The Deep 3 Podcast - Predicting Every 2024 NBA Award Winner | TD3 Live

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

Today we do an early check in on every 2024 NBA award! Support the stream: https://streamlabs.com/thedeep3pod Follow us on twitter to join the PS5 giveaway: https://twitter.com/thedeep3podcast Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Join the TD3 discord!: https://discord.gg/RUkjpMPp7E Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Muhamed's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 2:25- Lakers win IST 18:18- Rookie of The Year 28:04- Most Improved Player 51:13- 6th Man of The Year 1:08:10- Defensive Player of The Year 1:30:27: Most Valuable Player Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh, and we're live officially. Happy Monday. Welcome, welcome, welcome, everybody. Let's people get in the chat here for the third week of TD3 live. It's been great. Yeah, man. I feel like every Monday, the early people should get a little bonus of whether it be like inside conversation, if you have a TD3, maybe a quick little story time for the first

two minutes before all the other, you know what I'm saying? Well, you got a story tell people? Yeah, you go ahead to hear a story about my first encounter with a rat. Yeah, let's hear about your first rat. How you lost your rat virginity? That's gross. You don't. That sounds like the last violating me.

Do not say that. All right, so it was one night. I came in, I went to use the bathroom, all right? I had some hefty in my stomach, had to take a number two. Okay. Very vulgar already. Let's go. Details.

Went ahead. pants down I let go all of my problems all of my problems all of my problems you know I was cleaning up my myself and white white all that stuff and the next thing you know I feel something run across my toes

I'm like what the fuck is this and I look down and it's a tiny rat I see a long ass tail tiny rat and I looked up my feet while I'm still like keep in mind this is mid number two you know And so I'm like, oh, shit.

And then I left with my feet, and then motherfuckers running around going crazy. And then, bro, I lose my mind. I get up. I get up. And it's just, it's just the whole, it's a graphic, graphic scene. And I don't sit back down. I'm literally standing up on top of the bathtub at this point in time until the rack goes into whatever fucking hole that it gets back into it. But that's our little story time for the day.

Love it. There you go. Y'all, if you're here early for the stream, If you're watching the replay, you get the first example of Mo's, our first story time of Mo's first rat experience. Love that. What a T3 moment. Seeing a lot of crayons in the chat. Love that. Keep spamming them. Let me see the crown eaters. Yeah, man. As you see by the title, we're going to talk about every NBA, every NBA award race this year. And instead of doing what a lot of people do and talk about who's the MVP this far into the season,

we're going to predict what we think each NBA award ballot will look like come the end of the season. so we're going to give our first five our top five in each category based on what we've seen so far and how we project that to continue moving forward but before we get to that y'all I think I have some gloating to do gloating season tournament championship concluded and neither one of y'all's team won mine did how are y'all feeling is this what we're doing my bad I didn't know we were celebrating just like like Mickey mouth championships this is yeah He's honestly even worse than a Mickey Mouse championship. Yeah, I understand when you don't have any championships in your lifetime that you can remember to like rub in. But those of us who have experienced victory, we like to rub it in whenever we can. So you've actually seen an NBA championship, right?

Shout out to you. And you still want to celebrate this? Like gloat? That's why. That's why. I would just like not say a word if my team wasn't even in the top eight. So that's me at least. are you putting a bet you're putting a banner up for the in-season tournament correct the shit matters

we're starting a legacy we're making this matter buying from everybody every team every star player they got to start somewhere to build history and this is where it begins listen man if i got a taste that i shti just know that i'll be just as happy as i'sa right now oh trey young had an iST MVP you would be wearing a jersey right now right jersey i had that i s tatted on me right now a jersey let's take it another stuff all right i'd be talking about it this will be my NBA championship for the next 20 30 years because lord knows they're all going to win win we're trashed look at the chat somebody has our logo as her profile picture and it says i am the ultimate crayon eater everybody the ultimate girl i don't know that sounds like a nightmare

oh my goodness i see it giving me your crowns chat how did y'all feel about the in-season tournament finale were you all did you all enjoy the tournament overall talking to you guys not just a chat you listen we're slow I was waiting for one of the crayons to just like jump through the screen and say something it was cool

I actually like enjoyed it I thought that Vegas was I thought that the basketball in Vegas was actually interesting and it was solid the crowd sucked I will say that the crowds in Vegas were trash

and if there was any argument to not putting like an NBA team somebody would bring up those games because it was kind of dead but it was really cool though I enjoyed it yeah I liked a lot of time

I feel for the Lakers games the crowds were solid but for like Pacers versus Bucks then nobody gave a fuck it was at 2 p.m. Pacific Coast time I mean yeah it only makes sense

it only makes sense you're in Las Vegas the most native team near over there is the Lakers so I mean they should have known what they were getting into the other day I saw a tweet some some fan said

the NBA should go ahead and do a thing where for every year they do the in season tournament do the tournament where there's a city has no team someone said like mississippi st louis places like that i'm just like that's a terrible idea uncles and aunties and some some just pass it so that's a terrible it be in jackson mississippi playing the internet on some red courts yeah it's gross but it's gross but overall like i think it was a hit it was a banger it was the excitement that everybody needed Although, like, we all know, no one's going to, like, use this as serious weight for anyone's career or whatever. It will be.

Listen, if you saw the Twitter conversations, LeBron, LeBron fans already had it locked and loaded. They're using this. Bro, LeBron fans couldn't win at all. They're cooked regardless. You win, you're getting made fun of. You lose, you're getting made fun of regardless. Chat, how are y'all going to view the in-season tournament over time? Do you all – how seriously do you all take it?

Because it's obviously not as serious as a ring. but I think we should count it in like resume building stuff just because you know for no not not right I see your face for the league to take this seriously if this become a real thing that matters you have to give it that level of seriousness not saying it should be like equivalent to a championship or even half a championship or whatever but like

we got to treat like it means something or else why are they doing it yeah that was my entire point for the whole year leading up to this the tournament was seven games like congratulations you had a very good two-week stretch like you literally played one in totality you played one playoff series and it went seven games and if you won the championship shout out to you like again they win six games and win march madness yeah but like that's at the no no but i'm saying like that's at the end right and also each one of those games is single

elimination like if you want to start single elimination from the start i think that would be a little bit better than four group play games and then instantly you go into one two three and it would have like a better flow like every single game would like mean something and obviously it does with the point to friendship that or da da but this the season just started like it feels more like the maui invitational than march maddenance oh you're a hater the maui invitational was nuts no you're a hater that's a real thing i know i know but uh i agree i think they could tweak the format like I agree I feel like it should be a 16 team bracket instead of top eight that probably be a little more interesting or like you said do it later in the

season but overall I think it's a good addition I think it felt like in the moment playoff atmosphere or whatever that means for whatever team you're talking about but it felt like games that mattered it felt a little different yeah the patient said it felt like playoff basketball and everyone was just like how do you know as buddy he'll know about playoff basketball Yeah, I think the general consensus on this from the chat. Ramon says it was more serious basketball than the regular season, not the same level as a chip, but still a great thing for the league.

And I think that's exactly what they needed, and that's what the league needed. It was a home run overall, bro. Yeah. So obviously the Lakers beat the Pacers. Did y'all leave that game going forward now being more hopeful on the Lakers' championship odds or just general outlook for the season? Because we saw them lock in and really try now that they're finally healthy, have all the defenders and they didn't just win they stomped out the pelicans horribly we talked

about it the start of last episode and then beat the Pacers like pretty wire to wire are you all confident in them now if anyone says that the Lakers championship odds are improved because you stomped out the Pacers my brother you have issues yeah i have issues because i oh i for sure i believe in They made two threes against the Pacers And against the team That runs up and down Turns every game into a track meet Tyrese was killing everybody in the league

Yonis and Brooke Lopez is going to stop them AD and LeBron was like yeah You're just not You're just not gonna do that to us Bro, the shot chart is nuts I don't know, let me share my screen so y'all can see it too Chad's looking at the shot chart right now Two threes

Everything else is in here in the paint Just utter domination And that's the style of Lakers need to play to win which coincidentally the Pacers are the worst room defense in the league they allow the most possible because their whole game plan is that they're not going to allow any threes and they're going to take the most threes and kind of out matthew so take it with a small grain of salt because this is what the Pacers wanted them to do but the Lakers took that and did it to the best of their ability and completely dominated them I'm hopeful that this game plan can work against most teams look man just a couple of nights ago we saw uh speaking on most team maybe this would be this might be a new trend

don't want to say new training the NBA, but from what I see, super strong defensive teams who aren't, you know what I'm saying, heavily equipped in the three, front three point range. I like the Orlando Magic. They went ahead and did the same thing a couple nights ago, literally last Monday, I believe, or was it last podcast? We'd be doing a whole lot. We got a whole lot of motion over, either one, but it's a press of myself.

Yeah. So honestly, yeah, I agree. Yeah, and you say the new meta, seemingly. is a top defensive teams that have a good enough offense and yeah when we saw the lakers win the championship they were a top three defense all year and there were 12th in offense that's kind of what they have to get to to be able to compete with this style of play and i think that's possible now that they're fully healthy they didn't they didn't win this

game with like amazing offense they wanted like don't said why shutting down tyree halberton in a way nobody else could and doing good enough on offense to keep up with them even though tyree's halber would slow down the paces were still doing their top offense thing scoring wise but the lakers had just enough to be ahead but like four or five points all game which i think is the mold also and the one thing that we say every year is is anthony david is going to come out and be dominant in playoff series every single game be consistently like that and he had 40 and 20 what was that face that he made donovan reenact that for me he said again everybody screenshot that everybody yeah I'm looking at his shot right now look at

this chat look at this chat two mid-range shots both misses everything else in the restricted area 16 made shots there utterly dominant 16 out of 22 within the paint ridiculous anthony davis looked like you know what's funny me backtrack a couple years ago he was playing power forward and everybody was like I want to see him play center why does he want to play his true position yada yada yada he puts on the weight slows down isn't quite the same player still arguably it's just as good of a score but not the same everyone's complaining i miss the old ad this is why he plays his way at the center now next to lebron because he can do this and just be an utterly dominant rim finisher and just look like whatever version of the dominant

rim finisters of the past on any given day this can be ad when he's locked in and when he's doing this the lakers are tough to be yeah a hundred percent that's that's never that's never been the question is that the question has never been do the lakers have the potential the question is is anthony davis actually going to do this like every single night and last season we saw it towards the towards the end like in the western conference finals but in the first two rounds it was literally every other game he would score 30 then score 12 scored 27 score 11 and that inconsistency is something that i think once you get into the playoffs and you start playing the top teams in the league and your 27 point per game score isn't consistent that will be an issue yeah no i get it who else

stood out to y'all because the other thing that i took away from this game is that austin reeves got his white boy magic back that dude was hooping off the bench he came in nine for 15 from the field 28 points there was a part in the second half i think might be in the third quarter where he completely took over the game and was going shot for shot with the league's top offense and I had so much confidence in him that when he's playing like that it makes me feel how I felt about him in the back half of last year

and those first two rounds of the playoffs where I was like he can be their third guy and give them enough juice from their ball handling positions that I'm confident in them keeping up with all these top offenses when the defense is clicking

with Anthony Davis. That wasn't always the case that started this year. Yeah, no. He started a rough. Yeah, if he's playing like that, I don't see a lot of teams stopping the Lakers.

They just seem like that. I don't want to say on. stoppable but they just seem like one of the five hardest teams to be when 80s that locked in I think defensively he's super consistent and he just that's like the main lure and value to him as a player these days yeah and you can get what you get offensively but with awesome re's doing what he does alongside cam reddish hitting at least a three maybe two a game and then you got have so many other bodies Jared Vanderbilt and he's back now too and since he's been back they've had an amazing defense so it's like they have a lot of good things going on man they have a lot

of good things going on but look at this lead tracker i'm showing on screen i know the lakers the pacers had the lead for the first like four minutes of the game after that straight purple the whole game it was just wired to wire dominance it's crazy yeah shout on white just tip three dollars you said love the pod guys keep up the great work appreciate you white appreciate the donation facts facts and everybody else who's in here listen we have almost 550 people in here only 53 likes everybody listen let's get these likes up all right let's not expose them that that'll be crazy hell we have 230 likes but you still right though we need way more likes you got to yeah we definitely refresh your stream you're doing us dirty yeah we don't like that we got motion over here chat how do y'all

you all know it seems like we're all pretty high on the lakers chat do you think the lakers can win the final do you all feel more confident in them not win the finals that's too far do you feel if they can make a deep run in the playoffs and if so did you fill the way before this championship win championship win i'm gonna call it that by the way oh my god yeah look at him looking him getting this shit off man that's hilarious that's terrible i think because of this one it showed a clear blueprint and pathway to what a lakers championship team has to look like lebron has to be like top tier lebron of course in AD, like you've been alluding to for a while, Isaac, he might have to be the best player on the team on more nights than not, you know?

