Speaker 1: On this episode of The Heat Check, the Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 1: just played their forty first game on Saturday, which means
Speaker 1: we are officially at the halfway point of the NBA season.
Speaker 1: Where did the time go. I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I guess it was like all of those G League
Speaker 1: call ups that made us think that we were like
Speaker 1: three weeks into the NBA season, because it's really only
Speaker 1: been three weeks of the real NBA season before COVID
Speaker 1: struck the league. It's like we've been watching the Big
Speaker 1: Three turned into the Big Five. So nope, we're not.
Speaker 1: We are barreling towards the All Star break. We are
Speaker 1: a month and change away, and we have the trade
Speaker 1: deadline coming soon. So Brock, let's get into it. Let's
Speaker 1: drop that beat a damn, damn damp damn. All right,
Speaker 1: since we are halfway into the season, I think it's
Speaker 1: time we do two things. One, make some predictions, which
Speaker 1: I love to do prediction time. Prediction time is where
Speaker 1: I plant my little flag into my take and for
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, I defend that flag in
Speaker 1: that take for the rest of the way. That's when
Speaker 1: I get super fucking annoying. That's when I literally like
Speaker 1: scream that the Bucks are the most overrated team to
Speaker 1: ever make the finals. That's where I say crazy things.
Speaker 1: That's what I say, like Ben Simmons is a bum
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz aren't doing shit like things that are true,
Speaker 1: but things that are very inflammatory. That is happening. That
Speaker 1: is happening starting now. So here's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna survey the NBA landscape and give you my
Speaker 1: leaders on who I think will win all of the
Speaker 1: major awards this year. Cute the haters in the comment section.
Speaker 1: Nothing they love more than them telling me that I'm
Speaker 1: wrong when reality, if you let the time set in
Speaker 1: and you just wait for the clock to talk, Dick,
Speaker 1: I'm usually right. I'm usually right at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. Haters are gonna hate, So let's do it.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the babies, the ones that are just
Speaker 1: taking their first little baby steps. Rookie of the Year,
Speaker 1: My rookie of the year is everyone's rookie of the year.
Speaker 1: I think Evan Mobley. Evan Mobley maybe was one of
Speaker 1: my worst takes I've ever had. I have a thing
Speaker 1: against the PAC twelve. I have a thing against Pac twelve. Quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and I certainly have a thing against pac twelve big men.
Speaker 1: You got a big man, seven feet quote unquote athletic
Speaker 1: coming out of the University of Southern California, And I
Speaker 1: thought to myself, and by the way, the Cleveland cav
Speaker 1: drafted him, which you knew was a recipe at that point,
Speaker 1: I thought was a recipe for disaster. Just the fact
Speaker 1: that the Sacramento Kings take someone, Just the fact that
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Cavaliers take someone means I immediately downgrade them
Speaker 1: in my mind. Smart franchise takes them. I'm like, ooh,
Speaker 1: Golden State likes Evin Mobley, which is also sometimes a
Speaker 1: farce like James Wiseman. But like, I don't trust you Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and I don't trust you USC. But boy was I wrong?
Speaker 1: Boy was I wrong. Evan Mobley's getting thirty four minutes
Speaker 1: a game as a rookie with all seven footers, I
Speaker 1: thought to myself, like, oh, they got Jared Allen as
Speaker 1: an insurance policy for Evan Mobley not working out, or
Speaker 1: they didn't know that they were gonna get Evan Mobley,
Speaker 1: and they traded for Jared Allen, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: here we are one of them is gonna play, one
Speaker 1: of them is gonna sit. Why would you pay Jared
Speaker 1: Allen all that money you extended him. You have Evan Mobley. Now,
Speaker 1: is Evan Mobley not that good? No, folks, they're playing
Speaker 1: them at the same guy. Damn time, two seven footers
Speaker 1: playing two different roles, functioning in symbiosis. Just beautiful basketball
Speaker 1: being played. He's played thirty four minutes, like I said,
Speaker 1: a game as a rookie. He's averaging fifteen eight and
Speaker 1: three offensively good, defensively elite. He's averaging one point eight
Speaker 1: blocks and one steal per game as a fucking rookie.
Speaker 1: His defensive rating one hundred and three. That's absurd, That
Speaker 1: is absolutely absurd. His greatest strength as a defender is
Speaker 1: like he's seven feet tall and doesn't get cooked by guards.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, that's in incredible. That's actually what makes Lori
Speaker 1: Markinen so good too, is like these guys aren't getting
Speaker 1: it's usually twe tween gone gone. You get your like
Speaker 1: past these seven footers, you're at the rim, and then
Speaker 1: as a defender, you then, as like the Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: of the world, you wait for them to go past you,
Speaker 1: and then you try to block him. No, No, he
Speaker 1: stays in front of all these guards, which to me
Speaker 1: is one of the most impressive things. Like, and I
Speaker 1: love Yannis Dpoy like he won that award. He gets
Speaker 1: cooked by guards all the time. At this point in
Speaker 1: this season, Evan Mobley ranks third among anchor bigs in
Speaker 1: positional versatility per Basketball Index. So I mean that's just tremendous.
Speaker 1: He can do anything. He can guard guards, he can guard.
Speaker 1: He's not that week in terms of guarding centers either.
Speaker 1: He can't get cooked by like a thicker guy like
Speaker 1: Saya Yannis, but nobody can guard Yannis. At nineteen years old,
Speaker 1: Mobley is already one of the best big, switching big
Speaker 1: men in the league. He's a fucking rookie and that's
Speaker 1: the key to everything that Cleveland's doing. If Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: is not there, this Cleveland Cavaliers team is exactly where
Speaker 1: they were the year before. Like, yes, Lori Markin is
Speaker 1: a nice piece. Yes, Ricky Rubio was a nice piece.
Speaker 1: But like without Evan Mobley, I don't think this thing goes.
Speaker 1: He is now the fifth player in history with at
Speaker 1: least fifty assists and thirty blocks over his first twenty games.
Speaker 1: That's insane. JJ Reddick said, this Evan Mobley is unbelievable defensively.
Speaker 1: I do not think people are realizing we're talking about it.
Speaker 1: Maybe JJ Reddick needs to tune in to he checked,
Speaker 1: because we've been talking about this thing since pretty early on.
Speaker 1: He said, this guy is a future defensive player of
Speaker 1: the Year. I watched twenty minutes of YouTube highlights of
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley's defense. He does everything, including switching onto smaller guards.
