41 Game Forecast

Three turned into the Big Five. So nope, we're not. We are barreling towards the All Star break. We are a month and change away, and we have the trade deadline coming soon. So Brock, let's get into it. Let's drop that beat a damn, damn damp damn. All right, since we are halfway into the season, I think it's time we do two things. One, make some predictions, which

I love to do prediction time. Prediction time is where I plant my little flag into my take and for the rest of the season, I defend that flag in that take for the rest of the way. That's when I get super fucking annoying. That's when I literally like scream that the Bucks are the most overrated team to ever make the finals. That's where I say crazy things. That's what I say, like Ben Simmons is a bum Utah Jazz aren't doing shit like things that are true,

but things that are very inflammatory. That is happening. That is happening starting now. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna survey the NBA landscape and give you my leaders on who I think will win all of the major awards this year. Cute the haters in the comment section. Nothing they love more than them telling me that I'm wrong when reality, if you let the time set in and you just wait for the clock to talk, Dick, I'm usually right. I'm usually right at the end of

the day. Haters are gonna hate, So let's do it. Let's start with the babies, the ones that are just taking their first little baby steps. Rookie of the Year, My rookie of the year is everyone's rookie of the year. I think Evan Mobley. Evan Mobley maybe was one of my worst takes I've ever had. I have a thing against the PAC twelve. I have a thing against Pac twelve. Quarterbacks, and I certainly have a thing against pac twelve big men.

You got a big man, seven feet quote unquote athletic coming out of the University of Southern California, And I thought to myself, and by the way, the Cleveland cav drafted him, which you knew was a recipe at that point, I thought was a recipe for disaster. Just the fact that the Sacramento Kings take someone, Just the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers take someone means I immediately downgrade them

in my mind. Smart franchise takes them. I'm like, ooh, Golden State likes Evin Mobley, which is also sometimes a farce like James Wiseman. But like, I don't trust you Cleveland, and I don't trust you USC. But boy was I wrong?

Boy was I wrong. Evan Mobley's getting thirty four minutes a game as a rookie with all seven footers, I thought to myself, like, oh, they got Jared Allen as an insurance policy for Evan Mobley not working out, or they didn't know that they were gonna get Evan Mobley, and they traded for Jared Allen, and all of a sudden, here we are one of them is gonna play, one of them is gonna sit. Why would you pay Jared Allen all that money you extended him. You have Evan Mobley. Now,

is Evan Mobley not that good? No, folks, they're playing them at the same guy. Damn time, two seven footers playing two different roles, functioning in symbiosis. Just beautiful basketball being played. He's played thirty four minutes, like I said, a game as a rookie. He's averaging fifteen eight and three offensively good, defensively elite. He's averaging one point eight blocks and one steal per game as a fucking rookie. His defensive rating one hundred and three. That's absurd, That

is absolutely absurd. His greatest strength as a defender is like he's seven feet tall and doesn't get cooked by guards. That's crazy, that's in incredible. That's actually what makes Lori Markinen so good too, is like these guys aren't getting it's usually twe tween gone gone. You get your like past these seven footers, you're at the rim, and then as a defender, you then, as like the Evan Mobley of the world, you wait for them to go past you,

and then you try to block him. No, No, he stays in front of all these guards, which to me is one of the most impressive things. Like, and I love Yannis Dpoy like he won that award. He gets cooked by guards all the time. At this point in this season, Evan Mobley ranks third among anchor bigs in positional versatility per Basketball Index. So I mean that's just tremendous. He can do anything. He can guard guards, he can guard. He's not that week in terms of guarding centers either.

He can't get cooked by like a thicker guy like Saya Yannis, but nobody can guard Yannis. At nineteen years old, Mobley is already one of the best big, switching big men in the league. He's a fucking rookie and that's the key to everything that Cleveland's doing. If Evan Mobley is not there, this Cleveland Cavaliers team is exactly where they were the year before. Like, yes, Lori Markin is a nice piece. Yes, Ricky Rubio was a nice piece.

But like without Evan Mobley, I don't think this thing goes. He is now the fifth player in history with at least fifty assists and thirty blocks over his first twenty games. That's insane. JJ Reddick said, this Evan Mobley is unbelievable defensively. I do not think people are realizing we're talking about it. Maybe JJ Reddick needs to tune in to he checked, because we've been talking about this thing since pretty early on. He said, this guy is a future defensive player of

the Year. I watched twenty minutes of YouTube highlights of Evan Mobley's defense. He does everything, including switching onto smaller guards. He basically is everyone that everyone wanted James Wiseman to be. Like, James Wiseman is not this, Like, he's not this. He's not as smart, he's not as versatile, he's not as skilled offensively, he's not as skilled defensively. He is not And yes, James Wiseman can shoot the three. Yes, James Wiseen's seven feet tall. Yes he's lean and lanky, but