You keep saying I've alluded to that. When did I say that? I know you, like, there's several times. Just like that last year, or earlier in the pod, not earlier in the call, my bad, earlier this season, you said you thought AD was the best player for the Lakers last year. Yeah, last year he was. And LeBron was doing his injury and Russ was there, stinking it up, making it hard for everybody for sure.

This year, though, I don't feel the way anymore. there's been a lot of talk about like four years you've been waiting for anthony davis to be the best player on the team carry lebron that's not happening because lebron is still fucking incredible he's been playing like a top five player this year so i have no expectation of ad being the best guy simply because lebron isn't slowing down so i don't blame ad for that at all yeah exactly it's never gonna happen but lakers had 18 turnovers to indiana's nine didn't matter that's crazy didn't matter one bit I went to sleep I passed the fuck out during the second quarter in this game and I saw the Lakers were up

I don't know like 7, 8 or whatever I'm like yeah I expect another Tyrese Albert bomb to go ahead and go off I close my eyes next thing you know I'm on Twitter and I just see everyone congratulating LeBron James and people shocked about this performance in AD I see that space that face

spammed everywhere and I'm just like this is what a championship team a championship version of the Lakers look like and it's just shocking. You know why it all only only part that matters is this right here points in the paint Indiana 44 LA 86 that is ridiculous no that's hard man to win you know you know hardest to win when you have 42 more 42 less points given up in the paint than your opposing team you got to hit a million three so like you got to

be banging from deep to make up for that it's not gonna do it it's not gonna do it it's hard yeah man shot out the Lakers chat the Lakers y'alln't move on to these NBA awards what everybody's here for let's do it man we got ready to hear about some awards chat yeah what do we want to start with I got a doc pulled up here we're going to go through each award you guys see we have one page for each of them and we're going to give our top five on what we think will happen by the time the end of the season comes not what we think is happening right now based on the season so far but projecting forward what we think is going to happen come into the year what award you want to start with I think it is only right

if you start with MVP you're going to start with MVP or don't want to make them wait for the one let's let's get what let's get one let's get one out the way real quick I want to do rookie of the year okay let's do it I'm down okay the least interesting one I only put three for this because there's only three guys that are in the running the bottom listen there's not even five notable rookies this year that are getting serious playing time yeah so I think we all know it's some combination of Chet wembi Hamehakis the only really super relevant team rookies right yes and obviously we're all gonna put Hamehakis number three right are we sure yeah what's

Okay, I'll go first. I'm putting Jaime Hockes at number three. I'll go ahead and reveal my first pick. Okay. How about you? Who's your at three? Yeah, Jaime Hockes is number three for me too. Okay.

Good. Donovan? I've Chet. You have Chet at three? No, he's fine. He's strong. He's strong. He's strong.

I've Chet at three. I'm not, I'm not lying. Are you out of your fucking mind? I've Chet at three. All right. Chet Hongren at three. chat is donovan fainted go ahead and explain um listen i just think that like hami being able to step in and contribute on like i think that he carries a lot of offensive load for what miami's doing

that chet gets to benefit off of a lot of other playmakers so i i think that hame has has a case wow it's spreading your teeth wide for that man hame I've chet at three okay okay so I'm just let's go ahead and do the whole top three for now because this is pretty simple I went chat at one oh me I went at home grin at one obviously and then Wembe at two I think that's pretty firmly what it's going to be and I think Jaime is a distant third because he's just not a star like these guys Moe are you in agreeance yeah I have the same exact thing I got chat at number one and then I got Wembe at number two okay

so you know ball donovan do you have honey at two i'll go one and two so my one is chet and my two is check because he's the only rookie that matter oh my god he's all three oh my god you don't care what any other rookies doing this year chat hungrin is out here he's dominating both ends of the floor he's facing four he's getting blocks he's doing everything don't mess with check oh my right on on the plane listen hey hennessee playing spade he's gd too you know what he's g d d r o't he's he's he's h i am understand what it is what a fake out oh my god you got my ass i was over here thinking this guy's an idiot he's going to get us roasted we're going to get clipped and put on twitter these motherfuckers don't know anything who gave them a mic not everybody should

have a podcast but she came through i respected I love, I love, I love Chet so much. I love what he's doing this year. He's fantastic. I think, like, his impact for the Thunder has, again, been everything that they needed. I've talked about it several times. They, they were playing all last year without a center. And now they finally have the 7-4 guy who's mobile, who can do stuff off the dribble.

He's, he's fantastic. 100%. He's coming into the year, we all picked Wembe because we think long-term he'll be the better player. And it's like, how do you not pick him, you know? Chet, granted, he's in a sense. situation to succeed far more than Wembe is, you know, like you said, he has a legitimately great team around him that makes his life much easier than Wemby's life is playing with the worst team in the league, arguably, besides the Pistons, I guess. But it doesn't matter because

Chet has taken that role and done exactly what you need from him. He's carried the defense. He's done his part in offense. He's been an incredible shooter. It's just basically, if you said it was easier for him, it doesn't matter because he's made up for that and been that much better than Wembe has. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I agree. I agree. I always say, like, when it comes to young players, 90% of the starting career is heavily based off of your situation. Maybe 90s too much, but, like, it's size of, it's a lot. And, of course, like, having Shea and Judd and all the boys helps a lot. Makes your job so much easier, but Chet hasn't, like, he hasn't had to go through any rookie curb or anything like that or any real learning process.

because he just hit the ground running now yes of course like he is uh he's a rookie but he's been in the league technically speaking for an entire 365 days but that doesn't matter we've seen players before we've been in the league for a little minute or whatever and they just don't look like they're on none but for him to thrive in his role this much and kick the okay c thunder to this high of a gear and be one of the main reasons of my opinion for this team to be top 10 on offense and defense, on the side of course, in the top five on both. Top five

is ridiculous. Last time I took their top ten, but at least they fell out. Let me check. Maybe I'm yapping. Yeah, but I think that's the fact. That is insane and Chet is easily one of the most impactful players in the rookie point blank period. Now we're not talking about like rookies, players. He is. Okay, never mind. They fell to number eight

in offense and currently their number six in defense. Okay, so they fell out of top five in both, but still, top ten and bolt is crazy. Chet is currently shooting 38 percent from three, 48% from mid-range, 72% at the rim. While being the weakest, skinniest he'll ever be, he's going to be a truly great score. His handle was outrageous for his size. Legitimately great defensive player.

When we get to DPOI later in this stream, you might see his name. That's all I'm going to say. And I just don't know how you could not put in number one. Hmm. Wow. He's rookie in the year. He got it. He easily is.

Now, with that being said, Wembe is still fantastic. We all know this. we all acknowledge this, but Greg Popovich is on a whole other mission right now. Y'all ain't seen that he doesn't give a fuck about no 2023 season, doesn't give a fuck about no 2024 season. He's worried about the

NBA draft, you know what I'm saying? When he's going to get his stats regardless, Isaiah Collier is the name. Yeah, he's playing for Isaiah Collier. That's Pop's number one objective right now. Yeah, exactly, bro. That is the goal and long term, this is what you have to do. Sorry, and if I was, Pops, I do the same

exact thing. Yep. all right man we move on this one's pretty cut and dry i think wemmy's gonna be fantastic we all know it he just doesn't have the efficiency just doesn't have anything that compares to what chet's doing so far i guess i'll pull up a comparison of both their stats yeah it's just you know when it comes for raw production he just hasn't been able to and you know like i said we don't fault him for it because team situation is night and day but listen we don't we don't grade on the curve chet's been better simple and plain exactly agreed let's come let's look at the stats comparison

you know let me what we pulled this up let's let's get the poll going in chat chat who is y'all's rookie of the year we got chet and we got big vick the big vicky let's get this going okay we got this comparison pulled up vicky with two Cs so let's spend the other games wemby's averaging two points more two and a half rebounds more more more averaging everything in counting his stats. And Webby's got him there and everything. Let me share screen to be all you can see. But you look at these shooting percentages, night and day.

51% feelable for Chet, 37% from 3, which is wildly different than Webby's 25%. Everything higher, effective focal percentage, much higher. And all the advanced stats, killing him. Wemby's a negative 1.4 in box plus minus, which means he's not, you know, positively impactful as a rookie. Chet's at 4.4. That is crazy for a rookie. is all because his defensive value was nuts. Yeah, last year, OKC, they were ranked the 14th best defense in the NBA, which is still good,

you know what, especially for a team that young. But this year, they are, what, number seven or eight, and I would put a lot of that on him. You know what I'm saying? They haven't made any real roster changes at all. They just added a new center. Guess what? You don't have another Jan Lee Williams running the big, or you don't have Alexi Pukussevsky, you know what I'm saying, trying to get the five spot.

It's real ridiculous. Yeah. the folks who's skinny head man he's a great player he had to roast him yeah man we can move on rookie of the year is cut and dry we all love chat we all love wemby they're going to be great for years to come I look forward to seeing this rivalry continue

but before we move on to the next one we're currently at 407 likes 646 of y'all on stream right now that means there's at least 220 of y'all that haven't liked it so do us a favor run up the likes let's get this as high as we can hopefully we can get to 10,000 like I'm not 10,000 that'd be crazy to 1,000 likes for the end of the stream

thousand likes and you might have to do some spicy on this stream is it that's crazy you're always volunteering me you're the one who wants to do skim halls left and right hey you're the one that wants to get your eagle on every stream

we're begging us pre-show to do another skim's review and we're like let's keep it to the awards this time and Moly's like listen I just got a new three pack like they might want to see it and you're letting the people know that

you robbed us of good content congratulations all right man next thing we can do let's talk about most improved player next because I think this is going to be a very fun one because there's a lot more names in here that can be in the running I'll go first

my number five Jalen Johnson Atlanta's finest has been at times their second best player this year one of the most important players has made a leap from being a guy at the end of the bench who gets no run

and you can question whether that was deserved or not given the coaching situation last year to being a guy who was legitimately a high level role player that, listen, they haven't been good so it hasn't made a huge difference, but in a situation where they do become good, he'll be the type of guy that can put you over the top and give you that extra juice

needed from the forward spots that they just didn't have a forward DeAndre Hunter and whoever else was there filling in those spots. I'm all in on him being really good for a really long time. Wow, that makes me so happy. Yeah, coming into the season, I didn't really have him on my ballot, even though there was a clear direct pathway for him

but I just really wasn't sure how good he was going to be but using that hindsight using that hindsight I kind of would want to have him higher on this list because his ceiling I don't want to see say like seems to be limitless or anything like that but if you could but it wouldn't surprise me at all if you turn into a 24 premium scores in time in his career in the NBA like no not one bit 100% good I think he could do that this year feels on a different team it's just no he's playing next to two high usage guards what is he averaging right now Let's pull up his stats

He's averaging 14 points Like seven, nine boards And like two or three assists a game And he's shooting really well from three But that may be a little bit Because you know Low volume I think he looks like a good shooter

He looks really improved there His shot Yo When we I remember we talked about him During the summer And we were talking about How funky

And like two three stepy His shot looked It looks glitched Look like one of the nasty 2K created shots You know what I'm saying That you're horribly wrong But it seriously has performed

And yo we have Kyle Corpred in our corner and he's literally in the front office and also brought in front office he's in the trenches with these players working with one-on-one i've seen so many clips of him practicing with joan johnson on his just form overall and it's fucking paying off bro jane johnson is one of these is on the shortest of players that are untouchable in our roster oh that's that's quite the claim he's currently shooting 73% at the room 54% on mid-range which granted only 39 attempts and 44% from three

47% from the corners this man does not miss three level scored uh yeah he's right so you have him higher on your list interesting okay well Mo what's your number five

number five I have Joan Suggs Jalen Suggs okay yeah now statistically why she hasn't made like an insane leap whatsoever but when it comes to a lot of the stuff that I was preaching about him and his archetype and what this Orlando Magic team needed overall from him,

he's encompassed that fully. You know what I'm saying? He's accepted that role and he's a big part of their identity. Last year he averaged just shy under 10 points per game and he shot 41% from the field. This year he's averaging 12 points per game and he's shooting 44% from the, basically 45% from the field. And he's shooting 36, 37% from three point land also.

