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What is up Hardwood Knox listeners. I am Dan for Valley, coming at
you with my fabulous co host Adam frommel We are taking a break from our
top ten Players of the decade for every NBA team series and we're going into
the awards ballots. The NBA announced that they're going to base these decisions off
of the season through March eleventh, and we were sort of holding off to
see whether they were going to include the games that would happen in the bubble.
Turns out they are not, and so we're gonna start dropping awards.
There will be separate pods for all NBA, All Defense, all Rookie.
We're just going to go through the seven year end awards right here. Before
we get started, though, First and foremost, shout out to our sponsor
bet Online dot AG. They make this help make this podcast possible. And
second and equally important, Adam, how are you doing. I'm doing pretty
well. This is the last podcast that I'm going to be recording with you
before I get to go on a much needed and properly socially distanced and safe
vacation. It's the first time either my wife or I has has taken a
full week off since twenty sixteen, so I'm excited. That seems like a
long time. It feels like an even longer time. That's sort of the
problem with I mean, you have a child, which I think factors into
that as well. But with work culture in general now is I don't think
there's such a thing as just a full on vacation anymore. I remember my
wife getting mad at me for answering emails and phone calls when we were on
our honeymoon after our wedding, and there's I mean, that's on you,
that's it's one hundred percent on me. But hasn't like the work culture made
it nigh impossible to completely unplug. Oh, absolutely, every time I do,
I feel guilty, Like there's definitely there's definitely a propensity to do too
much work sometimes, I think, and it's it's really hard to pull yourself
away from everything. I think we both have that issue. If anyone has
suggestions, particularly people that are in that business, to help me and Adam
unfug more often DM him, don't DM me. It's fine, DM Adam
FROMO zero nine at FROMO zero nine, but are you ready to go through
this these ballots. I am so we're gonna we have top three for each,
right, we do. And it's still weird that like we're even doing
this at this stage of the year. This season time is meaningless. It's
a flat circle as a as A as a TV show once said, But
I just yeah, it's it's like, it's so strange that we're talking awards
with regular seasons games left to play, with postseason seeds unsettled. This is
just it's it's strange. We haven't seen basketball in four plus months and we're
recording an awards podcast that's about a retrospective. It's not predictive for next season.
It feels like we're talking about ancient history if we even talk about like
October of twenty nineteen, right. I should note, as someone who's been
super critical of sports resuming in general, and in the sense that I'm not
an expert, but it just didn't feel right. The NBA did have zero
tests in the bubble of three hundred and forty six that were given out on
Monday or Tuesday. I believe I can't remember the day at this point.
That's great. I think that's just celebrate good news. I don't think it's
necessarily telltale of what's to come. But we finally got some just good news
on the NBA restart front, and so that's encouraging, and maybe we'll be
recording this for a purpose of, Oh, we're gonna watch actual basketball stud
and we can see how right or wrong our picks ultimately were. I still
think there's some level of cognitive dissonance in play here. Just because it's one
hundred percent great news that there were no positive tests, it's less great news
that those tests are all turned around so quickly when we still see wait times
throughout the country, and like, I still have to grapple with the idea
that the NBA is allocating resources, whether it's taking away or not. But
they're definitely like turning around results quicker and using these proximity indicators that could be
better used elsewhere. So it's still is like, I'm happy that the plan
is working, that the players seem to be in a safe situation, but
it still feels like it's just a little funky. There does feel like a
morality dilemma there. I know that the the agency or laboratory, whatever you're
saying that they're using is that the NBA is not affecting their own turnaround time.
But if it gets to a point where that's possible or that actually happens,
is where it gets even harder to grapple with. And so right now
I kind of feel not. I was more worried about the the sanctity of
the bubble the effectiveness of it, and that was sort of secondary at the
point. If we get to a time, I guess where now that can
be the main concern because we've established that the bubble is working. Maybe that's
even a good sign. But yeah, it's it's tough all around. But
I do think objectively. While I don't know that it's tell tale, it's
just good news to hear that there were zero cases returns positive for that's a
great segue to get into Executive of the Year talk. I don't know about
you. If you can flesh out that segue, I would love to hear
it. Well, we have good news for people that want pat Riley,
we'll have an Executive of the year. Maybe if we're looking at your ballot,
Yeah, so Executive of the year. So let's do it this way.
I'll give my top three. You want to give your top three,
and we'll do it that we can mention any other names that might spring to
mind for us. But my top three where pat Riley, Lawrence Frank was
second, David Griffin was third. So I've got Sam Presty third, and
then pat Riley second and Lawrence Frank first. So we have this. I
had Sam Presty him and Chris Wallace of the Grizzlies. Where the other two
people I considered what is Bessia. Jerry should probably get some retroactive credit just
for building so much depth that Toronto is still such a powerhouse, right,
but it does it felt weird to like give him an award for what he's
done in previous seasons. Yeah, it's like, can you weigh like things
that marinate in this? I think you can to some extent. But when
you do some extent, Yeah, but you know, Terrence Davis and Matt
Thomas, they're only going to get you so far in this. I mean
og and A Noby's development matters. He's still riding to Pascal siakamwave. But
if some wants to put him in the top five, I just don't know
that he belongs in the top three. Relatives of the parameters. I would
imagine that your case for Lawrence frank Is is pretty blunt. It's it's pretty
simple. It's it's managing to acquire Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the same
offseason while maintaining the core of the team. It's as simple as that.
