June 19, 2020 • 53 mins
Davis Mattek is joined by Ricky Sanders to talk some KBO and discuss some of the hottest teams and players in the league. How does this information relate to the KBO betting market? Where can we find value? The guys also discuss who the top 2 pitchers in the KBO are and where they would put their money for KBO Futures bets. Ricky and Davis also talk about the ongoing issues with the MLBPA and the owners. The guys discuss what can be done to salvage the season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Enjoy the show, and thanks so much for listening. Hello everyone,
(00:22):
and welcome to the Daily road to Hour here on
Sports Grade TV. I'm Davis Mannock joined by Ricky Sanders,
and today we are going to take a look at
the NBA Awards voting, Ricky, because we are going to
get the end of the regular season happening here in
just a little bit, so it's pretty much all but
confirmed that the NBA season is going to finish. There.
(00:45):
There are a couple of stragglers, uh, Kywe we heard
that Kyrie Irving is encouraging players to start their own league.
Dwight Howard voice and reservations about playing the rest of
the season, which are totally understandable. Right these guys have
totally have the right to protect their bodies, have the
right to protect their health, have the right to voice
their concerns as far as social justice and civil unrest.
(01:07):
I hope they find a way to work it out.
But this is going to be a forward thinking show,
just talking about the basketball on the floor. We're gonna
do m v P Defensive Player of the Year are
all NBA teams, uh and Ricky? This is this is
the stuff that people want, right This is people love
to argue about who deserves the awards in the NBA. Yeah,
(01:28):
and I think we actually will have some arguments here,
Like I think there are some clear cut winners, but
there are some dark horses. And I think all Defensive
Player will be fun because we get to argue, like,
are they going to award this based on you know,
the offensive stats? Are they going to go purely based
on defense? I think that will be a fun one
to talk about. So yeah, it's it's much better to
(01:49):
talk about the game on the floor than to talk about,
you know, Kyrie Irving's opinion about whether the league should
start right. Yeah, that that is definitely true. So I
think that we should start with the conversation that everyone
cares about the most, which is m v P. Uh,
the m v P tracker that Basketball Reference has. I
I really enjoy this as a tool. Um. I I
(02:12):
think that does a great job of, you know, trying
to strip out a lot of the narrative based arguments
and really just making arguments about what the guys have
done on the floor. It seems like Janice is just
gonna cake walk into winning the Most Valuable Player this year.
Rick It, I don't. I don't really know if anyone
(02:33):
else is even that serious of a contender, right, I
feel like this is gonna be you know, he gets
first place on probably of the votes. Yeah, I mean,
like the guy who usually is the one who's talked
about is James Harden. But if you remember, there were
some serious shooting slumps this year from James Harden. I
(02:53):
mean he ended up shooting under from the field, which
you know is to be expected on a team where
he's just launching in order to keep them competitive. So
you know, from the way that they play like, it
makes sense that he wouldn't have a great shooting season.
But he's had better shooting seasons in a similar role before,
so I know. He led the league in points by
(03:15):
a lot, thirty four point four points per game compared
to honest is twenty nine point six and they run
a hearted centric offense that works for him. But the
same can be said for Milwaukee the way they run
their offense with Janice, where they have guys spread around him,
but instead of Harden, you know, the step back three
with Johannese, it's mostly just attacking the rim, and you've
(03:36):
got him, you know, having just an outstanding season defensively.
I don't really think there is anyone close. I mean,
the other names that I think we could talk about
are Lebron who went to the Lakers team that was
awful and really propelled them to just just being a
solid team fort and fourteen. Uh, he did average about
twenty six points per game. You get the assists with
(03:56):
him that you don't get with Janice. In fact, he
almost will him ten point six assists per game compared
to five point eight. But Jannie obviously one of the
best rebounders, and you don't get with Lebron and Lebron,
I mean, he had that other superstar and Anthony Davis,
so really was he is valuable to that team as
Janice was. When you see their record forty eight and
nine with Janice, five and three, almost a five team
(04:19):
without Janice, I think it's pretty obvious that Janice should
be the m v P. So to give people some
context why someone might argue for James Harden, he played
thirty six minutes a night. Janice played thirty point nine
minutes a night. Now, of course, the argument is, well,
you know, Janice was so you know, so impactful, so
(04:40):
important for the Bucks when he was on the floor.
You know, obviously they're gonna they're gonna have way more
blowout games, you know, nights where Janice is playing twenty
four minutes because they're winning by forty points in the
third quarter. But James Harden, I think the argument to
me would be the Rockets literally cannot win without him.
You know, Without James Harden, it turned is into you know,
(05:01):
Eric Gordon and Austin Rivers and you know p J.
Tucker having to take shots. Like we saw a couple
of games where Harden was not able to play, and uh,
you know, obviously Russell Westbrook was a lot better in
those minutes. But Russell Westbrook is no you know, he
has won an m v P, and I'm very happy
for him, but is no longer uh an m v
P caliber player. And Harden's numbers twenty two field goal
(05:25):
attempts per game shot from the floor. But I mean,
this is a crazy stat. Shot thirty five percent from
three point range on twelve point six attempts per game. Uh,
you know that is the best three point percentage of
anyone in the top five and m v P voting,
you know, better than your honest, better than Lebron, better
than done, better than uh uh you know, Kyle Lowry,
(05:48):
Jimmy Butler, those kind of guys. So pretty impressive for
him to be able to to rack all of that up.
And the argument for Lebron is, you know, it's ricky.
It's kind of similar to the Michael Jordan's arguments right where.
I mean, do we really think that Lebron Is is
not the most valuable player in the NBA? Like I,
I know, Janice is incredible? Uh, Janice averaging field goal
(06:12):
percentage only shooting from three, twenty nine points a game,
thirteen rebounds of game, five point eight assists per game,
one block, one steal. You know, I I still do
sort of believe though, you know, one game one scenario,
I would rather have Lebron than any player in the world,
even though he's thirty four years old. And I think
that some voters will think that way. Yeah, I think
(06:36):
that's a fair assessment. And I think you made an
interesting point with like James Harden, what the Rockets are
with him off the floor, because I think a similar
case can be made for Luca don Chet, who's probably
top five in this race. You look at James Harden,
he missed three games this year. The team was one
and two without him, so, like you mentioned, it was
it was very difficult for them. But how about the
(06:58):
Mavericks thirty four and twe with Luca don Che six
and seven without Luca, So another you know scenario where
without the star player, they were just an absolute mess. Now,
part of like what I like to do here is think,
like you know, with all these guys, if Janice was
not on the Bucks and it was James Harden, what
(07:18):
would their record look like? They might score more points.
But I think they're a better team with Janice, which
is crazy to say because I think James Harden might
be the best offensive player in NBA history and then
Luca done. I think they're clearly a better team right
now with the way that Janice defense and can go
both ways, you know, can go or can play offense
and can play defense pretty strongly as well. So yeah,
(07:41):
I think what you're saying for the one game, I
think even you know, as old as Lebron is because
he's Lebron, I feel best about him. The versatility, just
the ability to dish the ball when needed, where Janice,
I mean, if a team can figure him out, um,
you know, basically you just need to protect the rim
when it comes to honest of course, he's a good
(08:02):
passer as well. I just think Lebron gives you basically
everything on the floor. You look at the three point
percentage was basically a half a percentage point higher than
your Honice is. So if he has, you know, things
break down, he has to take a three point shot,
you feel better about him. Just when it comes to
this year's and b you know, NBA MVP Award, the
Bucks were awesome, You Honese was awesome. I just don't
(08:25):
know how you go in any of these different directions,
but I do think it's fun to argue after Yannice,
like what the order would be that we would rank them,
because I think a lot of people are gonna have
a bunch of different opinions. That's that's sort of an
interesting comparison between don and Janice because their teams have
to build around them, but in very different ways. You know,
(08:46):
Janice not a good three point shooter, uh, for from
three on four point eight attempts per game. Dontach is
more of a volume shooter, though he is only shooting
from from three this year. But you know, theoretically you
can actually play non shooters with don che because he
himself is a good shooter. But you want more three
(09:08):
and D guys because you just want to have done.
