, it's always tough with this award because I feel like you get you
get candidates who get credit for multi year processes. So James Jones I think
deserves love in this conversation because of what he's done for multiple seasons leading up
to the ability to resign Chris Paul in a way that lifts this team to
become the clear cut number one team in the NBA when all the pieces are
working. There are more minor moves to Tory Craig being chief among them,
I think this year, but it's really the Paul resigning in conjunction with everything
else that happened to get it to this point where I think he has a
case. Brad Stevens and pat Riley are my other two, but really this
is a tough one. Because so many of the primary candidates over the year
Colby Altman are tourist Karnasovas Daryl Morey. They've had momentum and then it's quickly
been ripped away. So I'm not particularly interested in this award because I don't
think it's an important one because team building has done over multiple years anyway,
and this year's candidates feel especially flimsy across the board. Yeah, I had
pat Riley wanted Brad Stevens two, and Stevens's case really developed over time,
and Derek White trade seemed like a steep price to pay that twenty twenty eight
first round pick. Swop. I know, we romanticized pick that's really far
out into the future. The Celtics, though, prior to Robert Williams the
Third's injury that they had a case to be the favorite to come out of
the East. I wouldn't have picked them, but like they were right there,
so you can view White as the missing piece. I think also the
Kemba trade in retrospect looks really good for them, given how much Al Horford
has done the Robert Williams the Third extension exself, that looks like a bargain
at this point for Boston specifically, so I think he's the clear number two
there. Daniel Tis too, I forgot about him. That was a really
bad move, if we want to be honest, So that would that hurts
his case for me. Pat Roley though, just Kyle Lowry, PJ.
Tucker has been great for them, even like Caleb Martin, like having a
find like that, Gabe Vincent and Max Druce sort of paying off, getting
to keep convincing all the deeple to stay even though I'm sure he didn't have
a ton of options elsewhere. That's a you know, that's just I feel
like he's the clear nswer. They heat the first in the East despite a
litany of injuries, and we know they have some drama. Now third seems
more open. I tend to not wait the multi year cases as much.
I try to look at it in a VA vcuum, And like the James
Jones case with Chris Paul's contract, I get it. You did bring in
JaVale McGee and that's worked out really well. You kind of stumble into Bismack
Biombo mid season. I just don't know, like, is that Executive of
the Year material. This is a team that's sort of marinating. I kind
of thought about Zach Leman for Memphis is who I've penciled in number three at
this point because his might be a little bit of a multiyear case, like
some of the things he did desire Williams pick and trade overall looks really smart
given how well Steven Adams has played, what Williams could be as a prospect,
and you did sort of increase your future equity. Let's also not forget
that the Jaren Jackson junior case is here as extension here as well. That
looks like it's going to be fine. This has probably been I don't want
to say a down year for Jackson Junior offensively, but like this is someone
who's going to be better on offensive. To get him at that number should
really should behoove the Grizzlies well moving forward. The other name that I'm really
kind of thinking about here that I didn't think I was going to think about
his Nico Harrison in Dallas extra curriculars in Dallas aside, and that's Donnie Nelson,
so Nico Harrison isn't involved in that. The KP trade looks excellent for
the Mavericks at this point, given how well Spencer did what he has played.
There's also just the signings over the summer. Reggie Block has proved to
actually be pretty good for them. I already mentioned the Porzingis trade. I
think that Dorian Finny Smith extension is going to go a long way for them,
Like that's a great number to not let him get to free agency.
I know they gave him. I'm pretty sure it was the max that they
could give him in the extension At a dude like that, given how well
he plays on defense, hit the open market this summer and show him what
he's done is just a floor spacer or just stand still three point shooter.
He's getting more than they did, and so that was smart you could.
There seems to be a lot if you if you want to say it's Sean
Marks or Darryl Moray, because of how they made the most out of prappy
situations. I'll push back a bunch against Sean Marks. And I think Morey's
case is weakening given how turbulent the Sixers have been. But you could also
give him kudos for waiting out the Simon situation when everyone just wanted him to
settle and take the whatever offer was on the table throughout these months, and
regardless of how you feel about James Harden, there the peak of their outcome
with him is higher than any other trade that had been mentioned, at least
over the next year to three years. So the third was tough. But
I think it's Stevens. You sold me on Stevens just before we went into
this. I think pat Riley is probably the clear number one option. And
the final thing I'll say is I didn't I don't know how to wait people
who made either obvious draft picks or if the case is their draft pick high
in lottery, like Massiu Jerry going Barnes over Sugs. That's a big deal.
But a lot of what's going on in Toronto is been years in the
making there and then Kobe Altman in Cleveland, they made like they've done solid,
like the Jared Allen contract. He's ive lampoon to that in the moment
after they drafted Vin Mobili. But it's worked out for them. Diddle for
the lowry market in trade, Cleveland has slipped off. A lot of it
has to do with injuries. Picking up Rubio is big for them. I
wouldn't quibble if you had him at number three. I think he has a
fair case there, but to name him as the favorite, I think,
just wait, it's the Mouldley decision specifically a little too heavily. I like
that we went into this episode thinking that we were just going to list names
for Executive the Year and then just couldn't help ourselves. I think it's had
to move on to Coach of the Year, and you issue have any problems
with what I had, Let's do it. Do you have what? I
think our coach of the year Valve is going to end up being identical.
You know about number three, but I feel like the top two are obvious.
Number one has to be Monty Williams, just because this Sun's team last
year is Yeah, it's a machine. It is as close to a perfect
basketball team when operating at full strength as you're going to find in today's NBA.
Everything works, the pieces run so smoothly. The balancing job of Chris
Paul's stardom and Devin Booker's emerging superstardom has been excellent. All the role players
have been able to maximize what they can do when they're on the court.
It feels like he is just the obvious favorite. I don't know if he's
the most obvious winner of the awards because we haven't gotten to sixth Man of
the Year yet, but he's pretty damn close. Number two, I've got
Taylor Jenkins, just another masterful job with the Memphis Grizzlies. Again, the
ability to maximize every single piece of the roster. This team has not skipped
a beat and sometimes has gotten even better without John Morant on the floor.
So the ability to win with that superstar driven offense and then also win with
this collection of I don't want to say role players, but players who do
not enjoy that same celestial status has been nothing but impressive. This Memphis team
is so good with so much floor spacing, with so much in interior pressure,
everything works. Number three is tougher. I ultimately went with Emaodoka.
His in season adjustments have been super, super impressive. The defensive schemes that
he's drawn up that have fully unlocked a healthy version of Robert Williams the third
are remarkable. It's unorthodox switching that is all designed to keep Williams in an
off ball help role where he can always rotate over to be that second defender.
The offensive schemes have been mostly egalitarian, even though Jason Tatum can be
a ball dominant player. The ability for this Celtics team to bounce back from
a rough start during his first season as a head coach, to become this
full fledged juggernaut during the second half of the season before Williams went down hugely
impressive. Wow, so we do not have identical ballots. I had Monty
Williams first roll, you said, And I did pick Thibadeau last year.
And I just think in retrospect, I know the Knicks were the biggest overachiever.
When you go and look back, I'm not even maybe this season taints
it a little bit. When you go and look back, there's a clear
difference between overachieving versus like this team was actually maximized. And I think Matti
Wamser last year he's a clear case. This year, they've navigated absences from
everybody on this team, not as extensive as in some other cases. But
Chris Paul you lose him and everyone just assumed he was the heart and soul
of the Suns. And you're still just good. You missed Devin Booker.
