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Speaker 1: welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the Volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are
Speaker 1: having a great week so far. We're gonna continue our
Speaker 1: mid season week today with the mid season Awards hitting
Speaker 1: on m v P Defensive Player of the Year, Most
Speaker 1: Improved Player, and Rookie of the Year. You guys know
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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight and here at the beginning of three we
Speaker 1: have a ridiculous couple of months of sports coming up. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we just had the college football National Championship beat down
Speaker 1: last night, but we're headed into the NFL playoffs. I'm
Speaker 1: ready to watch Tom Brady eliminate my Dallas Cowboys. And
Speaker 1: then obviously basketball is heating up, both with college basketball
Speaker 1: in the n b A. I was just at Mkale
Speaker 1: Center to watch the Arizona Wildcats lose at home for
Speaker 1: the first time in like two years to Washington State.
Speaker 1: It was fun to get out and go to that game.
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Speaker 1: So you guys know the drill with my m v
Speaker 1: P list, Remember, I kind of split it evenly between
Speaker 1: three criteria. Who's the best player in the league, who's
Speaker 1: the best player on the best team, and who's the
Speaker 1: most valuable to your team? If you want to simplify that,
Speaker 1: it's just ranking their individual success, ranking your team's success
Speaker 1: in ranking how much you as an individual are contributing
Speaker 1: to that team's success. So I have, if the season
Speaker 1: ended today, my m v P as Kevin Durant. He's
Speaker 1: averaging thirty points, seven rebounds, and five assists this season
Speaker 1: on it astonishing six true shooting, driven in large part
Speaker 1: by him knocking down the most difficult shot in basketball,
Speaker 1: the pull up jump shot at a ridiculous fifty cent clip.
Speaker 1: Easily the most efficient perimeter player season that we've seen
Speaker 1: since prime Steph Curry. He's also gonna make an All
Speaker 1: Defense team. It's the best he's ever been, and he's
Speaker 1: been the best player that I've seen in the league
Speaker 1: this year. Then Nets have the best the second best
Speaker 1: record in the NBA. They're just one and a half
Speaker 1: games back of the Celtics for first place. They are
Speaker 1: top ten in both offense and defense, and the Nets
Speaker 1: are eleven points per one hundred possessions better when Katie
Speaker 1: is on the floor versus when he's off. They're losing
Speaker 1: the k D off minutes by three point four points
Speaker 1: per one possessions this season. So he is checking all
Speaker 1: three boxes resoundingly. Now, Katie is hurt, but we gotta
Speaker 1: look closely at that because he's only missed one game
Speaker 1: all season, and if he ends up coming back before
Speaker 1: you know, February one, then in all likelihood he's gonna
Speaker 1: end up finishing the season around seventies seventy two games played.
Speaker 1: And if that's the case, time played is not going
Speaker 1: to be a factor. So he checks all three boxes resoundingly. Now,
Speaker 1: the one last point I wanted to hammer home with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is his leadership. You know, like, say what
Speaker 1: you want about the trade request this summer, and I
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be something that lingers in a lot
Speaker 1: of people's minds, and they're gonna have a hard time
Speaker 1: getting over that. But the reality is is like, as
Speaker 1: far as trade requests go, it doesn't really get much
Speaker 1: more professional than what Kevin Durant did. He waited until
Speaker 1: the off season. He gave them a clear list of
Speaker 1: preferred teams. He explained why to the front office and
Speaker 1: the ownership group, specifically why he was frustrated. I don't
Speaker 1: like Steve Nash. I don't think he practices I don't
Speaker 1: think he practices us hard enough. I would like a
Speaker 1: change of leadership there. He obviously expressed some lack of
Speaker 1: confidence in Sean Marks, but when the season got started,
Speaker 1: it turned out that the roster was actually pretty talented
Speaker 1: and functional, So Sean Marks is off the hook. But
Speaker 1: the Steve Nash stuff ended up being a real problem
Speaker 1: at the start of the season, at least from the
Speaker 1: standpoint of buying down the roster. So like when when
Speaker 1: he didn't get what he wanted over the summer when
Speaker 1: they didn't trade him, what did Katie do? He basically
Speaker 1: leaked to the press that he was recommitted to the
Speaker 1: team and that he was gonna be in Net for
Speaker 1: the future. So he basically took back his trade request
Speaker 1: to dem straight a clear commitment to doing the best
Speaker 1: he could with the Nets within this season. So I
Speaker 1: don't really necessarily, you know, especially in the modern culture
Speaker 1: of the NBA where there are all these trade requests,
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily knock him for that. Now in the season,
