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Speaker 1: we've already made it a fourth of the way through
Speaker 1: the season. So we're gonna take a look at m
Speaker 1: v P Most Improved Player, Defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: and Rookie of the Year, and then tonight's slate of
Speaker 1: games is jam packed. I'm gonna be recording an instant
Speaker 1: reaction right after the games tonight. I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: it will actually go up on the YouTube feed tonight
Speaker 1: or tomorrow morning, but keep an eye on the feeds.
Speaker 1: We will have an instant reaction there. Um, you guys
Speaker 1: know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the
Speaker 1: Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of
Speaker 1: our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lts
Speaker 1: you guys don't miss any show announcements. And then, last
Speaker 1: but not least it for whatever reason, you guys miss
Speaker 1: one of these videos and you can't get back over
Speaker 1: to YouTube to finish, you can find them wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight. So starting with m
Speaker 1: v P, this is not my favorite award just because
Speaker 1: of the inconsistencies over the years, but I wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that for me personally when I'm picking him
Speaker 1: an m v P, that I was consistent with my criteria.
Speaker 1: So a few years ago I nailed it down to
Speaker 1: three specific criteria and then I kind of like combine
Speaker 1: those three when I'm ranking the players. So those three
Speaker 1: criteria that I use are who is the best player
Speaker 1: in the world, like regardless of situation, who would be
Speaker 1: the guy you'd want for a season and a playoff
Speaker 1: run for instance, Like that's the rankings list that I
Speaker 1: do over this over the summer. Where you land in
Speaker 1: that list is one chunk of the pie for me,
Speaker 1: and then the second chunk of the pie is who's
Speaker 1: the best player on the best team. This is like
Speaker 1: your stereotypical m vps that you've seen over the years,
Speaker 1: like Steph in two thousand fifteen or James Harden in
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, where maybe that guy wasn't necessarily considered
Speaker 1: the best player in the world at that point, but
Speaker 1: he was clearly the best player on the best team
Speaker 1: in the league at that point. So that's the middle
Speaker 1: chunk of the pie. And then the last chunk of
Speaker 1: the pie for me is who is more directly valuable
Speaker 1: to their team success. This is where I'm looking at
Speaker 1: like point differential stuff like how good are they with
Speaker 1: you on the floor versus when you're off the floor.
Speaker 1: These are your stereotypical m v P cases like Nicola
Speaker 1: Yokits last year, Russell Westbrook in two thousand and seventeen,
Speaker 1: where they are a lower seed but they're playing extremely
Speaker 1: good basketball and elevating an average supporting cast to a
Speaker 1: mid level playoff birth. So I'm gonna factor all three
Speaker 1: of those things in for all these players and kind
Speaker 1: of combine them as I ranked the players. So number
Speaker 1: one at this point in the season I think is
Speaker 1: clearly Jason Tatum. So to keep it simple, Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: is clearly in the conversation for best player in the world.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't put him directly there right now. I think
Speaker 1: Steph and Janice are clearly ahead of him, But he's
Speaker 1: every like he has every case to be at the
Speaker 1: top of the group of guys that's right behind them.
Speaker 1: So this season, Tatum is averaging thirty two, eight and
Speaker 1: five on shooting. If Kevin Durant was doing that, if
Speaker 1: Steph Curry was doing that, if Lebron James was doing that,
Speaker 1: we'd all be calling them the m v P. Once again,
Speaker 1: he's paying like a Tatum tax. That's more like a
Speaker 1: Austin Celtics tax, where people are underrating how good he's
Speaker 1: been just simply because of who he is and who
Speaker 1: he plays for. But he has unquestionably been one of
Speaker 1: the best players in the league this year. So he's
Speaker 1: doing really well in that first chunk, and then the
Speaker 1: second chunk, which is team success. The Celtics are the
Speaker 1: best team in the league by a mile. They're eighteen
Speaker 1: and four, They're playing at a sixties seven win pace.
Speaker 1: They have a two game lead on the rest of
Speaker 1: the field. They have the best net rating in the
Speaker 1: league by one point seven points per one hund possessions
Speaker 1: over second place, and they're on a five game winning street.
Speaker 1: So they're clearly the best team in the league, and
Speaker 1: he's clearly in the conversation for best player in the world.
