Speaker 1: Welcome into NBA post production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarahustak, NBA analyst for the S Network, and today
Speaker 1: is Friday, April nineteenth, and from our extraordinary core group
Speaker 1: of NBA journalists were joined now by NBA dot Com
Speaker 1: senior writer Michael C. Wright. And Michael, We've got a
Speaker 1: lot of things going on right now. Has been a
Speaker 1: good week as we have started the playing games. We
Speaker 1: will have the final two playing games in the East
Speaker 1: and the West taking place tonight, the early game seven
Speaker 1: o'clock on ESPN between the Heat and the Bulls. At
Speaker 1: nine point thirty on TNT will be the Pelicans and
Speaker 1: the Kings. But this week was also the week that
Speaker 1: the awards ballots were due one hundred voters. You are
Speaker 1: one of those one hundred, as the finalists will be
Speaker 1: announced in just a couple of days April twenty first
Speaker 1: on TNT. Let's get into it because you've been doing
Speaker 1: your MVP latter all season. But there's a lot of
Speaker 1: other interesting and intriguing discussions to be had about some
Speaker 1: of these awards and where things may fall. So let's
Speaker 1: start with the MVP. You've already had your final MVP Ladder.
Speaker 1: But what was your decision making going into that and
Speaker 1: how challenging was it for you to fill out your ballot.
Speaker 2: I would say it wasn't hard to fill out the ballot.
Speaker 2: Actually for me, I mean it was Nicola Jokic MVP.
Speaker 2: This would make I think the fourth year in a
Speaker 2: row I voted.
Speaker 3: For him for MVP.
Speaker 2: Just what he's done in keeping Denver where they are,
Speaker 2: and then just the fact that, like you know, last year,
Speaker 2: they sort of went into the playoffs limping, stumbling, they
Speaker 2: were on a little bit of a slump, and they're
Speaker 2: rolling right now going into the playoffs, and he's just
Speaker 2: been amazing.
Speaker 3: So that was an easy one.
Speaker 2: But I think the hardest for me was that number two,
Speaker 2: the number two guy, And you know a lot of
Speaker 2: people are very into Luka Dacic, and you can't deny
Speaker 2: what the man is done.
Speaker 3: He's put up historic numbers. But I just keep going
Speaker 3: back to the fact that Shake Gilders.
Speaker 2: Alexander led a team that was tenth last year to
Speaker 2: the number one seed, and he was very consistent, average
Speaker 2: thirty plus a game. He did his thing defensively, led
Speaker 2: the league in steals, and so for me, My number
Speaker 2: two was shake Guild just Alexander, and then I had
Speaker 2: Luka Dancis number three, followed by Giannis and then Jason Tatum.
Speaker 2: Jason Tatum. You could easily put Jaylen Brunson right there
Speaker 2: in at fifth spot. But for me, I just couldn't
Speaker 2: get over the fact that Jason Tatum was the best
Speaker 2: team on the best team in.
Speaker 3: The league by far, so he had to go there
Speaker 3: at five.
Speaker 1: For me, I feel that, and I like that, and
Speaker 1: I am not a voter, so I didn't have a ballot,
Speaker 1: and I am glad about facts like that, so I
Speaker 1: don't have to put pen to paper or however it
Speaker 1: works with it because to that point, with the Knicks
Speaker 1: have done in the fact though, to me that they're
Speaker 1: the number two seed, for it's a hard It's a
Speaker 1: fine line of just how you want to frame it,
Speaker 1: given the fact that Boston has been so far and
Speaker 1: away the best team in the NBA, Tatum being the
Speaker 1: best player on that team, but the compliments of the
Speaker 1: roster everyone else involved. To see the Knicks get the
Speaker 1: number two seed in the East is something that in
Speaker 1: how instrumental Jalen Brunson has been a part of that
Speaker 1: change in a driving force, and that that's where I
Speaker 1: think the back end of the MVP ballot probably is
Speaker 1: more challenging maybe for some Towards the top, I'm with
Speaker 1: you with Shay gils A, Alexander and the number two
Speaker 1: spot for as tremendous, tremendous as Luka Dancic has been,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be a fun series to watch
Speaker 1: him in the Dallas Mavericks and Kyrie go against the Clippers.
