Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of Hardwood Knocks. This is
Adam from here with my fantastic co host Dan for Valley. We're about to
torture ourselves by trying to come up with the most underrated player on each and
every one of the fifteen Eastern Conference teams in the NBA. It's a daunting
task. I think we both struggled to come up with names for some teams.
And it's even harder because the very concept of underratedness is this nebulous idea,
like, how are we determining how players are properly rated and then how
they exceed that? I think my approach and I would assume Dan the same
as you know, we're at least fairly in tune with the popular perception of
players and just involved enough with articles and social media content and social media replies
to big accounts that we see who gets talked about and who doesn't. So
that's kind of how I'm basing this. So my two questions for you,
Dan, first and most importantly, how are you doing? And secondly,
how did you do this all? As well? Over here, my brains
till hurts from trying to do this exercise I kind of tried to. I
did it independent of whether the players might be underrated amongst their own fan baser
team, because I do think that, especially with their way league cover skews
regionally now, which is I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but the
way fans are so in tune with everything about their team, they're gonna be
like, oh, you know, we appreciate them just fine, and that's
great. I did this from the more pullback national perspective, who doesn't get
enough shine. I didn't hesitate to throw stars into the mold or fringe stars,
I should say, but like I wasn't picking for Miami. I didn't
pick Jimmy Butler even though you could, or Drew Holiday in Milwaukee, even
though I think you could argue that those guys might still be underappreciated. It's
more so what guys I don't think are being talked about enough or bringing the
most value that nationally isn't being recognized, or maybe people don't yet understand how
good they are. And so I did it that way, steering clear of
basically entrenched stars and then just trying to measure it, not independent again of
what a team's fan base actually thinks of that player. Yeah, I took
basically the same approach. You know, it's funny just how the timing worked
on this, because we were We've spent an earlier portion of the week trying
to come up with these names, and then as we were preparing to record
this podcast, I promoted a tweet from Owen Phillips, the F five dot
substack dot com author, where he actually looked at the number of page views
for every single player on Basketball Reference in the NBA and compared that to a
number of different catchall metrics and determined that far and away de Anthony Melton was
the most underrated player in the NBA. Obviously, because he's on the Memphis
Grizzlies, we're not going to be talking about him because that's the Western Conference
on this particular episode. But I really liked that approach, and I think
that's what we're attempting to approximate, just the amount of coverage a player receives
versus how good they are. And I think Dan, what you said about
skewing towards the national coverage rather than the local coverage that is so entrenched in
the undergoings of every single player and every single fringe roster member on a team
is important, right, And I tried to find like whether it's statistical or
just you know, watching back clips of the players, try to find just
something so make this digestible. We're not doing like ten minutes on each player,
but just something that stands out to me about the way they're playing or
what I think maybe isn't being necessarily talked about enough. Absolutely, Yeah,
I'm in the same boat. So let's let's go ahead and kick this off.
We'll go alphabetically and Dan and I will kind of alternate taking the lead
on each team. So we'll start with the Atlanta Hawks, which naturally I
have to get, and I waffled between Clint Capella and Kevin Herder. Capella
has just been so important to the defensive foundation of a Hawks team that is
like playing fairly average defense for the most part, with some ups and a
few more downs than ups. But the impact that he's had as a rebounder
and a defensive presence has been huge and has allowed the offensive pieces to exhibit
more freedom on that end. But I think it still has to be hurt
just because he doesn't he flies so far beneath the radar, especially now that
the focus is on when they're going to have Camraddish and DeAndre Hunter on the
court and available at the same time. But Hurter has quietly been shooting thirty
seven percent from threes and contributing in just every single area he's taken. He's
taken on more of a scoring workload recently, and it hasn't cut into his
playmaking abilities. He's contributing on the defensive end, he grabs rebounds, he
always seems to be in the right spot. It seems like on a nightly
basis, he's managing to do something positive that just doesn't garner as much attention
as what Trey Young is doing, or John Collins is doing, or boy
On Bogdan Bogdanovitch is doing, or whoever else it may be on that night,
because he's rarely the marquee star so much as the consistent supporting piece.
Yeah, I don't think you had to worry about waffling to either, because
Clint Cappello was my actual pick for them. So I think we cover all
the bases here. I think Kevin hurt people still I don't think appreciate or
recognize how much he can actually do off the dribble. There is that element
of Jay crowderness to him, I call it, where he's a little too
adventure adventurous on some occasions. And so that's why you would probably prefer a
Bogey to operate on ball, maybe even a Daniela Gallinari when when he's healthy,
maybe even DeAndre Hunter. At this point he was you know, he
would have been in play for this were he not injured. He was not
being talked enough in the most improved player conversation. I went with Capella because
of all the things he's doing on defense for them, A monster around the
basket. He'll box out, he'll grab contested rebounds. Only Rudy Gobert's contesting
more shots at the rim than him per game right now. He is somewhat
who I've just mentioned before, always finds a way to play really well within
his role. And I think his value got opeuse gated a little bit in
Houston towards the end there because of how much of not a liability he became,
because of how much the roster changed after that Chris Paul trade, where
it was they couldn't necessarily afford to have him on the court with the way
they wanted to play when you already had another non shooter in Russell Westbrook.
So he's been really great for this team. And I don't you know,
this isn't someone who's going to be in the Defensive Player of the Year even
All Defense conversation because there are only two center spots in those or has that
done regardless of a position? I always regardless of position, but he would
be someone who you know, when you look at estimated defensive plus minus from
dunks and threes, like he's in the top twenty in the league in that
right now, ninety five percentile, I believe. So he's just been super
impactful for this team and he's closer to a star than not or an All
Star I guess than not. But it's just one of those I picked two
fringe stars throughout all this and he was the first one because I don't think
it's he's never really been fully appreciated, because I do think players like him
really quickly. There's there's that tendency a lot to want to branch out,
and he I'm sure maybe he wants to, but like, this isn't someone
you need to give a ceremonial post up too, like he's still going to
screen for you. He's going a role, he's going to hit the glass,
he's going to defend hard. His motor isn't impacted by how much offensive
volume he's he's generated. And it's flippersera DeAndre Jordan. Yeah, I mean
that's totally fair. It's you know, it's so it's that role is just
I think it's been huge for them, and he's had more of a making
more of a defensive impact, and he's credit with because so much is focused
on I think it's been surprised. You already mentioned that the Hawks are about
league average defensively so far this year. He's among the I think most people
have actually said this. I was on another podcast today that I mentioned this.
He's probably been Atlanta's most consistent player this year too, when he's been
available. Yeah right, I mean every just assumed that availability is an astray
for every team, but especially Atlanta. Just when you've had Trey Young be
so up and down this year, it helps that you've had Capella as that
steadying force in the middle for sure. And it did seem like in Houston
particularly particularly, so much of his reputation was he's a product of James Harton.
You know, he scores all his points off the role, and he's
only doing that because Harden is such a unique gravitational force and a gifted pick
and roll passer. And you know, Trey Young is too, obviously,
But I think it's now pretty clear that he is capable of anchoring a defense
and contributing on offense, regardless of the star that's beside him. So I
don't think there's a wrong choice between the two. No, not at all.
That would leave me with the Boston Celtics. I have time lord here.
There is still a level of concern about how successful can he be in
a larger role, and we've seen him struggle against some of the burlier bigs.