Yeah, And I do think it's it's really cool that we have a year
where two general managers on opposing sides of the same trade are both getting love
for that trade, like the Thunder's ability to give up Paul George, get
a reasonable return for him and stay this competitive because you also managed to get
Chris Paul and he's had such a phenomenal season as will get to later,
Like, that's that's just really cool. I don't know the last time two
prominent contenders for the Executive of the Year award had involvement in the same blockbuster
trade. Yeah, I mean to get Shay giljert Auxander and Daniel Gallanari as
part of the Paul George trade, plus all that cachet of draft picks was
was huge and they are sort of I think the Russell Westbrook trade immediately was
more helpful to them because this season specifically they have the better player. I
just don't really think that's up for debate at all. It's not I had
I still went with pat Riley just because the Heat didn't have cap space,
and they still managed to go out and get Jimmy Butler. And then this
is sort of the Messiah Jerry case. We're having the Duncan Robinson, even
Kendrick Nunn since they had signed him last season, like those fine sort of
marinate and so I think you have to commend him for that. There's even
the bam at a bio like this is his boom, and so you have
to give that front office credit for drafting him in the first place. But
it was closed between that and Laurence Frank for me. And then look,
the Pelicans are just there. They might not make the playoffs. If Zion
was healthy all year, I might be inclined to say they definitely would have
made the playoffs. But it looks like they've set themselves up really nicely for
both the present and future. Despite trading who was a top seven player and
Anthony Davis over the summer and being forced into it. It's not something that
they wanted to do at the time. What pushed Lawrence Frank of the Clippers
ahead for me was that the success of the team is a direct result of
his moves. You can give credit to Doc Rivers for the coaching job that
he's done in Los Angeles, but it was still a direct byproduct of that
movement. Whereas while pat Riley made good moves while continuing to leave cap space
open for future free agency pursuits, I think so much of the credit there
the internal development the coaching of Eric Spoelstra has to go to other places that
it was difficult for me to put him in the number one spot. I
think sort of that's a good way to look at it. But some of
the things he like did on like transaction wise on the margins actually helped his
case for me. There's also this, I forget drafted Tyler hero I already
went over Jimmy Butler. They jet us into sun Whiteside, which then cleared
the way for bam Adebayo's breakout, which I think certainly helps signing Igodolla could
be big, Like there are looks like an actual Okay, fine, and
let's I forget the Duncan Robinson Duncan Robinson, but the James Johnson and Deon
Waiders trade itself. He was able to you know, you sold high on
Justice Winslow while he was injured, and you were able to get off both
James Johnson and Deon Waiters without trading a future first round pick or a high
end prospect aside from Winslow in the process. And so him doing moves,
his doing moves the middle of the season, I think probably tipped him over
the edge. For me, that's fair, and I think the Winslow move
looks even better now. Fifteen minutes before we started recording this, Winslow is
ruled out for the rest of the season with a hip injury. So he
didn't give up much to get Igodala in that move, but yeah, it
was He is a very deserving candidate. I just stand by him having an
impact, but not the whole impact on why that team is successful. Whereas
with Frank Like managing to keep all the pieces together and acquiring two marquee superstars
in the same offseason is untouchable for me, I think, I think that's
totally fairly look at and look, they traded from Marcus Morris middle of the
season two. Can't forget about that. We haven't really seeing whether he's a
great fit. He wasn't playing too well at the time. But that's also
something else too to consider. Coach of the Year, Do you want me
to go first? You want to go first on this one? I mean,
this is the easiest pick of all for me. It's Nick Nurse of
the Toronto Raptors. I don't I don't think there's really any debate there,
just given his ability to continue keeping this roster at the top of the Eastern
Conference after losing Danny Green and to a lesser extent, Kawhi Leonard. Sorry
that was backwards. Just continuing to make sure that every piece of that rotation
thrives, continuing to get the most out of Pascal Siakam. Everything has worked.
I'm really excited to see what he can do during the restart with so
much time to continue working with all of the pieces healthy. No Raptor has
really stayed healthy throughout this entire season and they've still been this successful. Son
given the extra time, he's going to run strategic circles around everyone else.
It seems like there's a huge list of second tier contenders for this award.
I personally had Taylor Jenkins and Eric Spoelstra in my second and third spots,
but you can very easily make cases for Frank Vogel, Rick Carlisle, Billy
Donovan, and Mike Budenholz and probably some others. Yeah, I think Nurse
was my number one two for all the reasons you outlined, and then just
the contributions he's gotten from those fringe roster guys. We thought that the organization
has given him. They got quality minutes from Rondae Hollis Jefferson when they were
really banked up this year. I'm a big Terrence Davis guy. You know
that as well. The lineups that he throws out there can can be really
funky. He's it feels like he's leaning on Pascal Siakam on offense, almost
in spite of the results sometimes and that's not really a shot at Pascal Siakam,
but it's he's so determined to make sure that Pascal Siakam is going to
be okay. Is this primary initiator in the half court, not just not
just on the break, and the Raptors are still finding a way to weather
it. And I do think that he is. The coaching staff in general
is a big part of their defensive success. It's certainly the personnel that they've
put in place, but Toronto can really shape shift just depending on its opponents.
So he's the easy number one for me. It's slushing out the rest
of the ballot. That's where it gets tough. I'd spoon number two like
you, And then I went with Doc Rivers. Actually, because of all
the injuries that the Clippers navigated, Paul George wasn't the most available. You've
had, Patrick Beverley missed some time. There's been a lot of inconsistency there.
