Speaker 1: Welcome in into NBA Pulster production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
Speaker 1: I'm Saracustack, NBA analyst for the Yes Network, and today
Speaker 1: is Friday Marsh firsts from our extraordinary core group of
Speaker 1: NBA journalists. We're joined now by NBA dot Com senior
Speaker 1: writer Michael c Right out with a fresh MVP ladder,
Speaker 1: although Michael has been pretty consistent here for quite some time.
Speaker 1: At the number one spot is Nicola Jokic. Number two
Speaker 1: Shay Gildas Alexander the Oklahoma City Thunder. Number three is
Speaker 1: Giannis Atta Kumpo. Jason Tatum pops up to number four,
Speaker 1: and Luka Doncic rounds out the top five. We're gonna
Speaker 1: dig a little bit more into your MVP ladder. But Michael,
Speaker 1: you've been You've been on Wemby Watched since the beginning.
Speaker 2: That is in your neck of the woods.
Speaker 1: We had an extraordinary game last night between the San
Speaker 1: Antonio Spurs the Oklahoma City Thunder, the third time that
Speaker 1: these teams have met.
Speaker 2: It was a one thirty two, one eighteen victory.
Speaker 3: The Fires please guy.
Speaker 1: By the Spurs snapping the Thunder six game winning streak.
Speaker 1: But the fun part of this Victor Webbenyama, Chet Holmgren.
Speaker 1: Watching those two come together, I'm not sure we're talking
Speaker 1: MVP Ladder. I'm not sure where your Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year thoughts were at, but I think with the performance
Speaker 1: last night, Wenby just continues to to seal things in
Speaker 1: such a impressive significant way. Twenty eight points, thirteen rebounds,
Speaker 1: seven assists, five blocks, two steals. It was a back
Speaker 1: and forth game, but he had a couple of clutch,
Speaker 1: clutch plays and impactful ones in handful of sequences down
Speaker 1: the stretch that helped sealed win.
Speaker 4: Well back of the tree, get out of here. O,
Speaker 4: My goodness, I wish some Paris.
Speaker 1: Michael having watched him, and I know we all have
Speaker 1: caught glimpses called highlights watch games, but I'm not sure
Speaker 1: everyone has been as locked in with the Spurs as
Speaker 1: you have and with Victor at this point of the season,
Speaker 1: given all the hype coming into what he was going
Speaker 1: to be and become. What has stood out to you
Speaker 1: most about his evolution throughout the course of this season
Speaker 1: and how despite not necessarily winning and being very very
Speaker 1: honest and vocal about kind of where he feels, what
Speaker 1: he wants, how he wants the team organization himself to
Speaker 1: continue to improve. What stood out to you most about
Speaker 1: his progression and getting to the point he's at right now.
Speaker 4: Well, Sarah, I think I would say that, you know,
Speaker 4: you talk to anybody in the Spurs organization in that building,
Speaker 4: everybody thought that you would see Knights where he would
Speaker 4: just look like an absolute superstar, and then other nights
Speaker 4: he looked like a rookie. And he's looked like a
Speaker 4: superstar much all season long, and so I think in
Speaker 4: that respect, he has surpassed expectations for pretty much everybody
Speaker 4: involved with the Spurs. So it's almost like, Okay, well,
Speaker 4: we thought that this year would be this development, developmental
Speaker 4: year for Winby and the whole team, but now it's
Speaker 4: sort of like they're having organizationally, they're having to say, Okay,
Speaker 4: we might need to press fast forward on this rebuild.
Speaker 4: We might need to accelerate it a little bit, because
Speaker 4: Victor winbin Yama is a much better player than we
Speaker 4: thought he was number one and number.
Speaker 3: Two, he's just rapidly developing.
Speaker 4: You know, I've really enjoyed watching the guy's progression. Last night,
Speaker 4: it was just I wish you would have been there, Sarah.
Speaker 3: It was nuts.