Speaker 1: this is where his leadership becomes a big factor, because
Speaker 1: one of the big reasons I believe why Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: wanted a trade is because he realized the fundamental problems
Speaker 1: with the Kyrie partnership. Obviously has the utmost of respect
Speaker 1: for Kyrie's talent, but he knows that basketball isn't the
Speaker 1: biggest priority for Kyrie, that his activism is his biggest priority,
Speaker 1: and Kate Kyrie straight up tried to submarine their season
Speaker 1: again this year at the beginning of the year with
Speaker 1: all the anti anti anti Semitism stuff. So you can
Speaker 1: see why from Kadi's perspective, why he wanted the trade
Speaker 1: to begin with. But that happened this year anyway, and
Speaker 1: that the season was falling apart at the seams. The
Speaker 1: player that is supposed to be his partner in crime
Speaker 1: was not worried about basketball and was stuff off the
Speaker 1: court that was hurting the team. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: talk about any of the actual subject matter. That's not
Speaker 1: my job, but whatever you want to think about it,
Speaker 1: it absolutely was a distraction that was hurting the team
Speaker 1: and literally took the second best player from the team
Speaker 1: away because he was suspended. That all happened, All of
Speaker 1: it was falling apart around Kevin Durant. And then what
Speaker 1: happened right after the Kyrie suspension. The Nets were on
Speaker 1: the road for ten of the next twelve games, and
Speaker 1: that's a lot of traveling, going to hotels. Even when
Speaker 1: they came home, they were home for just one game
Speaker 1: at a time, and then they would go out on
Speaker 1: another road trip. In a weird way, that was kind
Speaker 1: of perfect for that team to galvanize themselves around the
Speaker 1: camaraderie of the locker room. I credit Kevin Durant for that,
Speaker 1: specifically his love for the game of basketball and the
Speaker 1: way that that shined through all the drama and got
Speaker 1: everybody in that locker room to buy into the one
Speaker 1: thing that they do better than anything else, which is basketball.
Speaker 1: They got them focused back on the goal, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the role started to uh. The wind
Speaker 1: started to rack up. Then when Kyrie returned, he had
Speaker 1: no choice but to assimilate into that role and to
Speaker 1: buy into the basketball because the team was winning. So
Speaker 1: in a weird way, Kadie not only galvanized the group
Speaker 1: and turned the season around, he also put Kyrie in
Speaker 1: a predicament where he had no choice but to be
Speaker 1: by Kevin Durant's side and go after this thing with him,
Speaker 1: And so that that leadership element is a huge underrated
Speaker 1: part for me. Now, he would be my number one
Speaker 1: m VP pick anyway because of the contributions he's made
Speaker 1: on offense, and I think he has been the best
Speaker 1: defensive player this season among the five players that made
Speaker 1: my list, So I would have him up there anyway.
Speaker 1: But I do think that leadership part is a massively
Speaker 1: underrated part of his case. Number two Nicola Yoki shooting.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna dive too much into numbers because we
Speaker 1: did a lot of that yesterday for the All NBA stuff.
Speaker 1: Kind of an uneven defensive season, he can still have
Speaker 1: some issues guarding in space or when he's in pick
Speaker 1: and roll and he has to come higher up to
Speaker 1: the level of the screen because of a good pull
Speaker 1: up shooter or something like that. Um On tape. He's
Speaker 1: been sprinting back in transition a lot better than most
Speaker 1: slow bigs in the league. But the Nuggets are literally
Speaker 1: the worst transition defense in the league. According to Cleaning
Speaker 1: the Glass, the Nuggets give up a one thirty five
Speaker 1: point four defensive rating on transition possessions. It's a big
Speaker 1: part of why they're the twenty third ranked defense overall.
Speaker 1: So regardless of the individual areas where Yokich has improved,
Speaker 1: he has not been able to anchor that defense in
Speaker 1: the way that most of his peers at the center
Speaker 1: position can do. Guys like Joel Embiad, guys like Bam
Speaker 1: at a Bio, guys like Draymond Green, guys like Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: They're just so so, so so so much better at
Speaker 1: that than him, and specifically at that position, it can
Speaker 1: be a problem. So that's kind of like the one
Speaker 1: knock on him. But in spite of that, he's been
Speaker 1: so good offensively that I still think he's the third
Speaker 1: best basketball player I've seen this year. That have Kadi one,
Speaker 1: and I'd have stepped two, and then I'd have Yokich
Speaker 1: at three. Just in terms of what I saw within
Speaker 1: this regular season, the Nuggets have the same record as Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: They're the second best record in the league, one and
Speaker 1: a half games back of Boston Um and the Nuggets
Speaker 1: are an astonishing twenty five points per one hundred possessions
Speaker 1: better when Yokich is on the floor versus when he's off.