For a period of time, you've been able. There's been weird stuff with
the center rotation at points this season, the growth rees show scene from DeAndre
and the growth Rees scene from Cam Johnson. Montie lives in. His coaching
staff has done a fantastic job, and he's the clear choice. I'd exploster
a number two because when you're talking about Taylor Jenkins, who is number three
for me, there's a I feel like that Thibodeau explanation is creeping in here
where the Grizzlies, to me, are still overachieving. When you look at
their personnel, the methods by which they've done it have been absolutely incredible.
But there's nothing too complicated about their offense. It's get out and run,
crash the offensive glass. And if you don't do that, and John Moran
isn't able to make a spectacular play, you are at a disadvantage. Credit
a tone of the defense that they've come up with. He's third on my
ballot again, that's not an insult. Is a close fourth online he is.
He's a machine himself, and the heat at out with you. Look
at Jimmy Butler, Bamata by on Kyle Lowry. They were not even a
top five hundred played trio this season. That's how much stuff the Heat I've
been dealing with when you've seen the level of what PJ. Tucker has brought
with Gabe Vincent until recently had done for Miami, even sort of empowering Tyler
Hero. I'm getting Duncan Robinson to work through his slump or even finding work
arounds because Duncan Robinson hasn't been as good. The Heat's half court offense is
definitely flimsy. That's also a personnel issue and the fact that they've been able
to find ways around this all season. They're also they're just at the top
of the Eastern Conference right now. They might not finished there, but no
one predicted that at the start, Like, yes, could they come out
of the East, maybe, but you assumed it was gonna be Brooklyn or
Milwaukee. There was at this point in the season, Oh could it be
Chicago? They were going on a run. And just the sustainability of what
Spilster does year in a year out, I do think that matters. And
you were dealing with a pre significant addition in Kyle Lowry, so I get
why you made Udoka is here, but like Spilstra's case, to me is
more of a full season case than than Boston's when you just look at the
Celtics have done this year, where it literally took sort of a mid season
turnaround, and you know, late season serves for them to get to this
point. The Heat and the Suns and the Grizzlies and their coaches, their
staffs, it's been more of a wire to wire accomplishment. To me,
I think that's fair. I would I would also may only push back with
having Spolster that high is a there's some some fatigue and play there because he
deserves to be a front runner each and every season, and you know that
shouldn't discredit his case each and every year, even if it makes it a
little bit tougher to justify having in there in your head. And second,
like I think that ultimately the Heat's pieces are easier to coach up. There
are a lot of absences. As you mentioned, there are a lot of
really strong contributions from unheralded players. Kyle Lowry's an easy plug and play player
because he does everything. The same is true of Jimmy Butler and bam Adebayo
because versatility is the name of the game for them. With Boston, you
don't have those same kind of pieces Marcus smart By no means a guy you
can just put into every situation. Robert Williams needed a pretty specialized role designed
to maximize his abilities. Jason Tatum still emerging as the star player that Jimmy
Butler had already ascended to become. So I think even if it did take
that mid season turnaround, the ability to get that team to that level through
a lot of adversity during the early stage of the season as a first year
head coach, to me, that's a huge selling point. I just if
you looked at how many games they're key players have lost then, and that's
a huge part of it for me, is that they were able to you
know, yes, maybe their their top end of their players might be easier
to coach up. You know, the conversation with Jimmy Butler and Jason Tatum
is the best player, that's a conversation now. But I think when you
look at BAM it's lowry. Both of them are better than boston second best
player, Jalen Brown. So I totally get that. But when you just
look at how much time collectively, like the heat of missed and then how
shallow they were supposed to be that's what swings it for me. And like
I said, I was the way I look at this one, what's that.
The way I look at this one is Monty Williams is first, and
then those other three names. I don't really care about the order. And
that's what gets tough about these awards as we moved into we'll do six Men
of the Year next, is it's this one. This award is not one
of those cases. But you do sort of have to look at like the
bigger picture, and to me, at least, sometimes I struggle to not
fall victim to recency bias based off what's happened in the past couple of months.
And that's why you know he is. I have a litany of honorable
mentions here for Coach in the Year, as you always do that I won't
go through, but yeah, you may dook. It was certainly on there
on the shortlist. So sixth Man of the Year another really obvious winner where
it's Tyler Hero. I think that's probably the most obvious winner of all of
these, even beyond Monty Williams for Coach of the Year. Agree, Yeah,
it's I mean, it's just he didn't even come close to like not
meeting the quote unquote Criterias ten starts as we record this, that's just so
yeah, And there is some stuff where it's, oh, what can he
be part of every single one of your closing lines. You look at the
numbers he's putting up, in the method by which he's got there, there's
no contest here. Cameron Johnson really obvious second place finisher. He is the
piece who kind of like puts Phoenix over the top as a defender, as
a floor spacer who is just unbelievably deadly from the corner. There's a little
bit more ability to put the ball on the floor this season, create from
self, create for others. Far and away the leading second place candidate he
is. I don't have anything to add aside from the fact that people need
to watch his defense because it's solid enough to the point where if he doesn't
elevate you, he doesn't hurt you. And there's there's a distinction in that.
But it's also really important to have someone who's been this lights out from
three Probably if you were going through a long list of most improved players,
he could make it. Looking at his shooting percentage this year. What I
actually say about it, So I'm just curiously what he could look like in
a larger role because of the sort of on ball flashes we've seen. He's
never been necessarily consistent with it, but sometimes he finishes these drives or he
hits these like orthodrical jumpers and it's like, Okay, whoa, and that's
I'm not saying he's going to be priced out of Phoenix, but with having
already paid bridges CP three, Booker could be supermacs eligible that extension eligible this
summer. You have Aighton's free agency on top of Cam Johnson being extension eligible,
we might get to see it. I hope we don't. I'd like
to see this team stay together, but I'm curious to see as Phoenix's roster
changes, maybe we see Johnson in a bigger role with the Sons or or
elsewhere. Who's your number three here? I'm curious see if this is the
tough one, because I think there's a case for Jordan Clarkson filling that volume
shooter role. I know that neither of us usually default that way. Kelly
Bray Junior has a case, but I'm gonna go with Kevin Love here.
Averaging thirteen point four and seven point two shooting third eight point four percent from
three on six point four attempts per game. He's been a solid spark plug,
shown some signs of like that old vintage Kevin Love been an important veteran
presence for a Cavs team competing quicker than expected. Granted, Cleveland has been
three points per one hundred possessions worse when he's on the floor, which isn't
a huge selling point in a sixth Man of the Year case, but it's
also been operating at such a higher level than expected that it is still outscoring
opponents when he's on the floor, even if the performance is ultimately getting worse.
So to me, he was kind of the least bad of the leading
third place candidates. I didn't view him as the least bad. I just
think he's been good. And he was also my third pick, so we
have an identical ballot here, I think. Fun fact, by the way,
Kevin Love has played in more games for the Cavaliers than anyone else on
the team. Would you have predicted that at the hell No, and that
might be a sign of their bad luck. Still, it's a matter of
fact. After the latest mobili injury, just the shooting, they're still the
passing, and they've been able to find certain front core combination being able to
work with him that you wouldn't think we're going to work either whether he is
he or day facto center. Is he playing with another bigger two there's They've
been able to hold up defensively in a lot of those minutes, especially through
the first three quarters of the season. And I think he deserves just a
lot of credit for Mantaney's offensive efficiency. And this is tangentially related. His
demeanor on the bench has just completely changed compared toruntled him the previous one seemed
like a trade was inevitable, but he's a willing participant now. The names
I'll mention quickly, I had Ubray Junior and Mine Clarkson. Of course Montras
Harrold's been like sneaky okay this year, but even now in Charlotte, we're
kind of seeing the mal de kay with him my actual fourth and he just
he I almost put him ahead of Kevin Love Gary Payton the second in Golden
State. Might be just the things he does defensively and the way he can
move off the ball on offense, but specifically defensively. I know they call
him the Mitten for a reason, but like he is just a human eclipse
that plays so much bigger than he actually stay hands And if you have him
over Love, I'd be hard pressed to make a case from over Johnson.