You like he he should have the ball in his
hands at all times. And the way that the the
way that the Mavericks have approached that is to actually
play him with point guards. You know, they play him
with JJ Barea and Delon Wright and Seth Curry, which
I think in the uh you know, ninety percent outcomes
(09:28):
for Luca don Chech, you actually want him playing point
guard instead. I like, I think that I think that
as the Mavericks continue their team building, they will, you know,
they will go after more guys who are wings as
opposed to point guards. And Janice. You actually you would
want point guards with him. You don't want you don't
want him to uh, like you you need to you
(09:49):
need to create as much space for him as possible. Uh,
you want to use him as the role man and
pick and roll. So I think, I mean the fact
that those are like the two best young stars in
the NBA is is pretty interesting into me. I think
that my ballot Ricky would go Janice first, Hardened second,
James three d fourth, And you know, I I actually
(10:13):
do think that it would be for me. I think
I would put Kauai five. And I know that's that's
probably not going to be a super popular opinion because Kauai,
you know, he sat out a bunch of time he's
had and really not even playing the absolute best basketball
of his career or anything like that. But I I think,
I just think that there is such an argument that
(10:34):
he is so talented, you know, obviously winning the NBA
Finals last season. Um, like, I think he deserves to
be on the ballot. Yeah, It's it's another one where
it's like there's two superstars there. But Paul George did
miss an extended time, and you did propel this Clippers
team that was forever just mediocre into being a perennial
(10:56):
like championship contender. So that's obviously extremely valuable to the
city of Los Angeles and this organization. It's just a
matter of was he more valuable than someone like Nicola
Yokich was to the Denver Nuggets. And if we're going
just on value without him to the team, I guess
plumbly is is like a usable backup. I just don't
(11:19):
think you're winning anywhere near as many games without him.
I guess the same could be said for Kawai Leonard,
but Paul George can kind of anchor that team. It's
pretty much a toss up for me. I have the
same pretty much top four, and then it's like, do
we go Kawhi Leonard, do we go Anthony Davis, or
do we go Nicola Yokich. And I think there's a
case to be made for Yoki that he doesn't get
(11:40):
enough love that time. I like, I like the case
for you, k Yeah, I think that's fine. Yeah, I
think I would go Kauai ahead of him. I just
really don't like the lack of respect that Yoki gets. Um. Yeah,
I mean, Yoki is a tremendous player. I think the
thing that is going to hurt Yogi is Janice great defender,
(12:00):
Lebron great defender, um Hardened, not actually Harden a bad defender.
Anthony Davis good defender, done bad defender, quite great defender,
you know, Butler very good defender. So like the case
you start poking with your kich Is, Well, he doesn't
really shoot three pointers. He shoots um he shoots three
and a half per game, shoots on those, and he's
(12:22):
not a great defensive player. And he plays a position
where you know, the backups generally speaking, are able to
provide similar output to the starters, at least in terms
of offensive numbers. You know, if if the Nuggets chose
to run their offense through Paul Millsap or Mason Plumley, um, yes,
they would be a worst team. Like they would not
win nearly as many games because the offense would suffer.
(12:44):
But I think like Mason Plumley, if he played thirty
eight minutes a night and had a you know, percent
usage rate, he could probably be a twenty and ten
guy right Like he could do his best Kevin Love
impression just because of the way that's the basketball functions.
So that is our disc USh on the m v P.
When we return, we will discuss these guys a little
bit further as we transition to our NBA first, second,
(13:07):
and third All NBA teams. Gonna go ahead and head
into our first break here on the Daily Road to
Hour on sports crede TV. See you guys on the
other side sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
topics in sports, waging, real time odds, predictive betting models,
(13:27):
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot Com. Hello everyone, and welcome
to the Daily Road to Hour here on sports cred TV.
Returning from our first break. This is Davis Maddock joined
by Ricky Sanders, went over our m VP finalists and
(13:47):
being in the first segment, now going to move to
our All NBA teams. Uh So, I think the the
locks for first team All NBA Ricky Ore, Lebron, Harden,
and Janice, And I think that you can obviously you could.
You could cheat the system a little bit and place
Lebron at either guard or forward, and I think there
(14:08):
is an argument for center as well. Um, do you
agree with me that those Lebron, Harden and Janice are
the three locks? For first Team All NBA. Yeah. I
mean you could use the hardens, you know, poor shooting
season against him if you really wanted to. He was
your NBA leader in points per game and it was extensive,
but like comparatively to other hardened seasons, I guess it
(14:32):
wasn't that far below his career average. He's a career
forty four point two percent shooter from the field. He's
just been over forty four percent the past few years.
Last year he was at thirty six points per game,
shooting forty four point two percent. So if we were
crowning him last year, I think we got a crown
him as a first team you know All NBA guy
this year as well. Yeah, so he is. He is
on there for me. Um, are you placing Lebron on
(14:55):
your first team as a guard or a forward? I
kind of him as a center, so you don't even
have to choose from the center, so you can get
Luca on the team. But I think I'm probably playing
him as a forward to make sure Lucas on that team,
because I think Luca is deserving. I know Kawhi Leonard
(15:16):
was excellent this year. He was kind of banged up,
but I think that I would want Luca on my
my all first team over Kauai, which is kind of crazy,
but you know, Luca one of the few all around
guys who reminds me of like a Hardener you Honice.
So I think I would play Lebron at forward. Well
you can. You can slot donte Gin as a forward
as well. You know, if he started games that he
(15:37):
started games of point guard. He started games at at
small forward for for the Dallas Mavericks. So my first
team is Donta check guard, James Hardennet guard, Janice at
small forward, Lebron at power forward, and um, I am
so undecided on the center spot. I think that this
(15:58):
could be Anthony Davis. I think that this could be Yokich.
I'm gonna give it to Yokich just because I want
to live in a world where NICOLEA. Yokich is a
first team All NBA center And and I also agree
with the widespread belief in a basketball twitter that Yokich
gets underrated by the you know, he gets underrated by
(16:18):
the large like the big media, big NBA. You know,
the guys they like to make fun of him. His
his highlights don't play as well on you know, his
highlights don't play as well on Sports Center as Anthony
Davis is Mike, because you know, he's not flying above
the rim and slamming amalley. So for me, John Chich,
James Janice Lebron yokich is is my first team All NBA. Yeah.
(16:41):
So I just want to say something about Yokich is
that like the same people who loved like move On
and like David Wells are the ones that think, like
Nicola Yokich is overrated because of his stature. But first
of all, he's lost a lot of weight during this
time off. You've seen these pictures of him. He looks
looks like he looks like Porzingis now, he looks like
(17:02):
David Hasselhoff running on the beach. You just gotta get
some SloMo with Nicola Yokis now, and I think it
would be a fine time. But so here's the thing
about like these centers, I mean, basically, the center that
just stands by the basket and receives alleyops is a
thing in the past. Like Clinton Compella. They couldn't really
get rid of Clint Capella fast stuff. They the Rockets
(17:23):
decided to go with a six ft six p J Tucker,
who's basically a small forward, playing him at center instead
of playing like the old NBA's version of a center
at center. So with Anthony Davis and Nicola Yokis, you
get two guys who are not that. I mean, Anthony
Davis can be that a guy you can throw lobs to,
but he's also a really good mid range shooter. Uh
(17:45):
and he's got a three point shot to his game.
