What is Crack Black and Bellow Thermo nuclear a efforts. I am Dan a
Badley coming at you with a solo podcast, going to go through my most
improved player from every NBA team today. Not something I wrote about, but
something I was thinking about. So I decided to watch a bunch of film
and highlight maybe something or a few things about each player that I think they've
improved upon most, and we'll go through every team in the league. We'll
try and make this a little snappy since it's a solo pod. We'll see
how I do with pacing myself very quickly. If you haven't already this is
your first time on YouTube or checking this out on an audio, subscribe it
the sub button like comment, help the algorithm, love us back. Let
me know who your most improved player is for every NBA team. You can
put your thirty team list in the comments if you want to, or just
let me know who you might disagree with. If you're listening to this on
audio, I'm gonna try or excuse me. If you're watching this on YouTube,
bear with me as a production crew of one at the moment, so
we'll throw something up on screen so you can see who and what I'm selecting
for each team. Grant. I'll be back later this week with a couple
more extensive episodes. We've been putting some out on the weekends because that's worked
better for mostly my schedule, but probably his as well. So without further
ado, let's start talking about the most improved player on every NBA team,
as chosen by Wah. But we'll start with the Atlanta Hawks. I have
Jalen Johnson, which you know I'm not gonna lie as a brief aside,
he might be my most improved player pick in general if it wasn't now for
the game's minimum that's he's going to miss after his latest injury. He's just
been super great revelatory for the Hawks in a lot of ways. I really
love the live feat passing that we see from him. There's the defensive playmaking
element. I think the stand still shooting has improved a lot this year,
and he's shown some nice offensive counters when you get in the lane, including
some turnaround jump. So this is someone who I think is just it's part
of a bigger role, but he's also just improved in so many different areas.
I am curious though, and we've only seen it for a couple hundred
possessions this year. If and then I might try a little bit more of
him at center moving forward. That might just depend on the future of either
Clincopella and or on Yekakungu and who they go with long term. On to
the Boston Celtics. This one was tough. I'm going to settle on the
reveal is mister look before I even reveal it. I think you could have
gone if you want to talk about White, if you want to talk about
Jason Tatum, if you want to talk about Christops Porzingis even as someone who,
oh he proved that he could balance where he wants to get his and
punished mismatches and still hit kind of those turnarounds, but also just fit into
the larger context of a team while still being incredibly valuable defensively, I think
you could probably make a case for him. I ended up going with Jalen
Brown just the stuff that he has done defensively this year, and when you
look at Okay, his three point percentage is lower than you want it to
be, but the level of difficulty on these looks feels like it's gone up.
And when he's doing that and when you've seen the three point percentage slump
a little bit, but he's still able to score at all these different levels
and has fully unlocked his offensive counters even if you want him to pass a
little bit more, and then just the degree to which he's been busting his
ass on the defensive end, I think it goes to him. But this
is really a unless you're gonna select someone who's working from a super low baseline,
and even their light on candidates for that, I think Jalen Brown is
the way to go here, but that was one of my more difficult ones,
not going to lie. One of the more easier ones is the Brooklyn
Nets. That was Cam Thomas. I think there's like this tendency to bill
him as mostly just a microwave six Man of the Year scorer who won't pass.
Maybe he winds up being sort of that microwave guy. I think he's
incrementally improved his passing. The three point volume is up this year, and
he's just sort of I know the nets. People don't like them or find
them compelling, and for deserved reason. At this point, he's quietly carrying
a monster load. Has a usage rate over there for them. That's just
like I said, that's monstrous. And if you kind of look, so,
here's every player to post a thirty plus usage rate with a sub ten
turnover rate before their age twenty three season. Team Act did it twice,
Shack did it once, Porzingis did it once, and now Cam Thomas is
doing it. He's middle of the pack. When you're looking at the assist
percentage here, I think he's a little bit over fifteen right now. I
think that's he's made incremental improvements enough to look at him and say, if
you're the Nets, oh what do we do? Is he part of the
core moving forward? And he is extension eligible this summer, but I think
this isn't just someone who, yes, he's seen his role expand, but
I do think that we've seen some changes and adaptations to his offensive games,
and I just don't you can't deny that statistical company right now. I mean
whether it can he level up as a passer, can level up as a
defender, those are fair debates to be had, but you just you can't
argue with the numbers right now and his efficiency, yeah, it could be
higher, but it hasn't fallen off a cliff despite what is an incredibly heavy
usage from him. Charlotte a other really tough team. I'm going to go
with Cody Martin. He has not played in a ton of games. But
also this is a team that doesn't have a ton of really good candidates.
In my opinion, Like you just you haven't seen enough Flamelo Ball hasn't played
enough. You haven't seen enough from Mark Williams this year. Brandon Miller is
a rookie and he's kind of, you know, there's been aspects of his
game that have impressed me more than most, but he's kind of, you
know, not hitting a rookie wall. But it's later in the season.
Doesn't look as well on the offensive end from him. You look at Cody
Martin dealing with another ankle injury, so he has not played a lot,
and he's a sub forty seven true shooting percentage, But he covers super difficult
assignments on the defensive end, really good help rotations, contests, close outs,
pre crafty with his passing in traffic this year, even if he picks
up his dribble too soon and doesn't feel like he's maybe as quick as he
was, you know, two years ago. But kind of finding his niche
was in that game. I've been impressed with the moments that I've seen from
him where we always kind of knew he was this gap filler, and maybe
this is a case of me just so much distances between him and his last
healthy season. I forgot how many gaps he feels. But you watch him
and you can kind of just feel and see his impact all over the place,
which is just a big deal. And I do think he has leveled
it up if I had to pick the area, as I really looking at
what he can kind of do as a passer when he's in traffic, and
then also just the scale at which he's or the level of assignments that he's
defending. Right now, onto the Chicago Bulls. Shout out to Io deasunmu
here who I would really like to pick, But I mean it has to
be Kobe White. He might be the favorite to win. Most improved players
were recording this even though Ale Prinshangun is still eligible. Doesn't look like Scottie
Barnes is gonna maintain his eligibility so and look, he would deserve it.
His offensive toggling this year has been great. He seems stronger, more composed
in the lane, definitely comfortable working on the ball. But he also leads
the NBA in spot up possessions per game. And when you have that coupled
with someone who is hitting his pull up threes at a super high clip.
Here's everyone shooting above forty percent off the dribble threes and minimum taking one hundred
of them this season. Luca Harden, Duncan Robinson, Jamal Murray, Mike
Conley, Drew Aliday, CJ McCollum, and Kobe White. That's a pretty
good company to be in. And so to be able to just sort of
toggle between those two existences for the Bulls, that's no small shakes and it's
got We caught shit on the podcast by wondering if the Bulls had found maybe
their backcoard the future in io to Souon MoU and Kobe White. I don't
think that that'll be what it they settle on, but it's not outside the
realm of possibility. That's how good those two guys have been this season.
