Speaker 1: Welcoming into NBA poster production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarahkustak, NBA analyst for the Yes Network, and today
Speaker 1: is Friday, March twenty second from our extraordinary core group.
Speaker 1: If NBA journalists were joined now by NBA dot Com
Speaker 1: senior writer Michael c.
Speaker 2: Right, Michael c you.
Speaker 1: Got your new MVP ladder that has dropped, but a
Speaker 1: lot of things look pretty similar up at the top.
Speaker 1: We've seen no Kola Jokic maintaining that number one spot
Speaker 1: for quite some time, Shake Gildas Alexander at number two,
Speaker 1: but with a recent push by Dallas. Tied for number
Speaker 1: three is Luka Doncic and Yatastana Kupo and Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: rounding out.
Speaker 2: The top five for the Celtics.
Speaker 1: And I want to get into not this current iteration
Speaker 1: of where things sit and where things have sat for
Speaker 1: for kind of last couple of seasons, probably expected the
Speaker 1: next few seasons in terms of what the MVP looks like.
Speaker 1: We've been talking so much Joel Embiid, Nicola Jokic, Giannis,
Speaker 1: a lot of those that have kind of maintained that
Speaker 1: top builing and xbxations as we enter each and every season.
Speaker 1: But when those guys, maybe you know, continue to go
Speaker 1: down the back end of where their prime is. So,
Speaker 1: whether that's five years, whatever, that looks like, I'm curious.
Speaker 1: And we talked about this a little bit before the pod,
Speaker 1: and I know, judging by how long our list became,
Speaker 1: the NBA is in great, great shape for the future.
Speaker 1: Who would you put as your top candidates for the
Speaker 1: next grouping of what those MVPs look like? So, I
Speaker 1: know we probably hit about fifteen names.
Speaker 3: But.
Speaker 2: When you kind of look at the tears and the
Speaker 2: tiers of guys that you have expectations for who we're
Speaker 2: going to be talking about here coming up, who jumps
Speaker 2: off the page now for you and your expectations of
Speaker 2: what that will look like.
Speaker 3: Well, first I want to start with a dark horse,
Speaker 3: Sarah shocker to you, I'm sure, Ja.
Speaker 4: I like Jaylen Green. Jayleen Green, I like it.
Speaker 2: It's not that it's a shocker.
Speaker 1: You said, well, one obvious name, and I had a
Speaker 1: couple of my head I thought we're gonna be obvious.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean rockets. They have been hooping, they've
Speaker 1: been calling, they're making a run. They're making a run
Speaker 1: for Peter Cowder as Lakers for that nine ten spot,
Speaker 1: with the Warriors currently sitting in eleventh.
Speaker 2: But so Jalen Green tell us more.
Speaker 3: I just as we mentioned, or we talked about earlier
Speaker 3: on the Pod, I was saying that, like I've just
Speaker 3: the last couple of years, I've thought that the Rockets
Speaker 3: were a Jalen Green leap away from really being a
Speaker 3: serious team that you know, might have a shot at
Speaker 3: making the playoffs and everything. And I think we are
Speaker 3: sort of in the middle of seeing that leap right now.
Speaker 4: Jalen Green is falling. Man. I mean, he's got.
Speaker 3: The tools, got all the tools, but I just thought
Speaker 3: he sort of needed a coach that would, you know,
Speaker 3: demand a lot of him and would sort of make
Speaker 3: him clean up some of the mistakes that young rookies make.
Speaker 3: You know, they like the turnovers and things like that,
Speaker 3: and just bad decisions. And you've got sort of a
Speaker 3: I don't want to call them a disciplinary disciplinarian, but
Speaker 3: you know, because you were with he May in Brooklyn,
Speaker 3: he don't blame yep. And when you got a coach
Speaker 3: like that, I think that just sort of helps you
Speaker 3: to eliminate some of the just the unneeded things.
Speaker 4: That you do as a player.
Speaker 3: Like he's not gonna like he's trying to shape the
Speaker 3: Rockets into a team that is not going to beat
Speaker 3: themselves themselves, sort of in the mold of the Spurs,
Speaker 3: not beat themselves, be disciplined, make great decisions, culture scrappy.
Speaker 3: Every other night you see the Rockets get in somehow
Speaker 3: of fight on the floor, and it's because they all
Speaker 3: are sort of standing up for each other. And that's
Speaker 3: sort of the type of culture that May is gonna bring.