I mean, Anthony Davis took a career high three and
a half three pointers per game and no one really
noticed by the way, thirty three and a half percent
from beyond the arc. Third straight year he was over
thirty three percent from beyond the That was actually better
than Yokich twenty six point seven points per game. He's
probably the better defender of the two. The thing with
(18:07):
Yokich is, can you imagine having a team with superstars
and getting him the ball to the top of the
key and these guys are able to work themselves open
someone like Luca or James Harden or they're moving off screens.
It just would be absolutely unfair. But at the same time,
like if you have a rim protector with Anthony Davis,
with that team. That also is unfair because you're going
(18:28):
at guys like Janice and Anthony Davis who are just
not gonna let you get to the rim. So it
is a really tough decision for me just to be different.
I think I'll go Anthony Davis just because you basically
have four great passers. But it's just me building the
context of a team rather than like the context of
Anthony Davis first Nikola Yokichs season. So I just I
(18:48):
want to I want to make this point because it's fascinating.
So if you go back to the beginning of p J.
Tucker's career, he was he was drafted by Toronto in
the two thousand and six season, and then he went
to play in all these leagues that he played in Israel, Ukraine, Greece, Italy,
and Germany. So that's from two thousand and seven to
(19:10):
two thousand and twelve. He comes back to the NBA
in what position do you think he played in the
NBA in for the Phoenix Suns shooting guard? He played
seventy eight percent of his minutes at shooting guard for
that for that Phoenix Suns team. So he was playing
with Gore and d Marcin Gortat, Jared Dudley, and Louis
(19:33):
Scola starting at shooting guard for that team actually like
kind of alternating minutes with Shannon Brown. And now he
is legitimately, uh, he is the starting center for a
team that is, you know, likely going to be a
favorite to um make the like literally is is you know,
has a chance to make the NBA Finals, probably is
(19:54):
going to make the Western Conference finals. Just it just
really illustrates how much the game had has changed, you know, literally,
I mean even over the last five years, his position
changed four slots as a result of that. It's just crazy. Yeah,
just to be fair, it's really the Rockets who have
committed to this the most, Like other teams are still
trying to find big men to at least play that
(20:15):
position who can do other things. But I mean, this
is why I don't think the Rockets are a true
contender a team that's firing shots from beyond the arc.
I do think you wanted an offensive rebounder, someone like
we've argued on this show before, like a Dennis Rodman
or the modern day version of Dennis Rodman, someone who
could get you those rebounds and get you those second
(20:35):
chance shots as opposed to you shooting all these lower
percentage shots with guys like James Harden. I just don't
think that's gonna work against the team like the Bucks,
who can rebound very well. The Clippers are are decent
rebounding team, obviously, Lebron James and Anthony Davis along with
you know, their centers. I think they're just gonna have
a hard time being competitive against the league's best, even
(20:56):
though they're a fun offense to watch. Yeah, I mean
I think that's probably true. So moving to our to
moving to our second team now, um, I think Damian
Lillard is a lock for second team. I mean, he
was just having uh he was having an absolutely phenomenal
season before things, you know, before things went sideways. I
think Pascal Siakam is a lock. I think Jimmy Butler
(21:20):
is a lock. And because both of us did not
put Anthony Davis on our first team, I think that
Anthony Davis is a lock. And I think this fifth spot,
I mean it could go to I mean, I think
you could literally put their twenty guys in the conversation
for second team guard and third team All NBA guard
or forward as well. Like I think there's so many
guys that fit here. Yeah, and it just depends on
(21:44):
like whether you care about their quality of team and
how committed they are to defense. It seems like a
lot of the next options are guys who you're pretty
much punting defense. If you're not going like the Lillard,
sim Butler Forsome, then you're probably you know, placing one
of them with Bradley Beale, Trade Young, potentially a Devin Booker,
(22:05):
you know, guys like those. I guess Russell Westbrook, who's
a guy who stored over twenty seven points per game
and was really good in those games that hard and missed.
But Bradley Beale over thirty points per game. Don't you
feel like he belongs on this team. It's just a
matter of that Wizard's team was so brutal, um, but
he really became like a true all around player. With
John Wall out, there was no question this was Bradley
(22:27):
Beale's team. I remember discussing in years past that like
when John Wall sits out, Bradley Beale has actually been worse.
You know, he would you know, take an uptick in
the usage, but he would shoot poorly. That was not
the case this past season almost forty percent from the
field beyond from the arc, while he was the clear
target for defense defenses, you know, with this team, like
(22:48):
they had Davis Burton's who could hit an open three,
and they had a bunch of other guys that were useful,
but Bradley Beale was their weapon and teams just couldn't
stop him. I mean, I remember there was a stretch
where you were playing Bradley be every day in daily Fantasy.
He wasn't playing much defense, but just offensively. If we're
gonna give Harden, you know, the first team, I feel
like Bill belongs on the second team. So I actually
(23:11):
agree with you that is not um, that's not the
consensus way that these things have have shaken out. Most
of the people who are voting for all the Team
NBA have put Chris Paul Russell Westbrook over those guys.
I'm with you, though, Bill, Bill, for me, deserves to
be second team or third team All NBA for sure.
(23:32):
So I think that for me, the second team All NBA,
it's got to be Beal Lillard, Sim Butler and Anthony Davis.
And I I mean maybe the the you know, the
sentimentalist in me wants to put Russell Westbrook here because
I love Russell Westbrook. I think he's so great. Uh,
And when when Harden was missing time for the Rockets,
(23:53):
it really was Westbrook and a bunch of dudes. Like,
at least when Harden is healthy, he knows that he
can go to the bench for ten minutes of game
and there's gonna be someone else who will be able
to do some scoring. But when Harden was out, it
was Westbrook and I mean just the cast of some
of the worst characters you can find in the NBA. Like,
it was a tough, tough scene for non Russell Westbrook
(24:14):
Rockheads over that point. So I I kind of, I
kind of would like to give Westbrook that spot out
of sentimentality. Wait, does that mean you're leaving Kauai off
your second team? Because I think you had You're right,
You're right, So so for me, that means siakum is
third team and Kauai second team. So I misspoke their
good ketch Ricky. Yeah, so we're putting we're putting Kauai
(24:37):
on the second team and moving Sam down to the
third team. Yeah, I think my second team is lowerd
Bill don Chich Kauai and then whichever center you didn't
choose for the first team. I think, I said, Anthony Davis,
all put Yokach here. But they're really interchangeable. Yeah, So
(24:57):
I think the consensus second team what most people end
up doing. I think a lot of people will have
Kauai on that first team. So the consensus second team
All NBA will be something like Don Chich, Lillard, either
Sam or Kauai, Jimmy Butler, and then Anthony Davis or
Yokich and and I kind of think that the positional
(25:18):
eligibilities are very friendly to the centers here because then
you know, we start talking about guys like band auto
bio is being you know, if you if you can't
Anthony Davis as a forward, and you really like Anthony Davis,
you can move him there. So through through two teams
for the All NBA, we have nominated Lebron James, James Harden,
Janice uh Kauai, Nicola Yokich, Luka, Don Chich, Damian Lillard,
(25:43):
Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, and Bradley Beale as our candidates.