Speaker 1: So once again, he checks all three boxes resoundingly. He's
Speaker 1: in the conversation for best player in the league. His
Speaker 1: team has the second best record in the league, and
Speaker 1: he's immensely valuable to that team. But I give a
Speaker 1: slight edge to Kevin Durant, one because of defense and
Speaker 1: the and the season that Kevin Durant's having on that
Speaker 1: end of the floor. And secondly, I think the degree
Speaker 1: of difficulty is still a touch higher for Katie from
Speaker 1: the talent perspective of what's on the roster. Alright, moving
Speaker 1: on number three, Luca don che So, he's averaging thirty
Speaker 1: nine and nine this season, true shooting once again, uneven
Speaker 1: defensive season. It's got good possessions here and there, good
Speaker 1: defensive rebounder, which is obviously vitally important to ending defensive possessions,
Speaker 1: but he takes a lot of possessions and games off
Speaker 1: entirely on the defensive end of the flour, really sloppy rotations,
Speaker 1: conceding three point shots, things along those lines. Again, I
Speaker 1: don't blame him. I've talked this to death. The role
Speaker 1: that he's in requires him to be so available on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor for that team that
Speaker 1: they really can't afford to have him exerting himself to
Speaker 1: a great extent on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: But it is the reality, and it is part of
Speaker 1: the um, you know, total package of how he contributes
Speaker 1: to winning. He's the fourth best player in the league
Speaker 1: that I've seen this year. Within this season, behind Katie,
Speaker 1: Steph and Yokich. The MAVs are twenty three and nineteen,
Speaker 1: which is only the ninth best record in the league,
Speaker 1: but there are only four and a half games back
Speaker 1: of Denver and Brooklyn, so that's still within reach that
Speaker 1: they could go on a run. And the MAVs are
Speaker 1: twenty three and fourteen when Luca has played, because they're
Speaker 1: oh and four when he hasn't played. Now, that's good
Speaker 1: and bad because that's an availability thing, like if you
Speaker 1: have to take rest, that's obviously a downside. Like a
Speaker 1: huge part of Katie's MVP cases he just hasn't missed
Speaker 1: any games, which buys him the margin for error to
Speaker 1: miss seven or eight games with a knee injury. Right. Uh, well,
Speaker 1: you know, Uh, Luca has missed four games in the
Speaker 1: Mavericks have lost all four of those. You gotta factor
Speaker 1: that in. But the flip side of that is, like, man,
Speaker 1: when Lucas on the floor, they're twenty three and fourteen.
Speaker 1: That's like, you know, top tier, second tier stuff in
Speaker 1: this league with a really limited roster, and the Mavericks
Speaker 1: are twelve points per one hundred possessions better when he's
Speaker 1: on the floor versus when he's off. The Mavericks outscore
Speaker 1: teams by about six points per one when he's on,
Speaker 1: and they get outscored by about six points when he's off. Translation,
Speaker 1: there are a bad team when he's off the floor,
Speaker 1: and they're a good team when he's on the floor.
Speaker 1: So a lot of classic m v P markers UM
Speaker 1: and Luca is actually the Vegas favorite right now. I
Speaker 1: just personally value team success more than most voters do. UM,
Speaker 1: So for me, I have him behind your kitchen k D.
Speaker 1: But I mean half of these guys, like literally every
Speaker 1: single one of the top five guys on my list
Speaker 1: would have won the m v P in two thousand
Speaker 1: seventeen over Russell Westbrook. They're all having better m VP
Speaker 1: campaigns than two thou seventeen Russ. It's just the reality
Speaker 1: of how deep the league is with talent right now
Speaker 1: and the fact that we just have a bunch of
Speaker 1: guy eyes that are playing at an MVP level. I still,
Speaker 1: even though I haven't met third, I do think Luca
Speaker 1: has a real chance. Like if he's winning at a
Speaker 1: twenty three and fourteen clip, when he's on the floor
Speaker 1: and he can stay available the rest of the season,
Speaker 1: chances are the Mavericks will move further and further up
Speaker 1: the standings. They have a trade to make in the
Speaker 1: at the deadline they have Christian Would available. There are
Speaker 1: teams out there looking for size uh. I've seen reports
Speaker 1: that there. They don't necessarily want to extend Christian Would
Speaker 1: at the number that he wants, so they might end
Speaker 1: up trading him at the deadline. Anyway, maybe they can
Speaker 1: get back some real ball handling the ease up some
Speaker 1: of those responsibilities. UM. I do not think that he's
Speaker 1: out of the running by any stretch, but right now
Speaker 1: I have him at third alright, number four, Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: thirty one, eight and four on six Tury shooting good,
Speaker 1: not great defensive season. I think Kevin Durant's having a
Speaker 1: better defensive season. It's big part of why he's number one.