You could also say that, you know, maybe someone Capella might be
a good example, though I think he's improved at that aspect of his game
as his career has gone on. This is just someone who's a much smarter
player than I think we talk about. When you kind of look at his
defensive positioning or doesn't feel like he's getting burned all these times. Maybe he
gets overpowered, but it's not because he's necessarily in the wrong spot. You
can count on him to finish around the basket. He has over the past
two seasons just really established himself as hey, I'm going to keep the ball
moving, and he's throwing some nice passes on the move too. Can be
a little turnover happy, which is, you know, tough. When you
have basically the same turnover rate or a higher turnover rate than your usage is
never a great sign. But fantastic hands, you know, you can look
at the blocks are great, but like he can really get he's going to
force some steals too, and he's gonna be very aware of bad passes or
he's going to en force those deflections. One of the more underrated big men
right now. And I do think when you watch him play, you forget
that he's listed at six eight. This is someone that feels like he plays
a lot bigger, at least seven one big. That was like a very
specific number. I'm here for it. I appreciate that, But no,
I think I think Rob Williams is the right choice. I do. I
think we have to give a shout out to Peyton Pritchard, probably just because
he was only the twenty sixth the twenty sixth pick of the first round this
year. And has shown that he's not just a pesky defender. He's a
consistent three point shooter. He's starting to flash more off the dribble juice as
a scorer, which is important as the Boston Celtics, much like every other
team in the NBA, suffers way too many key injuries. I don't think
he should be the choice here, but we would be remiss not to at
least mention him. Marcus Smart might need to be a perennial honorable mention.
I don't think people appreciate you know, there's the jokes about his confidence as
a shooter, but like he continuously hits big shots and the clutch numbers don't
always back this up, like he's shooting thirty six percent on threes in the
clutch. This year, he's turned into a more viable three point shooter,
and whether he's you know, three of thirteen or three of six, like
he's just going to fire away, and that's something I appreciate. He's more
mainstream, So I don't think, yeah, I think I just I view
him as like the non star version of Mike Conley, where he's so universally
recognized as underrated that even though He's not overrated. He's not underrated anymore.
He was number three list because I'd Pritchard too. But it's tough for me
sometimes with to mention rookies necessarily, but I agree with I would be there
for that selection as well. And look, Pritchard on defense is just I
don't watch a lot of college basketball anyway, so not that I've known this,
but everything I was reading like didn't really focus on his defensive He moves
really well. I can play kind of physical on the defensive end too.
He's willing to pick guys up like at least three quarter quart two, which
is huge. He's got that t J. McConnell, Javon Carter Jane in
him exactly. Brooklyn Nets, I think there's only one choice here and it's
Nick Claxton. And the Nets basically cemented this decision. For me, it
felt like Claxton was starting to get the love that he deserved for just the
enthusiasm with which he played, the relentless energy, the willingness to protect the
rim and fill those non glamorous voids while also taking on more of a scoring
role. But then the Nets basically decided that they weren't going to play him
much anymore by signing LaMarcus Aldridge on the buyout market who has since retired,
and acquiring Blake Griffin the same way. And it was just this clear message
that they wanted the bigger names and weren't willing to commit to him in the
rotation, which I still think was a mistake. He's played really well whenever
he's been on the court, and it just hasn't been enough. Yeah,
they've played him more since the even before Aldridge retired, because he wasn't necessarily
playing with them, but his minutes were down when they had aldridg in the
rotation. So this might be a situation where he could still be underappreciated in
his on his own team. And there but there is, and you knew,
you know I wrote about him. If you go to b ball Index's
database, there is. We're talking about switchability among bigs, and so among
five hundred and eleven players who stands six ten or taller and logged at least
three hundred minutes in a single season since twenty thirteen twenty fourteen, he is
second in partial possession possession spent defending point guards, behind only this season's Ben
Simmons. According to be Bowl Index. He's also seventh in that time in
switching on to shooting guards within the same group, So it's or guarding shooting
guards, since this isn't it's basically a switch for the most part. But
so I found that absolutely fascinating. There are still holes in his game.
Can be a little bit foul happy. There's you look at his offense.
There might be a much better player there because he's shown he's comfortable putting the
ball on the floor. But when you're shooting in the thirty, like,
you know, thirty something percent on drives, he's shooting a disastrous clip on
his hook shots. He was like three of thirteen on those the last time
I checked. So his decision making could stand to get a little bit better
there. But this is someone who you know, he's still he's he's getting
better at setting screens. You can use him as a roller, can use
him as a lob catcher. He does just a lot of things. He's
at thirty three point three percent on hook shots this year, by the way,
to correct myself there, I think that this is just someone who is
though a genuine defensive game changer already, not just because of the switchability.
But when you look at his recovery around the basket too helps side defense,
really swatting shots away. I think everyone's probably seen the clips of him defending
Damian Lillard and crunch Time like this is just who It wasn't blocking a shot,
it was forcing the ball out of Damian Lillard's hands. Damian Lillard and
crunch Time forcing the ball out of his hands. So there's a really good
player there, and I'm very intrigued to see how the Nets use him in
the playoffs. It does seem like they're giving him more run now. I'm
just curious to see if he's going to get a longer leash, the same
amount of leash a shorter leash once they get to the postseason. Did you
have a second option for the Nets, because, like you might laugh at
this, but my backup choice was James Harden because it feels like everyone on
the Nets gets the proper amount of attention, if not a little too much.
But Harden is just hated by such a wide portion of the NBA fan
base because of his style of play that I think the ridiculous historic offensive effectiveness
still gets a little bit under sold. I guess you could go with him.
I'd be more inclined to go with a Bruce Brown or a Jeff Green
in that situation, just guys who have been solid them and especially Jeff Green
too, like the if he can go in their downsize lineups. We've seen
Bruce Brown hanging around in the dunker spot this season. I'd be way more
inclined to go with those two guys. There might be people who might even
say Alisa Johnson, but I was trying to pick guys who have an actual
role on their team with sort of the other stipulation that I had, so
I wouldn't regrudge you that. I do think what happened in Houston has kind
of still been held against Harden, and it's definitely been brought up even by
me when we've had them. I'm not picking him for Houston, but I'm
talking about like, look in the MVP discussion, they're using the Houston stuff
against him, and I've even used that against him, even though it doesn't
matter anymore at all the time he's missed. So oh, that's the other
thing too, James Harden just out right now, that is, and maybe
not coming back to the playoffs I'm talking about this level of play. No,
I get it, I just wouldn't. He wouldn't have cracked my top
three for the now. I just I think there's too large a percentage of
NBA fans who just aren't willing to admit because they don't like how he generates
his offense, like this is one of the best offensive forces we have ever
seen the NBA. I'm with it for the Charlotte Hornets I had. I
was tempted to go with Miles Bridges here, and you could probably even throw
some love to PJ. Washington if you wanted to. I went with Terry
Rozier. And while we've seen the limitations to his game when you have LaMelo
Ball and Gordon Hayward both out, this is someone who was just build as
like a terrible player. When he first signed that three year, fifty six
point seven million dollars deal in the it was a sign and trade with Charlotte
and Boston. I do think we need to get better at evaluating players independent
of their contracts, Like once they sign it, if there's a chance they
might not live up with it, but you have to start evaluating them outside
that number. He's actually living up to his price point. You know,
when you look at his scoring and the efficiency fifty plus percent on twos and
then shooting about forty percent on threes, they're only a handful of other players
that are matching those throughout the season. They're they're all stars. And Marl
Rozier is not a star. He is a knockdown shooter off the catch.