I do think he's I don't know if he will, but I think he
could make some top three appearances in real life, and that just wouldn't startle
me. I'll be honest that I didn't even consider him because we typically look
at scoring first and foremost in the sixth Man of the Year race. I
wish I had in hindsight, because he might be a better candidate for number
three than Love. That defense has been so impactful throughout the year and has
allowed Golden State to try so many different lineups, especially while the stars have
been hurt. And I know a lot of people were like, oh,
look at how they sort of folded without Draymond Green. It was like they
kind of held up defensively for a long time. There was a point where
it's sort of flipped like they were holding up defensively with Adam for a while.
And GP two was a big reason why. But as you said,
you are kind of drawn to the more of it and if we were look
these are we should have laid this out the beginning. I'm just making what
my ballot is. I'm not even predicting who would win if I had to
say, you know, I don't think there's any deviations here. Probably not
yet. I think everyone I pick probably should win. But I guess we're
gonna get the most improved player. Now, how's that for a transition?
My pick is not who I think is going to win. So it's that
type of situation. And I could put GP two in the top three,
but I think just the body of work from Kevin Love and there is the
inherent volume of what he does on offense relative to GP two being way more
complimentary and having to work more off the ball than Kevin Love is going to
and we're just not being as big a part of the offense. I'm not
gonna argue though, if you if you have him over most improved player.
Uh, this is always a tough one. I tend to rule out second
year players just as a rule of thumb. I did the same thing this
year because I didn't want to get into the Desmond Bane Maxi discussion exactly who
both would have been considered, but that's the year that we expect to see
so much improvement. And it's also hard because are we looking at players who
are going from actively bad to good, from good to great, from great
to superstars, because every degree of improvement gets harder as you're a better player.
So I tend to try to strike a balance between those. But I
found that this year's leading candidates for me are all in that stall star ballpark.
So I have Darius Garland at number one. The importance of the role
that he's taken on for the Cleveland Cavaliers, where this felt like it was
probably going to be Colin Sexton's team with him serving as a sidekick to this
being Darius Garland's team, making life so much easier for Evan Mobley, who
scores an unbelievable number of his points off of lobs and feeds from Garland.
Same is true of Jared Allen. He took his game to that proverbial next
level as a score while also be coming I would say unquestionably one of the
five best passers in the NBA right now. The creativity, the ease with
which he diagnoses a defensive set and then can slip the ball right in there
before the defensive knows what it's set is supposed to be. It is just
mind blowing to watch how much he's grown. On the offensive end. We
haven't really seen too much of an efficiency downtick, even though he's taken on
such a ridiculously more important, more impactful role for a cav squad that has
also gone from mediocre to legitimately good when the pieces are available. So he
ended up in my number one spot. Number two, I have de Jante
Murray kind of a similar story without the team's success aspect, where this became
his team and the increased importance of what he was doing along with the growth
in so many individual pieces of his game, where he's now this stifling defender
who can also lead an offense as a scorer or a playmaker, and when
he is functioning as a scorer, he can do it on all three levels.
So similar story there. Number three is the betting favorite John Moran,
where he has become a flat out superstar. You know, we had had
those debates about whether you take him or Zion Williamson back when there was this
belief that Zion Williamson might play basketball again, And now he's in the MVP
conversation. He is arguably the most exciting player in the game. He is
the Memphis offense. When he's on the floor, he can do absolutely everything.
The degree of difficulty of his role, the amount of scouting reports dedicated
solely to him, they just don't matter because he's that good. I think
you can make a case that, even if he hasn't been the best player
or the clear cut MVP this season, that he's been the story of this
season when he's been healthy. He has been in that central to this NBA
season. And it's not just because he's some novelty item. He's just gotten
that good. So he's that classic like twenty sixteen Stephen Curry style argument where
he was a star and has gotten that much better to the point that he
deserves to be considered for an award that typically goes to players who are making
first leap. My ballot was eerily similar. I have just got shocking given
how weird this award is. I'm just not the Murray one because I so
I totally understand the case for Darius Garland. Here, I have come to
view the second and third year cases is very similar to where I'll consider a
third year, but you are probably supposed to make your biggest improvements poteen year
two, a year one and year two and then year two and year three.
That being said, Darius Garland's on my ballot. He checks in at
number three. For me, I have John Morant number two. What's interesting
now I'm backtracking here is John Morant making the leap from Just All Stars Superstar
tot MVP Kennedy. That is the single most difficulty absolutely and by the way,
there's been improvement, Like he's you can't go under screens on him as
readily. The floater game is even more unpredictable than is now. He's a
great decision maker after leaving his feet still and he got better on defense when
he came back from his Not he's injured now, but his first injury this
season I think that was also was I left me springingever ankle injury, whatever
it was, So there was real improvement there and the fact that it came
on for a team that is now second in the Western Conference and he was
a huge part of that. Miles Bridges for me was the pick when we
did this very early in the year. Obvious pick. The team is still
diversified a bunch. The efficiency makes me a little bit unsettled that he's never
really come up from three points under thirty three percent from three point range this
season, his two point percentage is right and lockstep with what he was doing
last year. I just don't feel him as much watching him, and when
you go, you've kind of seen this progression of where as the season has
gone on, even more of his baskets are coming off assists than before.
And that's not to say that's a bad thing, but that became splitting hairs
with me. Whereas so Jejanta Murray is my number one pick. He is
said, and he is someone now who I think you can run the offense
through where it's maybe there's some inherent limitations, but he's hitting the three ball
and enough of a clip and I'll call it modest volume. He has more
unassisted three pointers made this year than Julius Randall. That's a big deal,
Like it's that speaks to how bad Julius Randall's been this season. But like
talking about twenty one Julius Randall, Randall, he has his unassisted three porters.