they are not the same players. James Wiseman is barely scratching the surface in terms of his upside. He's just started playing basketball, Like he's played like ten games for Memphis, Like, what are we doing here? Yeah? So, Evan Mobley also amazing at cutting to the basket in right moments and decisively. He sees Jared Allen at the like in the elbow and immediately dives for lobs, for dunks, for layups, like

he can hit a turnaround jumper. He is so good, so much better than I could have ever imagined him being. Scottie Barnes needs consideration as well. He's plus three sixty to win it. Don't think he's gonna get it. But he had an early case. He had COVID, then he had a knee injury. But that's pretty much all she wrote. Some argue that his real upside is as a six man, can't ruin win Rookie of the Year if you're upside

a six man just can't. One of the biggest surprises in his time as a Raptor is really just like he is a real point guard, shot creator, well, real point guard in the age of twenty twenty. A shot maker. He can score with a bunch of different low post moves, floaters, and he can play the guard position and play out on the perimeter. If he increases his ability to shoot the three all laws say like Jahn Morant has different size but like same skill set to a degree, I

think he could turn into a really nice piece. Nurse continuously implores Barnes to be more aggressive and to raise his average field goal attempts per game. So I mean, he's just a baby. Totally different situations, another one for consideration for Rookie of the Year. Another huge surprise is my guy, if you were gonna be like, oh, why didn't you talk about Kate, I don't want to talk about Kate. I just don't. I just don't. I'm gonna talk about Franz Wagner. Biggest surprise of the year by far.

You're Wagner. You should need not good. You should not be good. Your brothers with Mo Wagner pretty much all I mean, if you're a basketball fan, you know what I mean, Like, I think everybody actually thought that, not just me, not just the hater and me. Everybodys like, oh, Franz Wagner like plays a different game, but like he

is still Mo Wagner's like blood brother. He has logged thirty five games for the Magic, logged over eleven hundred minutes before any of the rookies reached one thousand, so he is getting significant time even with guys like Cole Anthony Jalen Suggs, Markel Foltz, those guys have been out of the rotation, and so Wagner has showed off his abilities as a primary ball handler. Didn't think that was possible. I really thought Franz Wagner was like a corner shoot guy.

Like I just thought he would just shoot a bunch of threes. You'd just kick out to him, maybe he would slash. But no, he's now like killing his pr a props. His PR props sometimes are in the thirties and he's smashing that. I think I didn't take it. The other night he had thirty eight points or something bonkers like that. Like, he has been awesome, and I don't think anyone predicted that he would be this good

off the dribble, but he's shown that. Not only is he off a good off the ball player and he's not gonna like blow by anyone. But he's really good at angles. He's a smart player, cue the German stereotypes like like but like he knows how to use angles, use math to get by his defenders, and offensively, he works really well without the ball, which is huge. Not a lot of players, listen, not a lot of players

like to move their bodies without the ball. Ask Russell Westbrook about that he gets a He does a good job of getting off screens and making cuts, getting easy layoffs to the basket. He's a good spot up shooter. It's almost practically impossible to contest his shot when he's in the air because he's so long. He can guard really well. He can keep up with anyone on the court on the defensive end, and if his opponent ever

beats him too the rim, he's great at still. Like I said, when guys get cooked, you gotta figure out a way after the fact to get you know, a block up, and that's what he does. He's getting good contests even when he gets cooked, which is huge. Josh Getty been really surprising at how good he is as well. Eleven, eight and six, But the numbers really don't tell the whole story. He was just named Rookie of the Month with my Man. Franz Wagner became the youngest player to

get a triple double. He has recorded six double doubles. That's crazy, youngest player to ever recorded a triple double in history, recording six double doubles. Of those six, two games have come with just rebounds and assists, so like, the guy doesn't even need to get buckets to make impact.

He started thirty two games this year for OKAC. He has, in my opinion, been one of the reasons that OKAC says, all right, well, maybe we won't tank this year like Josh Getty Shay, like maybe they need to like let him compete. Who knows, we'll see what happens. We don't need to like actively try to lose games. And Sam Presty's probably sad elevating at how many first round picks he can get for Josh Gitty right now. You can probably get four first rounds for Josh Getty when he

turns twenty two. And then my next favorite I can go past, like Jalen Green. He's been good. He's had a rough start, but like you know, he's been fun to watch. Chris d Warte was a nice little piece in the beginning, and then he got COVID and cooled off. But to me, the last player I really want to highlight is Herb Jones. Herb Jones, and I don't mean

a regulo, I mean that's his name, Herb. He is becoming beloved in New Orleans, not only because he's six foot eight and he can be a three and D wing, but he can actually like read the floor. He can see plays before they happen, and that is exactly what separates him from the other players, not only in his class, but at his position he currently leads. Here's an amazing stat He currently leads all rookies in deflections at fifty seven and steals at twenty nine. He's second among all