Speaker 1: And then when we look at how valuable he is
Speaker 1: to the Celtics, there plus twelve per one hundred possessions
Speaker 1: with him on the floor and their plus four per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions with him off the four So to
Speaker 1: simplify that, they're unbelievably good when he's on the floor
Speaker 1: and they're just pretty good when he's off the floor.
Speaker 1: That's a significant differential. So he's checking all three boxes
Speaker 1: and resounding fashion. This is a classic m v P case.
Speaker 1: Obviously he has to maintain it through another three fourth
Speaker 1: so the season, but right now I think he's the
Speaker 1: clear m v P at this point. Alright, number two, Janice,
Speaker 1: So when we're talking about that first chunk best player
Speaker 1: in the world, Janice is actually the best player in
Speaker 1: the world. I had him number one on my list
Speaker 1: coming in this year, So he's got that box completely checked. Um,
Speaker 1: he's averaging a career high thirty one points per game
Speaker 1: with twelve rebounds and six assists. His efficiency is down
Speaker 1: a little bit this year. This is actually Janice's first
Speaker 1: time being below sixty true shooting since two thousand eighteen.
Speaker 1: But a big part of that is injuries, you know,
Speaker 1: with Pat Conatson being out, with Chris Middleton being out,
Speaker 1: even Drew Holidays miss some time. The spacing isn't quite
Speaker 1: as good around your honest, and his usage is higher
Speaker 1: as a result of the fact that they don't have
Speaker 1: as much offensive creation, so that's typically going to cause
Speaker 1: you some issues inefficiency. As we look at the team,
Speaker 1: the Bucks are fifteen and five, only two games back
Speaker 1: from Boston, so in the team success portion, he's also
Speaker 1: got that pretty well checked. As far as differential goes,
Speaker 1: there us nine points per one possessions when he's on
Speaker 1: the floor, and then they're even when he's off the floor,
Speaker 1: so it's a similar differential to Tatum. So as we
Speaker 1: look out, his case is also very very good. I
Speaker 1: think Tatum is just having a slightly better season, and
Speaker 1: I think his team is slightly better, so that gives
Speaker 1: Tatum the nod here, but it is close, and I
Speaker 1: do think that Janice I predicted that Janice would win
Speaker 1: the MVP before the season. Obviously, at this point, with
Speaker 1: what we know about Joannest and with we with what
Speaker 1: we know about Jayson Tatum, and given the small gap
Speaker 1: between the two, I still predict that Janice will eventually
Speaker 1: end up getting the m v P award, But I
Speaker 1: do think if the season ended today, it would have
Speaker 1: to go to Tatum alright. Number three Devin Booker, Is
Speaker 1: he in the best player in the world conversation? No,
Speaker 1: I'd say he's probably closer to ten than he is
Speaker 1: to one. So that's the major week portion of his case.
Speaker 1: But he is having by far the best season of
Speaker 1: his career, and is he and he has taken a
Speaker 1: leap from star to superstar in my opinion. I did
Speaker 1: a whole video on him yesterday that you can find
Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed at underscore json LT, breaking down
Speaker 1: his high level offensive initiation that he demonstrated in a
Speaker 1: comeback win over the Sacramento Kings earlier this week. He's
Speaker 1: averaging a career high twenty nine points per game with
Speaker 1: five rebounds and six assists. He's shooting, He's got a
Speaker 1: sixty shooting percentage, which is insane, and I believe this
Speaker 1: is the best playmaking season and best defensive season of
Speaker 1: his career. Now, he's had seasons where he's averaged more assists,
Speaker 1: but they were on really bad Sons teams where he's
Speaker 1: a lot more heliocentric um. In this particular season, when
Speaker 1: you factor in the stakes, the level of competition, and
Speaker 1: just you know, with them being in a winning concept,
Speaker 1: I think this has been the highest level playmaking I've
Speaker 1: seen from him. So again, not not doing strong in
Speaker 1: that specific criteria, but he's also a lot higher there
Speaker 1: than people would probably realize. Looking at the team. The
Speaker 1: Sons are fifteen and six, they're the top seed in
Speaker 1: the West. They are plus nine point nine points per
Speaker 1: one possessions with him on the floor and minus one
Speaker 1: point four points per one hundred possess with him off.
Speaker 1: That's an eleven point three point differential. That's m VP
Speaker 1: level stuff. They're an outstanding team with him on the floor,
Speaker 1: and they're a negative team with him off the floor.
