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Speaker 1: Ball presented by DraftKings. I am Rachel Nichols, as always,
Speaker 1: mister DeMarcus Cousins, and who goes back today, I mean,
Speaker 1: no hasan thank you for rejoining us. We appreciate it. Guys.
Speaker 1: I'm going to just admit it. I'm going to come
Speaker 1: to you. I'm going to tell you I am an
Speaker 1: NBA Awards voter and I would like you to make
Speaker 1: your case to me of how I should vote. This
Speaker 1: is what we were talking about on the pod today.
Speaker 1: I want some arguing, I want some lobbying. I want
Speaker 1: to know what I should be doing with my vote.
Speaker 1: So I may have a few opinions of myself. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever heard me have any opinions,
Speaker 1: but I do have a few of them. To one opinion,
Speaker 1: one opinion, two opinions, something about the MVP anyway, but
Speaker 1: we'll talk about all of that stuff. Dude, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take that one to my grave. I'm not wrong. I'm
Speaker 1: not wrong, and we'll talk about it today as well. Anyway.
Speaker 1: First up, I do want to discuss probably the one
Speaker 1: that kind of is the most unknown, and we'll get
Speaker 1: to MVP. We're gonna build it in this podcast. We're
Speaker 1: gonna build up from some of the smaller awards. So
Speaker 1: let's start with six Man of the Year. Malik Monk,
Speaker 1: the Draft Kings favorite, and he was sort of I
Speaker 1: think the runaway favorite for a long time, but then
Speaker 1: he got hurt right nasried and re entered the conversation
Speaker 1: by by portis Norm Powell. But who do you like
Speaker 1: for six Man of the Year?
Speaker 2: I mean outside of Monk, who you know I think
Speaker 2: is more than deserving of it, but it sucks that
Speaker 2: he is currently hurt at the moment, so you know,
Speaker 2: it's kind of you know, what have you done for
Speaker 2: me lately? Type so, And even with that being said, regardless,
Speaker 2: I think this will still be my choice.
Speaker 3: Is Nazrie. I'm huge fan of this guy.
Speaker 2: I think he's ultra talented, could easily be a starter
Speaker 2: on a contending team. I mean, super super talented. He's
Speaker 2: feeling in the void with the big fella cat being
Speaker 2: out right now, shouldn't avoid seamlessly at that. He just
Speaker 2: came off a thirty point game against the Lakers, Like
Speaker 2: this dude is the real deal. So I think this
Speaker 2: is a year for him to win a six man
Speaker 2: and then eventually we could see this guy adding different
Speaker 2: type of accolades to his resume because he's that good
Speaker 2: of a player. So I think the future is bright
Speaker 2: for this kid. It's only a matter of time before
Speaker 2: he's in the position to be, you know, be a
Speaker 2: one two, three type option type player in his career.
Speaker 2: So I think that time is eventually coming. And you know,
Speaker 2: like I said, he has a very very bright future.
Speaker 2: So I'm rolling with Nasried.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Rachel, I love Nazried.
Speaker 5: But the only reason why we have a Nazrie conversation
Speaker 5: is two things. One because Malik Monk got hurt too,
Speaker 5: because Carl Anthony Town's got hurt again. Nadrid has played
Speaker 5: well all year long, but in terms of being six
Speaker 5: man of the year of conversation is because of those
Speaker 5: two injuries that happened. But when it comes to Melik Monk,
Speaker 5: in the words of the great Isaiah Thomas, I met
Speaker 5: the criteria. He's played seventy two games. It don't matter
Speaker 5: how many games he misses from here on out, he
Speaker 5: met the criteria. He was far and away the best
Speaker 5: six man in the league. I was saying this back
Speaker 5: in January. I said the Kings. Every time he comes
Speaker 5: in a game, you feel that jolt of energy, you
Speaker 5: feel the energy of the game change, and I like,
Speaker 5: to me, it's not even close.
Speaker 4: It's it's it's Milik Monk. Then when you.
Speaker 5: Talk about who coming in second, shout out to Larry Bird,
Speaker 5: you can talk about nas Reed.
Speaker 4: And another name we didn't mention was Tim Hardaway Junior.
Speaker 5: I thought he's had a very good year for the Mavericks,
Speaker 5: but for me, it's Malik Monk. As soon as he
Speaker 5: hit his number, I was like, there's nothing that can
Speaker 5: happen the rest of this year that's going to change
Speaker 5: my mind on that.
Speaker 3: So winning doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: He was wayning.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say that. That to me is part
Speaker 1: of it, though, is that he got hurt and they
Speaker 1: really had it rough last two three weeks of the season.
Speaker 1: So that impacts me as a voter a little bit.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're telling me that a team struggling to
Speaker 2: be playing team has the favorite to win six Man
Speaker 2: of the Year over a team with the six Man
Speaker 2: of the Year Canada that's fighting for number one in
Speaker 2: the hardest conference.
Speaker 4: I would say.
Speaker 3: This is what sense for me, buddy, This is.
Speaker 5: What I would say to everybuttle That is, they weren't
Speaker 5: fighting around the play in when he was healthy. When
Speaker 5: he was healthy, they were actually playing pretty well. And
Speaker 5: then they lost him, They lost Kevin Herder as well.
Speaker 5: I don't want to discount that. And now they struggled
Speaker 5: towards the end of the season. But to me, that's
Speaker 5: even more of a feather for Malik. Muggins said, Look,
Speaker 5: we were playing great when I played, and then I
Speaker 5: got hurt and things things fell apart after that.
Speaker 2: What I got from that is sounded like they should
Speaker 2: be starting ni kid and he shouldn't be.
Speaker 3: A six man.