And when we get back from break, we will start
diving into some of the other NBA teams will talk
about the rookies. We will go through our third Team
All NBA, look at our defensive Player of the r
I think we'll have some really interesting conversations with third
(26:03):
Team All NBA because they're just way less answers here,
and it becomes more about what do you value? You know,
do you value a guy who puts up crazy numbers
on a bad team. Do you value a guy who's
part of one of the winningest teams in the NBA. So,
you know, we start looking at some of the Bucks
terchiary players, some of the Boston Celtics. But we're gonna
go ahead and head into our break here on the
(26:23):
Daily Road to hour on sports Grade TV. When we return,
we will continue with our discussion of the All NBA team.
Sport sports Grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment at
your fingertips seven as our team covers the most important
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
(26:43):
expert picks and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot com m This is sports
Tree get one. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the
(27:09):
daily rot of our here on Sportscrade TV on Davis Mannock,
joined by Ricky Sanders continuing our countdown of the All
NBA teams in getting to h the getting to the
fund stuff. Now, Ricky getting to the point where we
can argue about guys we are to the third team
of the All n B A. I think the only
(27:31):
guy that we've discussed thus far that is now on
our third team is Pascal Siakam. But we went ahead
and put Bradley Beal on our second team All NBA.
Again not not a popular consensus selection. So we're sitting
here looking at at third team All NBA. What are
some of the names that come to your mind for
(27:51):
third Team All NBA guards. I think Trey Young has
to be up there. I mean, Trey Young just took
his game to another level. Without John Hollins, he was
the only show in town. And it was not great
team by any means. It was a team that was
playing in fast paced games. And Trey Young is not
known as a defender. But nine and a half threes
per game over thirty three point percentage from a guy
(28:14):
who was launching literally from half court at times, I mean,
Trey Young was just ridiculous where he would spot up
from and he almost averaged thirty points per game, so
I think, you know, he's not a first or second
teamer because of his deficiencies, But in terms of third team,
I think we've got to put him here. Other guards,
it depends on where you classify some of these guys.
I mean, Devin Booker is excellent another guy who's defensively
(28:37):
void enough that I think we could probably leave him
off this team if we start talking about other guys.
But Devin Booker, you know, just another guy. You know,
if you think Devin Booker, you don't think like a
pure point guard. But he had six point six assists
per game this year with Ricky Rubio there, so he
was able to, you know, kind of take that to
(28:58):
the next level. But I think forwards easier to talk
about because there are some guys who are clearly deserving
here you mentioned Sakum. I think brandon Ingram, Jason Tatum,
and Chris Middleton are the three forwards that deserved that
other spot, and I'm not exactly sure how to rank
them because I think for future value, Jayson Tatum is
(29:19):
clearly the guy who was ascending the most. Brandon Ingram
had his day in the sun until Zion Williamson returned
and then he kind of struggled to figure out how
to do it with him, and the team became, I
think a better overall team. But Brandon Ingram's performance went down,
and then Chris Middleton is just part of one of
the best teams in the entire league. I mean, he
(29:41):
held his own without y honest, we saw his numbers increase.
He was just ridiculous. So I think it's that Trio
and my gut says Tatum, even just for this year,
just because of what he was turning into as the
season was was going on. He was turning into like
their true number one score. So I think the the
only locks for me on third team All NBA are
(30:04):
Chris Middleton and Jayson Tatum. So I am definitely a
Tatum believer. I think that he will, with a little
bit more seasoning, turn into pretty much one of the
five best players in the NBA. He's got to work
on his uh three point shooting, obviously, you know, he
is a decent three point shooter, but not a great one,
and he needs to get to the free throw line,
(30:25):
you know, just a little bit more, something that he has,
you know, talked about publicly, right, He's been like, you
know that that's something that the coaches want me to
work on. That's something that I want to work on.
I want to be better at at at getting to
the free throw. And you know, I think the fact
that he plays on a team where so many guys
have the same job. So you know, basically, he, Jalen Brown,
Marcus Smart, and Gordon Ayward pretty much all play the
(30:47):
same position. And you know, some they play with Kemba
Walker and they play with Edith Cantor or Daniel Thice
and like the those three guys rotate positions. Sometimes the
Celtics play a line up with all four of them
and they play Jalen or Hayward as the the quote
unquote point guard in those lineups. And I I, Ricky,
(31:07):
I wonder, you know, if we put Tatum on the
rockets and we had him play Harden's job. I mean,
how good do we think that he would be? Like
we think he would be pretty phenomenal. Right now, maybe
he would not shoot as many three pointers and he
he would be shooting more you know, twenty footers or whatever,
and that would that would make him you know, not
an m D P. Cannon or whatever. But I mean,
(31:28):
do you think the fact that there are so many
overlapping skill sets on that Celtics team, do you think that, uh,
you know, harms him. I mean if you asked me
at the beginning of the year, I would have said yes,
But watching how his performance progressed, I don't think so.
I think, you know, even with so many similar skill sets,
by the time the NBA season had gone to pass,
(31:51):
this was Jason Tatum's team. I mean, Kemba Walker was
the guy you thought was gonna step in and kind
of be that guy. And all of a sudden, we
were talking about Jason Tatum over twenty points per game.
Mind you Kemba Walker, Gordon Hayward, Remember he had the
lower body issue that cost him some time. I mean
there was there was times where Jayson Tatum had to
(32:12):
act as the guy. But even when everyone returned, Jayson Tatum,
you know, taking a majority of the shots, I mean,
improving that three point shot, which I mean it still
could use approvement, but he was almost last year, so
that was really impressive to me. And like you said,
I think he has the ability looking at this, you know,
all of a sudden, like elite scoring set up for him.
(32:33):
He has the ability to be a top five player
in the NBA. So, yes, the skill sets are similar.
And yes, at the beginning of the year it looked
like no one was going to separate. But you took
Gordon Hayward out for a while and Jayson Tatum became
the number one Jaylen Brown became like the secondary guy
if they needed him, who could attack the basket, and
Gordon Hayward was like the all around players. So I
(32:53):
think the roles developed where Tatum actually was the number
one guy. Yeah, I I think it is. I think
that's probably true. So Middleton Tatum, no arguments there. Uh
these are the guards. I think that are candidates Russell Westbrook,
Chris Paul Kemba Walker, Kyle Lowry, Donovan Mitchell, and Ben Simmons.
(33:14):
Lets let us not forget that Ben Simmons is actually
a point guard, even if he doesn't shoot. For me,
Trey Young not gonna make it. The Hawks are too bad.
Trey Young is too bad on defense. Um. I Trey
Young's time will come. He will make an All NBA
team in his career. I I agree with you that
he is a phenomenal Uh. You know offensive player, right,
(33:35):
he is one of the driving forces of unfortunately bad team.
And and you know, just like it took John Wall
and Bradley Beale and and Devin Booker time for uh,
you know, the NBA to recognize how great they are,
it's going to take a little bit of time for
Tray Young as well. I mean, just comparing guys on
bad teams who are good offensive guards, I mean I
would go I would go Devin Booker over Trey Young
(33:59):
as productive guard on a bad team. Do you do
you agree or disagree with that take? I would go
Trey Young from this year only. And I'm like a
Devin Booker fanboy, but I just think the way Trey
Young kept that team in games. Uh, they did lose
some games horribly, but the fact that you look at
the supporting cast around Trey Young, it was a bunch
(34:21):
of rookies. When John Collins was out, it was a
bunch of nobodies. It was Jabari Parker who didn't play
any defense. It was a grouping of centers who you
would never have any faith in. And Trey Young was
able to score enough in games where they had no
business being in that that he could keep a group
of basically subpar NBA players competitive at all. The fact
(34:42):
that they didn't lose every single game was was impressive
enough to me. Um. But I think Jimmy Butler, who
we left off the other teams, I think I kind
of overlooked him. He probably we we put him on
the second team. Okay, we officially did that. That I
don't feel as bad. Um Okay, then yeah, Then Trey
Young I do think belongs here. But you know there,
there's no one in their right mind that would call
(35:02):
Trey Young like an all around player. It's just because
of his elite offensive skill set cancels out is the
defensive flaws to a degree. If you had the guess
right now, where do you think Trey Young stands in
usage rate amongst all NBA players? He was way up there.