He's shown me can do some off the dribble stuff both beyond the arc and
inside the arc because playmaking has gotten better. He's second on the Hornets and
point score possession as the pick and roll ball handler this year. So there's
that element of just like, hey, he can't run an offense, not
going to be ideal, and as I much before, we've seen limitations.
You end in the fact though, that he's just going to give you some
like stout defensive minutes against either guard position on more I'll say more than occasional
stout the defense in those situations. That's that's absolutely huge, And so we're
talking about one of the best compliments in the league now where no, you
don't want him to be your first or second option if you're on a championship
team, but after that, when you're talking about accessory players or just scalable
talents who can make an impact aside from just being plug and play. He's
in that conversation. I also thought about mentioning Miles Bridges here, but I
kind of think he's just dunked his way out of the conversation because some of
his highlights have garnered so much attention that people have started paying attention to him
more as just this ideal running made for LaMelo ball when he's healthy. But
yeah, I think it has to be Terry Rogier, especially just given the
clutch numbers. I mean, the dude is slashing fifty two point six,
fifty and eighty nine point five when games are within five points in the final
five minutes and the Hornets rout scoring opponents by three point four points in those
situations like that, That's huge. It is a stark contrast from the player
that he was immediately after signing his mega deal with the Hornets, and he's
just come so far that I think it's becoming clear how good he is to
everyone, but he's still overcoming that overpaid reputation. He has to be the
choice. I don't really even have a backup here. This is someone who
and I guess the best way to cantetualize is he is even at his like
near twenty million dollars a year price point, and it is lower than that
you would get a first round pick if you were to trade him over the
off season. Yeah, and I don't think they should shut that clear,
but nor do I definitely hope they do not for the Chicago Bulls. Know,
I toyed with with naming Denzel Valentine here just because I refuse to give
up on him being a useful rotation player, but he's his play has not
merited that selection, so I think it has to be Thaddious Young, where
after a couple of years with the Indiana Pacers where he was a good rotation
player but nothing special, and then his first season in Chicago just didn't go
particularly well, but he is reinvigorated during this age thirty two season. You
know, It's it's not about the scoring numbers. It's about the versatility that
he brings in his willingness to fill so many different roles, and beyond that,
just the sheer defensive presence. I mean, he is everywhere for that
Chicago Bulls team, which is so important when Zach Lavine is on the court
and still isn't a great defender, and now you're adding Nikola Vuchovitch into the
mix, and Kobe White isn't a great defender, and you need that guy
who can scratch the wingitch while also protecting the rim as a help defender.
You know, I think we see it just in like the box plus minus
numbers with the Pacers zero point five, zero point two, one point five.
He plummeted to minus one point two last year, and he's skyrocketed to
three point two this year, which is one of the single biggest year to
year improvements that we've seen in the NBA. This season, he is a
legitimately game changing presence for the Bulls right now, which no one could have
expected after the last few years. Yeah, he was my pick two,
and it's interesting Jordan Clarkson was considered fate to complete for six Men of the
Year. I don't even know if he's in my top three right now.
I have Joe Angels, Chris Bouchet, and I don't know what to do
with Daddy is young because he started seventeen games this season, was in the
starting lineup for a bit with Chicago post trade deadline and even pre trade deadline.
Now he's out. He has not started the past three games for them,
so I don't know where I land up there. But if he if
you can get if he hasn't started too many games by the end of the
year, he might need to be the front runner for sixth man. It's
probably him or that at all, and I the only things I could really
add to you is just the passing on the short role from him, And
he's just one of the defenders when you look at I don't want to say
he's the best help defender at the NBA, but he might be. You
could also count on him to do a lot of one on one stuff where
if you need to match up against like a Jannis or Bam. No,
he's not the answer to those guys like that's the type of mobility and body
that he has. So he has easily been one of the more unsung players
this season. But I think he was towards the trade deadline. I think
you could kind of understand with the reports that kept coming out where the Bulls
saying we're not interested in trading and we're not insured in trading him. It's
because of the interest that there wasn't acquiring him and would just be that really
helpful player on any really good team in the league. Yeah, yeah,
he has to be the choice here with Cleveland, I debated a few guys.
I Darius Garland ended up being my second place guy, with Larry Dance
Junior being in third. I think because he's starting to get the Larry Dance
Jr. His availability has been long. I think he's gotten a lot more
recognition for basically being like this do a little bit of everything guy. Although
when you see someone who could legitimately play the three through five on either end
of the floor, even though Cleveland likes to steer away from playing him at
the five, that's huge, and him being a perimeter throat an offense is
huge just a passing. I still landed on Colin Sexton because I don't think
when we talk about the Calves it's as if they don't have any true blue
chip cornerstones, and they might not, I want to make that clear,
but Sexton gives them a possibility there. And I even think Garland he's been
who's just been tearing it up since the middle of March, by the way,
and been pretty good all season. He gives them an option too,
but Colin Sexton comes really close. There are only right now ten other players
who average more than twenty four points a game while matching Sexton's efficiency inside the
arc at fifty one point six percent as of this recording, and behind it
thirty seven percent on threes. Now. Among that group, they're only three
players that have a higher three throw attempt rade Kadie, Joel Embiade and Corlin
Anthony Counts. Sexton has improved his game dramatically as a playmaker on the move,
doesn't get as too much tunnel vision on drive, and make better decisions.
There is more of a trustworthy guy if you need him to put pressure
on multiple levels, not just two of them or even one of them.
And he's doing a lot of on ball stuff where I think there tends to
be this discrepancy and how he's viewed. It keeps coming back to will he
just can't run an offense or he's not a four general. Okay, cool,
he's not supposed to be. The Calves don't use him in that way.
I will still argue he's more a combo guard than not, but he's
not supposed to be this actual if you want to say pure point guard,
whatever you want to say. So once you view him outside of that specter,
I think it's really easy to appreciate that, hey, he might be
a future All Star, and this is someone that is he going to be
the best player on a championship team. My guests would be no. But
that's ninety nine percent of league where the guests would be no. And so
if you found someone who could be the number two on a great team,
that's huge fore or rebuild. I love this one because it's the first time
we're like really differing. I think Sexton got enough love with his ridiculously hot
start to the year that people were viewing him as that future All Star.
And even though Cleveland's play tailed off after the unsustainably good opening to the season
that they had, I think that reputation has persisted to some extent. You
actually didn't even mention my top choice among your top three candidates, and that's
Jared Allen. Sometimes I yeah, he's on the calves. I'm not gonna
lie. I was running, yeah he's the other day and I was like,
oh, that's right, Jared Allen is on the calves. Yeah,
he's somewhat forgettable, which is kind of weird to say about, like such
a highlight generating shot blocking big man, But the calves as a whole have
been forgettable after the hot start, and he wasn't there for the hot start,
so I think that plays into the forgettableness. But ultimately, like,
he's exactly the kind of big man who I enjoy watching because he's so mistake
a verse. He's a great challenger around the rim. He has the potential
to become a defensive anchor even if he's definitely not there yet. He's getting
to the free throw line almost six times per thirty six minutes, which I
don't think many people realize, and he's hitting seventy percent of those charity shots.