I had it pulled up. It was more than Julius randall By like
a few baskets. That's you know, his efficiency on those, they're good
enough to where you're okay taking him. DeMar de Rosen is the only other
player in the NBA who has scored more unassisted two pointers this year. That
is incredible. And I know there are still gonna be limitations on defenses are
him. If the end result of a possession is de Gante Murray shooting a
three, let alone Dejante Murray shooting his self created three, defenses are going
to be happy. But he is someone who has improved his decision making when
he's running the offense in the half court in transition, he is not making
a ton of turnovers relative to how much the San Antonio Spurs just depend on
him. And this stat blows my mind when you look at this is throughout
NBA history where you've had players and these are Dejante Murray's benchmarks to post a
usage above twenty seven, a turnover percentage below twelve, while assisting on more
than forty percent of their team's baskets on the floor. It has happened four
times. You have Jante Murray this year two thousand and eight, two thousand
nine, Tony Parker two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, Dwayne
Wade and two thousand, two thousand one Stephon Marbury. That's it. And
by the way, for anyone who doesn't notice, this is a weird group
of players. New Jersey Nets error. Stephan Marburry was ridiculously good. Though
that's a weird group of players. It's an incredible the Dwayne will Oh,
yeah, it's a great one. But like I don't think I've ever heard
Marbury, Wade and Parker group together. And so I look at that that
you know, it shows an improvement because you're talking about someone who is dealing
with his the highest usage rate of his career and then also posting the second
lowest turnover rate of his career. That's a big deal. And forty point
five percent assist percentage. When you're dealing with the Spurs offense, that there's
limitations on them too because they're they're similar to the Grizzlies, where you don't
want this team operating in the half court. If you're the Spurs, I
want to see them get out and run. And they have the fastest average
possession time in the NBA. For that reason, I think Jean Day Murray
still brings it all together at a higher peak. And this is someone who
when you look at past players who have won this award, Siam, Paul
George, where it's sort of foretold their entry into all NBA candidacy. John
Morant was in that discussion already. MVP is different from all MBA. I
think Murray's about to enter it or already has entered it, and to make
that jump matters more to me Morant number two Garland three just by virtue of
being in And you know what, I might move Garland to two now because
I don't know how to wait minutes and games, But no, it's it's
mostly just John Morant might not play in sixty games. Missing time is big
here, but I just still view that the level he reached as well.
And I think this award even sometimes more than MVP, like I kind of
not ignore the playing time, but playing time means less and most improved player
than it does for MVP. For me, I don't know if that's right
or wrong. That's just how coming at it. So I'll stick with Marian
at two. In Garland at three bridges. The only thing, the only
thing I want to push back about what you said is with Bridges, I
feel like the not feeling him as much, the effectiveness kind of tailing off
was true until recently. This eight and two run that Charlotte has been on
LaMelo Ball has been playing out of his mind, but Bridges has two.
I think he's at like forty six point eight percent on threes over his last
ten games or something in that ballpark, and all of a sudden things are
clicking again. That's still not a season. Is eighty two games on?
Oh? I know, I don't. I'm just saying like, I feel
like he's getting back to that early season level that had us so excited about
him, but there was a long mid season malaise where he was not there.
So I don't think that he's in the top three. Obviously, he's
not on mine and he's not on yours either. But I did just want
to push back a little about the not feeling him as much recently, because
I do think that just in time for this play in tournament, he's starting
to turn it back on the only and I think I guess you could say
all four of the names we entered and are basically interchangeable if someone picked the
mild Bridges to win it, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna. I
would push back against that now because I still don't know what he is,
because he's book ended a lot of better than mediocrity, but worse than stardom
with these excellent Spurts as opposed to Garland and Murray and Morant, where I
know they've risen to that other level. The only other name that I think
we need to mention here is Jordan Pool would belong to the discussion when you
look at what he's been able to do offensively, even on defense, like
when the conversation between Pool and Hero, I guess it could swing on offense
if you're looking at finishing and stuff like Pools just world's better on defense than
Hero is. At this point, He's the only other name I think I
would mention where I think he belongs. He would be my fifth. I'm
curious. I don't know unless you want Bain and Maxi and yeah, Baine
Tyres, Maxie's in there. I was curious what you thought. Though David
Thorpe was on the Low Post recently and mentioned Jason Tatum. I'm just curious
what you're I never even thought about him for this award. I'm willing to
consider it. I'm just curious as to what you think. I think there's
a difference between rising to that level like Moran has, and I would argue
that Moran and Tatum are at like fairly similar levels these days, and becoming
the player you were expected to become. I don't think we knew that Morant
had this level to reach. I think we knew Tatum had this level to
reach. It would have to hinge on just to development as a passer.
But I also I thought he had made more of a jump there last year
than people thought. And perhaps that's why I'm not just And I know his
efficiency is up in one on one situations this year, but it's not like
mine meltingly up. So I was. I thought it was interesting and him
and Low went through just a ton of different names, but I thought it
was intriguing that Tatum's name popped up. Are you right to go to Rookie
of the Year? Not even remotely? We do. What's your ballot look
like? I don't have one. I refuse, I'll give you my ballot
then, No, I mean, in all seriousness, like I wrote,
I wrote about this in early March at Sportscasting, where I legitimately wish the
award didn't exist this year because you have to put down two players to boost
the candidacy of one. And I don't really give a shit because all three
of these these leading candidates. No disrespect to Franz Wagner, but he's not
going to be in this conversation because the other three are that good, even
though he would factor into this discussion in a normal season, and the same
might be true for Herb Jones, who's just been phenomenal on defense. But
these three players are all so clearly going to be mega stars that I hate
that we have to pick between them, and I feel like my case changes
on a daily basis, so it's impossible. I have Dotty Barnes number one
for the full season that he's put together and the ascension during the second half
of the season while filling such a key two way role for what's become the
best of these teams. I have Evan Mobley second. He might have remained
in my number one spot had he not been injured, but it's tough to
make the case for him over Barnes right now without the volume argument because we're
seeing the defense slip a little bit without Jared Allen. We're seeing that he
is ultimately a little bit more reliant on the setup passes from Darius Garland,
whereas Barnes is creating more of his own offense. And then I have Kid
cunning Him at three. But he's also been i would say easily the most
impressive of the three in recent weeks, and I now feel pretty strongly that
he's going to have the best career of the three, even if all three
of them could win an MVP one day. So I have Kid Cunningham third,
and I hate myself for doing it, because there a very legitimate argument
that he could be number one based on the level to which he's risen for
a shockingly competitive Detroit Pistons team during the second half of the season that he
is so clearly leading. I view this as a season long award where you
have to weigh in that he missed time at the beginning of the year with
an injury, that he was ineffective in the first spurt before he started to
get his feet wet in the NBA and just took off. So, because
this is an award that I look at in totally and not just a level
reach at the end of the season, which is so often lost when you
just list out the ballot. I can't have him higher than three, even
if he is now the first year player who I would back most vociferously.
And so we had some pushback when we had the who He Got pod between
these three players specifically, which was really just auguring what we're talking about right
now, that Kage shouldn't be in the discussion with them. It was a
lazily thought out point in my opinion, because if you're stopping, if you
won't listen to the rest of the pod, because we were having a bait
between Kade, Scottie and Mowbley, like you don't even think Kate belongs in
the discussion, You're the one who's wrong there. And when you look at
true usage percentage for these guys or total offensive load percentage, which is just
a better way per b ball Index and then Seth part now of the Athletic
came up with true usage percentage. It's just a better way of contextualizing and
portraying how how important or how how large the share of the offense is that
a player is responsible for when he's on the court, Kate Cunningham blows Scotty
Barnes and Evin Mowbli out of the water in this he is so he is
the all everything to Detroit eesventually on offense, where Barnes has a has I
think the best collection of talent around him out of these three. That's not
something you used to chop him down. But that's what you have to consider
when evaluating Kate Cunningham is he hasn't had the most efficient season, but the
level of control he has on the game and how well he's responded functionally when
you watch him play to being saddled with that much responsibility and such, what
I would argue is the most difficult offensive role of any rookie this season.
That matters, And so he's number three for me. The playing time came
in there, I would push back if someone putting him number one, because
I do think that matters. I have Mobley number two and Barnes one.
I think the Mobley again, I do think the Mobley injury sort of does
swing this in barnes favor a little bit because it's going to give him the
sample size edge. But when you start to look at the advanced metrics,
Barnes leads it in vorp, he leads in total point nbama's total points added,
he doesn't. He's ahead of every of these two in raptor. When
you look at luck adjusted regular adjusted plus minus, Mobley is going to win
that category out of these three. He also wins in lebron. But Barnes
this is this was the difference maker for me, whether you like it or
not. He has the more He's matched up with more difficult assignments on offense.