I would say third, fourth. Uh So Janice at thirty
(35:27):
seven percent, thirty thirty seven point for Don at thirty
seven hard and thirty six point for Trey Young thirty
four point nine. Uh there are fourteen guys who are
above Trey Young. Is Trey Young is one of them?
And you know what's you know what's interesting, Rick, We've
been having this whole conversation, we have yet to mention.
(35:50):
I mean we just mentioned Ben Simmons, but we haven't
mentioned Joel Embiid. We have not mentioned you know, just
gave a small mention there to uh, to our boy Ben.
Haven't Talkedford and haven't talked to Bias Harris. And you know,
theoretically the seventies sixers are supposed to be one of
the five or six best teams in the NBA. They're
supposed to have all these duds. I mean, Joel Embiide
has a thirty two pent usage rate. Uh. He has
(36:13):
five point six wind shares this year. That is the
same as Trey Young. Uh. And that is you know,
that is with less game time, right, that is with
only playing in forty four games. His wind shares per
forty eight for Embiid is really high, right. He is
you know, more than Chris Paul, more than you know,
(36:33):
a lot of these other guys. And we also have
not mentioned Karl Anthony Towns. Like. It seems crazy to
have gone through all this conversation and not mentioned either
of those guys. And I have um, I have a
I always do this with third team all NBA. I
actually always when I when I do this. I put
Rudy Gobert out as my third team All NBA center
(36:55):
because the only reason the center position still exists in
the NBHA pretty much is d offense. Like the guys
who are incredible defenders are the centers that you would
want on your team. And I don't think there is
a I don't think there's been a better defensive player
in the NBA in the last five years than Gobert.
Teams do not make buckets at the rim against Utah.
(37:16):
They just don't. It just does not happen. Yeah, So
I think the media might be hard pressed to vote
Gilbert because they any awards this year. They kind of
feel like he caused the coronavirus, like it would actually
came from him rubbing the mic and that was what
ended the NBA season, even though that's obviously not what happened,
(37:37):
and he apologized for what he did. But I actually
think bam Oto Bio is in that conversation as well.
I mean, Joel Embiid is like the flashy option who
gives you the points. Uh, Rudy Gobert is the guy
who is absolutely elite defensively, but you look at the
wind share numbers, bam Autobio not that far behind Rudy
Gobert in terms of defensive wind cheers or wind cheers
(37:59):
in total. And he gives you the offense as well.
He's a good path or he's not quite Nickel Yokich,
but he's a guy twenty three point six percent as
sist right last year. By the comparison, Rudy Gobert six
point five. I mean, bam mot of Bio over a
seventeen percent rebound rate. That wasn't, you know, quite the
same as Rudy Gobert, who was at two percent. But
(38:19):
bamat of Bio was like your other all around center
who could get it done at the rim, who could
pass if you know he was caught at the top
of the key, and he actually could hit a mid
range shot as well. A true shooting percentage of sixty
six percent for bam mate Bio pretty pretty good. I
would argue that it's a three man race for center
(38:39):
for the third team between him and beating Gobert, and
I just I'm mad at Gobert for what he did.
It's I don't think he caused the whole thing, but
because of that, mentally, I can't vote for him, So
I think I would go bamat of Baio here. Yeah,
I think that's fair. So so my my third team
is gonna be uh Russell Westbrook. It's gonna be Devin Booker,
(39:01):
controversial or not, Chris Middleton, Jason. Actually, you know what
I'm gonna rescind that, I'm going off the board. I'm
going my boy, Marcus Smart third team All NBA. I
love Marcus Smart, It's my TV show. I get to
do what I want, Middleton, Tatum, and Uh I am
gonna give it to Bam Auto Bio as as our
third team center. We're gonna go ahead and head into
our last break. Now. When we return, we're gonna talk
(39:23):
one of the most disappointing All Rookie teams of all time.
A lot of bad players are going to get All
Rookie this year. See you guys on the other side
of break. Sports grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
(39:44):
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Hello, everyone, and welcome
back from break here on the daily Road to hour
on Sports Greed TV on Davis Maddock going today by
Ricky Sanders going through all of our NBA awards. Before
we dive into a disgusting all rookie team, let's go
(40:08):
ahead and nominate are all defensive player. I don't I
don't care that Rudy Gobert is the cause of everything
bad in the world, in the universe that he is.
Rudy Gobert is the super spreader of the coronavirus. He's
the reason that we don't have pro sports in America. Ricky,
I am going with my boy, Rudy Gobert. He's that good.
He he caused a global pandemic and he's still so
(40:29):
good that I'm voting for him for NBA Defensive Player
of the Year. Donovan Mitchell has not forgiven in but
Davis Maddock has. I'm going to chalk up led the
league in defensivelyn shares, he led the league in defensive
box plus minus, and he's probably the m v P.
So what the hell give him the defensive player too? Uh?
(40:50):
Do you do you really like? Do you think that's fair? I?
I don't know. I don't. I do not know if
that's fair. I think there there is a chance that
Janice is a good defensive player, but not defensive player
of the year worthy. So one thing I noticed with
the Bucks all year long is they were able to
funnel teams. They literally forced the most three point shots
(41:10):
against them, and we're just dominant defensively in the paint.
And I think that was a cooperative effort the guards
forcing him inside, then Brook Lopez and Janna's protecting the rim,
and Janna's being basically able to guard five positions. So
from a defensive scheme, the way they guarded actually was
was very poor for for players against them. Like obviously
(41:32):
every once in a while you get an outlier shooting performance,
but it was low percentage shots against them, So it
was partially the scheme, but I think you needed Jannas
to be part of that scheme to force people away
from the basket. So, like, from that perspective, I do
think it's warranted. Yeah, I mean, I'm not arguing against it,
like Janna is clearly just by the factor of being
that big in that athletic it's it's hard to uh,
(41:56):
It's just it's hard to argue against him being a
really impactful defensive player all so um, I have heard
it argued that Anthony Davis should be on that list.
You know, I I don't really know if uh, I
don't really know. I I guess my first team All
NBA would my my first team All Defense would probably
be like Chris Paul, Marcus Smart, Janice, Anthony Davis, and
(42:23):
uh Rudy Gobert. I think that would probably be my
first team All Defense might be might be getting there
on I might be getting there on reputation for Chris Paul,
But that was just off the top of my head,
who I thought was probably the most impactful. Yeah, I'd
want to play a two center set because those are
the ones who always put up the like defensive wind
share numbers, which makes sense because they're the last line
of defense. But if you can play Anthony Davis the
(42:46):
power forward, it makes it easier. I think it's Janice,
Anthony Davis, go bear. I think you still probably have
to put Lebron there, who was way up there in
defensive wind shares seven then defensive wind shares. Yeah, then
it's you know, pick your guard. We can play. You
can play Lebron at point guard in the death lineup.
(43:07):
That's true, way still up there. I think I'd probably
have him, you know, if it's one game, I think
why Leonard would be excellent defending to where am I.