Speaker 1: So you know, as we look as we zoom out
Speaker 1: with Devin Booker, he's got the team success thing, and
Speaker 1: he's got the value to his team thing. He's just
Speaker 1: a little week in that actual hierarchy of the NBA.
Speaker 1: That's why I have him down at number three, number
Speaker 1: four Steph Curry, so at a minimum, he's the second
Speaker 1: best player alive. I used to think that there was
Speaker 1: a chasm between Janice and the rest of the field,
Speaker 1: in large part because Steph had a great playoff run.
Speaker 1: But he didn't have a great regular season last year,
Speaker 1: and he had some poor shooting at certain points during
Speaker 1: the playoffs, so like it was one of those things
Speaker 1: where you know you're you. You still view Steph in
Speaker 1: great esteem, but you don't view him as the same
Speaker 1: type of regular season weapon as Janice, right, But he
Speaker 1: completely put that to rest this year. He's having just
Speaker 1: a completely ludicrous offensive season that has he raised that chasm.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I still give a slight nod to
Speaker 1: Jannice is the best player in the world, but Steff
Speaker 1: is clearly a better offensive player than your Honice. He's
Speaker 1: arguably the best offensive player that's ever played, and he's
Speaker 1: arguably having the best offensive season that any player has
Speaker 1: ever had. And that might be enough for some folks
Speaker 1: to put him up at number one. I just have
Speaker 1: him barely behind Janice at number two, So he's doing
Speaker 1: really well. In that first criteria, the Warriors are eleven
Speaker 1: and eleven. This is where Steph is gonna lose a
Speaker 1: ton of ground in these rankings. They didn't defend nearly
Speaker 1: well enough during that five game road trip on the
Speaker 1: East Coast and they went oh and five and it
Speaker 1: dug them in a big hole. But the team does
Speaker 1: appear to be putting some things together and he could
Speaker 1: move up this list if the Warriors move up the standings.
Speaker 1: The differential is where Steph is completely insane, and this
Speaker 1: is his long shot to win m v P. So
Speaker 1: the Warriors are plus eleven point two points per one
Speaker 1: hun possessions with step on the floor, and they are
Speaker 1: minus sixteen point five points per one hund possessions with
Speaker 1: him off the floor. That is a twenty seven point
Speaker 1: seven point differential with stap on versus when he's off.
Speaker 1: He is so vital to everything they do offensively in
Speaker 1: terms of pure value that third chunk, he has a
Speaker 1: chasm between him and the rest of the field. So
Speaker 1: in a year like last year, he probably would have
Speaker 1: won m v P. But the problem is that you
Speaker 1: have some more clear cut candidates this year, So the
Speaker 1: Warriors are definitely going to have to win more games
Speaker 1: in order for Steff to get it. But if it's close,
Speaker 1: if the Warriors are a two set out West and
Speaker 1: He's got a twenty eight point differential and Tatum's got
Speaker 1: an eight point differential, I could see some voters gravitating
Speaker 1: back towards step especially with the legitimacy of him having
Speaker 1: just won his first finals MVP and his fourth championship. Alright,
Speaker 1: Number five, I have Luca don Chet. He's kind of
Speaker 1: similar to uh to Jayson Tatum in the sense that
Speaker 1: like he's in that group of players that's right below
Speaker 1: Janis and Steph clearly in the conversation for best player
Speaker 1: in the world, but also clearly not the best player
Speaker 1: in the world. He's averaging a career high thirty four
Speaker 1: points per game with nine rebounds and nine assists, a
Speaker 1: career high sixtry shooting percentage. He's also been defending a
Speaker 1: lot better as of late after a pretty rough start
Speaker 1: to the season. But the team, once again not his fault.
Speaker 1: It's a supporting cast thing, similar to the step thing.
Speaker 1: But the Mavericks are ten and eleven and that's just
Speaker 1: not gonna get it done. That's where he's getting hurt.
Speaker 1: On the differential side of things, the Mavericks are plus
Speaker 1: four point three points per one Hunter possessions with Luca
Speaker 1: on the floor, and they are minus five point two
Speaker 1: points per one Hunter possessions with him off. That is
Speaker 1: a nine and a half point swing. So he's playing
Speaker 1: m VP level basketball, and um, you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: good enough in the hierarchy of the league. But the
Speaker 1: Mavericks are just gonna have to win more games for
Speaker 1: him to ever be considered, which is why when I
Speaker 1: saw him as the preseason favorite on fan Duel, I
Speaker 1: just didn't understand that, and I thought it was a
Speaker 1: bad bet. I just never thought the Mavericks would be
Speaker 1: able to win enough games. And you know, one last
Speaker 1: note on the Luca thing, and I talked about this
Speaker 1: a little bit in our Technical Difficulties episode on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm gonna rehash it here a little bit.