Speaker 1: The number one spot for OKC in SGA and what
Speaker 1: he's done this season, I think very much deserves that,
Speaker 1: and I think Jokic for most people will will be
Speaker 1: the runway favorite there for another MVP Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year. Michael, very interested to see what you've got
Speaker 1: on this one, because I think, again the dialogue discussion
Speaker 1: just kind of how you frame this in terms of records,
Speaker 1: in terms of impact of a player or something that
Speaker 1: will be talking about her, or just kind of the
Speaker 1: viewpoint for each voter, who who do you have on
Speaker 1: your ballot?
Speaker 2: Well, I had to use just simple logic here, and
Speaker 2: because everybody's all about Rudy Gobert and they're saying that
Speaker 2: there's no way that Victor Women and Yama should be
Speaker 2: able to win the award, and that's probably true. He's
Speaker 2: gonna he's gonna win Rookie of the Year, that that'll
Speaker 2: be a runaway. But I ended up going with Victor
Speaker 2: women Yama as Defensive Player of the Year. And really
Speaker 2: my argument is, switch those guys on their teams. Put
Speaker 2: put Victor women Yama on the Minnesota Minnesota timberward and
Speaker 2: would you do you tell me that you're telling me
Speaker 2: that the Timber wasn't not gonna be better defensively. That's
Speaker 2: my argument there. I think he's the most impactful defender
Speaker 2: in the NBA. I mean, just over the.
Speaker 3: Month of April, Victor averaged six blocks per game.
Speaker 2: And you know, I get it that San Antonio doesn't
Speaker 2: rank high defensively. I get all of that, but again,
Speaker 2: just eye tests and then again.
Speaker 3: Switch them. Put Rudy Gobert on the.
Speaker 2: Spurs and put Victor Wimbyama on the Timber w and
Speaker 2: you tell me what they look like defensively. So that
Speaker 2: was it for me, And then I think, who was it?
Speaker 2: But I have I had bam Adebayo at third. He
Speaker 2: was really good for Miami this year. They're really gonna
Speaker 2: need him tonight without Jimmy Butler in that playing game.
Speaker 2: So those are my three. Argue with me if you
Speaker 2: want to, but Victor's the guy for me.
Speaker 1: I won't argue with you. But I will put a
Speaker 1: little love on the name of Alex Caruso.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, he's all defensive team for me.
Speaker 1: And I think so often we think about the dominance
Speaker 1: of a big and that's something that we often, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll watch and marvel at in that is you talk
Speaker 1: about that switch. I think Minnesota Timberwolves would would be
Speaker 1: signing up for that in a heartbeat, especially now as
Speaker 1: they're getting set for this series against the Suns. But yeah,
Speaker 1: but he's someone I give a little bit of love to.
Speaker 1: I do think that's fascinating. And again this circles back
Speaker 1: to just how you frame it and what you look
Speaker 1: at in terms of record. I'm sure a lot of
Speaker 1: voters will say there's no way that I am voting
Speaker 1: for a player for an award like that it has
Speaker 1: what the worst record in the league or towards the
Speaker 1: bottom one of those. However, watching him and watching his
Speaker 1: progression through the season, the tracking, the timing, the understanding
Speaker 1: the switch a bit. All those things you can't say.
Speaker 1: You can't say enough things about him and so, and
Speaker 1: I mentioned Caruso. He's going to be a big question
Speaker 1: mark here as the Bulls are playing the Heat obviously
Speaker 1: without Jimmy Butler. But if Caruso is not playing tonight
Speaker 1: for the Bulls at all, also factor in. Okay, you
Speaker 1: said it runaway favorite. I don't think anyone has any
Speaker 1: questions that Victor webbin Yama is the rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1: How did you fill out the rest of your ballot?
Speaker 2: Okay, let's see what I got here. Oh, it was
Speaker 2: pretty easy. That one was easy too. I mean Victor
Speaker 2: wimen Yama. Then Chet Holgren. Look, you're a defensive anchor
Speaker 2: on the team. It has the first seed in the West,
Speaker 2: and Chet has been.
Speaker 3: Pretty good all year. Put it like this, if Victor does.
Speaker 2: Not come into the NBA, you take Victor out of it.
Speaker 2: Chet probably wins the thing. Just running away.
Speaker 1: I have a question for you, and I don't mean
Speaker 1: to cut you off, but since you are in that circuit,
Speaker 1: you've seen these teams. You obviously have been on a
Speaker 1: Wombee tracker throughout the course of the year, but also
Speaker 1: have seen a lot of Okay, see, was there any
Speaker 1: point during the season, I know there was maybe in
Speaker 1: November December jet there was some discussion of oh, could
Speaker 1: Chet actually end up being Was there any point in
Speaker 1: your mind that you thought he at a moment in
Speaker 1: time the season had surpassed when Bin Yama for Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year.