I think for for Kobe White, there's definitely a better patience in process to
what he's doing as a playmaker. That's still something to kind of monitor moving
forward. Do you ascribe the turnover issues out of the pick and roll more
so to the Chicago Bulls as personnel or spacing or is that just something he
still needs to learn the ropes for. But if you're a Bulls fan,
you latch on to what he's done this season because that is probably the brightest
spot of the year, if not what you've seen from Iota Sun Mu onto
the Cleveland Cavaliers. This was tough. This was tough. Let me read
my candidates for them first, because I had a bunch of them penciled in.
There was Isaaca Corro, Max Strews, I think even Sam Merrill.
Those were the three that I kind of really looked at. You could have
Kate at points this year. Made a case for Jared Allen. But the
thing with Sam Merrill, because he has played a real role, it's just
he was working from such a low baseline. I didn't know what to do
with that, and so I ultimately ended up settling on Isaacacrro. I think
this is just a more complete player who shouldn't be as big of a liability
in the playoffs. We know he's hit in his threes. Now we know
those threes aren't at a great degree of difficulty, but they hit them as
a big deal. He does. When you watch him, though, feel
like he's quicker at pumping into drives. He's thrown some really nice passes up
the floor, and also out of those drives. He knows how to get
behind defenses, not only in transition but in the half court. And I
feel like he's ratcheted up just everything about his offense that we already maybe would
have liked, you know, the secondary ball movement, but it's all just
sort of increased and co laced better this year. That's on top of what
he does defensively. He probably won't make an All defense team. And I
don't even know if we gave him honorable mentions when we went through ours at
the three quarter pole, but he certainly at least deserves the honorable mention.
He covers some of the toughest assignments. His minutes are not as high as
some of the other guys, and you would like him to be able to
scale up a little bit in what he's guarding. But he's just a super
disruptive defender and he's been super valuable to the Cavs. This year. Very
interested. He's another guy. I'm just very interesting what his next contract is
going to look like to see not only how the Caves value him, but
maybe if he's gonna end up hitting restricted free agency, how the rest of
the league might value him too. The Dallas Mavericks. I don't think this
is much of a choice Dante ExHAM here, it's been really cool, just
two years away from the league, and he deals with injuries all before that,
comes back, stronger, thicker, no longer a shooting liability. He's
taking under two attempts for games. I don't think he's some marksman. We'll
see how it holds up in the playoffs. So the fact that he's just
able to work off the ball in general, it's not just as a shooter,
but it's someone who will move. He's averaging one point eight points per
possession as the cutter. That's just not something that we've really I remember seeing
from him previously in his career, maybe in like different iterations of the earlier
Utah days, and so they're not going to utilize him in that capacity that
much. When you look at Dallas's offense, I would also like to see
him maybe get out and transition a little more. Again, that's not going
to be Dallas's style unless you're dealing with very specific lineups. I am very
impressed though, also with how he's still been able to defend the smaller,
quicker, twitchier bodies despite it feels like having this extra whether you want to
call it girth or just just size in general. And this is someone who
you know when you're kind of looking to fill out Mavericks' lineups. Could he
be a part of some of their most important units come the postseason? Absolutely,
and he deserves just a ton of credit for not just making it back
to the NBA, but establishing himself as a as a good player on a
team that has immediate aspirations. Remember Nuggets were another team where this was super
tough. Well, I think people will view this as super easy. Maybe
it's well, it's clearly Peyton Watson the human adrenaline shot. Or look at
what Christian Brown is doing right now. He might be having his best stretch
as a Nugget. Is it one of them? I'm still and I don't
casep shout out to him, but he's just doing kind of all the stuff
he's always done. He's had a fantastic season. Maybe you could go with
Aaron Gordon does feel like he has leveled up his defense again and he's able
to really hang in some of those small ball units that they run out.
I went with I ultimately settled on Michael Porter Junior. I think this is
just way more of a complete player than we've ever seen. When you look
at the defensive rebound and gets more consistent. The defensive effort as a helper
continues to catch my eye and to have all that while you're able to be
this super scalable plug and play guy on the offensive end, even though per
your skill set, per your size, per your background, you're supposed to
be so much more than that. I think he's just done an excellent job
more than ever this season, a fitting into the bigger picture while also making
sure he leaves his mark on a more regular game by game basis, where
it just felt like even last year a good portion of the time, not
so much in the playoffs, but if he wasn't scoring, or if a
shot wasn't falling, it seems like you didn't really feel him. And that
is just no longer the case this year, and so I'm gonna give him
the nod just because I think it's it was harder than what he did when
you have Peyton Watson, who was coming off such a small sample size from
last year the Detroit Pistons. We have to say nice things about the Pistons
for a second here about that. It's Kay Cunningham. I mean, he's
going through a little bit of an efficiency trough right now. I get it
didn't start off the year too hot either, but he really cleaned up a
lot of the decision making and turnover issues despite never really playing within a better
spacing environment. Deserves all the credit in the world for that. The three
pointer not so much right now, but it has come around and we're not
just talking about off a catch like we're talking about dribbling into pull ups.
He's able to hit some step backs, the work he's able to do in
the lane. This is someone who if you had any out that he could
be no worse than the second best player on a really good team. I
think he's answered those questions this year for the most part. In the affirmative,
I would I want to see him so so badly just around better spacing
and maybe on a more coherent team with a better plan in general, I
think if you're a Pistons fan, though there's not too many bright spots to
latch onto. I think you could argue that guys like Jalen Duran, maybe
even Jay and Ivy have regressed this year. But the Simony Pontecio story,
and then just with Kate Cunningham and Asar Thompson before his blood caught issues just
looking at them and seeing those two players specifically, Okay, we do have
two core guys here, and then another high pick on the way where do
we go from here? I still think Kate Cunningham is more of a directional
star than not, even if you just don't know what to do with his
ceiling at the moment. The Golden State Warriors another I think fairly easy one.
I don't know where else you would go other than Jonathan Kaminga with this.
He still has this level of inconsistent and see to me where it feels
like he can do everything in drips and drabs, but then he fades into
the background and you don't hear a lot of him. But I do think
he's come a long way offensively, he can put the ball on the floor,
He's tested out some step backs, some pull ups. Shooting twenty two
of thirty five on floaters this year, that's going to be a nice counter
for him. Will he ever be more efficient on the more difficult looks or
is this someone who's going to thrive mostly as more of a play finisher,
and then what is he going to do as a playmaker. I've yet to
really see that part of his game unlocked, which is why I mean the
other part of it is just Andrew Wiggins has been so bad, but there's
been just an inconsistent deployment until the later half of the year, and even
then just not a high volume of Well can you play him with Andrew Wiggins
together? Or is that just untenable. He's only passing on twenty eight point
five percent of his drives, and when you're shooting over fifty percent on those
looks, that's fine. That's still the second And he also has the second
lowest assists rate on drives among eighty seven players who have used as many as
him. Jared Jackson Junior is number one, And so I'm not saying he
needs to turn into an offensive hub, but this is someone who you kind
of can see when the defensive discipline locks in, and when he's trying harder
on the defensive glass, you see the skeleton of what's just I wouldn't go
as far as I know some people think he could be a star, but
just an excellent player at the NBA level, and the Warriors just need to
further plumb that moving forward, while also juggling the fact that, oh Steph
Curry's you know, thirty six, thirty five years old, and we still
need to win immediately around him, and this team needs him to go super
nova every night. Still the way it's built, I don't know if is
going to be ready to that degree to be the second or third or fourth,
bet even fourth best player on a title contender. But given how this
season started, given the rumors that came out, it was kind of well
before the trade that deadline that he was unhappy. I think if you're a
Warriors SN you have to be I wouldn't say a static, but at least
somewhat comfortable with how his season has gone, because it did seem like it
was going to be borderline disastrous for a minute. The Houston Rockets another easy
one, alpron Chang Gun, who still might win the award. I do
think the ankle injury is probably going to hurt him in that regard. I
also think there's been some just like weird talking about, Oh, the Rockets
better off without al Prin Schangun. Look at the weight rate at which they're
winning since he's been injured. No, they've hit a very favorable part of
their schedule. Let's see how they deal now that the competition picks back up.