Speaker 1: He basically is everyone that everyone wanted James Wiseman to be. Like,
Speaker 1: James Wiseman is not this, Like, he's not this. He's
Speaker 1: not as smart, he's not as versatile, he's not as
Speaker 1: skilled offensively, he's not as skilled defensively. He is not
Speaker 1: And yes, James Wiseman can shoot the three. Yes, James
Speaker 1: Wiseen's seven feet tall. Yes he's lean and lanky, but
Speaker 1: they are not the same players. James Wiseman is barely
Speaker 1: scratching the surface in terms of his upside. He's just
Speaker 1: started playing basketball, Like he's played like ten games for Memphis, Like,
Speaker 1: what are we doing here? Yeah? So, Evan Mobley also
Speaker 1: amazing at cutting to the basket in right moments and decisively.
Speaker 1: He sees Jared Allen at the like in the elbow
Speaker 1: and immediately dives for lobs, for dunks, for layups, like
Speaker 1: he can hit a turnaround jumper. He is so good,
Speaker 1: so much better than I could have ever imagined him being.
Speaker 1: Scottie Barnes needs consideration as well. He's plus three sixty
Speaker 1: to win it. Don't think he's gonna get it. But
Speaker 1: he had an early case. He had COVID, then he
Speaker 1: had a knee injury. But that's pretty much all she wrote.
Speaker 1: Some argue that his real upside is as a six man,
Speaker 1: can't ruin win Rookie of the Year if you're upside
Speaker 1: a six man just can't. One of the biggest surprises
Speaker 1: in his time as a Raptor is really just like
Speaker 1: he is a real point guard, shot creator, well, real
Speaker 1: point guard in the age of twenty twenty. A shot maker.
Speaker 1: He can score with a bunch of different low post moves, floaters,
Speaker 1: and he can play the guard position and play out
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. If he increases his ability to shoot
Speaker 1: the three all laws say like Jahn Morant has different
Speaker 1: size but like same skill set to a degree, I
Speaker 1: think he could turn into a really nice piece. Nurse
Speaker 1: continuously implores Barnes to be more aggressive and to raise
Speaker 1: his average field goal attempts per game. So I mean,
Speaker 1: he's just a baby. Totally different situations, another one for
Speaker 1: consideration for Rookie of the Year. Another huge surprise is
Speaker 1: my guy, if you were gonna be like, oh, why
Speaker 1: didn't you talk about Kate, I don't want to talk
Speaker 1: about Kate. I just don't. I just don't. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: talk about Franz Wagner. Biggest surprise of the year by far.
Speaker 1: You're Wagner. You should need not good. You should not
Speaker 1: be good. Your brothers with Mo Wagner pretty much all
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're a basketball fan, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like, I think everybody actually thought that, not
Speaker 1: just me, not just the hater and me. Everybodys like, oh,
Speaker 1: Franz Wagner like plays a different game, but like he
Speaker 1: is still Mo Wagner's like blood brother. He has logged
Speaker 1: thirty five games for the Magic, logged over eleven hundred
Speaker 1: minutes before any of the rookies reached one thousand, so
Speaker 1: he is getting significant time even with guys like Cole
Speaker 1: Anthony Jalen Suggs, Markel Foltz, those guys have been out
Speaker 1: of the rotation, and so Wagner has showed off his
Speaker 1: abilities as a primary ball handler. Didn't think that was possible.
Speaker 1: I really thought Franz Wagner was like a corner shoot guy.
Speaker 1: Like I just thought he would just shoot a bunch
Speaker 1: of threes. You'd just kick out to him, maybe he
Speaker 1: would slash. But no, he's now like killing his pr
Speaker 1: a props. His PR props sometimes are in the thirties
Speaker 1: and he's smashing that. I think I didn't take it.
Speaker 1: The other night he had thirty eight points or something
Speaker 1: bonkers like that. Like, he has been awesome, and I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone predicted that he would be this good
Speaker 1: off the dribble, but he's shown that. Not only is
Speaker 1: he off a good off the ball player and he's
Speaker 1: not gonna like blow by anyone. But he's really good
Speaker 1: at angles. He's a smart player, cue the German stereotypes
Speaker 1: like like but like he knows how to use angles,
Speaker 1: use math to get by his defenders, and offensively, he
Speaker 1: works really well without the ball, which is huge. Not
Speaker 1: a lot of players, listen, not a lot of players
Speaker 1: like to move their bodies without the ball. Ask Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook about that he gets a He does a good
Speaker 1: job of getting off screens and making cuts, getting easy
Speaker 1: layoffs to the basket. He's a good spot up shooter.
Speaker 1: It's almost practically impossible to contest his shot when he's
Speaker 1: in the air because he's so long. He can guard
Speaker 1: really well. He can keep up with anyone on the
Speaker 1: court on the defensive end, and if his opponent ever
Speaker 1: beats him too the rim, he's great at still. Like
Speaker 1: I said, when guys get cooked, you gotta figure out
Speaker 1: a way after the fact to get you know, a
Speaker 1: block up, and that's what he does. He's getting good
Speaker 1: contests even when he gets cooked, which is huge. Josh
Speaker 1: Getty been really surprising at how good he is as well. Eleven,
Speaker 1: eight and six, But the numbers really don't tell the
Speaker 1: whole story. He was just named Rookie of the Month
Speaker 1: with my Man. Franz Wagner became the youngest player to
Speaker 1: get a triple double. He has recorded six double doubles.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, youngest player to ever recorded a triple double
Speaker 1: in history, recording six double doubles. Of those six, two
Speaker 1: games have come with just rebounds and assists, so like,
Speaker 1: the guy doesn't even need to get buckets to make impact.
Speaker 1: He started thirty two games this year for OKAC. He has,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, been one of the reasons that OKAC says,
Speaker 1: all right, well, maybe we won't tank this year like
Speaker 1: Josh Getty Shay, like maybe they need to like let
Speaker 1: him compete. Who knows, we'll see what happens. We don't
Speaker 1: need to like actively try to lose games. And Sam
Speaker 1: Presty's probably sad elevating at how many first round picks
Speaker 1: he can get for Josh Gitty right now. You can
Speaker 1: probably get four first rounds for Josh Getty when he
Speaker 1: turns twenty two. And then my next favorite I can
Speaker 1: go past, like Jalen Green. He's been good. He's had
Speaker 1: a rough start, but like you know, he's been fun
Speaker 1: to watch. Chris d Warte was a nice little piece
Speaker 1: in the beginning, and then he got COVID and cooled off.