Speaker 1: He's the seventh best player that I've seen this season,
Speaker 1: behind k D, Steph Yogis, Luca out have Janics at five,
Speaker 1: Lebron at six, and then Jayson Tatum at seven lines
Speaker 1: up pretty well with what I had this summer. Um Like,
Speaker 1: I think i'd take him at sixth in the league
Speaker 1: this summer, and he's kind of held up his end
Speaker 1: of the bargain there. The Celtics have the best record
Speaker 1: in the league, and the Celtics are five point four
Speaker 1: points better per one possessions when Tatum is on the
Speaker 1: court versus when he's off again in any other year,
Speaker 1: that's a legit m v P case. But when I'm
Speaker 1: looking at Luca Yokichen k D, they are better players
Speaker 1: that are on lesser teams with less talent that the
Speaker 1: teams are performing nearly as well as the Celtics, and
Speaker 1: I think those three guys are contributing more to winning
Speaker 1: when you factor in all the ways that they contribute.
Speaker 1: It's a tight race. It is what it is. I
Speaker 1: just think Tatum's four as a result of the competition,
Speaker 1: but he is playing at a bona fide m v
Speaker 1: P level number five. I've Janice he's having a really
Speaker 1: weird season. Jannice is below from the field in his
Speaker 1: last thirteen games, which is obviously not very honest, like
Speaker 1: outside of the restricted area this season, he's shooting just
Speaker 1: so if he's not laying the ball up or dunking it,
Speaker 1: he's missing three out of four shots, so that's weird.
Speaker 1: And then there's some weird on off stuff too, which
Speaker 1: we'll get two in a second. But thirty two, twelve
Speaker 1: and five true shooting, which is still really good, even
Speaker 1: though it's not very honest, like, still an outstanding defensive player.
Speaker 1: Like I said, he's the fifth best player I've seen
Speaker 1: this year, behind Katie Steph Yo Kitchen Luca, and the
Speaker 1: Bucks are just two and a half games back of
Speaker 1: first place despite losing Drew Holiday and Chris Middleton for
Speaker 1: a good portion of this season. The on off numbers
Speaker 1: are weird. They are just three point six points positive
Speaker 1: per one possessions when he's on the floor, but they
Speaker 1: are minus one point three when he's off, that's only
Speaker 1: a four point nine point swing, which is the worst
Speaker 1: out of any player on this list. And when he's
Speaker 1: on the floor, they're not um beating teams resoundingly by
Speaker 1: any stretch. But the productions there, the numbers are there,
Speaker 1: the defense is there, and regardless of what we say
Speaker 1: about the on off numbers, the wins are there. There
Speaker 1: two and a half games back of first place in
Speaker 1: the league despite having some bad injury luck. It's just
Speaker 1: it's just some really funky numbers there that I've find
Speaker 1: very interesting that I'm gonna point out to you guys. Um,
Speaker 1: the guys ahead of him on this list have the
Speaker 1: production and have the wins, but they also have those
Speaker 1: value metrics and things along those lines. So I have
Speaker 1: him met five. But if you guys remember four the
Speaker 1: season I picked you honest to win m v P,
Speaker 1: and I'm still keeping him as my pick as of
Speaker 1: right now. I think he's got a great second half
Speaker 1: run in him. I think eventually the Bucks will get healthy.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys watched that game against
Speaker 1: the Knicks last night, but what have I been preaching
Speaker 1: all season long about the Bucks having a perimeter player
Speaker 1: that can playmake and can knock down shots like spot
Speaker 1: up shooting. Joe Ingles was masterful in that second half
Speaker 1: against the Knicks. They were spamming a dribble handoff with
Speaker 1: him in Honice, and because of just a basic ability
Speaker 1: that Ingles has to make reads out of those dribble
Speaker 1: handoffs because he's a smart player, they were able to
Speaker 1: get a lot of really good stuff out of it.