Speaker 3: I think Victors or where it was a question. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think it was early on it was Chet.
Speaker 2: Chet was the guy early on because Oklahoma City sort
Speaker 2: of hit the ground running and he was playing great.
Speaker 2: And then you remember, like that whole first month, month
Speaker 2: and a half, maybe even two months of the season,
Speaker 2: the Spurs are trying to play Victor Wimenyam as a
Speaker 2: as a power forward, and so around that time I
Speaker 2: would say that Chet was the guy, and then Victor
Speaker 2: ended up surpassing him. It was like, as soon as
Speaker 2: they moved Victor Wimenyama to center, it was over because
Speaker 2: it just unlocked so much with the Spurs, and he
Speaker 2: could do so much and I'm talking about defending the paint,
Speaker 2: you know, the basket, but he could also get out
Speaker 2: on the perimeter and make things happen. So to me,
Speaker 2: that switch sort of just opened up It opened up
Speaker 2: victor skill set essentially, and you got to see a
Speaker 2: lot more so, I would say around November or so,
Speaker 2: I think he passed Chet hunger and especially that second
Speaker 2: matchup they had where Vic goes down the court, he
Speaker 2: hits a three and then coming back he blocks checks shot,
Speaker 2: and that was like the image that sealed it for
Speaker 2: me right then. But anyway, Brandon Miller was my third
Speaker 2: pick in that he was great with Charlotte.
Speaker 3: I thought he was.
Speaker 1: He was especially towards the latter half or the latter
Speaker 1: part of the season and how he finished things off.
Speaker 1: Going to be interesting to see some of the changes
Speaker 1: new front office, new coaching changes that occur with them
Speaker 1: this summer. And yeah, in terms of Wenby and Chat
Speaker 1: watching their individual matchups and how competitive and how seriously
Speaker 1: they took an embraced going up against one another. You
Speaker 1: absolutely love that Coach of the Year. I think there
Speaker 1: was a lot of really really deserving candidates this year
Speaker 1: to be amongst a discussion what does your ballot look like?
Speaker 3: I think that was pretty easy too. You go from
Speaker 3: tens to first, No, tensa first, it's Mark Dango. Oh,
Speaker 3: I mean I like that. You know the thing is too.
Speaker 2: I think you could have made an argument for him
Speaker 2: probably each of the last two years too, because what
Speaker 2: he's done as far as developed, helping to develop all
Speaker 2: that young talent, and you know, the thunder when they
Speaker 2: brought him in, he sort of had that reputation as
Speaker 2: a developmental guy, a guy that could develop young talent,
Speaker 2: and that's exactly what he's done.
Speaker 3: So that was pretty easy.
Speaker 2: Now when you go to second and third, that's where
Speaker 2: I was a little conflicted. I liked what Joe Mizzoula
Speaker 2: did in Boston because you know, last year, I mean
Speaker 2: because the thought last year was that, oh, he and
Speaker 2: this great team, which is sort of true. Obviously that's true,
Speaker 2: but you still got to coach him. And the thing
Speaker 2: is is that they you know, they sort of came
Speaker 2: they were in the image of emay Udoka like that
Speaker 2: last year. This year he's sort of putting more of
Speaker 2: his fingerprints on everything, and I think that they have
Speaker 2: really responded to the coach and you I mean, you
Speaker 2: could see the buy in from the Celtics and they're
Speaker 2: a little bit different under Joe Mizzoula, but not in
Speaker 2: a bad way.
Speaker 3: They've been pretty good.
Speaker 2: And then third, I had to go with e May
Speaker 2: had to go at email because what he did with
Speaker 2: Houston it was phenomenal. And you know, you look at
Speaker 2: that roster and it's sort of devoid of talent, except
Speaker 2: you know, they've got some challenged young guys. But I
Speaker 2: think that I May was able to get the most
Speaker 2: out of them. I mean, like you started to see
Speaker 2: sort of the unlocking of Jalen Green this year. You know,
Speaker 2: I mean, he's been You've seen flashes throughout his whole career,
Speaker 2: but I think you saw him better on a more
Speaker 2: consistent basis. You saw him start to eliminate some of
Speaker 2: the things that younger players do. Now he's still not there,
Speaker 2: but I think with e May, there's a sense that
Speaker 2: he's going to get there, and there's a sense that
Speaker 2: Houston is right.