rookies in blocks, and that's including Evan Mobley. In the past three games, he's racked up a total of eleven steals, joining only Chris Paul as the only rookies in franchise history with three plus steals in three straight games. And he's again not six to one, he's six's eight. So for him to be able to use his body, use his length and wingspan to get steals and to play good defense, it's just tremendous. And on defense right now,

he's already been through the gauntlet. He's checked Donovan Mitchell, he's checked Damian Lillard, He's checked Luka, Doncic, Paul, George Bradley, beal other players who routinely cook. He's had varying levels of success guarding all of them. But and like, while he's not a lockdown defender, his perimitive defense has been incredible. And that is exactly what Donovan Mitchell said about him. This is what he said, Donovan Mitchell, he is going

to be in this league for a very long time. Defensively, he's his tough. I want to give him his props. He makes you work, and he makes you think. He's a hell of a player, and he makes life hard for scorers like me. Not a lot of players make life difficult on Donovan Mitchell. Let's just say that he routinely gets his shot off however he wants, whenever he wants,

at any time. And I think what's incredible to me is that New Orleans has been trash, They've been awful, but with Herb Jones in the lineup, they've actually been pretty good when he's on the court. New Orleans, who has been a terrible defensive team mostly because of Zion for the last couple of years. With Herb Jones on the court, they have a defensive rating of one hundred and four when he's which is equivalent of top five

in the league. When he's not on the floor, their defensive rating drops to one hundred and fourteen point five, which is just slightly better than the league worst. So he is making a huge defense difference and he's not just like a savvy defensive player. That's the thing that

I think he's getting all all the credit for. But now there's new articles coming out like, actually, Herb Jones is a bucket as well quick for as step can put the ball on the floor, he can slash, he can pass, he can actually be used the way that they want to use Zion as a point forward, then he's probably gonna end up on the All Rookie team. A few games ago, he had this silly stat line

that needs to be discussed. Silly twenty six points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks, two threes, ten forree eight from the field, two for four from three, four for four, three free throws, and zero turnovers. That is some efficient basketball, folks. Yeah, those are my rookies of the year. Like I said, I would give the NOD and I wouldn't put my money there just because of its minus one ten, which means you get only ninety percent of your money back.

But Evan heaven mobilely, you gotta give that man his flowers and he's gonna win it unless he gets like some sort of catastrophic injury. Knock on wood. Let's go Defensive Player of the Year. I mean to me, this one's not close either. It's not close. It's Draymond Green, and Vegas thinks so too. Draymond has been talking about him being the defensive player, the best defensive player in all of basketball for like the last five years. He even said, last year, you guys, don't give this award

to Rudy Gobert's ask, give it to me. I'm way better than Rudy Gobert. Defense so good this year, Quinn Snyder thinks that Draymond Green should seriously be considered for MVP. That's how good he's been. This is what Quinn Snyder said. I'm not going to qualify this by saying no disrespect is Steph or Rudy, but Draymond Green is as unique a player and is having as good of a year

as both of them. If you want to put someone in the MVP conversation, he's someone to me that maybe the numbers don't match up to the numbers other guys put up, but as far as the way that he impacts the game, whether it's his passing, his defense, which you obviously know how we feel about Rudy's versatility and all the things that he does. Draymond is like that. Draymond's better than that. He just does it in his own way, and then he adds the leadership that he

shows and the way that he communicates. I think that he is an unbelievable player. This is Quin Snyder on Draymond Green, and I think he's showing that this year. He's shown it before, but it stands out so much right now when you watch them play. Why because they're winning. He's been doing this. He did this last year. There were times where Draymond Green was guarding legit centers and holding his own being like, I'm the fucking guy. I am not too small. I am that dude, Draymon. Let's

talk about stats. Ranks twenty seventh and Steels twenty ninth in block shots. There are nine rotation regulars on Draymond's own team that have a better defensive rating than he does. However, the reason that he is almost a lock to win Defensive Player of the Year is this Golden State ranks first in defensive rating, first and opponent's field goal percentage first ten points allowed, Second in defensive rebounding percentage? Who do you think is doing that? Fourth an opponent's three

point percentage? And Green is the engine. He's the one that makes it go. He talked about this with NBA dot Com. This is what he told them. This is just like one of the most like porn level quotes you're gonna get in basketball. Nerds are gonna go crazy or this. I heard this and I was like, oh my god, is Draymond Green almost just as transcendent as Steph Curry? Because this is not something that you hear NBA players say about the way that they look at defense.

