The Ringer NBA Show - Way-Too-Early 2027 NBA Player Awards | Ringer NBA Show

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

Howard Beck and Michael Pina have their way-too-early NBA player awards for the 2026-2027 season. Find out their jalapeño and reaper picks for Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Most Valuable Player. The takes definitely get spicy! (6:45) Defensive Player of the Year (16:36) Sixth Man of the Year (32:25) Most Improved Player- (45:33) Rookie of the Year  (56:35) Coach of the Year (1:10:01) Most Valuable  Player Hosts: Howard Beck and Michael PinaProducers: Victoria Valencia and Clifford AugustinProduction Supervision: Ben CruzAdditional Production Support: John Richter and Chris Wohlers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the Ringer NBA show. Howard Beck's senior writer at the Ringer. Joining me today, it's currently weighing a one-year deal at the minimum to become the 76 or seventh man. It's Ringer's senior writer Michael Pita. Pina, great to see you. Been a while.

It's great to see you, Howard. Is that a compliment? Was that an insult? What was that? It would be just, they need bodies, Pina. They need depth. LeBron needs guys to pass to. You're as good an option as anybody as far as I'm concerned.

I appreciate it. I think that's a compliment. I think. it. Thank you. Great to see you. It's great to see you too. It's been a bit. You and I are here today to continue our time honored tradition. And by time honored, I mean, we did this last year for the first time and now this will be the second time of making way too early, way too spicy picks for the NBA awards for next season. That's MVP rookie the year, et cetera. This is even earlier and spicier than we did it a year ago because I looked it up. And last year we did this on like August

28th, I think it was, and we are doing this on the final day of July now. So it's even earlier and thus, by definition, I think, even spicier. We have no idea what the fuck's going to happen between now and opening night. So this is a great formula for us being horrifically embarrassed by things that we were about to say over the next, you know, 50 minutes or so. So that's fun. It's always great to set yourself up for failure. Yes, and we will be having our wonderful producer, Cliff, read what we did last year, unfortunately. I thought that those episodes or that transcript was scrubbed from the internet, but I guess not. Thank you, Cliff.

So that should be a total blast to hear everything we got super right last year. We dug it up out of the way back machine. Nothing has ever forgotten. We're going to get to that in a minute, our way too early, way too spicy, possibly too spicy awards. But before that, like, there's not much going on. There's not much news to kick around. So let's just real quickly hit this because the only news of the last couple of days was Baxter Holmes at ESPN reporting that the Kauai Leonard aspiration cap circumvention, brouhaha could drag into 2027. I was on a podcast with my buddy Casey Johnson in Chicago yesterday and this came up.

So I thought I would throw it to you. What jersey is Kauai Leonard wearing on opening 9th? of 2026-27. It better be a Toronto Raptors jersey. It just did better. I struggle to imagine a scenario where he is not. And I think it would be beyond, I mean, right now the league has egg on its face, of course.

It would go beyond that into something like just nefarious and unseemly in the city of Toronto would be burned to the ground. So I think that it would be great if he was on the Toronto Raptors next year for all right. But are you, but are you, because we want to make predictions that we will be embarrassed by later. I mean, are you, are you predicting he actually will? Because that's, that's what I'm saying here. Like, where do we think he actually is? Not what's right or wrong.

He, he has to be. Like, I can't, I can't envision him still being with the clippers. I can. And I think he's going to be. Wow. I think that's where this is headed. Like, it was one. thing for Adam Silver at his press conference in Vegas, which I attended, to say it could still be,

or did he say weeks? No, Mike Bass's statement, I think, had been like it could still be weeks. And then Adam, I think, followed up with something along those lines. Like, we're still working on this thing. It could take, you know, most of summer, whatever. When Baxter Holmes has somebody leaking to him that it could leach into 2027, it feels to me like somebody's trying to brace us all for this being, maybe not just possible, but like. that's me reading tea leaves. I'm interpreting. That is not reporting. But it's, I don't think we can brush that aside. And I also just think that if it's not wrapped up and we don't know what Kawhi Leonard's fate is contractually or suspension wise, you can't go into that agreement. You can't,

you can't if you're the raptors complete that trade. And so I think there is a, at least a decent chance that everybody is feeling very awkward in October as Brandon Ingram and Grady Dick returned to the Raptors and Co-Wi Leonard returns to the Clippers while we await this investigation's conclusion. Is there even a precedent for something like that? I mean, that would be... There's no precedent for any of this in the first place. So, yeah.

I don't know, man. I don't know. It's interesting to think about because I think it's on the table. I could be wrong about whether he's actually in a clipper uniform on opening night, but I think it's on the table in a way that we would not have anticipated on the last week of June. Sort of ruined my day. I'm not going to let me. And with that, car shopping this civic holiday weekend, most car dealerships are closed and all you'll find are crickets.

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That can be anyone. On the biggest screen possible. You got a cup of big. I don't know if you're the real Spider-Man. I promised that I would keep you safe. Fine. Spider-Man, brand-new day. Now playing.

All right, we're going to perk you back up with our way too early, way too spicy awards picks. So we have some parameters here. The goal, by the way, listeners, is not necessarily to be right here. In fact, we almost can't be right because of the rules that we constructed for this exercise. This is more for entertainment purposes. But it's also just to kind of think outside the box about who might actually sneak their way into these conversations, maybe even when. So the rules last year, which we are employing this year as well. Rule number one, we cannot pick.

anyone who actually won or finished second in any of these awards last year, last season. Rule number two, we can't pick anyone who's currently listed as a top three favorite by the odds makers, because that's no fun. The favorites are the favorites. We're looking outside the box here. Rule number three, we're doing all the awards except for Clutch Player of the Year because it's stupid. So the format for each category, we have two potential winners. A spicy pick and an insanely spicy pick.

Look this up for reference from last year. We used the Scoville scale, which measures the heat intensity of peppers. So the jalapeno pick is the just spicy pick. The insanely spicy is our Carolina Reaper. So with each of those, each category, we will pick a jalapeno pick and a Carolina Reaper pick. With that, let's jump into the first category, peanut. Defense of player of the year, ineligible for this exercise would be Victor Wembeyanamo. who won defensive player of the year, and Chet Holmgren, who was the runner up.

2027 favorites are those same two guys plus Assar Thompson. So there are your ineligibles. Michael Pina, who is your jalapeno pick for defensive player of the year? My pick is Amen Thompson with the Houston Rockets. And my justification here is, number one, he's an awesome defender. Number two, I think that he will greatly benefit with healthy Fred Van Fleet as the starting point guard. I think that he will have much less on-ball responsibility on the offensive end, and he will be able to disperse much more energy and effort on the defensive end. And whether Houston decides to switch one through five, one through four, just have amends.

stuck to the best player on the other team at all times. I think that the Houston Rockets have the potential to be the best defense in the NBA next season with the addition of Marcus Smart, Stephen Adams being healthy, Fred VanVeebling, friend VanVee being healthy. So I think like when you look at it from the perspective of, okay, best defender on the best defense, that's always a strong case in this award. He's my pick. And he's also just fantastic and awesome and probably the most athletic player in the league.

great pick if you can't go with one Thompson twin pick the other might as well go with the other yep yeah i think i picked both of them last year you did you felt like cheating um i'm going uh with a very risky pick here considering the discussion we just had and uh that would be uh scotty barns um lord only knows with scotty barnes actual responsibilities will be with kawai or without kawai but especially if without Kauai, look, he had a strong case to be in this discussion already this past season. He's only getting better. They had a top five defense in Toronto. And I think that team, even without Kauai, or maybe even especially without Kauai, like they've figured out, they've got an identity now.

They know what they do. They know who they are. And especially defensively, Scotty Barnes, well, both ends, but in particular defensively, he's, he is the linchpin to it. He guards everybody, no matter how tall, wide or long. He's all over the place. He, like I say, I think is only getting better. And if Kauai is there, it changes this whole equation, potentially. But considering that Kauai may not play more than 60 games, maybe it's still Scotty Barnes.

It's hard to stand out as defensive player of the year if you're next to Kauai. So I was trying to figure out how much to factor in where things stand. but I decided that as we sit here on July 31st, Kauai Leonard is not a Toronto Raptor, and I'm not going to predict, given our last discussion, that he will be. So Scotty Barnes was my pick here. Only two hitches, actually.

Kauai Leonard is the first hitches. The second hitches, of course, as a member of the media, I'm supposed to be part of the anti-Canada media conspiracy to deny anything joyful to the entire nation of Canada. So if that kicks in, then that's the other hitch. Of course, of course, anti-Canada. I think he was on my actual ballot last year.