Speaker 1: So with him kind of finding a role there, with
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton coming back, Drew Holiday hopefully staying healthy for
Speaker 1: a long time, for a longer stretch, they should go
Speaker 1: on a run. You know. Jhannice is gonna play hard
Speaker 1: every night. Obviously he's not playing very well, which is
Speaker 1: going to motivate him to play better. I still think
Speaker 1: he ends up getting the award by the end of
Speaker 1: the season. So quick instant summation, that's Katie one, Yokich
Speaker 1: to Luca three, Um Tatum four, and Janice five Alright,
Speaker 1: Defensive player of the Year. So uh, most this is
Speaker 1: one of the most frustrating ones to kind of talk
Speaker 1: about because the way that people measure defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year I think is flawed in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: Most voters really simplified down to defensive rating, like how
Speaker 1: the team does on the scoreboard defensively, and then advanced
Speaker 1: metrics like these catch all metrics for the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the four. Not to be clear, you guys know
Speaker 1: how I feel about catch all advanced metrics. I throw
Speaker 1: them out the window entirely. I'm completely uninterested in them.
Speaker 1: And the main reason why is because the game of basketball,
Speaker 1: I believe, is way too convoluted and you know, beautiful
Speaker 1: and complex to simplify all of the different motions from
Speaker 1: ten different players into one number. I I just it
Speaker 1: fundamentally too. It's like blasphemous to me. I'll give you
Speaker 1: an example, like ESPN is real plus minus for ESPNS
Speaker 1: defensive Real plus minus has Marcus Morris as a top
Speaker 1: ten defender in the NBA. Now, some of the names
Speaker 1: up there makes some sense, which is what those metrics
Speaker 1: guys are always pointing out, like, oh, looks you know,
Speaker 1: vaguely familiar to what we see with our eyes. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, if your metric is
Speaker 1: telling me that Marcus Morris is a top ten defender
Speaker 1: in the NBA, then your metric is wrong and it's flawed,
Speaker 1: and so I threw those entirely out of the window.
Speaker 1: I just do put put in the work. Guys, look
Speaker 1: at individuals. I I I trust metrics on a possession
Speaker 1: by possession basis. Like if it's like this guy is
Speaker 1: running a hundred pick and rolls that are leading to
Speaker 1: a hundred and five points, that's the scoreboard I can direct. Now,
Speaker 1: there's some factors in there, like how's the spot up shooting,
Speaker 1: what kind of defenses are they playing? There's some factors there,
Speaker 1: but at least I'm getting a more ref mind picture
Speaker 1: of the scoreboard within a specific action. I can learn
Speaker 1: something from that, right you know. Look, I love cleaning
Speaker 1: the glass because of the way they track half court
Speaker 1: offensive ratings versus transition offensive ratings. Those are two different settings.
Speaker 1: When the game is helter skelter, it's easier to score
Speaker 1: than when you're trapped in a half court set. That's
Speaker 1: a great evaluator from when we get to the postseason
Speaker 1: and we're looking at teams that are primarily going to
Speaker 1: trap you in half court sets because of them sprinting
Speaker 1: back in transition, communicating and getting matched up right. The
Speaker 1: I prefer match metrics on a more focused level, I
Speaker 1: just discount entirely any sort of catch all metrics, So
Speaker 1: I don't care about your defensive metrics as it pertains
Speaker 1: to Defensive Player of the Year and then defensive ratings.
Speaker 1: It's just the scoreboards. So it does have some bearing,
Speaker 1: But you gotta remember there's four other players on the floor,
Speaker 1: and a lot of times whether or not your team
Speaker 1: can get stops has a lot to do with what
Speaker 1: the other players on the floor are doing. I'll give
Speaker 1: you an example last year, even when Anthony Davis was
Speaker 1: available for half the season, they weren't getting stops at
Speaker 1: a high rate when he was on the floor because
Speaker 1: around him, it was an atrocious defensive team. And Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis was still a flawed player back then, wasn't hitting
Speaker 1: his jump or any of those kinds of things, but
Speaker 1: he was still a very good defensive player, and it
Speaker 1: just wasn't amounting to stops. So what I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: doing is looking at all of the film that I've
Speaker 1: watched this season, and the defensive players that I thought
Speaker 1: actually contributed to getting stops on a possession by possition
Speaker 1: possession basis more than their peers. For example, fan Duel
Speaker 1: has Jaren Jackson, Jr. Brook Lopez, and Nick Claxton as
Speaker 1: the top three most likely defensive player of the year
Speaker 1: guys based on odds um and they're all very good.
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson's blocking a ton of shots, although for him
Speaker 1: he can get a little out of position sometimes. The
Speaker 1: other thing with Jaren Jacksons he fouls a lot. The
Speaker 1: other thing with Jaren Jacksons he missed a big chunk
Speaker 1: of the season to start the year. Uh Brook Lopez,
Speaker 1: for instance, blocks a ton of shots. Milwaukee has the
Speaker 1: d defensive ratings. The thing with Brooke is his job
Speaker 1: is very easy. He runs the deepest drop in the league.