This is what he said. Here's the way that I look at defense. When I watch film from a game, or I'll watch any particular game. I'm not watching the game that plays the pass lane to get the steal. That guy, more often than not, will completely destroy our show. He's destroying rotations on the defensive end. And more importantly, that guy is gambling. And just like any time in your life when you gamble, there's a higher risk you're

going to lose. Your defense will probably suffer from that guy killing your positioning It's the same way with block shots. In order to be a great defensive player, you can't just do that. So we never say that Lebron is great because he scores so well. We never say it's because he passes the ball so well. We never say it's because he runs the team so well. We say Lebron James is great because he does it all so well. We say Lebron James is great because he does it

all all the time. Defense historically is not viewed like that. It's the guy that gets a lot of steals or block shots a lot of times is a defensive player of the year. I don't think that tells the story of the defensive end. It's important for me to cover for everyone. That's covering the back door cut that's putting

guys in the right position. That's the middle linebacker who's reading the play and knows what the offense is going to do right up to the line, and then he shifts his defensive tackle over to close the gap that you know that they're about to run through. That's how I approach the defensive end. I am the linebacker who's going to get everybody to their right spots, and after I get them into the right spots, then I have to be there to cover them. That dude is a

fucking genius. Draymond Green is a fucking genius. He should get it every year. He's so much more elite than everyone else in the league. Regardless of what the stats say. Draymond Green is what makes the Golden State Warriors as good as they are. He consistently gets undersold because he's not an offensive player in any way. He does not

care about that. Find you someone who cares about defense as much as Draymond Green that's not seven feet tall, like it's just for him to be from where he came from, fat, to be trimmed down, to care about his body, to become one of the most transcendent transformational players at this one thing and still be able to score if he needs to. You just have to give it to him. On the list is also Rudy Gobert.

Fuck him. Let's move on. Yannis. Yeah, he's tall. Yannis plus eleven hundred for Defensive Player of the Year, probably one of the very few players that can win with his defensive alone. But you can't give it to him because he just keeps winning it and he scores thirty a game. So it's like, yawn, Mkale Bridges very underrated, dude, Mikale Bridges hugely improved. People give me hell for this. I said, hey, what role player? If you had to choose one role player to build a team around who

to be? And for me, yeah, it's like, that's an interesting question to ask one role player to create a team around who to be? For me, it's Mikail Bridges. He can do fucking everything. He's a team player, he's a winner, and he's from Philly and got scorn from Philly, so you know I love him. Joe l Embiid another Philly guy, great defensive year, but the issue is availability, and everybody says Philadelphia people always try to gaslight you and tell you availability is not the best ability. But

it's not not the best ability either. He's missed a month already and he misses Ben defensively, and this team is going absolutely nowhere. Let's talk about MVP. I have a hot take from who I would give MVP two? Is it Steph? Is it Bron? Is it Embiid? How could you be so bold in say Lebron James? How could you say Jannis Atatukumpo. To me, what about Jokich. Jokic one of the best passers in the league, highest player efficiency rating of any player in the NBA ever

in history. Kevin Durant putting his team on his back like an iron man, playing all the minutes, playing fifty plus minutes a night. If Steve Nash allows for like, if there's fifty minutes, he's playing fifty minutes, Steve Nash intent to drive Kevin Durant into the ground. To me, Ah, that's fun and cute, But I need to say, DeMar DeRozan is my MVP. He is the center of the bulls turnaround people and like narratives matter, Yes, narratives in

the MVP race matter. What is the MVP all predicated on. We talked about this last year. At this time, it's one where you stand in the standings. You can't be Okac and Russell Westbrook was an anomaly to the formula. Normally you either have to be somewhere between one and three in your conference, but more likely it's one to three in the entire NBA. That's the way it is, and you have to be the centerpiece of that, and you have to be consistently making noise, doing things, breaking records,

getting yourself into the headlines. That's it, like you have to do those things. Damorrow is doing all of that. You're talking about a team didn't even make the playoffs last year. Talk about narratives. Demarta Rosen was seen as the worst free agent signing in the entire summer. People even said, not me, but people even said it could be one of the worst free agent signings in history.

Demarta Rosen seen as a guy that the NBA passed by, that the league doesn't allow for his style of play anymore. He barely shoots threes, He only likes to play in the mid range. Does he play defense? How is he going to How was he going to function with Zach Lavine? Zack Lavin needs the ball. You got Demark Rosen leading the NBA in clutch points in the fourth quarter. That's fucking insane. He's the only player in NBA history who's

hit game winning threes in back to back days. One of them was on one foot, like his name was drk. Novinsky just tossed it up recklessly. He said, oh yeah, I was gonna pass that to Vooch and then I looked at the time, and I was like, don't think we have time for that. And I think we've grown somewhat numb to Lebron's brilliance and em beads dominance, and it's easy to forget about, you know, the down around the play in cutline, like here's the thing, like they're

number one in the East. Where is where are the Lakers not there? Where are the Sixers not there? Where are the nugget? It's not there? So it's what Steph, and it's Damar and it's probably that's really it, and and KD it's it's Steph and Katie And then third people will say, I don't even think Tamar is in the mix right now, which is a travesty. Katie. They've already won it, Steph and Katie. You know, the media wants to give it to Steph and that's why he's

probably going to win it. And thank god he's in the middle of a shooting slump because maybe, just maybe, And I think I saw this today in the emails from like NBA dot com that Yannis is currently leading the world wants the guys like Jannie, KD and Steph, but it's Steph Jannis Kate, you'll give it to Katie. Worst case, Steph Curry's at plus one twenty five. Here's

some other guys, of course, that are in consideration. Jokic said that Steph is the most pressive player in the NBA, so if an MVP says it, it must be true. He said, look at this what this guy is doing. My god, his shots just keep falling. Not recently they haven't.