I think that's because Mobley is more of like a Yannis, but even
more so on the perimeter. So I'm not trying to compare the two.
But then you look at offense and like at this point in this season,
we've seen Toronto run their crunch time unit through Scottie Barnes at points. Maybe
they're forcing it. That's part of the development and opportunity. He's responded well.
When you combine that with him just having a higher true usage in total
offensive load percentage than Mobli in addition to everything else he's done. If you're
splitting hairs, that's where I'm going to start to split hairs. I think
Scotty Barnes's roll over all this season has been more difficult than Mobley's, and
not only has he played more, but he's helped elevate a playoff team that
is better than Cleveland right now. They're comparable when they're both at at full
strength. So that's what I went with. But it is splitting already like
thrice split hairs. And if you picked Mobli just because I do think he's
a transcendent defensive talent in a way that I don't know Barnes will ever get
there, I value more what Barnes is going to do away from the ball.
I value every single thing ever that Evan Mobley is going to do on
defense. So it is close, but I think just the combination of the
playing time and plus Barnes is winning enough of the advanced metrics, has a
difficult hold enough offensive role and even difficult enough defensive role when you just look
at how much he's been moved around in Toronto, and yeah, there's sort
of the the madness of Nick Nurse take in there, where he just is
so brazen with some of the matchss he throws out there. But with Scotty
specifically, in other players, there's the level of it's also because we can
or because we should, and Scotti fits under that umbrella more than the egregiousness
of Nick Nurse umbrella. Did I get worked up enough for that one?
I think I'm I'm just like flustered after going through Rookie of the Years possible.
This next one, though, was the most difficult one for me,
and it was it was even more difficult than Rookie the Year. I don't
I don't think I feel as passionately about this one because there isn't that same
Like, all three of these guys are going to have just ridiculous, jaw
dropping careers, and so it feels like unnecessary disrespect to have Kid Cunningham at
number three in Rookie of the Year, even if it's justified. But yeah,
I mean this one, this one was so difficult because of the injuries,
because they're isn't a clear front runner or even set of front runners this
year, So like you can easily consider janism Dakumpo for the free safety role
that he fills for the Milwaukee Bucks, Jaren Jackson Junior for his status as
a defensive centerpiece for the Memphis Prizzlies. I had Robert Williams the third in
my number one spot, and I think that case gets a little bit harder
to make now that he's out for what four to six weeks. But on
the flip side, the Celtics have lost two straight games since that happened.
There're seven and nine sit without him in the lineup this season and just clearly
aren't the same defensive powerhouse without him on the floor. And I want to
look past the numbers here, which are overwhelmingly positive for him, partially because
defense is so hard to quantify, but also because I think we often see
players who become schemes unto themselves. Riddy Gobert is probably the most prominent example
in the last few years within the NBA. But Williams had such a ridiculously
good skill set as both a primary rim protector and a smothering help defender who
can just kind of warp into whatever position he needs to be that Emaudoka built
a unique scheme to maximize his abilities, and this kind of ties in with
my desire to have him in the Coach of the Year race, because by
having the Celtics employ these unorthodox switching schemes, he was showing just how important
Robert Williams is to this defense. There are so many other good pieces.
I actually have Marcus Smart third on my ballot, as weird as it is
to have two players from the same team on the same ballot, because Smart
key's everything that they do on the perimeter with that switching, because he's impervious
to match up difficulty. But it was designed in a way that you can
make the most of Williams's otherworldly help defense skills, and it has resulted in
a defense that was so far and away the best unit in basketball. I
would say on either end of the floor for half of the season, the
most important half at the second after the break, and all of that until
he did go down. I have Bambi, a bio sandwiched between the two
Celtics, again, another guy who spent a lot of time injured, but
is just so impactful because of the versatility and his ability to bring everything together
on the defensive end for Spolstra that I just can't stop myself from wanting to
give so much credit to this pair of Celtics defenders that I legitimately considered having
Williams first and Smart second. So your ballot is Williams at a bio and
then Smart. Okay, we had drastically different ballots here. I did not
have either of the Celtics on my ballot, and I know Boston now is
the best defens in the NBA. Very much seems like a success by committee
example, and I'm not trying to detract from what either of them have done.
I don't think what Robert Williams is allowed to do on defensive works as
well without having a blanket in Marcus Smart, who can defend one through four.
I don't think it works as well without having two really good away from
the ball defenders and Tatum and Brown. I don't think it works as well
if you don't have Al Horford as a luxury in certain lineups as well,
and when so much of what he does is predicated on being sort of a
read and react help rim protector, the case is diluted a little bit.
For me, I think more so I would I would argue the opposite though,
because much like with most improved player, where it's difficult to go from
good to great, but it's even harder to go from great to otherworldly,
it was an approach by committee, and Smart isn't a successful that Williams behind
him and vice versa. But to go from otherworldly to whatever this Celtics defense
had been in when operating at peak powers, I think that speaks to just
how unique and impactful those skill sets were, even if they had to operate
in conjunction with each other. But I totally get your argument too, and
I think that you can make a solid case for like seven people in this
award, right and look they you look at the individual defensive numbers, and
like when Williams plays without Marcus Smart, like the Celtics defense is still verging
on elite, and so I do think he's a really good defender. How
do you also reconcile the fact that now he's going to miss time and he's
not even as of right now, he's not the most played big on the
roster, like doct belongs to Al Horford, and so I don't want to
say everything around him as a safety net, I would argue that Boston's defense
is I think Marcus Smarts a more important defender to Boston than Robert Williams.
That's just hands down for me, And that's really just you watch them and
that's how you feel. And I know Robert Williams has been a monster,
and I think because you have so many talented defenders for me, it diluted
their case. And so I'm going to go in reverse order here. I
didn't have bam At a bio on here either. Maybe I'm waiting playing time
a little bit too much there. I know he's picked up since he's returned
from his own injury. The stuff he can do on defense is incredible.
I don't know if I'm thinking him because he doesn't I feel like he doesn't
do some of the traditional big man stuff as well enough to qualify, but
like he's even someone that you trust if you need him to do what Rob
Williams a third does. Bam Adebayo is going to do it better than Robert
Williams a third is sort of how I look at it, And maybe not
so much of the help in protection. But you're talking about having to defend
away from the basket. You don't have a case or Robert Williams there.
You're shaking your head, but there's no case. No, there's not.
But Boster has also developed a scheme that it doesn't need to happen, And
so why are you giving Robert Williams a third defensive Player of the Year.
So you're saying it's more scheme based. Is my point. Boston is a
tricky one because everything has worked together to create this. I don't think that
if you have a more traditional defensive scheme that Williams suddenly becomes a non DPOY
candidate. He's probably not the leading one because he isn't so fully maximized,
but his ability to do what no one else can really do allowed them to
put this scheme into place. It's the chicken and the egg argument. Yeah,
I guess that's just interesting to say that you think that Robert Lillams the
Third is already better defensively than bam Meta Bio. I just I didn't say
that. You're shaking your head when I'm talking about bam at a bio versus
Robert Williams the Third. So what are you saying then, I'm shaking your
head when you say bam Aldabio can do everything Robert Williams does better. I
said most things, like I said, I probably trust Robert will then most
things whatever to go to the tape. Then, so I have Now I'm
all thrown after that, I have I do not have either of those guys
abouts. My belt is actually I have Yannest third. I know he has
a safety net and Drew Holiday that allows him to do certain things that he
wouldn't otherwise. The Bucks defense actually been better when you honest plays without true
Holiday his positional maaluability even when the matchup data is not going to support versatility.