But beyond that, he just doesn't make mistakes, shooting sixty one point
nine percent from the field. He's taken the occasional three, but it happens
to be in the right situation. Granted, he's not really much of a
ballhandler, but he still only turns the ball over one point four times per
game. Like, just the ability to avoid negative plays while contributing on both
ends like he does. I think he needs a lot more love. I
mean, and you're kind of helping prove it for me by not even mentioning
him. Yeah, I guess I've just never viewed him really as he felt
more underrated by the nets themselves than actually underrated in general, because it felt
pretty clear among NBA intelligenza that Jared Allen was ridiculously good. What's hard about
this is and I'm not even I guess he's going to come off as like
being an as sol, But I sometimes forget that the way that we might
view players is just not the same where a majority of the fans will They're
not gonna be here, you know, talking about a lot of people aren't
gonna be a lot of people are gonna think Jared Awen is underready, they
might have more mainstream names than you are, right, So that's the hard
part of like doing the doing this exercise, I still I knew he was
on the Cavs while I was doing the exercise. He just didn't even crack
my top three. I'm just I was shocked that you had like Darius Garland
over him, Dad. If you watched Darius Garland, Darius Garland feels like
he's so much more man of the game he's improved a ton since that awful
rookie season. My thing. My thing with Garland though two, is or
with sex didn't rather is even if you were going to disqualify him, which
is fine. If I feel like there are people playing at a fringe star
level that aren't getting enough recognition, I might gravitate towards them, but I
would still pivot the g I would still pivot the Garland is number two.
It feels like he is. His control of the game, especially when he's
in the lane, has gotten so much better. And that's not I think
when everyone talks about the Calves, they are talking about Sexland first and four
most, but they're going to Colin Sexton first. And I still I keep
coming back to the fact why those two players are highlighting is people look at
the Calves is absent a blue ship cornerstone. That being said, Jared Allen
is actually a part of that conversation because you're looking at three guys and four
with Isaac Okoro who feel like they really are long term keepers and helpers.
Yeah, I'm still willing to put Jared Allen in that blue chip conversation,
which I think speaks to why I'm picking him here. Yeah, I mean
he's shown a little bit of a passing improvement too since he's arrived in Cleveland.
Detroit is one that I really struggled with and ended up with a rookie,
which I know you're not a huge fan of because they have four of
right, and that's why I wasn't more specific right off the bat, But
it's I think it's Isaiah Stewart. It feels like he is a perfect example
of the differentiation that you made at the top of this podcast, that we
are looking at this from a national perspective rather than a local effective where he
has been playing so well lately. Over the last nine games, he's averaging
twelve point four points and ten point two rebounds. He's shooting sixty seven point
six percent from the field. He's made a pair of three pointers. He's
been blocking shots, he's getting a little bit more involved as a passer,
though still not doing much. He's avoiding fouls, he's staying on the court.
But as much love as he's getting from Detroit writers and Detroit fan base,
I don't think that's translated to the national attention that he deserves as a
potential legitimate building block in Detroit, which is sorely needed. Well, I
will tell I picked Isaiah Stewart as well, and I think you're totally You're
on point there and this wasn't hard for me at all. I mean,
they did have four rookies to choose from. I still remain off the limited
sample we've seen from Killian Hayes. I remain tanglized by Killian Hayes. He
was my second choice, so he could be there even if you just used
a deep bay as this three and D guy. He has more ball skills
than advertised with Isaiah Stewart. Though there is a br comment or who disagrees
with you because I was talking. I wrote an article on the worst teams
this season, was talking about the choice future and I said, they're among
the teams where you look at them and don't know who their north star is.
Someone argued that Isaiah Isaiah Stewart is a future star, and there you
go, that's just proof that he is maybe not underrated within the Pistons fan
base. I would echo everything you said. The two notes that I would
add are that dude just keeps going. There's just running the floor, just
like being around the basket. Right right place. I like how he can
put the ball on the floor off the catch where it's like if he's sort
of it's like maybe he didn't screen and roll, but he's diving to the
basket and he needs one or two dribbles to before he can finish and is
able to do that, and he is, you know, I wouldn't say
that he's like the best rim protector, but he definitely impacts shots or shot
choices. This season, opponents are shooting eight point two percentage points worse at
the rim when he's on the floor. That's the fifth highest differential or fifth
largest differential all players who've logged at least five hundred minutes. So Detroit got
a good one in Isaiah Stewart, and I'll let go this one more time.
In fact, they have like four rookies and you throw Saban Lee in
there as well, where it's like, hey, those guys might just be
Those are definitely MBA players, and Lee is probably the most questionable A bunch
so far. That's you know, that's that's rock solid depth for them.
I still think they need their north star, and Killian Hayes still is the
best chance. In my opinion, to be that more so than Bay or
a Stewart. But I don't think anyone, at least of all myself,
I didn't think he was gonna make it. I just didn't think he had
like them, as I say with the Bigs, and he just clearly does.
I missed the mark on him so hard. I will say with Sadique
Bay, I am firmly on board with him developing into a non star with
the star's impact, kind of like what we thought Otto Porter Junior was going
to be before injuries derailed him. Fair enough, Uh, that's going to
bring us to the Indiana Pacers. This one was kind of tough because I
feel like it's between Indiana and Utah teams that have the best or the most
really good players on their rosters, and yet Indiana has struggled a lot this
season. I would argue mostly due to you know, spotty availability from essentially
everyone. I think it's Doug McDermott here, and I vascinated between he and
TJ. McConnell. But I think McConnell's starting to get like, you know,
national burn for the way that he just really defends and wakes up and
he's in your jersey already if you're his opponent McDermott, just as you know,
he brings that shooting, that shooting value, and he is playing a
combo forward role right now. He's an excellent cutter and he's been essentially when
you look at players who have finished at least fifty such of those plays with
those cuts, he is third in points per possession, behind brook Lopez and
Zach Lavie. And I found I found brook Lopez there being funny, and
so he really keeps defenses on his toes because he's able to hit that three
ball and he can do that, you know, quickly. He can do
that in motion if you need him too. And when he's going up,
you'll find those seats, find holds towards the basket, or capitalize on a
sleeping defender, or go back door on you. That's really valuable. And
I do think that he's been able to relative to how the Pacers have used
him, that he just hasn't been like this huge defensive liability where when there
have been a lot of half court breakdowns, it's not even really because of
him, it's just because the whole system there seems broken. And Caitlyn Cooper
of any Cornrows has run about this, just different sorts of defensive lapses.
She's way more specific and more schooled on it than I would ever be.
I think McDermott entering free agency this season is someone who's going to be pretty
heavily targeted, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's due for a salary in
the eight figures where you're cracking that ten million annually territory. There's a chance
that Caitlyn Cooper is the most underrated person affiliated with the Pacers. She better
not be underrated. First of all, they should have her on their staff
already. And I agree the analysis is so good. She is in the
one hundred percentile of people who are able to ver eyes two dumb people like
you and I complicated x's and os stuff that her her flow, her prose
fantastic. If you don't read her Kalen Cooper at I don't have her Twitter
hand in front of me. I look it up since well shout out here.
But she was She's so good, writes Herndy corn Rows. And she
has to be, you know, I don't know how if you want to
learn something every time you read an article, that's where you should go Yeah,
the specific unlike and she's so specific and it's at C two underscore Cooper,
so be sure to check her out. But since we're talking about players,
you know, I don't begrudge you either of your choices. I think
that those are totally valid arguments. I went bigger here with either Malcolm Brogden
or Miles Turner. I think with Turner some national writers like still aren't willing
to put him in the defensive Player of the Year race early in the season
and have to like come around to that later. I'm sure you have no
idea who I'm talking about, none, anything, anything, just silence.
