Should there be unwritten rules in the NBA? Most Improved Player Bets!

let's get right into it. William drop that motherfucker beat that should be Rihanna. So I do another radio show, uh and I have talked Major League Baseball on New York Sports wfa N and I am acutely aware of how old school baseball fans are. They have these unwritten rules that like never pimping when you do have when you have a home run, which I would always do.

I would pimp a home run every time, I would twist and flip that bat every single time I went yard, don't crowd the plate, and never ever ever run up the score. All this, all of it, every single piece of it is bullshit, by the way, absolute garbage. It is designed to make bad teams and bad players look mad, yoker,

just like not as bad as they probably are. And now, folks, we are dealing with the same damn thing in the league that I thought was progressive, in a league where I thought they led the charge in being ahead of the curve. We are now dealing with something I didn't even really think exact unwritten rules of basketball, and I have some thoughts. I am fired up about it. Let's start by looking at the shining example of how a league should function as it relates to fandom, the NFL.

One of the reasons that people all love the NFL, not all of them, but the people who love the NFL love the NFL is because the games are meaningful. We know that every single week teams are going to compete to the best of their ability. Every single seventeenth games are exactly unless you're I guess in the seventeenth game and you're already made it in But no, every week is a meaningful game. When you're down twenty one points with three minutes to go, everyone is trying to

win and anything can happen. There is a level of competitive spirit that you can feel. And did you see what Miami did not too long ago? Did the Denver Broncos put up? Put up seventy points on their dome piece? The MPa. Largely, I feel many fans have become a little less enthused by the regular season because we don't know who's in. We don't know who's out. We don't know how long they're gonna be in all. Khizon like, is he playing twenty minutes? Is he playing thirty minutes?

Is he playing at all? We had Jokic get late scratched last game, we had mb get late scratched. You're kind of just like, why should I care? Why do I care about the regular season? The Playing Tournament came along and they made the end of the season more meaningful, But it actually made probably the beginning in the middle of the season less meaningful because teams are like, oh, I have to do is get to the ten steam.

But the problem remains regular season doesn't matter, and with low management, we don't even know what players are their their competitive spirit is going to be when they do play. Does this game matter to them? Are the bulls gonna cover against Milwaukee because they're crosstown rivals. I don't fucking know.

And the truth of the matter is, outside the TNT games, which we know players get up for because they love the national TV shine and largely they know that they're gonna get straight clowned by Shaq Kenny Charles Barkley if they don't show up and act right. And that, Folks, is what we have now with the ND Season Tournament.

I didn't expect it when the N Season Tournament was created, but this point differential thing has brought back the intensity the competitive fire where we know on a Tuesday, on a Tuesday and on a Friday, everybody is looking to embarrass the other opponent. I don't care. I don't care. If you're a team that we should beat by fifteen in a regular night, we're beating you by thirty tonight. Why because we need to beat you by twenty six to get into the next stage, into the knockout round.

And in real regular season games, if you're a team that's dog shit and you're like the Wizards, you should lose by forty every night. Because the truth of the matter is, we should be we should be aware of how bad you are, and it should be completely illuminated to the point where things happen and accountability takes place, like we've talked about with the Detroit Pistons recently. But in the spirit of the game in the third quarter, the other team that's beating the shit out of the Wizards,

they might rest their starters. We might get guys that you've not even heard of that are on two way G league type contracts that are getting ten, fifteen to twenty minutes because we don't want our guys to get injured and we don't want to embarrass the poor old Washington Wizards. Fuck that, seriously, Fuck that. This was now on full view in the n season tournament between the Celtics and the Hawks right this point differential Celtics and

the Bulls. Due to the point differential that the Celtics needed where they had to win by twenty six points with five minutes left in the game and up more than twenty Joe Mizula decided he would make a substitution, and instead of substituting his starters out, he substituted his starters back in. In goes Tatum, in goes White, in goes Horford, in, goes Jalen Brown and Drew Holiday. Why because we need to win by as many points as humanly possible. We don't know what other teams are gonna do.

They not only played their starters. They say, you know what, it's the playoffs, baby, We're hacking Andre Drummond. We know he's a forty five percent lifetime free throw shooter. Let's go to hack a shack on Andre Drummond every time that motherfucker touches the ball. And Billy Donovan, head coach of the Chicago Bulls, was irate. He came up to Joe Mazuli. He's like, what are we doing here? What is this? And Joe's like, why, I need to beat you guys by twenty six points or more in order

for me to go to the next round. So I'm not taking chances. And this is what Joe explained. And and actually Billy Donovan came out and said some things after the game as well.