I think he missed fourteen in a row. I said it to myself too, I said, if Steph goes, I'm praying for a Steph shooting slump in a duration of a matter of weeks, if not months, because I want to buy low on Steph Curry for MVP, because it was like minus two hundred twenty five games into this season and then Steph had to break the record for most reason of all time, and then he hasn't been the same since then. Really narrative break based. I think the reason that he'll win it is because he broke

the all time three point record this season. He's gone nuclear in a bunch of different games, pulling them from huge deficits to winning outright by you know, ten plus. They took him he took him to a nine to one start, as I said, would never happen, best team in the Western Conference after being in the lottery two straight years. Plus plus defender now like he's actually a good defender now. His best year points riot, best year points wise in his career. That's crazy, when he was

a unanimous MVP. He's doing better from a points perspective now than he was then. Best statistical year rebounding best second, best statistical year for free throw percentage. And the world wants Steph to win it because he's cute and he's nice and he's all about God and shit. And I love Steph. I love Steph I do, and I want him to win if DeMar doesn't win. But Jesus Christ, like, can we get another fresh blood in Like Golden State's

a dynasty. I just said, Draymond Green's one of the most transcendent, transformational players in NBA history, none of the players on Chicago or any of those things. I like Zach Lavine, he's a bucket, but like he's not transforming goddamn thing. Boswchs like a nice little seven foot are they gonna shoot them threes? And you know you have to hide him on defense, like he's nice Alex Crusoe the goat, but he's been out. Demart Rosen's doing this

on his back. He's got nice teammates, but no one to the tune of Draymond Green and eventually Klay Thompson when Klay Thompson goes back, comes back in the lineup, I hope he goes nuclear. I know I said I want to vote for Steph Currey, but I'm now on the DeMar train, like I'm on the Damar train. I hope, I hope Klay Thompson becomes the dominant force. He's putting

up fifty and Steph Curry MVP goes go away. Kevin Rant averaging let's get him plus two forty on the Vegas Vegas hasn't met averaging the most points since twenty thirteen, twenty nine point two. I mean, he's out there all they goddamn time, like he's just never not on the court. His three point percentage is down slightly. His minutes is up, of course, four minutes from last year, which is tremendous because Steve Nash's I'm the last year he's playing really

great defense. His defensive rating is down four point three points from last year, so he's playing some good defense. He's having to carry this team. So I don't hate the idea of him winning it. But you just you're on a superteam, dog like you can't You're on a super team dog, Kyrie, Kyrie, you Harden LaMarcus Aldrich is a former All Star, Blake, he's washed, but he's a former All Star Patty Mills killer in the Olympics. Like you have a superteam, you do. I can't give you this.

I just can't give it to you. He's made crucial shots in crunch time to give him the wins that he shouldn't be winning. But I don't care. I don't care, Like you just can't give it to him. And if you're gonna give it to someone outside of the realm of that standing formula, then you have to give at least Lebron a kind of a look. Right. He's plus thirty six hundred values there twenty nine, seven and seven this year, the most points per game for him since

two thousand and nine. Let me say it again, Lebron James is averaging more points per game than he has in over a decade. Since two thousand and nine. That's what thirteen years ago, When thirteen years ago was happening, Lebron James was Chuck's math goes to math school. Twenty four years old. That's fucking insane. And he's playing the five.

This man is playing center. He's still got the energy getting bodied down low against other centers at defense, and still has the energy to put up almost thirty points per game consistently. He put up forty two points on my Blazer's head in twenty nine minutes of action. The guy is unreal. He's increased his playing time to thirty seven a night, just doing whatever it takes to keep

the Lakers from drowning, just completely drowning. His field goal percentage, his three point percentage, his free throw percentage, all improved from last year. And from a narrative based he looked at the camera the other night and he said, I'm a motherfucking problem. Bitch. Wow, Lebron is a fucking problem. In the last nine games, so is his roster. Yeah, Lebron James last nine games, he is averaging This is fucking ridiculous, averaging thirty four point three points per game,

just shy of ten rebounds per game. Just shy of six assists per game, one point seven steals per game, one point four blocks per game, and fifty five percent from the field. Give that man a medal, Jesus Christ Nikola Jokich, I've said it. He's good. Number one in the NBA and player impact Estimate twenty three point seven. As you can tell, I don't care like I just don't. I just I love him. But he's fifth in usage,