Speaker 1: But to me, the last player I really want to
Speaker 1: highlight is Herb Jones. Herb Jones, and I don't mean
Speaker 1: a regulo, I mean that's his name, Herb. He is
Speaker 1: becoming beloved in New Orleans, not only because he's six
Speaker 1: foot eight and he can be a three and D wing,
Speaker 1: but he can actually like read the floor. He can
Speaker 1: see plays before they happen, and that is exactly what
Speaker 1: separates him from the other players, not only in his class,
Speaker 1: but at his position he currently leads. Here's an amazing
Speaker 1: stat He currently leads all rookies in deflections at fifty
Speaker 1: seven and steals at twenty nine. He's second among all
Speaker 1: rookies in blocks, and that's including Evan Mobley. In the
Speaker 1: past three games, he's racked up a total of eleven steals,
Speaker 1: joining only Chris Paul as the only rookies in franchise
Speaker 1: history with three plus steals in three straight games. And
Speaker 1: he's again not six to one, he's six's eight. So
Speaker 1: for him to be able to use his body, use
Speaker 1: his length and wingspan to get steals and to play
Speaker 1: good defense, it's just tremendous. And on defense right now,
Speaker 1: he's already been through the gauntlet. He's checked Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 1: he's checked Damian Lillard, He's checked Luka, Doncic, Paul, George Bradley,
Speaker 1: beal other players who routinely cook. He's had varying levels
Speaker 1: of success guarding all of them. But and like, while
Speaker 1: he's not a lockdown defender, his perimitive defense has been incredible.
Speaker 1: And that is exactly what Donovan Mitchell said about him.
Speaker 1: This is what he said, Donovan Mitchell, he is going
Speaker 1: to be in this league for a very long time. Defensively,
Speaker 1: he's his tough. I want to give him his props.
Speaker 1: He makes you work, and he makes you think. He's
Speaker 1: a hell of a player, and he makes life hard
Speaker 1: for scorers like me. Not a lot of players make
Speaker 1: life difficult on Donovan Mitchell. Let's just say that he
Speaker 1: routinely gets his shot off however he wants, whenever he wants,
Speaker 1: at any time. And I think what's incredible to me
Speaker 1: is that New Orleans has been trash, They've been awful,
Speaker 1: but with Herb Jones in the lineup, they've actually been
Speaker 1: pretty good when he's on the court. New Orleans, who
Speaker 1: has been a terrible defensive team mostly because of Zion
Speaker 1: for the last couple of years. With Herb Jones on
Speaker 1: the court, they have a defensive rating of one hundred
Speaker 1: and four when he's which is equivalent of top five
Speaker 1: in the league. When he's not on the floor, their
Speaker 1: defensive rating drops to one hundred and fourteen point five,
Speaker 1: which is just slightly better than the league worst. So
Speaker 1: he is making a huge defense difference and he's not
Speaker 1: just like a savvy defensive player. That's the thing that
Speaker 1: I think he's getting all all the credit for. But
Speaker 1: now there's new articles coming out like, actually, Herb Jones
Speaker 1: is a bucket as well quick for as step can
Speaker 1: put the ball on the floor, he can slash, he
Speaker 1: can pass, he can actually be used the way that
Speaker 1: they want to use Zion as a point forward, then
Speaker 1: he's probably gonna end up on the All Rookie team.
Speaker 1: A few games ago, he had this silly stat line
Speaker 1: that needs to be discussed. Silly twenty six points, seven rebounds,
Speaker 1: three assists, three blocks, two threes, ten forree eight from
Speaker 1: the field, two for four from three, four for four,
Speaker 1: three free throws, and zero turnovers. That is some efficient basketball, folks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those are my rookies of the year. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I would give the NOD and I wouldn't put my
Speaker 1: money there just because of its minus one ten, which
Speaker 1: means you get only ninety percent of your money back.
Speaker 1: But Evan heaven mobilely, you gotta give that man his
Speaker 1: flowers and he's gonna win it unless he gets like
Speaker 1: some sort of catastrophic injury. Knock on wood. Let's go
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year. I mean to me, this
Speaker 1: one's not close either. It's not close. It's Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: and Vegas thinks so too. Draymond has been talking about
Speaker 1: him being the defensive player, the best defensive player in
Speaker 1: all of basketball for like the last five years. He
Speaker 1: even said, last year, you guys, don't give this award
Speaker 1: to Rudy Gobert's ask, give it to me. I'm way
Speaker 1: better than Rudy Gobert. Defense so good this year, Quinn
Speaker 1: Snyder thinks that Draymond Green should seriously be considered for MVP.
Speaker 1: That's how good he's been. This is what Quinn Snyder said.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to qualify this by saying no disrespect
Speaker 1: is Steph or Rudy, but Draymond Green is as unique
Speaker 1: a player and is having as good of a year
Speaker 1: as both of them. If you want to put someone
Speaker 1: in the MVP conversation, he's someone to me that maybe
Speaker 1: the numbers don't match up to the numbers other guys
Speaker 1: put up, but as far as the way that he
Speaker 1: impacts the game, whether it's his passing, his defense, which
Speaker 1: you obviously know how we feel about Rudy's versatility and
Speaker 1: all the things that he does. Draymond is like that.
Speaker 1: Draymond's better than that. He just does it in his
Speaker 1: own way, and then he adds the leadership that he
Speaker 1: shows and the way that he communicates. I think that
Speaker 1: he is an unbelievable player. This is Quin Snyder on
Speaker 1: Draymond Green, and I think he's showing that this year.
Speaker 1: He's shown it before, but it stands out so much
Speaker 1: right now when you watch them play. Why because they're winning.
Speaker 1: He's been doing this. He did this last year. There
Speaker 1: were times where Draymond Green was guarding legit centers and
Speaker 1: holding his own being like, I'm the fucking guy. I
Speaker 1: am not too small. I am that dude, Draymon. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about stats. Ranks twenty seventh and Steels twenty ninth
Speaker 1: in block shots. There are nine rotation regulars on Draymond's
Speaker 1: own team that have a better defensive rating than he does. However,
Speaker 1: the reason that he is almost a lock to win
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year is this Golden State ranks
Speaker 1: first in defensive rating, first and opponent's field goal percentage
Speaker 1: first ten points allowed, Second in defensive rebounding percentage? Who
Speaker 1: do you think is doing that? Fourth an opponent's three
Speaker 1: point percentage? And Green is the engine. He's the one
Speaker 1: that makes it go. He talked about this with NBA
Speaker 1: dot Com. This is what he told them. This is
Speaker 1: just like one of the most like porn level quotes
Speaker 1: you're gonna get in basketball. Nerds are gonna go crazy
Speaker 1: or this. I heard this and I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, is Draymond Green almost just as transcendent as
Speaker 1: Steph Curry? Because this is not something that you hear
Speaker 1: NBA players say about the way that they look at defense.
Speaker 1: This is what he said. Here's the way that I
Speaker 1: look at defense. When I watch film from a game,
Speaker 1: or I'll watch any particular game. I'm not watching the
Speaker 1: game that plays the pass lane to get the steal.
Speaker 1: That guy, more often than not, will completely destroy our show.
Speaker 1: He's destroying rotations on the defensive end. And more importantly,
Speaker 1: that guy is gambling. And just like any time in
Speaker 1: your life when you gamble, there's a higher risk you're
Speaker 1: going to lose. Your defense will probably suffer from that
Speaker 1: guy killing your positioning It's the same way with block shots.