And then we've argued that their sort of optionality is one of their greatest
strengths. But it's also probably more so moving forward than it was this season
because injuries made decisions for him. But you're looking at who's going to close
games for this team's how do you balance Lou Williams's inclusion when he hurts you
on defense, And yes, his offense is valuable, but you have all
these other ball handlers, and so I give him a lot of credit for
what he's done, but I also had Stevens. I went five deep for
this one. You know, Stevens belongs on there. And then Taylor Jenkins,
Frank Vogel could be tied. Even Billy Donovan. I'm not sure if
you mentioned him too, but just for the with the Thunder have done this
season, and if you want to mention Rick Carlisle, they've dealt with a
ton of injuries as well, and then inconsistency from Kristaps porzingis too. I
feel like Carlisle is the guy that never gets enough credit in this conversation because
he's part of it every year. It's just like perpetual voter fatigue. But
what he's done with the Mavericks has been incredible, just fully unleashing Don Chich,
who's made that huge second year jump while having his troops literally produce the
best offensive rating in NBA history, which is not an easy accomplishment even in
today's three heavy game. Like he has gotten the best out of Tim Hardaway
Junior, he has made sure that his rotation has been able to navigate all
of those injuries and working in Chris stops. Just what he's done has been
incredible, pushing this Dallas team so far ahead of schedule that they're like a
legitimate lower tier contender where it wouldn't be that surprising if they got hot during
a playoff series and knocked off one of the premier teams. He deserves love
every year and this one is no different. I feel like whatever will say
three bench player lineup or more that he wants to roll out, there's just
going to be in net plus that's just every season. That's just what it
feels like. If you're struggling in the NBA, just go join Dallas and
Rick Carlisle will manage to make it work somehow. The last note on this
I wanted to say is, and I talked about this on a previous podcast,
it feels like the Raptors is to bring it back to Nick Nurse,
the reputation that the San Antonio Spurs has as this just billboard for the best
culture in the NBA and maybe the best like develop mental track record, Like
it feels like they're that team now and so the track record doesn't stem too
deep at this point, but it's they're the team that seems to epitomize the
best culture in the league. And then if you want to put a fringe
roster guy on their depth chart, that's where you're gonna believe most that he
would crack the rotation and be actually good. Toronto was a very popular lottery
finished projection going into this season. Like there were a number of prominent outlets
and writers who had them outside of the playoff picture. And it's unfathomable.
Unfathomable now that a decade has passed since the start of the year, but
like that was the reality two decades even, it wouldn't be surprising. Sports
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Next up on our list six a Man of the Year. I'll go
through mine since you did yours last. This was I hate my ballot.
I just want just fyling right now. I hate this award in general,
it's so tough to parse. I went with Montres Harrold number one. Dante
di Vincenzo was number two for what I believe is a stellar two way impact
and for fitting alongside all of the best players on his team. Then I
had Dennis Shrewder third. Honorable mentions for me by the way to Justin Holliday.
And then of course this is the Lou Williams slash Jamal Crawford Awards,
and we have to mention Lou Williams in this I had. I had Jordan
Clarkson third for what he's done with the Utah Jazz, just becoming that high
scoring bench weapon that they really need. My second place was Montrese Harrold and
first place was Dennis Shrewder. For me, I devalued Tres for two reasons.
One is that by definition, there's only one sixth man on a team,
and it's hard to tell whether that's him or Lou Williams on the Clippers,
just because they have two prominent bench pieces. And then also Shrewder is
part of the closing lineup in Oklahoma City, that three guard monster lineup that
they use with Chris Paul and Shaygil just Alexander, that's so important to their
success. He is an integral figure of that. While having the best season
of his career, Mantras typically thrives against backups, and there's immense value in
being able to do that and to keep your team afloat against second units and
maintain leads. But you don't see him as part of the closing lineups as
often, and you don't see him playing against the best adversaries that there are
to offer, as opposed to Shrewder, who is on the floor for those
moments. I agree with building up Shrewder in that regard, but for the
season specifically, Tres did log enough time to the starters with me and in
closing lineups to put him here. What probably is his bigger detraction, this
is just my opinion specifically, would be I don't know that he's the best
fit on their team alongside their best players. And where you can say that
Dennis Shrewder is working with Oklahoma City's best players, I not Shrewder because the
offense craters whenever he doesn't play with Chris Paul and I don't know how much
that matter if you're coming off the bench, but part of this should be
you're trying to bridge the gap of a superstar absence, and Trez is better
suited to do that. Of course, he has lou Williams to help him,
which then gets into the trouble with parsing this award. He also he's
a little bit more self sufficient. I think people give him credit forward like
he can really he can put the ball on the floor and going a straight
line and use some force on the block. But no, he's not going
to be headlining these lineups on his own. His numbers and his efficiency this
season though, we're just absolutely off the charts and he'll out work pretty much
anyone. And so he was there for me. I considered putting Dante DiVincenzo
in first, probably for longer than I should have if he just doesn't have
the sample size that a lot of the other guys do on this list.
But they've played him at point guard in Milwaukee. He fits with their best
players. He's run some units without both Jannis and Chris Middleton that have been
okay. I did notice that some of the advanced defensive metrics, specifically ESPN's
defensive real plus minus, which I believe they tweaked. Don't love him as
much as they did before. I still do believe that he's a real defensive
impact, breaking up plays from behind, is not a bad rebounder for his
position. So he's someone that I don't think is going to get enough love
in this But that might also be because George Hill has been so good for
them too, And that's why Dennis Shrewder's so appealing, is because there's not
that other guy on the team to take votes away or consideration away. Justin
Holliday deserves though some considerations. Been an absolute monster on offense this year,
just looking at his efficiency, and then they've had him defending up to power
forwards. Those are backup power forwards. But still he's six six, and
I know he's long, but he's not like this huge, burly guy,
and so that's super impressive. I definitely spent a good bit of time considering
both George Hill and Dante de Vincenzo. I think that Jevencenso in particular is
one of those cases that requires so much nuance that he's more likely to feature
and A should be there than is going to be their conversation, and I'm
not entirely sure how we're slanting this because those are so inextricable. I also
want to note that I hate saying bad things about Montrez Harold, like I
would love nothing more than for him to win, because he's so much fun
to watch and that hustle is just infectious. I always love guys who maximize
every bit of talent they have every moment that they're on the floor, and
he fits that to a t. I maybe this is like a sympathy nod
for him, because I almost feel like you could take him off the Clippers
and they're not that much worse. I know, I know, and that's
why I feel horrible. But he's really good. I want to make that
queer but that I can't shake that feeling either, and it's probably because he's
also in the perfect role correct. I don't think like if he if some
team decides to trade for him or pay to pay him big money in free
agency to be a featured piece, I don't think that's gonna work too well.