Speaker 1: But it bothers me that we have a tendency to
Speaker 1: jump down and denigrate players when their team struggles when
Speaker 1: it was an obvious roster situation, like it's basically the
Speaker 1: same roster except for without Jalen Brunson and last year
Speaker 1: with Jalen Brunson. They were three wins away from the finals,
Speaker 1: and the role players fell apart in that series. Luca
Speaker 1: also didn't play very well. But those things are intecrate,
Speaker 1: intricately related to each other. My point there is is
Speaker 1: like it's clearly a roster issue and everyone's jumping down Luca,
Speaker 1: and the thing is is, like I get it as
Speaker 1: it pertains to his play style and how aesthetically it
Speaker 1: can be not the most attractive style of basketball. We
Speaker 1: used to say, you know, I say we basketball media
Speaker 1: used to to say a lot of similar things about
Speaker 1: Lebron in the Spurs and like the two thousand two
Speaker 1: fourteen range, it was like the Spurs were playing the
Speaker 1: beautiful game and then the Miami Heat was like really
Speaker 1: good defense and Lebron James creating everything and a lot
Speaker 1: of like basketball fans would talk about how you know,
Speaker 1: they preferred the player movement, they preferred the ball movement.
Speaker 1: And we've also heard it. We've heard that with James
Speaker 1: Harden over the years. We've heard that with Tray Young
Speaker 1: over the years. We've heard that with Luca Dontage over
Speaker 1: the years, and Luca just gets lumped in with Trey
Speaker 1: and James harden as those like heliocentric, ugly style of
Speaker 1: play players, but he's so much better than them with
Speaker 1: his versatility offensively, which is why he actually goes up
Speaker 1: a level in the playoffs rather than you know, declining
Speaker 1: like most players have, like Trey Young has, like James
Speaker 1: harden has, And so I don't like good. If you
Speaker 1: want to talk about how you don't like the way
Speaker 1: Luca Dontech plays, that's fine, but the actual impact you
Speaker 1: can't overlook that. That's unassailable. Luca don Che is a
Speaker 1: proven playoff performer and he's in his early twenties. Like
Speaker 1: where was Lebron at four? You know, where was Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan four? I I don't think he's discussed fairly. Um,
Speaker 1: And this is gonna be a crap season because the
Speaker 1: maps are gonna suck and everyone's gonna use it as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to act as though Luca Dunch doesn't play
Speaker 1: the right way and then watch what happens. He'll be
Speaker 1: playing on some team with a legit costar, you know,
Speaker 1: the legit co stars that every other NBA champion in
Speaker 1: NBA history has had, you know, like Kawhi Leonard doing
Speaker 1: it with Pascal Siakam in that ridiculous team, or you know,
Speaker 1: uh Janic's doing it with Chris Middleton and Drew Holiday,
Speaker 1: or Lebron doing it with Anthony Davis, or Steph doing
Speaker 1: it with Kevin Durant. Everyone's playing with great players, and
Speaker 1: yet you're judging Luca for losing games with Spencer Dinwoodie
Speaker 1: and off the streets, Kemba Walker coming in to try
Speaker 1: to save their offense. Like, I don't think that's fair.
Speaker 1: Should he be the m v P. No, But that's
Speaker 1: why I have him down at five. But let's let's
Speaker 1: cut him some slack for what's happening with the Mavericks.
Speaker 1: All right, moving on, Defensive Player of the Year. So
Speaker 1: there's gonna ruffle some feathers, but hear me out. I
Speaker 1: think Anthony Davis is the clear choice for Defense Player
Speaker 1: of the Year at this point. So obviously, the Lakers
Speaker 1: as a team have underperformed, but their defense has been excellent.
Speaker 1: Their seventh and defensive rating in their second In half
Speaker 1: court defense, Anthony Davis is fourth in the league and blocks.