Speaker 1: That's always a question, right.
Speaker 5: Conversation for next year, my friend, Yeah, that sounds like
Speaker 5: a fixable situation That just doesn't quite make sense for me. Bro.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you credit, though, book, because you
Speaker 1: were on nasried since the beginning of the season. I
Speaker 1: think you said that he was the most underrated player
Speaker 1: going into this past season, and he certainly proved that,
Speaker 1: especially in the week of Karl Anthony Towns getting hurt.
Speaker 1: So Nas, I just want you to know you've got
Speaker 1: a fan of the big man. Over here. And you know,
Speaker 1: if you need a little pr some agent work, Boogie
Speaker 1: is your man. He's been with you.
Speaker 4: Brother.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about defensive player of the year, because Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert is the heavy betting favorite, heavy heavy Timberwolves had
Speaker 1: the number one defense in the league. Wenby though also
Speaker 1: considered and producer Nate and I were celebrating Stephen Jackson's
Speaker 1: birthday and he and producer Dylan were trying to convince me.
Speaker 1: In fact, I would say producer Dylan was trying to
Speaker 1: convince both of us that Victor webin Yama would be
Speaker 1: the defensive player of the year. And I thought maybe
Speaker 1: he was drinking too much at this party. But I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, what do you think who is
Speaker 1: the defensive player of the year for you?
Speaker 5: Look, Victor Wamgham is gonna win a lot of defensive
Speaker 5: Player of the Year awards in his career.
Speaker 4: It just ain't gonna be right now.
Speaker 5: You can't be on what of the worst teams and
Speaker 5: on one of the worst defenses. Not that that's his fault,
Speaker 5: because I think anyone who's watched San Antonio play has
Speaker 5: the same question I do is do y'all know who
Speaker 5: y'all playing with. Do you guys know who your teammate is?
Speaker 5: Because I don't think you guys realize. But it's not
Speaker 5: for him right now. At the same time, Rudy Gobert
Speaker 5: has kind of been the default answer for a lot
Speaker 5: of people because the Timberwolves had the best defense and
Speaker 5: he's their best defensive player. Who could be? Who else
Speaker 5: could be? I'm gonna give you a different name, Bam
Speaker 5: out of Bio. The Miami Heat season, their offense came
Speaker 5: and went. They struggled offensively for long stretches. They had
Speaker 5: a lot of different lineups. They had one of the
Speaker 5: most injured lineups of injured rosters of any team in
Speaker 5: the league this year. The one consistent has been they
Speaker 5: been excellent defensively, and Bam out of Bayo is the
Speaker 5: biggest reason.
Speaker 4: He's a guy that.
Speaker 5: Unlike Rudy Gobert, can guard one through five and guard
Speaker 5: them well.
Speaker 4: And he's the centerpiece of that. That's my pick.
Speaker 5: I don't know what the voters are gonna pick, but
Speaker 5: if I were voting, Bam out of Baiyo would be
Speaker 5: my selection.
Speaker 3: Agree with that?
Speaker 1: You think so you put you put Bam?
Speaker 3: I like that For me.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to vote for Rudy. And I can't tell
Speaker 1: if Dan Levatard is sitting just off camera from a
Speaker 1: mean down in Miami there with like, you know, some
Speaker 1: sort of weaponry telling you say bam, say bam. I
Speaker 1: don't know, would you vote for Bam over over Gobert.
Speaker 1: I know for some voters, Boogie, the issue is, would
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert be a four time Defensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year if he wins this award? And what does that mean?
Speaker 1: I know that that's like a big issue too with
Speaker 1: some former players.
Speaker 2: My thing is this, like when you really really look
Speaker 2: at the history of our game, and you look at
Speaker 2: the history of these awards, and you think about the
Speaker 2: impact these type the guys that win these award have
Speaker 2: on these teams. I just don't get that vibe from
Speaker 2: Rudy go Perk and this is no knocked to him.
Speaker 2: I'm probably gonna get a lot of bad lass, you know.
Speaker 2: I sound like the bitter old hit whatever. Like I'm
Speaker 2: a fan of basketball, and I look at it for
Speaker 2: what it is, like you can't have a potential four
Speaker 2: time Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 3: That doesn't finish games.
Speaker 2: I'm never gonna be okay with this, Like it literally
Speaker 2: like for me, I see things in black and white.
Speaker 2: If you're the best defender on the best defensive team,
Speaker 2: you should never be off the floor. It should never
Speaker 2: be a scenario to where you're not able to fit
Speaker 2: into the scheme. That doesn't make sense. So how do
Speaker 2: we keep awarding this guy that can't even stay on
Speaker 2: the floor in the playoffs? We've seen a time and
Speaker 2: time again, Like, it does not make This is mind
Speaker 2: blowing to me. It's easy for me to pick Womby.
Speaker 2: Like we can sit here and say he's on one
Speaker 2: of the worst defensive teams in the league. I think
Speaker 2: that's more credit to Womy because now you really stick
Speaker 2: out as a defender. If you got a bunch of
Speaker 2: you know, above average defenders around you, it can.
Speaker 3: Make you, you.
Speaker 2: Know, do things at a higher level when you're sticking
Speaker 2: out as the only guy defending and you're still exceeding
Speaker 2: the guys that are so called the favorite, Like, it
Speaker 2: doesn't add up, It doesn't add up.
Speaker 3: Bam.
Speaker 2: For me, that's an easy choice. This is a guy
Speaker 2: that we've seen time and time again guard the one.
Speaker 3: Through the five.
Speaker 2: For me, that's the guy that's a great defensive player,
Speaker 2: like Bro.