Speaker 3: On the verge of turning things around.
Speaker 1: I could not agree with you more on all of
Speaker 1: those things, and especially with Emay Yudoka and that Houston team,
Speaker 1: which for a while we thought they might have a
Speaker 1: chance to be in the play in which was shocking
Speaker 1: to think about that turnaround. However, this is where I
Speaker 1: think in terms of filling out the ballot and Mark
Speaker 1: Dagnall you're spot on. I think that's an incredible story too.
Speaker 1: For as much as we talk about the importance of
Speaker 1: the G League and just home growing, if that's how
Speaker 1: you want to term it, so many players the development
Speaker 1: of that. That's the story of Dagnalton, what he did
Speaker 1: with the Oklahoma City Blue team and just how he
Speaker 1: was a part of their G League team. They saw
Speaker 1: what he was doing with that part of the organization
Speaker 1: and then making that jump. But he may Udoka still
Speaker 1: that's a team that's not in the playoffs. Jamal mostly
Speaker 1: and what he did, and then in the fifth seed
Speaker 1: Chris Finch, like Minnesota, we thought the Timberwolves and go
Speaker 1: Bear in Karl Anthony Towns were never gonna work together,
Speaker 1: and just the season that they they had and put
Speaker 1: together that they were amongst the top one, two three
Speaker 1: of the Western Conference and very well could have finished
Speaker 1: in the top of the conference. I would put his
Speaker 1: name in it. So that's why I think there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of candidates, unlike your ballad,
Speaker 1: but I.
Speaker 3: Think Jamal though.
Speaker 1: Jamal Jamal would have been my number two. That might
Speaker 1: have been Jamal would have been my number two.
Speaker 2: It might have been a little bit of an oversight
Speaker 2: for me there because Jamal, like what he's done with
Speaker 2: the Magic and not like he has sort of transformed
Speaker 2: like sort of like May did in Houston, he sort
Speaker 2: of transformed the culture there. Like those guys are dogs
Speaker 2: on defense, yes, and not only that, they they have
Speaker 2: this mentality where they all play for one another.
Speaker 3: Like they have not been the.
Speaker 2: Greatest offensive team, but they are so scrappy on defense
Speaker 2: that they they they're gonna be in pretty much every
Speaker 2: game they play. And that's Jamal Moseley. Yeah, that's an
Speaker 2: oversight on my part because you.
Speaker 1: Know, but you said, but you framed exactly. It is
Speaker 1: the culture shift and we often use those terms, but
Speaker 1: everything about their team and how they play is a
Speaker 1: part of what he's instilled since getting there. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I just can't say say enough good things about just
Speaker 1: the identity that they now play with and playing for
Speaker 1: each other, all of those things so impressed with And
Speaker 1: it's gonna be gonna be interesting to see. That's an
Speaker 1: interesting four or five matchup between them and the Cleveland Cavaliers,
Speaker 1: who bigger staff and that group trying to hold things together.
Speaker 1: We get a lot of fun series to come and
Speaker 1: a couple more awards to see what your ballot looks
Speaker 1: like to come. We're gonna take a quick break and
Speaker 1: get to six Man and Most Improved Player right after.
Speaker 1: Back to NBA Postercustak joined by the great Michael C. Wrights.
Speaker 1: Ballance were due this week. The finalists will be announced
Speaker 1: on April twenty first on TNT. For many of the
Speaker 1: NBA awards, UH six Man of the Year. Michael, who
Speaker 1: do you have on this?
Speaker 3: That one was a little harder.
Speaker 2: I will say that one was harder, but I ended
Speaker 2: up going with Maleigue Monk and Sacramento.
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, they could use them, Yeah, they use
Speaker 1: them right now.
Speaker 3: Sure could, they sure could right now.
Speaker 2: But Nazri was second, and then Bagan Bogdanovich because like,
Speaker 2: just if you look at the the I guess the
Speaker 2: analytics and the box score stuff, he's sort of right.
Speaker 3: There for me.
Speaker 2: But Maleague Monk, I just like what he did this
Speaker 2: year with the Kings, I mean he was invaluable to them,
Speaker 2: and they, like you said, they really need him tonight
Speaker 2: because this is a huge game for them, and like.
Speaker 3: You know, they're on the verge.