Third place, I think, for a defensive player of the year. So awesome player, great defender. I think that he would be, no matter what happens, the best defender on the team next year by, I think Kauai is like a, he was like an honorable mention for my all defensive team last season. And when he turns it up, he's still incredible. I still think that Scotty Barnes would be like miles ahead of anyone else on the team

in terms of just like an individual defender who brings it on every possession. And to your point, I think that it's very similar to my rationale for Amman Thompson, if Kauai, and I would like to live in a world where we can just say Kauai is on the Toronto Raptor, so maybe we could do that for the rest of this conversation. I'm sorry to bring it down. But I think that, I think that, you know, Kauai usurping a lot of the playmaking responsibility, the scoring responsibility that Scotty had to kind of uphold last season would do better. be very beneficial to him on the defensive end.

So love that pick. All right. Who is your Carolina Reaper pick? This is like the deep, deep, deep, deep cut, the way off the charts, the most possible regret as we pick these. I don't know if this is. I was toggling between my two picks here. I'm going with Bama to Bio.

And part of it is because I just would love to live in a world where he has a defensive a player of the year trophy on his mantle. He is probably the best defender of his generation who has never won the award. He's never even been a runner up for the award, which is shocking. What are his highest finishes? Do you know? Off the top of my head, Howard, I'm sorry. But he is, you know, we're going to the, he's going to the situation where obviously

Janus is on the team. And I think that how they defend will be truly fascinating. and there's just a lot of different options that Eric Spolster has at his disposal, and they could easily finish top 10, maybe top five, top six, I don't know, in defensive rating as a team. So I would just love for this to happen, and BAM is incredible, and I don't know how spicy it is. Maybe it's not that, it's like in between spicy and extra spicy this pick, because BAM is still awesome. But it's just every year it feels inconceivable

that he'll actually win the award. So we'd love to see it happen for him. And a similar impediment potentially here, right, as I was alluding to with Scotty Barnes and Kauai, which is that he's going to be next to Janus. And, you know, Janus has been in these discussions, too, for defensive player of the year for many years. And so, like, if they're a top five, top three defense,

who are we who is who were we giving the credit most to are they splitting votes um so there's there's that aspect of it um i went really really really deep here uh but i don't think it's unjustified it just requires a lot of things to break right my carolina reaper pick for defensive player of the year anthony davis oh jesus bear with me he's never won he's had four top four finishes he was second to 2019-20, which is a lifetime ago, I understand. He was fourth as recently as two years ago, the 2023-24 season when he actually played, I think, 70-something games, 76 games that year. So as recently as two years ago, he was in the mix, fourth.

What if he actually stays in Washington? I'm still not convinced. What if he actually plays 70 games, not convinced? But if he did, and all of the good, the good. vibes that will come with the Wizards quickly rising in the East and he and Trey Young leading them back to semi-relevance a top five defense top 10 defense maybe I don't know it's the Carolina Reaper pick I'm looking for you know somebody who is on the absolute fringes of this discussion but is still plausible in the abstract and Anthony Davis has been for

most of his career one of the best uh defensive bigs in the NBA and his anchor many an elite defense. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility. I'm not going to say it's impossible. But I find this whole situation to be extremely depressing. And I, this situation, not me. No, not you. Of course not, Howard.

Come on. Just clear. I don't know what's going on there. I, first of all, I find it. like really implausible that a team that a player could win defensive player of the year beside trey young i think that that's just really that's going to be tough super young chris middleton is on the team there's talks of them trying to sign demar de rosa i i it's just such a mess it's like i don't know what they're doing there it's like there's like it feels like there's

16 people in the front office and everyone has a say and a vote and what personnel decisions are being made. They each picked one player to put on the roster. Exactly. Exactly. Nothing makes sense there. And I also just don't think he will be on the Washington Wizards after the trade deadline, if not before. So we'll we'll kind of see how that that shakes out. Yeah. No, I've been, listen, I have been confused from the moment they made the trades for Tray Young and Anthony Davis. It's like, this is the pivot you're making after years of tanking, like now. And of course, they shelved them so they didn't have to accidentally win games last season. And now they're going to try to turn the corner.

And I kind of get it. Like you want veterans, established guys around your youth, around DeBansan, everybody else, Kulibali, Sarr. Like, I get that part of it. But I don't know that these are the right two guys and Trey Young in particular. and it just feels this is yeah this roster feels like a mishmash and it will be even more mishmashy if they signed to marterosen to your point let's move on to sixth man of the year the disqualified ones not able to be considered for this category keldin johnson he won last year six man of the year hyme hockes was the runner up so they're off the board for us the 2027 favorites according to

the odds makers are dylan harper a j mitchell and anthony black so with the play that are left, Michael Pina, who is your jalapeno pick for six men of the year? Well, in honor of my, I don't know if you knew this, Howard, but I've been banned for life from the rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast. So I'm going with, it is true. So I'm going with Simone Fontechio here. The table is set for him to dominate down in Miami. Now that Tyler Hero and Jaime Hakez are out of the way. No, I'm obviously, kidding there. My olive branch that I'm extending actually to the host, the good people at the Wrights to Ricky Sanchez podcast. I'm going with Anthony Simons as my spicy pick. I think that

his whole purpose on that team and in any situation is to shoot and to score. And traditionally, that is who wins this award. I don't know how consistent it will be, but there will be nights when he drops 20, 25 points off the bench. He's that good. And I think it'll be really fascinating to see how Philly staggers its rotation. I can picture Simons, you know, coming in and moonlighting at point guard when Tyrese Maxey's on the bench and, you know, really playing off of whichever of the other three stars, LeBron, Jowell and B.

Jalen Brown is on the court. in those units and just really shining. So that's my pick. And I hope my lifetime ban gets lifted for this active generosity I have displayed here. I'm going to need some elaboration here. I was not aware of this ban. I don't know when and how this happened. I've never been on the rights to Ricky Sanchez-Pod,

so maybe I've been shadow banned and didn't even realize it. But what did you do to offend the good people of Philadelphia and the rights to Ricky Sanchez, Pod? In my column about LeBron going to the Philadelphia 76ers, I had a crack about how could he pass up the opportunity to play with Janus, Bamm, and Simone Fontechio. And I was not being serious. And it was taken seriously. So I'm hopefully clearing that up right now. I got you. Fantastic stuff. I hesitated to go down this road for my pick. based on one of my own rules for this award. But I did it anyway just because I think he's interesting. My jalapeno pick for sixth man of the year is Ace Bailey.

Wow. I'm assuming a starting five in Utah of Keonta, George, Darren Peterson, Lowry Marketing, uh, Jerry Jackson, Jr. And weirdly Yusuf Nurkich and, uh, his, uh, surgically repaired nose. Um, Ace Bailey got a lot of starts as a rookie because they were tanking and or hurt. and they just needed somebody to go out there and soak up a lot of possessions. He had a solid rookie year, despite all of it, and efficient enough for a guy who was on a team

where he probably could have just taken every shot and just said, you know, what else are we going to do? Average 14, nearly 14 points, four rebounds to assists, shot 52% from 2, 34 to 35% from 3. Solid. Scored 15 points or more in 32 of the 72 games he played. 20 plus 16 times had three games of 30 and over. He like the dude can score and um the jazz are actually going to be trying to win this season.

Um, he has to cut down his turnovers, but I think that comes with maturity and also playing like more of a contained role and not just being like the only guy out there to do anything, uh, he and George. Um, and to my qualifier here, like I don't, I don't usually consider six man of the year for anybody who's like on an irrelevant team or losing team. Like I downgraded Jaime Hockas, who was a lot of people's favorite last year because I just, the heat weren't good enough. What's the point of being a great six man if you're on an irrelevant team? So I don't know how relevant the Jazz will be, but the potential for them, given health and given actual motivation to win, should put them in the mix. And I think that puts him in the mix. Love it. I think that that is a really interesting pick.

And it kind of goes, it dovetails with, you know, Dillon, you know, Dillon, Harper kind of being everyone's, I guess, just like the sexy name here because it's assumed that he's going to be coming off the bench for the San Antonio Spurs. And I think he obviously will at the start of the season. And I'm, I would be hesitant to pick him anyway because I think that there's a chance he could play himself into the starting lineup before the years over, you know, he's that good. So I like it. And I think that the jazz are, I think the jazz will be coming up later, not to step on anything in the future, but they will be pretty good this year. And I think Ace Bailey will be a part of that. How far are you willing to vault them up the,

you know, projected standings? This is a really tough exercise. Them and the Wizards both, like, I believe much less than the Wizards than the Jazz to be clear, but both of these teams have people going like, oh, well, if everything breaks right and, you know, look at, you know, the path. And I'm like, there's so many solid teams in both conferences are, you know, still ahead of these teams. Like the idea of leapfrogging them too far. I'm just, I'm hesitant. But like I feel like the jazz should be solidly, at least in that seven to ten playing range, right? I just don't know how far I can envision them.