All the credit in the world to them, don't don't get me wrong
there, but this is not a situation where you're better off without al Prince
Shangun. He has I do think part of this is okay. They finally
started running the offense through him, giving him more of a role. But
he can rekavoc from anywhere on the floor as a passer. And you see
these comparisons to Akoljkic and Domasa Bonis. He's not as nearly as flashy as
akk like the IQ like nobody is. To be fair, Demonisa Bonis feels
like he has more of a physicality to him. But I think Shangun can
probably jump start your offense in a larger variety of ways. Shangun has improved
his defensive positioning around the rim. That's been a big deal for the Rockets.
He refined his touch outside of the restricted area. Still not taking threes,
but as someone from that, like you know, four to sixteen foot
range, he can be a little bit of a threat from there. I
do think moving forward that you're probably gonna need to see a further exploration of
his three point shot. He's not hitting it, but you want to see
that volume go up there so that you can continue creating space for some of
your on ball attackers. And I'm talking am and Thomps has done a great
job working off the ball this season. But him moving forward, even Jalen
Green where I think that probably gets. He's going through his usual end of
the season hot stretch, But even Jalen Green, he's had to deal with
so many different changes and then also just hasn't had the best space in context.
It feels like in a lot of lineups around him, and if you're
five and let's say he's playing with Jabari Smithchen like, having those two guys
be able to shoot does open things up for Jalen Green Green's rim game,
But that's just in general for the Rockets, So that might be something to
monitor, but the way he just he's so methodical, but he's also very
physical, has that kind of fu factor to him, and the passes that
he's able to see from anywhere on the court are are incredible. And I
also like that we've seen kind of a more aggressive scoring mode from him this
season, because that you want to balance that so that teams don't play you
as sort of this over deferential, non scoring threat. And I think he's
that hasn't been like the hugest issue with him in the past, but I
think he's answered questions about, oh, well, he kind of scored enough,
and you look at his averages and it's, oh, yeah, this
dude's gonna average twenty plus and five. That's a pretty fucking big deal on
in the Indiana Pacers. It says a lot about how much Tyres Albert was
struggling. Lad that I thought about this pick for a minute and I was
like, oh, do I just go with Aaron E. Smith, Like,
look what he's been able to do compared to last year. And I
really appreciate the defensive body of work and I trust him to attack close outs
more. Do not. Let's not over complicate this by any stretch of the
game, and it helps that Halibert is playing better over his past couple of
outing shout out to the Clippers drop defense on what was that Monday Monday Night,
But he's just been this is someone who's already a star and is now
a megastar and just brutalized his defenses from in every capacity unmanageable. And like
that's the hardest leap to make, the one that he's made right now.
And so if you wanted to vote for him as the most improved player overall,
I don't know if he's been good enough since the hamstring injury, but
that type of leap is absolutely one that can deserve recognition for it. And
like that's kind of wild to say, just when you consider how how improved
he was last year. Just like that was sort of the yeah, we
saw it a little bit in the like the lead up, we're not the
lead up with that post trade to the to the Indiana Pacers, but then
he just comes on last year and it's just like, oh, that's an
All Star talent And now it's oh, no, that this guy's an All
NBA talent. Had he never gotten injured, maybe finishes in the top five
of the the MVP ballot. Yes, has his defensive issues, but I
think we've even seen that he's more adaptable than your traditional offensive Fulkrum. He
was on the ball so much and he took a while to kind of figure
this out. But now you've without Buddy healed, there, now Benedict Math
injured, and you're trying to incorporate Pascal Siakam. We've seen more of him
kind of playoff Siakam and just have that option in someone who is so good
with the ball in his hands. That's just that's incredible. And this is
someone who I don't know where he's gonna end up in the All NBA discussion
because of the injury and then because of how he played for the most part
after that, But to have I would argue that he's probably I mean,
he's just showing for All NBA. I'll say that unless he misses more games,
but I think that he's probably a second team lock at this point,
and that that's just we were not saying that about Tyres Haliburton two years ago.
Just flat out so appreciate the degree of the degrees of progress that he
has made just in such a short amount of time. Our next one is
the Los Angeles Clippers. I would say, no good options here. You
go shout out to of each a zoo bots for kind of shape shifting,
depending offensively, depending on the lineup he's in. We've even we've even seen
it and happen against the Pacers on Monday Night, Like there will be matchup
issues with him defensively. I suppose you could go with Terrence man Or if
he really wanted to Galaxy bring this and say, well, look at James
Harden and the way he's kind of playing off the ball more. You just
have to go. It's almost by default a mere coffee. The fact that
he's now carved out a role. I was in love with him leading into
the twenty twenty two offseason, I think is when he signed his contract kind
of fades like into the it felt like nothing last year and now is back
this year, and when you just watch him play with the stars and then
he's just sort of flying around on both ends of the floor. And to
have that positional stability from a supporting cast member who I don't know how many
minutes that rely on him come playoff time, but this is someone who has
mattered to them right now, which I guess you look at what the Clippers
are doing and kind of imploding in the moment at your goal. Is that
necessarily a good thing that they're getting twenty minutes a game of just quality play
from a mere coffee. I think winds up being a big deal for their
playoff rotation, especially if they ever want to get to downsizing lineups that do
not include PJ. Tucker when it's going to matter most there. So it
was kind of an easy decision for me. There are probably a couple players
worth honorable mentioning there, but it was just one of those teams with I
would argue no exceptional options if you're looking for or that just catchlock improvement factor
there. The Los Angeles Lakers kind of another team in the same boat you
could go with Austin Reeves. When you look at he shoulders a lot of
responsibility defensively doesn't always pan out well. The stuff he needs to do off
the ball offensively is kind of exhausting. When you look at his movement,
We've seen him set screens and now he's taking more threes. Uh, that's
like, like, this is a guy who I do think he's he's improved
or at least validated his stock as this isn't Yeah, maybe he got the
plays for the Lakers bump, but he is a very impactful, very good
basketball player. I don't think what with d' Angelo Russell he is you know,
he's like the same player, but he's not. He's become one of
the most dangerous off the dribble threats for most off off the drible three point
threats for most of this season. And to have that sustain is a big
deal. Uh. I think that he has done a better job of just
with his patients and slowing it down as a passer when they actually need him
to do that stuff. And to that end, he's winning the minutes he
plays without Anthony Davis Lebron James, and like when you're just the Lakers and
you're propping up an offense and that to agree without those two guys on the
floor, you can get into some of the data that shows Anthony Davis,
Dams or Russell. No, Lebron is actually getting smacked, I believe last
time I checked. So there are concerns about that. Again, who did
you want to else? Did you want to go with? For the for
the Lakers here, though there's I would argue there's maybe Ruy I just kind
of understands himself as a player and his three pointers are going down. He's
it over forty percent this season on over three attempts per game. If you
wanted to go that route, fine, but there's really no No one else
has played enough. They have dealt with a ton of injuries. But it's
not Lebron or a d If. It's not gonna be Austin Reeves, it's
not Spencer Dinwoodie, it's not Torrian Prince. Dave Vinson is not played.