Speaker 5: Rachel, I'm gonna put it to you like this, there's
Speaker 5: not an offensive lineup you can throw out there, or
Speaker 5: I would say, ooh, bam wouldn't fit right here.
Speaker 4: Let's sit down and put someone else in.
Speaker 1: Exactly, I get it. I mean, you do have to
Speaker 1: look at the fact that Minnesota had the number one
Speaker 1: defense for big chunk of the season, for big chunk
Speaker 1: of the season, Miami wasn't necessarily even in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Like I mean, it is a little bit about how
Speaker 1: your team is doing. I think you're no about Wemby
Speaker 1: and maybe, hey, he'll win plenty. He is so good
Speaker 1: and I think that as soon as next year he
Speaker 1: could be winning these for maybe the next ten years.
Speaker 1: I mean, who knows, But awards are weird and fickle
Speaker 1: and spends on injuries and seasons and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But he's so talented. It reminds me a little bit
Speaker 1: of when the Spurs beat the Cavaliers in two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven in the finals, and there's that footage of
Speaker 1: Tim Duncan pulling lebron aside and said, thanks for letting
Speaker 1: us win one. Before you took the main stage thanks
Speaker 1: for letting me have one more, right, you're next, And
Speaker 1: that was such a poignant moment, and of course Lebron
Speaker 1: did kind of move there, and you know, I do
Speaker 1: feel like that's what's going on with Webinama, is that
Speaker 1: we're all just sort of waiting until next year when
Speaker 1: he just becomes unquestionably the most dominant defensive player. It
Speaker 1: is hard as a voter for me to figure out
Speaker 1: what to do because you are not supposed to take
Speaker 1: that into account that he's going to be a four
Speaker 1: time Defensive Player of the Year if he wins. You
Speaker 1: are not. It is about this regular season only. That
Speaker 1: is what we are instructed to vote on. And it
Speaker 1: is hard to, on the one hand, think about that
Speaker 1: and think about, well, they've had the never won defense
Speaker 1: and he's obviously been a huge part of that and
Speaker 1: really the anchor of that, and everywhere he's gone. I mean,
Speaker 1: he did it in Utah, he did it in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: He's been consistent with the effort he's put forward. But
Speaker 1: then also it is hard not to think, in the
Speaker 1: back of your head, am I putting this guy up
Speaker 1: with Ben Wallace who won four Defensive Players of the Year.
Speaker 1: Am I putting him up with Hakeem Elijah Wan who
Speaker 1: won four Defensive Players of the Year. I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not doing that, So it's it's hard. It's not even close.
Speaker 1: But then you can only you know, it's what they say.
Speaker 1: You can only play against the team that's in front
Speaker 1: of you. You know, Rody Gobert can only compete against
Speaker 1: the guys who are also competing for Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year. And if he's been the best, what is
Speaker 1: a fourth time is he is? This is what as
Speaker 1: hard as a voter is a little bit because you
Speaker 1: are dealing with lots of criteria and only one you're
Speaker 1: supposed to deal with, but the other is there and
Speaker 1: it's loud, right, But.
Speaker 2: At the same time, you're giving the credit of a
Speaker 2: great defensive team to one guy who's not that great defensively,
Speaker 2: you can't be he's pretty good, he's pretty great, he's
Speaker 2: not four times great.
Speaker 4: That's the light.
Speaker 1: But see again, that's that's you know, I'm not supposed
Speaker 1: to be thinking about that, but you have. I got
Speaker 1: one guy on my shoulder and then I've got four
Speaker 1: times four times. You can't make him four times. That's
Speaker 1: on my other shoulder. How's that voice? Was that good?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I'm just it doesn't add up for me.
Speaker 2: And that's that's that's just the facts behind it, Like
Speaker 2: it has to add up and it doesn't in no
Speaker 2: way to.
Speaker 3: Check for him.
Speaker 1: You're making me think about this. I like this. You
Speaker 1: guys are opening expanding the mind. I was sort of thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, Rudy might be a no brainer here. Certainly
Speaker 1: the betters, the the guys making the odds think he's
Speaker 1: a no brainer. But they're basically, you know, planting and
Speaker 1: nods on who they think will win as opposed to
Speaker 1: who deserves to win. You've been one more consideration here.
Speaker 1: I like this, you guys are You guys are opening
Speaker 1: minds and hearts. All right, let's talk about most improved.
Speaker 1: We have Tyrese Maxi as the draft King's favorite, Jay
Speaker 1: Dubb Kaminga also to be considered, uh maybe a dark
Speaker 1: horse in there. But who's your pick for most improved year?
Speaker 3: Man? I like J douve J. J dub is talented.
Speaker 2: You saw you saw Lebron give him his love the
Speaker 2: other night, Like even Lebron sees it, like you can
Speaker 2: see this kid is going to be a star in
Speaker 2: this league.
Speaker 3: He has a really really bright future. He's a huge
Speaker 3: vital piece to that young OKC team. He's played just
Speaker 3: he's played just as.
Speaker 2: Big a part and the success of that team as
Speaker 2: you know, a guy I considered the m v P
Speaker 2: and Shae Gilges just so J Duve for me, is
Speaker 2: is that guy this year for most improved? I think Kaminga,
Speaker 2: you know, had a incredible See he's made a huge jump,
Speaker 2: but the success of the team just isn't quite there
Speaker 2: to you know, put him in that category. And when
Speaker 2: it comes to Tyrese, this guy averaged twenty last year,
Speaker 2: twenty one a game. He's averaging twenty five. So for me,
Speaker 2: that's that's that's kind of a trajectory of how a
Speaker 2: good player goes through his career.
Speaker 3: Every year you get a little better.