Okay, no, but for real, I think my answers broad gun where
there's recognition just how good he is. But I don't think people realize just
how fucking good he is. He thrived as this complimentary figure on the Milwaukee
Bucks, you know, clearly excelling in the ginormous shadow of Jana Santa Da
Cumbo. But he's become like a legitimate north star for a competitive organization.
I mean, he's capable of putting up twenty one, six and six on
a nightly basis. He's always going to flirt with the fifty forty ninety club.
He doesn't make mistakes. He can fill any role. If you need
him to serve as a lead ball handler who can get his shots off the
bounce, who can create for others in the pick and roll, he can
do that if he wanted to fill an off ball role. He's always going
to make the right cuts. He's always going to end up in the right
spots. He knows how to play in transition. There just is not a
weakness to his game. And I don't think he's viewed as that potential like
top thirty, top twenty five player, but he would be. Malcolm Brogan
is a top twenty five player. I think he can. I think he
can play like that. Maybe not for the extent of a season, but
in short spurts he is capable of that. That is a spicy take.
You need to cut that out and throw it on Twitter for people to hear
you say that one. I'd be more inclined to go with Miles Turner.
Maybe I'm just trying to generate some goodwill from Pacers Twitter, which is absolutely
destroyed me when I predicted that he wouldn't win Defensive Player of the Year.
Essentially way back when I took ownership of the confusion in a way I approached
that exercise. So I'm not doing a victory lap here, but the pressure
that they've put on that he just that they allow him to face defensively when
he's been healthy this year is just I think his defensive workload is probably like
among the top three in the league. I'm not talking about just shot contests
at the rim, but especially when you're gonna isolate Biggs. Rudy Gobert is
one. I'm trying to think of another big maybe a healthy Anthony Davis,
but he hasn't really played. I still think Davis is a little underrated in
that regard because he's not that traditional rim protector. So he's right there for
me, and I don't think that's probably talked about enough. People might be
more likely to harp on, yeah, he's been in the defensive player of
the year conversation, but they'll harp on his overall shooting splits this year where
he's been below average. Has had peaks and valleys like anyone in any season,
but they look at I think I even made the joke I think Rashawn's
home is Rashaun Holmes is averaging more points per shot on his voters than Miles
turn is averaging on wide open threes, So that's he is. I would
say he's like a top fifty guy, and it's probably not recognized as such
nearly enough, and that's Miles Turner. I do not think Malcolm Brogden is
a top ten player in the NBA like you do, though. Yeah,
I'm going to backtrack a little bit and just kind of clarify what I meant
better than what I said. I don't think that he is a top twenty
five or top thirty player when everyone's available. I do think he's capable of
playing like that for a ten game stretch of twenty game stretch when he needs
to, but he's not going to maintain that workload for an entire season.
I think it's adorable that you don't think. I'm going to cut that part
out and it's all as you're gonna hear. Is you saying you think Malcolm
Broddon's the top twenty five per se you trying to do that anyway or whatever?
I believe you're on Miami right, this was this was the hard Lets
can we just move on. I don't have an answer. I don't I
don't think that there's a legitimate answer for the Miami heat. So I came
I came up with Max Strews. I think I was I was close to
picking pneumonia be Elitesa because of what he might be able to do there well,
but he's also shooting like negative three percent on threes this year. Yeah,
and he's he has like a little like up. He has like a
little motherfucker in his game where he's more physical when he puts the ball on
the floor. So I could see that as a theoretical I understand why Shrews
doesn't get like consistent minutes in Miami unless they're really banged up. But someone
who's who can relocate off the ball, hit some difficult threes and gives you
just like you know, six five on defense, and he's covered like a
bunch of in at least. And I will say, if not watched a
ton of Mac Struce this season of the Games live scene where he's played like
he can give you something positionally on defense where it's not just oh, he
needs to cover a two guard because he's six five. He's been on some
three he's been on some fours. I'm just curious to see, Like,
you know, he's twenty five. What becomes of him? Is this like
someone who's going to you know, land somewhere in the NBA. So I
had him, but he's got two choices. Have played a combined four hundred
and sixty two minutes this year, right, And the problem with him is
that they've really only needed him as like this emergency guy on the perimeter because
they are for all that they don't have. I don't want to say they're
stacked there, but like that between Tyler Hero and Jimmy Butler Fazerladipo's injured,
but they have him. Draggas have been injured a lot, but they still
have him. They have Kendrick Nunne like they're just they're set at like in
those guards spots, and so even if you look like you could use them
sure on the wings more just as a as a three, and I think
that's where he's played most of his minutes actually this year. Yeah, or
about he's been split evenly between the two and the and the three. So
but I needed to come up with a name, and I just be Etlitz
has played so bad this year that I don't know, but that's a product
of maybe consistent playing time since the beginning of the season basically or definitely since
the middle of it. Still I felt a little weird. You're right,
I think we can get away with picking no one here, but I'm settling
on on officially my guy, Max Drews. I think if I, if
I truly had to pick someone, it might be Dwayne Dennett, who's played
three games for Miami this season, but like, it shouldn't be taken him
this long to land on a roster exactly like a couple of nights ago,
he had ten points on one shot. I'm not miss speaking. He made
eight free throws in one field goal on one field goal attempt, and he
followed that up with twelve and six like he's played well the last few games,
which also happened to be the only games he's played. Let's move on.
Let's move on the Milwaukee Bucks. So I already know who you picked,
which is why I specifically didn't pick him. I went with Bryn Forbes.
Dude is a bucket. I don't think that gets talked about enough.
He leads the NBA in points per shot. I'm not filtering out anything.
I'm not. There's no minutes threshold here, no minimum game, no minimum
games played. He just leads the NBA in points per shot. That's pretty
damn good for someone who's living on the perimeter. He's also when you look
at his affective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers fifty three point three.
They're one hundred and three players who have attempted at least one hundred and twenty
five pull up jumpers this season. He ranks in the top thirteen of affective
field goal percentage among that group. So not someone who's going to and I
think we saw it. He's not going to oversee the offense. That's why
you go and you get a jeftigue. He's also not going to give you
basically anything defensively. But there's like he has levels to his scoring where I
think you could probably safe the com A two level score at this point.
And I found that fascinating because I don't you don't need to read like a
ton into it, but to not filter out anything. So just five hundred
and twenty four players, he leads the MBA in points per touch. I
just want to note, can you guess who ranks fourth in that absolutely not
Max Strus, Yes, yes I did. I can guess it. I
will say the two I'm most impressed by in the top five. Norman Powell
is three, Gary Trent Junior is five, and my guy Doug McDermott,
by the way, because he's shooting these wide open threes and off cuts,
he is six. I just honestly went through points per touch, and that's
how I picked the underrated players. That's all that happened. Sounds about right,
just totally discounting everything that happens on defense, which is why you're not
picking my guy. Bobby portis here because he has developed into this effective bruiser
of a defender off the Milwaukee Bucks bench. He's also shooting forty six point
five percent on threes, like he's kind of become that three and D center
who is somehow having a seven point five points per one hundred possessions swing when
he's on the court, despite coming off the bench on a team with the
honis Andrei Kombo like he he is a huge reason, along with Brent Forbes,
that the second unit in Milwaukee has been better than it's been in years
past, and he's one of the reasons that I have. Yeah, I
think so, he's a reason I have more confidence in them in the playoffs
this year. There's just there are more quality contributors. I think when you
look at their nony, honest minutes, which have been generally worse than they
were last year. Maybe that's a byproduct of Drew Holiday miss time. Still,
I think they're They've had They've had to overcome a few too many injuries
for the like for the second unit to really play together like they did last
year. So Milwaukee was real healthy last year. Yeah, that's also a
good point. I will say, I think you're I went into this thinking,
you know, he has not been terrible defensively and has given them like
some value there where he's not taking it where he might be like average if
he just needs to do a straight rim contest. You sung his praises way
more on that end than I ever would, So I guess, you know,
kudos to you. So I'm just saying you might be a little bit
higher on Bobby Porter's defensively than I am at the moment. No, that's
fair. So the New York Knicks, this was another tough one because it
feels like anyone who plays in New York gets national attention because Madison Square Garden
remains the mecca, especially during a season where the Knicks are still above five
hundred at this point and now coming off a victory over the Atlanta Hawks that
pushes them closer to earning the number four seed in the Eastern Conference. So
it's hard because it's it's not going to be one of the stars. Like
everyone is aware that Julius Randall, except for a few of the people who
responded to the NBA Math promo of how good he has been, that he
is that good. Everyone is aware that RJ. Barrett has developed tremendously.