But like on a contender where he can make the most of more limited
minutes. It's perfect for him, right, And so that's why I'm fascinated
by his free agency. I'm fascinated by a lot of players free agencies because
if he wants to get more than the middle of exception, I'm assuming the
Clippers will give him well more than that. But when you look at the
teams that have tap space, there's gonna be about four to six of them,
unless the New York Knicks get drunk on Tweeter Bigs again, or Charlotte
really wants Tress, and I guess that's possible. I just don't see a
clear market for him, and it doesn't I like him a lot more if
he provided you just a little bit more value on defense where it's Kenny anchor
and above average defense just as the primary back line defender. And there are
minutes when you can do that. But can he do it against starters?
Those are all fair questions. And then he's not something that you're gonna want
to pull out to the perimeter either, and he's not the best rebound.
Or maybe if the personnel arounds him different where you don't rely on the wings
to pick up boards too, perhaps he can do a little bit more there
I just don't. I don't know who would give him the big money contract,
in part because there's not a ton of cap space, but for also
the reasons that you outlined, is he it seems like he requires just this
very specific type of roster to be around. I do just want to reiterate
that I hate this award, Like the whole concept of the sixth Man of
the Year is dumb because starting shouldn't be as relevant as it is in the
NBA. It's more about being a part of the closing lineup or it's not
like we're giving a ward in general. Yeah, yeah, who aren't a
part of the closing lineup? And it also just the voting so much tends
to be like, hey, let's look through see guys who didn't start,
and then see who scored the most points. What I will say is that
it can be hard to come off the bench, and I would say more
limited minutes. I mean, look, rontras Hell is averaging twenty seven point
eight minutes per game, like that's those are starter minutes basically, But if
you're playing between you know, let's look at Christian would before he was inserted
into the starting lineup, who you could have considered depending on what your criteria
is for this. Derek Rose also could deserve an honorable mention. I didn't
pick him and I was gonna put him high, but he was starting when
this whole when Leicia down. But Seth Curry was a name that I didn't
think enough people considers for this. It's but anyway, I believe in a
rhythm, and I'm not sure how much I believe in it, Like how
how can it impact your performance? But coming off the bench and being expected
to make a high level impact when your minutes are going to come in smaller
bursts and maybe a little bit more irregularly. And a lot of teams are
good with their substitution patterns, obviously, but when your samples a little bit
smaller and you don't have the luxury of sort of warming up to your role.
I do respect that, and so maybe that's why this award is still
prevalent. But I absolutely agree with you that starting shouldn't be like this identifier
like it it's almost like positions at this point where those just don't matter as
much as they did in the past. Agreed on all fronts, which brings
us to the rookie of the year award, which I don't think is tough
and is only a controversy if you're going to select a certain someone. I
went first last time, so we'll let you go first here. So I
mean, I have John Morant winning this award because duh. He's been incredible
for the Memphis Grizzlies on so many levels, just pushing that team way ahead
of schedule into the playoff picture, taking control of the offense, avoiding the
typical rookie pitfalls of inefficient shooting and turnover woes. He's exciting, he's invigorating,
he's given the franchise new identity after the grid and Grind era. Just
he checks every single box with a plum. He's the obvious winner here.
Zion Williamson is still number two on my ballot because he's made such an incredible
impact in the nineteen games that he's played, but the fact that he's only
played nineteen games means that he basically is disqualified from rising any higher. You
could give third place, you could give second place to Brandon Clark because he's
been so effective, but because there's such a huge gap between one and everyone
else, I'm just gonna give it to Cam Reddish because go Hawks. Wow,
I'm just gonna pends with that as a Brandon Clark because that's the that's
the correct thing, so it is. It is the correct thick. But
like I'm gonna give a little love to Reddish for improving throughout the year and
which completely doing away with his slow start and convincing Atlanta fans that he might
actually be a long term piece, even though they and by they I mean
me questioned the selection in the draft and questioned and more when he struggled at
the start of the year. More questionable to me is what they gave up
to draft DeAndre Hunter. That just didn't seem like the draft to make that
move. It did not. Brand Clark is really third, so I had
John Morant number one as well. And where we're going to differ is because
I already believe that Zion Williamson is the best rookie in the NBA, the
best player of this rookie class, and so if I'm not going to put
him one, I need to steer into it. And I'm gonna put Brandon
Clark two because he has the larger sample. He was really good, and
I think that effectiveness has to matter So if I'm gonna wait sample for John
Moran over Williamson when I believe that Zion's already better, that was just my
rational there. But two for John Moran. I also don't think that right
now. And this isn't necessarily a hot take, but I believe Ian Williams
is better. I don't believe it's by much Oscar Robinson, and I'm not
sure that's a statement that deserves to go unchallenged. So look, just to
contextualize his season this year, Oscar Robinson, until this season was the only
other first year player to average at least twenty points an eight assists while matching
Morant's true shooting. That's cross aeric comparisons are tough, but holy wow,
and we can now throw Oh, Trey Young was in there as well.
So it was Trey Young and Oscar Robinson. So excuse me, but that's
still incredible company to be in. And the burden he carries on offense for
rookie is just it's mind melting. And there's the escapism off the dribble.