Speaker 2: The don't that you know, J dub and Kaminga have
Speaker 2: made like that's that's more so where it it's the
Speaker 2: title of this which is most improved.
Speaker 4: So for me, I'm going with J doub Rachel.
Speaker 5: Let me just start by saying, cut this tape and
Speaker 5: post it anytime anybody trying to say that bookies biased,
Speaker 5: the Kentucky bias. This man has skipped not one but
Speaker 5: two Kentucky guys for awards in his pick. So I
Speaker 5: applaud you for being as unbiased an analyst as anyone
Speaker 5: out there. But I can't believe we didn't even mention
Speaker 5: my man down in Houston, Alpre and Shinggoon. That's my
Speaker 5: most improved player. I don't care what y'all say.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 5: J Dove is a really good pick. I'm not I'm
Speaker 5: not knocking that pick. I agree with you on MAXI.
Speaker 5: He's doing what we expected in him to do. That course,
Speaker 5: he's spy, so he's doing exactly what I thought he was.
Speaker 4: And that's not a knock. That's good. You're doing your
Speaker 4: on the time out.
Speaker 1: You expected him to create a need where they didn't
Speaker 1: even have to replace James Harden And you expected that.
Speaker 4: Well. I expected that Max was gonna step up.
Speaker 1: Yes, I thought you expected that they could trade James
Speaker 1: Harden away and not have to replace him.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, No, I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1: I'm back. I'm looking at you.
Speaker 5: I said what they're gonna get before they even traded him.
Speaker 5: I said what they're gonna get because they're not going
Speaker 5: to get a star. No one's gonna trade them hard
Speaker 5: a star Hard, They're gonna get a bunch of really
Speaker 5: good role players.
Speaker 1: When I said, I get it. But then the idea
Speaker 1: is they would then have to flip that to get
Speaker 1: a star. That was a whole That was a whole
Speaker 1: conversation around the Hard and trade was, Man, they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to flip it by the trade deadline because they're
Speaker 1: gonna need someone to play against Joel, play alongside Joel.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, MAXI made that disappear, and.
Speaker 5: I can only I can only tell y'all what I
Speaker 5: said at the time.
Speaker 4: I can't tell y'all. Now.
Speaker 5: Did I think that the Sixers were going to be
Speaker 5: the one?
Speaker 4: No, I'm not going to see it. I thought it,
Speaker 4: But I.
Speaker 5: Thought he was ready to step into that role because
Speaker 5: I've seen him over the last couple of years be
Speaker 5: asked to do different things, and every time he was
Speaker 5: asked to do something different, he stepped up and he
Speaker 5: excelled in it. So I had a lot of confidence
Speaker 5: in his ability. Having said that Albert Shing guns the
Speaker 5: most improved player for KAMINGA, I just felt like he
Speaker 5: started the year rough and then he had that thing
Speaker 5: where I give him credit. He called out Steve Kerr
Speaker 5: and I said, all right, here we go. But after
Speaker 5: he talked the talk, he walked the walk.
Speaker 4: I give him credit for that.
Speaker 5: For Shehan Goon was awesome all year long, and I
Speaker 5: think he was at a level that I don't think
Speaker 5: any of us ever expected him to be that kind
Speaker 5: of player. Maybe when he was drafted, but as soon
Speaker 5: as the first couple of years, we're like, all.
Speaker 4: Right, maybe not.
Speaker 5: He came and he basically changed my mind completely about
Speaker 5: what type of player he is.
Speaker 4: So that's my pick.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm mad at that either. I'm mad
Speaker 1: at it. I think shann has been a revelation that
Speaker 1: team didn't even make the play in tournament. Though he
Speaker 1: got it, he got hat it, I get it, but
Speaker 1: they didn't. And I just I look, it drives me
Speaker 1: crazy when fans talk about the media voting on quote narratives,
Speaker 1: because that implies that it's just made up stories, right,
Speaker 1: and that's not how that works. There is emotion that
Speaker 1: goes into playing basketball. There are waves that a team
Speaker 1: and experiences that a team goes through. Those are real, right,
Speaker 1: So when I voted for Russell Westbrook for MVP, I
Speaker 1: got accused of you're buying into the narrative. I'm buying
Speaker 1: into the fact that that team had Katie leave them
Speaker 1: in the lurch and everything was falling apart, and Russ
Speaker 1: stepped into the gap and he lifted that team on
Speaker 1: his shoulders. And he was the most clutch player in
Speaker 1: the NBA that year, and he delivered and delivered when
Speaker 1: it counted over and over again. I believe in the
Speaker 1: story of the seventy six ers this year about how
Speaker 1: they had I mean, just you forget kind of how
Speaker 1: tumultuous that was. You have James Harden in China, Daryl
Speaker 1: Morey is a liar with a sign being held up.
Speaker 1: You have all kinds of stuff going on. And to
Speaker 1: your point, I mean, there was the idea of you're
Speaker 1: never going to get a dollar for dollar back for
Speaker 1: or James Harden. You're only getting those four quarters back,
Speaker 1: as we like to say. And what are they going
Speaker 1: to do and who are they going to package one
Speaker 1: of their other first round picks with so they can
Speaker 1: get someone to play against alongside Embiid, Because as you remember,
Speaker 1: the other part of that narrative was Embiid's going to
Speaker 1: start looking around, He's gonna want to go to New York.
Speaker 1: He's gonna want to get out of there. They better
Speaker 1: trade for someone quick. And Tyrese Maxey changed all of that.
Speaker 1: And so I don't think that's a narrative. I think
Speaker 1: that is actually what happened. And I think that kind
Speaker 1: of emotion and that kind of story happens on a
Speaker 1: team and can lift a team up and change what
Speaker 1: happens out on the court. So I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: you guys are gonna have a hard time moving me
Speaker 1: off Tyrese Maxey. But you know, I'll take I'll take
Speaker 1: all this under invisement. I'll take an under invisement.