You know, Mitchell Robinson is still this intriguing potential star down the road if
he can get the fouls under control and stay healthy. It's definitely not going
to be like Derek Rose or Emmanuel Quickly. So for me, it had
to be Nerland's Noel where I think there's a general awareness that he's a good
defender. I'm not sure that there's a general awareness that he is a great
defender there. It is it is so difficult to find big man who can
move like he does and who have hands like he does. Defensive in no
way talking about his offensive hands. But he is a master of positioning who
can switch on to virtually anyone he impacts passing lanes. He can poke the
ball away from careless ball handlers. He is a rim protector. I mean
he's averaging a steal and two point one blocks per game despite playing under twenty
four minutes per contest. Those are unfathomable numbers. He is a game altering
defensive force when used in small spurts, which is what the Knicks are doing.
I'm hesitant to make him the choice because again, I think that there's
a general awareness that he's a good defender, but I think it's still sold
a little bit short. He could definitely be underrated in the sense that people
look at the Knicks shot profile, where they give up more looks than you'd
want to in theory at the rim and a ton of threes. He's part
of the reason why they like that rim volume is almost Oh, guys are
going to challenge him, but they're not necessarily going to shoot all that well
because he's really sort of everywhere. And Mitchell Robinson can have that that similar
effect as well too. And I'm with you on the hands, just when
you look at the defensive hands. Yeah, we're both mistake at this point.
And there's really his ability to get steals is a big too, and
bust up plays that way. There are and look, I am clearly saying
that this is this is who we should be compared to. They're only three
players in NBA history who have logged as many minutes for their career and have
a block rate of at least five and steel rate of at least two.
Do care to guess who either of those players might be? Not particularly David
Robinson and a Keen Okay, I was, I was if you had made
me guess, I was gonna say Robinson and Carolenko. I refuse to believe
that you're gonna say David Robinson you already got the maxt one. I'm we're
gonna David Robinson is one of my all time favorite players. I have looked
over his numbers way too many times. Yeah, I'm still gonna give you
an o fourth there. I did not go with Norlands Noel just to be
different from you. I knew he was someone that you were going to pick.
And also I do think there's that conversation point that you were talking about
where it's his defensive he has been kind of known. He's just become a
meme because of the deal that he turned down years ago. It was Dallas
that offered it to him, right, it was, Yeah, that was
Did you see his Instagram story after they beat Dallas? I don't have an
Instagram account, so no he posted. Do you remember the hot dog thing
at halftime with Nourrilan's Noel? Yeah? Yeah I do, because man,
that was just such a disastrous tenure. He did post a picture of a
hot dog in his story after they beat Dallas. I freaking loved it.
It's fantastic. I went with I went with Reggie Bullock. I don't how
could you see that Instagram story and not pick Noel? What's wrong with you?
Maybe on social media he might be underrated at that that's part of it.
I went with Reggie Bullock. He is. I think there must have
been a conversation where because the Knicks don't on a night tonight basis, there
are some nights where they have they don't take enough threes. I don't think
they just decided to tell they gave him the more green light. He's at
over seven attempts per per game Since March first, he's hitting them at a
forty two percent clip, averaging twelve points per game. But like that's his
role, Like they need you to knock down threes and score in that regard.
I'm just I don't think we talk enough about how good he is or
solid he is for them defensively. Alfred Payton is the only other nick who
has spent more time guarding number one options, and that's by virtue of being
a point guard. But it's not because it's Alfred Payton is this fantastic defender
and no one on the team is logged more. And it's also because Tom
Thibodeau wants to play Alfred Payton as much as humanly possible. Yes, and
that should still be something we troll him for. I will say, when
you dig into like how well their second units are faring, especially with Derek
Rose and Manuel Quickly. At the same time, I get the rationale because
Alfred Paytons at least someone who could get you into your offense and you won't
split them up. It should still be Frankie la keenness. Let me make
my jokes. No, I want to make it clear. I'm still the
wrong call, but I'm kind of seeing where Tips is coming from. No
one on the team, by the way, has spent more time versus number
two options. So this is someone who's guarding the first or second best player
on a team on any given night, and it's form one of the top
five defenses in the NBA. And he's part of why they're so good at
limiting above the break three pointers. So he's been absolutely huge for them.
I'm they'll have his early bird rights and free agency and they have cap space,
so it doesn't matter. This is someone who could get like real money
in free agency, though, and I don't think that's talked about enough with
the Nicks in general, where this season is a Cinderella season Alec Burks,
new Lands Noel and Reggie Bullock three guys who have been instrumental in their success.
I would argue they're all going to be free agents this summer. It'll
be interesting you see where that ends up. But I think Bullock's been underrated
just because people have been more inclined to talk about of New Ryland's Noel and
obviously Julius Randall or RJ. Barrett, even Immanuel Quickly even Derrick Rose,
even Alec Burks before a Bullock, just based on the here a number of
people I've I've heard say Reggie Bullock instead of Bullock. You might be right
that he might still be massively underrated apparently. I'm sure I used to say
that because I think he corrected a reporter once or noted it to a reporter,
and just he let it go for years without ever saying it everything.
I'm happy when players say stuff because I butcher pronunciations where I've studied them,
and then I just get nervous because I feel like I can't pronounce them.
It's not been as a sign of disrespect, but it's I would like if
I, like Vujevich, came out and said it's not it's not Vousevic or
Vousevic like that. We I think players should be within their rights to say
that, if that's such a common refrain or mispronunciation. So I agree with
you. Do you remember the whole that it's not Yannis, it's Yanni though
I can't remember if that was from Yeah, that was something that I remember
reading. I'll have to look that up. We're onto the Toronto Raptors,
and so I don't know, what are we on the Orlando Magic Oh that
might be OH becomes OH comes before T alphabetically. Yeah, why do I
of them after this? That is? I have no idea. That's a
little bit disturbing. So shout out to one of our locker room listeners who
said that there might be more to plumb with James Ennis. Feels like he
could be that he's been a good screener this year and could create more of
his own offense. I sadly did not go with James Ennis. I went
with RJ. Hampton because he's really only gotten playing times since he came over
to Orlando. It looks like that dude's gonna be really good. He has
like he has serious control over the offense where I don't know, you know,
is he going to be the best passer? And he's clearly not the
most efficient score right now, but he can really do things that at every
level and is going to hit a lot of difficult shots, and I,
you know, I can envision that being someone who's more likely to be a
building block for them. I'm talking about, let's say, the first or
second best player on a really good team than a Chuma Okeiki, maybe even
a Jonathan Isaac at this point, because we need to see him flesh out
his offense or at least find a niche on offense out of curiosity without looking.