This is someone who has had to play the five for long stretches in
Milwaukee's defense is held up. He can still party, crash literally everything away
from the ball still sort of the basis or what everything Milwaukee's able to do.
Their defense has not been great, but it's been great when he's on
the floor and including during certain of his solo minutes there. So he came
in at number three for me. Rudy Gobert was number two. He is
still just the foundation of everything Utah is doing. They are very clearly an
elite defensive team when he's on the court. I do wonder if he should
be penalized because he's not able to uplift their transition defense. Then again,
that's not really his responsibility to do that, and they seem like, you
know, how much do you discredit some of the moments that he's on the
court when it's really just dribble penetration gets through Utah's point of attack or their
perimeter in general, because there's just no one who can contain it. There's
Royce O'Neill, and that's it, at least on a semi consistent basis.
So that was tough. But when you look at and because both Utah and
Milwaukee are not great defensive teams overall this season, and I think the award
normally does go to great defensive teams, I think it makes their actual cases
a little bit more flimsier when I look at what they're doing on the floor
and the type of impact they have, and Rudy Gobert specifically, that is
someone who's manipulating every single, almost every single aspect of the opposing offense while
doing it more alone than I think anyone on this list that we've discussed to
this point. My actual pick, and I thought a lot about this,
is Michael Bridges had a feeling that's where you're going. Phoenix is second in
points a lot pro possession overall, and where a lot of people are gonna
go off is that the Suns are actually better defensively when Michael Bridges off the
court, the assignments that he is tackling no One we have discussed guards number
one options more often. He grades out as having perby Ball Index's highest matchup
difficulty of anyone on this list. He's actually in the top ten of both
matchup difficulty and the time spent guarding the number one option among everyone who's played
at least fifteen undred minutes this season. He's just in the top ten of
those categories altogether. I think you also look at someone who blends the off
ball and the on ball like you're gonna put him on basically every single opponent's
best player, unless that best player is a big. Isn't going to defend
power forward as much as Marcus Smart, but he's equally capable of going after
one and twos and threes. He's to me one of the most let's say
throw a number on at five or seven most impactful transition defenders in the NBA.
The way that he can change plays when he's forced to guard the ball
handler after screens, or if you look when we talk about perimeter players being
able to defend both sides of the pick and roll. Whenever we talk about
that I feel like we're focusing on bigs who doesn't get burned in those situations
you. I think one of the most recent examples, like McCall bridges,
is guarding Joel Embiid in pick and rolls against Philly. At certain points,
He's still able to play both sides of that pick and roll on the same
possession, moving back and forth. It is so hard to make entry passes
pick and roll passes with him just being there. I already mentioned the transition
stuff, and you just sort of combine that with the night to night workload
that he has. He's played in every single game since he's entered the NBA.
This is someone who's literally doing it every single night. So I understand
there's more nuance and haziness to this award, and there are people who are
more qualified to talk about than I am. I don't think you're wrong for
putting the Celtics on this, Marcus Smart, I have him at number four
right now. Draymond would have been my clear number one if he's only played
He's not even gonna play fifty games this year. I also think bam Adebio
deserves non mention. Also shout out Dorrian Fitny Smith, who's gonna deserve at
least like tangential mentions here as well. I would not have picked Robert Williams
a third. Maybe I'm too low on him. He's like, I think
he's an egregious winner if I'm being honest, But I don't like everybody.
He said, like, I totally get it. This was hard, and
I know that we only have two non bigs in the last twenty five years
that have won this award, and I know that the numbers do matter,
and like, when you look at the advanced metrics, you're gonna come back
with Gobert, Jannis or Draymond. You're gonna go back with those three plus
Robert Williams a third is sprinkled in some of the advanced numbers. Really love
him even in bed and then even smart sometimes before Michael Bridges when you look
at what he does and how good Phoenix is defensively, and yes he has
Chris Paul by him, he has DeAndre and by him, but he makes
a lot of He ties so much of these different things together, and he's
a huge reason why you're also able to navigate certain stretches without key players.
So it's Michael Bridges for me, I guess I could change that by the
end of the year. That was the single toughest choice though, and single
toughest Yeah, I think so too, without Draymond Green included, just because
he hasn't played enough. I think that there are really like seven reasonable choices,
the three I mentioned, the three you mentioned, and then Jaren Jackson
Jr. And I don't care that much what order you put them in,
because ultimately, like I know, it seems like it's disrespect to leave someone
off your ballot. Entirely to me, the gap between one and seven here
is pretty small, like smaller than we typically see from two to three in
most years. I think in Defensive Player of the Year you almost rely on
there being a consensus for most people. Yeah, just because so much of
defense is narrative based too, Because we don't know all the schemes and we
don't know if we're watching a game, it's pretty easy to tell when someone
messes up on offense if there's a breakdown on defense, Like you and I
are not the exes and those experts who are going to be able to tell
you, like, yep, that's on that guy. In some cases,
sure, but not every time, right, And that's what it makes it
tough for me. But I think it's tough in general even if you are
that person, because even with offense, there's numbers and really granular data that
can back up what you're seeing or inform how you're watching something. It just
doesn't the numbers aren't going to do that on defense, and it's why I
feel I do feel a little uncomfortable picking Michael Bridges when you're looking at beyond
and all stuff. We also this is probably the situation where you need to
rise above it, and so it's just it's I'm totally with you this,
this was the time, and that's that's why I'm okay with you saying that
you feel Williams is an egregious winner choice, and I'm good with that.
That's not going to change my mind here, just because I have not watched
a team this season and felt like one player was more integral to a scheme
than he was, and that's happens to be except suffocating Except what except Draymond
I'm assuming, yeah, I mean over a large enough sample, but that
scheme happens to be the most stifling one in the NBA. This season,
so those two aligned for me, and my perception of defense is going to
be different than your perception. We can't lean on the numbers as much.
So if you had said that my MVP choice, my Rookie of the Year
choice, my six Man of Year choice is an egregious winner, that's going
to bother me a little bit because I value your opinion. I still value
your opinion here, but it's not going to bother me as much. And
in a lot of ways, I'm glad that we deviated from each other on
this one because we did not share these ballots except for Executive of the Year
before we started recording, and we've been in lockstep through and through. It's
interesting that you say that about Rob Williams a third though, because like,
I would get that feeling from Gobert way before Rob Williams a third. I
even get maybe I'm just maybe I'm just so used to that with Gobert.
And the other thing is, like I do think Gobert is probably more irreplaceable
to what the Jazz are doing because there's no one else, but like mchaal,
Bridges has a a trickle down effect that makes everyone better, which is,
you know, if you're gonna have Gobert or eight and calling out your
coverages. I actually the article from I think it was Tim Bontemps where you
had Gobert and be talking about big men directing coverages. We probably don't consider
that enough. And I know Micaal Bridges isn't necessarily doing that, but the
stuff he's able to do on defense, it changes the way that Chris Paul
can operate, and even eight and can operate, whereas with eight and and
Gobert, I don't know if it's having that same level of trickle down to
the perimeter players weren't. Utah's very specifically like we need to funnel guys towards
because there's just no other option, and there's only that's not Gobert's fault.