Speaker 1: In order to be a great defensive player, you can't
Speaker 1: just do that. So we never say that Lebron is
Speaker 1: great because he scores so well. We never say it's
Speaker 1: because he passes the ball so well. We never say
Speaker 1: it's because he runs the team so well. We say
Speaker 1: Lebron James is great because he does it all so well.
Speaker 1: We say Lebron James is great because he does it
Speaker 1: all all the time. Defense historically is not viewed like that.
Speaker 1: It's the guy that gets a lot of steals or
Speaker 1: block shots a lot of times is a defensive player
Speaker 1: of the year. I don't think that tells the story
Speaker 1: of the defensive end. It's important for me to cover
Speaker 1: for everyone. That's covering the back door cut that's putting
Speaker 1: guys in the right position. That's the middle linebacker who's
Speaker 1: reading the play and knows what the offense is going
Speaker 1: to do right up to the line, and then he
Speaker 1: shifts his defensive tackle over to close the gap that
Speaker 1: you know that they're about to run through. That's how
Speaker 1: I approach the defensive end. I am the linebacker who's
Speaker 1: going to get everybody to their right spots, and after
Speaker 1: I get them into the right spots, then I have
Speaker 1: to be there to cover them. That dude is a
Speaker 1: fucking genius. Draymond Green is a fucking genius. He should
Speaker 1: get it every year. He's so much more elite than
Speaker 1: everyone else in the league. Regardless of what the stats say.
Speaker 1: Draymond Green is what makes the Golden State Warriors as
Speaker 1: good as they are. He consistently gets undersold because he's
Speaker 1: not an offensive player in any way. He does not
Speaker 1: care about that. Find you someone who cares about defense
Speaker 1: as much as Draymond Green that's not seven feet tall,
Speaker 1: like it's just for him to be from where he
Speaker 1: came from, fat, to be trimmed down, to care about
Speaker 1: his body, to become one of the most transcendent transformational
Speaker 1: players at this one thing and still be able to
Speaker 1: score if he needs to. You just have to give
Speaker 1: it to him. On the list is also Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 1: Fuck him. Let's move on. Yannis. Yeah, he's tall. Yannis
Speaker 1: plus eleven hundred for Defensive Player of the Year, probably
Speaker 1: one of the very few players that can win with
Speaker 1: his defensive alone. But you can't give it to him
Speaker 1: because he just keeps winning it and he scores thirty
Speaker 1: a game. So it's like, yawn, Mkale Bridges very underrated, dude,
Speaker 1: Mikale Bridges hugely improved. People give me hell for this.
Speaker 1: I said, hey, what role player? If you had to
Speaker 1: choose one role player to build a team around who
Speaker 1: to be? And for me, yeah, it's like, that's an
Speaker 1: interesting question to ask one role player to create a
Speaker 1: team around who to be? For me, it's Mikail Bridges.
Speaker 1: He can do fucking everything. He's a team player, he's
Speaker 1: a winner, and he's from Philly and got scorn from Philly,
Speaker 1: so you know I love him. Joe l Embiid another
Speaker 1: Philly guy, great defensive year, but the issue is availability,
Speaker 1: and everybody says Philadelphia people always try to gaslight you
Speaker 1: and tell you availability is not the best ability. But
Speaker 1: it's not not the best ability either. He's missed a
Speaker 1: month already and he misses Ben defensively, and this team
Speaker 1: is going absolutely nowhere. Let's talk about MVP. I have
Speaker 1: a hot take from who I would give MVP two?
Speaker 1: Is it Steph? Is it Bron? Is it Embiid? How
Speaker 1: could you be so bold in say Lebron James? How
Speaker 1: could you say Jannis Atatukumpo. To me, what about Jokich.
Speaker 1: Jokic one of the best passers in the league, highest
Speaker 1: player efficiency rating of any player in the NBA ever
Speaker 1: in history. Kevin Durant putting his team on his back
Speaker 1: like an iron man, playing all the minutes, playing fifty
Speaker 1: plus minutes a night. If Steve Nash allows for like,
Speaker 1: if there's fifty minutes, he's playing fifty minutes, Steve Nash
Speaker 1: intent to drive Kevin Durant into the ground. To me, Ah,
Speaker 1: that's fun and cute, But I need to say, DeMar
Speaker 1: DeRozan is my MVP. He is the center of the
Speaker 1: bulls turnaround people and like narratives matter, Yes, narratives in
Speaker 1: the MVP race matter. What is the MVP all predicated on.
Speaker 1: We talked about this last year. At this time, it's
Speaker 1: one where you stand in the standings. You can't be
Speaker 1: Okac and Russell Westbrook was an anomaly to the formula.
Speaker 1: Normally you either have to be somewhere between one and
Speaker 1: three in your conference, but more likely it's one to
Speaker 1: three in the entire NBA. That's the way it is,
Speaker 1: and you have to be the centerpiece of that, and
Speaker 1: you have to be consistently making noise, doing things, breaking records,
Speaker 1: getting yourself into the headlines. That's it, like you have
Speaker 1: to do those things. Damorrow is doing all of that.
Speaker 1: You're talking about a team didn't even make the playoffs
Speaker 1: last year. Talk about narratives. Demarta Rosen was seen as
Speaker 1: the worst free agent signing in the entire summer. People
Speaker 1: even said, not me, but people even said it could
Speaker 1: be one of the worst free agent signings in history.
Speaker 1: Demarta Rosen seen as a guy that the NBA passed by,
Speaker 1: that the league doesn't allow for his style of play anymore.
Speaker 1: He barely shoots threes, He only likes to play in
Speaker 1: the mid range. Does he play defense? How is he
Speaker 1: going to How was he going to function with Zach Lavine?
Speaker 1: Zack Lavin needs the ball. You got Demark Rosen leading
Speaker 1: the NBA in clutch points in the fourth quarter. That's
Speaker 1: fucking insane. He's the only player in NBA history who's
Speaker 1: hit game winning threes in back to back days. One
Speaker 1: of them was on one foot, like his name was drk.
Speaker 1: Novinsky just tossed it up recklessly. He said, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna pass that to Vooch and then I
Speaker 1: looked at the time, and I was like, don't think
Speaker 1: we have time for that. And I think we've grown
Speaker 1: somewhat numb to Lebron's brilliance and em beads dominance, and
Speaker 1: it's easy to forget about, you know, the down around
Speaker 1: the play in cutline, like here's the thing, like they're
Speaker 1: number one in the East. Where is where are the
Speaker 1: Lakers not there? Where are the Sixers not there? Where
Speaker 1: are the nugget? It's not there? So it's what Steph,
Speaker 1: and it's Damar and it's probably that's really it, and
Speaker 1: and KD it's it's Steph and Katie And then third
Speaker 1: people will say, I don't even think Tamar is in
Speaker 1: the mix right now, which is a travesty. Katie. They've
Speaker 1: already won it, Steph and Katie. You know, the media
Speaker 1: wants to give it to Steph and that's why he's
Speaker 1: probably going to win it. And thank god he's in
Speaker 1: the middle of a shooting slump because maybe, just maybe,
Speaker 1: And I think I saw this today in the emails
Speaker 1: from like NBA dot com that Yannis is currently leading
Speaker 1: the world wants the guys like Jannie, KD and Steph,
Speaker 1: but it's Steph Jannis Kate, you'll give it to Katie.