And this is something I didn't watch closely enough, but Zach low It talked
about it on his podcast. Is that people like me who are worried about
his fit with Justice Winslow long term, maybe even Kyle Anderson and Dylan Brooks
because he needs the ball in his hand. He does work off the ball
and really goes after it on cuts. And so now this is someone who
I don't know if you want to call him plug and play, but if
he ups his three point volume a little bit because he's hitting the threes that
he's taking mostly off the dribble, we're talking about an MVP level talent.
And so there might be two MVP level talents that come out of this draft
class, which is just absolutely bonkers. And so Brandon Clark though two for
me, and then Zion was three. I had Eric pash Gal as an
honorable mention here I would have put him forth, and then PJ. Washington
started off really hot, but he was there was a roller coaster ride throughout
the season, but I think he held it pretty steady, especially on offense
throughout the year that he could probably deserve some some just you know, residual
dap in this discussion, I just I can't get over how good Morant is
as a twenty year old rookie. It just it's unfathomable how good he is
at this age, the command that he has over the offense. The only
thing that I wish you would change is how he lands, because it terrifies
me every time. Land on two feet. Don't land at weird angles.
Protect your body. There's there's so much of his game that reminds me of
Dwyane Wade, just the ability to attack and kind of play contortionist in the
air and leap early and go in the air in unexpected ways. Wade was
such a good faller. He never seemed to get hurt when he hit the
ground. He knew how to take contact and absorb it and get up fast.
And we've seen Marant have more awkward falls in his rookie season than Wade
has had in his entire career, or so it seems, And I just
I need him to change that because we cannot afford to lose this talent.
Right. He is a I would call him a violent lander is the best
way to put it. Yes, And you need to be a soft lander
if you play the way that he does. Fun fact, one of my
puppies, Wade gives me the same anxiety when he lands after jumping, but
he's also just like this violent jumper where it seems like his I'm worried he's
going to displace his hip at some point because it's just so violent to one
side. But Brant is a graceful leaper. I'll say that it's the landing
where And what I like about him is that he seems like he wants to
murder you at the rim, Like anytime he sees a seven foot or anywhere
near the City of the Basket, he's just going to try and take off
like that. He has that hit fact right for sure, Like in every
way, in every way, he's like every once in a while, there
come along these players who, like you can't help but get really excited when
you watch them, when you talk about them, when you think about them,
whatever it may be. And we knew Zion was going to beat that
and he is that. But I don't think we expected Jaw to reach that
level of excitement this quickly though, Like you can't talk about this guy without
smiling. Something I will say about Zion that I actually was concerned about was
how he would work in a half court offense, just because you know,
when he gets going downhill on the break and everything that he's impossible to stop.
He is so quick with everything he does in the half court that,
no, you don't necessarily want him initiating yet, but he's going to pass
or drive or you know, work in the post. Like it doesn't seem
like his possessions last a long time, so that he doesn't. The IQ's
there for him to become a more methodical player, but right now he's like
smart enough to where he doesn't need to do that either, And so his
dominance, that's why it feels so real to me. And look, twenty
eight point five points, eight point two rebounds, two point six assists for
thirty six minutes while hitting fifty nine five percent of his two's speak for itself.
And then also, I believe this is a factual statement, but Brandon
Clark has yet to miss a floater this year. I think that's correct,
and I think he might have made more than he's taken at this point.
Yeah, that's yeah, Brandon Clark has has made more floaters than he's attempted.
Let's let's write that down. The next award we have coming up here
is most improved Player. And as some of my message apps go off in
the background, so I'll start with this one. I had Luca Dontats at
one, Brandon Ingram at two, and bam Adebayo at three. I also
gave consideration a Christian Wood and Jason Tatum. People probably also make cases for
Pascal Siakam. They're you know, small cases to be made for DeVante Grahams
as well, but but done for me. Is like he was already carrying
superstar usage last year and then just exploded anyway, and so you're looking at
his usage skyrocketing, and yet he's upped his two point shooting by basically seven
percent. He's shooting fifty seven point seven percent on two's compared to a fifty
seven point four percent on two is compared to fifty point three percent last year.
His three point clip is down, but his overall true shooting percentage is
up by almost four points. His usage is at thirty seven, up from
thirty point five. And he's just he's more dynamic than he was last year.
He's just stronger when it comes to finishing on his drives, and his
floaters generally craftier. He just feels like he is more of the complete package.
I know he's had his crunch time issues. Last year, but where
he was splashing in just step back trickles at the triples at this ridiculous rate
and flinging ridiculous passes and now feels like he's just rounded out his game more
to create more chaos when he's inside the arc. And the list of players
to average more than twenty eight points and eight assists per game on his efficiency
includes Trey Young doing it this year, James Harden and Lebron James and that's
it, just having a monster season. And so while he was already of
the superstar ilk, he's so much clearly better. Last year. He went
from what do you want to say, a top thirty to top twenty five
player last years. Now he's got to be top five, top seven,
And that's one of the hardest leaps to make. You know, It's easier
to go from top fifty or top one hundred to just much higher up on
that list because you're splitting hairs a little bit more. But once you're trying
to crack that really elite, superstar tier, it gets really hard to do.
And the fact that he did it as a sophomore, it just it
bends your brain. I agree that Luca don Chich is the most improved player
in the NBA, and yet he's not on my ballot. And that's only
because I personally think that second year players should be disqualified from this award,
just because we see those bigger jumps happen so frequently, and that sophomore leap
is almost an expectation for high draft picks. You know, you can give
love to DeVante Graham, you can give love to Trey Young. You should
give love to Luca don Chich. But I just I can't put those guys
on my personal ballot because of that one stipulation. So I have Jason Tatum
third. I have Christian Wood second, and not having him first was difficult,
and he might have been first had the season continued and he continued that
ridiculous trajectory that he was on just before the shutdown. Just to go from
a guy who struggled to stick on any roster to being an absolute, no
doubt keeper for the Detroit Pistons was huge. I do have Bam out to
Bio in first place, because he completely transformed his game. He made the
scoring leap, he made even more of a defensive leap. He went from
being a seldom used distributor to being one of the Heat's primary playmakers while still
serving as this all around defensive weapon who could also score from all over the
court. The level of importance to that team that he gained from his second
to his third season without sacrificing any effectiveness but actually getting better his jump was
not just a byproduct of going from twenty three to thirty four minutes per game.