Speaker 1: They concede three point shots to whatever his matchup is
Speaker 1: every single game to allow him to linger by the rim.
Speaker 1: You know, does not need to cover nearly as much
Speaker 1: ground as the other defensive anchors in the league. And
Speaker 1: he's flanked by Janice who can do more of the
Speaker 1: mobility related stuff. Right. So those two guys didn't make
Speaker 1: my list, and they are the two favorites in Vegas.
Speaker 1: So again, this is this is just the way that
Speaker 1: I view it, and what I like to do is
Speaker 1: at least explain to you guys what my reasoning is
Speaker 1: before I make these picks. Um. Alright, so number one,
Speaker 1: the guy that I have to win Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year if the season ended today is Draymond Green.
Speaker 1: He's by far the best defensive player that I've seen
Speaker 1: on tape this year. By the way, that the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors allow just a hundred and eight point nine
Speaker 1: points per one Hunter possessions when Draymond's on the floor.
Speaker 1: The Cleveland Cavaliers and totality have the best defense in
Speaker 1: the league this year, allowing a hundred and nine points
Speaker 1: per one Hunter possessions. So the Warriors overall have the
Speaker 1: nineteen ranked defense in the NBA because they can't get
Speaker 1: stops when Draymond's off the floor. When Draymond's on the floor,
Speaker 1: they literally defend better than the Cleveland Cavaliers do. So
Speaker 1: that's why just looking at a team's defensive rating to me,
Speaker 1: is not a fair assessment. Even just within Draymond's defensive
Speaker 1: rating that one to eight point nine, that doesn't factor
Speaker 1: in the fact that they're regularly playing lots of small guards,
Speaker 1: that they're regularly playing a lot of young players that
Speaker 1: because of Andrew Wiggins missing a huge chunk of the
Speaker 1: season and their inability in the loss of Gary Payton
Speaker 1: the second out of Porter Jr. They're very thin on
Speaker 1: the wing, very thin, and they're getting a lot of
Speaker 1: stops with Draymond Green on the floor, and it's because
Speaker 1: he is a one man wrecking ball on the back line.
Speaker 1: I I those of you guys who are Warriors fans
Speaker 1: have been watching the show. I've broken down a half
Speaker 1: dozen different plays in the last couple of weeks where
Speaker 1: Draymond Green was in as precarious position as you can
Speaker 1: possibly be in a basketball game, where of those possessions
Speaker 1: and in dunks or layups, and he's blown them up
Speaker 1: and sent them the other way. There are games that
Speaker 1: the Warriors won because of Draymond Green blowing up play
Speaker 1: after play at the end of these games. And he's
Speaker 1: incredibly versatable, versatile. He could do it in drop coverage.
Speaker 1: He can do it as a health defender off of
Speaker 1: a shooter in the corner. I literally showed you guys
Speaker 1: to play the other day where he blew up a
Speaker 1: lob pass that Kevil Looney was in the coverage by
Speaker 1: flying out of the week's side corner. I think it
Speaker 1: was in the Detroit Pistons game, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: But he and then and then he can also switch
Speaker 1: on to any player in the league and competently defend,
Speaker 1: just like we saw him do with Jaylen Brown in
Speaker 1: the finals. He's just I think he's the best defensive
Speaker 1: player that I've seen this year. On film. Vanduel has
Speaker 1: him as the ninth best odds. Isn't that crazy plus
Speaker 1: thirty three? And it's because the Warriors are nineteenth overall
Speaker 1: in defense. Now. One other thing too, and the reason
Speaker 1: why I still view him as a decent bedding opportunity
Speaker 1: is the Warriors are nineteen in defense, but there's not
Speaker 1: a huge gap between nineteen and ninth. You know, Um,
Speaker 1: it's only a couple of points per one hunder possessions
Speaker 1: and you have half the season left. Not only that,
Speaker 1: there's real urgency for the Warriors. There's urgency because there
Speaker 1: they have a ground to make up in the standings,
Speaker 1: and you know, they'd rather have home court, and they
Speaker 1: view that as an opportunity. My guess is they look
Speaker 1: at the two seed as achievable if they have a
Speaker 1: good run to end the season. You have Steph Curry
Speaker 1: coming back which means I think he's coming back tonight.
Speaker 1: We'll have an instant break, an instant reaction video. I
Speaker 1: told you guys we might not do k uh the
Speaker 1: net Celtics because Kevin Durant's hurt. Well that's what happens.
Speaker 1: We're digging Net Celtics. We're gonna do an instant reaction
Speaker 1: video after tonight's game when Steph Curry makes his return.