Speaker 3: We're just saying absolute.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about coach of the Year. Mark Danielle of
Speaker 1: Oka See is such a favorite. You do have Chris
Speaker 1: Finch to the Timberwolves Missoula with the Celtics. Boogie, who
Speaker 1: is your pick fore coach of the year, Shout out to.
Speaker 3: My guy Finch.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I had a luxury planning for this guy, who's a
Speaker 2: genius the clipboard. You know, he kind of created the
Speaker 2: two big man offense and he's continued to flourish. But
Speaker 2: he did it in Denver. He did it in New Orleans.
Speaker 2: He's now doing it and with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Like
Speaker 2: I said, he's a genius with the clipboard. He's very creative.
Speaker 2: He knows how to make, you know, situations work that
Speaker 2: most coaches probably wouldn't you know, kind of deal with
Speaker 2: with with a sensitive hand. So, uh, Finch has been
Speaker 2: incredible this year. He's pushed his young team to heights
Speaker 2: that weren't expected. He's he made the move was putting
Speaker 2: the ball in Anthony Edwards's hand. He's been incredible this year.
Speaker 2: So my my pig goes to Finch and he's had
Speaker 2: a great year.
Speaker 5: Rachel, every every name on this list, and every name
Speaker 5: that's going to be on everybody's ballot is more than deserving.
Speaker 5: There's been a lot of great coaching jobs around the league.
Speaker 4: Hm. I'm gonna say, and this might come as a
Speaker 4: shot a lot of.
Speaker 5: People, but I came to Jesus three weeks ago and
Speaker 5: I said, man, you're fighting against this. To me, why
Speaker 5: are you fighting so hard against it? And I'm like,
Speaker 5: you know what, You're right, it's Joe Mizula. I want
Speaker 5: to make all the jokes, I want to make all
Speaker 5: the things about him.
Speaker 4: You know, basically.
Speaker 5: Do being a weirdo trying to contest Royce O'Neal's shot
Speaker 5: and wearing jiu jitsu clothes under his half zip pull
Speaker 5: up or whatever. But the reality is this dude has
Speaker 5: coached this team to the best offense in the history
Speaker 5: of the NBA.
Speaker 4: They've won, they clinched the number one.
Speaker 5: Overall seed weeks before anybody else even knew where they
Speaker 5: were going to be in the playoff picture. And most importantly,
Speaker 5: he got He lost the heart and soul of his
Speaker 5: team in Marcus Smart and managed to get better. He
Speaker 5: met his two best players, became better players, more complimentary players.
Speaker 5: And it's not easy to convince someone who's great, Hey man,
Speaker 5: take less shots. That's not an easy convinced. And then finally,
Speaker 5: this one's huge. Anybody who's got Luke, Cornett, Peyton Pritchett
Speaker 5: and Sam Hauser rotation minutes every night and they still
Speaker 5: wood and asked, man, that's a hell of a coaching job.
Speaker 4: That man's got it.
Speaker 5: My soul is like, what are you talking about? Like, Nope,
Speaker 5: Joe Mizula is not Coach of the Year.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. First of all, I've been at Joe Mizoula
Speaker 1: fans since Yukon. I thought he got way, way unfair
Speaker 1: flat last year. I was really there's a lot blamed
Speaker 1: on the coaching situation last year that was not his fault.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad to see him getting the proper amount
Speaker 1: of respect that he should this year. I don't know,
Speaker 1: man and Okay, see though, that's the youngest team I
Speaker 1: think in the league. Is that right? Are they the
Speaker 1: youngest team in the league to be able to coach
Speaker 1: them to be in contention for number one? Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: hard to ignore that. I do think what you guys
Speaker 1: are talking about, though, of some of these coaches, have
Speaker 1: they been able to manage egos has been a big deal.
Speaker 1: And that's where I do go back to Chris finch
Speaker 1: boogie because somebody got in Carol Anthony Town's year, and
Speaker 1: I have to think Chris was involved in that, saying this,
Speaker 1: young fellow, Anthony Edwards, you have got to figure out
Speaker 1: a way not to feel like you are the most
Speaker 1: important person in the room to get in the way
Speaker 1: of Aunt being able to do what he can do.
Speaker 1: And somewhere along the way, Kat who is a proud
Speaker 1: guy and deserves to be by the way number one
Speaker 1: overall pick certainly can contribute a tremendous amount to that.
Speaker 1: Timberwolves team still had to to a degree step aside
Speaker 1: and say aunt is the number one here, and he
Speaker 1: actually came out and physically said it out loud, and
Speaker 1: I think that is hard too for a guy to
Speaker 1: do in front of the media, and the fact that
Speaker 1: I can only assume the coaching staff had a lot
Speaker 1: to do with making him still feel important, making him
Speaker 1: feel like, hey, this is just the progression of the NBA.
Speaker 1: You know, a new young guy comes up and this
Speaker 1: is how it works, and it doesn't mean you're less
Speaker 1: than and it's just that you know, to be able
Speaker 1: to manage that situation. Carl gets a lot of credit
Speaker 1: himself for that. I always don't like it when people
Speaker 1: just give credit to coach and not the player. The
Speaker 1: players have agency, but obviously the coaching staff had a
Speaker 1: lot to do with that. So that's ringing in my
Speaker 1: ear a little bit too. But it is hard to
Speaker 1: ignore the f at that this okay, see team, okayc
Speaker 1: team is so far ahead of schedule. We'll have to see.