And that just goes a long way for a team that is three points starved. in this era now i again preface said this dude when it come when you think about like most improved player he is not the typical mole because be real we're all looking at points per games like who makes that biggest sleep and he has not made down but i'm looking a side of that and when you factor in that impact he is that for me that's why i have him a number five i like that yeah yeah typically this award goes to just people that average the most points they didn't before so So realistically, he probably won't win it. But I like the nudge to him because he's been legitimately great, especially defensively.

The Magic have been a top three defense all year. His point of attack defense and just playmaking aspect there is a huge reason why. And even the scoring him better. He's at his career high from two, career high from three, career high in most stats. Yeah, exactly, man. And for him to get all those pieces going together being sort of a Drew Holliday slash Marcus Mark Mark mix, you know, there's a lot of good and bad. between those but also at the same time there's so much good with that and that's what this

team needs and he's he is one of the main reasons why they're just so good this season someone said mo looks like clenkapella mo how do you ask those allegations as i've been told you know what that is you know yeah yeah yeah we all know what that is we all know what that is somebody earlier somebody with you know exactly what that is that's what you're getting on the now and just for that you have breaking news Isaac Gutierrez has received a one week ban from the screen we got mods now in this bitch roll out all right right hit him sick him shout out to jetchy for the five dollars he said been listening and loving the stream for a while now y'all might have already addressed this but if not how did you guys meet want to talk about this

so quick we'll be before we move on yeah why not sure me and donovan have been friends since college so We know each other for a long time That was the origin of that We started the podcast Just gonna be us two originally Me and Moe know each other Because we both worked To house of highlights at the same time

Post college We were both interns there He was the intern the year after me We met through there Became friends And once I got the idea Of doing a show with Donovan Thought about it

Oh, we gotta add Moe of this bitch Because that three person dynamic Will be perfect And he came on the show one time And it clicked so well And from there We knew we couldn't change up the dynamic From there

And that's the origin I thought I'm going to tell that a million times You are They're crying Get used to it That was honestly the fastest version you've ever told it Fact I'm so used to it Just fucking rattle the bitch off now

But shout out Jesse Thank you for the $5. Appreciate y'all donating to the stream Donovan Who is your number five spot? My number five goes to Mr. Cam Thomas Okay

I love it I'm on the list I wanted to put him higher just because if we are like projecting the ballot like most said a lot of times you get to this award and it's just all right who's scoring the most points and cam went from 10 points to 23 points right now and he is he's a fantastic score he's an automatic bucket and so I think that he's a guy that has always been able to like light up the scoreboard in in you know small appearances and now being like a featured member of that Brooklyn Nets offense I think that he's

probably going to get like that sticker shock of oh he increases points for game by 13 points that's going to be huge so i expect to see him on a lot of ballots 100% i had him number five at first two i took him off just because i felt like jalen johnson is going to get that love for just being a truly effective player on a team that's trying to make a playoff push i thought can i thought the logic for leaving cam thomas off the end of the year might be um we knew he could do this he was as good in sports last year just getting more opportunity maybe they'll leave him off and haven't finished like sixth but you know listen i've been as pro cam thomas as anybody so i'm very okay with him being on the list i feel that also also just just for like

discretion i didn't have jalen johnson on my list just because i think he's going to miss too many games to be like qualified for the award but if he if he was still playing right now he would definitely be on my list facts fair enough yeah again camp thomas is a walking bucket TBD if he can add the other parts to his game to make him a really effective player on a team as a starter but for now that man who's a warrant yeah exactly don't need that for this both buckets that's hilarious

we can move on to the next one because I think we might have some congruency so it's just trying to fly through these next one I have mister this is a surprise you guys because he hasn't played very many games yet and for knee Simons I had going to the season I thought he'd win the award

first game of the season motherfucker broke his hand and I drag him my fantasy team I was pissed but he just came back and he's should be healthy rest of the season and I picked him to start of the year to win most improved because simple Damien Liller's gone

Scoots a rookie DeAndre Aden doesn't have the dog in him there's a lot of shots to be taken by somebody and it's not going to be Jeremy Grant it's going to be Anthony Simons and he's going to walk into the number one option role and just have crazy usage compared to his previous years and I figured he'd average like 26 points per game seven assists whatever quintessential most

improved player type stat line and though he's only play three games he's currently averaging 25 points per game doing exactly that. Granted, you know, he missed a lot of times with the efficiencies if you right now because he, like I said, was hurt. Once that comes around, I think he's going to push up to that 27

like I thought, and I can see him winning it. I just put him here for now just because they missed games that he's going to be out of people's minds for a while. He's missed a lot of games. He's only played three games

so far this season. So I don't know how, because of that, I'm not sure how realistic it is necessarily. I forgot, you got to play 65. Is it even possible for him? Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, maybe. Maybe it won't be him, because maybe he's not possible in the play 65. I don't remember the math. I still like it. I still like it. Yeah, fuck that rule. We're going off who you think should win.

Yeah, man. So over here, I have a little bit of overlap with you. Donovan, I have Cam Thomas at number four. Nice. I don't want to say that I've seen real improvement in his game because he's done nothing that has shocked to me at all because I knew he was walking bucket since he was an LSC. you and since he just he's rattling off literally super similar statelines and numbers and i just think

that this is who he is but something that has improved in a situation is the opportunity of course and that is a major thing when it comes to considering this award for anybody so yeah man he got the buckets and he got the he got the opportunity and that's it that's all you need bro to be on my ballot and they're just undeniable at this point so yeah in the comment in the chat ian tuttle said Isaiah Joe. That's a dope pick. I love Isaiah Joe. He is so good and he needs to start over Josh Giddy so fucking bad because Josh Giddy is ruining their offense every time it's on the court. I need Isaiah Joe in that starting lineup. I just don't think he can be in the running for most improved just because of minutes usage type thing. That's just not

not the direction they ever go with this vote. But he's a good pick for a player that has actually improved a ton. Yeah. I agree. That's cool. Listen, that's my guy. I love Isaiah Joe. Absolutely. Who's your next one, though? I mean, Donovan. Who's your four? my four is scotty barns interesting wow because he was the rookie of the year and mip listen it it's not that's not unheard of it's not gross not unheard of let's ISO explain it tell us why you have switched size so i think for scotty barnes this is low key like a comeback player of the year award because a lot of people were down on him after last season and even though that the raptors aren't like

great right now and we all you know hate watching them play offense scotty barnes in scotty barnes has been great right and we talk about increasing your your points to just be able to to have that on paper he's gone from 15 points a game to 19 points i mean to 20 points for game he's averaging three more rebounds than he was last year he's averaging more assists he's averaging more steels he's averaging more blocks right he's he's shooting better from the from the three-point line he's shooting better from the field overall and so his ability to come back and improve in literally every single aspect i think a lot of people forgot that scotty barnes could play basketball at a high level and now he's doing it and they i think that people are going to give him a little bit of credit

because they they were probably too far down on scotty last year no i respect this scottie barnes has been really good i was one of them that probably fell a little too far down i was extremely to howling him before and kind of just like came down to earth but he's been great like he's going to be in the for an all-star spot if they wouldn't have games yeah that's crazy are they though i don't think so either but i mean he'll be in the running listen if two people get hurt scotty barnes you can be an all-star okay two people that's mad that's hilarious yeah i didn't include him though because i just feel like you win rookie of the year and you're kind of expected to be on this trajectory and i don't know the only really award guys like that like you know jaw won his second year but that's because he

made like a true star star leap so it was kind of undeniable and that's why job is that one i've scotty have four true true but like scotty if he was still averaging at the 25 points per game he started the year averaging i could see it he might fuck around to win that bitch if that was a case yeah but you know he's averaging 19 he's at a good season he's improving his three-point shot is falling looks real he's clearly a better player than was last year i just don't know if he's gonna get votes over to some of the guys that kind of came from a smaller starting point yeah yeah Wow, that's great. That's great. So up next, is it my go or you're going to go, Isaac? You can go, go ahead. Cool, you guys have something to say?

Up next, real quick, Jalen Johnson, okay, he's dirt on my ballot. I don't think he's approved so much or whatever, but we already talked about him. I'm just going to double up and go to number two because it's super relevant to this conversation. Talked about John Murray winning the MIP a couple years ago. Personally, I don't agree with the idea of him winning it because I already, I think he was a number two over fake. He should be. be on that trajectory already everybody should know that he is that guy but seeing what the NBA landscape has turned into and evolved into with this same exact knowledge

apply there is no reason why Tyrese Tirees Halliborne should be on anyone's ballot you know what I'm saying So you got me too? Yeah I haven't met two I don't have him winning it because I don't think that's what it'll come down to but seeing what the media pushes and seeing what they tend to vote for

Tyreys Halliburton is probably going to be that guy. Obviously, we have all seen the leap that he's made. I'm pretty sure we can all agree that he's like, you know what I'm saying, turn it to a leg. I'm going to say, say being in my mind sometimes. But regardless of the fact, last year you were from averaging 20 points per game to 10, you know what I'm saying? Tennis is per game to 12 assists per game.

All that, he averages, he averages less turnovers, you know what I'm saying? And he's also way more. How can you not? see the true superstar type of leap from him and give it to him after you give someone like John Moran to that award. Now, if you do that, you're changing the entire

definition award, and I don't necessarily agree with it. But I'm holding the NBA landscape accountable. Yeah, you put him at two. Listen, I was very tempted to put him at one. He's also on my ballot. I think, for the same reason you outlined, I want to promote one because I think it's incredibly difficult to make that transition

from being a really good player, low-level all-star. to like being one of the best players in the world that's incredibly difficult i ended up going the same as you i put him on number two but i would not blame anybody for putting him at one yeah i'll go and reveal mine i got him at two as well sorry you i see y'all in the chat saying mo's mike was fucking up yeah the the connection got crazy for a second dream almost went down but we're back we're back i hope you all can hear us now yeah yeah we listen we still haven't got moa at the hood yet we're almost there the Wi-Fi was taking uh turn for the worst but we're back

Yeah, man, we are back. Don, is Tyree's Halliburon on your list, too? He is on my list, yes. What spot is he in? He's in number two. Okay, so we all agree that would you, did you consider putting him at one? I did. I really think that we're all, like, in lockstep here.

I wanted to, it's the jump that we, that he's made, and for all of us here confidently to be like, yeah, like, he's the top. three point guard in the league is amazing the in season tournament run that he had was fantastic he refuses to turn the ball over most calling him the new age point god um you know like it's just it's kind of undeniable how great he's been this year so i did want to put him at one but in the spirit of the award there was somebody else that i think has a better chance to to win it yeah and i would have went Tyrese. The only reason I didn't is because he made an all-star last year. So I gave

him that credit and I didn't go with him. You know who I did put number one over him? Wait, wait, wait, who did you put at three? We'll come back to that. I'm already in the middle of this. The man on the screen right now, Tyrese is number one. I think we can all agree on that. If you didn't put Tyrese Halliburton there, you had to put the other Tyrese there. He's made a similar leap.