It's not going to be Cam Reddish. The Lakers seem to be holding out
hope for a minute that it was just a team with no exceptional options.
The Memphis Grizzlies another team where this was like kinda difficult, probably more difficult
than it should have been. And then it was like I was thinking to
myself, No, you don't need to get bring this. I thought about
Santi al Dama. You can't really go with the Gigi Jackson. That just
doesn't make you could look at what he's done, and over the course of
the season, they look at how much improved from where we thoty initially was
it's Desmond Bay and let's just not let's not overthink this. I know he's
dealt with his own injuries, but his ability to remain effective as the focal
point without jaw is kind of undersold. Like every other candidate on the team
anywhere is a come out of nowhere a guy. Though I really did think
about Santi al Dama just he showed more as a passer this year. Just
look at this. More than half of Bain's made shots go unassisted. That's
up from forty percent last year, thirty percent as a sophomore and eighteen percent
as a rookie. Like this is someone who has increasingly needed to shoulder more
of a self creation burden. And you look at him and it's, well,
yeah, you've seen some of the just ill like the Memphis Crozlies are
not going to have an elite offense when he has to be the primary driver
of it all. But that's not really a super insult. You're gonna average
twenty four points five assists per game, and you're going to see your true
shooting okay, dip but by fewer than two percentage points to where you're still
at fifty eight seven, which is that's over a league average. I believe
I haven't checked that actually in a couple of days, so maybe it's not.
It's close enough, and you're still shooting thirty eight percent from three fifty
four percent on twos. This is like, this is a legit someone who
could be an All Star Canady. I think it'll always be. Shouldn't say
always. It's tough to envision it now when you look at kind of the
pecking order of the West and how much the Grizzlies have faded from prominence because
of injuries this year. But Ja Morant isn't up Jamorant. He is an
all star talent, to be fair, I'm not miss speaking on that.
Does it means an all star talent? Like this is a dude that what
I predict that he makes an All Star game in his career. I'm gonna
say yes, just that level of self creation there. Maybe it doesn't happen
for the Grizzlies if they decide they need to get bigger on the wings or
something and he's you know, collateral damage of them getting more expensive and still
not having that player. But yeah, this dude is really good and I
think the combination of, oh, he's played miss about he's gonna end up
missing like close to half the season this year. Still not getting to the
free throw line of ton, but just look at what he's shouldering and the
talent that's around him, and so that's a huge deal. I'm sorry.
Twenty four and five and fifty nine for a shooting So those are numbers that
are like incompar like they're comparable to last year. He's only upped his you
know, scoring his assists on a per posession basis a little bit, but
like they were already a huge jumps. And to do that when you're on
such a team that I would argue was just not built to put you in
your optimal role. You're outside your comfort zone. And so all the respect
and shoutouts in the world to Desmond Bane this year. Next team is the
Miami Heat. This one was pretty easy. It was Duncan Robinson and I
think I can boil it down to three words live dribble passing. That is
literally all. But this is we saw kind of the turn last year,
especially in the playoffs. This is someone who is a legitimate inside the arc,
not ultra dynamic, but threat now and the Heat are getting him going
down hillmore and part out of necessity, but they do have the bodies on
some nights not to lean on him in that capacity. And yet they are
four point six drives per thirty six minutes last year. That's up to seven
this year. That's a big freakin' deal. And so I think he has
been just to kind of see his contract like the story that got him the
contract and then it was probably valued as one of the net negatives in the
league. To now you look at it and it's, well, did he
make it worthwhile You can look at some of the earlier portions of it and
you know, say it's a net even now you might look at that contract
and just say, Duncan Robinson under twenty million dollars a year is of fucking
steal. That is something that we can actually say right now, which is
pretty incredible. And so and we know it kind of holds up in the
postseason because we saw more of this version of him last year in the playoffs
as the Heat made their way to the finals. So that's just you know,
as much as part of the job is to critique and be inflammatory,
sometimes are passionate about you know, holding teams accountable or players accountable, or
singling out what went wrong. I love these types of stories like those are
just too Like this entire exercise is fun to just talk about guys who've who
have improved, maybe not a bunch in every case, but just to talk
about guys who are getting better. That's that's contrary to popular belief. A
lot of us do not root for players to fail, believe it or not.
I know that that might shock a few people the bucks. I feel
like this might be a controversial pick and that a lot of people are gonna
want to go with Bobby Portis. I just keep been good. I just
can't get there. Defensively specifically, I do think he's probably broad in his
offensive horizons a little bit more and to where you look at like the Giannis
and Brooke big stuff. Is he kind of maybe a more dynamic guy after
setting screens. If you wanted to partner him with just Damian Lillard, you
could make that case. I really think it has to come down to aj
Green just shout out for you know, given the business defensively this year,
and he will throw his body in front of a runaway freight train. If
it means maybe taking a charge or I didn't pick him, I picked him
a Leak Beasley, like, this guy's on a minimum contract. The shooting
comes back and it's in higheroume the bigger deal for me, and not the
bigger deal, but something that I think has impressed me, and it's probably
flown under the radar. And I don't blame people for not caring about it,
because they're even been all over the place. He's been like, okay,
guarding up this season, whether it's like kind of on switches or just
not defending a like sized player in general. And to have that on a
minimum contract from someone who I don't think minimums imply that he was on the
you know, the outskirts of the league. I don't think it was ever
that even mentioned he had some bigger offers. He chose the role over this
that that's really cool and it could end up being a big deal for Milwaukee
in the postseason. It will certainly be a big deal from Elite's Leis next
contract. The Bucks will not be the ones offering that just because they're not
gonna have bird rights on him, and I would argue that he is.
They're not even gonna have the when you look at their they're gonna be in
danger, like not even having their mid level available to spend. And so
he's going to price himself out of Milwaukee, and that's mostly gonna be the
shooting. But he has held his own against some of those larger defensive assignments
the Minnesota Timberwolves. There has to be a shout out to nas Reed here,
and I do think that he has improved as a perimeter defender. He's
kind of really clamped up on his rim protection overall. In certain lineups,
you don't want him being the lone big, but if he's the second big,
he's actually done as that second line of defense. I think he's done
really good down low. It has to be Nikhil Alexander Walker, and not
just because I'm trying to curry favor with Grant, who, if he's smart,
will never listen to this episode. This is someone who was just became
a throw in in all these different trades, didn't even necessarily look like he
would amount to much with Minnesota, Like, yeah, they re signed him
and he had some nice moments last year. Now they basically use him as
like four different people on the offense, like sometimes he's a point guard and
sometimes he'll cut, and sometimes he's a spot up shooter. Sometimes he's again
in to the lane and he's cleaned up his shot diet and his decision making.