I'm be honest, Davis Gobert, I think I have a
full team Hawai and Lebron James. Yeah, I think that's um.
I think that's probably fair. All right, we've been we've
been putting it off literally to the end of the show.
(43:28):
Let's just let's just do it. Let's just get done
with our our first team all rookie. So there are
three locks, which are John Morant at point guard, Zion
at power forward or center, whichever way you you want
to do that. And then I think I think Brandon
Clark as well should should probably be should probably be
(43:48):
in there. I mean he was part of a team
that is right now sitting in a playoff spot. No
one expected them to make the playoffs. A lot of
people probably expected they were gonna be really bad. So
I think I think those three guys are in there
for sure. And uh, you know the last two spots.
I mean, it can go in any direction. Yeah, I mean,
(44:08):
Brandon Clark was just awesome by the way, he developed
a shot which we didn't really see coming. We thought
coming out of the draft he was a guy who
would be great in the role and the pick and roll.
True shooting rank ninth in the NBA with Brandon Clark,
So he was just I mean, he was a guy
who got a lot of his work done down by
the basket. But if you watched him, he was shooting
threes with a pretty smooth motion that he developed in
(44:30):
the off season. I thought he was really impressive. But
then rounding it out, it gets difficult and it depends
what you prioritize. Kendrick Nunn started the season looking like
he was going to end up on this list basically
by default, and I don't think he was able to
keep the moment of going um. I mean, thirty six
percent from behind the arc was was very nice. But
(44:54):
it's like Cody Kobe White was kind of ascending as
the season ended. The Fine know nine games of Kobe
White season, Davis twenty four points per game over five
assists per game. He had a forty six thirty nine
nineties shooting UH slash line, so forty six from the field,
thirty nine from behind the art nine from free throw
(45:16):
during that nine game stretch, And I know nine games
doesn't make a season, but he was becoming one of
the Bull's top two options on offense, where I think
Ken Nunne was kind of just whatever was happening that
night was where he fell. And I think there's a
case to be made that Kobe White is the next
guard on this rookie team. I don't hate the idea
(45:36):
of Kobe White just because, like sure, reward reward the
performances that you think are outstanding. You know, he was
on a bad team, was playing off the bench for
a ton of it. But you know, did he play
better at least for at least for stretches than Kendrick Nunn,
then Terrence Davis, then Michael Porter Jr. Sure, Yeah, yeah,
(45:58):
I think I think he probably. I think he probably did.
My the guys that I would fill that out with
would be Tyler hierro Um. I think I think none.
And here were the guys they played. They were rookies
who were forced to play meaningful minutes for a team
that what I think their third in the East as
it sits right now. Now, Maybe they aren't, Maybe they aren't,
(46:21):
you know, actually the third best team in the East
for a lot of different reasons. But I mean those
guys were super good. I mean, Tyler hero Is gonna
have like a career as a three point shooter for
a long time. But Kendrick Nunne, I mean he just
straight up came into the NBA and was giving like
thirty minutes a night, fifteen points a game, three assists
(46:43):
a game, was shooting good from the field, you from three,
uh effective field go percentage. I mean that like that guy,
he could be the fourth best player on any team
in the n b A. And uh he was, you know,
not not like a highly touted player coming out of
college or anything like that. No, he was undrafted because
(47:05):
he had some character issues, so we call it coming
out of Illinois. Uh he was. I think he was
arrested on a domestic battery charge and then Illinois taught him.
He went to Oakland, I think the University of Oakland,
and then was undrafted out of there. But clearly he
was a Division one quality player. It was just teams
(47:26):
weren't willing to take a shot on all the rest
of the package. But he turned out to be someone
that the Miami Heat took a shot on ended up
starting him, and the rest is history, shall we say,
But I think you can't leave Michael Porter Jr. Out
of this Like, Look, his performances were inconsistent, to say
in the least, but that was because of the role
that they were affording him. Basically towards the end of
(47:49):
the year, when he started getting twenty plus minutes a game,
we started to see why NBA scouts thought that this
was like an elite score in the long term in
the NBA. I think, you know, just for the this year,
certainly you can make the case to leave him off,
but including future value in it, I think Michael Porter Jr.
Has the chance to be the third best player from
this draft. And I just saw sparks of Michael Porter Jr.
(48:14):
You played in twelve minutes, you could get twenty points
out of him in the game. So it makes me
wonder what a full time Michael Porter Jr. Could look
like as soon as next year. I know that's kind
of some foreshadowing to award a guy a team, but
I think just because of this rookie class, he had
to be a top five guy anyways, So what the hell? Yeah,
I mean, I I don't have I don't have a
real problem with that. I mean, Michael Porter Jr. So
(48:38):
his per thirty six numbers pretty incredible. Per thirty six,
nineteen points, uh ten rebounds, were shooting fifty from two point,
shooting from three on five point five attempts per thirty
six minutes. Now, the issue you run into is he
started one game, played four team minutes per game, and
(49:00):
only played six hundred and seventy minutes in a forty
eight games total. So not, uh you know, not a
superstar studded record in terms of uh you know, actually
playing minutes. Some of the other guys that deserve consideration
for me, very similar to the arguments for Kendrick Nunn
and Hierro matthist Thible just because he was either a
(49:23):
starter or a sixth or seventh man for a team
that we expect to be really good, a team that
won a ton of games. Bible not a good offensive
player by in the stretch of the imagination basically, but
was a very solid defensive player. I mean one of
like I wink he made a second team All Defense
or whatever this year. I don't think that we should
(49:43):
be surprised. I also think There is another name that
we have neglected to mention yet, which is Eric Pascal
for the Golden State Warriors twenty seven minutes a night,
started twenty six games. Now, he played on a really
bad team, but he was fourteen points, five rebounds to assist,
you know, and was able to you know, was able
(50:05):
to be a presence out there. And just in terms
of like a a bad rookie class, I mean, why
why does Eric Pascal not deserve to be second team
All Rookie? Yeah? I remember the fantasy community calling him
Draymond Pascal during his starts when everyone was injured, just
because he had to do everything by default. Um, he
was more of a score and less of a passer,
(50:25):
you know, during that time, and it was just from
fantasy numbers. He wasn't actually anywhere near as good, but
you know, he he ended up being the number one
scoring option when they needed him to be, which was
weird from a jump shooting power forward, but hey, very weird.
He got the he got the job done. Some other
names I think we need to mention PJ. Washington, you know,
just just you know, solid all around player, good shooter. Um.
(50:49):
But these are the names that I think had a
shot to said if the season went on. Jackson hayes
Um was a guy who I thought brought the energy
off the bench. Maybe maybe he isn't quite in the
same tier as like. As the season went on, I
think we were gonna see more good things from these players,
just because his opportunity was probably weaning with Derrick Favors back.
(51:10):
But Ruey Hocchi Mora and Kevin Porter Jr. Were guys
I think we clearly we're going to see a lot
more of if that season went on and we were
just able to see them progress. Ruey Hocchi Mora, I
think there's a chance to be a really good player
for a really long time. I think he's just a
solid power forward. He has He's great by the basket,
seventy one percent shooting inside three feet in the basket. Uh,
(51:32):
he's solid on mid range jumpers. But Kevin Porter Jr.
Was a guy who looked like he could have sent
to like the second scoring option on Cleveland. We saw
it a few times. He dropped thirty points on the
heat in the game in February. I think Kevin Porter Jr.
Was a guy who they were going to start playing
more minutes than Jetty Osman, and we were just going
to see what he could do, and he looked like
he could be real life good. It's just the fact
(51:55):
that he was kind of an afterthought for so much
of the season and he had just started to get
it going that I don't think you can put them
in the same combo, But I think if we played
eighty two games consecutively, all of a sudden, Kevin Porter Jr.