There's only so much he can do from there. And I think people will
generally argue that big men can are covering more positions and responsible for more things
than perimeter guys. I don't disagree. Michael Bridges just feels like one of
the exceptions this year because it's not. I just don't feel like he receives
enough credit for being an all around guy where I feel like the narrative or
the spin was he's so good away from the ball. I've always thought he's
been a lot better off the ball than average guys. The stuff he does
off the ball is incredible, but the ability to toggle between both on the
same possessions and then just he can disrupt transition opportunities, prevent them all together.
Teams when Michael Bridges are on the floor get out and transition so much
less with against Phoenix, and he's a big reason why. Whether it's because
he's ending possessions were sort of erasing them before they start, And I don't
know if when people listen if they're just gonna strongly disagree. This was just
so tough this year, which I think is gonna make for just interesting year
end summaries. The MVP Award, though, was similarly difficult for me.
After the number one number one spot, I kind of want to just go
through my top five with no commentary, let you do the same, and
then see where we don't align, in part because this is the one that
we've been talking about all year, and like, I have a little discussion
fatigue on MVP by this point of the season because so many conversations are centered
around thee. I'm almost wandering to do we go through the top three because
we know we're gonna have the same top three because those three that have been
pitted against each other unless you went I did not go rogue. Yeah,
so who what were one, two, and three? Yeah? So Trey
Young and number one? Okay, obviously obviously no I My number one remains
Nicolo, number two remains Joel Embiid, and number three remains Jannis. On
the cupo A number four, Devin Booker has risen into that spot for me,
and five is Lucadantech. We had the exact same bat cool over.
We didn't. Nicole Loki was one, Jannis is two, and Beat is
three. I was really close to making that happen too. Jan was five.
A steph. I really I had him in my last MBP ladder.
I had him fourth the time that he's gonna miss. That's the thing that
swung me, maybe more than it should, because I think people are continuing
to underestimate his importance somehow, even when shots aren't falling and we're sort of
seeing how much the like him being absent is almost boosted his MVP case.
To me. But if I'm not gonna have John Morant in here because of
the time that he's gonna end up missing. Curry has played more minutes than
Job. I want to make that clear exactly. But when Luke is gonna
wind up playing more minute, everyone on this thiss is gonna wind to play
more minutes and stuff. By the end of the year, I had step
six, but that's that was what was tough. So let's start at the
top here with the Yogis Giannis and Biad discussion. I'm done with I've always
been done. But like we gotta the team record stuff like it. It
doesn't fucking matter like the Nuggets are fifteen games much much less the where you
sit in your in the seating in your conference. Right and by the way,
the Nuggets are like the Nuggets. This is how ridiculous is the Nuggets
winning percentage is fifty nine point seven. If you were problem with him winning
over a bead with six sixty point five, they have one few. It's
one loss that's separating them right now. And that's in part because Philly is
if this recording has played fewer games. So I just I can't get there
as the team record. I saw this beyond that I like looking at SRS
simple Rating system, which weighs margin of victory and strength of schedule more anyway,
And Denver is eleventh at two point three six, Philly is thirteenth at
two point two seven, Milwaukee seventh at three point four four. So Yogas
doesn't even even really have the worst team argument to me, because not every
win and not every loss is the same, and it's just like he checks
every box. Like he's gotten better on defense this year, he's still one
of the most clutch scores when you look at late in the shot clock,
even specifically some of the most efficient scores, Like he's shooting I think,
better than seventy percent on drives this year, which incredible because he's not finishing
his drives all the time at the rim. His passing just absolutely absurd.
He is And look, he's missing two major pieces to the Nuggets. And
I saw this going around on Twitter the other day. It's different situations,
but the fact that the Nuggets are outscoring teams by more points per one hundred
possessions with Yokas on the floor than the Bucks are doing so with Jannis,
that's actually, like, as an anecdote, impressive to me, it's not
the end all bill case, but he had a harder time deciding between Embiad
and Yannis because I can't come there with you. I don't know that I
can actually come up with a case for having Himbiad and Yannis over Yoki unless
it's because of the impacts they have on defense, and Yanni specifically would be
my pick there if, like, if that's the route, I kind of
get that a little bit. But even then, like Yoki's defensive performance has
been so understated in a lot of conversations. He's not a DPOY candidate,
but when the defensive factor in the defensive rebounding, the game saving blocks the
importance within the scheme, like he's been a very good defender. I believe
he's actually second in defensive raptor per five thirty eighth this season. Yeah,
it's just and he's dominating basically every single Ketchel metric that hasn't really happened except
for Nicole Yoka, like that, actually that's nothing that hasn't really happened that
tends to happen for a reason, is my point. And like with Russell
Westbrook when he broke box plus minus and therefore broke TPA during the sixteen seventeen
season. He wasn't dominating every single one like yokiches this year, and those,
like all of the advanced catch all metrics, they have different shortcomings.
So when you're impervious to any of those shortcomings, that says something. And
look, there was a chance that the Nuggets are like forget about the Seas,
but like that Thunder team didn't win fifty games, there are twelve games
under five hundred. There's Nugets team was probably gonna win fifty games while missing
for basically the entire season their second and third best players. I don't think
that's a reason time you didn't dismissed that much time. What's that dismissed that
much time? And that's not to detract or take away, like you know,
to depreciate the case of Jannie or Joel and Bad who didn't have just
had the Ben Simmons empty spot in the rotation. And I don't think ironically,
I don't think James Barn's arrivals really hurt Joel and Bad's case at all.
I thought they would just be always teammate is too good, and that
has not necessarily been the case with Harden, the Jannis versus and Bad specifically,
that's what it came down in for me, I'm looking at the stuff
that Jannis is doing. He has improved as a passer to the point where
I'm going to trust him operating in those situations, not way more, but
more than Joel Embiid. There is like there's a greater level of his offense
is more dynamic than it's ever been. That's the best way for me to
state it. When you watch him a couple with everything he's gonna do on
defense, I think you can say that joembiad is more of like that back
line anchor, but Jannis can do everything on defense, and it's like,
no, that's probably his best position to be the back line anchor, but
he's had to be for long stretches at a time. The stuff that he
can still do away from the ball or just recover and bail out certain possessions
is totally incredible. And it got to that point for me because the Bucks
have been struggling at points this year. They've been up and down their defense.
Specifically, he seems just so much and critical that everything they're doing.
We've seen Chris Middleton kind of go through it this year. The Bucks at
times, the top of their roster, just between Drew and Middleton has been
better than a lot of Woodbiad's been working with for most of the season without
Ben Simmons, before the James Warren arrival, like they have their own,
you know, depth issues. They didn't have brook Opest for a time this
year. I'm ever so slightly giving the edge to Johannese And maybe it's also
because look, the Bucks are now ahead of the Is it easier for me
to say, Yeah, the Bucks are second in the East, and Johannest
is the main reason why. He's done it with probably a little bit more
help. But they are reliant on him just as much as the Sixers are
relying on Joel Embiad on both sides of the floor. That was the there
seemed to me there's a narrow gap between those two, and Yokich is sort
of not in his own tier. But that was an easier call to make
for me. I think what Embiad has done as a true center as a
scorer in today's NBA is just ridiculously impressive. We haven't seen a true center
win the scoring title since Shaquille O'Neal in two thousand and one, and he
has a legitimate chance to change that, especially if Lebron isn't healthy enough to
play in the final games and doesn't meet the minimum games threshold and all that.