Speaker 1: This is one. That's another one. I'm I'm I'm having
Speaker 1: a hard time with let's talk MVP, though, I think
Speaker 1: it's that time. Boys, Jokich is the heavy favorite, Luca
Speaker 1: Sga or in the mix. Yokich if he won, would
Speaker 1: be a three time MVP. I mean, I want to
Speaker 1: let you know that. Last week Boogie said that he
Speaker 1: thinks that he would go with SGA or Luca over Jokich.
Speaker 1: So I want, I mean, I want you to tell
Speaker 1: us what you think, and then I'm gonna check in
Speaker 1: with Boogie and see if he still feels that way. Go
Speaker 1: ahead and me.
Speaker 5: But again, this is one of those things where there
Speaker 5: are no wrong answers. These are all great players, right,
Speaker 5: And I would throw in a couple other names.
Speaker 4: Jason Tatum is the name I would throw in there.
Speaker 4: Anthony Edwards is the name I would throw in there.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: Jalen Brunson absolutely is the name I throw in there.
Speaker 5: But hey, man, let's be real. Who's the best player
Speaker 5: in the game, right? Like I know Rachel want to
Speaker 5: have two different awards. Nope, it's one award and it's
Speaker 5: one name. And this dude, and by the way, he
Speaker 5: plays almost every night here, I think it would go to.
Speaker 1: The same guy.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 1: But get that.
Speaker 5: It's k it's Yokis everybody else that's not a knock on.
Speaker 5: Y'all y'a' have had some amazing seasons. I've enjoyed watching
Speaker 5: everybody play, but I watched that big dude play. I know,
Speaker 5: last week we were talking about how certain teams would
Speaker 5: match up Agains the Nuggets, and you know what the
Speaker 5: matchups be.
Speaker 4: I'm like, do you got someone to re guard him?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: Game over? And that's it. And that's that's the reality.
Speaker 5: It's like, the only way to beat him is if
Speaker 5: you have three seven footers who are all going to
Speaker 5: foul the hell out of them and hope that pisses
Speaker 5: them all somehow.
Speaker 1: Where are you boogie? Where's your head at?
Speaker 2: That's a solid answer for me, And I mean, Jokic
Speaker 2: is one of the best players in the NBA. I
Speaker 2: think that's a giving but uh, that's not you know
Speaker 2: what the MVP is about. And for me, when it
Speaker 2: came to these three guys, I'm like, well, what separates
Speaker 2: you know, each guy?
Speaker 3: Like you know, they're all you know.
Speaker 2: Heavy depending on the offensive end they play make for
Speaker 2: both of us, for all of their squads, So what's
Speaker 2: the difference? And for me, it was SGA, where he's
Speaker 2: a guy that plays both sides of the ball. You
Speaker 2: can't say that about Jokic and you can't say that
Speaker 2: about Luca.
Speaker 5: And for me, I would say Joki is a much
Speaker 5: improved defensive place he's not as good as the defense as.
Speaker 2: Much improved have to do with the guy, but leading
Speaker 2: the league is still and is top six defenses like
Speaker 2: that has nothing to do with the guy.
Speaker 4: You don't play defense. That's I'm just arguing that does
Speaker 4: play defense. I mean not as well as SGA, but yes,
Speaker 4: he does play defense.
Speaker 2: Well in terms of defensive Player of the Year. I
Speaker 2: guess you could say, yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 3: But for me it's SGA.
Speaker 2: Man, He's he's a guy that's leading his team on
Speaker 2: both sides of the ball, and that's something that just
Speaker 2: can't go unnoticed for me. On top of that, he's
Speaker 2: he's done something that nobody expected with this team this year.
Speaker 2: We expected the Nuggets to be a team that's, you know,
Speaker 2: going to be a title contender, going to be in
Speaker 2: the mix. We expect that, We expect we expect this
Speaker 2: from Luca. We expect the big games, we expect the
Speaker 2: big numbers. We never expected this from SGA. He was
Speaker 2: first team last year. He's only improved to now where
Speaker 2: he's leading this team as one of the top teams
Speaker 2: in the hardest conference this year with being in the
Speaker 2: Western Conference. He's doing it on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 2: He's averaging thirty six. It's like the numbers are crazy,
Speaker 2: and I think this is not only his year, but
Speaker 2: we now have another star, like not just a great player,
Speaker 2: but a star.
Speaker 3: That we can depend on in this league in SGA.
Speaker 2: So I think everything is coming together for this young
Speaker 2: kid at the right time, and I think this year
Speaker 2: is his year. So my MV pick is that's yet.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, none none of these teams. If you
Speaker 1: took this player off, if you took Yoga Johan Nuggets,
Speaker 1: if you took SG off the Thunder, you took Luke
Speaker 1: off the mav none of the teams would be anywhere
Speaker 1: close sniffing to where they were. They would be lottery teams.
Speaker 1: So obviously they're all of huge value to their teams.
Speaker 1: With Luca. Look, he's putting up crazy numbers and it
Speaker 1: does feel because his uses rate is so high that
Speaker 1: he is powering that team every time he gets on
Speaker 1: the court. Now he's playing against Kyrie who just you know,
Speaker 1: last week, I think he dropped forty something. But I
Speaker 1: think that that argument makes a lot of sense from
Speaker 1: the people in Dallas about Okay, he's at least above SGA,
Speaker 1: or he's coming on strong, or he should be MVP.