If everything breaks right for the wizards, they might have a better record than the Chicago Bulls. If everything breaks right, wow, that's, that's rough. Whatever the rights to Ricky Sanchez pot of Washington is, you are now banned. I think the jazz I mean there's a lot of good teams in the West obviously I think the jazz finishing top six would not blow me out of the water I'll just say wow they're going to be really good yeah so they're just placing like Houston or Minnesota in that scenario um yeah I mean I haven't gone too deeply here I'm just looking at kind of the standings now but you know like who knows what could happen with the the my beloved Denver Nuggets or the Lakers or I mean there's just a lot of a lot of fluidity I feel like after spurs thunder in the Western conference I mean to be to be clear like I don't even know I've penciled in the top six is the same top six but I don't really know I'm not I'm not confident that the Minnesota Timberwolves for instance should still be there after like basically dumping

their entire front court to get lamello ball um and to and to duck the second apron and other stuff so yeah they were also extremely healthy last year and had a lot of continuity and I'm not saying they'll be bad, but who knows? Just who knows? Yeah. Who's your Carolina Reaper pick for Sixth Man of the Year? Yeah. I actually decided to rename Carolina Reaper to grab the fire extinguisher. My tongue is melting. Because this is pretty, spicy. I'm going a Jama rant with the four-year-Laser. Wow. Did not see that coming. Yeah, I, first of all, I just got to say, I do not buy this starting five that they've announced pretty maturely with Dame and Jha and Denny Avdia and Tumani Kumar and Donovan Klingin.

And that, that, that, uh, five sum makes absolutely no sense and will be, I think like maybe in the preseason, try it out or they'll just figure out or realize in training like micha nori cannot mess around this guy is on a one year deal and you know he basically said he hinted at the possibility of someone in that fivesome coming off the bench and i would assume that it would put it would either be dame or or job but he basically was like you know i've had conversations and we're all about what's right for the team and sacrifice et cetera so i i think it makes like absolutely no sense for this unit to play minutes, any minutes together, especially when someone like Drew Holiday is on the team who is like an ideal fit next to either Dame or Jha. And I don't see Dame

coming off the bench in Portland. I just, I don't. Maybe he will. Maybe he'll step up and do it, but it just makes more sense to me if it was Jha and you could just give him the ball and still, you can close with them maybe we'll see but given the ball let him do whatever let him you know play super fast uh with you know scoot and just other you know shade and sharp just young guys on the team um and put up a ton of numbers and be awesome but i i just that that starting lineup just kind of blows me away in the fact that that was like reported as a thing like that it just it absolutely makes no sense uh agreed but then again the trade for job made out of absolutely no sense in the first place. So my hottest take of the summer, you know me, I'm not

exactly prone to hot takes. My hottest take of the summer is that that was the worst trade of the summer, not the Jalen Brown trade. I hate the John Morant trade more because at least with the Jalen Brown trade, I could understand what Boston is sort of trying to do, the outline of it, the reasons for it. I have, there is no justification that I will buy for acquiring John Morant and putting him on a team with Dame Lillard, Drew Holiday, Scoot Henderson, and a just broke through and became an all-star Denny Obdia. Like, what are we doing here? Like, it makes, this is like, to me, and I think there have been murmurings of this. I can't remember if it's been reported, but this absolutely smacks of Tom Dundon, the now newly minted worst owner in the NBA, making this move over probably the

objections of his basketball people. And it goes to the point of what you were just laying out, which is John Morant coming off the bench after you've acquired him and considering how he views himself and how badly things went in Memphis and he needs to redeem himself and everything becoming willingly a sixth man does not seem to comport with the the John Morant that we have come to

to understand in his brief NBA career and Dame Lellard's a freaking franchise legend and it doesn't matter how old he is unless he says put me on the bench I'll be sixth man you're not doing it. So now you're in a situation where that's why it ends up coming out that, oh, they're going to start both of them, even though it's completely illogical as a basketball matter. It's because you're having to defer to who these guys were, not who they are right now or whether they actually fit together and to contracts and to the, you know, what, you know, clearly what Jaws making and also what he expects to do in his career. So it just, it's, it's a mess.

Bold pick by you. I love it. Thank you. my Carolina Reaper pick I don't think this is a quite fire extinguisher tongue melting thing which by the way gross I'm going with your Boston Celtics

backup center Mitchell Robinson oh I love it if he does for the Celtics what he did for the Knicks which is kind of basically like to just change the way the game looks entirely for every minute he's on the court 15 minutes 18 minutes whatever it is he's going to get some notice.

And, you know, Stan Van Gundy made a really big impression on me when I was chatting with him pregame during the playoffs when he said he put Mitchell Robinson top of his ballot for defense, for, God, I want to keep doing that for six men of the year. That in his mind, he says, listen, I know it always ends up being about scoring, but every time Mitchell Robinson comes in the game, there's an immediate impact. It's noticeable. It is visually noticeable.

You don't even need the plus minus, the on-off stuff. you could just look and see what happens all the offensive rebounds all the second opportunities um the energy that he brings obviously the rim protection too and like i think the celtics are still going to be a top four team around jason tatum assuming jason tatum is jason tatum they have basically swapped out not having tatum for almost a full season and having jaylon brown for having jason tatum and not jaylon brown and the supporting cast i think is is still pretty strong maybe not as deep as as people would like um And I think that the role guys in Boston are going to get even more notice for the things that they do because it's now built around one star instead of two.

I'll do respect to Paul George. So I just, I think there's there's room for Mitchell Robinson. Even though like he was in the biggest media market on earth here in New York, he might give him more notice or credit for what he does in Boston in kind of a new context. I considered him for this. I think the one thing that was kind of hanging me up is I'm not a, I think he will come off the bench, but I'm not a hundred percent certain who will start for this team at the center position.

It wouldn't shock me. It comes off the bench. Yeah, it's possible. I wouldn't predict that. It's a possibility. But, I mean, to your point, this dude transforms basketball games on both sides of the ball, and it'll be really fascinating to see how Joe Mazzuli uses him, whether he's, you know, just anchoring their defense, whether he's switching a little bit.

just completely unleashing him on the offensive glass. His offensive rebound rate was like 24% last year, which is just like, man. And he obviously killed the Celtics a couple years ago to the point where Missoula was just so desperate to intentionally foul, hack him, get him out of games. He was basically deemed as like the second most important player in that series from Boston's perspective

in terms of just damaging their ability to win. So great pick. And I think that Mitchell Robinson will be very good for the Celtics this season. Do you think like Missoula has to have like, this is actually funny to even say out loud because the idea of Missoula having a heart-to-heart talk with anybody is already sounds ludicrous. Does he have to have a little chat with Mitchell Robinson about, hey man, sorry to like, you know, like play the humiliate the living shit out of you card repeatedly? I think it's a sign of like respect, though.

I mean, you know what I mean? Like, this dude is killing us. Like, we need to get him out of the game. And I think that, you know, he shot 40% from the free throw line last year. It's also like that just makes sense. And it's also not exactly a happy moment when somebody is like putting you there because they know you suck at free throws. Sure.

Get better at free throw shooting is something that you could say. That's probably Joe Mazzula's message. I will say like watching Mitchell Robinson at the free throw line at MSG was always one of the most endearing things I've ever seen in professional sports. And I think that and hope that that will carry over at TD Garden next year. Yeah. No, the roar when when they go in is something. All right. Most improved player for this category, the ineligibles are the 2026 winner. Nikiel Alexander Walker and the runner up Jalen Duren.

They're off the board. The 2027 favorites per the odds makers are Brandon Miller, Dylan Harper, and Peyton Pritchard. They are all off the board. Who is your jalapeno pick for Most Improved? So I'm, I think I'm cheating just a tiny bit here. Technically not on a team right now or not on a new contract. I'm picking Peyton Watson with the Denver Nuggets. and I was afraid you were about to say Russell Westbrook.

I was trying to think who was not in a team right now. Sorry, that's where my head went. No, definitely not. I have not thought about Russell West. That is a, it feels like a blast from the past. Like I, I honestly don't even know what team he played for last. I do know, but. Yeah.

It's like not playing for a team at all when you're playing for the second. It's true. I just think that this dude is awesome. He showed it last year when Nicole Yowicz was out in January. One player of the week in the conference just really flashed a developing offensive game. Really brings it on the defensive end. That's kind of his specialty, shut the crap out of the ball. And I think that the Denver Nuggets, I'm assuming that he stays with the Denver.