Speaker 3: And I think that's just been great for Jalen Green,
Speaker 3: So I'm really hyped to see his development. Not even
Speaker 3: mentioned Alpera and the shan Gun. That kid he's a
Speaker 3: baller too. So the Rockets I think are set up
Speaker 3: to be pretty good. You know, they maybe a piece
Speaker 3: or two away, But like Jalen Green, like I would
Speaker 3: just say, keep an eye on him, because that kid
Speaker 3: is sort of he's just got a lot of momentum
Speaker 3: right now, and I'm really excited to see what he
Speaker 3: does the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: He does, and I haven't seen him quite as much
Speaker 1: obviously as you in person and probably have been not
Speaker 1: watching the Rockets, yeah, quite as much. But as you me,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's just in his thirty year, twenty two
Speaker 1: years old. I would be interested to see if he
Speaker 1: can make a leap in terms of his efficiency from
Speaker 1: the three point line, adding that to his gay I
Speaker 1: know he takes a high volume of threes, but that's
Speaker 1: something that I'd be curious and interested to watch. And
Speaker 1: I always think, you know, just in terms of the
Speaker 1: MVP conversation, it's been a big talking point, you know
Speaker 1: this season with what Shake Gills of Alexander is doing
Speaker 1: for that Oklahoma City team, a young team ahead of schedule,
Speaker 1: how he has been the center point of that, and
Speaker 1: how much that factors into guys being an MVP consideration.
Speaker 1: So I also think a lot of that depends on
Speaker 1: what does Houston look like. You mentioned alprin Shangoun. Tough
Speaker 1: loss for Houston despite how you know they still continue
Speaker 1: Roland and playing without him, but if the team itself
Speaker 1: and with email and I got a ton of confidence
Speaker 1: that they will continue to build and move in the
Speaker 1: direction that they want to. You know, how much that
Speaker 1: factors in my obvious choice to jump to immediately And
Speaker 1: again we said this, we get a lot, a lot
Speaker 1: of options to have and some that we still continue
Speaker 1: to talk about.
Speaker 2: I would put Shay in that category of what that
Speaker 2: looks like.
Speaker 1: But Anthony Edwards like there there to me is no
Speaker 1: question that sometime I would say within the next I
Speaker 1: would say ten years to give it a little bit
Speaker 1: a runway, but five years a couple of years especially
Speaker 1: interesting to see what Minnesota has got. Some tough decisions
Speaker 1: to make in terms of contracts, in terms of salary cap,
Speaker 1: in terms of what that looks like this offseason.
Speaker 4: But luxury, you got to keep this group together.
Speaker 1: Mark, Mark and Alex and just officially you know, they
Speaker 1: gotta dig into those pockets right.
Speaker 3: As well, because they do have a team that I
Speaker 3: think is is ready to start competing for championships.
Speaker 2: I mean, right, yeah, but that but that's the point.
Speaker 1: And I think there were so many questions you look at, like, oh,
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns, you know, with him being out, what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen now?
Speaker 2: How are they going to drop that?
Speaker 1: You know they've had guys, And that to me is
Speaker 1: why ants like on top of the insane highlight plays
Speaker 1: would love to see on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: it's also about his production and how he wills a
Speaker 1: team uh to be.
Speaker 2: Playing at the level they're playing.
Speaker 1: His personality, the charisma, the competitiveness, the seemingly coach ability
Speaker 1: of Chris Finch being able to coach him hard, him
Speaker 1: wanting to get better, and again, just a player that's
Speaker 1: twenty two years old in his fourth year doing the
Speaker 1: things he's doing, and it seemingly is like he's adding
Speaker 1: on to his games in terms of facilitation, finding teammates.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all those things.
Speaker 1: To me, he's my He would be at the top
Speaker 1: of my leaderboard for this discussion of the trend of
Speaker 1: what's going to happen.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, the audience right now is just like
Speaker 4: you got you're missing all the all the you know,
Speaker 4: the the main candidates. We're talking about some of the
Speaker 4: ones that just people maybe not have paid attention to.
Speaker 4: So that's why I mentioned Jalen Green. But Anthony Edwards
Speaker 4: obviously he's obvious.
Speaker 3: I mean because when you look at MVP conversations a
Speaker 3: lot of time, let's be real here, our eyes like
Speaker 3: if you have an esthetically pleasing game, then we're gonna
Speaker 3: watch you more. And so you know, like so the
Speaker 3: other night I'm watching him with the Nuggets. He had
Speaker 3: thirty eight and eight without Karl Anthony Towns and took
Speaker 3: the last shot to tie that game, missed it. But
Speaker 3: the Nuggets just were like, hey, uh, you're not gonna
Speaker 3: beat us, and they just.