I got no problem to you know. But I just thought it was putting Andre in a tough spot in a thirty point game. I just I didn't I didn't like that, you know, but he was great when we talked. There's no I understand what they were trying to do and trying to get there. And listen, the league is this is for the league, right, you know, so like I understand this, but this is what the league's done. You know that they've made this point differential thing, and

I feel bad for them from this standpoint. God, the bid in a game like that, Yeah, that's that that you know. And again, you know, as a coach, are always up against that gear. You're up by ten points,

it's two minutes to go, do you start stubborn? You not because you've seen you know, leads, but when you're up thirty and there's five minutes to go in a game and you have all your main guys in there, and potentially someone gets hurt over you know, the playing tournament, I mean, excuse me, the in season tournament because of points man, you know, And but I also understand, like the league's been a big deal of it. Everybody's trying to take it serious and for them to get to Vegas,

there's a point difference. And I understand the situation. Joe's in, you know, so there was no hard feelings and he's the coaches teamn do it best. I just felt bad for Andrea in that situation is how I felt.

Chicago Bulls. It's Joe Miszula's job. And I've never been a huge Joe Missoula fan, but his mindset in terms of staying competitive and finding out ways to win games and figuring out what the rules are and playing in the gray areas, this is this. This comment that he made put me firmly feeling a little bit more respect for him.

You've got to respect your opponents. But Devin Booker my man. If Kobe was alive for the n Season tournament, he was in his heyday, he would be basically saying what Devin Booker said, which is this, I've seen teams upset about it. I don't know why. I've seen players upset about it. I don't know why. I mean honestly, I wish every game was like that, where you could play to then and you know it wasn't few.

from scoring. Who cares if a power hitter pimps a five hundred foot dinger against the scrub. Who gives a shit if Tyreek Hill gives you the bye bye or flips the deuces as he runs away from a DV who is like blown coverage? Who cares that the Timberwolves run the Pistols off the floor by thirty six instead of sitting their starters and winning by fourteen? Who cares? Losers care? That's who you know? Who cares? People who were afraid to get exposed, That's who cares. The ist

I fucking love it. Why because it tells you exactly who's who in the NBA, who's with it and who's not with it. And you know what, I am not shocked that Jalen Brown is respecting opponents out here. He respected the Golden State Warriors a little bit too much when he decided he didn't know how to dribble a damn basketball in the finals two years ago. Maybe you should focus on that, Jalen Brown, instead of the unwritten rules of the game. I want more knockout. I want

more group play. I want an entire season of group play. I want four group play tournaments, last two standing like hunger games play in the finals. I don't give a fuck about the conference. I don't care about the history. I don't care about how it used to be. I want the best, most competitive basketball on every single night. And I am like, inject the n season tournament into

my fucking veins. And I think there's really something to be said for not just the five hundred thousand dollars, which I think a lot of us overlooked that it was going to be meaningful. A lot of players make less than four million dollars, and not five hundred thousand. If you could get twenty five percent of your salary as a bonus for a couple of extra things that you're already doing in your job, you would want to do them. But the thing that I think people are

really overlooking, or they did overlook. The NBA didn't overlook it. That's why they did it is the fact that everybody says they're not saying I want to win the Cup. Through that. Have you heard anyone say I want to win the Cup? No, they're saying, we're just trying to get to Vegas.

the most improved market in the NBA. It is for you know what time, it is time to check in on the NBA futures market. Today we are looking at the most Improved Award, which is kind of a sleeper future bet. I love the Most Improved Player Award because it tells you that there are players on the come up that you need to keep an eye on. In some ways, the Most Improved Player Award is the best predictor of NBA success. Here are the last ten winners

in a row. Paul George twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, twenty thirteen, Goran Dragicch twenty fourteen, Jimmy Butler hell Ya twenty fifteen. CJ. McCollum twenty sixteen, Yannis Who twenty seventeen, Victor Oladipo rip that knee twenty eighteen, Pascal Siakam twenty nineteen, Brandon Ingram twenty twenty, Julius Randall twenty twenty one, John Morant twenty twenty two, Lorie Markinen not a dud in the bunch. Very impressive list. Even Oladipo was a bucket before he

got hurt. Goran Dragicch not sleep on Goreon Dragitic and how he used to be just Gordon Dragic in the bubble, how he was before you were in so that man could give you forty on your dome piece, especially in international play. Do not sleep on Goron Drogas this year, though. The market is absolutely crowded. But here's who I'm looking at right now. I've got two favorites that I like, and i like two long shots. Let's talk about the

favorites first. I will start with the rocket Ship, the presumable favorite in the all of the markets, plus one hundred Philly Tyrese Maxi. Tyrese Maxi was about eleven to one until the moment James Harden got traded and he went from eleven to one to plus one ninety five overnight. He is currently sitting at plus one hundred, which means you're just barely getting even money to bet somebody who you get your money back in six months from now.