I'll say similar because Tyrese is a tier above, right? Like, he's legitimately a top five point guard. Tyrese Maxey might be pushing top 10 and he wasn't sniffing all-star conversations last year So while we all want to reward Tyrese Halliburton For making the hardest leap in the game Tyrese made a bigger leap When you think about where he came from

So we all got to go double Tyrese 1 and 2 right Yeah absolutely Tyrese Maxie went from being in conversations Alongside his counterpart Former teammate or whatever Tyler Hero To now being one of the best point guards in the entire NBA

and he could easily, I think personally I'm sure we can all agree with this, he's going to be an all-star this year, bro. Averaging what 26, 27 a game and seeing that leap in playmaking and legitimately like improving micro aspects of his game that end up making macro

macro impacts is just it's a monument. Okay, Mr. Vocab. Bar? Bar. Bar? Yeah, scholar Moe in the building bitch. Don't play with me. Let me spam a W take. Spam Scholar Moe in the chat. Let me see Scholar Moe everywhere.

I got to get in my bag right now. There we go. It's only a nice. We got the monocle. There we go. Yeah, man. Tyrese has been... Like Kurt Rambis.

They look like Kareem. I think we can go to Tyrease Maxie across the board. He has been clearly, by far, the biggest surprise of the season. Well, not even say surprise, because I think a lot of people saw this coming. Donovan projected this last year He was just a year ahead So some people saw it coming But you couldn't have predicted

He'd make this kind of a leap in one year To go to 27 points per game And be a legit star Like we were like Are the 76ers gonna be the 5C Like how are they gonna recover From losing Hardin for you know Role Players

It doesn't matter Because Maxey is that guy And completely fills out void with ease It's because Hardin was the problem And now my guy can shine He has all the room in the world to shine And be a great great, you know, point guard and be everything that Embed needs, like, this version of Tyrese maxi

is probably what, like the second best guard that Embed is played with, like, if you want to count, like Jimmy Butler's one, and then this version of Tyrese Maxie. And I think all of us, all of us trust Maxie more than we do Hardin in a playoff situation to not just fold like we've never seen before. And now that Embed has somebody that he can actually lean on, the sixers have a legitimate chance to like make some noise in the east so yeah maxi maxi's fantastic he's my one awesome i see some people in the chat saying how did sangoon not make the list i'm glad you said that because he absolutely did he's number three for me we had a gloss over it for the way it was flowing my three as well i love it alper and sangoon slots him perfectly after the two tyrese's because

i think he has also made the star leap and maybe he won't be an all start this year because it's hard to make it in the west but he's been the best player on that team easily and he was Last year, too. We all knew it. He just had an unserious coach that didn't want to play through him, relegated him to a role that diminished his best skills. And now, Imi Edoke came in and has been one of the best coaches of the year candidates in the league and has empowered him to be the best player, run the offense through him, be meanie to

be the next, you know, Yokic Sabonis type player. I say that because he's a white center that can pass good. That's all it means. But he is legitimately great and he's going to be an all-star at least once in his career. Scrappy, sneaky athletic guy. plays the game the right way last year he went from so last year he averaged 15 points nine boards and four assists this year he's averaging legit 21 9 and 6 assists per game he also see he also saw a leap in his well actually all of his shootings which are down a little bit I thought

they were kind of kind of crazy to me that they're slightly down but whatever you said yeah whatever just me be you know what I'm saying he is legitimately the face of that franchise right now And I'm not saying like, oh, you can win the championship with this guy or anything like that. With the stages of their Houston Rockets were in, they just needed somebody that they can stick to. Some of that they can help, you know what I'm saying, try to form some type of identity around. And Alfring Sangoon is one of those pieces. And they quickly moved away from Jalen Green, you know what I'm saying? Because of the, his development hasn't been where you want it to be.

And that opens up a whole other conversation that I had in the back of mine, too, in the back of my mind, too, we could talk about for like a hot second the NBA G league what are they good for they've had they've produced zero thousand yeah I got to use the bathroom quick y'all talk about this what do you mean the the G league okay okay listen the G league is actually like very alive and thriving and a lot of players go to the G league and come back up right whether it's for five 10 games for the whole season but you have a lot of guys who come who go there come back and then they figure out how to play basketball like true so let me this is my fault let me get into specifics the g league ignite specifically that team that popped up over the last few years to where you know

i'm saying yo instead of going to call instead of going to do kentucky come over here focus on hoops you got you're literally in the NBA and you got the best developmental you know what i'm saying developing what i see school henderson out here and he see d looks like not i don't want to say the complete opposite of prospect or player that I think he's going to be. I still see those shades, but he's had a vastly underwhelming rookie year so far. He's a point guard, whatever it happens.

Look at Jonathan Caminga. Ain't all none. Dailing Green. Ain't all none. You know what I'm saying? Shack's son. He ain't all none. So it's like... Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's a Shack's crazy straight.

Okay. He needs to reap alone. But I'm just questioning the validity. of that organization if that is really like a better pathway for kids bro like yeah not a great track for kid so far someone said is it took a signature bathroom break it's true i do be pissing it's true that's okay that's yeah that's that's fair i don't i don't want to talk about the about the gb let's move on to the next award yeah what's next up we're going to go to six man of the year who do y'all

what do y'all go first who was y'all fitz spot who you got me don't you have fifth we just asked to them yeah you got it so funny yeah so this is just like a points for game

competition quite literally we said that about the mip that's literally all the six-man player the year award is and for me I wanted to give it to someone who was more impactful on a broader scale and I don't know if he'll count by the end of the season but I gave it to Isaiah Joe at number five he deserves some type of place on my list

and now he's not like averaging he's probably average he's averaging like a solid 10 points so far this season but I think at number five is a great spot for him because he still has a insane impact in the game okay I like that Donovan who's your five I have Malik Munk F-5. Give him at five, okay, I had Mink a good,

a little bit higher. Yeah. Listen, Malik Munk is, he's exactly what you think Malik Munk is. Like, he's very much a spark plug

for what they do. He's able to, to win them some games. He can, he can score at a very high level. And it's like, whenever, whenever they were in the,

whenever they were in the playoffs last year, him and Fox were born crazy. And like that amount of firepower and that amount of like, on-ball creation, from somebody else outside of Deer and Fox, it means a lot, especially because like Herder and Sabonis,

they do a lot of stuff off ball moving or Subonis as a hub. So I think having that other playmaker and score from that, you know, from that area, from that archetype really helps. And if the Kings are good enough, right, if they keep winning games

and they're a solid team like we all expect them to be. I think Malik Monk will get some consideration. Okay. Wow. I put Mike Monk at two, actually. Yeah, I did too. Whenever y'all say a name, I'm just going to go ahead and fill out where I had him. It's fly through six men of the year.

I had him at two. You too, Mo? Yeah, I had him at two as well. That's crazy as fuck. I think Malik Monk has been fantastic. He has been, when you had that, you were to Lakers, I feel like he kind of, like, found a way to kind of kind of his skills, Kendall's not a word, to put his skills together in a way that he never was able to with the Hornets and find, like, a contributing role in a winning team.

The Hornets were kind of a shit show when everyone was just out there getting theirs. He kind of found a way to be a spark plug and play within the point. Parts of an offense that can use his skills, right, without taking away from anybody else. We're seeing that to the 20th degree this year. He's even better than he was last year and the year before that. He's averaging 15 points per game and 5.2 assists, which shocks me come from Leak Monks and when I never profiled as a playmaker. Never in his back.

Never. But his blend of three-point shooting, getting to the rim, secondary playmaking fits perfectly with the King's system. I could see him being won, honestly. Mm-hmm. Easily. I agree. I agree 110%.

I'll go with my number five I forgot I've number five I did have Trey Murphy because I think he'll He's only played a few games Kind of like Simons But I think he's gonna climb his way into that

But if somebody I forgot about That I'm gonna slide in here now Naus Reid has to be on this list I forgot about Nasreed But he's 100% in the running I'm low key I might I have to put him higher I just forgot about him

So I'm throwing him on here now Nas Reid has been incredible We've all known that We've all been big Nasreeds fans for since last year. But the dimension that you have by having a stretch big off the bench that can kind of do the same things as cat,

defend arguably a little better, do some creation with the ball in his hands and like enable you to always have a talented big on the court or always have two of them on the court if you want. That's incredibly valuable. And even if he isn't producing as much as some other guys in terms of like points your game off the bench, his role with that team is crazy valuable.

Yeah, you're right. They just, bro, like he turns, he makes that team I don't want to say like monstrous because we go bears there, cats, their, ants there, and all that and then he does nothing but emphasize their identity and I guess I'll really reveal it right now

go out of the loop a little bit but he's my number one He's number one. Yeah, he's number one for me Now if you look at like he hasn't seen that much of a leap compared to his previous year last year average is 11 points and this year he's at like 13 points per game

but he is a tad bit more efficient Or at least he was more efficient From the three point line He's improved as a shooter and that's been obviously huge for a team Like the Minnesota Timbrose who don't have a vast amount of those at all And so yeah man I think I just think I love Nazaree I love Nazaree earlier the season for a hot tag and he was 5040 90

You know what I'm saying and now he's dropped back down Yeah, I'm tremendously or whatever but regardless of the fact Nasri is super impactful and that team is completely different without him Listen he's 5036 90 that's great for a senator fantastic and like you say it's just the simple fact of always being able to have a stretch big on the court at all times no other team can say that i don't think up the top of my head like having a every moment of the court you can have a big who can shoot threes and block shots that's crazy that's why they're the top defense in the league they could always have these guys

out there and he plays a big part of that yeah exactly man good grief don't have this man with this old man saints i love it though um i have four at four i have manual quickly oh i love that i love that yeah i'm quick at quick at four he's been he's been good he hasn't been as like as efficient as he was last year but he's still like he can still come into the game and give the nix really like exactly what they need whenever brunton goes to the bench and or like play alongside him like he plays he he's able to like just keep the nix afloat and for a team that is very like defensive defense heavy second chance points heavy right the offense isn't like super smooth like that

i love iq at at four i think there's there's some guys that have played a little bit better than than him but yeah he's yeah he deserves to be on this you know what's crazy what me and you oh i also have quickly at four look at that locked in yeah shot's quick i love his game i love his game he deserves to be on there absolutely he's on your list no he's not on my list he did not make my list um someone who did make my list though who i have to show respect for and i this is just like every basketball nerds one of their favorite players is angu nem hard does that's like fucking whatsoever you know what i'm saying but in terms of what the indiana pacer's need which is defense he gives that and he's one of the few players who gives us all to that

and also when i've talked about this a lot before in the past players who players who just add a lot of value when it comes to keeping the offense going when your best player is not there he's one of those players who you know i'm saying that the paces really rely on to keep the shit afloat once tie reese is down so yeah he's also i don't have an import on my list but i like that I can respect it. I just couldn't do them because there's too many guys like there's just so many guys

there's honestly a deep year for six men of the year not at times like big points per game scores if you have in past years there's no like Lou Williams or Jordan Clarkson but a lot of good role players

at number three I have somebody who I see the chat is spamming up he should be on this list I agree I have Cole Anthony at three oh man that's a great pick that is a great pick

I wish I don't love him If he was six foot five, he'd be an all-star. He is so good. Yeah. He is so good. He's not that efficient this year, but when you watch them play, he's just so clearly a spark plug of the offense that when he comes in off the bench, you can just feel that they have extra juice coming in. You know, in the starting line, they play through their two fours. They're kind of their main creators, and that's kind of how their offense runs with their defense being the main driving factor.

Cole Anthony is so clearly one of their three best offensive players. and while he isn't crazy efficient isn't averaging 20 points or game or anything he's kind of like gnaz reed where he plays a very essential role to his team and i think that should be rewarded yeah i'll compare it to someone like um malik monk to be honest with you uh yeah he's been pretty efficient so far the season he's shooting 45% from the field and 36% from 3.3 point range and this is easily one of the most efficient years of his where he has cemented his role perfectly y'all if you're right i i love that you said earlier that if he was six five he would be an all-star bro he would

he would be phenomenal he would be phenomenal he would be phenomenal and he already is great as a player but man that's just a whole other gear and that's why you know what i'm saying you know i'll handle magic went ahead and gave him the contract essentially that they did they can't go on oh worries i missed it oh clay ken sports said where is sedique bay mo please mo i respect to Saddique Bay. Do you think Sadie Bay should be in this running, though as a Hawks fan? I would put Bogdanovich before I put Saddick Bay. Although Saddek Bay has been

you know what I'm saying good, he's like, I don't want he's just not, he doesn't be honest, so sorry. Yeah, I thought about putting Bogdan if I, there's some of the young guys that want a reward but Bogdan could definitely be on here. Yeah, he's Donovan, who's three?