Speaker 4: They were like, you're going to get off the ball,
Speaker 4: and he did.
Speaker 3: For the most part all night or at the end
Speaker 3: of that game, ended up getting that potential game time shot.
Speaker 4: Missed it. But that kid is something else in Collins. Oh,
Speaker 4: poor John Collins.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry when you have a duncan. Both players need
Speaker 1: to get injured and won his excitent the cat Like
Speaker 1: when you want to talk about on your head, that
Speaker 1: is the true definition of on your head.
Speaker 2: Get concussed and get out of the game. Okay, so
Speaker 2: you mentioned it and you called me out. So we're
Speaker 2: talking about the obvious candidates.
Speaker 1: You'd also Jason Tatum put him in the bucket, shake
Speaker 1: gives Alexander put him in the bucket, Luca. You know
Speaker 1: he's still gonna He's still going to be a part
Speaker 1: of this mix. Obviously, these players are all young enough.
Speaker 1: Who else may be in other potentially dark horse candidate
Speaker 1: We're not just talking about excellent players in the league.
Speaker 2: But those that would be in the MVP conversation.
Speaker 3: Well, Jayalen Brutson, obviously the guy is not He is
Speaker 3: not the most athletic, he's not the fastest, the biggest,
Speaker 3: but he's like Jokic in a way that he finds
Speaker 3: a way to get it. He gets it done, he
Speaker 3: finds ways. And I think his basketball IQ is just
Speaker 3: off the charts. I think he's a dog. He's a
Speaker 3: dog like on the defensive end and offensive end.
Speaker 4: I think I really like his humility and.
Speaker 3: His his his uh the pride in the in in
Speaker 3: sort of always improving at his craft.
Speaker 4: Like the kid.
Speaker 3: I saw him a couple of years ago when the
Speaker 3: Mavericks made that run in the playoffs, and if you remember,
Speaker 3: I think to start the playoffs, Luca was hurt and
Speaker 3: Jalen Brunson had to be the guy and I think
Speaker 3: he had a couple forty point nights and so you
Speaker 3: saw it then, and it's a shame that Dallas, you know,
Speaker 3: couldn't find a way to get him back because him
Speaker 3: and Luka Doncics would would be a force to record
Speaker 3: with for years. And so I just love his game,
Speaker 3: love his game, and you know you mentioned Tatum and
Speaker 3: isn't it crazy that what Tatum is, what twenty five
Speaker 3: something like that?
Speaker 2: I think twenty six. I think he might be twenty.
Speaker 3: Think of all the big games he's played in, Like
Speaker 3: he's played and he's got so much big game experience.
Speaker 4: He's won so much already.
Speaker 3: And it's like we sort of knock him in the
Speaker 3: MVP conversation because we say, well, you know, he doesn't
Speaker 3: really show up in the big games. Well that's not true.
Speaker 3: He's played in a ton of big games. So yeah,
Speaker 3: he's definitely won for years to come. Tyrese Haliburton, that's
Speaker 3: that's the name. Charismatic, very articulate, fun to watch. I
Speaker 3: think he's a guy Zion Williamson this year, Like, okay,
Speaker 3: we're talking about Zion Williamson right now. Usually when you're
Speaker 3: having a conversation about Zion, it's about him being out
Speaker 3: of shade, overweight, or he's heard or something. And so
Speaker 3: it is really nice to be having a conversation that
Speaker 3: is positive about Zion Williamson. And it's just don't you
Speaker 3: just love the idea of seeing a guy that be
Speaker 3: just running the show.
Speaker 1: As a point, I just saw I just saw him
Speaker 1: live the other day earlier this week, and his size
Speaker 1: and frame and physicality match with finesse and the quickest
Speaker 1: defeat and the smooth nature when he's handling the basketball
Speaker 1: ability to facilitate.
Speaker 2: This is the best defense that we've been seeing him
Speaker 2: play throughout the course of his young NBA career.
Speaker 1: He has bought in, he's moving so well, he's he
Speaker 1: is an absolute force. I think to your point, those
Speaker 1: two names, I mean Zi and he's twenty three years old,
Speaker 1: twenty three years old and so, but Zion and Jah
Speaker 1: to me are the two players that the availability and
Speaker 1: being on the court like.
Speaker 4: A lot of other people I've forgotten.
Speaker 1: But if they're if and I think that's why you forget.