Speaker 1: But with Steph coming back, that's more baskets, which is
Speaker 1: gonna give you more opportunity to set your defense. Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins is coming back, uh, Andrea Guadala has made his
Speaker 1: appearance to start this season, So you're getting deeper on
Speaker 1: the wing. The urgency is there, your offense is going
Speaker 1: to be better. All of that leads to what I
Speaker 1: think should be a defensive run for the Warriors. So
Speaker 1: I still think he's got a good chance to end
Speaker 1: up winning the Defensive Player of the Year award. Number two,
Speaker 1: I've Miles Turner. It's a similar type of deal to Draymond.
Speaker 1: The Pacers are eighteenth and defense, so he's not even
Speaker 1: being factored in vandwel has Miles Turner at a plus
Speaker 1: eleven thousand to win the award um. But this is
Speaker 1: where I want to look at personnel, because if you
Speaker 1: look at defensive ratings, even when Miles Turners on the floor,
Speaker 1: it's a little underwhelming, But you gotta dig deeper. The
Speaker 1: top five minutes guys for the pacers. So top five
Speaker 1: total minutes played for pacers that are not named Miles
Speaker 1: Turner are all guards. You know, Aaronie Smith, Andrew Nemhrt,
Speaker 1: Terris Alibert, and Buddy Yield and Bennick Matherin. That's the
Speaker 1: guys that are playing around Miles Turner all the time.
Speaker 1: Six of the top seven our guards because now I've
Speaker 1: got t J. McConnell and then obviously Jalen Smith is
Speaker 1: the backup center. So basically, whenever Miles turns on the floor,
Speaker 1: it's most likely that he's going to be playing around guards.
Speaker 1: Every once in a while, there'll be o shaper set
Speaker 1: out there for a little while. You know, he's six
Speaker 1: ft seven a little bit more functionally as a wing,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, he's playing out there with guards.
Speaker 1: In Indiana has afforded that luxury because of what Miles
Speaker 1: Turner does as a back line rim protector, flying around,
Speaker 1: blocking shots, He's fourth in the league in total block shots.
Speaker 1: He's a great post defender. We've seen him in several
Speaker 1: key center matchups defend really well this year, and he
Speaker 1: can competently switch out to the perimeter. He's never gonna
Speaker 1: get the credit for it the way that he deserves
Speaker 1: because of the team defensive ratings, but when you factor
Speaker 1: in degree of difficulty and what he does cleaning up
Speaker 1: messes for those small guards, which allows them to have
Speaker 1: so much ball handling and shooting on the floor that
Speaker 1: they can just drive and kick teams to death. That's
Speaker 1: because of Myles Turner, and so I have him as
Speaker 1: second in my Defensive Player of the Year voting number three,
Speaker 1: matching up with vanduel Is, I have Nick Claxton. Him
Speaker 1: and Kevin Durant are basically by themselves anchoring the ninth
Speaker 1: best defense in the league just by making extra efforts
Speaker 1: around the rim with their length and athleticism. This is
Speaker 1: not a great perimeter defense team. They're allowed to press
Speaker 1: up on guys. They do a ton of switching, encourage
Speaker 1: guys to press up into the handle, knowing that if
Speaker 1: they get beat off the dribble, you've got Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: Nick Claxton waiting on the back line. That's a luxury
Speaker 1: provided by their back line defense. He's been the third
Speaker 1: best defender that I've seen this season, all right, most
Speaker 1: improved player Number one, Lori marken In I actually had
Speaker 1: um on FanDuel shay Gil Just Alexander is the favorite,
Speaker 1: but I think there's actually a much larger gap between
Speaker 1: what Laura used to be and what he is now
Speaker 1: versus shay Um. Lori's averaging points per game, which is
Speaker 1: ten more than last year. He's the second best spot
Speaker 1: up player in the league to run at least a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty spot possessions at one point three two
Speaker 1: points per possession, behind Georgis Kneeing of the Philadelphia SEVENTI.
Speaker 1: He's having an outrageously good isolated isolation season. He's run
Speaker 1: fifty four of them and scored seventy one points. That
Speaker 1: one point three two points per possession is best in
Speaker 1: the league among the seventy one players who have run
Speaker 1: at least fifty ISOs. He is a bona fide franchise
Speaker 1: cornerstone after being salary filler the previous season. He's the
Speaker 1: most improved player in the league. L's Alexander. He's taken
Speaker 1: the leap from lower level star to like mid level star,
Speaker 1: like right below that superstar tier. He's got the, like
Speaker 1: I said yesterday, the best combination of pull up jump
Speaker 1: shooting in downhill scoring that we have in the league.