He's hit in his threes, and when you really start to dig into
the all defense stuff, he has a fringe case. I don't think he's
gonna make one of my two teams, but you look at his ability to
pressure and stick with every ball handler basically of all separate sizes, and then
the contests he provides as the helper have been really good this year, Like
WHOA, he's he is someone who and he's been Just to say that he's
been there of the non Anthony Edwards division, their most reliable wingshooter. That
is maybe an indictment more so on Jade McDaniels, but he's kind of overshadowed
how uneven or disappointing Jane McDaniels' offense has been for much of this year.
Grant will be happy about that one. You all can tell him that I
picked the heel Alexander Walker instead of going with my guy nas Reid solely because
I respect Grant as a co host in person, but also because I think
it's it's the right choice. New Orleans Pelicans. I guess Trey Murphy's making
a late push here, but I would go with Herb Jones. The defense,
I think has just gotten better when you're looking at how he defends sometimes
from like the inside out or even just the outside in, and the way
that manipulate entire offensive sets for opponents. We know what he can do on
those closeouts and sort of fly out of nowhere, but this is someone who
is basically impossible to screen or shake, and he will guard like nine different
actions on the same half court possession. Basically the bigger improvement, though,
has come on the offensive end, where he is. We will see if
this holds up into the into the playoffs, assuming that I mean I wouldn't.
It's not even assuming the Pelicans get there. At this point, looks
like the Clippers might be a playing team in the Pelicans might just settle into
a top four spot. Shooting forty three point one percent from three on over
four attempts per game, about four point two attempts per thirty six minutes.
That's like that's a big deal. Excuse me, over three attempts per game.
Four point two is three point attemps for their re six minutes, not
a ton. I think you also need to give him credit though, of
what he's been able to do inside the arc almost fifty nine percent of his
twos. Doesn't take a lot of shots there, but he's very quietly been
just and I don't know how much he's really up to this because you look
at the assist numbers and they're kind of similar. But this is not someone
who's gonna let the ball stick like he will catch it. He will make
the decision whether shoot or drive, and that part of his game has gotten
a lot better, and I think that he's kind of a more trustworthy finisher,
not just as a scorer, but just decision maker on drives and to
have that be such a huge part of your game in addition to being an
all defense talent that improves your defensive capabilities just absolutely. While I can't say
enough good things about herb Jones pretty much just like everyone else on through this
exercise, so this one is a little bit difficult. I'm not gonna lie.
I went with Jalen Brunson, and you could go I think the answer
might just be deuce McBride, but his role was so small, basically non
existent for much of the year that to see what he's doing now, getting
into the ball on defense, hitting threes of all shapes and sizes, even
kind of you know, polishing off. His role is just not a complicated
passer, but as someone you can trust to get the ball moving sometimes in
traffic as well. But and you could also go, look, I say,
a Hertenstein, he might get some all defense votes. I feel like
he's doing a lot of the same stuff he's always done, maybe not so
much as a passer. The Knicks don't use him that way, but just
in larger doses. That's a form of improvement. And so I'm looking at
if you want to go with Dante Devincenzo, all of a sudden turned into
just like you know, Steph Curry, Steph Curry's understudy. The level of
three point shooting he's providing is gonna be if that holds into the playoffs.
The Knicks like that is that's mission critical to what they're doing, and we'll
see if they ever get to full strength. Mitchell Robinson might have seemed like
he had a case before the injury. Way back when I don't. This
is another instance where I was thinking, all right, don't overcomplicate this,
Jalen Brunson. There's more that you want from him, particularly as a passer,
maybe in traffic, but when you look, especially from the start of
the season, with the way that defenses are still guarding him, his ability
to adjust to that to still be an efficient score, not just overall,
but inside the arc where he's facing a ton of pressure that's not easy to
do. Like he's working within very narrow confines a lot of the time,
and his job has only gotten harder since Julius randall injury, and you've seen
his efficiency kind of slump off a little bit as a result. Still at
fifty one percent from two. He's had over forty percent from three again for
the third time in four seasons, which just proves that, Okay, this
isn't like like, this isn't an aberration. He's making those threes though,
while taking just a ton of pull up jumpers from beyond the arc, and
like, this is not someone who, yeah, okay, he would take
those shots in Dallas a little bit, and you're probably okay with him taking
them. Last year as a member of the Knicks, I don't think you
ever looked at him at any point in his career, and maybe I'm just
misremembering swaths of last season looked at him and said, oh, this is
going to be one of the most dangerous self created three point shooters in the
NBA. And yes, the numbers have pulled back from that. I think
he's now dip below thirty seven percent on pull up three pointers for the year.
I don't know that I care when you look at a load he's carrying.
He was working through an injury himself, and he ranks in the top
I think it's about ten at this point. Yeah, he's tenth, and
it might be eleventh in made pull up three pointers at ninety nine. So,
as I'm recording this, Donovan Mitchell Andthey Edwards, tread Van Fleet,
James Harden, Hallie Trey Young, Jason Tatum, Damian Lillard, Steph and
Luca are the only players in front of him. And so you kind of
look at that and say, Wow, he's made more pull up threes than
Tyres Maxy, than Daron Fox, than Devin Booker. He's played more games
than a lot of these guys, but not by much. It's like,
I mean, making more pull up threes than a Paul George basically a similar
number of games speaks to the discrepancy and context of their roles. I want
to make that clear, but this is he I wouldn't call him necessarily in
every level score, but he impacts the offense in a way that makes it
flow better at every single level you're looking at, even if you don't value
him as an A plus passer. And to have that type of a I'll
call it a jump. To have that type of an improvement when you're already
coming off a year where you were involved in the All NBA discussion, that's
not easy to do. It's not on the same scale as what we're talking
about with Tyre's Haliburton, but it's sort of the same genre of leap where
it's this was already an All star, type of fringe All NBA type of
guy, and he's still managing to get better and that needs to be celebrated.
And he's just gonna get the anecdotal bump for me too, because you
look at this and Julius RANNDLS missing a ton of time. The knicks of
spacing still is not Yeah, there are lineups and you have Danta di Vincenzo,
but it's not like super pristine. Defenses don't treat them like it's super
pristine either. Even though they look they do hit their threes, you can
quibble over whether they need to take more. So they're not a bad three
point shooting team, but they're not the spaciest offense is what I would say.
And Jalen Brunson's ability to thrive within that. I won't say it's beyond
compare that would be hyperbole, but it's huge the Oklahoma City Thunder, this
is pretty easy. Jalhen Williams wing Jalen Williams. Excuse me, I just
I normally don't consider second year players for most improved player. He is there,
his defense is better. I think he's him and Lou Door And there's
the element of Chet Holmgrin being behind everyone, but those two guys having them
up top is what makes Shay so good at being able to pinpoint when he
can go and get steals. It's also insulated some of his defense assignments.