But twenty nine point nine points game, forty eight point nine percent from
the field, thirty six point four percent on threes, eighty one point six
percent on free throws, while taking eleven point seven per game, and that's
typically uses a knock against him. I feel the opposite, where I get
the sense that officials have to change how they referee when embiad is on the
court because he plays such a ridiculous brand of offensive basketball that features so much
finesse and so much physicality, again much like Pete Shack, that you have
to foul him to have any hope of containing him. I think if he
got a fair whistle, he's averaging fifteen plus free throws a game. So
I would actually argue the opposite, where as much as it's pointed to as
a criticism of his game, but he's this foul merchant, yeah, because
no one can stop him, and he should spend more time at the stripe
than he already does. But the real growth that I've seen on offense from
him, even beyond the scoring numbers, is the playmaking, much like Janis,
where all of a sudden he's way more reliable in that role and is
making way more advanced reads. He's got the best assist percentage of his career
by far this season twenty four point two percent. Previous best was eighteen point
four back in twenty eighteen nineteen, and he's coupled that with the lowest turnover
percentage of his career ten point nine percent, which continues the decline in that
metric for the last three years. Previously, the biggest weakness and maybe the
only weakness in Embide's offensive game, was that he could get caught along the
blocks along the baseline by weak side defenders sneaking over double teaming him, and
he wouldn't know what to do and would throw the ball away or just haven't
wrestled out of his possession or knocked away. That doesn't happen this year.
If you send that second defender, he's going to find the open guy and
you're going to pay for it. He is just a ridiculously complete offensive player
who is so integral to what that team does. And I don't think he
has a much help over the course of the season as the honest has had
because Tobias Harris has been disappointing all year. Tyrese Maxie, as much as
he's improved, is not of the same caliber as Drew Holiday or Chris Middleton.
And there is that empty roster spot that they had for most of the
season until James Harden arrived in Ben Simmons's place, and then all of a
sudden, you have to adjust to this new ball dominant force in your lineup,
and he hasn't skipped a beat. So his case is really impressive to
me. I don't think that it comes close to matching Yokich is. Right
now, Brian, I know you're listening to this, and I apologize.
Please don't hate me more than you already do. But all three of these
guys are so impressive, and I would just like to note that I don't
think either you or I has said a single negative thing about any one of
them. No, and I refuse to. I will not do that because
I will not buy into that we have to hate one of these guys to
prop up the other. The one thing that I will that my Coe lines
is I'll be interested to see if anyone picks either of them over a Yokich.
I'm just going to be interested to see with the case we'll be and
maybe I'll come away Swade. One thing to note too, this is why
it was tough for me to put Jannas over and Beat a little bit.
Is it. Beat has played more minutes this season than Yannis, which is
just not something that you would ever expect to say. So it was just
it was tough, and so looking at the rest of our sins our ballots
for the same I have the definitive case for Devin Booker right here, and
I do think that Chris Paul is more important to Phoenix's offense, like he
gives it. It's rhyme and reason, it's shape, it's structure. However,
Booker has now played more. The Sons have played about nineteen hundred possessions
when Booker with Booker and no Paul. It's about fourteen hundred when with Paul
and no Booker. The Suns are outscoring opponents by seven point five points per
one hundred possessions when Booker is on the court without Paul. This season,
when you just look at his numbers when Chris Paul is off the court.
I already mentioned that Phoenix is gonna have that positive point differential, but Devin
Booker has really still been like the heart and soul of that offense. He's
seen his free throw attempt rate go up, we've seen a decline and sort
of his efficiency from beyond the arc, but his two point percentage has still
been adequately propped up. I don't think we give him enough credit for his
passing, how purposeful and accurate it is to where the passes he's gonna throw,
even when the assists numbers are not like skyrocketing. And by the way,
he's averaging six point five assists for thirty six minutes without Chris Paul on
the court. But maybe he's not throwing the same number of passes getting the
same number of assists for the passes he is throwing matters. There's a scalability
to his stardom when you look at how much he will work off the ball
in addition to on the ball that I don't think other players of his caliber
really have. And I do believe that he really solidified himself during the when
he returned and Chris Paul was out with that hamstring injury. We're looking at
it. It was a really big example size when Chris Paul wasn't there,
he shot better than fifty eight percent on twos, he shot forty point three
percent on threes, and he was averaging in those games. I don't know
why I lost the number, Bruce, just an astronomical amount and to maintain
that efficiency getting he was having twenty eight point two points per game over fifty
eight percent shooting on two is forty point three percent on threes, nearly ninety
percent at the foul line, while getting there at an admirable rate per thirty
six minutes. This is someone who is a full flag superstar. And there's
a chance when you look at what happened to Marant and Curry like he has
a first team All NBA case like he and if he will make he should
be on at least the second team. I'm renissent to say things like that
he should be on an All NBA team period. I don't know how positions
are going to shape that. But the definitive case here is I think it's
been clear or at least evident if you look deep enough for a while.
Devin Booker is so much more than Chris Paul's teammate, and it's really time
or Chris Paul's co star. He is an independent superstar. And this is
when the Suns me as good without Chris Paul. Absolutely not. But if
you took Deviner off this team, the Suns are I'm gonna they are nowhere
near title favorites. They are nowhere even near a contender. Devin Booker gives
the Sons as much of their championship as Chris Paul, and I do think
this year based on availability and maybe even scalability, and also Devin Booker has
been one of the clutch of scores in the league this season by efficiency,
but I think that he just based off the floor time and then maybe the
the scalability of his role, just like they're being more layers to it than
necessarily what Chris Paul has, where there's more of like a dominance to the
way that Paul needs to play, particularly on offense. I think he's done
more for Phoenix this season in that regard than CP three. The only thing
I'd really add is just aesthetically watching Booker this year, it feels easy.
It doesn't matter if he's putting up forty nine points without Chris Paul in the
lineup or thirty five with him in the lineup. Even when he's taking these
ridiculously difficult self created pull up jumpers against strong defenders, it doesn't even feel
like he's breaking a sweat or operating outside the flow of the offense because he's
just in this rhythm and it's hard to get in that rhythm. It's even
harder to stay in it, and he has stayed in it all season long.
Luca nants at five. I wouldn't say no brainer, pick no.
I think that you can make you can make good cases for Chris Paul,
for John Morant, for Steph Curry. Maybe that's maybe Jason Tatum. That's
probably it. There's and look, I know you could point out that Lucas
started the season slow, Steph went through his own slump. John Moran has
missed so much time. And when you look at Luca's you know, streaky
heater, it is spanned like one third of the season at this point,
which is like, that's not that's like a normal. So Tatum is a
good one too. This is the it was between it was between him and
to him and Luca for this spot for me. I think you can also
Demarc Rosen was here for a while, and I had Chris Paul in the
top five before his injury, So not a name that I would putting the
top five. But my honorable mentions were Steph jaw, DeMar, Chris Paul,
and Jason Tin. I think those are probably the you know, Jimmy
Butler had float around some discussions defensive player that you're an MVP were tough though,
and those are we should mention about Robert Williams here there's like a week
and a half left in the season or whatever it is. These would be
the two awards where maybe it could change for me. Defensive Player of the
Year specifically, I don't think I've settled on everything else. I wouldn't say
your Rookie of the Year. I mean, if Mobiley just comes back as
a tough awards this year learnting to a player, I think you could probably
sell me on who did you have again? Darius run me on him by
the end of the year. But this was fun. If you haven't done
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to the one the Only should have probably finished at the top of the MVP
ballot, but was certainly an honorable mention Frank Neil kat That should be shout
out to the one the only soon to be best selling author of children's books, Frank Neilokatter