It was him legitimately getting that much better. So I totally get the
argument for don chich. I can't really disagree with it because he has made
what is an even more difficult leap to make, as you mentioned, But
just because of my own personal rules on this vote, I have to have
autobio first. Yeah, I almost put him lower because I thought I view
it as more a circumstance of opportunity for him than an actual leap. But
I think I think those opportunities come because of his skill too. Yeah,
and that definitely matters. And I used to ascribe to the same. I
won't include second your players on this, but I was basically destroyed for it
last year, and so I just decided to kind of be more flexible there
this year. But I actually understand that as well. And look, I
would have no qualms on putting brand In Ingram first because he's a better shot
maker than he was. We always saw him getting to his spots, and
we talked about him in our last podcast, so we won't go to in
detail here, but as we mentioned then, the fact that he can fit
within a wider team dynamic now more seamlessly than he did during his first three
seasons in the league. That's a big deal and a huge part of his
improvement. And so if we were going to remove second year players from consideration,
I would still go with Brandon Ingram as number one. Then, and
you actually feel like he will be the one to win the award. I
don't really have a feel for hes going to win this one. Just like
six Manut of the Year, I don't really know who's going to win that
one. And then, like you mentioned Christian Wood at the season unfolded differently,
he might be higher up here. And then Jason Tatum deserves some love
as well. I know people have painted his rise as sort of this one
month transformation. It's been way more in the making than that. He's been
really good this year, and it's been more he's just been better. I
think that people are giving him him credit for are we also have to well,
we have to give some love first to Pascal Siakam, who you mentioned
briefly just as an aside, But like, this guy won Most Improved Player
last year, and he should have won Most Improved Player last year, and
he's a very legitimate a candidate this time around as well. I think that
his leap is more the product of opportunity after Kawhi Leonard left than a lot
of these other candidates, where he hasn't both gotten bigger volume numbers and more
efficient he has sacrificed some effectiveness to take on that bigger role. But just
the fact that he won the award last year and is still a legitimate contender
this season. That's not supposed to happen, and that is a tremendous testament
to the work ethic and desire to keep ascending the superstar hierarchy on his part.
Yeah, I think that's important. That's important to talk about as well.
Wade agrees. Yeah, Wade, Wade is voicing his voicing his agreement
in this process. Do you want to take us through Defensive Player of the
Year. Absolutely, this was a little bit of a tricky one, just
because there is not much of a historical precedent for one person winning MVP and
Defensive Player of the Year. Michael Jordan and Hakim Malajuan are the only ones
who have done so. But I think Jannis still has to be the favorite.
The biggest knock against him that I have is that Brook Lopez's presence makes
his candidacy a little bit tougher because Lopez is another viable another viable selection for
the ballot and the ability to protect the rim lets. Janis thrive in more
of a versatile free safety role, but the defense also maintains its effectiveness far
better with Jannis on the court without Lopez than vice versa, and it's still
clear that he is the biggest driving factor for their success. So I did
have Jannis first. I had Ben Simmons second, and Anthony Davis third.
There are a lot of a lot of reasonable choices for this one. I
think it's it's tougher to put someone like Kawhi Leonard or Rudy Gobert on the
ballot this year, whether for availability or slight declines and effectiveness and possibly some
voter fatigue on the last one, but Jannis is the deserving winner here.
I think I wanted to put Joel and B he would have had a really
strong case. I think if he played more this year, and there did
seem to be a rest of the season for just like a couple of weeks
where it just didn't feel like he had it, I ended up with.
My honorable mentions would be Kwhi Leonard just because he turned it on like a
third of the way through the season or something, and then Ben Simmons would
be an uh honorable mention for me. I had Anthy Davis hit third.
And I know people get caught up in his on off splits just because the
Lakers are technically better defensively without him on the floor this season, But when
you look at the lineups he has to anchor, he spends a lot of
time beside you know, Kyle Kuzma, Roger on Rondo, those are just
tough lineups to anchor. And I actually think Kyle Kuzma has been a little
bit better defensively over the past two seasons than most people have given him credit
floor, but he's so tough to fit positionally on the defensive side the floor
that it does increase the burden for anthy Davis. Number two for me was
Rudy Gobert, just because even when you kind of factor in the malaise that
he had, he's still one of the two most impactful defenders in the least
Wow are there are no such things as facts? Okay, glad we but
he caught a lot of shit. Pardon my friends there. I've actually been
trying to curse less on this podcast for how the series unfolded against Houston last
year. But by the end of it like he had kind of he and
the jazz had adapted, and the fact that he's more of a traditional big
man I could do that he does deserve credit for it. He is one
of the two biggest rim to turns in the NBA. Depending on how you
feel about Joe Embiid, he's not as much of a deer in headlights when
he's pulled outside the restricted area as people like to think. And so if
he had just been a little bit more consistent during the kind of the meat
and potatoes of the season where it seems like he was more lethargic when it
came to getting back in transition just for a little while, and it does
seem like there were some stuff going on behind the scenes there, or maybe
he wasn't as happy with his offensive role that actually matters for this. And
look, I'll be open here. Maybe it's just voter fatigue because he won
twice. Maybe he's the one that should be winning this. I went with
Joannis Attentacopo as well, though, And you know you mentioned having brook Lopez
there could actually hurt him, and I agree. Maybe it pulled some votes
away from him. Maybe people believe that his job is just essentially easier.