Speaker 1: He's the only player in the entire NBA averaging over
Speaker 1: one and a half steals and one and a half blocks,
Speaker 1: and the big difference between him and the other guys
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about on this list um which I
Speaker 1: won't reveal at this exact moment in time, but the
Speaker 1: biggest difference between him and the other two guys that
Speaker 1: I have in this list is Anthony Davis is not
Speaker 1: just a rim protector. He's also an outstanding UH interior defender.
Speaker 1: As it pertains to defending passes. He keeps his hands
Speaker 1: high and low to disrupt pocket passes, to disrupt kickout passes,
Speaker 1: to disrupt drop off passes to the dunker spot, or
Speaker 1: things along those lines, which is why he's the only
Speaker 1: player in the league that's averaging over one and a
Speaker 1: half steals and one and a half blocks. It kick
Speaker 1: starts everything the Lakers do in transition, and he leads
Speaker 1: the entire league and rebounding, so he's finishing defensive possessions
Speaker 1: for the Lakers at an astounding rate, which is a
Speaker 1: big part of defense. If you can't finish the defensive possession,
Speaker 1: you have to play defense. Again, rebounding is part of
Speaker 1: defen it. So Anthony Davis, if you especially when you
Speaker 1: look at the supporting cast, he's not being flanked by
Speaker 1: Janis Antenna Coupo and Drew Holiday. Sorry, like he's just
Speaker 1: he's got Lebron James, who, yeah, when he tries hard
Speaker 1: like he did on Wednesday, is an above average defender,
Speaker 1: in fact, a good defender when he tries hard. But
Speaker 1: then on Monday night he was an absolute disaster and
Speaker 1: gave really poor effort and it arguably costs his team
Speaker 1: the win. Right, So, like, the Lakers are playing with
Speaker 1: an average defensive supporting cast at best, and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is just about single handedly anchoring them as the seventh
Speaker 1: best defense in the NBA and the second best half
Speaker 1: court defense in the NBA. It's it's just him in
Speaker 1: a bunch of veteran minimum contracts and a Lebron James
Speaker 1: that only plays hard when he feels like it's on
Speaker 1: the defensive end, A D makes it all work, and he,
Speaker 1: to me, he's the clear cut defensive player of the year.
Speaker 1: If you were if you were let's say a Brook
Speaker 1: Lopez fan, and you were griping with this specific take,
Speaker 1: the big thing that you would hone in on his
Speaker 1: A D S transition defense. The Lakers have the worst
Speaker 1: transition defense in the league, and Anthony Davis has been
Speaker 1: one of the culprits for that, although he's been better
Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks. Number two, I've Brook Lopez.
Speaker 1: So he is the rim protector in the Bucks drop
Speaker 1: coverage scheme, and he is protecting the hell out of
Speaker 1: the rim. He is averaging two point nine blocks per game,
Speaker 1: which is second in the league. And the Bucks have
Speaker 1: the best paint defense in the league. They're allowing just
Speaker 1: forty four and a half points in the paint per
Speaker 1: one possessions, which, like I said, is first place in
Speaker 1: the league. He's doing an incredible job. I don't want
Speaker 1: to undercut that, but guys, just let's be honest. Like
Speaker 1: playing defense at the rim next to janis Antenna Kompo,
Speaker 1: who is the best defensive player in the world in
Speaker 1: my opinion, he's just saving resources for his job over
Speaker 1: the course of the season. Andrew Holiday, who is one
Speaker 1: of the top six or seven defensive players in the
Speaker 1: entire world. It's just a different level of work than
Speaker 1: Lebron James cleaning up for Lonnie Walker, who has been
Speaker 1: a career bad defensive player. Right, you know guys that
Speaker 1: are old and us their prime, like Russell Westbrook and
Speaker 1: Lebron James and a bunch of Editan minimum guys. It's
Speaker 1: just a different level of challenge that Anthony Davis has,
Speaker 1: and he has turned them into a good defense in
Speaker 1: spite of all of that. Number three, I have Joel
Speaker 1: embid He's also been one of the best defensive anchors
Speaker 1: in the league this year. He just hasn't played often enough.
Speaker 1: I think he's only played in fourteen games this year
Speaker 1: because of injuries. Among players who are playing at least
Speaker 1: thirty four minutes per game, no player in the entire
Speaker 1: NBA has posted a better defensive rating than Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: at one oh three point seven, which is two points
Speaker 1: better than the second place. If he could play sixty
Speaker 1: five plus game um uh, sixty five plus games, he
Speaker 1: does have an outside chance of getting this award. All Right,
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year Number one, I have Pala bunkro
Speaker 1: He's already an incredibly gifted NBA score He's averaging twenty
Speaker 1: three points on fifty five cent try shooting. He's also
Speaker 1: scoring zero point nine eight points per isolation, which is
Speaker 1: slightly above average, which is really impressive for essentially a teenager.