Speaker 4: I'm serious. So, you know, he goes down the court
Speaker 4: hits a couple of three pointers. It was like the
Speaker 4: last three minutes of the game. And then after that
Speaker 4: last three they come back down the cord on the
Speaker 4: other end and Chet you know, tries to hit Winby
Speaker 4: with the step back and Winby blocks it and sort
Speaker 4: of sends check Homegren flying back and where he just
Speaker 4: lands right on his butt. I mean, the crowd goes crazy.
Speaker 4: We're talking about a crowd, sellout crowd, by the way,
Speaker 4: and there's been pretty much all sellouts ever since when
Speaker 4: Ben Yama came to town. Uh, sellout crowd. They're going crazy.
Speaker 4: And then after the game, I love the spontaneous reaction
Speaker 4: from Victor Wimbyama. You know, they give him the microphone,
Speaker 4: they ask him. I don't even know what the question was,
Speaker 4: and all he said was I missed this bleep. And
Speaker 4: the crowd just goes crazy because you know, they haven't
Speaker 4: been in San Antonio in over a month. They've been
Speaker 4: on that rodeo road trip. They come back when this
Speaker 4: big game and that's what he says, and the crowd
Speaker 4: goes crazy. And then he said let's get a Godspurs
Speaker 4: go chant going, and so they do, the Gospurs go chant,
Speaker 4: and the whole crowd.
Speaker 3: Just ate it up.
Speaker 4: And I think that the fans really sort of embraced
Speaker 4: that honesty, that spontaneity, that youth that you know, just
Speaker 4: that feeling of like it's a big deal when we
Speaker 4: win and I want everybody to celebrate with me. That
Speaker 4: sort of thing is really, I guess, uh, what what
Speaker 4: the fans wanted here in San Antonio. I mean, there's
Speaker 4: whole generations of Spurs fans that don't know what it's
Speaker 4: like to be in this situation that they're in right now,
Speaker 4: not going to the playoffs, not contending for championships. So
Speaker 4: by and large, he's brought hope back to the organization
Speaker 4: and I think that's only a positive for not only
Speaker 4: the Spurs, but the entire NBA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, incredible to hear, to watch, the witness all of
Speaker 1: those things. And I think to your point about the
Speaker 1: buying about the crowd in the Spurs fan base, I
Speaker 1: think the interesting thing to watch and you mentioned a
Speaker 1: playoff experience, you got two contrasting individuals and chet Hoolmgren
Speaker 1: the piece he's going to play for Oklahoma City, a championship,
Speaker 1: a championship aspiring team, a playoff ready team, and then
Speaker 1: on the flip side of things, the Spurs third worst
Speaker 1: record in the NBA. Obviously that that's a big aspect
Speaker 1: of where you want to see the direction of this
Speaker 1: organization headed. But with that being said, I think so
Speaker 1: much when you talk about MVP conversations, it comes down to, Okay,
Speaker 1: what is the team doing, how how is a player
Speaker 1: impacting winning? When do you think Victor wenbin Yama will
Speaker 1: actually be able to put himself in a true MVP discussion?
Speaker 4: I would say as soon as the Spurs put themselves
Speaker 4: at least that in that territory where they're fighting for
Speaker 4: at least a play in spot where they're around seven
Speaker 4: eight nine in the West. And that's another interesting aspect
Speaker 4: of all this because you know, I mentioned that, you
Speaker 4: know you have to or they're going to have to
Speaker 4: sort of hit fast forward on this schedule of rebuilding.
Speaker 3: But like you look at that.
Speaker 4: Roster right now, and I was talking to somebody in
Speaker 4: the organization last night about it. I could see half
Speaker 4: those players on that Spurs roster not here next year
Speaker 4: because again, they have to sort of speed up the development,
Speaker 4: and now they don't have time to wait on these
Speaker 4: young guys. So I think that you know San Antonio
Speaker 4: that like, if you look at what they have in
Speaker 4: terms of assets, draft picks, things like that, cap space,
Speaker 4: they have a chance if they want to to sort
Speaker 4: of go make a run in some real players, you know,
Speaker 4: real players that can help them sooner rather than later.
Speaker 4: And so maybe they can go and get a star
Speaker 4: to play alongside women Yama. You've heard all the rumors
Speaker 4: about Trey Young possibly come to San Antonio. All those
Speaker 4: things are our situations that I think the organization is pondering.