That tells you how they're feeling about Tyrese Maxey. If he continues to play as well as he has, which he's been balling, putting up thirty night to night basis, shooting like eight threes a game, getting his teammates involved Philadelphia's winning. He will continue to be the favorite and probably will win this award. My other favorite that is no longer really a sleeper that is just incredible. I would prefer him to win this award over Tyrese Maxey

is Alpern Shangoon because why shang Goon. As much as I like Tyrese Maxey was just absolutely slept on, disrespected, left for dead in Houston. Not only did he go to a terrible situation for multiple years, they were ready to discard this man. He's now plus three hundred, by the way, he went from plus twenty five hundred to plus three hundred. But Maxi last offseason was off limits to any trade. You couldn't even trade him for Damian Lillard.

Do you think you could have gotten Alpern Shangoon for Damian Lillard. I'm saying yes, I think yes. I think em Udoka would be like deal, Fine, you can have him. Shang Goon was seen as a potential trade piece from the moment he got to Houston. Just Steven Salas didn't know what he was doing. Bless his heart, he didn't want to use him. There was this quote from the Houston chronicle where he said, I'm not gonna run plays

for albern Shangun. He's getting the first play of the half, in the first play of the second half, We're not running anything for him. If he can't stay engaged without the basketball, then that's on him. And by the way, that man can't play a wick of defense, so we don't even know if he fits. That same Houston Chronicle article, we're like, hey, maybe Albrin Shangoon should just come off the bench for who for Bruno Fernando. Okay, this man is now plus three hundred doing most improved. What is

Alprin Shangun doing. He currently joins Jokic, Lebron James Joel Embiid as the lone players, averaging twenty points, eight rebounds and five assists per k this season. He went from We're not even sure what you are, how you fit, whether we should keep you here too. He's the number one player on a team that as the best defensive rating a bunch of guys that are veterans and buckets, lottery picks, etc. Etc. And not only that, he's much

fucking must fucking watch. He is Jokic, baby Jokic, and don't ask me, asked Nikola Jokich himself, who says he kind of looks like me out there, which is why it is no surprise that Albern shanghu aka alpi aka just the yur. He's not doing Dirk moves. By the way, it's over for the league. It's over. The league is in such a good spot. It is the golden era of the big man that can do everything that a guard can do, but much taller onto the long shots.

Someone that I like, someone that I feel like probably won't win this award, but definitely could win this award is Tyrese Halliburton. Tyre's Halliburton gets traded in Indiana. He has a good year last year. I think they kind of just like pity put him into the All Star Game. He was good enough to be in there, for sure, but like I feel he was more of like a last second deal. Yeah, he was not at the top of the All Star He was a reserve. So the fact that he was an All Star doesn't really bug

me a lot. Some people think the All Stars shouldn't win Most Improved, but man, is he a lot better than he was last year. He's averaging twenty six points, four rebounds, and twelve assists. The man is averaging twelve assists and he's shooting forty five percent from three. And remember this man had his three point shot critiqued by every scout in the league. They were like, he can't make it in this league with that push shot. And

he's putting up forty five percent from deep. He is lifting the Pacers in a way where they are now the number one scoring offense in the league. He has found a way to Mike Miles Turner not only usable, but valuable to the Indiana Pacers. He's gone from plus seventy five hundred, which is seventy five to one, to thirty five to one in the last month due to these ridiculous stat lines where he is putting up thirty on your dome piece, thirty five on your dome piece,

and like seventeen assists. He is the offense and he's not like remember when James Harden just the other day was like, oh, I'm not a system player. I'm a system player. No, Like Tyrese Haliburton is the Indiana Pacers offense. Everything runs through him, every bucket. He's the Caitlin Clark of the NBA, and they're the number one offense in the league. Give that man the damn Award, which is

already true. Also this like, oh, you're too good to win Most Improved, but you probably should win Most Improved. This other player I think could win it too, but I don't think. I think he's more likely to win an MVP in the future than Most Improved now because everybody already is on the hype train. However, he's sneakily, very consistent, not missing games, and really really good. Zion is a beast. We know that if he stays healthy this year he's only missed four games, he could potentially

steal this award. No one's talking about the Pelties yet, no one's talking about him. They just got CJ. McCollum back. I'll talk to you about this in a bit. They're about to get Trey Murphy back. Dyson Daniels has emerged. Heard Jones is a defensive specialist. I tell you what. The New Orleans Pelicans, they're just hanging in the grass like a lion waiting for their prey, and all the other teams are just gazelle's and Zion is a big piece of that. He went from off the board. I mean,

you can't even bet on Zion. Most improve to sixty to one in the past two weeks twenty five points, six rebounds, five assists, shooting fifty percent from three. And on Wednesday against the Sixers, I know there was no MBS. Do not give me a hard time about it, thirty three points, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals. Oh Zion, baby, you're active out there on defense. Remember, Zion largely has been known as a defensive cone. A cone, that's what

we call guys that don't play any damn defense. And now Zion's getting three steals in a game. So if you want to fly or put your money on Zion, put your money on some on some Pelicans futures because, oh my god, if he stays healthy, he could actually win this award.