There's some reporting that they're trying to sign and trade him, et cetera. Currently, they're low-balling him with their office. and there's qualifying offer stuff. So I'm just assuming that he'll be on the Denver Nuggets. And if he is, they need him. And I think that he'll play a ton of minutes. He'll be in closing lineups. And he might even start for all.

We know he could easily start for this team. I think he'll be one of the five best players. So increased opportunity. And then I just think like when you play with, with Nicole Eukic, like your shots, your touch, everything is just easier. And so I think his numbers will be fantastic this season. Might even go up more depending on,

like if he ends up somewhere else in a bigger role, that could happen too. So no, great pick. I love that. I can't believe I'm going back to this team at all to actually have another pick. And I didn't even really think about it until I just looked at the name that I'd jot it down.

But here we are. My jalapeno pick for most improved, Balalculabali. Partially on the basis of, bear with me, partially on the basis of he was starting to to take some strides after the All-Star break last year. And granted, this was a team that had no interest in winning. This was a team that had no interest in consistency or anything else. And it was just basically like, hey, let's pick five guys, go out there, throw the ball around,

see if somebody can put it in the basket occasionally. Cool. Awesome. All right, let's go. We got another loss. Let's keep counting our odds for the lottery. But that said, averaged 14 and a half points per game after the All-Sense. Star break that was up from a little under 10. So increased by almost 50% there.

True shooting of 552 shot almost 39% from three after the All Star break. And, you know, we have a, we do have a history here, not every year, but of guys who are like the breakthrough starts to happen the prior season. And then they're just kind of like bringing it into the next season, doing a full year of that. So it depends on him doing a full year of that. His usage was also way up. And his usage is not going to sustain at that level. considering the team they'd have now with Trey Young on it. But he also may slot into a more consistent and confined. This is the same thing I was saying for Ace Bailey,

like the right role, given that he's going to have a lot more established players around him, better role, better shots playing between Trey Young and Anthony Davis, assuming he's on the court with them for parts of games. I don't think he's, maybe he's starting, I don't know. But, you know, the exercise is adventurous. So why not just throw in every wizard I can? Really good corner three-point shooter. I'm just looking that up right now.

I like it because he's, he just celebrated his 22nd birthday five days ago, super young, been in the league three years already. Happy birthday, below. Happy birthday below. I was, I don't know, I used to be a, I used to have a lot of stock. I think I sold most of my Balakula Bali stock as last year was just kind of slipping through all of our fingers watching the Washington Wizards play basketball. But it's not, this is, I like this more, let's just say, than your previous Washington Wizards related prediction.

This is, this feels more, more realistic. uh and and fun if he were to win this would be really cool if he was a candidate for this award this season yeah you know it's like i say it's in the realm of possibility um who knows i don't i don't know what to make of the washington wizards and i won't know um until we're well into the season but um honestly weirdly i can't wait to see it i have no idea what we're about to watch um they were like if we're doing most fascinating teams like philly is probably at the top the wizards might not be that far behind them so um who is your carolina reaper pick for uh most approved i'm going with chet holmgren oh interesting yeah interesting um you know we're coming off a season

the way it ended that was totally disastrous it could not have gone worse um i humiliating that would be a good word for it humiliating is an is an accurate description of happened. I think some people, including voters, will believe that this dude is just not, they will have that memory of that series in their head for a while in terms of just how he's perceived in his reputation. And I think the actual polish of his offensive game is a little underrated. He's very good. And I think that when you look at the Oklahoma City Thunder as an organization, I think they might see what happened and think that, hey, we need to incorporate this dude intentionally into our offense a little bit more. Like, look, when Shea is not on

the court, we need to run offense, run actions through Chet Holmgren. We need to build his confidence up. We need to, you know, take pull-up threes, Chet. You know, we want to see your release get quicker. We want to see you in the, you know, isolating from the elbow. We want to just putting the ball in his hands, having him make decisions, I think would benefit the entire team. And when you look at his just, you know, this is also an award where counting stats are incredibly important. Sure. And for someone who averaged at 18 points per game last year, like, the Chet Holmgren averaging 25,

26 per game is not impossible and feels, you know, I don't know if likely is the right word, but at some point in his career, I'm kind of expecting that out of him. I think he's that type of player. And so why not now? Coming off of what happened, I'm sure he's been stewing this entire off season. If he's like an elite competitor, that's definitely what has happened. And I think his role on the Thunder needs to expand offensively for them to, I don't want to say for them to win at all because it doesn't need to, but I think it's for the benefit of the organization in the franchise going forward long term, that it happens. I love this pick for all the reasons you just laid out.

Also, not for nothing, but like, players who are as well-established as Chet rarely win this award because now you really have to, I mean, I think, did Luca win at the one year? No, no. No, there was talk of him. Jaws did. There was a weird brown. Jod did. Yeah.

So we've had some of these sometimes, especially if a guy's within the first five years of his career, and they go from star to superstar. I think that was the Jaw case probably that year. And I think there was groundswell for Luca one year in Dallas based on like that idea of like going from. But it when you were already established and granted, Chet is not established as an elite offensive player yet to your point of going from like 18 to say 25. That's the kind of leap that often gets our attention as media fans and voters. But yeah, like interesting pick.

I mean, Jalen Williams missed most of the season last year, J-dub. And when he's back presumably with a full healthy season, like a lot of the offense is his to take back after Shea. So how much is left for Chet? Also, I think the big question, which is kind of contained in your pick here, like we're going to learn a lot about Chet. Like, how is he wired, right? I thought one of the fun things about the guy who humiliated him,

Wembe, this past postseason, was seeing how, oh, Wembe gets knocked down literally and figuratively he gets back up. He takes a cheap. you know, he takes a cheap shot, he gives a cheap shot, he has a shitty game, he comes back and just fucking kills you the next game. And I loved seeing that from him because it's told me something about Wemby's competitive spirit. And with Chet, I think that's what we're now waiting on, right?

Like, we just, our most recent memory of you is just getting destroyed and kind of cowering in the moment, you know? Yeah. So what's next? So I love this pick. All right. Love that pick. my Carolina Reaper pick. I don't think this is that crazy,

but I think it's certainly a player who no one's going to say is likely for most improved because I think they've already written him off, including the team that just traded him. And that is Zachary Rezes Shea. He is, he has landed with the Dallas Mavericks where he gets a fresh start.

I always say this about number one picks or high picks who don't pan out with their first team and are now carrying that unfortunate busts, label or the potential bus label. You're not the number one pick anymore when you go to your second team. Andrew Wiggins didn't have to be that guy when he got to Golden State, right? All you have to do is be the best version of yourself that you can in a new context. So he gets a fresh start with the Mavericks, a young team that also has no expectations

for the most part. He gets a playoff of two elite scorer playmaker types and Kyrie and Cooper Flagg. Should get plenty of opportunities with the second unit. he's going to have to earn some time because there's like some other guy i don't know where he fits around like clay or or morris johnson junior or like it like there's they have a lot of wings they have a lot of wings yeah so like there's there's some potential impediments there which is kind of what happened with with Atlanta too but he's big he's versatile he can shoot he can defend multiple positions um he's interesting and still young and the mavericks have at least

some incentive to want to to you know now find the best version of him that the Hawks couldn't tap into. I mean, from the perspective of this dude's stock could not be any lower. Clearly. You're cooking with something. And I think if Dallas exceeds expectations a little bit and Risa Shea is able to play off of Cooper Flag and kind of accentuate him and I assume that they will play very fast and he gets minutes and he has a role, I could see this happening.

I personally will not be voting for him because I do not vote for people in the first three years of their career for this award. That is my personal little rule there. To be clear, I generally don't either, but for this exercise throwing him in there. It is an extenuating circumstance, right? Because he is going into a new situation. He was basically a dumped or abandoned by the Atlanta Hawks. And there's a lot of regret with that pick. I know it's a different front office now.

But man, that is a huge what-if already for the Hawks organization, given some of the players that have popped in that draft. I think this is a really good situation, though, for Risa Shea, and I thought it was a really smart swing by a Dallas Mavericks team that needs to get young pieces who can grow alongside Cooper Flagg. Yeah. Again, I'm just curious to see what happens there. Like there's not nothing there, right? Like there is something there. What it is, we'll see. When you're a mid-sized business,

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Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. New episodes week over week. Watch the Hulu original series Furious, now streaming only on Hulu on Disney Plus. All right, moving on. We have three categories to go. Let's go rookie of the year. This one is hard for this exercise because of the silly rules that I created for it. Obviously, it doesn't matter who won rookie there last year.

But for the purposes of this exercise, rule two is we have to rule out the three guys who are the top of the odds maker lists. And that is, in fact, the three top picks, DeBanza Peterson, Boozer. So no DeBanson, no Peterson, no boozer. Who is your jalapeno pick for rookie of the year? I felt like Caleb Wilson was cheating, so I did not. Maybe you did. Fine, I cheated. No, fair.