fourth and assists percentage. He's improved defensively. The Nuggets have a ninety seven point four defensive rating with them on the floor, and they are really gross when he's on the bench. One hundred and nine defensive rating has increased from this is actually a crazy stat. His defensive rating has increased from one hundred and nine to one hundred and two this year. I don't know, like, I don't know how many people can impact their games and change

that part of their game like that. But it's I mean, that's impressive because he's a doe boy who has been interested not at all in defense until now. I mean, he has to do everything now. This team is garbage. They have no one. Michael Poor, Junr gone, Jamal Murray gone, PJ Doser gone, who else? I mean here? I mean is that not enough? Like they're they're done, They're done twenty six, eleven and eight. Last year as an MVP. This year it's better twenty six, fourteen and seven. He

increased his rebounds by twenty five percent. Basically, basically he just right around what Yannis is doing, only better. Bag I guess just a slight decreasing assist. But guys have to knock down shots, and he has a bunch of plumbers next to him, So what are you gonna do? I love Nikola Jokic, but Jesus Christ, you can't give him MVP because people don't even think it's real now that he wont it. They don't even put him on

national television's MVP. Can't give it to him. Janna's virtually identical stats to last year, slightly up in rebounds and three throw percent. He's like, Yean, this is great, but no US nine hundred. Joe l Embiid is at plus thirty six hundred. He's missed an entire month. You can't give it to him. He's a great player, he's doing monster things since he's been back twenty seven to eleven and four, down two points per game, but up in rebounds, up and assists, up in steals, up in blocks, and

he's shooting. This guy's seven feet tall. He's shooting forty percent from three. I mean that's that's elite. That's better than guards in the league right now. So yeah, I like him, and John Moran is getting a little MVP love. I love Ja Morant. What he's doing is putting this team on his back. He shouldn't win it. He's not gonna win it before his injury, Joe, let's just give some things. Jaw was co leading the league in points in the paint, as you know, we've talked about this before,

scoring sixteen point per game. He was tied with Anthony Davis in points in the paint, who is six feet tall, six foot ten tall. All of this is meaningless. He's never going to win it, but he does have he he does have the highlights where you say to yourself, in that moment Jaw for MVP, you say that that's the moment, and then it dies like two seconds later. You're like, no, there's literally ten other guys that could win it above him. That's sad, because I love Jaw.

People are in the gonna be in the comments like, oh you're shading Jaw, blah blah blah. You said he was MVP on your Twitter. Yeah, I said that literally when he put his nuts in some random seven footer's face, one legged, like off the bounce. Yeah. Like at that moment, you're like, this guy is my favorite player in NBA history. Let's move to most improved, because Jock could actually win that category. Desmond Bane is my pick. I'll just say this, Desmond Baine is my pick. He's not gonna win it.

He's plus forty two hundred, but the NBA is you know, it's a popularity contest to a degree. Let's get Desmond Bane popular. Shall We not gonna win it, but he should because he's in a small market with John Morant, and I don't think people are really taking notice of how much he's improved. His player Official rating has gone from fourteen to seventeen. He became a better finisher around

the rim, he became a better free throw shooter. His sixteen points per game is up seven points from last year. Over one hundred is that true? Almost one hundred percent eighty percent increase from last year Maschool, mas School, Masskool. His rebound His rebounding is also up from three point one to four point four. He's taking six more shots per game, and he's shooting forty six point five from the field, including forty percent just over forty percent from three.

And I think the thing that you can say is like, why is this happening? Memphis believes in Desmond Bank. They traded away guys so the Desmond Bank could get these opportunities. Grayson Allen, you gotta go, King, you gotta go. We don't care where you go, but you can't go here. You gotta go somewhere. They trade him to the Bucks. That allowed Desmond Baine to get more opportunities, more time with the ball in his hands, and he is balling.

And this is a huge leap from a guy like you expect a lottery kid to go from year one to two and improve. This guy was thirtieth in the draft, like Miles Bridges and Jaron Jackson have improved. But like, dude, that's what you were fucking supposed to do, Like you're supposed to make a jump. Desmond Bain has transformed his entire game. He was a catch and shoot three point shooter and a defensive guy with a negative wingspan, his

alligator arms, he should not be a good defender. Simple three and D guy to a legit two guard to the point where he is a part of a top five backcourt in the NBA. Him and Jaw top five backcourt in the NBA. I said it. He can do pretty much everything. He never had the ball in his hands before this year, never wanted to put the ball on the floor consistently until Taylor Jenkins was like, Hey, I'm gonna need you to dribble, like don't you shoot

things like don't be Klay Thompson out here. It's time for you to slash like you are a little running back out there. And that's what he is. He looks like a football player who came to the Equinox on a random Saturday and you're like, god, damn, this dude's strong. And that was the evolution of his game. He has the fourth most points out of any player selected in the twenty twenty draft. Let me say it again, Desmond Baine has the fourth most points of any player selected

