Mid-Season Awards & Fan Questions | WHAT’S BURNIN’ | SHOWTIME Basketball

now I'm going with him beat. I like that. Joel is at plus three hundred. Um. I'm taking the favorite Lebron right now, which is at one seventy five. But I just think for various reasons, but more than anything, he should have more under his belt than he already has as far as MVP goes. So he's at an m v P caliber this year playing great basketball. Although they had a little loll with a d out, Lebron has still been able to, you know, maintain his level

of accidence. Who's your dark horse in this m v P races? Now? I bet on Donovan Mitchell. You know, he has a great chance with crazy odds being able to finish the season at the top of the Western Conference. He has a great shot of winning the m v P. And uh, I think if they continue to win games and continue to keep that spread and let the wins away from everybody else, he has a good shot. Well.

Donovan Mitchell's at plus six thousands, which you know, for the people who are doing this space, that's sixty to one odds. So you put a dollar down, you win sixty. You put ten down, you get six dred you do the math. Uh. My dark horses, James Harden, although Katie coming back, my effect that James hardness plus four thousand, uh, and what he's been able to do with that team has been tremendous, you know, and he definitely picked up

his defense. Offense goes without saying his playmaking ability is off the charts. Although those guys are long shots, if you're confident in Donovan Mitchell or a James Harden, put your money where your mouth is, because those odds right now were great. You'll definitely be able to make some bread if one of those guys come out and end up winning m v P. Next up, Jack Rookie of the Year. Who you got up to this point. I got Anthony ll was Man. I had him at the

beginning this season. I think as he to get teams to play, he would continue to grow on this team. They're starting to give him, uh the keys to the team, let them do more things with Russell being out, you know, and I think this is somebody that they can grow with and help build this organization. You don't want to let this kid go. He's gonna continue to get better. And as you see the plays he's making, You've never seen some of these players made by rookie. So I'm

excited to see see him grow. I got him for a Rookie of the Year right now. Definitely dunk of the year at this point. What he did to that poor here from Toronto. Um, I'm sticking with my choice from the beginning season two. LaMelo his numbers as a starter or up, you know, around the eight team point of game range and across the board, rebounds and assist.

He looks great to me. It's just about the excitement he's brought to that team, and obviously Gordon Hayward come in and doing what he does has been great for that team. But LaMelo plays with so much confidence and energy, and I think that's contagious. And he has those young boys. You know, it is a key reason why Charlotte is in the playoff. Funts So I got my pick, original pick. You got your original pick. We'll see what happens come into the season. Who's your surprise team? Uh? My surprise

team is definitely Utah. I didn't expect Utah to be at the top of the league. I didn't expect them to be the play to where they're playing. I knew they had a great team and knew they had a great coach of Coach Schneida, but I didn't expect them to be at the top of the West coming halfway midway point of the season. So they definitely surprised me. And boys are playing great. Their ball moving and their ability to shoot the threes is gonna keep them uh

at the top of the West. UM. I have the Phoenix Suns, a team that's been struggling since Devin booker Um has been drafted there. UM. I always thought Dev was wasting his talent there, but James Jones went out and got Chris Paul, which is completely revamped. The franchise put some new energy in life in him. Devin Booker was recently named an All Star UM, replacing Anthony Davis. UM. But I love with CP has been able to bring

to that team. I love that what Monty Williams is doing with that team, and they've just been a fun team. And if you think at the very beginning of the season, I said this was gonna be my surprise team, so not necessarily so uh surprise now after seeing how consistent, uh and well they've been playing of late. But um, I love to see the Chris Paul effect over there in Phoenix. Next up, Coach of the Year, Who do you have for your coach of the year. Well, I'm

pretty sure we're gonna get agree on this. Money Williams and my coach of the year. You just said everything that I need to say, what it's done in Phoenix, the moves they were able to make, that been able to bring this team together in a short time. I salute Money Williams. He's always would have been one of my guys who I wish had was a head coach in this league, and he got another shot and he's

doing a great job. So salute to Mintey Williams. That was definitely my coach of the year as well Monty Willims. I mean, you can look at Quinn Snyder and what Utah has done, and he's gonna get a lot of looks. You can look at Doc Rivers and went Reilly has done. But I think you know, to bring this team, you know, from the depths of the Western Conference to a top four team starting on the defensive end um and then like I said, well Chris brings on the offensive end um.

You know, salute to Monty Williams and what he's been able to do along with Chris Paul and Devin Booker turning the Phoenix Suns franchise around last but not least a team on the second half you think will be on the rise. Where we talked about it earlier. I'm going with the Celtics, they're gonna get smart back at the at the beginning of March. They're gonna they're gonna have a full team, They're gonna be healthy, and things are gonna start roll. This move. Kimba was just coming back.