Speaker 1: Worst case, Steph Curry's at plus one twenty five. Here's
Speaker 1: some other guys, of course, that are in consideration. Jokic
Speaker 1: said that Steph is the most pressive player in the NBA,
Speaker 1: so if an MVP says it, it must be true.
Speaker 1: He said, look at this what this guy is doing.
Speaker 1: My god, his shots just keep falling. Not recently they haven't.
Speaker 1: I think he missed fourteen in a row. I said
Speaker 1: it to myself too, I said, if Steph goes, I'm
Speaker 1: praying for a Steph shooting slump in a duration of
Speaker 1: a matter of weeks, if not months, because I want
Speaker 1: to buy low on Steph Curry for MVP, because it
Speaker 1: was like minus two hundred twenty five games into this
Speaker 1: season and then Steph had to break the record for
Speaker 1: most reason of all time, and then he hasn't been
Speaker 1: the same since then. Really narrative break based. I think
Speaker 1: the reason that he'll win it is because he broke
Speaker 1: the all time three point record this season. He's gone
Speaker 1: nuclear in a bunch of different games, pulling them from
Speaker 1: huge deficits to winning outright by you know, ten plus.
Speaker 1: They took him he took him to a nine to
Speaker 1: one start, as I said, would never happen, best team
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference after being in the lottery two
Speaker 1: straight years. Plus plus defender now like he's actually a
Speaker 1: good defender now. His best year points riot, best year
Speaker 1: points wise in his career. That's crazy, when he was
Speaker 1: a unanimous MVP. He's doing better from a points perspective
Speaker 1: now than he was then. Best statistical year rebounding best second,
Speaker 1: best statistical year for free throw percentage. And the world
Speaker 1: wants Steph to win it because he's cute and he's
Speaker 1: nice and he's all about God and shit. And I
Speaker 1: love Steph. I love Steph I do, and I want
Speaker 1: him to win if DeMar doesn't win. But Jesus Christ, like,
Speaker 1: can we get another fresh blood in Like Golden State's
Speaker 1: a dynasty. I just said, Draymond Green's one of the
Speaker 1: most transcendent, transformational players in NBA history, none of the
Speaker 1: players on Chicago or any of those things. I like
Speaker 1: Zach Lavine, he's a bucket, but like he's not transforming
Speaker 1: goddamn thing. Boswchs like a nice little seven foot are
Speaker 1: they gonna shoot them threes? And you know you have
Speaker 1: to hide him on defense, like he's nice Alex Crusoe
Speaker 1: the goat, but he's been out. Demart Rosen's doing this
Speaker 1: on his back. He's got nice teammates, but no one
Speaker 1: to the tune of Draymond Green and eventually Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: when Klay Thompson goes back, comes back in the lineup,
Speaker 1: I hope he goes nuclear. I know I said I
Speaker 1: want to vote for Steph Currey, but I'm now on
Speaker 1: the DeMar train, like I'm on the Damar train. I hope,
Speaker 1: I hope Klay Thompson becomes the dominant force. He's putting
Speaker 1: up fifty and Steph Curry MVP goes go away. Kevin
Speaker 1: Rant averaging let's get him plus two forty on the
Speaker 1: Vegas Vegas hasn't met averaging the most points since twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: twenty nine point two. I mean, he's out there all
Speaker 1: they goddamn time, like he's just never not on the court.
Speaker 1: His three point percentage is down slightly. His minutes is up,
Speaker 1: of course, four minutes from last year, which is tremendous
Speaker 1: because Steve Nash's I'm the last year he's playing really
Speaker 1: great defense. His defensive rating is down four point three
Speaker 1: points from last year, so he's playing some good defense.
Speaker 1: He's having to carry this team. So I don't hate
Speaker 1: the idea of him winning it. But you just you're
Speaker 1: on a superteam, dog like you can't You're on a
Speaker 1: super team dog, Kyrie, Kyrie, you Harden LaMarcus Aldrich is
Speaker 1: a former All Star, Blake, he's washed, but he's a
Speaker 1: former All Star Patty Mills killer in the Olympics. Like
Speaker 1: you have a superteam, you do. I can't give you this.
Speaker 1: I just can't give it to you. He's made crucial
Speaker 1: shots in crunch time to give him the wins that
Speaker 1: he shouldn't be winning. But I don't care. I don't care,
Speaker 1: Like you just can't give it to him. And if
Speaker 1: you're gonna give it to someone outside of the realm
Speaker 1: of that standing formula, then you have to give at
Speaker 1: least Lebron a kind of a look. Right. He's plus
Speaker 1: thirty six hundred values there twenty nine, seven and seven
Speaker 1: this year, the most points per game for him since
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine. Let me say it again, Lebron
Speaker 1: James is averaging more points per game than he has
Speaker 1: in over a decade. Since two thousand and nine. That's
Speaker 1: what thirteen years ago, When thirteen years ago was happening,
Speaker 1: Lebron James was Chuck's math goes to math school. Twenty
Speaker 1: four years old. That's fucking insane. And he's playing the five.
Speaker 1: This man is playing center. He's still got the energy
Speaker 1: getting bodied down low against other centers at defense, and
Speaker 1: still has the energy to put up almost thirty points
Speaker 1: per game consistently. He put up forty two points on
Speaker 1: my Blazer's head in twenty nine minutes of action. The
Speaker 1: guy is unreal. He's increased his playing time to thirty
Speaker 1: seven a night, just doing whatever it takes to keep
Speaker 1: the Lakers from drowning, just completely drowning. His field goal percentage,
Speaker 1: his three point percentage, his free throw percentage, all improved
Speaker 1: from last year. And from a narrative based he looked
Speaker 1: at the camera the other night and he said, I'm
Speaker 1: a motherfucking problem. Bitch. Wow, Lebron is a fucking problem.
Speaker 1: In the last nine games, so is his roster. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Lebron James last nine games, he is averaging This is
Speaker 1: fucking ridiculous, averaging thirty four point three points per game,
Speaker 1: just shy of ten rebounds per game. Just shy of
Speaker 1: six assists per game, one point seven steals per game,
Speaker 1: one point four blocks per game, and fifty five percent
Speaker 1: from the field. Give that man a medal, Jesus Christ
Speaker 1: Nikola Jokich, I've said it. He's good. Number one in
Speaker 1: the NBA and player impact Estimate twenty three point seven.