No judgment. I went with Braden Burry's, Milwaukee Bucks, who was phenomenal in Summer League. And I should preempt this whole thing by saying, I know very little about these guys. I have watched a little bit of Summer League, even less college. you know, just reading stuff and whatever. But there was this play in Summer League where he had a driving game-winning layup against the Philadelphia 76ers where he just like matter-of-factly weaved his way through the defense, like bump somebody, got to the basket, finished with his left, fell over.

And he didn't celebrate. And this seems like really silly. But he just like got up and, you know, walked over to his table. It was just very matter of fact about it and looked very poised. And it was like, this is Summer League. It's kind of not a big deal. But at the same time, we won sort of energy. And I like that a lot.

Add to the fact that he committed three turnovers in like 125 minutes. That is like, that's incredible. So you put him on the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that has, I don't know, it's just, I think Zach, our colleague Zach Glow called it just a, you know, just a bunch of guys on this team. And that's what it is. And I would love to see him kind of grab hold of the steering wheel a little bit this season and show what he can do because I'm very intrigued by this dude.

And I think he'll be very good for a very long time. Love that pick. Like you, did not watch a lot of college. And, you know, picked up some Summer League stuff mostly off of YouTube just to kind of get a feel for these guys. But like rookie of the year, when we're trying to project this, it's often just about like,

who's the guy who's in a situation where he can shine, where he's going to get the reps to put up the numbers for the most part, right? And that was certainly like Cooper Flagg, Concanipple, you know, the surprising part of last year's race

was we have, you know, VJ Edgecom and Dylan Harper being in those conversations despite being on pretty good teams, but still making like a huge impression right of the gate. But the guys who were at the top of the board are the guys who were on teams

where they were really needed. So yeah, Caleb Wilson was irresist, here. There are a lot of things we could say about Caleb Wilson. Our boss, Bill Simmons, already said most of them in a vivid way that I will not repeat, nor try to elaborate on. Let's just say that the Bulls are a team with no discernible identity. They seem to have finally sort of picked a direction, which, okay, cool, great. They've got a new front office. They've got a new coach. And they've got some fun players. And, you know, look, Buzellis and Giddy, the guys who were already there, like they've,

There's there is promise there are there are glimmering lights but like they're not going to be the engine of whatever this team hopes to become but Caleb Wilson will be that guy you know very very well could be that guy he looks like he is built to be that guy and of the summer league plays um or the reels that I saw I mean dude had some moments right um the game was seven threes against the grizzlies seven of 11 from three um and just an incredible dunk and um like a chase down block and he can create space for himself. He just, he just looks the part. And I always, it's grain of salt, a thousand grains of salt with Summer League, because you're supposed to look the part when you're playing against mostly guys who are not going to be in the NBA. But a rookie of the year needs opportunities. I think he's going to get plenty from day one in Chicago.

And yes, this one did feel like cheating Michael Pina, but I couldn't resist that one. It's okay. Yeah. I love Caleb Wilson a lot. Yeah, he'll be fun. The reason to watch the Bulls now. Your Carolina Reaper pick for rookie of the year. I'm going Yaxel Lenderberg, Golden State Warriors.

Considered him strongly for no other reason, then I love saying the word Yaxel. It's a great name. Yeah, same. Same. It's good for pods. That's great for pods. I think the case here is that, you know, everybody is basically already written off the Golden State Warriors this season.

And this dude was awesome in Summer League. He's very old for a rookie and will come into the NBA strong, like physically built, knows how to win. Steve Kerr has already said that he likes Yaxel's passing, which is fantastic stuff. That's what I like to hear. I don't know if he will have the numbers. which is why this is extra spicy to actually win rookie of the year. But I think if the Golden State Warriors exceed expectations and he is either a starter

or just assumes a large role on the team and he's playing big minutes and every lineup he's in is awesome and, you know, he's like scoring in double figures or whatever and he's averaging five, six assists a game maybe, I could see it. he's like he had one play in certainly where he he just like drove at cambuzer knocked him back um like five or six feet and finished at the the rim and just stared him down and I was like this dude is he's huge and he's strong like he just knows how to play basketball he's super super smart so um definitely don't think this will happen for the purpose of this exercise he feels like a pretty solid pick

um if I'm trying to be really spicy with it Love it. Considered him very strongly. I decided to go with Darius Acuff. Because if I'm going to pick a couple of wizards, why not a king? Why not? Look, the spiciest part of this selection at all is that the idea that anyone associated with the kings will have something good happen to them right now seems far-fetched. Clearly. Apologies to Sacramento. I love you.

And he's six-two, a little smallish. Our buddy J. Kyle, man, our colleague, uh, loved the way that he carried himself, uh, at Arkansas, just super aggressive, but, but, but, like, not ever forgetting his teammates. Like, he, he, he can score. He can pass. He, he, he seems very tough, uh, very steady. Again, I got another guy who kind of looks the part, certainly looked at in summer league. Um, and again, my golden rule for rookie of the year, opportunities are going to be there. Like, there's still in, in, in, in betweenish,ish, sort of tear down, sort of rebuild, whatever the fuck they are right now. Sabonis is still there. Zach Levine, I think, is still there. De Rosen's gone. Westbrook is gone. But like, who else is handling and scoring for them outside of Levine?

Somebody's got to be their new engine. And I also think that this is a new front office that's trying to clean up the mess of the old front office. And it's going to certainly be in their best interests. and their agenda to want to have the rookie, the high pick that they, that they selected to take on as much as possible from day one. Is it possible that Darius Aikov's points per game average will be higher than his field goal percentage? Do you think that that, does that ever happen before for someone of his ilk?

Is that, is that a thing? Wow. Sorry, sorry. Brutal. I, I, I, I considered him for sure because of, uh, the fact that he, He could definitely lead rookies in scoring. That's not impossible. I don't think it'll happen.

I think Darren Peterson will win this award for the record. But I, when I was kind of like, you know, pseudo-crushing tape before the draft, the, I know, I know this doesn't matter for rookie of the year, but like his defense, the like low lights on defense, I was like, I would not, I don't care what pick. I don't want this person on my basketball team. And I may come to regret that what I just said, and maybe he's awesome, I don't know. Defensively is just like, I don't. And that's something I do care about a little bit when I'm assessing every single award.

And so that's tough. But does this, what about like the, like being relevant and winning at all? Do you care about that in any shape or form for rookie of the year? Not really. Absolutely not. Yeah. Yeah.

Rookie of the year, it's just who had the best. rookie season. And if you want to say that like, you know, if you were a complete minus on defense, that that takes you down a notch, that's, that's fair. But it usually is, if it's not the rookie who scored the most, it's the rookie who scored at least a lot and did at least a couple other things very well and made a big impression on us. And they're very rarely on winning teams because most of the time that that's just how this works. You get drafted to shitty teams at the top of the draft and rookie of the year is usually somebody top of the draft, except for like the odd Malcolm Brogden type of year where Embed was hurt for most of it. So yeah, I, I, of all the

categories, of all the awards, I think this is the one where wins probably matter the least, both historically and probably for me as well. But it can be a tiebreaker. And it's certainly factored into my my quandary with Cooper Flagg versus Concanipple. I ultimately voted for Cooper flag, but con canipals contributions to them winning made it really tough. And that one, like their cases were just so, so different. We talked about this a lot back in the spring, so we don't need to rehash it. And you and I and James Herbert, I think, talked about this at length over drinks out on Court Street and Cobble Hill one day.

But, but yeah, I don't, I don't think the winning part is, is critical for this award. Fair. All right. Last two. Coach of the year, ineligible for this exercise, are the 2026 winner Joe Mozilla and hit the runner-up J.B. Bickerstaff. The favorites, according to the odds makers for 2026, 27, are Nick Nurse. That's a really interesting one, odds makers. Darko Ryakovich and Chris Finch. So with those guys off the board, Michael Pina, who is your jalapeno pick for coach of the year? Man, I don't get any of these favorites. Like, I think they're all really.

really good coaches. I just did not understand how that was deduced in any way to perform. I think you and I are both in this category. I don't, I've never really gambled on sports. I don't understand odds makers. I don't even really understand the odds or even all the lingo around it. All that said, even if I didn't understand any of it, I do know what favorites are. And this is a really, really weird top three per the odds makers. I agree with you. Very strange. I was coming into this before I looked it up. My pick for a spicy, my spicy pick, I thought was going to be the favorite, to be honest with you before I looked. And that is Will Hardy with Utah Jazz.

I think a lot of people have been waiting to vote for him for this award. He's kind of like a deserving media darling. Yes. He has a creative playbook that accentuates his personnel. I think that the Utah Jazz could have a top five offense this season. I don't think that's like a hot take at all. I think their personnel is incredible. They have a lot of firepower.