Speaker 2: If this happens, if the Pelicans end up beating the
Speaker 2: Kings tonight. Do you realize it'll be the first time
Speaker 2: since like nineteen ninety four that one team beat another
Speaker 2: one six times in one season because they knew because
Speaker 2: they played for a regular season games and then they
Speaker 2: play once in the play oh with the season tournament
Speaker 2: in the quarterfinals.
Speaker 3: So they are five and zero against the Kings. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's crazy.
Speaker 1: I have to say in regards to that, I have
Speaker 1: a hard time thinking that the Kings won't be able
Speaker 1: to put together a win against the Pelicans without Zion tonight.
Speaker 1: I think he's been such a major factor. However, you
Speaker 1: say that, and the Pelicans spent a decent amount of
Speaker 1: time the season playing without Zion, and if they start
Speaker 1: putt putting the pieces together, yeah, that's crazy. And to
Speaker 1: think about the Kings being a two seed last year
Speaker 1: and then not even properly making the playoffs.
Speaker 2: So honestly, I'd like to see him make it again though,
Speaker 2: like two years in a row. That would be nice
Speaker 2: to see the Kings make it two years in a row,
Speaker 2: and like.
Speaker 1: It would be a fun mess Deer and Fox and
Speaker 1: again shake Gildes Alexander, Like there's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: fun matchups within a matchup and Sibonis his size and
Speaker 1: big on the inside. That's an area for Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: they mister, I think that'd be that'd be a relatively
Speaker 1: interesting series. Okay, what about what about our last one?
Speaker 1: Most Improved Player? I feel like this one always there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of gray area of age, second, third
Speaker 1: year players, four kids? Should you be improving? Is this
Speaker 1: the natural progress or you're just getting more usage and
Speaker 1: that's why the numbers and the production has gone up.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of ways to look at it. So
Speaker 1: what does your ballot look like? And kind of how
Speaker 1: do you view you the way in what you frame
Speaker 1: this award.
Speaker 2: You know that the way I look at it has
Speaker 2: sort of changed over the years because I think I
Speaker 2: made a mistake a couple of years ago. It might
Speaker 2: have been last year voting John morint Is is most
Speaker 2: improved Player because he came into the league, is one
Speaker 2: of the you know, top picks. He was supposed to
Speaker 2: be that, so that I fel like I made a mistake.
Speaker 1: It was between his first to second year, Like it
Speaker 1: was it his second year that you voted this or
Speaker 1: won it? Third year he won it.
Speaker 3: I think that was was it last season? I think
Speaker 3: it was last season.
Speaker 1: Oh that it would have been last season, so probably is.
Speaker 2: But I felt like I made I felt like I
Speaker 2: made a mistake there because the hike was there. You
Speaker 2: knew he was going to be what he is, and
Speaker 2: so that was a mistake on my part. See I
Speaker 2: admit my mistakes right here on.
Speaker 3: This podcast to you.
Speaker 2: But this year, I'm not sure I made a mistake.
Speaker 2: I think it was sort of hands down Tyrese Maxie.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I saw Kobe White the other night. I saw he did,
Speaker 2: he dropped the high forty two, played his butt off.
Speaker 2: But Tyrese Maxy all year long, he's been sort of
Speaker 2: the guy that has really made the Sixers go, especially
Speaker 2: with Joelle and b missing some time, they really needed
Speaker 2: him to sort of up his production and we've seen it.
Speaker 2: He was my number one, and you'll probably be surprised
Speaker 2: my second one, but I went with Jalen Williams in ok.
Speaker 3: See oh okay, yeah, yeah, well he was my number two. Okay,
Speaker 3: he was my number two because.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love Jalen Williams.
Speaker 3: He's great.
Speaker 2: He's gonna give you a consistent eighteen nineteen a night.
Speaker 2: H Maybe double digit rebounds. The kid can play. But
Speaker 2: then number three, I went with Kobe Waite, and you know,
Speaker 2: just he's doubled. Well, he's more than double his points
Speaker 2: per game from last year, just playing well like last
Speaker 2: or the other night. He had that forty two points,
Speaker 2: but the most important number was he had zero turnovers.
Speaker 3: That was you for them.