Speaker 4: And if you get a couple of events in here
Speaker 4: and you pair them with wimben Yama and some of
Speaker 4: the other young guys that they feel like they can
Speaker 4: move forward with, now you're in a situation where Victor
Speaker 4: wimbin Yama can win MVPs because the San Antonio Spurs
Speaker 4: would be in contentment at that point at least for
Speaker 4: a playoff.
Speaker 2: Spot without a doubt.
Speaker 1: And with that being said, on the other side of
Speaker 1: the court was Oklahoma City Thunder who their rise and
Speaker 1: they're build with the core that they have. The young
Speaker 1: pieces obviously hit on a bunch of draft picks. We're
Speaker 1: talking about Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams has been tremendous. You
Speaker 1: can go on about how they all fit together, but
Speaker 1: shake Gildas Alexander is ahead of that snake, and he's
Speaker 1: someone who has had a steady rise throughout the course
Speaker 1: of his young career now in the sixth year in
Speaker 1: the league. Had always impressed. But because of Oklahoma City Thunder,
Speaker 1: they they have been dangling around the top of the
Speaker 1: Western Conference for the entirety of the season. Currentlys at
Speaker 1: the game back of Minnesota right now in that second
Speaker 1: place spot in the West.
Speaker 2: But he's been extraordinary.
Speaker 1: I mean you look at not only the numbers that
Speaker 1: he's put up each and every night, the consistency of it,
Speaker 1: and again the driving force behind what this Thunder team
Speaker 1: has been able to do. Right behind Jokic obviously Denver,
Speaker 1: Denver is coming Denver's half game behind Oklahoma City, and
Speaker 1: Jokic has been doing Yokich things the entire season. But
Speaker 1: how realistic do you think it is for Shaef if
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City continues to play this way for Shay to
Speaker 1: win the MVP this season?
Speaker 4: Well, Sarah, you tell me because when you know, when
Speaker 4: you look at this, this, this the MVP race sort
Speaker 4: of coincides with the race in the West right now,
Speaker 4: because right now, yeah, yeah, the Oklahoma City Thunder I think,
Speaker 4: are game up on the Denver Nuggets, or they're actually.
Speaker 2: Just a half game up, just a half game, yeah.
Speaker 3: And so what the Nuggets are coming?
Speaker 4: They are you know, they kind of chilled for a
Speaker 4: little while, like, oh yeah, yeah, you know, we're the
Speaker 4: defending champs. We have what it takes to do what
Speaker 4: we need to do when it's time to do it.
Speaker 4: And then you look at what they're doing right now.
Speaker 4: I'm talking about the Nuggets. They're five and ohs and
Speaker 4: it's all Star break. So it's not like the Nuggets
Speaker 4: don't have a real shot. It's sort of taking over,
Speaker 4: you know, the lead in the West. And I think
Speaker 4: if that happens, that sort of solidifies the MVP for
Speaker 4: Nicola Yokics. But let's say that Oklahoma City finds a
Speaker 4: way to end up winning that West or just just
Speaker 4: coming in the top two, maybe even ahead of Denver,
Speaker 4: then to me, the balance maybe tilts towards Shake gildg
Speaker 4: just Alexander, I mean, because the kids got like forty
Speaker 4: four thirty point games.
Speaker 2: He's got more more than it's unbelievable. Yes, he's averaging
Speaker 2: just over thirty one, enough to say that's not.
Speaker 1: A lot, but it's it is the consistency of how
Speaker 1: he's putting up those numbers.
Speaker 2: Thirty nine from three.
Speaker 4: Yeah, have you ever just like spent time just sort
Speaker 4: of looking at his game by game stat lines. It's
Speaker 4: like he gives you the same thing every night.
Speaker 1: Every look at last night, thirty one, six and three,
Speaker 1: Like that's what's it's it's always you're right, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think for a player of not to say,
Speaker 1: but I mentioned it's six year in the league, twenty
Speaker 1: five years old. The consistency you get out of someone
Speaker 1: relatively speaking that young, Yeah, to perform, you know. And
Speaker 1: it's how he operates and commands the entire offense. There
Speaker 1: are so many things about his game that I think
Speaker 1: the intelligence he brings to the table and the sophistication
Speaker 1: of his understanding on both ends of them, both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor. Say that again, I think, yeah, but
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Oh, Like, if it is that simple as who has
Speaker 1: a better record, who wins, who wins.