I am more impressed with the offense or he can run certain units as kind
of like all right, maybe Chet needs to be on the floor like Shade
doesn't need to be there, and he's probably better off without being untethered to
Josh Giddy right now. The counters he has on offense, the step back
jumper, the pull up jumper, he's like just basically when you dig into
the numbers, it depends on how you really want to filter it. But
he's just the most efficient pull up jump shooter in the NBA right now,
and he is, as I'm recording this, at fifty five point eight effective
field goal percentage on pull up jumpers while taking over three hundred of them.
If you're looking at everyone who's taken over three hundred pull up jumpers, the
only player with a higher effective field goal percentage is C. G. McCollum,
and shout out. Maybe CJ should have been a consideration for the Pelicans.
He's been a little bit better defensively. Got the three point volume up
there. That feels like a bridge too far, but my guy has helped
provide them for balance there. I don't know why I call them my guy.
I never met him. I apologize for using that for racing, but
Jadubb I just when you look kind of his ceiling and it's the other thing.
Sorry's skipping over this. There's more I've been saying, said this a
lot with a thunder and was why I liked it. They got Gordon Hayward
that I need that. I wanted someone with more jiggle and joggle to their
ball handling in the half court and like, no, like Jaln Williams is
just it's hidden beneath the explosion sometimes. But there's a lot of directionality to
the way that he can play. He has counters, he has spins and
fades. I already mentioned the stepbacks from the perimeter. I don't know that
we can put a ceiling on this player. And he is gone from someone
who's just like, oh, kind of pushed Pallow to there's a discussion about
Rookie of the year or two. Would you rather have him over than Pala
long term or even more broadly, not to make this at Palo's expense.
Could you how many all NBA teams is Jail Williams gonna make in his career?
And if the answer is fewer than one, that might teem spice here
than if you're gonna go with like two or three, or if he becomes
a perennial contender at that rate, speaking of Palo Bankcaro, we move on
to the Orlando Magic where I did not pick Palo Bank CAO because I picked
Jalen Suggs. Holy crap, this guy. I So what was interesting was
I was I've listened after we did our all defense stuff and thought that I
needed to ad just my priors because I didn't hear and I read a lot
of like the mock all defense discussions and they seem to be coming out around
that time. It was interesting. He didn't make like there were times where
he was just left off all together. And I'm not gonna I don't want
to frame it because defense is so hard to quantify and understand, and I
won't. I will always operate under the assumption that I have done something wrong.
That's the type of person than I am. But I was like kind
of surprised at how it felt like he was being glossed over. And the
difficulty on the assignments is there. The way he's able to just bust up
possessions even as a shot blocker at points, it's there. The defensive playmaking
in general is there. The pick sixes, those are there, and it
just goes beyond counting stats and I'm surprised he actually hadn't gotten more love in
the most improved player'scussion. Probably take a little little while for his offense to
take off. The shooting is good, but he's really you know, they
have him playing the day facto point guard rule. Now, his full floor
passing has gotten a lot better. He will keep the ball moving. I
don't know if he's still not someone that you're gonna trust to slow it down,
run a ton of picking rolls and facilitate the offense. From that regards,
also out outside the realm of possibility, we were talking about him as
a super charged like Derek White at one point where it's just like you might
be able to it feels like he'll leave his imprint a little bit more than
White, who's an exceptional player and had an All Star case this year.
But he is going to be like kind of fill the gaps and like Jalen
Stus might be in your face, and the fact that he's just younger,
I think there's some stuff to plumb with him as a passer and maybe even
just as a scorer. Outside of his driving that could hit and then you
look back and say, oh, why did people pass judgment? On him
after his first year, two years in the career, two years of his
career, too quickly he started. He showed signs of this last year,
like he's really put it together this season, and it's made the Magic much
more dangerous, not just in the context of fighting for a playoff spot in
the Eastern Conference, but what they could actually do should they get to the
playoffs. When you're looking at all these other teams who were just so banged
up, the seventy six ers an easy choice, Tyres MAXI the counting stats
are just gaga. I think he still is among I have not checked the
betting favorites to win Most Improved Player. I wouldn't be Why would I ever
be mad. I don't get mad about this stuff normally. But twenty six
points six assists up from twenty points and three and a half assist last year.
I think when you look at that, it's, oh my god.
And there's been a real volume uptick there. Yes, he's under fifty percent
from two, under thirty eight percent from three. The volume and difficulty is
just getting jacked up, especially in the absence of Joel Embiid. The other
thing, though, is that the stretch without Joel embiid how poorly the Sixers
have played in general. I think that's shown the limitations of his game and
kind of how he can be a little bit more of a reactive passer.
I'm curious to see whether he could develop into more of a methodical playmaker,
because I think you can see like he's done a good job shifting the cadence,
the speed, the rhythms of his game, but they're still sort of
the I don't know who I'd like it to be, like if you look
at Devin Booker, if you look at DeMar derozen like the way that,
or if Devin Booker specifically because he shoots threes the way he's able to leverage
the threat of his three point shot into doing things inside the arc, that
slowed down element of his game doesn't feel like it's there yet. That's okay.
He's wrapping up year three and he could win Most Improved Player, and
I'm not gonna provide much pushback. The Sixers have an all NBA caliber talent
on their roster, which is just you talk about mining value out of the
draft to get him with a number twenty one pick in twenty twenty. That's
gonna go down as one of the best draft picks in recent memory. We
are on to the Phoenix Suns this kind of fee. So I went into
this as a cynic and said I might just pick Devin Booker. I still
feel like I've seen enough from him as a pastor to make that case,
and there's just no one else that I'm gonna throw here, Like, yeah,
some of the use of Nurkic stuff on defense has been cute, and
Quentington will see how it holds up in the playoffs. The answer is actually
Grayson Allen, who is just aside from leading the league in three point percentage,
has been well, I mean that's a bit by the way, that's
just a really big part of this when you're looking at his case. So
I don't want to dismiss that there's a three point percentage. He's doing some
things inside the arc. I've actually been really impressed with what he's been able
to do, for stretches on defense where he's gonna come and go stride for
stride with a player and then contest their shot resently coming over is as the
helper like he's had some really just good moments like contesting shots on the move,
and that just reinforces how much the Suns need him, which is an
incredibly uncomfortable place to be. I guess when you're a team that's told us
who you are for you know, just seventy plus games so far this season.