He's like top five on a regular person's ballot for sure. Yeah. I think, listen, we were locked in at four. We're locked in again at at three. I have Cole Anthony at three. Let's go. Yeah. He's like, listen, everything you said is fantastic.

I pulled up his lineups. The main lineup that he's a part of, right, the bench lineup, him, Gary Harris, Joe Ingalls, Jonathan Isaac, and then Mo Wagner, plus 17 and a half with that lineup out on the floor. It's tough. Cole Anthony, and he's, everybody knows, he's the bucket getter in that lineup, right? Cole Anthony is fantastic. And so, yeah, he's three. Yeah, Cole Anthony's amazing. I I want him so bad to be able to start one day

I don't know if it's in the cards for him, but I need to see it bad just as a Cole Anthony fan All right so don't know this is going you're the one more more spots available. Who's number two donovan? My number two is Mr. Laker himself Austin Reeves Okay, I am because again we are we are projecting I think that I think that this Lakers buzz is is going to get there he's also starting to He's starting to play better than he was when he first started the season. And now that the Lakers are going to get rolling and we're going to see them in this very, very,

like, defensive, heavy type stuff, Austin Reeves' offense is going to come in and it's going to be a very, very big deal. And let's say that the Lakers don't make a move for another star and they keep the offense the way that it is and they don't have some crazy firepower. Austin Reeves, again, is going to be very essential to what the Lakers do offensive. and that is going to, in my mind, I think that that's going to prepare him towards the top of the list.

So that's why I'm going to take off the street. I love that. We've been locked in for two straight picks. We had the same number four, the same number three. We are not locked in in number two because I put White Boy Magic at one, re-reward, White Boy swag over here.

Austin Reed is going to win six men at the year. He's number one for me, and I think he's going to win it with ease. I think you get the Lakers, you get the Lakers boost. He's coming out to bench. People are going to remember the end-season tournament again.

where he went ballistic, he's going to keep doing better and look more like last season, Austin Reeves, and then keep him coming off the bench, playing that spark plug role because they need the defense in the starting lineup. It's going to be like those years where we had like a Jordan Clarkson or Lou Williams win it, where we knew there were one to three or four best players in the team, but they come off the bench for strategic reasons. That's Austin Reeves this year, and I'll be shocked honestly if he doesn't win it. Yeah, man, that's crazy. Someone I had on my list, I like you guys list, and I can agree with it. I can't hit on it. Someone who deserves at least like two seconds of spotlight is Tim Hardaway, Jr.

He's averaging career high, or not career high, but like third, fourth, points that he's had in his career so far, 17 points per game, you know what I'm saying? And someone has to shoot that bitch. We all know that the Dallas never got to be able to, you know what I'm saying? So does he deserves a award? I don't know. Am I going to put him on the ballot? Absolutely.

Listen, this is like, when you say Tim Hardaway, Jr., I kind of feel how Donovan felt when we're doing the all-time rankings and somebody said somebody from the 1960s, I'm just like bet yeah he's been doing it for years bro he's Tim Hardaway good listen you do that I'm giving him for real respect because he's at my one oh oh listen Tim Hardaway is having his best season in years okay here listen he's shooting nearly 40% from three his his overall um field goal percentage is up over the last two years with Luca and Kyrie right and Kyrie's out and so listen today everybody's out for the maverick they're missing like like three three or four started so Tim I didn't check the

line left but I think he might be getting the start tonight but with that back court locked in place and the maverage surgeon Tim Hardaway is going to be a necessary score and shooter for them because they are not playing defense and they're going to have to outscore everybody and so but Tim like maybe he's been great I'm just not maybe I just haven't made intention because I did not even think about him. Yeah. And like for a moment, I thought that like Grant Williams was going to be kind of the missing piece for for Dallas. And he was for a second, but he's kind of caught off. Tim Hardaway has been good all year. And so I'm going to give him that love. Okay. I'm seeing a lot of Bobby Portis in the chat. I see Felix Nicole saying

Portis question mark. Do you all think he should be on here? Another person I didn't really think about, but perennially a really good six man. Routinely. Yeah, he's had an his history to be he is the buck six man he is you know i'm saying the six starter or whatever people call it in the football terms or whatever but uh i the bucks just haven't had a phenomenal year so far this season i say that oh my god the second third seed but calamity yeah exactly bro exactly right now his points are down drastically last season he average 14 points season before that 15 points this season he's only at 11 he hasn't been that much efficient is knocking down through three ball

rochad is hilarious so I said I tuned into my bad to cut you off someone said I tuned to the stream and thought you all were interviewing on McHale Bridges alright I will say

I will say the lookalikes and the nicknames today have been much better than they weren't last last week I've actually been laughing at a couple

somebody said I look like Mark somebody said I look like MOK damn hey why are you laughing moh could laugh like Admiral Schofield

you ain't steak either man what you talk about you're not someone gave me nasty man I was god damn it oh yeah I saw that scene yeah I'm seeing Admiral showfield over there for Mo that's that lay loki loki so I'm gonna say what you look like let me pull it up and drive a hole again but I just I'm just curious he looks like you bro I mean I gotta I gotta share my screen theory time so annoying lame I know look at this that's you bro this is Mo oh I know this is yeah Tennessee's finest no he does not look like that that's not that's not

I'm just kidding we move on the next award I think Austin Reeves should 100% being your top five Mo the fact that he's not as crazy to me someone's I look at Brad Pitt that's crazy but um yeah if you don't pick Austin Reeves to win it that's fine like having him at two is fine donovan he's got to be top five no yeah that's fair yeah i wanted to go ahead and show guys like andrew nebhard love and you know what i'm saying if the minnesota timbrews that's fair he's not winning that award yeah i'm glad you showed him love yeah i'm the only one who probably ever did this in this goddamn war earth bro but he's a great player but regards to the fact if the minnesota timbrewles continue this path obviously they're not

going to be like 82 and whatever not going to be like 70 and whatever but if they somehow end up winning 55 pushing 60 games I don't see how some of these players avoid one of these players avoid getting some type of major

award but maybe this is a good entry way to one of our more important awards that we have listed yep we're going to move on to the defensive player of the year listen we're inch and closer to that MVP conversation I know you all are waiting for that we currently got 651 likes in here right now

get us 800 y'all I wanted us to be at 800 likes by the time we get to the MVP conversation I don't know if y'all can do it but I got faith in you before that dpoI I guess I'll go first for this one at my number five I have somebody who

chat has been spamming this guy's name all night they wanted to talk about him Derek White oh okay has been fantastic for the Celtics I think he's been better than Drew Holiday is that crazy no it's not

no I think I think Drew Holiday has gotten to the point and I don't want to say it right I don't want to say it but it's gotten to the point where he might be just a little bit overrated in terms of like how locked down he is because his running mate in the back

court is better than him defensive Derek Wright just affects everything everything and like listen if you want to give drew the credit because he's been guarding bigs right he's been extremely versatile like that's great i'm not saying that he's not great but i feel like people talk about drew right now as if he's like hakeen tim duncan scotty pippin in just like he's not like nasty but he is great but yes i i like i like the darrell white pick fives love it oh man

yeah i think i want to reward the celtics defense because it's so great it's tough because they have so many good defensive players but i think derrick Eric White's been the best one. He's not going to win it. It's hard to win it as a guard. We saw Mark as Smart dude a couple of years ago. And there's kind of a push from a lot of people to like want to reward more guards. It's just hard to be that effective when you can only defend one guy every possession.

But Derek White's not a regular guard. He can, he's like Drew Holiday where he can defend guys a little bit bigger than him. He's good helping at the nail. He's good defending ISOs. Fantastic helping over screens. Just the full package and exactly what you want from point of attack defender. Yeah. I like that.

uh because for me me personally i have i do not have a single guard on my list never have never will will i pick a guard to be defensive play of the year unless it's like some fake guard like some six six fake guard or whatever but regards to fact at number five i said his name earlier i have chit home room up there bro he is that impact love it on all aspects of the court not just at the rim but also at the perimeter he's long as hell he just the the the the The name and game of defense in the NBA is taking space. And, of course, when you're that long and also you're that mobile, which is something that a lot of people seem to underrate as to what makes someone a good defender,

he is that. He takes negative space all the time when someone's trying to get to their point, when someone's trying to get to their place on the court. Unless you're like someone like, unless you got like 50 pounds overhead, then that may be a little bit tough for him in the post. But for the most part, no one does that in the league. Yeah, chat hungry is amazing. I'm glad you said that because I also have my list, as I alluded to earlier.

He's number four for me. He's higher than you have him. He is fantastic. I see people in the chat right now. So he mentioned Herb Jones. I want to put Herb Jones on here. I just didn't because a defense player of the year always comes down to you having to have a top five defense in the league to even be a competitor for it. So I think Herb Jones might be like first team all defense, maybe second team at worst.

But he's not going to win DPL. why just because the team defense isn't good enough they're 17th right now yeah not great they would be way worse if not for him he's holding them above uh the top 20 purely on his own accord but chad homegren man early in the season there were top five in defense with a rookie manning that shit they fell down a little bit what do we see earlier i think they were sixth yeah i can see them getting back in the top five and if they're top three coming in the year even top five this man is getting votes which is crazy for a rookie i know bro i know he's having the rookie season that a lot of us thought wemby was going to have he's that ridiculous for sure do you have on your list don't

yeah we're actually i want to jump just into my straight three because you guys already talked about my four my five so at five i have at home grin and at four i have derrick white okay do we are in lockstep today i think that yeah and mo i everything that that y'all said about guards not being like really able to win this award just because like when you look at defenses and how you build a good defense you need that room protection you need a big I just don't care about that like I really want I really want to be able to give guards that that credit because like if they don't like if you're not guarding at the on the perimeter your defense is also going to be you're just making life harder for that big and so there is a certain level that you have to give

that player and like Derek white Derek white right now is in the 90th percentile in terms of points for points per per possession um on defense so when he's when he's on the floor the Boston defense is minus seven and minus seven point six yeah right like he he's when he's on the floor the substance is a lockdown and so I'm putting him at four and then chat at five for all the reasons that at most said as well wow okay I love you so you said you said you want to skip three who do you got at three yeah i mean i don't know are are you guys shocked if i put if i put yonis at three no that's not shocking i shouldn't be i am because i didn't put yonis on my list i didn't really think about him because their defense is ass but he is yonis

so i can't be mad at it no he's against that argument i feel like and i've been and i've been hard on the books i've been hard on the on the defense it is getting better um and so i do think that like towards the end of the year they're going to be in the top half of the league maybe even pushing top 10 and that's a that's a little bit low for somebody to win dpa why but like you said it's yonis and it's just very hard for me not to see him in like the top three and i just like like even even though that the bucks defense is trashed you watch bucks games and you see how he's able to like affect the game i just have to put him at three Okay. I'm going to interrupt this real quick because we have another lookalike of you in the chat that I think we have to address because this one, yes, this one has serious validity.

They are saying you look like Cole from Martin. How do you want to respond to these allegations? Oh, shit. It got you. They got you. Listen, I'll take this because I've actually met Cole for Martin. And I met him when I was in seventh grade, he came to, seventh grade, either seventh or eighth grade, he was, no, I'm sorry, I'm tripping. 10th grade. He came to my high school. And I don't, I don't know. He was given, he was given a speech to, like, the creative writing class. And, and so I went to a predominantly Hispanic high school. All the black people were in there.