Do you know how many people have played for the Magic this season twenty
six? Oh, you're so close. It's twenty five. It's just been
a weird year for them, and it made it's so hard to pick someone
just with the constant roster roster flux and them trying to figure out identities on
the fly and taking away the obvious central figure of the offense. So yeah,
I struggled with this one. I considered Wendell Carter Jr. I considered
RJ. Hampton. I ultimately went with Cole Anthony. I'm glad with a
person that's been there the entire year, because it's almost a little unfair to
be like, hey, RJ. Hampton comes in, I get it,
I get it. But yeah, I went with Cole Anthony, And it's
to me, it's like a proactive underrated nous, like nothing he's done consistently
has made him underrated so much as like I understand, having followed the NBA
for so long that the pitfalls that rookie point guards typically have to undergo,
especially ones who are thrust into larger than expected roles and who have to overcome
injuries and who are playing with sub quality NBA players for much of the season.
So yeah, like he's shooting poorly from the field, he can't shoot
threes. His defense is inconsistent, though I would argue it's been a little
better than I expected. But you just if you watch him run the offense
and some of the passes that he sees, and the way he already understands
how to read defenses and watch things unfold before they actually unfold, It's been
pretty obvious to me that there's something there, and I don't know if it's
going to be realized or how quickly it's going to be realized. But I'm
just trying to get ahead of the curve because inevitably we're going to see people
look at his rookie numbers and write him off after this first season, despite
all of the hurdles he's been forced to overcome. I feel like it's a
bit of a cop out, but I'm going with it. I don't think
it's a cop out, And there it feels like his outside shooting will eventually
come around, put him with better spacing and maybe give and I think the
confidence level in it is there. I will say, if we're speaking about
confidence, Dwayne Bacon's confidence is aspirational. I want to have the confidence that
Dwayne Bacon has when he's taking a contested mid range jumper. Look. And
I think what's also kind of you know, important for this is he has
shouldered a larger as you already mentioned. I'm only equiness to prove one point
is that he has shouldered like more of a playmaking burden without like seeing like
out being super sloppy. He's a turnover rate of thirteen point two against an
assist percentage of twenty five, which is really rare for a first year league
guard. Right, So I think that that's like it's like, oh,
hey, maybe he is now you have him and RJ. Hampton. That's
and Mark L. Faults if you want to run really small in the future,
that would be lineups that that would be a three man trio that I
would just be very interested in seeing play. I don't know, you know,
RJ. Hampton all of a sudden becomes I guess Faults defends the threes
in those scenarios. But you know that is I'm with you, and I
think you could if you really wanted to. Wendell Carter Juniors played well for
them since he came over. And I still I'm an Obamba believer. I
don't know if that means he's underrated, but just be he's his season,
that's awesome. I mean, look, this season he has been like just
screwed over by health, Like it really took him a long time to come
back from from COVID. What about the previous seasons. I mean that's that's
also for he was He's dealt He dealt with injuries though, like that was
the other thing. So you know, cut my guys, some slack is
a lot. Oh and to to uh your point about col Anthony's assist percentage
to turnover percentage, the last player to do that. I guess this really
isn't like and to qualify for the minutes per game lab, I don't know
if this is aspirational. It was Trey Burke thirteen forty as a rookie,
all right. You know I once viewed Trey Burke as the next Chris Paul
when he was at Michigan. So I'll take that. The list is it's
Trey Burke, Brian Roberts, Kemba Walker, Brandon Jennings, Nick Van Exel,
Pooh Richardson, and Michael Jordan. That's not like that's a that's a
pretty decent list. There are some wide range of outcomes there. Brandon Jennings
was real good as a rookie there. Nick van Exel's pretty underrated historically.
Like there's some talent on that list if you if you kind of filter it
out by who played, let's just say five hundred minutes as the benchmark.
Can you guess who was the last point guard to Monty Morris is on the
list, by the way, but he doesn't cracked a minish threshold. That
makes sense just because he was historically turnover a verse player minimum five hundred minutes
as a rookie. And that's that's even weird because he was like a thirty
two year old rookie right twenty seven. I was close by A. You
were off by a half decade. But let's carry on. Now we're on
to Toronto. They're just not my team to start with. No, Philadelphia,
what is wrong with me? I definitely had a rogue list that I
was building in this Google doc. I'm a I'm just glad that alphabetical order
doesn't matter too much for your job. This is so bad, not a
better moment for you. But anyway, I didn't even question it. I
just have I just have Orlando and Philadelphia listed after Washington at the bottom of
my Google doc. Yeah, I have no explanation for that. I also
don't really have like a firm selection for Philadelphia because they're like very much more
of that Stars and Scrubs mold. It feels like Tobias Harris has gotten the
shine he deserves. Ben Simmons talks about himself enough that everyone knows how good
he is. Joel Embiid is obviously an MVP candidate. Seth Curry has definitely
emerge. I did think about him, just because there's still a perception that
he's Steph Curry's little brother when he has become a great NBA player in his
own right. I went with Matisse table hesitantly. He made a pull up
jumper the other day, so that's progress. But it's it's just it's all
about the ranginess of the defense. It's having a guy who can block three
pointers consistently is huge. He can fill any role on the defensive end,
despite being listed as a guard slash wing. He's just he's that good on
the defensive end that he deserves all defensive love. Probably not going to get
it, just because he doesn't play enough minutes, and because his offensive role,
as stupid as is to talk about an offensive role in all defensive conversation,
isn't large enough for him to get enough national attention. But that kind
of feeds into the underratedness. I don't have a convincing argument here. I
could also say that you could go with the bias. Harris as a guy
just is so associated with this contract that you almost forget how good of a
season he's had. And also because of Philly's if you look at the half
court offensive problems in Fury down the stretch of close games, he's not going
to be the one that solved them, even though he's technically paid like the
guy and plays the position of the person that sit solved them. I went
with fork cork. Moss has been I know, the last five games he's
been a huge scoring difference maker, but he's been like a pretty good difference
maker all year. He's more active defensively than he's going to get credit for.
I don't mean to say he's good all the time, but he can
bust up some plays and he can stick with some of the I won't say
super quick wings, but he's going to help you out positionally. There,
he'll run the floor, gives you someone to even though I think he's one
of those players where you expect that he's shooting a higher clip on his threes
than he actually is thirty seven point three percent this season, and he was
at forty percent last year, So maybe I'm just living too much into his
rookie and sophomore campaigns. So as a compliment, I think he's been really
good for them, and this whole team is just when you have em Beat
and Simmons and then can like fill out with Danny Green. There you're able
to all these other defenders. They almost organically become better. Where it's Tobias
Harris holds up positionally a little bit more and Furcon cork Mouse could be just
more of an asset on that end as well. So for what it's worth,
I was I was not laughing at your argument, which makes a lot
of sense. I was laughing that we just got the push notification from Sham's
Trania that Neland's Noel just agreed to a multi year deal with New York Knicks.
Do you mean Norvelle Peal? Did I get a typo or did I
just misread it quickly? You did? I did misread it. I am
delivering fake news on the podcast, and I apologize to all of our listeners.