Adding Darren Peterson to that with Jared Jackson Jr. Larry Markinen, just the shooting, the spacing, the movement, the passing. It's going to be the lineup constructions, just the size. I really love all the ingredients that he has to kind of cook there. And I think that he's good enough to, squeeze enough defensive juice to have this team competitive on a nightly basis out of the units that they play. I think actually Josh Akogi was like a super underrated edition for Utah and could start a bunch of games if they want to go with Markinen and Jaron Jackson Jr. in the front court.

So I just, I think this is Will Hardy's not his award to lose. I think there's a lot of really great coaches in the league. But when you also look at it from the perspective of like just now, narratively, like the Utah Jazz are the worst. And if they finish, you know, top six, the seven seed, the eighth seed, I think he'll get a ton of credit for that. And it'll be hard not to vote for him. Yeah, look, I mean, we know on this award, oftentimes it is who exceeded expectations by the most. And a team that is poised to make a big leap and who already has a coach that we respected for his acumen anyway. And we know he's been saddled with just crappy rosters and and the fact that the franchise wanted to tank.

That's a fantastic pick. Thought of him as well. I felt like my pick here was, this is like my Caleb Wilson of coach of the year picks because I felt like cheating to pick him. But I guess it's also because I haven't lost my feeling that he should have won last year because he was top of my ballot.

And that's Mitch Johnson from the Spurs. I had him over, I think, did I have Missoula second? And I think maybe Bickerstaff third. It was a really tough coach of the year race. I don't think he got enough credit for the Spurs winning 62 games last season. And I think it was one of those things where people were like, well, maybe just they thought the other coaches who finished ahead of him were just that much more impressive. And it might have been by a thin margin. And I don't even remember where he finished in the total votes.

But I think he was like not given enough credit because it was, oh, well, you've got Wembe. You've got Dylan Harper. You've got Stefan Katz. But like these guys are super young. And that they, like, they exceeded expectations by miles. they were supposed to be maybe a play-in team or a sixth seed. They win 62 games. And it's going to be, it's because of that that this will be really hard for him to win, right?

Like, how do you make the big improvement from 62 wins? You're not going to 70, but maybe they can get to 65. That's not crazy. I don't think. Wembe will be back with a vengeance. I think, like, instead of, like, last summer, it was all about, like, he went and studied with the Shaolin monks. Like, dude's going to be, like, training with, like, the Navy SEALs and Ninjas now.

Like, he's going to be, he's going to be a vengeance. to her after the finals. Also, Hakeem Olajuwon, which that's significant. Everyone who work, you know, that's like,

I love to see him in the gym and the chemoajuan. That was really cool. Dylan Harper will take another leap. I know this because Ron Harper, his dad told me so

right after game five of the finals when I ran into him in the hallway. He said, watch out for next season. I take Ron at his word. Stefan Castle, still improving, still growing.

I like the Tobias Harris edition. Like they're going to be really good. Like, who's to say that they won't clear 65 wins instead? And even if it's only like a four or five win improvement from last year that they end up with, I mean, they're going to be great. And maybe there's also going to be a little bit of the, yeah, we didn't recognize him when they had their first breakthrough season. And if they sustain it and even improve on it, maybe that's when he gets his recognition. But we know that this happens sometimes in the league, right?

Like you weren't going to, you know, pop wasn't going to get it every year. Spolster still has never won it, right? Sometimes when it's either you're in their case well established or if you're perceived to already just have the best roster or so much talent, you don't get enough credit for what you did with the talent. And he's a super young coach and also wasn't like, you know, not that prominent of a national name. I don't know. Anyway, I think he's back in the mix this season. I think it's a, you know, this award is all about expectations. But it's also, it can be about like wire to wire dominance. and I think that there's a case, there will be a case for him if the spurs, you know, start the season 23 and 2 and are in first place from the jump and they're incredible and they have a top, you know, two offense and a top two defense. And Sean Sweeney's absence is not missed as he has left to go be the head coach of the Orlando Magic.

But it's like, yeah, I've, I had him, I think, second on my ballot. last year because the way he was able to get such young players to buy in defensively, but then also just with their role definition is incredible and very, very difficult. And it's not like Victor Wimbunyama averaged, you know, 35 minutes a game and played 75 games last year. So, like, he was coming off the bench when they went to the cup. Like, so he was, I think Mitch Johnson is a phenomenal coach. and I kind of expect the Spurs to just be angry and incredible this season. And so your case is for sure valid if they dominate the Western Conference,

which is on the table, I think Mitch Johnson's name should definitely be up for Coach of the Year. Who is your Carolina Reaper pick for Coach of the Year? I went with I May Odoka with the Houston Rockets. Interesting. I love Emey as a coach. I think, you know, last we really talked about him, it was will he get fired? So that's why this is extra spicy.

I think that this just happened, but Chip England going to Houston, it's like a sneaky under the radar significant move. Yeah. That will help. You know, this team really need shooting. And I think outside of just adding it, getting internal development from some of the players who aren't great outside shooters or even mid-range shooters will be, like, huge for them.

But I think that his ability to establish a defensive identity successfully will carry through next season. And I said this earlier, but I do think that the Houston Rockets can have the best defense in the league if everybody stays healthy. And I think that expectations are not very high for the Rockets. You know, I wrote about them a few weeks ago, just as this team, like, why can't the Houston Rockets win the NBA championship? Not picking them to win the NBA championship, but I think that they are being a little bit overlooked in the conversation. And, you know, again, this is all expectations based. And so if they were to actually be a top three seed for most of the season, I think Goodoka would get a lot of credit for that. Agreed. Yeah, I think like the hesitation with them and maybe the reason we've all kind of moved on is like, all right, you know, Kevin Durant is another.

year older and he was still awesome last season but um we don't know what fred van vleet will look like coming back from a full season missed or what step or um whether i'm in thompson learns to shoot or you know uh alpard shangoon takes another step like there's just there's a lot of there's a lot potential upside there still but there's still just so many unknowns so they're they're hard to figure out um my carolina reaper pick for coach of the year um you're gonna you're going to wince again you're going to laugh. You're going to think my sanity should be checked. But could it be Mike Anori?

Why not? That would be great. That would be great, man. I'm looking for a happy ending here to what is already just a disastrous cloud hanging over the Portland Trailblazers. I'm cringing every day that I see a Jason Quick or a Bill Orum piece about what's going on between Tom Dundon and the city, fearing that this team. could get moved. It would be catastrophic. Adam Silver can't let this happen. But then again,

he has turned a blind eye to everything else that Tom Dundon has done so far to just kind of ruin all the great vibes that the Blazers picked up over the course of last season. So my case for Norie here, they won 42 games last season. That was their first winning year since 2020, 21. So they've already had sort of their first breakthrough, right? They're a winning team again. But there's another, you know, there are other leaps to make here. I don't know if they're ready to make it or not. but Denny Avdia just broke through, let's assume continued upward trajectory. We've seen some progress from Scoot. They got Jha, which now puts another obstacle in his way, but let's assume more progress there.

Maybe they get the best version of Jha. I am super, super, super skeptical about that. And I'm on the record many times with that. Dame Lillard is back. If nothing else, there's a lot of just good vibes that come with Dame Lillard, just playing in Portland again and lending everything that he is, both as a player and as a man to that team. And Micahnery is working on a one-year contract for the worst owner in the league.

There's going to be sympathy votes potentially infused here. There is upside there. Mike Anori, by the way, also a very good coach, who has been an assistant for a long time. He's been up for a lot of head coaching jobs. And the whole league has kind of been waiting for the moment when he was going to get his chance similar to Sean Sweeney in Orlando, who we did not bring up for this particular exercise. but there's a version of this where the Blazers defy bad, you know, like, I don't want to say expectations are bad on the court,

but the cloud is so thick hanging over them that I think anything they do to improve on that 42 wins and continue that climb and that Micah Norrie helps orchestrate and find, by the way, we love a good challenge and then a guy figuring it out. If he can figure out the right balance between all those guards and figure out to keep Jha happy and dame happy and keep scoot on a, you know, development course here.

Like, and Deniavda not take the ball out of his hands too much after proving what he could do as kind of the center of your offense, like, and Shaden Sharp, like, that's a tough puzzle to figure out. And if he does it, he'll get attention. Every time one of us says Tom Dundton, is it possible for, for Cliff to edit out what we said and just put El Chippo or like have like a sticker going over, like bleep it and have a sticker going over our mouths that say El Chippo? Is that like, is that too much

in the post production world? Like, I, I think that would be fantastic because it literally can't be said enough. My personal, like, antipathy, just for this person in the league is, is very, very

high. I think it's like, disgust. He's doing disgusting things. And, and, uh, I love this pick, though. I think that it would be really cool if Mikea Nore won. And El Chippo promptly fired him for stealing too much. I don't even know why, but he probably would. He'll fire him because he's going to trigger some bonus clause in his contract.