Might Be Top ten. Some of the names we haven't
discussed who people are probably yelling at thera at their screens.
R J Barrett, PJ. Washington, Um Cam Reddish, Jared Culver.
(52:17):
I mean, there were some people arguing I'm sure for
DeAndre Hunter or Darius Garland, but not not quite making
our list. So everyone, thank you very much for watching
and listening to the Daily Road to Hour here on
sports Crid TV. Hope you are feeling entertained and informed
about all of the various NBA awards voting. Don't think
we'll see too much change here as we head into
(52:39):
the final eight games of the regular season. Once everyone
gets down to Orlando, we will see you back tomorrow
with more educational and entertaining content. Sports Cried dot Com
Betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips seven as our
team covers the most important topics in sports, waging, real
time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want
(53:02):
the edge than get on the grid Sports grid dot
Com h
Hey, thanks for downloading the podcast. If you want to
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Enjoy the show, and thanks so much for listening. Hello everyone,
(00:22):
and welcome to the Daily road to Hour here on
Sports Grade TV. I'm Davis Mannock joined by Ricky Sanders,
and today we are going to take a look at
the NBA Awards voting, Ricky, because we are going to
get the end of the regular season happening here in
just a little bit, so it's pretty much all but
confirmed that the NBA season is going to finish. There.
(00:45):
There are a couple of stragglers, uh, Kywe we heard
that Kyrie Irving is encouraging players to start their own league.
Dwight Howard voice and reservations about playing the rest of
the season, which are totally understandable. Right these guys have
totally have the right to protect their bodies, have the
right to protect their health, have the right to voice
their concerns as far as social justice and civil unrest.
(01:07):
I hope they find a way to work it out.
But this is going to be a forward thinking show,
just talking about the basketball on the floor. We're gonna
do m v P Defensive Player of the Year are
all NBA teams, uh and Ricky? This is this is
the stuff that people want, right This is people love
to argue about who deserves the awards in the NBA. Yeah,
(01:28):
and I think we actually will have some arguments here,
Like I think there are some clear cut winners, but
there are some dark horses. And I think all Defensive
Player will be fun because we get to argue, like,
are they going to award this based on you know,
the offensive stats? Are they going to go purely based
on defense? I think that will be a fun one
to talk about. So yeah, it's it's much better to
(01:49):
talk about the game on the floor than to talk about,
you know, Kyrie Irving's opinion about whether the league should
start right. Yeah, that that is definitely true. So I
think that we should start with the conversation that everyone
cares about the most, which is m v P. Uh,
the m v P tracker that Basketball Reference has. I
I really enjoy this as a tool. Um. I I
(02:12):
think that does a great job of, you know, trying
to strip out a lot of the narrative based arguments
and really just making arguments about what the guys have
done on the floor. It seems like Janice is just
gonna cake walk into winning the Most Valuable Player this year.
Rick It, I don't. I don't really know if anyone
(02:33):
else is even that serious of a contender, right, I
feel like this is gonna be you know, he gets
first place on probably of the votes. Yeah, I mean,
like the guy who usually is the one who's talked
about is James Harden. But if you remember, there were
some serious shooting slumps this year from James Harden. I
(02:53):
mean he ended up shooting under from the field, which
you know is to be expected on a team where
he's just launching in order to keep them competitive. So
you know, from the way that they play like, it
makes sense that he wouldn't have a great shooting season.
But he's had better shooting seasons in a similar role before,
so I know. He led the league in points by
(03:15):
a lot, thirty four point four points per game compared
to honest is twenty nine point six and they run
a hearted centric offense that works for him. But the
same can be said for Milwaukee the way they run
their offense with Janice, where they have guys spread around him,
but instead of Harden, you know, the step back three
with Johannese, it's mostly just attacking the rim, and you've
(03:36):
got him, you know, having just an outstanding season defensively.
I don't really think there is anyone close. I mean,
the other names that I think we could talk about
are Lebron who went to the Lakers team that was
awful and really propelled them to just just being a
solid team fort and fourteen. Uh, he did average about
twenty six points per game. You get the assists with
(03:56):
him that you don't get with Janice. In fact, he
almost will him ten point six assists per game compared
to five point eight. But Jannie obviously one of the
best rebounders, and you don't get with Lebron and Lebron,
I mean, he had that other superstar and Anthony Davis,
so really was he is valuable to that team as
Janice was. When you see their record forty eight and
nine with Janice, five and three, almost a five team
(04:19):
without Janice, I think it's pretty obvious that Janice should
be the m v P. So to give people some
context why someone might argue for James Harden, he played
thirty six minutes a night. Janice played thirty point nine
minutes a night. Now, of course, the argument is, well,
you know, Janice was so you know, so impactful, so
(04:40):
important for the Bucks when he was on the floor.
You know, obviously they're gonna they're gonna have way more
blowout games, you know, nights where Janice is playing twenty
four minutes because they're winning by forty points in the
third quarter. But James Harden, I think the argument to
me would be the Rockets literally cannot win without him.
You know, Without James Harden, it turned is into you know,
(05:01):
Eric Gordon and Austin Rivers and you know p J.
Tucker having to take shots. Like we saw a couple
of games where Harden was not able to play, and uh,
you know, obviously Russell Westbrook was a lot better in
those minutes. But Russell Westbrook is no you know, he
has won an m v P, and I'm very happy
for him, but is no longer uh an m v
P caliber player. And Harden's numbers twenty two field goal
(05:25):
attempts per game shot from the floor. But I mean,
this is a crazy stat. Shot thirty five percent from
three point range on twelve point six attempts per game. Uh,
you know that is the best three point percentage of
anyone in the top five and m v P voting,
you know, better than your honest, better than Lebron, better
than done, better than uh uh you know, Kyle Lowry,
(05:48):
Jimmy Butler, those kind of guys. So pretty impressive for
him to be able to to rack all of that up.
And the argument for Lebron is, you know, it's ricky.
It's kind of similar to the Michael Jordan's arguments right where.
I mean, do we really think that Lebron Is is
not the most valuable player in the NBA? Like I,
I know, Janice is incredible? Uh, Janice averaging field goal
(06:12):
percentage only shooting from three, twenty nine points a game,
thirteen rebounds of game, five point eight assists per game,
one block, one steal. You know, I I still do
sort of believe though, you know, one game one scenario,
I would rather have Lebron than any player in the world,
even though he's thirty four years old. And I think
that some voters will think that way. Yeah, I think
(06:36):
that's a fair assessment. And I think you made an
interesting point with like James Harden, what the Rockets are
with him off the floor, because I think a similar
case can be made for Luca don Chet, who's probably
top five in this race. You look at James Harden,
he missed three games this year. The team was one
and two without him, so, like you mentioned, it was
it was very difficult for them. But how about the
(06:58):
Mavericks thirty four and twe with Luca don Che six
and seven without Luca, So another you know scenario where
without the star player, they were just an absolute mess. Now,
part of like what I like to do here is think,
like you know, with all these guys, if Janice was
not on the Bucks and it was James Harden, what
(07:18):
would their record look like? They might score more points.