Speaker 1: UM He's scoring one point to one points proposed up though,
Speaker 1: which is in the ninety one percentile counting passes. So
Speaker 1: he's when we talked to I did a breakdown a
Speaker 1: Palabant Carol like two weeks ago. But it's like his
Speaker 1: ability to use hesitation dribbles to get defenders at a
Speaker 1: position because he has a decent pull up jump shot,
Speaker 1: although that's his biggest area of opportunity right now. But
Speaker 1: then he's so big and strong. It's insane for a
Speaker 1: guy his age, a rookie to have a combination of strength,
Speaker 1: size and skill that is already causing problems for the
Speaker 1: vast majority of NBA defenders. Is super impressive and like
Speaker 1: he waits to have little gaps appear, and then he
Speaker 1: plays a super physical brand of basketball. He'll hit that
Speaker 1: gap with his right shoulder and just punched through with
Speaker 1: strength and go all the way to the rim. He's
Speaker 1: really gifted in the post, going over both shoulders, and
Speaker 1: he passes surprisingly well for a young player as well.
Speaker 1: Um number two and number number two I have Jade
Speaker 1: and Nivy and number three, I've Ben mathurin their numbers.
Speaker 1: Aren't that far apart. Ben's actually been a little bit
Speaker 1: better statistically but I just think Jade and Ivy is
Speaker 1: a better player. His role is a different The Detroit
Speaker 1: Pistons are actually having him create a lot more, whereas
Speaker 1: Ben Mathurins and more of a play finishing type of
Speaker 1: role um with Indiana. And if you actually look at
Speaker 1: their self creation numbers, I vs are way better. So
Speaker 1: and pick and roll including passes, Jade and Ivy's given
Speaker 1: U zero point nine points per possession. Ben Mathurins given
Speaker 1: USE zero point six six. That's a pretty significant gap.
Speaker 1: That's like average for Ivy, too bad for Ben Mathin
Speaker 1: and I so Jad and Ivy is giving U zero
Speaker 1: point eight nine. Mathen's given you zero point eight. So
Speaker 1: you know, shout outs have been Matthren. We talked about
Speaker 1: him a lot on Monday or Wednesday when we talked
Speaker 1: about the Pacers. He's been a lot better than I
Speaker 1: expected him to be, especially as a jump shooter. But
Speaker 1: I just think Ivy is a better player for now,
Speaker 1: and I think Ivy has more like high end superstar
Speaker 1: potential as well. All right, last, but not least before
Speaker 1: we get out of here tonight, most improved player. So
Speaker 1: I have Lori markin in at number one. I know
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of hype around Bull Bull, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about him in a second, but I
Speaker 1: think Lori markin In deserves the award through one fourth
Speaker 1: of the season. Obviously, he's averaging a career high two
Speaker 1: points and nine rebounds, is shooting a career high sixty
Speaker 1: true shooting percentage. He's taking a d jump shots this
Speaker 1: year for two D eight points, which is five percentile.
Speaker 1: He's also shooting off the dribble, which is kind of
Speaker 1: a new part of his game. He's scoring efficiently out
Speaker 1: of the post and out of ice so and he's
Speaker 1: been really solid in crunch time as well. He's been
Speaker 1: one of the highest scorers this season. I think he's
Speaker 1: like thirteen in the entire NBA when the game is
Speaker 1: within five points with less than five minutes left. He
Speaker 1: went from inconsistent role player to legitimate foundational piece for
Speaker 1: a franchise in one summer, which to me is what
Speaker 1: deserves the award now. Kind of similar to the MVP thing.
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of different interpretations of this rule, because
Speaker 1: like bow Bowl, the actual gap between what bo Bo
Speaker 1: was and now is bigger. But I prefer to reward
Speaker 1: players who go from role player to star, then players
Speaker 1: who go from end of the bench to role player.
Speaker 1: I just think that's what the awards specifically should be targeting. Um.