Speaker 1: You go back to the okage argument, though he does
Speaker 1: in my mind. I don't know if I haven't made
Speaker 1: up a decision on who I'm voting for yet, but
Speaker 1: I will say that if he ends up being a
Speaker 1: three time MVP, it's deserved in the fact that he
Speaker 1: is that skilled. When we sit there and we talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, does Rudy Gobert deserve to be a four
Speaker 1: time Defensive Player of the Year, that can be a
Speaker 1: hard pill to swallow because he is not up there
Speaker 1: with Hikeem He's not up there with Ben Mollis. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: he's not where you look at Nikolaiokic. He is a
Speaker 1: transcendent player. I mean, I just I just I look
Speaker 1: at what he can do, his skill set, the way
Speaker 1: he can move, the way he can operate his passing,
Speaker 1: and then just his dominance and the fact that he
Speaker 1: has that team so organ nice at the end of games.
Speaker 1: When you look at what the Denver Nuggets do and
Speaker 1: Boggie again, you've been on that bench, you've been in
Speaker 1: that locker room, you've been on the court with them.
Speaker 1: It is like a machine. It is precision, and you
Speaker 1: feel like Jamal and jokis just they know how they
Speaker 1: want to get to where they want to get to
Speaker 1: in those last thirty seconds, minute, two minutes, and that
Speaker 1: is where playoff games are won. That is where we
Speaker 1: get titles from. So I think this is a harder
Speaker 1: decision than it was a month ago. It felt like
Speaker 1: yokitch all the way and now it's sort of like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: the LUCA backers have a good case, and but you're
Speaker 1: making a very good case for SGA and I do
Speaker 1: think it should be a two way player and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But it's hard to move off who is
Speaker 1: yes when I have to if I have The Aliens
Speaker 1: came down, as Bill Simmons said, you know who would
Speaker 1: you put on the court, And right now, I think
Speaker 1: most people would say you'd Putyokic on the court. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna be it's gonna be an interesting It's gonna
Speaker 1: be interesting to see if this ends up being close
Speaker 1: or not, because I think the conversation has gotten a
Speaker 1: lot closer in the last couple couple weeks, and I'll, like,
Speaker 1: you know, once I fill out the ballot who I'm
Speaker 1: voting for, we'll have to see, all right. I want
Speaker 1: to move on to All MBA because some of the
Speaker 1: stuff seems pretty easy now that it's positionless. If you
Speaker 1: guys haven't heard out there, after years of people like
Speaker 1: me begging, pleading desperately, please make the ballot positionless because
Speaker 1: the game is much more and more positionless, we are
Speaker 1: finally getting that. And that is really it was a
Speaker 1: travesty that you had the number two runner up for
Speaker 1: MVP or the runner up for MV rather the number
Speaker 1: two guy in voting not even make first team All
Speaker 1: NBA because you had to only have one center, that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. So I'm thrilled that this is the situation.
Speaker 1: But then it kind of makes some of this conversation
Speaker 1: a little bit easier. Let's start with you book who's
Speaker 1: your first team All MBA selection? Now that you don't
Speaker 1: have to go by position.
Speaker 3: Ah man, let me.
Speaker 2: I made sure to write this down, and I'm actually
Speaker 2: going to make a last minute switch a tweak a
Speaker 2: tweak because it doesn't matter what it was. But just
Speaker 2: know I'm doing it, all right.
Speaker 3: So for me, first.
Speaker 2: Team, we're gonna go Sga, We're going Luca, We're going Edwards,
Speaker 2: We're going Jason Tatum, and we're going to go in
Speaker 2: Nicola Yokich. Second team Brunson, Jaylen Brown, Kevin Durant, Lebron James.
Speaker 3: Johannis hm hmm.
Speaker 2: Third team Curry, Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Kawhi, Leonard Poala
Speaker 2: from Orlando. Yeah, Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, you got to say Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: at the end of the sentence.
Speaker 2: Please Anthony Davis. That's that's that's my my all NBA.
Speaker 1: All right, I mean, what do you agree with? What
Speaker 1: don't you agree with?
Speaker 4: Uh, it's similar. Let me just say this. It's the
Speaker 4: same names, not in the same order.
Speaker 1: All right, who's your who's your first team? Then?
Speaker 4: So my first team is exactly the same. I have
Speaker 4: your kids.
Speaker 5: This is my belief, especially now that we don't have
Speaker 5: any positions or whatever. You're your All NBA first team
Speaker 5: should be your m VP ballot.
Speaker 1: So this is so much that's an interesting question.
Speaker 5: It should be like it's the top five players in
Speaker 5: the league, so there's that there should be no conversation,
Speaker 5: there are no confusion there. So I got Jokic, I've
Speaker 5: got Shake, Gilgess, Alexander, I got Edwards, I got Luca,
Speaker 5: I got Tatum. I think that's exactly what Boogie had.
Speaker 5: When we get to the second team, that's where it
Speaker 5: gets interesting. So like Boogie, also have Bruns in there, right,
Speaker 5: Like Boogie, I also have Gianni's there. But then I've
Speaker 5: got Kawhi, I've got Curry, and I've got Devin Booker
Speaker 5: second Team All NBA.
Speaker 1: Neither one of you has Anthony Davis second Team All NBA.
Speaker 1: Such a good season he.
Speaker 2: Has, but it's not it hasn't been better than Gianni's
Speaker 2: or Jokics, so.
Speaker 1: That you could his first team exactly.
Speaker 2: So he's first thing, this second as far as a big,
Speaker 2: not necessarily a center, but a big.
Speaker 3: And then Ad feels out the third temh for me, he's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, third team. Let me so that Rachel doesn't get worried.
Speaker 4: AD's on my thirteen thank you.
Speaker 5: Lebron is on the third team, Jaylen Brown's on my
Speaker 5: third third team. Paulo Bankearo's on my third team.
Speaker 4: And this is the.