in that twenty twenty draft. Goes to draft school. Let's see who else was in that draft really fast, Aunt Edwards, James Wiseman, Lamello Ball, Tyrese Halliburton, Cole Anthony Sadik Bay, Tyrese Maxey fourth most in that list and he went thirtieth. And I think what's also interesting is that he is one of the emotional leaders of the team. Like guys are going to Desmond Baine and he's pumping them up and telling him where to be and what to do, what the plan is for the night. Taking clutch shots

on a team with Steven fucking Adams on it. For Desmond Baine to be the leader, what are we doing here? Folks like Desmond Baine's that guy that is super impressive to me. His offensive rating is one hundred and thirteen, And you say to yourself, how good is that, Trista, How good is that? That's better than Kevin Durant right now becoming a playmaker when the Grizzlies forced him to play out a position that man should win it. That's where my vote would go. He's not probably going to

win it, but it's sad. It's a shame. John Rant, we talked about him. Let's move on. Miles Bridges is plus three hundred. He is the leader in the clubhouse, and it doesn't make no sense to me. I mean, he's tied for the team leading and scoring with LaMelo Ball nineteen point seven points per game, tops in shooting percentage among starters at forty seven percent. This is a nerdy ass episode, but I mean, this is what we have to do. He has the most rebounds with two

hundred and forties. A lot of numbers with two hundred and forty six, but I mean, how are we gonna put it in context? All career bests at this point in the season. That's pretty good for a guy who is primarily used as a high end role player. Before the season started, doubled his amount of dunks and mid range shots, taking one and a half more threes per game he has. He's shooting. He's seven feet tall, shooting six to threes per game at thirty percent, a down

forty percent, but his usues is up. He's up to seven from five rebounds. As you can see, these aren't that impressive numbers like jumps like, I like him a lot good player. He has six thirty point games this year, but he's very boom or bust. Miles Bridges is not giving me the consistency in his improvement level in any metric, and in some metrics his numbers are down. For me, you can't be dominant sometimes and be sort of like

disappearing in the background other times. I personally love him, but I would not give him that award, especially considering because me and my co host we're talking about this from bed MGM tonight and he said, well, if Miles Bridges ends up becoming an All Star, you'd have to give it to him. And that's true, but Miles Bridge is not gonna be an All Star. So that's just where we're at. We had many new articles coming out about where people are in the All Star voting. He's

way low. He's not gonna win it. He's not going to the All Star Game if it ends up happening because of an injury. That shouldn't count either. The Jonte Murray plus sixteen hundred. He's so good. He went from sixteen seven and five to eighteen eight and nine, three point three minutes more per game. And it's like san Antonio. You can't give most Improved to san Antonio's purse. You just can't new look offense for san Antonio. They're actually fun.

They're leading the league in six in the league and steals per game. I think they're like top three in the league in transition buckets per game. They're actually very fun. He's fifth in the NBA at assists percentage. As you can tell, I'm not really feeling it right, Like I'm not really feeling giving him this award. He's fifth in the NBA assists the turnover ratio at three point eight.

Like him, fun guy, don't think so. Another like another pick that I think is getting some buzz but not a lot of bets, is Lonzo Ball plus twenty seven hundred. I think this is narrative base. Chicago is good, Lonzo Ball is happy. Chicago is like succeeding in a way that nobody expected them to. He's leading his team in a defensive way. He's doing really well from a assist perspective. He went from fifteen five and six to thirteen six and five. His steals and blocks are up thirty percent,

his offensive rebounds are up forty percent. He's taking less shots per game on four minutes. His defensive rating is one hundred and five. Very very good. Won't give it to him, but he's very good. Another player that got some buzz who I really like, but not sure you can give it to him because of how much he's been starting and I think he's going to go into the six man role. So like that change and role throughout a season, I think is going to change how

people see him. Jordan Poole plus forty two hundred. He went from twelve points to eighteen a game, forty three percent last year to forty five percent this year. But the thing that kind of like kills me is that he went from nineteen minutes a game to thirty. So like the numbers really changed because his time on the floor changed. I don't think he changed his offensively, at

least defensively, he has become a lot better. His decision making is better, his finishing around the rim through contact is better. His defensive rating is really good one hundred and three point six. And that's for a guy who had to step up and like fulfill clave Thompson's role. Huge responsibility, a lot of limelight, a lot of pressure. He's been tremendous. I wouldn't give it to him, but I could see him being somewhere in the conversation for

voting six man of the year. I'm just seeing if we had anything else after this Coach of the Year, we'll just get too through fast. Tyler Hero, he's gonna win. It started ten to thirty two games of seasons. You might say, Trista, he shouldn't win the reason that he's starting. All his teammates are either getting COVID or they're injured. Like you can, he's a six man because he's supposed to come off the bench. That is what his role is. I'm sorry that COVID is changing things. That's just the