Speaker 1: As you can tell, I don't care like I just don't.
Speaker 1: I just I love him. But he's fifth in usage,
Speaker 1: fourth and assists percentage. He's improved defensively. The Nuggets have
Speaker 1: a ninety seven point four defensive rating with them on
Speaker 1: the floor, and they are really gross when he's on
Speaker 1: the bench. One hundred and nine defensive rating has increased
Speaker 1: from this is actually a crazy stat. His defensive rating
Speaker 1: has increased from one hundred and nine to one hundred
Speaker 1: and two this year. I don't know, like, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many people can impact their games and change
Speaker 1: that part of their game like that. But it's I mean,
Speaker 1: that's impressive because he's a doe boy who has been
Speaker 1: interested not at all in defense until now. I mean,
Speaker 1: he has to do everything now. This team is garbage.
Speaker 1: They have no one. Michael Poor, Junr gone, Jamal Murray gone,
Speaker 1: PJ Doser gone, who else? I mean here? I mean
Speaker 1: is that not enough? Like they're they're done, They're done
Speaker 1: twenty six, eleven and eight. Last year as an MVP.
Speaker 1: This year it's better twenty six, fourteen and seven. He
Speaker 1: increased his rebounds by twenty five percent. Basically, basically he
Speaker 1: just right around what Yannis is doing, only better. Bag
Speaker 1: I guess just a slight decreasing assist. But guys have
Speaker 1: to knock down shots, and he has a bunch of
Speaker 1: plumbers next to him, So what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1: I love Nikola Jokic, but Jesus Christ, you can't give
Speaker 1: him MVP because people don't even think it's real now
Speaker 1: that he wont it. They don't even put him on
Speaker 1: national television's MVP. Can't give it to him. Janna's virtually
Speaker 1: identical stats to last year, slightly up in rebounds and
Speaker 1: three throw percent. He's like, Yean, this is great, but
Speaker 1: no US nine hundred. Joe l Embiid is at plus
Speaker 1: thirty six hundred. He's missed an entire month. You can't
Speaker 1: give it to him. He's a great player, he's doing
Speaker 1: monster things since he's been back twenty seven to eleven
Speaker 1: and four, down two points per game, but up in rebounds,
Speaker 1: up and assists, up in steals, up in blocks, and
Speaker 1: he's shooting. This guy's seven feet tall. He's shooting forty
Speaker 1: percent from three. I mean that's that's elite. That's better
Speaker 1: than guards in the league right now. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: like him, and John Moran is getting a little MVP love.
Speaker 1: I love Ja Morant. What he's doing is putting this
Speaker 1: team on his back. He shouldn't win it. He's not
Speaker 1: gonna win it before his injury, Joe, let's just give
Speaker 1: some things. Jaw was co leading the league in points
Speaker 1: in the paint, as you know, we've talked about this before,
Speaker 1: scoring sixteen point per game. He was tied with Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis in points in the paint, who is six feet tall,
Speaker 1: six foot ten tall. All of this is meaningless. He's
Speaker 1: never going to win it, but he does have he
Speaker 1: he does have the highlights where you say to yourself,
Speaker 1: in that moment Jaw for MVP, you say that that's
Speaker 1: the moment, and then it dies like two seconds later.
Speaker 1: You're like, no, there's literally ten other guys that could
Speaker 1: win it above him. That's sad, because I love Jaw.
Speaker 1: People are in the gonna be in the comments like,
Speaker 1: oh you're shading Jaw, blah blah blah. You said he
Speaker 1: was MVP on your Twitter. Yeah, I said that literally
Speaker 1: when he put his nuts in some random seven footer's face,
Speaker 1: one legged, like off the bounce. Yeah. Like at that moment,
Speaker 1: you're like, this guy is my favorite player in NBA history.
Speaker 1: Let's move to most improved, because Jock could actually win
Speaker 1: that category. Desmond Bane is my pick. I'll just say this,
Speaker 1: Desmond Baine is my pick. He's not gonna win it.
Speaker 1: He's plus forty two hundred, but the NBA is you know,
Speaker 1: it's a popularity contest to a degree. Let's get Desmond
Speaker 1: Bane popular. Shall We not gonna win it, but he
Speaker 1: should because he's in a small market with John Morant,
Speaker 1: and I don't think people are really taking notice of
Speaker 1: how much he's improved. His player Official rating has gone
Speaker 1: from fourteen to seventeen. He became a better finisher around
Speaker 1: the rim, he became a better free throw shooter. His
Speaker 1: sixteen points per game is up seven points from last year.
Speaker 1: Over one hundred is that true? Almost one hundred percent
Speaker 1: eighty percent increase from last year Maschool, mas School, Masskool.
Speaker 1: His rebound His rebounding is also up from three point
Speaker 1: one to four point four. He's taking six more shots
Speaker 1: per game, and he's shooting forty six point five from
Speaker 1: the field, including forty percent just over forty percent from three.
Speaker 1: And I think the thing that you can say is like,
Speaker 1: why is this happening? Memphis believes in Desmond Bank. They
Speaker 1: traded away guys so the Desmond Bank could get these opportunities.
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen, you gotta go, King, you gotta go. We
Speaker 1: don't care where you go, but you can't go here.
Speaker 1: You gotta go somewhere. They trade him to the Bucks.
Speaker 1: That allowed Desmond Baine to get more opportunities, more time
Speaker 1: with the ball in his hands, and he is balling.
Speaker 1: And this is a huge leap from a guy like
Speaker 1: you expect a lottery kid to go from year one
Speaker 1: to two and improve. This guy was thirtieth in the draft,
Speaker 1: like Miles Bridges and Jaron Jackson have improved. But like, dude,
Speaker 1: that's what you were fucking supposed to do, Like you're
Speaker 1: supposed to make a jump. Desmond Bain has transformed his
Speaker 1: entire game. He was a catch and shoot three point
Speaker 1: shooter and a defensive guy with a negative wingspan, his
Speaker 1: alligator arms, he should not be a good defender. Simple
Speaker 1: three and D guy to a legit two guard to
Speaker 1: the point where he is a part of a top
Speaker 1: five backcourt in the NBA. Him and Jaw top five
Speaker 1: backcourt in the NBA. I said it. He can do
Speaker 1: pretty much everything. He never had the ball in his
Speaker 1: hands before this year, never wanted to put the ball
Speaker 1: on the floor consistently until Taylor Jenkins was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna need you to dribble, like don't you shoot
Speaker 1: things like don't be Klay Thompson out here. It's time
Speaker 1: for you to slash like you are a little running
Speaker 1: back out there. And that's what he is. He looks
Speaker 1: like a football player who came to the Equinox on
Speaker 1: a random Saturday and you're like, god, damn, this dude's strong.