Speaker 5: Controversial one because it came down to three different guys
Speaker 5: mm hmm, and it came down to I'm not gonna
Speaker 5: say it's Fox, Sabonis, and Halliburton.
Speaker 4: Those are my the last three.
Speaker 5: And I had a lot of sleepless nights thinking about this,
Speaker 5: but I said, ultimately, I think that what Tyrese Haliburton
Speaker 5: does for his team, it transforms them from what should
Speaker 5: be a lottery team to a team that is competing
Speaker 5: for playoff positioning. And I like, I got.
Speaker 4: A saw spot in my heart for point guards.
Speaker 5: It was Halliburton or Fox, no offense to bonus, and
Speaker 5: I went with Halliburton because I felt like Fox has
Speaker 5: help and Halliburton not necessarily up until they got all.
Speaker 3: Off after all start. Though yeah, I mean he did
Speaker 3: have this goal under the rug.
Speaker 5: He did have a fall off, But I still think
Speaker 5: that what he's done and what he's did is still
Speaker 5: all NBA.
Speaker 4: And I won't lie.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 5: The man means money man, while we go take the
Speaker 5: money away from all many's that's point.
Speaker 4: So it is.
Speaker 1: I believe it's around forty million dollars difference if Helburton
Speaker 1: makes all NBA versus done versus not. That is a
Speaker 1: difficult position. This comes back to the sixty five game
Speaker 1: rule for me, which is that I think it is
Speaker 1: dumb to tie it to all NBA awards. I just
Speaker 1: do I get it. I am all with everyone who
Speaker 1: wants the players to play. We all want everyone to play,
Speaker 1: we all want to watch good basketball, and we want
Speaker 1: players to play. I do not think penalizing guys on
Speaker 1: all NBA by an arbitrary number that's sixty five versus
Speaker 1: sixty three or sixty seven, and you're gonna tell me
Speaker 1: if it's two games difference, he deserves it or doesn't
Speaker 1: deserve it. I think that's ridiculous. And you saw it
Speaker 1: with Tyree's Helibert, and I spoke to him at All
Speaker 1: Star quite extensively about his injury, and he was just
Speaker 1: telling me. He's like, I can't get the lift I
Speaker 1: was getting, and they keep telling me I need to
Speaker 1: sit for two weeks. But if I sit for two weeks,
Speaker 1: I'm out. And for a guy who has a forty
Speaker 1: million dollar contract difference hanging over his head, he's not
Speaker 1: going to do it. He's not going to sit. And
Speaker 1: the irony is that he may now by playing. By
Speaker 1: playing on it, he may have gotten himself out of
Speaker 1: all NBA by qualifying, because he extended how long the
Speaker 1: injury was affecting him, and now he's not the player
Speaker 1: he was in the first half of the season. And
Speaker 1: I just I think, you know, Embiide has talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, feeling rushed back that he had to go
Speaker 1: play and that led to his bigger injury. And I
Speaker 1: just think we are putting pressure on guys to play
Speaker 1: for reasons that are not the reason that we want
Speaker 1: them to be playing for, and guys who are truly hurt.
Speaker 1: It is, these are human beings. They should get to
Speaker 1: sit for a couple games if they need to sit
Speaker 1: for a couple games, and it should not cost them
Speaker 1: forty million dollars. So I don't know. I just want
Speaker 1: everyone to be thinking about that as we go into
Speaker 1: next year and we try to place these all NBA
Speaker 1: votes of is there a way to detach the sixty
Speaker 1: five game rule from at least all NBA if you
Speaker 1: still think it should be attached to MVP. I still
Speaker 1: think that's a little bit questionable. What if it's sixty four,
Speaker 1: you know, that kind of thing. But I wouldn't attached
Speaker 1: to NBA because I think it is affecting this discussion.
Speaker 1: I mean, did you have Kevin Durant anywhere on your
Speaker 1: ow NBA teams?
Speaker 5: I didn't. I didn't second team for me. I'm already
Speaker 5: regretting it, So maybe you're right. You know what, since
Speaker 5: my Tyrese, I love you, buddy, I'm sorry, I forgot
Speaker 5: all about KD. I got caught up. Yeah, the voters
Speaker 5: all y'all, My bad, I love y'all. It could only
Speaker 5: be fifty. So KD is in my thirteam.
Speaker 4: My bad.
Speaker 1: So you're taking a check away from Tyrese? Yeah, million
Speaker 1: dollars calculated that? Who was it? Who was looking for
Speaker 1: that boats that year?
Speaker 5: Was it?
Speaker 1: In a d He said he could have bought every
Speaker 1: member of the voting media what an suv and it's
Speaker 1: still what he would have had so much leftover that.
Speaker 5: He said, a g wagon. Every single voter could have
Speaker 5: got a g wagon and he still would have made out.
Speaker 5: And by the way, whenever I get my vote back,
Speaker 5: if that g wagon is still available, I'm you know,
Speaker 5: I'll let that be out there. Well.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you both for trying to influence
Speaker 1: me and help me fill out my ballot. I will say,
Speaker 1: you guys, move me on one. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: tell you which one, but I will. I just know
Speaker 1: you are with me when it comes time to fill
Speaker 1: out the pencil and make those And I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be a fun little word season here as
Speaker 1: we get into the playing games this week, everybody enjoy those,
Speaker 1: and we'll be back with the playoff games next week.
Speaker 1: You can catch all episodes of bully Ball on the
Speaker 1: DraftKings Network, on the All the Smoke Productions YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: and of course wherever you listen to and get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Rate us, review us, think about us, think about Tyre's
Speaker 1: Halliburton and his forty million dollars, and we will be
Speaker 1: back next week. Gentlemen, see you then,