Exactly. And he's just say, like, well, fuck that. Like, we can't have that happening. That would be great, though. And there are a lot of obstacles, I think. Or just not, yeah, like obstacles, questions. There's just a lot of talent here. but getting the pieces to fit will be really interesting.

So it would be great. It would be a great story. It would. I'm rooting for it to happen on some level. All right. We have reached our biggest, most important category here at the end. Most valuable player for 2026, 27. Off the board are last year's three top finishers,

Alexander, Nicola Yokic and Victor Wenbunyama. the first two because they were first and second, and then Wembe because, oh, it's those three guys who are, in fact, the favorites, once again for 2027. So we cannot pick any of them for this exercise. Michael Pina, who is your jalapeno pick for MVP? There are so many good candidates here. A lot of great players, even though the three who are disqualified,

I would be borderline stunned if one of those three did not win this award. Absolutely. This season, I went with, I went with Jason Tatum for my, my spicy pick here. Thought about him. And I think that it's because where, like, I think that the Celtics are going to be really good. And I think that Tatum will look awesome. I think he's healthy and we have no reason to believe that he's not. I think that, you know, when the dust settles of the, what the Celtics is,

got for Jalen Brown versus Paul George is actually like when he's available and healthy and all that really still good and will look really good in Joe Mazula's system. I just think that this team will be awesome and could win more games than they won last year would not surprise me in the slightest if that happened. And the case last year, there was like a growing case for Jalen Brown because of, you know, exceeding expectations and all of it. Obviously, his numbers were fantastic. I think like the same thing could easily apply for Tatum minus the fact that Boston will be better when he is on the court. I don't see a universe where they are better when he is off the court. that is that's not something that really happens with Tatum. We won't have any analytics guys saying he's actually the seventh best player on the Celtics

anonymously. I don't, I hope not, you know. It wouldn't, it wouldn't surprise me the way some of these quotes have landed this summer. But I just think that the, the, you have a narrative case there because a lot of people, I don't think they're writing off the Celtics at all. I don't think that that's happening. But I think that they will still be able to kind of exceed expectations. And I think that he will be back.

to his pretty durable self as one of the best, you know, I don't know, like five, six players in the NBA that wouldn't, wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. So I'm going, I'm going Tatum here, but I'm also just going to say like SGA, Yokic, Wembe, if, it feels like whoever one of the, whichever one of those guys plays 65 games or whatever is going to win this award. Right. Yeah, I was going to say, like, if they all top out at 64 and don't have any appeals that they can win, like, that's the only way that those, that one of those three is not winning it, right? Like, it's, it, it almost has to be. Yeah.

I love the Tatum pick. The absence of Jalen Brown makes his case stronger, most likely, because sometimes these, these discussions get clouded by the, oh, well, what would this team be without player X? And so it often does start to come down to, depending on people's own prism through which they, they judge these awards. If you have more star power next to you, it kind of detracts from your case. And conversely,

if the more you have to do, the more it is about your show, and it firmly is now for Jason Tatum, the more notice you sometimes get. Again, depending, it's as I have the beholder stuff, depending on the voter or the person doing the assessing. So great pick there.

My jalapeno pick for MVP, is it finally Luca Donchich's year? Right? Like, he's, he's, uh, he was third in 2024, the year the Mavs went to the finals. That was his highest ever finish. He's been fourth twice. He's been fifth. He's been sixth.

He's been eighth. LeBron James is gone. And it's not just that LeBron is taking some usage rate with him, but the oxygen that he might have taken up on and off the court. Like, this is firmly Luca's team now. Um, the roster has been rebuilt to his specs more or less. He's got his lob threat, Walker Kessler. Best buddy Austin Reeves resigned next to him.

They got shooters with Colin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, Mamu. I'm not totally, totally convinced. I'm not totally sold on this Lakers roster, Michael Pina. I'm not sure this is actually a true contender in the West. I don't think that's a surprise. It's not. But that's all the more reason Lukuk can win the award. because again, once we've taken those top three guys out of the exercise,

Luca is leading a team where, like a lot of guys in his position, especially high usage guys, all of the credit will amassed to him. If the Lakers win 58 games or 60 somehow, it's not going to, no one's going to be saying, well, it's because of Walker Kessler or even Austin Reeves, all due respect. It's going to be because of Luca. And he's been kind of just like bumping up against this ceiling in the MVP race for years already. and assuming good health and assuming another strong off season

and men's fitness features or something about all the great stuff he did to get his body right, who knows? Maybe he trained with the Shaolin monks this summer. I don't know. Maybe he went and saw Akeem Elijah on. This could finally be Lucas year, at least in terms of this exercise. Absolutely. I mean, I'm just looking at where he's finished in his career.

After winning rookie of the year, it was fourth, sixth, fifth, fifth, eighth, eighth, third, fourth last year. Like he's knocking on the door is a good way to put it. And last year he led the NBA in scoring 33 and a half points per game, led the league in free throw attempts, took a bunch of shots, led the league in usage, has the highest usage in the history of the National Basketball Association.

So the opportunity to put up numbers is always there. He is elite offense unto himself, one of the best literally ever, think if it's just like, um, put the ball in this dude's hands and he's going to make the right decision, make the right read, uh, take the right shot, make the right pass, all that. Uh, I trust him as much as any player I've ever seen. And it's pretty much comes down to how many games are the Lakers going to win? Where are they going to be in the standings? Are they going to be, you know, five, six, seven games behind the thunder or the nuggets or the spurs? Um, and then the other part

of it is defense. And, you know, sometimes I'm like, was him getting to the finals, like, bad for the way we view this dude, which is so silly because of what happened in the finals and people forget that he was, like, playing through a serious chest injury and, like, it's just like, I don't know, he's just, he's a great, great, great, great player. and it is it is pseudo shocking to me that he has not won this award already frankly he's he's he's an incredible incredible basketball player he is he is the epitome of what

what we expect for this award or somebody to win this award right like he does he does everything he does he scores and passes and controls a game at such a high level in a way that look James Hardin who won the award and Russell Westbrook who won the award like he is in that vein in the modern era, the heliocentric. And also, like, I can score from anywhere at any time and I can make him possible. Like, he epitomizes it in some respects. But, yeah, it's not surprising that he hasn't won the award because we know everything else, right? Like, the Mavericks not being able to break through in the one year that they did

break through, get to the finals. But for the most part, there had been circumstances around him, some of his own making, that have kept him from winning it, but also he's existing in an era where there's just a bunch of dudes who are really great. And like sometimes it's not, it's not an indictment of the player for not winning it or an indictment of us for not voting for him. It's just like, which of these guys should he have beaten in which of these years, you know? So I'm not surprised he hasn't won it.

But I do think it's almost an inevitability that he's going to and that he should. So why not now? I did not, I mentioned the roster built to his specs. I did not mean, by the way, all the various photos floating around of the projected all white starting five. I was not necessarily alluding. to that, but it has produced some incredible memes. But you did just bring it up.

So obviously, you have some ulterior motive here, Howard. It's okay. I just loved. Shout out to my buddy, Jeff Johnson, who I once worked with the Bleacher Report, who I think it was his tweet where it was the photo of that starting five, projected starting five versus the Sixers. And he called it Brown v. Board of Education. The Lakers are giving us great material.

Thank you, Rob Polinka. All right. Our last one here, the Carolina Reaper pick for MVP. I can't wait to see where you're going with this. You know, to bring this podcast full circle, I'm going with Kauai Leonard. Of course, this assumes. We couldn't have scripted it better.

Yes. This assumes that he is on the Toronto Raptors, on a team that finishes, you know, first, second in the East, first or second, totally. I feel like if he plays as well as he did last year, when he finished seventh for this award and averaged 28 a game and was hyper-efficient and he was like first or second or third and, you know, all the catch-all impact metrics that people like to look at, including myself, just a true winning player, brought it on the defensive end. I could see it, I think.

You know, if he plays, again, if he plays 65, 70 games and the Raptors are awesome, we will look at this dude as the upgrade over Brandon Ingram as the reason why. and hopefully, I mean, the aspiration thing is like, I can't even talk about. I don't even understand. It's just, it's beyond. And I don't even like referencing it or acknowledging it. But on the basketball court, this dude is still just so incredible and has extended stretches where he's the best two-way player in the league and in the world.