He's not all the way back in shape, So I see the self is coming back to the team they were last year, Jaylen Brown and Tatum gonna come out and continue to lead this team back to the Eastern Conference somewhere closer to the finals, if not definers. So I think they'll be on the rise come second half. Agreed, Completely agreed. You know this is the dog days of the season and there's some slippers normally, normally this happens then you know, early to mid January leading up to

All Star Break. All Star Break has been changed this year, so it just flipped months and you know, now it's mid February leading into March, where this is just guys are ready for a break. You know, guys have been hurt for Boston. As we mentioned earlier, their core guys have only played two games UM together in Kimba, Smart, Tatum and Brown. So I definitely think there's no need

to panic in Boston. UM. Although I would start Williams at center, kids athletic rebounding machine, block shots, jumping guy. But you know, I think second half of the season this team will be fine and look for them to finish strong. UH to close the season now, well, closing are are what's burning. Mid season awards. We have our

fan questions jack List, get to it. First question from Cody dot coppinger, what is the biggest adversity you had to overcome in your career in the league and how did you both overcome the odds and end up on top. I think me just being labeled. I was labeled so many things in my NBA career that I was not. You know, I just had to continue to play basketball and continue to show them that I belong in this game.

So many people tried to make it about other things about basketball, and uh it kind of it kind of put a dug cloud over me throughing my career of times, but I kill I stayed positive. I kept playing basketball and one thing about it. They couldn't take that away from me. So I kept playing the game, uh the way I could, and that kind of got me back to to where I needed to be. Obstacle, I would

say it was just getting an opportunity early in my career. Um, you know, being called up to the Clippers, playing well there and then decided to go to Sacramento and then being a Chris Webber trade kind of put me on the carousel where you know, for three or four years I didn't really get a chance to play, and uh, you know some doubt crept in, but you know, I just kept grunting and believed in myself and ended up

making a fourteen year career out of it. So you know, we definitely both overcome adversity and similar with you, you know, overcoming labels was it was something that at the end of the day I used, I got labeled, but I just embraced it. I was like, all right, you motherfucker's want me to be the bad guy. I'm gonna show you a bad guy. So I was able to embrace my label and ride out with it. You were over to overcome your label and show people who you really are,

and that's why we're both here. Next step, Next fan question, DEMI spec sado in your opinion, why does the league forget about supreme veteran bucket getters like Jamal Crawford and Isaiah Thomas who can still help a team today. That's a good question, and I really wonder the answer as well. You know, the only thing I could point to is the league is young, now very young. You know, you see Steph Curry being the oldest player on the Warriors

at thirty two. When Jack and I came in the league, there was vet vets guys thirty six forty sometimes and whether they were contributing to the team still or not, they were still contributing to the team, whether their numbers showed it or not, with their veteran leadership and their ability to mentor younger guys and just help organizations out.

From that standpoint, Uh, they've gone away from that, in particular with you know, Jamal Crawford and Isaiah Thomas, guys that can definitely still put the ball in the hole, and for some reason or not, you know, they don't get the out anymore. So all I would say to that is it's just it's the league age is a lot younger now and that is going to eliminate a lot of veterans and veteran leadership. I think they both should be in the game. Um, they can't make excuses.

You used to always be aboy Jamal Craft's defense. Nobody plays defense in the league now if you put anyone these guys in fund of Jamal Craft, but he could score anyone of them. So you know, it's it's just the way they they play in the game right now. But we all know it's bullshit. Agreed, agreed, agreed, the last question from hydro Plane, which five young players do you think will take the top spot once Lebron and or k D are gone? Whose league is it? Uh? Man,

it's kind of hard to say. I mean, we don't know how long Katie's gonna play. I mean, I really think it's gonna be Katie's league when Lebron steps down. But then you've got guys like James Harden, Greek Freak. You know, you never know who might arise. Kyrie might take over. You've got guys like Zion, Zion might explode. You know, it's so many Luca guys, Luca, you know what I mean. But that's a that's something that's hard to predict. Barr and Andree barring, anything could happened. Uh,

you just gotta wait and see how plays out. Yeah, I mean, you just know the league is in good hands obviously, once Lebron steps down, and who really knows when he's gonna step down. You know there's tips of him playing into his forties. He's only thirty six, So you know it's Lebron's league right now. It'll be his

league until he's done. I think next in line or possibly, I can't say, it will be his league before until he's done, because, like I said, I think once Katie is healthy, Katie was on the having having it to be his league before he tore his achilles, and I don't care what no one says, and that's no disrespect to Lebron. Lebron's greatness speaks for herself. But Katie is at that level now and if he's able to get a percent healthy, uh, I think it'll be Katie's league

sooner than later. And then after that, like he has a crap shoot, whether it's Greek Freak, whether it's Luca, whether it's you know, Tatum and Brown are on on the rise, Zion is on the rise. You know you mentioned Harden and Kyrie are two of the best players we've ever seen. So tough question. We're gonna have to wait and see, but I definitely think next in line is Katie