But the Bucks have the best defense in the NBA by a mile and jannest
attempt Coopo. They are more than ten points better prone hundred possessions on defense
with him on the court, and to have that type of impact is just
it's monstrous. That's the third biggest defensive rating swing among players who've cleared at
least five hundred minutes of court time, So we're seeing that's a huge swing
for someone who plays for the team that has the league's best defense, and
a defense that is still in about the seventieth percent tile of points aloud prone
hundred possessions when he's off the court, seventy first percent tile and he's made
sixty seventh percentile. Excuse me, I can't him my numbers straight here,
So he's making the league's best defense that much better. What I've also been
impressed with is he has spent more reps at center than ever, and the
Bucks have a great defense during those during those stints when he's on the court
as their de facto five, opponents are getting to the rim less when he's
on the court as well. They're shooting under forty two percent at the rim
against him this season forty one point eight percent on three point three attempts,
and look, that's the best. That's the stingiest mark among one hundred and
twenty five players who are facing at least three attempts at the rim per game.
So he's by far to me, but maybe not by far. But
it wasn't a hard decision for me to label him as the defensive player of
the Year this season. More than ever, I see why Gobert is against
facts, because all of those make a pretty clear case for Yannis. Rudy
Gobert had doubled down on that because that was just such a dumb statement.
That was a bad tweet, that was a bad tweet, and I can't
defend I think I mocked it on Twitter yesterday as well. I do think
he does have a semi compelling case for this. I just think this season
Jannis has been decidedly better to where it's, yes, you can argue for
Gobert, but it's just going to feel like a stretch in comparison to Janni's
attempt Kompo's blend of versatility and volume, because no, he's not going to
shoulder that same backline defensive role that Gobert has, but he does so many
different things on the defensive end so consistently end in mad that it pretty clearly
takes him pass Rudy Gobert's defensive value this season. I also think that if
Jannis is going to win a DPOY, it needs to be this year because
Ben Simmons is going to win the next few. Wow, that actually is
a take. Yeah, I think there's a little heat on that one,
But just the versatility and growth that he's shown on that end this year have
been tremendous. He probably more than any other player including Jannis, has the
ability to guard literally anyone on the floor, and his ability to do that
is so key for Philadelphia. Just he seems to have more of an understanding
of schemes and positioning than ever this year. He is constantly in the passing
lanes. He is constantly wreaking havoc. There are so many things that aren't
going to show up in the stat sheet, like the deterrence when he's guarding
a star player and he prevents them from even touching the ball because you can't
get it by him on an entry pass or on an off ball route around
the corners. Just his ability to impact everything is overwhelming, and I think
you can make a case that he's been the best defender in the year in
the league this year already. But without the team's success that Jannis is enjoying,
it's harder to make a case for him in the number one spot.
But that's going to change going forward. I honestly wonder if it will be
you know, he's gonna you know, you talked about Brook Lopez kind of
taking away that consideration from Jannis. Joel Embiid, particularly when he plays enough,
is definitely going to soak up votes and sponge them off of Ben Simmons.
To me, it's really hard, It's really hard to be the Defensive
Player of the Year when you're the only good defender on your team. Though,
like this is this is one of those awards where I think, like
having that co star in the area hurts you the least. I think it's
still possible to win MVP with another top ten player alongside you. I think
it's definitely possible to win Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, or
sixth Man of the Year. But with Defensive Player of the Year, I
feel like it's almost a necessity to have another good defender next to you,
because if you don't, the results aren't going to be there. I agree
that that's this is the easiest award in which to overcome if you have that
elite partner, But I also think it benefits someone like a Rudy Gobert.
You know, maybe he'll offer from voter Fatiam moving forward. But even look
at this last season, like Joe Angles is a good defender, Joe Ingles
isn't a great defender, and Mike Conley wasn't available enough this year, and
you know he's older, so he's probably let's say Lee Gaverage maybe slightly above
and so his body of work in Utah has been so impressive during these past
few years because he really hasn't been beside another close to all NBA caliber defender.
He's one of the few systems unto themselves. Yes, Rudy Gobert is
a system onto himself. And so look, we were dumping all over his
tweet because it was absolutely terrible, just absolutely horrible. Phenomenal defender, generational
defensive talent, and so that not a knock against what he's done on the
court. Our final category zone, We're gonna get this done in sub fifty
minutes, like we kind of sort of set out too, We said sub
forty five, but hey, we've been going over an hour lately. Do
you want to take us through MVP as well? I would love to.
I'm gonna have Janna Sanda Dakumpo in first place as the runaway winner to make
it back to back, to make it MVP and DPOY, and then it
gets a little trickier. I'm actually gonna have James Harden in second place.
I know that the popular opinion, the popular opinion is have Lebron James,
and there's absolutely a case for that. I think that Harden gets way too
much hate just his ability to elevate and carry an offense for not just one
game, but for significant portions of a season is so significant. He creates
everything for this team, and he did even more when Russell Westbrook was struggling.
His ability to thrive on offense to hold his own on defense while playing
against bigger players enabled Houston to go to this ultra small ball lineup that they've
been using, which in turn allowed Russell Westbrook to break out. Russell Westbrook
does not play like he does at the end of the pre restart season.
The only part that we're considering for these awards. If Harden doesn't absolutely dominate
as a generational all time great offensive player. It's popular to hate on him
because he shoots too many free throws and draws too many Tiki tack fouls and
plays a ball commadering dribble it into the ground style. It works, it's
effective. He is a system unto himself, and he had yet another incredible
season. I think he's closer to number one than number three. Wow,
that's so. I had James hard number three, and I have Lebron James
number two. Janni's number one. Anyone who's interested in this I had Luga
Danchis at number four and I copped out. I have Chris Paul and Thami
and the Lord tie for fifth on my hypothetical MVP bat we were talking at
four, and I'll agree with you on five, but push Paul slightly ahead
and there are other names you can put there. But yeah, just what
he's done with Oklahoma City just so much better with him on the floor.