Speaker 1: I so the thing I'll say, And I love Jalen Williams,
Speaker 1: a huge fan, and I'm fascinated to watch how this
Speaker 1: entire team. I think just their first taste of the
Speaker 1: playoffs is going to be interesting. But I think for
Speaker 1: as much attention as a SGA is gonna get, he's
Speaker 1: going to be a big part of that. That's though,
Speaker 1: where I would refer to it being his second year,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of an interesting balance of Okay, is
Speaker 1: this a natural jump, but he feels to have a
Speaker 1: unnatural jump, Kobe White, I'm with you on that. The
Speaker 1: fact that he's done this now and it is fifty.
Speaker 1: This is a bulls team too, that a bunch of
Speaker 1: disjointed parts, the los Zack Lavine trying to put piece
Speaker 1: things together. I know, no one is that excited about
Speaker 1: an opportunity to you know, be a nine seed and
Speaker 1: still continue to get in through the play in. However,
Speaker 1: I think just what he's put together and even the
Speaker 1: other nine has been something special with you on Tyres
Speaker 1: MAXI I know Cam Thomas, the Brooklyn Nets has had
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot to say about most improved
Speaker 1: player he is he is. But I think that's where
Speaker 1: for voters. One record factors in to how it impacts winning,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, and three just the natural progression of that's
Speaker 1: where I go back to, you know, what does it
Speaker 1: mean in terms of just getting more shots, a higher
Speaker 1: volume of shots, more usage. How that factors and so Yeah,
Speaker 1: and to your original question or point about John Moran's
Speaker 1: uh lowry markin and won last year and Jah won
Speaker 1: the year. Okay, okay, big thanks to our great producer
Speaker 1: Peter Peter Kowder for yeah, good job, Peter, uh clutch
Speaker 1: got Steph Curry, you know the.
Speaker 3: Cooker you already knew that.
Speaker 2: Definitely Steph, and he's sort of been the bright spot
Speaker 2: for what's been just an uncharacteristically I wouldn't say ugly,
Speaker 2: but it's just been.
Speaker 3: A really tough season for them.
Speaker 2: And let's be real about it, Draymond Green has a
Speaker 2: lot to do with that, just just the suspensions and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. I mean, you think about the games
Speaker 2: he missed and what the Warriors record was when he
Speaker 2: missed the you know, the games he missed, and that
Speaker 2: may be the difference between them actually being in the
Speaker 2: playoffs as opposed to fighting for a playing spot. So
Speaker 2: it was it was rough, and he was like one
Speaker 2: of the bright spots. And then some of those young
Speaker 2: guys too that are starting and starting to mature and
Speaker 2: show that they might be some serious contributors here in
Speaker 2: the future for them.
Speaker 3: But Steph was definitely the clutch guy for me.
Speaker 2: Then I had DeMar Derozen and that was a tough
Speaker 2: one because you're looking at again, you know, you were
Speaker 2: just discussing it records and stuff like that, and the
Speaker 2: Bulls obviously are fighting for that playing spot, but they've
Speaker 2: had a ton of injuries and like you were saying,
Speaker 2: they were just trying to move around the parts, trying
Speaker 2: to figure out what was gonna work best. But then
Speaker 2: number three for me was actually Shay Gilg just Alexander.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, he's been clutched this year and obviously, like
Speaker 2: I said before, when I make the argument for him
Speaker 2: for MVP.
Speaker 3: You go from tenth c to the first seed. That's
Speaker 3: pretty clutch.
Speaker 2: But no, he actually had to make some things happen
Speaker 2: in clutch situations. And sometimes you got to really define
Speaker 2: what clutch is. And I think a lot of people
Speaker 2: just say clutch is in the word clutch, but technically
Speaker 2: it's you know, any game within five points in the
Speaker 2: last five minutes. Yeah, right, And so all three of
Speaker 2: those guys have really, you know, really kind of stood
Speaker 2: out in those clutch situations. And I'm not talking about
Speaker 2: just clutch the word. I'm talking about the true definition
Speaker 2: of it as it pertains to the NBA and game.
Speaker 2: So that was that was the way I went, How would.
Speaker 1: You go on that curry for the win? That's all
Speaker 1: I know. Yeah, everything after that, I don't need to
Speaker 1: know anything. Michael, thank you for unveiling your ballot. We
Speaker 1: appreciate it, We appreciate hearing from you, and we'll continue
Speaker 1: to watch read all of your good stuff on NBA TV,
Speaker 1: NBA dot com and until we talk to you next. Enjoy,
Speaker 1: enjoy these first round of the playoffs.
Speaker 3: We'll do I'll be all over the place, so it'll
Speaker 3: be fun.
Speaker 2: We know it.
Speaker 3: We know it.
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