And so I got a, I got a picture with, we're calling. i need to find it but yeah so bro if you find a picture sending me right now we'll put that bitch on stream because that must have been spider-man meme you pointing at cold and yeah let's see let's see and you got that haircut too did you when you're in 10th grade or what you did have a high top at high school i did i i i rocked a high top for a long time i rocked it honestly from 6th grade to 8th grade took a year off and now brought it back in 10th grade at it was short in 10th grade and then i brought it back for like two weeks in senior year someone said creative writing equals crayon eaters that's what they were that's what they were they finished every essay

with and then they woke up and it was a dream like that's such a high school ass way to finish the story that is hilarious bro yeah man had to take our attention away real quick someone said is donovan dominican that's the kill man that's that's the producer get off my live that's hilarious

you're dead as hell hey Mo who do you have it for for DPUI rolling into rolling into my for I'm sorry because somebody

somebody commented ay aye aye No, man, you guys. This is crazy. Okay. All right. Rolling at number four,

super unpopular pick, in my opinion, because how down bad this team is. But this team has not. My bad, my bad. So the creative writing equals global glue snifferes. Blue snifers. Whoa.

call you a glucinifer is crazy as fuck that's hilarious god I see people spamming can we donate the links in the in the description and you see support the stream that's the donation link yeah exactly y'all davy says isaac you have to upload again supporting mo we are getting Moe out the hood as quickly as possible facts someone says Davy knack says Isaac you have to upload again coming soon say that exactly if it'll stay i don't know i'm notoriously unreliable what uploading consistently but there will be at least one or two videos coming hell yes hell yes sorry to interrupt you mo who's your next pick

i know you're good you good you good um so my next pick unpopular opinion jaron jackson junior that's crazy i've been trashed a whole lot of things but their defense have not has not fallen off of a cliff completely last year they were number two and of course that was that by defensive player the year jaron jackson junior this year the number nine you know what i'm saying that's impressive for being a bad team yeah sizes will fall off you know what i'm saying but that just goes to show like he is doing his job still he's not he's not supposed to be meant or asked to be the face of the offense or the secondary creator or whatever the case may be like he is right now but when it comes to doing what he what he does on defense he's still holding down the job

he's still doing his job you know i'm saying obviously he's not getting as many blocks as we're used to see him because he has less ability and freedom to roam because he doesn't have Steve and now and his side and he just has you know what I'm saying other banks who really normally don't get that much playing time and so there's going to be some regression a little bit but he nothing has changed about his game individually one-to-one is just a situation around him that is you know what I'm saying been poor I respect it yeah I mean it wasn't on my list because they were so bad I didn't really think about him in that light but it Jaws gonna come back and they're going to normalize as a team,

and there's a lot of season left. So if they're already the ninth defense, once their offense comes back to not tanking them every game, their defense is going to keep getting better. And once they get back to it being a top eight defense or whatever it's going to be, Jaron's going to be in that limelight

as a top tier defender again. So you're right, because we know this list is projecting the end of the year, we should have had Jaron on our list. Donovan, did you? No, I did not. Yeah, we slept. We should have had Jaron our list for sure.

I didn't think about it. I honestly didn't even know they were number nine in defense. Like that, I'm kind of surprised by that. yeah exactly that's why we all know like they're not your normal trash team they're only tracts for one

you know I'm saying yeah because yeah particularly you know but once John Moran gets back doesn't Bain is allowed to be in his comfortable zone although he's already been snapping you know what I'm saying so you have a better version

of Desmond Bain year what four or five John Morant and Jared Jackson Jr who haven't skipped a beat at all you're still going to be a good team don't know if they're going to be great or if they're going to be you know saying as deadly of a playoff threat as they were last year.

They are not going to be in playoffs. They are cooked. You know what I'm saying? They're in a deep hole. They're in a deep hole. Yeah, they're in a deep hole. They're in a deep hole. But Jaron Jackson is doing, you're still there.

And that's all that matters right now in this conversation. All right. At my number three, let's keep moving. I have Evan Mowley. Similar reasons. I, what you just did with Jaron projecting is I did with Evan Mowgli. They're currently not a top-tier defense. like they were last year weird reasons for that they've had a lot of injuries a lot of just

like not jelling on either side evan mobley hasn't lost a step he's been just as fantastically talented defensively i'm assuming they're going to continue to rise back up the defensive leaderboard as the year goes on and i think it's going to be one of those things where we're going to look up in the year and be like oh they weirdly have the fifth best defense in the league and evan mobley is still incredible erasing everything that's kind of what happened last year Like he wasn't in the DPOI talks Until like the last two months of the year That everybody was like oh yeah

I'm voting for him actually number one And he ended up finishing top three I think we're gonna see a similar thing this year And he's gonna shock people by the end of the year Yeah That's a great pick that's all it So I was 11 moving right Let's go

Mo who's your third Ooh What's next? Third I hate to give this goddamn team credit Because I fucking hate them But Gosh hate that I'm saying

that's saying this. New York Knicks, Mitchell Robinson. He is, that boy is special. That boy is special. That 6-11, 7-foot dude who will be listening to country songs. He is special defensively, man. He is everywhere on the court. He's not your normal 7-footer whatsoever. I always knew this, you know what I'm saying?

He's in a similar vein. Well, let me not say that. Let me not say that at all. No, no, no, go ahead and praise him. I'll praise him just a little bit I took for two seconds he is one of the best defensive centers in the year of

2023 and he is in that exact same type of mold that every team need in order to be a serious threat you know what I'm saying so very very underrated player this year I forgot the stats I haven't looked at in a while monstrous rebounding numbers

which obviously is a part of defense player of the year he's just like head and shoulders with everybody right now in terms of rebounding percentage He's been incredible, so I respect it. Donovan, is he on your top two? He's not in my top two. And Moe, thank you. Thank you for giving Mitchell Robinson all that praise.

The reason why he's not in my top five is because he's not going to play enough games. He's going to get surgery. He's going to be out minimum eight weeks today. That's a long time. Yeah. Yeah, he's getting surgery. They said eight to ten weeks is the timetable. So he's not going to play for a while.

but before we all know that he's not going to win the award thank you mo for giving him credit i appreciate it god damn it always lose oh wait real quick also quick note somebody just said that tray young just got ejected from the game i don't i don't know but apparently your boy is acting up so bad bad 10 seconds for mo here and we're getting our backs going out to by the denver nuggets of course It's 106 to 86. He didn't want to play. He decided to start someone in Harrison Matthews, who's just looks like a regular person or whatever.

Good player, but, like, bro, we have multiple of better options. But it's whatever. Oh, God, yeah, it's gross. All right, man. We got two spots left for DPOI. I think we don't have to belabor it. We all know who are the top two. Yes.

Some combination of Mr. Rudy Gobert and Anthony Davis. Yes. Did y'all both pick Rudy Gaubert? yeah I'm so disappointed I don't want to I don't I don't Rudy fan

I'm not let's not let's listen let's be so serious right now let's not get any false narratives out there I'm not a Rudy Gobert fan but he's whooping and he's fantastic and the Timberwolves have the best defense in the league

and it's because Rudy Gobert is on that level and it's just like every single night whether it's his shot blocking, his rebounding, his ability to just alter shots and just make people not even want to look at the basket because he's there and people get scared. Like, yeah, he's hooping. So, yeah, shout out,

shout out, Rudy. You're going to get your fourth. Fourth or fifth? I don't remember what many has. I think he has three. So it's four. Yeah, no way you'd be five. You're going to get your four.

Shout out, shout out to you, Rudy. You've been doing a good job. Mo, did you go, go bare? Uh, no. I see you went anti-jjj, Davis from a number one and Rue Riegobert from number two. Let's go. Projecting later into the season, I would not be surprised if the Los Angeles

Lakers end up surpassing the Minnesota Timbrews and the standings, but also that must mean that they surpass them in the defense, defensive category as well. Now, it's hard to do that because they have fucking Ruehobair and all these other phenomenal defensive players are defensive pieces. But with that still being said, narratives have to take place in this conference page. and just thinking and saying that Anthony Davis retires his NBA career without a single defensive player of the year ward

is insane. Asonine. Someone needs to be thrown in jail and someone needs to also be robbed. Sadly, Grie Gobert might have to be robbed in the scenario, you know what I'm saying? Just for the sake of how people

will talk about the NBA for years to come, you know what I'm saying? Everyone saw what he did during IST. everyone saw the phenomenal performance he's been putting on over the last few games over the last two seasons defensively so it's his time i'm undecided i'm starting a poll i'm going to let chat decide for me because this is incredibly difficult on the surface it might look easy because rudy gobert like donovan said number one defense it's because of him he's just as dominant as he has in previous years i don't want to take that away from him at all

if the season ended today rudy gobert wins d p oi probably unanimously honestly on Honestly, he's been that level of great. But the Lakers played most of the season without Jared Vanderbilt. He's only been there for four games. And without a lot of their other four, they've been super injured. So that's kind of kept them out of being a top five defense. If we go here and we look at just the last four games, which is the games that Jared Vanderbilt was played, granted, tiny sample size.

The Lakers are number one in defense. Pretty easily. By far. Pretty easily. And I think that like I said Small small small sample size So take that with whatever grain of salt you want I think that's going to maintain for the rest of the season

And if the end of the season comes around And the Lakers are a top three defense the rest of the way Because Jared Vanderbilt's back to really bolster them along with AD That is enough to make AD win DPOI I think For the reason Mo said Narrative wise people want to give Anthony Davis a DPOI He deserves one for his career and like this is the best chance he's going to have Also the way

way these voting is typically work, you can't peak in the first half of the season. Their narrative is already too strong for Rudy Gobert. They already started off as the number one defense. I think they have to maintain that, or by the time the end of the season comes around, the narrative is going to be the Timberwell's defense is trending downwards while the Lakers are trending upwards. So if

that's the case, it's going to be like with Scottie Barnes are on rookie of the year. Evan Mowley was better wire to wire all season. We thought Evan Mowley would be rookie of the year. But Scottie Barnes had a really strong last couple months, and he snagged the award because of recancy bias in voters minds that same thing can happen to Anthony Davis especially coming off the in-season tournament victory if they're a top three defense 80's going to win it don't

my question to you is do you think they're going to be a top three defense yeah I think they have a good chance I I'm with you that I think like awards are solidified in in in like the last like 20 games but the cases and the narratives are built in the first one and I think that for a lot of people the damages are quote unquote damage. That's already been done when it comes to Gobert. And because the Tim Wolves have started out this hot, they're 17 to 4, everybody knows that they have a great defense. Everybody knows that Rudy Gobert has one DPO wide three times before. And the entire league is saying, oh, he's back. Like Rudy Gobert is elite. He is this. That case is probably going to carry him

through the all-star break. And like, and like you said, all you have to do is maintain. And so as long is he doesn't fall off a cliff, I think he has a very big lead right now. And it's going to be hard for AD to make that up. So that's why I'm picking Gobert. Yeah. Me personally, seeing how the awards have been tossed out over the last 20, 30 games and how these conversations have done, just absolutely disgusting. That's why I'm just leaning towards Anthony Davis. I don't think he's undeserving. I just think Rudy Gobert is probably more deserving. Now, of course, we

can't speak how things will look like 60 games into the season. You know what I'm saying? But if Anthony Davis can be neck and neck with him, I know Kendra Perkins is going to fire that good old bad boy propaganda up and go ahead and vote

for Anthony Davis and dispute the nastiest argument ever, dequalifying Rudy Gobert. And I think he lands his first one. Thank you, Davis. Well, I'm seeing in chat. I said Chaston decide for me. I'm undecided, but 54% of y'all pick Anthony Davis over the Frenchman.

So you know what? We're going Anthony Davis, number one. Simple and plain. I listen to the people and the people have spoken. Y'all don't fuck a Rudy Gaubert, and that's fine. I love both these players. Yeah, really special, man. Rudy is special.

But now, does this mean that we get to talk about the most exciting award right now? crayon eaters lock the fuck in i need to see y'all spam in the chat because y'all need it if y'all are watching right now you're over there doing something else you're watching games get back to your computers get back to your phones spam that chat it is mvp time i need y'all active because i want to hear y'all's input facts lock in pop pop pop that new pack of crayons as if it's a pack of cigarettes because we're gonna be like this is where the real propaganda begins this is where it starts you know what i'm saying and sheesh who isaac do you want to go ahead and kick us off in this conversation tell us who your number five is i do my number five is somebody that we have been

praising the fuck out of some comments may say glazing you're wrong i don't care tyrese halliburn is number five oh damn tyrese halliburton is firmly in MVP conversations at the season of today i think he might be higher than five but projecting goals going forward for the rest of the season. Who knows if they can maintain being the best offense of all time. That's hard to imagine. Maybe he won't be 27 points for game on incredible efficiency and the best passer in the world.