And I know the Blazers aren't good this year, but the amount of injuries
that they dealt with, they should have been so much worse. And I
think you have through Meyer. I'm like, I don't know how to wait
intangibles, but the fact that you could go and sign Krmelo Anthony and trade
first on whiteside and just everything's gonna be fine because you know Dame's there.
There's a level of that that matters. And look, they were also good
when he was on the court. But for Lebron James specifically, I do
think he belongs in that second spot because he is so valuable to the Lakers.
And I'm hesitant to use on off splits to illustrate this because it actually
does make my point, but it makes the wrong point. I can't for
the life of me. They're not that terrible when he's off the floor offensively,
despite the fact that they don't really have these secondary ball handlers. It's
defensively where they've experienced the biggest drop off. I'll say that comes close to
matching the eye test in the sense that Lebron has been a defensive plus this
year. He's not chasing around the toughest assignment, but he kind of cares
about contesting shots now, and that's certainly something. But the Lakers are twelve
points better prone hundred possessions with him on the floor. That's the fifth best
mark, fifth largest swing among anyone who's logged at least one thousand minutes.
And I know net ratings swings aren't the end all be all, but we're
talking about someone who also leads the league in assists, and look, he's
the lakers only plus ball handler. Don't really care what the on off splits
say that their offense isn't terrible and necessarily when he's off the court, But
you can't put Anthony Davis in most of these lineups without Lebron expect them to
work offensively. I don't know how much you reward him for the makeup of
a team where you have to believe he had some influence or ago he wanted
Anthony Davis, but Anthy Davis is also a top seven player. That's a
no brainer deal to make anyway, And so I do think he was clearly
number two. But I did have Harden number three, where I think a
lot of people might have put don chich and Harden slump kind of towards where
Russell Westbrook it out played him where it felt like for a month or a
little bit longer than that. Maybe that matters, but just the sheer workload
that he carries, and I don't have anything to add really to what you
put, and so it's not I don't think it's indefensible that you put him
at two, but I'm legitimately caught off guard because in my mind, I
do think that it needs to go Yannis one and then Lebron too, and
you putting Harden two, I think kind of validates the separation between Yannis and
the field, because I was going to ask you if Lebron could have caught
up to Jannis during the rest of the regular season, the actual regular season,
not whatever games are happening in Orlando because the Bucks had kind of been
slumping when the NBA shut down and the Lakers weren't playing for the best record
in the league. But the fact that you put Hardened number two just shows
me that there is that enormous chasm for you, at least between Jannis and
second place. Yeah, we're looking at like the peak Steph Curry thing again
here where his numbers were enough to win unanimous MVP, and he didn't play
as much as he could have because he was so dominant that he didn't need
to. Ultimately, Jannis is having a historic season while only playing around thirty
minutes per game because he doesn't have to be on the floor for fourth quarters.
And to have it beat close is to knock him for being too dominant.
I don't like that. I can't do that. The hardened, the
hardened James thing is tough. It's I'm trying to figure out how best to
phrase this. Because Lebron has always his playmaking is probably his biggest skill throughout
his His ability to find open teammates, to read and react the defenses perfectly,
to know where everyone's supposed to be at all times, to hit guys
right in the shooting pocket and make their shots as easy as possible, and
yet he doesn't empower players to become better during the season. It's like,
when you play with Lebron, you're you're playing with the Lebron system, right,
Like he's going to make you better when you're on the court, but
he's not necessarily going to help allow the team to thrive when he's not there.
And I think that that Harden's playing style and ability to thrive within that
playing style have done the opposite this season, where we don't see as big
on off splits for him, and they're still around six six points per one
hundred possessions better with him on the floor, but we don't see as as
large as swing because by thriving in this role to such an extent, he's
also allowed other players to get better by catering the system to work towards his
entire team. And I think that in a weird, bigger context to picture
that that's been more valuable to the Rockets than what Lebron has done for the
Lakers has been. Yeah, I mean, look, the other case for
hard too is just thirty six point four usage and sixty one point six for
shooting percentage. I'm not trying to dilute his case down further, but just
because of what he's able to do to get to the line. But then
also he's hitting those ridiculously difficult threes as well. The volume he shoulders and
the efficiency that with which he ferries it is truly impressive, and Lebron's not
at a point in his career where he needs to do that. And so
what also helps Harden is his second best teammate. There's an even there's a
huge gap between him and Russell Westbrook, and it's definitely smaller between Lebron and
A D. I don't think a D deserved the MVP consideration that he got
at the beginning of the middle of the season. It does seem like it
it faded. But he's a top I'd take consensus top seven. Some people
would argue top five, and Lebron's in there too. I'm not even sure
Russell Westbrook is one of the top eighteen right now. He's definitely not a
consensus top fifteen. And so you have James who's consensus top three or top
four, whatever he might be, and so that certainly helps make his case.
It also helps Makeyannest's case too. Though, I really appreciate your lack
of adherence to round number by us, like who's gonna throw out? He's
not top eighteen, like you could have just said top twenty, And I
really appreciate you doing that. You're welcome. You know, next episode,
we're gonna have to get you to do one of these intros or outros.
I think the next time Adam is on this podcast, he will do an
intro or an outro. Until next time, though, we just want to
remind you employ you beg you plead you please rate, review and subscribe to
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excuse me, we leave you with the shout out to the one the only.
We think he's going to be the Defensive Player of the Year and the
MVP Giannis Attenti Kompol. We go for normally more niche names than that,
but I think he deserves it if he's going to go. In the company
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