Speaker 2: The West, who's at the top of the West.
Speaker 1: If it becomes that, if that becomes a deciding factor
Speaker 1: between a player like him Jokic right right.
Speaker 3: And then same thing with you.
Speaker 4: You look at Jason Tatum like he gets really no
Speaker 4: love in the whole MVP conversation, and then I just
Speaker 4: keep looking and saying, well, the Boston Celtics are rolling,
Speaker 4: They've got a huge lead on the rest of the East,
Speaker 4: and we don't even give him credit for what he's doing.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's shooting a three pointer better than he
Speaker 4: has in quite a while. I think his assists numbers
Speaker 4: right now, he's sitting at a career high it assists
Speaker 4: per game. But because he doesn't have the gaudy numbers
Speaker 4: that the other guys ahead of him do, it's like
Speaker 4: they just everybody just sort of ignores him. But I
Speaker 4: can't ignore the fact that Boston has played as well
Speaker 4: as well as they have. It's twenty seventy three at home,
Speaker 4: a big game against the Dallas Mavericks tonight, and I
Speaker 4: think if he can come out on top, the Celtics
Speaker 4: can come out on top of that game. I think
Speaker 4: that sort of, you know, reinforces the notion that maybe
Speaker 4: he deserves to be a little higher than Luka doncs.
Speaker 4: Does you know at this point on the MVP ladder,
Speaker 4: it's all there's a lot of stuff going on right
Speaker 4: now and just it's all fun to watch there you
Speaker 4: know how it goes.
Speaker 2: I mean, it is fun to watch.
Speaker 1: It is fun to watch, and I think for all
Speaker 1: of us who you kind of look at this. We
Speaker 1: got the Olympics coming up in Paris, a lot of
Speaker 1: discussion between international players, US players, lass American born player
Speaker 1: James Harden to win an MVP. So I think Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum when you kind of look at where things shake out,
Speaker 1: maybe the next person. The only thing I'll say about
Speaker 1: that before we get to a break is that with
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, obviously you look at this Boston Celtics team
Speaker 1: and they are running away with things, but you also
Speaker 1: have a bunch of former All Stars, current All Stars
Speaker 1: those he's playing around, and the on off numbers are
Speaker 1: that different when Tatum is not playing, And so I
Speaker 1: think sometimes you look at look at Tim Jokic being
Speaker 1: a guy an example last year where that it just
Speaker 1: entirely falls off when it's not on the fall and
Speaker 1: with exactly exactly and Tatum, And it's not to say
Speaker 1: that he's not having but that's why I think you
Speaker 1: you appropriately you appropriately have. He absolutely should be in
Speaker 1: the discussion, but I think there's there's an appropriate place
Speaker 1: for that of the contribution speaking of a former MVP
Speaker 1: and man one that is still playing like it. Father
Speaker 1: time cannot catch him, Lebron James. We're gonna get to
Speaker 1: him right.
Speaker 2: After the break.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to me, Pulsara Kusak joined by the great
Speaker 1: Michael c Right, Michael new MVP ladder out.
Speaker 2: Lebron James is not currently on the ladder, but man.
Speaker 1: He keeps doing things that that never cease to amaze us.
Speaker 1: With his age, his tenure in the league, the minutes,
Speaker 1: the miles, it does not matter. He is nine points
Speaker 1: away being the first player to ever reach the forty
Speaker 1: thousand point mark. Incredible to think about already the all
Speaker 1: time score in league history, but I think even more
Speaker 1: impressive fun for all of us to watch Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Clippers LA Lakers. Everyone can kind of have a discussion
Speaker 1: about what that rivalry is or what that really means
Speaker 1: between those two teams. But the Lakers are coming into
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter the other night down twenty one points.
Speaker 1: They were down twenty one points early on in that
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, and Lebron James just goes off nineteen, has
Speaker 1: five threes in that quarter, finishes with thirty four points.