Who knows? But I think he's already given himself enough credit that he's going to be in these convos. And I think the fit spot just barely get on the ballot is perfect for a guy that has clearly ascended to superstar status. And the only reason is not higher is because the team just won't be good enough. That is huge, man. That is huge.

I love that. I love that. I don't know. necessarily agree because of you know standings logistics and other players who are in the similar mode and I think they might be straight up better but I digress I like it what do you think don't I can't go that far I can't give time I can't do it I can't do it boo I know I know I know bring it on my my five I've Jason Tate him at my five solid five I think I think when we talk about MVP and the precedent of the award and how things normally go, best player, best team,

Tatum is at least going to get on the ballot where we're going to look up in March and the Celtics are going to have X amount of wins and they're going to be in the one seed or the two seed. And everyone's going to say, why isn't Jason Tatum getting any love? He does this every single year. He just comes out here, drops 30. They're winning. He's going to be on the ballot. I'm giving him five i just didn't take him at six but again i can agree he'll he'll probably realistically be on the ballot i just want to reward some other guys that i think we'll get more like higher votes but you're right he'll be on there somewhere yeah he's like the quintessential you have to be on the ballot man you know i'm saying he always is this is going to be him for maybe the next four or five years

of his career do i think he'll win it just depend on power yeah i wouldn't at all um but with that being said at number five i have luka donchich okay so i see somebody in the comments was like did y'all not include tyree's how uh did y'all not include diaron fox did any of y'all include fox

what king's fan said that shit just say his name i think i got some bad news for you i got some bad news for you we did not include de er fox in our top five and you know what i don't really feel bad about it either he's been great i don't shout out to him he can be all the 813 this year he's been fantastic I'm not voting for him for MVP. I know there's been like a growing narrative of that.

There's a lot of young guards who are deserving. I don't think he's a better case than Tyrese, a better case than maybe even Anthony Edwards, or any of the other guards that are up here in the competition. Yeah, man, and that's a sad truth and reality of the situation for now. Now, if the Sacramento Kings were to pick up hell esteem and he was like a top two seat in the Western Conference, then okay, that is a fair assessment.

You know what I'm saying? But he's not putting up. a generational statliner or doing anything that hasn't been seen before like what Tyrese Hallibrand is doing. So I don't think it's quite fair just yet to put him in those conversations, but I'm not going to say you're crazy.

I'm not going to say he's crazy for that. He's not crazy, but I think he could be like six, seven, eight, whatever, but I didn't even include Jason Tatum or I didn't include Luca Donchich because there's so many people that are deserving. Maybe I should include Luca because projecting forward he'll probably earn his way on there.

But I just think there's other people that have done more for their team this year and have had the winning to match it and i'm not sure i'm confident anymore that the mabs are going to be good enough that he luca doesn't get serious votes just because they're mid yes i was right yeah i put in my five i put in my five because i think luca is obviously the better player the better player than tyrese halliburn but you know i'm saying i don't think the maves and the paces and the stans will necessarily move the needle and i think what is eventually going to be the tiebreaker there's just who straight up is a better player

and obviously lukely clear because he's fucking luca donchage and yeah earlier this season we saw the Dallas Mavericks there were a top two three seed in the western conference they're on in the same street they're one of the best offences in the mb and then what do you know of course grant william doesn't shoot like 60% for the three point line things are dressed a little bit you know what I'm saying Tim Hardaway Jr his efficiency dies down just a little bit

Luca don't just of course he's luca don't just one of the greatest might be one of the greatest players of all time when it's all said and done but he cannot be putting up like 40 every single night so with that being said uh from the start of the season i i said that this team will not you know what i'm saying thrive to be a play a playoff team that was my person looking you know so that's how that's that's that's that's the reasoning why i have luca at five okay but you still feel like his individual greatness is enough to warn him being a top five pick there's there's only so much where you can be dinged down for your team for the team

success and loopy dodge is one of those players where he's just like bulletproof from that because he's just so good. Yeah and he's kind of like Jason Tatum where he's so good and he's apparently going to be on the back half of these ballots for like years to come I didn't personally award those guys just because I think there's so many players

this year that have like legitimately been like MVP candidate caliber guys that like have the team success to match have been the driving factor of that have either made leaps gotten better and just been exceptional to the point where they're clearly be carrying their team to really high standings that I didn't tend to lean towards these guys that are just like there because they're good enough and always will be but I can respect it

you know I can't be mad at Lupid Donch's being in your top five that's hard I like it Donovan is seen your top five he is because he's that number four for me like like well I just think that the numbers are just going to be stupid they are for sure he's going to have he's going to have outlandish 2K numbers and the Mavs again they're they're not going to be one of the best teams in the west but if you're just talking about the fourth or fifth person on on a ballot luka is going to be good enough uh statistically i test-test-wise to pass all to you know to pass all the test pass all the tests check all the boxes he should be on the ballot i think at the end of the year i'll put about four and i probably right i've got

respect listen to the three seed right now because things are wonky and games play they have less game less wins than teams below them but it's because uh you know like the lakers had the extra game with the in season tournament so maybe they'll finish that high and if they're the three seed luka is absolutely going to be in this list probably closer to three or two or something like that i just again you will see the names above maybe you can convince me to put them back on my list based on the names you guys see you coming forward but i don't know okay i don't hear the next name on your list okay so donovan you had luca at four let's go ahead and write that in number four this is kind of the same thing y'all did with those two picks i put yonnes in four

okay how do y'all feel did you all have yonis on your list uh yeah yeah whoa you had no yonness i did not have yon see to me i think it's nonsense to have luka and tatum and no no yonis yeah because yon is playing some of the best basketball in his career that he's been incredible and the team is just better they're going to be a top two seed he's a two-way player unlike luka he's averaging his 30 highly efficient one of the better scoring years of his career I know things aren't clicking defensive like they have in the past you put him you put yonis in your dpoI ballot I understand that how can he not be in your MVP ballot if that's the case narratives yeah I'm just saying like the narrative

the narrative coming into the season was that the bucks were going to be run away like it was going to be them in the Celtics runaway this team like this team like this Dame Janus was going to be fantastic. And even though that they lost you holiday, the defense was going to be great. And they have not looked as well as everybody thought that they were. And so for Janus, they are at a point where you are going to be judged by what happens in the playoffs. You are going to be expected.

And in the regular season, you're going to be expected to win 55, 60 games. If they don't do that, I think a lot of people are going to look at the buck's regular season and say, this was a failure. And so I think that there's a very real case that like the narrative surrounding the bucks is that they were not good enough. And other and other people like a Tatum, like a Luca who's just being stupid and, you know, narratives is going to be in the conversation. They're 1.5 games behind the Celtics. You said the narrative is a good runaway be up there. Do you understand, do you understand that Joelle Embed one MVP because of hashtag narratives, because of race relation talk and just straight?

great like oolery these narrative listen come february when everybody's just bored out of their minds and we're just yapping just to fill up time people are going to say some stuff about yannis and about the bucks if they're still like where there are right now they're going to say stuff and it's going to discredit him i i promise you so like it's not to me like if you if you want to swap lucca for out for yannis on my list i'm completely fine with that i'm projecting and i'm just seeing a whole bunch of people taking this weird angle on the bucks later on in the season. Yeah, I can see that. I'm going to give him, but I think it's one of those things where I think he's more likely to get narrative credit than any of these other guys because Janus is top three every year, top two player in the world. I think people will give him more of that credit than they will negative credit, especially because even with the bucks are disappointing, like we're saying they're disappointing now.

Last pod we were talking about the coaching issues and things aren't quite working. They're still 1.5 games behind the Celtics, so I think they just have such a high floor that they're not going to be like the Mavs last year where they're incredibly disappointing and are like in the play and race then miss that's not possible for this team so I think just because they're guaranteed to be a top three seed that it's going to be hard for him to get seriously dinged that way if again if you want to move look out that's fine we can do that and I'll be okay for four four and five on my ballot don't matter for me like those are the ones those are the spots where people just say I want to give this guy

credit because he had a good year you can be the fourth person on MVP bout go ahead nobody cares yeah man mo who's your four okay so at number four i have jason tatum uh we talked about this earlier okay blah blah rah rah same boring conversation we can just move on to number three and with that being said number three is shea gilgus alexander chat to spamming up this entire time uh isa you fire just lit on your eyes when you said that seems like we are around the same page or whatever. But Shea, this is, people were talking about this since last year.

This dude could be MVP. I didn't want to believe it. But God, damn. He might be the MVP, simply because the numbers are undeniable. He's still efficient, still putting up 30 with a better team and better teammates around him. You know what I'm saying?

The defense is there. He's a great defender. He's just nothing that you can go against his case. at all earlier me and donovan were locked in lockstep right now it's me and mo i have shay at three and it was so easy for me i didn't even consider anybody else he's so clearly number three to me yeah he's the perfect number is on your list i see you quiet over there he's number three on my list too oh let's go this is a pro or a man podcast we are here yeah ascension this man last year he averaged 30 points per game i think 32 was it yeah it was

or maybe 31 something in that range and people were like frito merchant do it in the playoffs how are y'all gonna make him a top 10 player off of one year yada yada yada yada everybody wanted to find a reason to not admit that she had taken superstar leap this year he's not getting the same fritos as last year he's not getting that call he used to get and hold on serious fucking popped on my computer he's messing with my rant go away in the meantime oh my god hey shay Average 3.1.4 points per game last year. No. They averaged 31 points last year.

He's averaging 30.5 this year. He was taking 11 free throws a game last year. He's taking 7.6 this year. So four less fritos and basically still the same amount of points. That's impressive. That's hard as fuck to do, bro. On better efficiency from the field, from three, and from the free throw line. Yeah.

I ain't know why, man. is i did my mic cut up just now oh you're good we heard you the entire time you're not i was freaking out of your thing but isa you put me on last year you ever since he used this quote you haven't said it again and i hate you for that you need to start using this motherfucker whenever a player is starting to ascend playoff proof that is shagel because alexander's game right there his game is impeccable and there's no serious flaws or holes or anything necessarily

that you can scheme him out of the game to cost his team to lose. There's nothing that you can directly attack because he is a player whose game is built for the playoffs based off of his play style and also the bag and the counters that he has on his counters, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. One of y'all is moving around a lot and I hear your chair squeaking like crazy. I don't know who it is, but he sits still.

What do you expect? Why I'm on a little productive budget? Leave me alone, man. Yeah, man. Shea has been just as great as it was last year. They're the two-sie, bro. They're legitimately a contender with one of the youngest teams in the NBA. He has to be in the top three for MVP.

And leading the league in steals with almost three steals a game. He's averaging 2.8 steals right now. That's crazy. Legitably two-way player. Like, he's not a slouch. Like, I have Tyrese Halliborne at 5, Shea at 3. That's a debate for me for, like, who's the third best point guard in the league? Yeah.

Shea is a legitimately good defensive player. Tyrese is a cone. That's a difference between those two. And it's just like, how could, I don't know what the argument for not putting in top three. Can you all think of a devil's advocate argument? Devil, me being devil's advocate, the only thing that I can like try to pinpoint as like,

oh, you're not top three is there is none. There is none legitimately, bro. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. I can, like, the only thing that would help is like, oh, what, do you have one? I guess the argument would more so be why Tyrese is number three over Shea, not necessarily that, like, Shea isn't top three. Oh, I see. Yeah, but for Tyrese, I guess the argument is he is like on a different level of passing.