Nerland's Noel is still not signed to a multi year deal. That would
be I'm pretty sure that's illegal. So just because he signed as yeah,
I was really I was really confused, but it was a it was a
quick glance at the phone while you were talking, and I clearly just didn't
read write. I don't know what became of it, but he Norman's Well
actually got hit in the face of the Hawks Knicks game right before we recorded
this and he left. I don't know. I didn't see a status update
on that yet. Way to date our podcast, I believe now we're on
the Toronto Raptors, though I'm not mistaken. We are officially on to the
Toronto Raptors. I think you can understand why I wanted to rush it because
my pick was Chris Bouche. I. So I'm gonna let me say right
off the top that he's also my pick, and I'm just gonna move on
to the Wizards after you, because there's no way I will have anything to
add after your Chris Bouche LoveFest. My case here would be that this podcast
probably shouldn't select him because we spent enough time talking about him. But I
still don't think, if anything, he's underrated in the sense that there's this
view the raptor true big and it's the correct of you. But it's not
because Chris Bouche sucks. There are just issues when it comes if you need
him to grab a defensive rebound and then line ups with him and Pascal that
that's your front court, those could be a little bit iffy. Bruschet isn't
up here five, That's fine. He's he's like a four point five.
He's that tweeter big. He's he's really really good. You want the shot
blocking floor spacers, that's exactly what he is. When you look at his
numbers this season. He's also someone who will run the floor with you.
He's a jump shot blocker extraordinaire. No one in the league has blocked more
three point ters this year. He's averaging one point nine blocks and hitting thirty
nine point one percent of his threes in under twenty five minutes per game this
season, almost all of which have come or not actually should say not almost
all of whish. But he's been in the starting lineup of late, which
also hurts his six Man of the Year case. I had him in my
top three last time I did it. He gives you some juice inside the
arc two if you need him to be a roll man. He's getting better
at moving without the ball in general, doesn't need to set a screen to
do it. He can come in from from the corner or fine scenes there.
This is a keeper for them. He has a non guaranteed salary for
next year. If I'm Toronto, obviously I would, you know I would.
I would pick it up. And just because he's not the answer at
the five, because he's gonna be overpowered by a lot of different fives and
doesn't have the conventional size to be this fantastic rebounder, it's almost not you
know, it's not fair. And there can be a level of feast or
famine with him. But when there's a feast of like he can score drop
thirty plus points because like that's just something he's capable of with his shot making.
And yeah, they're they're gonna be in losses, but just whatever.
He's just so active on both ends of the floor. I think he's a
clearly net positive player for this team. Leads them in shots contested at the
rim this year, which early I guess isn't a surprise. And when you
look at the threat of he can be a little bit out of control on
his closeouts because he wants to block those jumpers. But when you look at
this team, the opposition is shooting two point nine percentage points worse when he's
on the court from beyond the arc. And that's not just like some numbers
noise that just watched the Nuggets, and that's accurate. That is the highest
mark of any remaining rotation player the best differential. Norman Powell actually had the
highest differential, but he's import Eland now and Ken Birch is there too,
but he's only played one hundred and twenty seven minutes, So Chris Bruche fantastic.
I still think that there's you know, maybe you have to stagger him
and see Kam a little bit more. You want to get more of a
pure five in there. If he's strictly playing against second units, though,
that's someone that I think can still be a majority of his time at the
five and be a net plus at both ends of the floor. I like
that you took my decision to not add anything seriously and just went so expansive
on Bouchet. I hope that made your day. Look, I mean,
we know we all know how I feel about christ Buche on this podcast.
So I have a question for you, and that that question is what team
comes after Toronto? Alphabetically, I think it's Philly. We're up to Philly
now, right, We're up to Philly. Yeah, so the Washington Wizards.
You know, I wrote down Thomas Bryant and I strongly believe that he
is underrated. He only got to play ten ten games this year before a
torn acled short his season. But you know what, Dan, I lie
to you because my actual pick is Russell Westbrook. I think that he gets
way too much hate. There are definitely ups and downs with his game.
He is an atrocious free throw shooter. On some nights, he's not much
of a floor spacer. He can shoot his way into losses, but the
positives that he brings do not get enough love these days, because his reputation
has shifted so drastically from his superstar MVP winning triple double averaging days that I
think it's overlooked that the dude is still averaging a triple double this season.
And granted that is by no means the sole barometer of greatness or anything like
that, but the roller coaster that he's endured over the last couple of seasons,
I think there's just too much negativity associated with him, and the energy
that he brings to this Washington team is contagious. It has affected all of
his teammates. They all play harder when he's there. Bradley Beale has been
willing to take a step back and let Westbrook take over because of the impact
that it has on everyone else. And the Wizards are back in that play
in tournament hunt because he's there. No, he's not the best player on
the Wizards, but he might be the most important player. Now. He's
not going to win MVP, he's not going to be on an All NBA
team, but the impact that he's had, both statistically and in terms of
energy and effort is just immense and it feels like people are just way too
quick to dismiss him because of the flaws when he is still a phenomenal basketball
player who's going to end up in the Hall of Fame. That's a fair
pick. I went with Garrison Matthews. I couldn't believe that he remained on
a two way contract going into this season. He was Something that I pointed
out is, you know, people should see teams should see if they can
poach him from Washington, and I stand by that that should have happened.
He is shooting, once again a fairly high clip on three's thirty nine point
three percent. What I would echo hears that these are not gimmeys. He's
not just camping out in the corners though that he will hit corner threes.
He's firing on the move off balance, and he can bake in escape tribles
when necessary. There's also an inside arc element to his game. I don't
know how long he could sustain until he becomes a better passer, but he
has a certain comfort level on the ball putting it on the floor and is
lightning quick when he gets going downhill. I would say almost recklessly. So
sometimes might be someone where you could see and this kind of happened and even
more sporadic playing time last year, but you could kind of see him getting
to the line at a higher clip than he has this season. Three attempts
per thirty six minutes. He was at five point four last year, but
again, two hundred twenty seven minutes he played needs to be There's definitely elements
of his game that's gonna need to round out, and he's not. He
is six five. I don't know how many minutes you're gonna be able to
completly get by playing him necessarily at the wing. He has played a lot
of three for Washington. The seasons. Will make of that what you will,
but this is someone he's entering restricted for agency. This could be just
one of those lower cost but but high value adds. Yeah, the only
other name I would add is Daniel Gafford. I think that he might deserve
some love as a future big piece for the Wizards, but I think that
that Matthews is a totally valid choice as well. I will say that I
had Ruby hatch Moore listed as number two. I think that maybe he's sort
of been buried just behind the name power of Bradley Beale and Russell Westbrook.
But since really the beginning of February, I feel like he's there's still been
just you know, those those peaks and values as I mentioned with another player
before, but he's you know, he's going to be able to do some
damage in transition, he's he's defending a bunch of different positions. At that
end, I still think this is going to be someone where if he can
get his just jumper sort of more under control and be more consistent, this
is going to be a really good basketball player. So I came pretty close
to selecting him outright, but he is still sort of that, you know,
has that cachet of from where he was drafted and what they're trying to
do long term to develop him as well. I don't know if it's because
my toddler kept me up all last night or because of what we did,
but this was exhausting from the ideation process to the execution because we just packed
a lot of info into like an out rash. Our ish for us is
seventy minutes ish more like. But I think that's a good place to end
it before we get out of here. Please please, pretty please remember to
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can be found there too. Until next time, I leave everybody with the
shout out to the One, the Only, the player we were both in
locks dep with and wanted to do an entire podcast on, but there just
wasn't time. So damn underrated. There's so much depth to his game, Maxtrus