But he's not like he's He's a feel good story of the year for
them, and that's someone that you're gonna want to keep long term, not
just to roll over the salary slot, but because I don't necessarily know where
this team would be without him. That's kind of again a scary proposition to
think about, but also just a very big testament to how well he's played
this year. We're onto the Portland Trailblazers. I thought about like the shade
and sharp when you look at the counting stats and his ability. I mentioned
this on the previous podcast to kind of show that there's not going to be
a ton of overlap with him and some of the other core guys that you
care about most. I just couldn't get there because the like, yeah,
the functionality of the game is there, but there was a lot of just
trying stuff from him and he hasn't perfected that yet. There's also the injury
stuff, so that limits his dissample size. You're still going to want to
see a little bit more from him on defensively. Can he guard up and
he has the physical tools to be someone who's going to be more disruptive on
that end than he's been when he's healthy. I went with Anthony Simons,
and I don't think this is going to be a popular pick. It's about
Matisse Stiebel for a minute, done a little bit better where you can kind
of trust him to put the ball on the floor and keep it moving.
When I go and watch Anthony Simons, there is I think there one needs
to be credit given to Okay, what he does on offense as a score
it largely is just sustained like all these different iterations of the team over the
past few years, including the eight different iterations that the Blazers have had this
season, three eight and a half percent from three unnearly nine attempts per game,
and he's averaging five and a half assist, which is a monster increase
over last year. And he is throwing No, he is not someone who
is you want spearheading your entire offense as a playmaker. He is throwing passes,
He would have not thrown tried seen two years ago and so to be
there and he's still turning the ball over only it's like twelve percent of the
time on twenty eight usage. Like this is someone who is twenty four.
I don't know where he fits into the larger context of the Blazers. There's
a lot to kind of be desired when you're looking at him as a multi
level score. Is it someone that's gonna you know, can he make the
adjustment or get to a point where he's getting to the basket more so he
can up his his three throats, like even his finishing. He's been on
the climb over the past two seasons, including this one, and like he
has some in between stuff. He's shooting forty eight percent between ten and sixteen
feet, so and you know, do you want him? You look at
he's cleaned up over the past like two seasons that always felt like oh,
one or two or three too many long toos. That stuff's kind of been
eradicated out. I think the bigger thing is like, oh, can he
get to the basket more? Can he draw contact more on his place,
like he can slow the game down in that capacity. He's just really good,
and I think that the how many times are gonna say that these players
are just really good? Of course they're really good. That's why they're here
for the most part. If he can get to a point where he's making
these contributions on a good team, and when you look at what he can
do as someone who doesn't need the ball in his hands, that's not far
outside the realm of possibility. The defense makes it tough, the size makes
it tough. When he's not your point guard only sixty three. There are
challenges there, and those are ones that the Blazers need to factor in and
consider. I don't think that changes just the fact that he is a much
better player, even if only viewed as well. What he's able to do
sustains across less talented teams that provide him with a finite or a more finite
margin for error would be the best way for me to describe it. There,
we're onto the Sacramento Kings. I want with Key Murray here. I
think you could go with Keon Ellis again, that's another if you. I
think you can also make a case from Elik Monk if you really wanted to.
But I think that's just a case another case of working off such a
low baseline with keon Ellis Kiya Murray, one of the bright spots of rookies
as a rookie last year, one of the best three point shooters or most
dangerous three point shooters in the league. This year, now you dig into
his percentages, he's under thirty six percent from three this year. There could
be a lot going into that. The defense though, and part of this
I wonder if it impacts him on the offensive end. Does he just not
have the same level of lift because of the responsibility he's shouldering on defense.
Kigya Murray ranks in the top thirty of total shots contested at the rim this
year. Opponents are shooting under sixty percent against him there. That is good.
They're shooting four point three percentage points worse against him inside six feet overall.
That's another quality mark. Last year, he guarded one of the two
highest usage players on twenty seven point nine percent of his possessions. That numbers
up to fifty point one percent this season. That's almost double. That data
came from Basketball Bball Index. Excuse me, the simons he's covering on the
perimeter, the stuff he's kind of able to do still around the basket because
he does have like that bigger body and you're going to need your wing or
your four to do that type of stuff. When Sabona says, your primary
big this is we need to see some of the offensive stuff normalized. But
the defensive responsibility he is shouldering right now, it opens up all these different
doors as to what he could be long term. And when you get into
why, oh they wouldn't give him up for Pascal Siakam or og Ananobi,
I'm with them. I mean, I didn't like the Siakam fit. That's
why I'm with them there. And then also it's clear that og kind of
wanted to be in New York or at least didn't want to be in Sacramento.
And so you can see it in what he's doing defensively, and if
he gets to a point where he can give you not even more self created
stuff on the offensive end, though we've seen flickers and flashes of that a
little bit, but if he's just going to get to a point where,
okay, this is now a thirty nine percent three point shooter flying around off
movement and can do some stuff on the ball. In addition, to what
he's providing you defensively where I wouldn't call it all defense stuff, but that's
a rock solid positional defender to where let's build out your starting five as the
Kings, and now all of a sudden you're saying, well, camer needs
to be your second best defender. That's a really great spot to be and
there have just been I think you could argue stretches too long, stretches where
he is their most valuable defender and that in a lot of lineups, and
there are limitations there, but it's easy, or it's expected to improve as
a sophomore. From a rookie to a sophomore, he is gone above and
beyond on the defensive side of things. We are onto the San Antonio Spurs.
I thought about Blake Wesley here, but I'm went with Devin Fasel anyway.
I just value that someone who's gonna play more minutes the defense can still
sort of be touch and go and you want him to be better. This
is now officially someone who is on the three level scoring track, and it
can come whether he's cutting, whether he has the ball in his hands,
whether he's pulling up from mid range, whether he's hitting self create, whether
he's hitting assisted threes, whether he's out in transition, and so it's like
you say, it's a three leve level score, it's just in every capacity
scorer at this point and the window, the door is still open for him
to be the second best player on this team. Moving forward, they're going
to be a contender. But the way that his game just fits seamlessly into
what feels like any given lineup, you could bump him down to the number
three and you're not gonna feel his impact any less. I do think he
deserves a lot of credit for his movement and being able to find space in
the half court when the Spurs aren't fielding like the the cleanest of spacing units,
and like Victor Remernam at the five, and the way he's been shooting
threes that cleans up a lot of that even when you look in some of
the more cramped lineups to see what he is doing there, Like, this
is just someone who has a nose for making an impact on the offensive end.
If I thought I would be prepared to give out like some more Devin
Booker comps, if I thought that he would have that type of passing leap
in him. I don't know if he'll ever get the opportun' in San Antonio,
and I haven't seen enough of it. That's kind of kind of feels
like more of a tertiary guy in that role. If you're still feeling or
if you were ever unsettled about his extension why, I don't. Honestly,
I don't know why. But you should be feeling pretty good about what they
paid him, because that's going to age like a fine line regardless again of
where he fits into their offensive hierarchy. We're onto the Toronto Raptors. This
was easy. It was Scottie Barnes. It's kind of he would have been
my most improved player pick. It doesn't look like he's going to meet the
requirements though this season everyone's kind of focused on. Okay, the shooting and
the overall they like the passing, those are real things. I think the
two things that have impressed me most about him is the interior passing specifically and
whether he's able to pass it right away off the catch or when he's maintaining
his dribble, and just finding passes in traffic near the basket that he wouldn't
have seen or been able to throw at any point before in his career.