And so I would love to see that continue. in Toronto. So this is my insanely spicy pick, Kawhi Leonard for MVP. I mean, it's the Carolina Reaper pick for a reason. Yes, it is. I respect it. It assumes a lot not only where he'll be, but whether he'll play 65 games. Although, listen, in your scenario where he actually does land in Toronto, and he's back with Alex McKekney, the genius, who got him through the best, most complete season of his career, which leads to the Raptors winning the championship, there couldn't be a better place for him health-wise than to be in Toronto under McKekney's care.

So no disrespect to the Clippers medical staff, but just saying the track record is there. Similarly, my candidate for the Carolina Reaper pick for MVP also is going to need some good health and a lot of games that have eluded him more often than not in recent years. That would be Mr. LeBron James of the Philadelphia 70s. Oh my God. This is, okay, this is the pick of the pod. By far. By far.

Please make your case. So follow along with me. Here we go. Producer Cliff loves that he's chiming in and text. Let's start here. He's going to average double digit assist for the Sixers. It'll be the first time since the 2019-20 season. Why?

Because he is going to dial down the shooting, the usage rate. He's going to be, he's been the point guard of every team he's ever been. Can we just start there? Like all due respect to like Mario Chombers or Mo Williams or Boobie Gibson. LeBron controls the offense on every team he's ever played for. So yes, I'm assuming 65 games to at least make the minimum here. We start there. I think you could average double digit assist.

I don't think that's crazy. Surrounded by Tyrese Maxie and Vijay Edgcombe and Jalen Brown, Joel Embed. His stats, his box scores, his averages could look a lot like MVP Steve Nash. He is not Steve Nash. but like remember like Nash won it a couple times because his assists were off the charts and he was the reason that the offense in Phoenix was so supercharged, but his scoring was fairly modest by MVP standards historically. LeBron could like roll out of bed into 20 points.

But wherever he finishes there on the scoring side, I think the assists and his control of the game and the potential for the sixers to actually, again, in the best case scenario, and I know like I heard you on Zach's pod, I know like we need a hundred quality. for what's going to happen in Philly, right? Is the defense good enough? Is the bench good enough? Are these guys going to stay healthy long enough? Are they going to play enough minutes together?

All of that. Are there enough balls to go around? All of that. I get it. But the talent is really great. We know what all these guys are capable doing. And LeBron, being able to conserve himself and lean into playmaker more than score and not have to do as much heavy lifting because he's got all this other talent,

the scoring talent around him, plays right into all. all this. They could win 50 plus games for the first time since 2023. They could potentially finish top four in the east. I think that even though he won't be their leading score, because LeBron is LeBron, a lot of that credit will accrue to him. These guys are all going to get great open shots and they're going to thrive. He'll get the credit and the storyline. Irresistible. I was just not anticipating this at all. So, So in this scenario, so LeBron is, so what happens to like, can you win MVP if you are not the best player on your own team is where I'll just start with my question, my rebuttal here for this as a possibility. I mean, he's behind Jalen Brown and Tyrese Maxie. I get that. He's definitely not behind Joelle Embed. And I don't think it's a little too soon to get crazy about BJ Edgecom at this.

point. We all agree that LeBron was still a top 20-ish player last season. He is not the score and certainly cannot carry the load that Tyrese Maxy does. But I don't know, man, if you had one game to win to save the fate of the universe, I think I might still hand it to LeBron James over Tyrese Maxie and Jalen Brown. Yes, that could be. We're talking about 82 games, unfortunately. I just think like if they were to actually be awesome and win enough games for LeBron to be in the conversation here, he would be overshadowed by Maxie, Brown, and Embed, I would assume would be like a healthy contributing player on that team for that season. So it's just it's really, you're really, you broke my brain with this one. I was not anticipating it at all. Probably not the first time I've done this to you.

I apologize. I hope you've got a good surgeon. Like I was I was I was ready for like like Cade Cunningham. Thought about it. Or or Anthony Edwards on my list or Jalen Brunson who on my list. I honestly felt with Jalen Brunson. I just want to say like putting him in spicy or extra spicy. almost felt a little insulting.

So I just left him out of the conversation entirely. So shout out to him. But, yeah, I can't. I'm like squeaking out noises. I'm not even like able to formulate words to this. This would be the craziest, like one of the craziest things that ever happened in the NBA of 42-year-old LeBron James. won MVP. Yeah, I, I mean, we've got like a decade plus of like, oh, he should have won more.

Did we, you know, discredit him too much on certain years or when it was just the context around his team where the cavaliers were just dragging or the talent wasn't there or whatever. Like there's been a lot of that over the over time, right? Like, can he win one more? And that conversation finally ended probably a good five years ago or so. Like, I think his last, his last significant MVP finish was, I think, the 20, 19-20 season he finished a second and then after that 13th in 2020-21 10th in 2021-22 6th last year or you know two seasons ago 2024-25 LeBron finished sixth so like the

respect for him um is still there the production the box score production is still there and look I just I do think that if it all somehow comes together for the sixers while we're all sitting here listing every reason why it might not, and they're all valid reasons. It's, I think, going to be largely because of his ability to control the game, his passing, his playmaking, his leadership the way that he can orchestrate, right? We have seen him do much more with way, way, way, way less. And granted, he was also scoring a ton on those teams. But if you view it through the lens of when he's been at his best and one MVP,

sometimes it was because, oh, my God, can you see what he did with this, this, you know, ramshackle cavaliers roster around him. There's been a lot of those of those examples. And this is, yes, he's now 41 and a half. And the chances of, of him impacting the game at the same level and doing it enough minutes and enough games to be MVP. And to your point, like totally valid, there are players in this roster who now have higher standing statistically, rankings wise, ratings wise, analytically than he does. He's still going to be the most important player on that team in a lot of resources. specs. And I think whether this thing succeeds or fails is going to rest on him, in part because of all

the things that are not basketball things. It's going to be the leadership thing. And like, how much can he keep Jalen Brown and Joelle Embed, you know, on track, given the eccentricities of both of those guys, right? There's going to be a lot on him. And if it succeeds, why not? Well, this is why we save MVP for for last, right? Like, this is, we have to build to this. This is, uh, such a climax for this episode. I, uh, yeah, you saved it from the beginning. We started in a really down note with the aspiration scandal talk. And we're really, we're going out on a high. This is, as we should. This is an all-timer. I don't know when you and I are back on this pod or when this pod is back on this pod because it's, it's, you know, we're in the, the dog days of summer here. So why not? If not now,

when. So we did have an off camera debate before starting this like, should we start with MBB? Should we end with MVP? We didn't know each other's answers. So clearly this was the right way to go because had I broken your brain in the first three minutes of the pod, I just don't even know where we would have had to stop.

If you, if we did, if you said LeBron was your, even like your super spicy pick for MVP, three minutes into the pod, I would have had to like get up and go to the bat. I couldn't. It wouldn't, they would have been the end of the episode after four minutes. So I'm glad that we saved it till the end. We are way over on time, but before we go,

Producer Cliff, you looked up last year's version of this. We don't need to go through all of them. Was there anything, and you're welcome on my LeBron Pickcliff. Is there anything? What's the stupidest or just craziest or the thing? It can't even age badly because these are supposed to be too early and too spicy. But what looked the most striking to you from last year's version of this? Well, if I go back to the sheet here,

you guys literally opened a pod with the same defensive players of the year, except you reversed it. Really? Yeah, you reversed it. So when I look back in defensive player the year, last year, Pena, you picked Scotty Barnes, Howard picked Scotty Barnes this year, and then Pena, you picked 8 Ben Thompson

and then Howard picked 8 men Thompson last year. Well, that's true. Yeah, six minutes a year last year. Halapeno pick was Lonzo Ball, who unfortunately was not. Played like four games? Yeah, that didn't really pan out. That was you, Pina?

And if I look back here, the MVP picks were just, I mean, those were just Palo. We had Apollo here. We had Kay Cunningham. Kay, came. Cliff, thanks for coming out. I really appreciate you. And Pena, uh, Charles Lee. You had Charles Lee as your coach at a year.

That wasn't too bad. Oh, that's good. That was an excellent pick. Also, Pena, last year you went with Christots Porzingis as your sixth man of the year. and yeah we know Chris Stops had some injury problems last year So yeah all in all I mean You guys were

I mean you did you did the topic You did the discussion correctly It's just you guys are way off on your picks So you know kudos to you guys for for doing a damn thing Yeah you know We're just trying to give the people something to enjoy On a weekend in late July early August here So

All right well if we haven't embarrassed ourselves enough We should probably wrap there Cliff thank you for for chiming in with last year picks. Pina, thanks for doing this. This was a blast. I apologies again for breaking your brain. Send me the medical bill. I'll have my people take care of it. That's it for us on the Ringer NBA show. Thanks for joining us. Hey y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair.

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