And when Tyrese is in the game, and when Tyrese is in the game, the Pacers literally have the best offensive NBA. history right when he's out there and everything is flowing they are unstoppable on on offense and defensively you can say well they're doing that because of their system right like they have some some capable defenders but that's because of the way that they play they've made a conscious choice to play this this fast style of basketball but offensively there might be a level that tyreece is able to raise the floor that she just is that she can't because of the passing difference and the playmaking. I can see that. I think Shea's playmaking is very underrated. Like you said, he doesn't, the Pacers clearly play the style that facilitates Tyrese having his assist

numbers. And Tyrese is, like, I say that, but he's a way better passer than Shay is. Like, it is night and a day difference. But, like, I think Shea's a better passer than, like, a Damien Lillard, who's another score-oriented guard. I think Shea can really use that driving ability he has to create advantages, drawing two defenders and kicking it out. Not like a really high-level passer that can, like, create opportunities at a thin air. But more more than more than capable enough that i'm not going to ding him for that anyway yeah man oh we all right well listen all the last step say at three i think we might have the same two and one well we have to right every year just saying two and one top two no secret

nikolioch joel and bd who here picked joel and bd uh joll and b wasn't in my ballot god damn he was not on my ballot he was not on my ballot he was not What? Joelle and B's not top five for you? He was not top five in my ballot. And that's because... What? The season ended today, I think he would win.

It's not about the season. Yeah, it's the season ended today. Then I don't think he would win either. But anyways, he would definitely be on the ballot. But regardless of the fact, totality of the season... What? I have someone else there.

And I feel like every other player that I've had on my ballot so far, which, again, I can read out to everyone else. um at number five i had luca four tatum three sda two janis and number one can i predict you i think you have it too uh unless you didn't hear me sure i didn't hear you he just he just said go ahead say is it is it lebron fuck no okay you pick you picked you're crazy but i ain't that crazy you're crazy as fuck you picked joel and beat off here first of all i'm just trying to rationalize it but who's it who's there uh yonis yonis that too yeah

Janice. Okay. So interesting. Okay, well obviously I have Joel Embed at two and I have Nicole Yokeach at one. Cool. Donovan, who you have? He's like, cool. Yeah, I have Joelle at two and I have Yokeach at one. Okay. So let's know, Mo, do you have Nicole Yokech at one? Yeah, I have Yokocha Chet one for sure. Wow. So let's unpack this. Why does Yianis deserve to be there and not Joelle and Bede? It's not about Janus deserving to be there over Joy and Bede, this conversation more so. I was supposed to be in this conversation, it would be like five. I'll just kick the Bucca out because I don't know how valid or how realistic that Dallas and average playoff chances are or how they were, you know, they'll be in the playoffs or understanding too at all.

Well, I think you're nice dying again. Your connection is messing up. Hold that dog for a second. Okay, you're back. Okay, go ahead. Okay, cool. You hear me? I'm all good.

Yeah, you're good. Like I was saying, this is not about Janus. This is more so about Luca. And that's where I would put Joel and Bede into this conversation for me personally. You know? Now, everyone else above him that I have, I think they'll either be there that just have as good of a regular season or and or have better standards team wise. And that's my logic that I'm going for there. So again, I have Tatum at 4, he's going to be better.

The Boston Sultz are going to be the number one seat in the south and the Eastern Conference. Cool. Three, Thunder. They're going to have a better record than the Philadelphia 76ers. Two, the Bucks. They might have a better record. Right now they do, but who know? And then number one, Yolkin, because no explanation.

Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I think it's insane. Listen, I am as critical as anybody about Joelle Embeddeed and how he is big-hearted, and every year we cannot rely on him to have any serious run of the playoffs. one because his lack of efficiency two because he's always hurt

maybe that's why the lack of efficiency happens who knows I say I'll have to say he was a deserving MVP last year despite the jokes you make about Kendrick Perkins winning it for him because it's true but he was MVP caliber for sure

this motherfucker got way better this year Nick Nurse lit a fire under him unlocked his playmaking he's just as good of a score averaging career high and assists playing a style of basketball that I think is way more conducive to winning will be more conducive to winning

in the playoff setting with Tyrese's his running mate who he's making a big leap We all picked him to be his most improved player He's able to do that Because his style of Joelle Embed is playing And opening that playmaking up Their whole style of play is through dribble handoffs now

Instead of isolation Only reason Tyrese maxi can do what he does Is because Joel Embed has so much gravity there And can feed him at the right spots I think it's easier to argue that he should be won Given Nicole Iokich's recent struggles In the past couple games Than it is for him to be off the ballot

Like I had a hard time still putting Yokicic at one Honestly Well yeah but Keep in mind the whole goal of this ballot is projecting towards the end of the season. For sure, for sure. That's why I won Yokech won. I agree. But, like, Joelle and Bede has been that good that, like, if the season ended today,

Joelle Bid would be won, which, again, isn't the point of the episode. So I feel you on that. But I don't see them getting worse as a team. I don't see his scoring falling off. I don't see his playmaking falling off. He's been as good as a defender as he has been in recent years. This year, he's been, like, top-notch. Again, I think a Nick Nurse Impact,

plus they just have better defensive talent around him with Nick Batum, De Anthony Melton and all of them. I just don't know how we don't reward somebody who we know is one of the best regular season players I agree I agree I think like with with Embed whenever you get to the point where people are saying The college is spamming let Donovan sneeze You're clearly holding back a sneeze

Oh no I was I was yawning before I don't have to sneeze now I'm good now If I'm about to sneeze I'm low key I'm trying to try not to burp but whatever. That's really what it is. It's not to sneeze. What was I going to say? Oh, yeah.

With Embed, when you get to the point in his career, like after you win an MVP and everyone's like, okay, do it in the playoffs. We saw that with Yannis a couple years ago after he went back to back. And even the year after, he was still top five. He was fourth in MVP voting. So I think that there's still going to be

a level of respect for him for Embed this year and everything that he's doing. And we talk about narratives a lot. with this with this award the idea that hey you lost harding you lost your number one you lost your point guard didn't even have a training camp and you were able to come in had a new coach and have looked honestly better than you ever have your passing has got has gone to another level you're still elite on both ends of the floor and bead has to be top five for me really top three at this point in the season and so yeah he he has he has a case i don't i don't think there's

where he drops below four you guys bring a compelling argument i am a man who likes to admit when they are wrong and damn it i might be wrong so with that being said lucca dauntitch say goodbye no longer top five join in bd welcome to the top five also something that i realized it today too just okay so backtracking just a little bit i i've let the narratives get to me and a couple podcasts ago or maybe last two podcasts ago Isaac you use this word this verbage called blank tax you use this towards specifically Chicago Bulls that same tax is getting applied to Joel and beat I have even heftier tax because of how much I believe in you got like New York California type taxes

with me when I'm talking to him you know what I'm saying so we're going to this you know And with that being said, don't be it in the regular season is ridiculous. He is one of, bro, he's been over the last few years, he's been performing like one of the five best regular season performers like in history, right? He's top three in points per game, period, in the NBA right now throughout his career and in the regular season. But, you know what I'm saying, with that being said, I just, that tax is crazy for him. And I don't want to put in that effort.

I see a lot of people in comments saying, what about LeBron? The more than I'm thinking about it as I'm reading these comments, I think I've got to kick Tyree's Halliburant off and put LeBron on here. There we go. The Lakers are the 4C right now, and I know I've done a lot of Lakers exceptionalism in this pod, done a lot of biases on these awards. I think they're going to maintain being good.

And earlier I gave AD the DPOI because, or I made the argument before I let the chat decide, because I think they're going to maintain that top three defense the rest of the season with Vando healthy. If that's the case, they're going to be good, bro. They're going to be a top 4C for sure, I think, if they maintain that level of defense. And if LeBron stay is healthy, we all keep saying he's playing like a top five player.

How do we not put him in the top five MVP if there are a top four team in the West? If there are top four in the West, I don't know. It'll just be hard. Like he is averaging at this point in the season, 25, 8, and 7, which is just stupid at his age. You know what I'm saying? He's shooting 40% from the three point line. So it's like, the hell is this? But honestly, I think it's just like,

I think they're just, it's hard. It's hard, dude, it's hard. I don't know. Yeah, I see some of the chats to Isaac glazing as always. I'll take it. Apparently I'm a LeBron Gleisure now because I admit that one of the best players of all time is still one of the best players of all time. If that's who I'm going to be, I'll accept it.

But assuming they're going to be as good as we all think they will, we all open the show talking about how we all have faith in them being a legit player in the West after the in season tournament, how could LeBron not finish as a top 5 MVP candidate? listen man it's been four years since lebron's had a top five MVP vote like it's been a it's been a while and i understand that like stuff has happened in between but at the same time like give it up old man like don't just hard at this ass please go home like you're doing too This is hate. You're trying too hard.

Come on. I'm tired of his ass. That's so funny, God, me, man. So I'm looking at my list right now and just purely one, one, Yokic, two, Yonis, and three, maybe at this point, I think the OKC Thunder will generally be better team, be a better team than the Los Angeles Lakers throughout the end of this regular season. So you just straight up lose that category, you know what I'm saying? Four, Boston Celtics. You know what I'm saying?

I got Jason Tatum winning the award, so that's just not going to happen, you know what I'm saying? But at 5, around the Joel Embed range, that's where I have some flexibility, you know what I'm saying? So if I were to add LeBron in this situation, this scenario, and if he wanted to surpass Joel and Bid in the historic regular season that he's been having, I might need to, man. I don't know if there's room for LeBron to, be honest with me. You said so much I know, and I back You know, 42nd preamble

The Salem Ron can't make it Yeah, he can't do it And I'm talking to talk of myself through this I'm just like He has all these things going against him And he still can't make it Nah, it's K is I I don't know

How do chat, who else have we left out That you think needs to be in here Obviously people have been saying Devin Booker, Kevin Durant I think Booker has a better case than KD. Really? For the opposite.

Just miss games. Like, you know, just Katie's been the rock holding them steady in Booker's been out of well. He's going to miss games. That's okay. Sure.

You don't miss games. You sound like going to make you go to happen. He just can't, he can't play a full season at this age. We just haven't seen. Bro, he twisted his ankle and layup lines last year. He's old.

That's hilarious. It happens. It's not. Yeah, man. These are our list. Do y'all feel good? Any more tweaks you on make before we get out of here?

No, I think I feel pretty good about my list, man. What about you? Real quick, real quick. One name. Who's coached to the year right now? Jamal Moseley. Jamal Moseley. Oh, no.

Why am I blinking? What's the name of the Timberwills coach? Chris Finch? Chris Finch. It's got to be Chris Finch. Nobody believed in that team. We ought to be in a playing range and the one C by far.

It has to be Chris Finch, I think. I'm going with Chris Finch as well That's fair Yeah I would say Just to have a slight rebuttal real quick Talking about nobody leaves In the Minnesota Timbertoe

That's absolutely true People were cooking frying We are people We're frying their entire future But also at the same time Seeing how the Orlando Magic Are currently built And seeing them have insane success

They just clamp the fuck Out of Donovan Mitchell In the closing minutes of this game tonight Obviously led by no other Jonathan, Isaac, and Jalen Suggs in these last closing minutes. But seeing him just take their identity and turn into something that no one thought what it would be and be missing a key element into today's NBA while still thriving

and being one of the three best teams in the Eastern Conference so far, you know, that's crazy. That's crazy. Now, long term, you may be right. At the end of the season, I'll give you all that. But right now, I'm just so in love with Jamal Mosley and what he's doing with your Lander Magic. Yeah, real quick, we missed a donation because you're a rant. I'll let you cook. KG tip $3.

He said, BAM out of bio was snub from DPOI. Oh. I agree. He's that level of defender. Obviously, every year he should be in the mix. The team's defense just hasn't been quite good enough over some of the guys that we end up giving the nod to at the bottom of the ballot. I won't be shocked at all if season ends and BAM's in that range. That's fine.

God, that is tough. Yeah, BAM has been phenomenal. But whenever people are talking about BAM this season, They're talking about the offensive leap that he's made. You know what I'm saying? And that's the most glaring part for the Miami Heat and the most shocking part. Defense.

They haven't been surprising any whatsoever there. You know what I'm saying? Pretty average on that end. 14th right now I'm looking at it. Yeah. Hey, man, well, chat. I think that's the end of the stream. We have the two-hour mark.

We got the MVP done, every other major award. Appreciate y'all for coming out. It was a good stream. It was a far less spammy chat, which was because we had mods at time. So I know a lot of y'all were asking for that. Maud's standing on business right now. Y'all ain't slick no more.

Hope y'all enjoyed that. Yeah, man. Stay tuned every Monday, 8 p.m. Eastern. We're back here next week, back here the week after that, and so on.