Speaker 1: And we have not seen Jaw obviously for most of
Speaker 1: this season, so I think for those reasons. But if
Speaker 1: Jah and Zion have the sustainability of a full season
Speaker 1: and at that point and both those guys young, like
Speaker 1: absolutely put them on the list. I co sign your
Speaker 1: Tyres Halliburton because I think there's so many reasons we
Speaker 1: obviously Indiana has dip sum and and some since the
Speaker 1: All Star break with Halliburton and how he's been shooting,
Speaker 1: how he's been shooting from three, you know, throughout the
Speaker 1: course of the last couple of months. But but overall,
Speaker 1: he's someone to me that absolutely would be a part
Speaker 1: of that. Jamal Murray too. I think he's someone wh
Speaker 1: continue to monitor or watch Jokic. Obviously it didn't take
Speaker 1: so much the attention, deservedly so. But there's one other
Speaker 1: player that we have overlooked for the courtesy of fans
Speaker 1: in this this thought thought exercise, we have overlooked the process,
Speaker 1: and that is none other than the man that you
Speaker 1: get to see all the time, Victor webbin Yama. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk about him right after the break. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to NBA Pulse. Sarahusac joined. But the great Mike
Speaker 1: see right, who Michael? You get to see Wemby on
Speaker 1: on a what semi nightly basis, very very often. I
Speaker 1: had the great fortune of it was more exciting for
Speaker 1: me to see you in person, ye down in Austin,
Speaker 1: Texas and see than I mean Victor. And Victor is
Speaker 1: great and all, but but you were my number one.
Speaker 1: Get to see you in person, Victor webbin Yama, number two.
Speaker 1: As the San Antonio Spurs and the Brooklyn Nets met
Speaker 1: in Austin, Texas a little too off there playing at
Speaker 1: at the University of Texas, which was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: The atmosphere and the movie center was extraordinary, and it
Speaker 1: was an extraordinary game. I mean filled with a ton
Speaker 1: of highlights. It was an overtime thriller. Uh, San Antonio
Speaker 1: Spurs end up winning and Victor wimban Yama had the
Speaker 1: most insane highlights to me, and some that you put
Speaker 1: together a highlight reel of him just from that game alone,
Speaker 1: and I think there was missing a couple because there
Speaker 1: was just wild things he did, you know, like a flat,
Speaker 1: flat footed shot over a we talked about this, a
Speaker 1: six to eight cam Johnson. Uh, some reverse flushes him
Speaker 1: on the move, a couple of the blocks. It's just
Speaker 1: wild to see what he does, how he moves, the
Speaker 1: skills already at that size.
Speaker 4: Just get out of balance.
Speaker 2: And Victoryama is always winning the challenge.
Speaker 3: It's coming home.
Speaker 4: We two thirty six in count of here.
Speaker 3: Got it patrol at one point game old school back
Speaker 3: the other way.
Speaker 1: But just I thought that there could be higher expectations
Speaker 1: coming into this season, uh for Wemby and and somehow
Speaker 1: it feels and you know better than me.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it feels like he's exceeding those.
Speaker 1: So to someone who sees him all the time, what's
Speaker 1: your perspective not only on what he's doing and doing
Speaker 1: at this time of the year, but what that does
Speaker 1: to the spurs in their timeline and tracking of of
Speaker 1: some of the decisions and moves they need to continue making.
Speaker 3: Well, Sarah, you saw yourself and you know what I
Speaker 3: told I told you in the past, Like I like
Speaker 3: I wanted you to experience that that that feeling in
Speaker 3: an arena where everybody is so amazed and almost dumbfounded
Speaker 3: by what they're seeing that it's not cheering, it's almost
Speaker 3: a last it's.
Speaker 2: As dumbfounded the word, Yeah, this is this real?
Speaker 1: Like if I was watching this on television, I would
Speaker 1: think that maybe this was somehow.
Speaker 4: Altered, right, And so like it's an experience.
Speaker 3: And I always tell people when they ask me about Victor,
Speaker 3: I'm like, you got to see him in person. Like
Speaker 3: it's one thing to watch it on TV, but like
Speaker 3: just to see the way fans react to some of
Speaker 3: the things they see, it is just amazing and you
Speaker 3: find yourself laughing and scratching your head like how do
Speaker 3: they do that? So, like with him, you mentioned it
Speaker 3: that he has exceeded expectations, and you know, we haven't.
Speaker 3: Like he's the most hyped player since Lebron James, and
Speaker 3: what did Lebron James do?
Speaker 4: He exceeded expectations. And that's very much the case here
Speaker 4: with the Spurs.
Speaker 3: And you know, internally, the Spurs did not expect Victor
Speaker 3: women Yama to be this good so fast. Like I
Speaker 3: think they were of the mindset of let's let him
Speaker 3: develop over a year or two and you know, sort
Speaker 3: of slowly build around him, and he's ready to go now.