way that it is NET right now. He's like, oh well, sorry, Tyler Hero, We're gonna give some random guy from the Big three is starting role because your role is to come off the bench, because you should win six Man of the Year. No. Twenty point four, five and four, which is a huge increase from last year. He's improved his free throw percentage up from eighty percent to eighty five percent. He's a starting caliber player that comes off

the bench, and he's just absolutely balling. He has one hundred and fifty seven points off the bench in seven games. That's the most since nineteen seventy five. In that stretch, he had a team high twenty five points in Tuesday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks won twenty five to one to ten. He was a big part of that win. They probably shouldn't have won that game. They're so undermanned.

And Eric Spolscher calls Tyler Hero the most skilled player in one of the most skilled players in the league. That is why him and pat Riley would not trade Tyler Hero in the lat Kyle Lowry sweepstakes last year. I don't know if I would say that Tyler Hero is one of the most skilled players in the league. He is very erratic, very electric, but very erratic. Some of the other players that are getting some noise Montrez Harrow,

he's a six man. He's playing really well. If the Wizards were doing better, I think he would be more in the conversation. Wizards are floundering. They don't know what they're doing, they don't know who they are, and as a result, Montrez Harrow probably will not win the award again. He wanted what two years ago. Jalen Brunson should have some at least like consideration. But the problem for him is because Luca got injured, and then Luca got COVID yes,

he got COVID. It's hard to keep up. He's been starting, He's been starting a lot of games. He started eighteen out of thirty six games. You just can't give it to him. He just starts way too much. Dennis Shuder getting some love, but he started a lot. Jordan Poole, he's in the conversation, but he started twenty eight out of thirty games. You just really the player that you have to give it to is just Tyler Hero. You just have to, all right, Coach of the Year final award,

got to give it to JB. Bicker Staff. In my opinion, it's either JB. Bickerstaff or it's Billy Donovan and it's no one else. I know Steve Kerr is coaching his ass off, but you have Steph Curry and like you were a dynasty, and I know you hired a bunch of development guys to really increase you know how players are learning your system and you're making sure that everybody fits into their roles appropriate. And he's coaching his ass off.

He is, But what JB. Bickers Town has done with being you had the third overall pick last year and you're fifth in the East right now, with one additional piece, two additional pieces, Like you've made four seven footers work on your roster, Like I don't know that is Emerald Legassi level. Like coaching here, like we talk about how to use pieces and make them fit together and do an amazing tasting looking meal. Like nobody in my opinion has done a better job with stranger feeling pieces. We

all thought for seven footers. You've got Kevin Love, you got Jared Allen, you got Evan Mobley, you got Tago Fall, you got Lori Market. What in the world are you going to do with all that long length seven footers? Like they're athletic, but like how are you going to make it all work? And he has like it works. Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, like I said earlier, they're working in a way where they're playing at the exact

same time. Kevin len Love is playing significant minutes. You took him from a guy that was the worst contract in all of the NBA to a guy I think you could actually trade now. I think people will want him now twenty five points and like get in multiple games this year, playing his role very effectively, in shape, not injured, Like I don't know how JB. Bickerstaff is doing it. He was on the hot seat before this

year started, like he was top five. Many articles had him on the hot seat because they were low key trash. He lucked his way quote unquote lucked his way in from being an interim head coach when bee Line got fired to being the full time head coach. And it's like, what are you doing? Maybe we need to go a different direction. And JB. Bickerstaff has just been phenomenal. Phenomenal.

You could say Billy Donovan as well, because Chicago went from being a fringe playoff team that didn't make it to the playoffs to being the number one in the East. But like, come on now, another player, another coach that I think should get significant consideration that I didn't mention is also Taylor Jenkins, fourth in the West, making guy like Desmond Bane into like real deal most improved candidates.

You've got Xavier Tillman who's playing really well, Like you've used Steven Adams in a very unique way that's perfect for his skill set, Like he is maximizing if you think about each player as a sponge he filled with water, he's squeezing the lash drops out of each sponge that

he possibly can. And it's like, I don't know how you're gonna pay all these guys because they're all so good and you've made them into like such successful players like Dylan Brooks, for example, also seen as like alligator arms, and now you've turned him into a real deal Clamps player who's also getting like twenty five points per night. Like this team is fucking electric. I love Taylor Jenkins. I love to meet him and find out what makes his little brang go. That's all the time that we

have for the Heat Check. We will be back Wednesday morning, Early Squirrely with a new episode. Please do not forget to download, subscribe. Please tell all your friends, Please tell all your friends. Please tell all your friends, every damn one of them. We will see Wednesday. Follow us on social ad, at the Tea Check, and at Tristan Crick on TikTok. Thank you so much for listening. My name, my name,