Speaker 1: And that was the evolution of his game. He has
Speaker 1: the fourth most points out of any player selected in
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty draft. Let me say it again, Desmond
Speaker 1: Baine has the fourth most points of any player selected
Speaker 1: in that twenty twenty draft. Goes to draft school. Let's
Speaker 1: see who else was in that draft really fast, Aunt Edwards,
Speaker 1: James Wiseman, Lamello Ball, Tyrese Halliburton, Cole Anthony Sadik Bay,
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxey fourth most in that list and he went thirtieth.
Speaker 1: And I think what's also interesting is that he is
Speaker 1: one of the emotional leaders of the team. Like guys
Speaker 1: are going to Desmond Baine and he's pumping them up
Speaker 1: and telling him where to be and what to do,
Speaker 1: what the plan is for the night. Taking clutch shots
Speaker 1: on a team with Steven fucking Adams on it. For
Speaker 1: Desmond Baine to be the leader, what are we doing here?
Speaker 1: Folks like Desmond Baine's that guy that is super impressive
Speaker 1: to me. His offensive rating is one hundred and thirteen,
Speaker 1: And you say to yourself, how good is that, Trista,
Speaker 1: How good is that? That's better than Kevin Durant right
Speaker 1: now becoming a playmaker when the Grizzlies forced him to
Speaker 1: play out a position that man should win it. That's
Speaker 1: where my vote would go. He's not probably going to
Speaker 1: win it, but it's sad. It's a shame. John Rant,
Speaker 1: we talked about him. Let's move on. Miles Bridges is
Speaker 1: plus three hundred. He is the leader in the clubhouse,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't make no sense to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's tied for the team leading and scoring with LaMelo
Speaker 1: Ball nineteen point seven points per game, tops in shooting
Speaker 1: percentage among starters at forty seven percent. This is a
Speaker 1: nerdy ass episode, but I mean, this is what we
Speaker 1: have to do. He has the most rebounds with two
Speaker 1: hundred and forties. A lot of numbers with two hundred
Speaker 1: and forty six, but I mean, how are we gonna
Speaker 1: put it in context? All career bests at this point
Speaker 1: in the season. That's pretty good for a guy who
Speaker 1: is primarily used as a high end role player. Before
Speaker 1: the season started, doubled his amount of dunks and mid
Speaker 1: range shots, taking one and a half more threes per
Speaker 1: game he has. He's shooting. He's seven feet tall, shooting
Speaker 1: six to threes per game at thirty percent, a down
Speaker 1: forty percent, but his usues is up. He's up to
Speaker 1: seven from five rebounds. As you can see, these aren't
Speaker 1: that impressive numbers like jumps like, I like him a
Speaker 1: lot good player. He has six thirty point games this year,
Speaker 1: but he's very boom or bust. Miles Bridges is not
Speaker 1: giving me the consistency in his improvement level in any metric,
Speaker 1: and in some metrics his numbers are down. For me,
Speaker 1: you can't be dominant sometimes and be sort of like
Speaker 1: disappearing in the background other times. I personally love him,
Speaker 1: but I would not give him that award, especially considering
Speaker 1: because me and my co host we're talking about this
Speaker 1: from bed MGM tonight and he said, well, if Miles
Speaker 1: Bridges ends up becoming an All Star, you'd have to
Speaker 1: give it to him. And that's true, but Miles Bridge
Speaker 1: is not gonna be an All Star. So that's just
Speaker 1: where we're at. We had many new articles coming out
Speaker 1: about where people are in the All Star voting. He's
Speaker 1: way low. He's not gonna win it. He's not going
Speaker 1: to the All Star Game if it ends up happening
Speaker 1: because of an injury. That shouldn't count either. The Jonte
Speaker 1: Murray plus sixteen hundred. He's so good. He went from
Speaker 1: sixteen seven and five to eighteen eight and nine, three
Speaker 1: point three minutes more per game. And it's like san Antonio.
Speaker 1: You can't give most Improved to san Antonio's purse. You
Speaker 1: just can't new look offense for san Antonio. They're actually fun.
Speaker 1: They're leading the league in six in the league and
Speaker 1: steals per game. I think they're like top three in
Speaker 1: the league in transition buckets per game. They're actually very fun.
Speaker 1: He's fifth in the NBA at assists percentage. As you
Speaker 1: can tell, I'm not really feeling it right, Like I'm
Speaker 1: not really feeling giving him this award. He's fifth in
Speaker 1: the NBA assists the turnover ratio at three point eight.
Speaker 1: Like him, fun guy, don't think so. Another like another
Speaker 1: pick that I think is getting some buzz but not
Speaker 1: a lot of bets, is Lonzo Ball plus twenty seven hundred.
Speaker 1: I think this is narrative base. Chicago is good, Lonzo
Speaker 1: Ball is happy. Chicago is like succeeding in a way
Speaker 1: that nobody expected them to. He's leading his team in
Speaker 1: a defensive way. He's doing really well from a assist perspective.
Speaker 1: He went from fifteen five and six to thirteen six
Speaker 1: and five. His steals and blocks are up thirty percent,
Speaker 1: his offensive rebounds are up forty percent. He's taking less
Speaker 1: shots per game on four minutes. His defensive rating is
Speaker 1: one hundred and five. Very very good. Won't give it
Speaker 1: to him, but he's very good. Another player that got
Speaker 1: some buzz who I really like, but not sure you
Speaker 1: can give it to him because of how much he's
Speaker 1: been starting and I think he's going to go into
Speaker 1: the six man role. So like that change and role
Speaker 1: throughout a season, I think is going to change how
Speaker 1: people see him. Jordan Poole plus forty two hundred. He
Speaker 1: went from twelve points to eighteen a game, forty three
Speaker 1: percent last year to forty five percent this year. But
Speaker 1: the thing that kind of like kills me is that
Speaker 1: he went from nineteen minutes a game to thirty. So
Speaker 1: like the numbers really changed because his time on the
Speaker 1: floor changed. I don't think he changed his offensively, at
Speaker 1: least defensively, he has become a lot better. His decision
Speaker 1: making is better, his finishing around the rim through contact
Speaker 1: is better. His defensive rating is really good one hundred
Speaker 1: and three point six. And that's for a guy who
Speaker 1: had to step up and like fulfill clave Thompson's role.
Speaker 1: Huge responsibility, a lot of limelight, a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1: He's been tremendous. I wouldn't give it to him, but
Speaker 1: I could see him being somewhere in the conversation for
Speaker 1: voting six man of the year. I'm just seeing if
Speaker 1: we had anything else after this Coach of the Year,
Speaker 1: we'll just get too through fast. Tyler Hero, he's gonna win.
Speaker 1: It started ten to thirty two games of seasons. You
Speaker 1: might say, Trista, he shouldn't win the reason that he's starting.
Speaker 1: All his teammates are either getting COVID or they're injured.