Speaker 1: When you look at Lebron James, what he's doing at
Speaker 1: this point, I think we've all described it in different ways,
Speaker 1: continued to be odd and oppressed, but in terms of
Speaker 1: where he's at with his play, all the talk we
Speaker 1: have about this Lakers team, how do you see this
Speaker 1: season continuing to play out, not only for him in
Speaker 1: what he wants to accomplish, but where things sit the
Speaker 1: Lakers now currently sitting in that nice spot in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference. How do you see his progression and kind
Speaker 1: of trajectory as this season finishes off in comparison with
Speaker 1: the expectations of this Lakers team.
Speaker 4: Well, I will say Sarah that first off, let's appreciate
Speaker 4: greatness when we see it. Let's just appreciate it because
Speaker 4: it's not going to be around here forever. You know,
Speaker 4: Like Lebron James still has the he has the determination,
Speaker 4: the basketball like you, the physical skill set, He's got
Speaker 4: all those attributes that on any given night he can
Speaker 4: sort of conjure up that that want to and say, Okay,
Speaker 4: I'm going to be the best player on the planet tonight.
Speaker 3: He can do that.
Speaker 4: But the problem I think Sarah with that is that
Speaker 4: he can no longer do it every night the way.
Speaker 3: He used to be able to.
Speaker 4: And so when you look at that with how it
Speaker 4: plays with the team and its expectations and goals for
Speaker 4: this season, I am just not sure. I don't know
Speaker 4: if he's gonna have it every night because it's gonna
Speaker 4: be tough to come back from that nice spot and
Speaker 4: this is the last place they want to be, by
Speaker 4: the way, because you you're right there and play in territory.
Speaker 4: So then you're going to have to really battle just
Speaker 4: to get into the postseason if you have to play
Speaker 4: in the playing tournament. And to me, that's extra games,
Speaker 4: that's extra mileage, minutes. You know, there's just to wear
Speaker 4: and tear on your body. And then you know, you
Speaker 4: just look at some of the weird stats, like I
Speaker 4: was sort of looking at what the Lakers have been doing,
Speaker 4: and you know, last night, for instance, it was a
Speaker 4: third time this season that both Lebron and Ady put
Speaker 4: up thirty points in the same game. Do you realize
Speaker 4: the Lakers have a one to two record.
Speaker 2: When that happens, that's wild, right, that is wild.
Speaker 3: Yes, what I.
Speaker 4: Means the supporting cast needs to step up. Lebron is
Speaker 4: doing his part, Ad is doing his part, but they
Speaker 4: need some of these other guys to step up, and
Speaker 4: you know, just just make appropriate contributions because those guys
Speaker 4: just can't can't, you know, just give you everything every night.
Speaker 4: So that's sort of the way I look at it.
Speaker 4: I mean, you look at that Clippers game from the
Speaker 4: other night. It was classic Lebron. He was hunting matchups,
Speaker 4: he was And the funny thing about it, he was
Speaker 4: hunting matchups. And you know, there's always that threat with
Speaker 4: Lebron James that he's gonna get to the Cup. But
Speaker 4: against the Clippers, let's be real here, he settled a
Speaker 4: lot of times for three pointers, but he was hitting him. So,
Speaker 4: you know, like I said, I just want everybody to
Speaker 4: appreciate this greatness that we're seeing right now. It's not
Speaker 4: gonna be around forever, and I think, you know, I
Speaker 4: think he's gonna call it quits here in the next
Speaker 4: you know, maybe three years or so. I don't I
Speaker 4: don't think we're far all through Lebron deciding to hang
Speaker 4: it up. So yeah, let's appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I feel you, I feel you.
Speaker 1: It feels like it's never gonna end, but all things do,
Speaker 1: and to your point, it's it's an absolute blessing again
Speaker 1: to watch him for all of us basketball fans, Michael,
Speaker 1: As always, we appreciate your time. We'll continue to read,
Speaker 1: watch all your good stuff on NBA dot com and
Speaker 1: NBA TV, and until next time, we'll see you.
Speaker 3: Then, all right, Sarah, I have a good one.
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