Speaker 1: And he is single handedly turning a rebuilding roster into
Speaker 1: one that is a pain in the ask to beat
Speaker 1: on any given night. Yeah, the thunders records not that great,
Speaker 1: but when you have them on the schedule, if you
Speaker 1: bring a lax effort, you're going to get beat. Number three,
Speaker 1: Tyrese Haliburton. He's gone from interesting young guard to a
Speaker 1: legit offensive engine for an Eastern Conference playoff team, a
Speaker 1: good one that's out of the play and they're the
Speaker 1: sixth seed right now. Uh this The Pacers score one
Speaker 1: point zero five points per possession in both pick and
Speaker 1: roll and ISO for Tyrese Haliburton on Matt volume, he's running.
Speaker 1: He's already run almost eight hundred pick and rolls this year.
Speaker 1: Bottom line, he's that initial advantage creator. He's the one
Speaker 1: that creates that first driving kick, whether it's an ISO
Speaker 1: or pick a roll, to get the team into their
Speaker 1: driving kick, and then all those other guards capitalize on
Speaker 1: that advantage. He's my third and most improved player rookie
Speaker 1: of the year. Honestly, it was as clear cut as
Speaker 1: it gets. One to three palos, number one seven four shooting,
Speaker 1: which is totally respectable for a young player. He's already
Speaker 1: the sixth best post player in the league, uh to
Speaker 1: run at least seventy five post ups at one point
Speaker 1: zero nine points per possession. He's just a man amongst
Speaker 1: boys as a rookie, which is really unusual in NBA history.
Speaker 1: Number two and flopping from where we were last time
Speaker 1: because Ben simply played better. Ben Mathurton's that number two
Speaker 1: seventeen points per game on fifty sent tru shooting. He's
Speaker 1: really thriving in that guard heavy past first offense we
Speaker 1: were just talking about with the pacers, but he's doing
Speaker 1: most of his work and transition and in spot up situations,
Speaker 1: which is gonna be a little bit different than what
Speaker 1: we see from Jade and ivy Um. But just in
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, they're really starting to iso
Speaker 1: him more and the main reason why is he's getting
Speaker 1: by people off the dribble, which again we talked about
Speaker 1: this all the time, but dribble penetration is so valuable
Speaker 1: in the NBA to get teams into rotation. Now right now,
Speaker 1: he's not making good reads out of it, which is
Speaker 1: why the numbers aren't great. Like just in the last
Speaker 1: few games, he's running a lot of people over for
Speaker 1: offensive fouls or um missing layups, doing things around the
Speaker 1: rim because he's not making reads when he gets that
Speaker 1: dribble penetration. But it's like a legit huge positive that
Speaker 1: NBA defenders just can't keep Ben Matherin in front, and
Speaker 1: eventually teams are going to find a way. His team
Speaker 1: is going to find a way to weaponize that in
Speaker 1: an on ball roll. As he gets older, his ISOs
Speaker 1: are ticking up closer to one point per possession. That's
Speaker 1: how you can tell. Well, I'm curious to see how
Speaker 1: that ends when the season's over. Number three j Nivy
Speaker 1: fifteen points per game on true shooting. Again, completely different
Speaker 1: role than Ben mathren about. The two most common play
Speaker 1: types for Ben Mathurin are our spot up situations and
Speaker 1: transition runouts. The most common play type for Ja and
Speaker 1: Ivy is picking roll. Ever since Kate Kate Cunningham got hurt,
Speaker 1: he's running a ton of pick and rolls. He's wearing
Speaker 1: like three and fifty of them this year. He's bad
Speaker 1: at it, like he's not doing a good job. But
Speaker 1: it's like he's a young guard and almost every young
Speaker 1: guard is bad at it. So while he's getting thrown
Speaker 1: into the fire on a bad team, you know, Ben
Speaker 1: Mathurin's thriving in a driving kick environment. So I want
Speaker 1: to be clear, Ben mathurn deserves to be second on
Speaker 1: this list, but I do think Jade and Ivy is
Speaker 1: a better player. He's just in a tough situation. So
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure that we acknowledge that difference.
Speaker 1: Al Right, guys, that is all I have for today
Speaker 1: is always I sincerely appreciate your support. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: back tomorrow going over our contender list, kind of like
Speaker 1: a power rankings mixed with just putting into tears again
Speaker 1: like we did before the season. But it's all gonna
Speaker 1: be in one video, um, and then we'll also have
Speaker 1: a probably earlier in the day, a instant reaction video
Speaker 1: to the Warriors return of Steph Curry. Tonight. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: I'll see you tomorrow. The volume