And then you look at what he's done defensively, and I know dark or
Ryakovic just kind of changed positionally what he's guarding. It's like little fire under
what he's able to do as a closeout defender. They're more disciplined, but
they're more aggressive. At the same time, he's able to stick through these
guys. He's making better reason when it comes to screens. This is someone's
what I think because of him improving, The one I think comes closest when
you're looking at, oh did they improve in literally every facet of the game,
Jalen Johnson comes closest I think to meeting that criteria in the league,
maybe Shane Goon, just like because the defensive element there, Like how I
think that Scottie Barnes improved. That's not something that someone else has maybe Jay
Dubb, but I don't know if it's been that demonstrative on the defensive end.
So he is my most in my heart, he is my most improved
player this season, and it completely just changes what the Raptors can be moving
forward to know that they have their their north star, but also know that
they're kind of short on wings now, which did you ever think we're gonna
say that about the Raptors. I would love for him to at least be
eligible so that we could have the discussion about him. But I get it.
He had a great year anyway, and I think it's the Raptors are
still kind of open ended with their direction, but the stuff that he has
done, it really it's going to it's He's the type player that I think
can keep their outlook afloat on the brighter end of the spectrum onto the Utah
Jazz. I thought about going Jordan Clarkson here just because I was impressed for
most of the season with his passing. I think it could be if he
wanted to make a case for Larry Markin and it could be him. It
has to be Collin sext and the pressure. This is someone we kind of
always knew that he was underappreciated. He averaged like twenty four points per game
while shooting over fifty percent on twoes and thirty nine or thirty seven percent from
three or few years ago with the Cavs and just no one was talking about
it. And there are going to be restrictions and strictures in which you have
to work if he's running the whole show for you. Not the type of
slow it down creator that I've referenced now a couple of times, but in
terms of getting downhill and putting defenses in rotation, whether it's from off the
catch or from sort of this you know, slower dribble, or even just
a complete stop, he's able to do that. He still lights out three
point shooter. He's done a pretty good job of hitting his pull up triples
this season, and that's always been kind of just the question about his game
is, oh, can he hit those It's not just catching shoots, but
even just methodically dribble into them. The answer this season has been yes,
He's at thirty four and a half percent on off the dribble threes. Not
a super high number, it's just it's good enough. It's it's good enough,
and so to make that improvement. Also, I think he's been a
better passer when he's getting moving downhill. That is the play for Utah,
and they've also been you know, they shuffled some of their deck this year,
and so there are a lot of guys where it's Walker Kessler still one
of the most very valuable rim protectors alive. But when you're kind of looking
at players with a track record, I really think if you wanted to go
with Lowry just because we'll look at how good he still is, even though
the Jazz have turned over their roster and things aren't as easy on him.
Clarkson, like I said, he really has over the past couple of seasons
made a jump as a passer. That's kind of it though, just like
I guess if he wanted to go Chris Dunn. But we've seen a lot
of the I mean, like the stuff he was doing. He was doing
this stuff defensively all along. It's now he's kind of able to stay on
the court. And yes he's hit some threes of a higher quick that helps.
I just think that Sexton has improved in more expansive and meaningful ways.
Finally, and not leastly unless maybe you're you're looking at the standard standings.
We go to the Washington Wizards. I don't actually know that there is another
candidate here aside from Denny Appia. I'll be curious to see. I haven't
actually checked his eligibility. I know he did come back from that right wasn't
a right, it was a knee injury and he's playing again, so that's
good. I'm curious where he's gonna end up on the games Play Special.
I'll double check that very quickly. Oh, he's all right. He's at
sixty five as I record this. I'm curious, Seri's gonna fish on my
mostion Pro Player ballot. Now that thing might be twenty five players long.
U fifty thirty nine percent on threes, still does not take enough of them.
That's fine. The passing, there's I can't remember if I was talking
to Matt mderno about this or was way back when Quinton Mayo when we were
talking about the Wizards, and I just said, he has that fuck you
factor to the way that when he gets into the lane where you can bounce
dudes off his shoulders if he really wants to. He's really wanted to this
year, and like there's been stages to his season where we saw his role
kind of gradually increase. There's just he's trying out different counters when he gets
into the lane, getting to the basket. More overall, he's a little
bit quicker with the ball in his hands from that stop position than you would
think. Six point six drives per thirty six minutes last year, shot about
fifty seven percent on them, nine and a half per sis percentage ten drives
per thirty six minutes this year, still shooting fifty six and a half percent
on them, and he's upped his assist percentage to ten. This list it's
cherry picked, but I just want to make it clear that this is how
much he's improved and how effective he can be in the lane. Here's everyone
who has used at least five hundred drives that is scoring and assisting on them
as often as Deniafia Cole, Anthony, Austin Reeves, Colin Sexton, Hey
making my case for the jazz before me, Donin Mitchell and Luganancic. That's
fucking it. And this is all none of which is to say this is
someone who carries real responsibility on the defensive end. When you look at the
breadth of his assignments, I don't know if he's been as good on that
end as in year's past, but when he's taking on the sextual offensive burden,
if you're gonna say, well, he's still a solid defender and can
kind of like this is, I wouldn't say one through four, but like
two through four is fine for him and he can get after some ones.
And now I'm looking at the Wizards and there are just a lot of questions
here and we all know that I'm smitten with Jules Bernard at this point.
But you're looking at the Wizards for real when you're trying to identify core players
moving forward, and it's yeah, we know Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Poole,
even Tyas Jones who comes back, they're not for long. I don't know
where Corey Kisspert fits in the grand scheme of things. He's more valuable offensively,
I think a lot of people give him credit for, but just looking
at core players that might impact how you build out your team. The Wizards,
I think now have two where it's I don't know if any of them
are the best guy as part of the rebuild, and I would probably bet
against either of them being the best guy. You need a high pick,
high draft pick this year to pay with the lakool Bali and Danniava, it's
a pretty good spot to be. And shout out to Daniyavya, who if
this had gone on for longer this season, I'll be very curiously where he
finishes on my own most Improved Player ballot, but also the bus Improved Player
a ballot in general, and then as well as yours, which to close
this out, we're gonna be sending out I'll do I don't think we're gonna
do it for all NBA. We'll do it for just the awards where we
want. We want to know who you would pick, and then we'll have
our listener audience picks for for every award. I will send out a sheet,
probably at some time at the beginning of April. We don't want to
lock it in too soon. So if you want to be a part of
that, join our discord. The link of that's in the podcast and YouTube
description. Follow us on all the socials if you've not done so already.
If you've done all those things, recommend us friends, family members, acquaintances,
randos on the street, coworkers, enemies, even people on social media.
We've got a lot of shout outs on Twitter lately. I really do
appreciate you all helping us promote the show and anyway that we can, so
please continue doing that. Comment with thoughts, I'm not always gonna respond to
them, but it doesn't have to be oh, just great job. But
please, I love that stroke my ego, but this exercise give me your
I want to know your most improved player or someone that you disagree with and
why or that I glossed over. Until next time, though, and as
always, I leave you with the shout outs the one, the only,
be and n E the real most improved player in our hearts and minds and
our souls and our entire every fiber of our bodies. Frank heal it Ke