Speaker 3: And so I wouldn't say that it necessarily accelerates San
Speaker 3: Antonio's timeline, but what I would say is that it
Speaker 3: really reduces the margin for error, Like they have to
Speaker 3: get this right as soon as possible because you want
Speaker 3: to maximize your window with him.
Speaker 4: You know, I mean, at the very least Victor.
Speaker 3: Is going to be in San Antonio for like seven
Speaker 3: years at least, well, you better maximize that window. And
Speaker 3: you know, the Spurs are gonna want to do that
Speaker 3: because you want to get the most out of your largest,
Speaker 3: most valued asset. And so what I found interesting is
Speaker 3: we talked to Victor yesterday and he said that the
Speaker 3: Spur are already sort of involving him in the discussions
Speaker 3: as far as you know what they might do in
Speaker 3: the future, how they want to play things like that,
Speaker 3: And Victor was like, you know, I'm really grateful that
Speaker 3: they think enough of me basically to involve me in
Speaker 3: those discussions. So I'm curious as to what direction they
Speaker 3: take moving forward because Coach Pop the other night said
Speaker 3: that everything's on the table, whether it's free agents, whether
Speaker 3: we do it through the draft or whatever.
Speaker 4: Trades.
Speaker 3: But I think there's going to be a combination. Like
Speaker 3: if you look at what Oklahoma City has done to
Speaker 3: rebuild that program, you look at what Denver did you
Speaker 3: know with Denver they drafted Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr.
Speaker 3: You trade for Aaron Gordon, you get cacyp in free agency.
Speaker 3: So I think what San Antonio plans to do is
Speaker 3: sort of going to be a miss of both of
Speaker 3: those approaches to get back to relevance. And I think
Speaker 3: it's gonna happen sooner rather than later because you have
Speaker 3: a generational superstar that.
Speaker 4: Is probably gonna win multiple MVPs. Just my guess.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question, And to all of that being said,
Speaker 1: I think the thing that stood out to me and
Speaker 1: has most I've seen him a couple of times live now,
Speaker 1: and it's not just it's yes, the size, the skills,
Speaker 1: all of these things that were wild by and the
Speaker 1: highlights he's got. He's a competitor, like you could understand
Speaker 1: how competitive he is on every possession. You watch it
Speaker 1: in his eyes. You watch the way he organizes and commands,
Speaker 1: and whether it's a head nod or communication, how he
Speaker 1: understands and sees the game, and that type of basketball
Speaker 1: IQ of court mapping of what's happening, how it's happening.
Speaker 1: And we've seen it over and over again again. I
Speaker 1: saw it in the in the overtime period and the
Speaker 1: Spurs ended up winning against the Nets. But we've seen
Speaker 1: this in other occasions, like he wants the ball, he
Speaker 1: wants it in the clutch and he will come through,
Speaker 1: like he is a gamer to his core, and so
Speaker 1: all those things, the intangibles that come with it, I
Speaker 1: think to me are also most impressive because it's not
Speaker 1: just a guy you know that that brings. It brings
Speaker 1: the size and the scale and it's gonna put He's he's.
Speaker 2: Got all of it. He's got the package.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So for.
Speaker 1: Those reasons, I think it's it's going to be interesting
Speaker 1: to watch and monitor.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: In watching. Speaking of tonight, we got a good.
Speaker 1: Slate here on NBA TV at eight o'clock PM Eastern
Speaker 1: the Pelicans, uh, which good news for the Pelicans. Brendan
Speaker 1: Brendan Ingram just had an MRI and he uh it
Speaker 1: was said that it's a bone contusion and it's knee
Speaker 1: and injury that look pretty bad and so he'll be
Speaker 1: reevaluated in two weeks for this Repelicans team. Just game
Speaker 1: and half back Clippers in the four spot game and
Speaker 1: half in front of Dallas in the sixth spot.
Speaker 2: So good to see. It's it's nothing too much more
Speaker 2: severe in law term.
Speaker 1: They will play at the Heat and then at ten
Speaker 1: thirty is the Philadelphia seventy six ers at the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and we know the Lakers are vying for that playing
Speaker 1: spot I want to say in the nine tens. So
Speaker 1: we'll see how things shake out. But Michael, as always,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you and your time and we'll continue to
Speaker 1: rewatch all your stuff on NBA TV and NBA dot Com.
Speaker 1: NBA post was Sarahusacks, a production of the NBA and iHeartRadio.
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