Speaker 1: Like you can, he's a six man because he's supposed
Speaker 1: to come off the bench. That is what his role is.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that COVID is changing things. That's just the
Speaker 1: way that it is NET right now. He's like, oh well, sorry,
Speaker 1: Tyler Hero, We're gonna give some random guy from the
Speaker 1: Big three is starting role because your role is to
Speaker 1: come off the bench, because you should win six Man
Speaker 1: of the Year. No. Twenty point four, five and four,
Speaker 1: which is a huge increase from last year. He's improved
Speaker 1: his free throw percentage up from eighty percent to eighty
Speaker 1: five percent. He's a starting caliber player that comes off
Speaker 1: the bench, and he's just absolutely balling. He has one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty seven points off the bench in seven games.
Speaker 1: That's the most since nineteen seventy five. In that stretch,
Speaker 1: he had a team high twenty five points in Tuesday
Speaker 1: night's game against the Dallas Mavericks won twenty five to
Speaker 1: one to ten. He was a big part of that win.
Speaker 1: They probably shouldn't have won that game. They're so undermanned.
Speaker 1: And Eric Spolscher calls Tyler Hero the most skilled player
Speaker 1: in one of the most skilled players in the league.
Speaker 1: That is why him and pat Riley would not trade
Speaker 1: Tyler Hero in the lat Kyle Lowry sweepstakes last year.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would say that Tyler Hero
Speaker 1: is one of the most skilled players in the league.
Speaker 1: He is very erratic, very electric, but very erratic. Some
Speaker 1: of the other players that are getting some noise Montrez Harrow,
Speaker 1: he's a six man. He's playing really well. If the
Speaker 1: Wizards were doing better, I think he would be more
Speaker 1: in the conversation. Wizards are floundering. They don't know what
Speaker 1: they're doing, they don't know who they are, and as
Speaker 1: a result, Montrez Harrow probably will not win the award again.
Speaker 1: He wanted what two years ago. Jalen Brunson should have
Speaker 1: some at least like consideration. But the problem for him
Speaker 1: is because Luca got injured, and then Luca got COVID yes,
Speaker 1: he got COVID. It's hard to keep up. He's been starting,
Speaker 1: He's been starting a lot of games. He started eighteen
Speaker 1: out of thirty six games. You just can't give it
Speaker 1: to him. He just starts way too much. Dennis Shuder
Speaker 1: getting some love, but he started a lot. Jordan Poole,
Speaker 1: he's in the conversation, but he started twenty eight out
Speaker 1: of thirty games. You just really the player that you
Speaker 1: have to give it to is just Tyler Hero. You
Speaker 1: just have to, all right, Coach of the Year final award,
Speaker 1: got to give it to JB. Bicker Staff. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: it's either JB. Bickerstaff or it's Billy Donovan and it's
Speaker 1: no one else. I know Steve Kerr is coaching his
Speaker 1: ass off, but you have Steph Curry and like you
Speaker 1: were a dynasty, and I know you hired a bunch
Speaker 1: of development guys to really increase you know how players
Speaker 1: are learning your system and you're making sure that everybody
Speaker 1: fits into their roles appropriate. And he's coaching his ass off.
Speaker 1: He is, But what JB. Bickers Town has done with
Speaker 1: being you had the third overall pick last year and
Speaker 1: you're fifth in the East right now, with one additional piece,
Speaker 1: two additional pieces, Like you've made four seven footers work
Speaker 1: on your roster, Like I don't know that is Emerald
Speaker 1: Legassi level. Like coaching here, like we talk about how
Speaker 1: to use pieces and make them fit together and do
Speaker 1: an amazing tasting looking meal. Like nobody in my opinion
Speaker 1: has done a better job with stranger feeling pieces. We
Speaker 1: all thought for seven footers. You've got Kevin Love, you
Speaker 1: got Jared Allen, you got Evan Mobley, you got Tago Fall,
Speaker 1: you got Lori Market. What in the world are you
Speaker 1: going to do with all that long length seven footers?
Speaker 1: Like they're athletic, but like how are you going to
Speaker 1: make it all work? And he has like it works.
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, like I said earlier, they're
Speaker 1: working in a way where they're playing at the exact
Speaker 1: same time. Kevin len Love is playing significant minutes. You
Speaker 1: took him from a guy that was the worst contract
Speaker 1: in all of the NBA to a guy I think
Speaker 1: you could actually trade now. I think people will want
Speaker 1: him now twenty five points and like get in multiple
Speaker 1: games this year, playing his role very effectively, in shape,
Speaker 1: not injured, Like I don't know how JB. Bickerstaff is
Speaker 1: doing it. He was on the hot seat before this
Speaker 1: year started, like he was top five. Many articles had
Speaker 1: him on the hot seat because they were low key trash.
Speaker 1: He lucked his way quote unquote lucked his way in
Speaker 1: from being an interim head coach when bee Line got
Speaker 1: fired to being the full time head coach. And it's like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? Maybe we need to go a
Speaker 1: different direction. And JB. Bickerstaff has just been phenomenal. Phenomenal.
Speaker 1: You could say Billy Donovan as well, because Chicago went
Speaker 1: from being a fringe playoff team that didn't make it
Speaker 1: to the playoffs to being the number one in the East.
Speaker 1: But like, come on now, another player, another coach that
Speaker 1: I think should get significant consideration that I didn't mention
Speaker 1: is also Taylor Jenkins, fourth in the West, making guy
Speaker 1: like Desmond Bane into like real deal most improved candidates.
Speaker 1: You've got Xavier Tillman who's playing really well, Like you've
Speaker 1: used Steven Adams in a very unique way that's perfect
Speaker 1: for his skill set, Like he is maximizing if you
Speaker 1: think about each player as a sponge he filled with water,
Speaker 1: he's squeezing the lash drops out of each sponge that
Speaker 1: he possibly can. And it's like, I don't know how
Speaker 1: you're gonna pay all these guys because they're all so
Speaker 1: good and you've made them into like such successful players
Speaker 1: like Dylan Brooks, for example, also seen as like alligator arms,
Speaker 1: and now you've turned him into a real deal Clamps
Speaker 1: player who's also getting like twenty five points per night.
Speaker 1: Like this team is fucking electric. I love Taylor Jenkins.
Speaker 1: I love to meet him and find out what makes
Speaker 1: his little brang go. That's all the time that we
Speaker 1: have for the Heat Check. We will be back Wednesday morning,
Speaker 1: Early Squirrely with a new episode. Please do not forget
Speaker 1: to download, subscribe. Please tell all your friends, Please tell
Speaker 1: all your friends. Please tell all your friends, every damn
Speaker 1: one of them. We will see Wednesday. Follow us on
Speaker 1: social ad, at the Tea Check, and at Tristan Crick
Speaker 1: on TikTok. Thank you so much for listening. My name,
Speaker 1: my name,