Speaker 1: I did have bow Bull at secon it uh. He
Speaker 1: averaged a two point seven points per game for his
Speaker 1: career in three seasons in Denver, and now he's averaging
Speaker 1: thirteen point one points per game with the Orlando Magic
Speaker 1: on sixty seven percent true shooting and with some good
Speaker 1: jump shooting in there as well. Um And more importantly,
Speaker 1: he's actually been pretty productive for the Magic on the scoreboard.
Speaker 1: His net rating, meaning the point differential per one hunter possessions,
Speaker 1: is fourth on the team among rotation players. He's got
Speaker 1: a really good handle for his size. That's the big
Speaker 1: thing that stands out to me when I was watching
Speaker 1: film this morning. He also plays relatively well in the
Speaker 1: physicality for being a really thin player. Kind of reminds
Speaker 1: me of Katie a little bit, where like, even though
Speaker 1: he is thin, by being the physical aggressor, he gets
Speaker 1: himself UM through those physical scenarios pretty well. I I
Speaker 1: just think, you know, and this is where, because as
Speaker 1: is always the case, when stuff like this happens, we
Speaker 1: all go off the rails and you know, I saw
Speaker 1: Stephon Marbury, and Stephon Marbury's famously says all sorts of
Speaker 1: crazy stuff. Um, but Steven Marbury is like, oh, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a top tier star and next two years. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's slow down a little bit. You know everyone was
Speaker 1: talking about you know why is why is uh Victor
Speaker 1: Wemban Yama getting all this attention when bull Bowl is
Speaker 1: doing all the same things. No, he's not. Okay, Like,
Speaker 1: let's let's calm down. I really enjoyed watching that film
Speaker 1: on bull Bowl this morning. He has absolutely taken a
Speaker 1: significant leap. It's good to see him getting a legit
Speaker 1: green light in an opportunity to actually show what he
Speaker 1: can do without fear of making mistakes. I'm on board
Speaker 1: just like everyone else's, but let's slow down a little bit.
Speaker 1: I do not think that he has enough fluidity, especially
Speaker 1: going from handle to jumper, to be a top tier
Speaker 1: superstar or even really anything close to that. And you
Speaker 1: know the other thing too, is like Victor woman Yama,
Speaker 1: you can see the difference. Like just go look at
Speaker 1: like five or six pull up jump shots from bow Bowl,
Speaker 1: and then go look at five or six pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots from Victor wemban Yama. Bow Bowl looks like
Speaker 1: a big man who's shooting a pull up jumps shot.
Speaker 1: Victor wembon Yama looks like a two guard. He's got
Speaker 1: an incredibly fluid and quick and confident release, which is
Speaker 1: the like for instance, Bobo has only taken two threes
Speaker 1: per game this year, Victor women Yama is going to
Speaker 1: attempt seven threes per game as a rookie. In all likelihood,
Speaker 1: he's going to be a high volume three point shooter
Speaker 1: because of the fluidity and quickness of his release. And
Speaker 1: then again, like, you want to know why there's more
Speaker 1: hype around Victor women Yama. He's an eighteen year old
Speaker 1: dude who's not in the league yet and bow Bo
Speaker 1: is a twenty three year old who's in his fourth
Speaker 1: NBA season. Like, it's totally different prospects in terms of
Speaker 1: future development for both of those two guys. So let's
Speaker 1: just enjoy Bobo's game like normal people and not make
Speaker 1: outrageous comparisons. Um. And then the last guy I wanted
Speaker 1: to shout out on the most improved player I put
Speaker 1: third on my list was Anthony Simons. He's up from
Speaker 1: last so last year he had average a career high
Speaker 1: seventeen points per game. This year, he's bumped that up
Speaker 1: to twenty four points per game. And most importantly, he's
Speaker 1: actually generating a lot of quality shots. He's turned himself
Speaker 1: into a legit NBA shot creator. The Blazers have scored
Speaker 1: three D fourteen points on three hundred and six of
Speaker 1: his pick and rolls, which is in the sixty nine percentile.
Speaker 1: He's also run ninety ISOs for ninety six points, which
Speaker 1: is in the seventy percentile. You could actually make the
Speaker 1: case that Anthony Simmons is like legitimately better than c. J.
Speaker 1: McCollum at this point. So yeah, only a quarter of
Speaker 1: the way through the season, a lot can change. We'll
Speaker 1: probably touch based on this again here in about a
Speaker 1: month and a half. But that's all I have for today.
Speaker 1: Is always I sincerely appreciate your guys. The volume