But I think they're a better team with Janice, which
is crazy to say because I think James Harden might
be the best offensive player in NBA history and then
Luca done. I think they're clearly a better team right
now with the way that Janice defense and can go
both ways, you know, can go or can play offense
and can play defense pretty strongly as well. So yeah,
(07:41):
I think what you're saying for the one game, I
think even you know, as old as Lebron is because
he's Lebron, I feel best about him. The versatility, just
the ability to dish the ball when needed, where Janice,
I mean, if a team can figure him out, um,
you know, basically you just need to protect the rim
when it comes to honest of course, he's a good
(08:02):
passer as well. I just think Lebron gives you basically
everything on the floor. You look at the three point
percentage was basically a half a percentage point higher than
your Honice is. So if he has, you know, things
break down, he has to take a three point shot,
you feel better about him. Just when it comes to
this year's and b you know, NBA MVP Award, the
Bucks were awesome, You Honese was awesome. I just don't
(08:25):
know how you go in any of these different directions,
but I do think it's fun to argue after Yannice,
like what the order would be that we would rank them,
because I think a lot of people are gonna have
a bunch of different opinions. That's that's sort of an
interesting comparison between don and Janice because their teams have
to build around them, but in very different ways. You know,
(08:46):
Janice not a good three point shooter, uh, for from
three on four point eight attempts per game. Dontach is
more of a volume shooter, though he is only shooting
from from three this year. But you know, theoretically you
can actually play non shooters with don che because he
himself is a good shooter. But you want more three
(09:08):
and D guys because you just want to have done.
You like he he should have the ball in his
hands at all times. And the way that the the
way that the Mavericks have approached that is to actually
play him with point guards. You know, they play him
with JJ Barea and Delon Wright and Seth Curry, which
I think in the uh you know, ninety percent outcomes
(09:28):
for Luca don Chech, you actually want him playing point
guard instead. I like, I think that I think that
as the Mavericks continue their team building, they will, you know,
they will go after more guys who are wings as
opposed to point guards. And Janice. You actually you would
want point guards with him. You don't want you don't
want him to uh, like you you need to you
(09:49):
need to create as much space for him as possible. Uh,
you want to use him as the role man and
pick and roll. So I think, I mean the fact
that those are like the two best young stars in
the NBA is is pretty interesting into me. I think
that my ballot Ricky would go Janice first, Hardened second,
James three d fourth, And you know, I I actually
(10:13):
do think that it would be for me. I think
I would put Kauai five. And I know that's that's
probably not going to be a super popular opinion because Kauai,
you know, he sat out a bunch of time he's
had and really not even playing the absolute best basketball
of his career or anything like that. But I I think,
I just think that there is such an argument that
(10:34):
he is so talented, you know, obviously winning the NBA
Finals last season. Um, like, I think he deserves to
be on the ballot. Yeah, It's it's another one where
it's like there's two superstars there. But Paul George did
miss an extended time, and you did propel this Clippers
team that was forever just mediocre into being a perennial
(10:56):
like championship contender. So that's obviously extremely valuable to the
city of Los Angeles and this organization. It's just a
matter of was he more valuable than someone like Nicola
Yokich was to the Denver Nuggets. And if we're going
just on value without him to the team, I guess
plumbly is is like a usable backup. I just don't
(11:19):
think you're winning anywhere near as many games without him.
I guess the same could be said for Kawai Leonard,
but Paul George can kind of anchor that team. It's
pretty much a toss up for me. I have the
same pretty much top four, and then it's like, do
we go Kawhi Leonard, do we go Anthony Davis, or
do we go Nicola Yokich. And I think there's a
case to be made for Yoki that he doesn't get
(11:40):
enough love that time. I like, I like the case
for you, k Yeah, I think that's fine. Yeah, I
think I would go Kauai ahead of him. I just
really don't like the lack of respect that Yoki gets. Um. Yeah,
I mean, Yoki is a tremendous player. I think the
thing that is going to hurt Yogi is Janice great defender,
(12:00):
Lebron great defender, um Hardened, not actually Harden a bad defender.
Anthony Davis good defender, done bad defender, quite great defender,
you know, Butler very good defender. So like the case
you start poking with your kich Is, Well, he doesn't
really shoot three pointers. He shoots um he shoots three
and a half per game, shoots on those, and he's
(12:22):
not a great defensive player. And he plays a position
where you know, the backups generally speaking, are able to
provide similar output to the starters, at least in terms
of offensive numbers. You know, if if the Nuggets chose
to run their offense through Paul Millsap or Mason Plumley, um, yes,
they would be a worst team. Like they would not
win nearly as many games because the offense would suffer.
(12:44):
But I think like Mason Plumley, if he played thirty
eight minutes a night and had a you know, percent
usage rate, he could probably be a twenty and ten
guy right Like he could do his best Kevin Love
impression just because of the way that's the basketball functions.
So that is our disc USh on the m v P.
When we return, we will discuss these guys a little
bit further as we transition to our NBA first, second,
(13:07):
and third All NBA teams. Gonna go ahead and head
into our first break here on the Daily Road to
Hour on sports crede TV. See you guys on the
other side sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
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(13:27):
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot Com. Hello everyone, and welcome
to the Daily Road to Hour here on sports cred TV.
Returning from our first break. This is Davis Maddock joined
by Ricky Sanders, went over our m VP finalists and
(13:47):
being in the first segment, now going to move to
our All NBA teams. Uh So, I think the the
locks for first team All NBA Ricky Ore, Lebron, Harden,
and Janice, And I think that you can obviously you could.
You could cheat the system a little bit and place
Lebron at either guard or forward, and I think there
(14:08):
is an argument for center as well. Um, do you
agree with me that those Lebron, Harden and Janice are
the three locks? For first Team All NBA. Yeah. I
mean you could use the hardens, you know, poor shooting
season against him if you really wanted to. He was
your NBA leader in points per game and it was extensive,
but like comparatively to other hardened seasons, I guess it
(14:32):
wasn't that far below his career average. He's a career
forty four point two percent shooter from the field. He's
just been over forty four percent the past few years.
Last year he was at thirty six points per game,
shooting forty four point two percent. So if we were
crowning him last year, I think we got a crown
him as a first team you know All NBA guy
this year as well. Yeah, so he is. He is
on there for me. Um, are you placing Lebron on
(14:55):
your first team as a guard or a forward? I
kind of him as a center, so you don't even
have to choose from the center, so you can get
Luca on the team. But I think I'm probably playing
him as a forward to make sure Lucas on that team,
because I think Luca is deserving. I know Kawhi Leonard
(15:16):
was excellent this year. He was kind of banged up,
but I think that I would want Luca on my
my all first team over Kauai, which is kind of crazy,
but you know, Luca one of the few all around
guys who reminds me of like a Hardener you Honice.
So I think I would play Lebron at forward. Well
you can. You can slot donte Gin as a forward
as well. You know, if he started games that he
(15:37):
started games of point guard. He started games at at
small forward for for the Dallas Mavericks. So my first
team is Donta check guard, James Hardennet guard, Janice at
small forward, Lebron at power forward, and um, I am
so undecided on the center spot. I think that this
(15:58):
could be Anthony Davis. I think that this could be Yokich.
I'm gonna give it to Yokich just because I want
to live in a world where NICOLEA. Yokich is a
first team All NBA center And and I also agree
with the widespread belief in a basketball twitter that Yokich
gets underrated by the you know, he gets underrated by
(16:18):
the large like the big media, big NBA. You know,
the guys they like to make fun of him. His
his highlights don't play as well on you know, his
highlights don't play as well on Sports Center as Anthony
Davis is Mike, because you know, he's not flying above
the rim and slamming amalley. So for me, John Chich,
James Janice Lebron yokich is is my first team All NBA. Yeah.
(16:41):
So I just want to say something about Yokich is
that like the same people who loved like move On
and like David Wells are the ones that think, like
Nicola Yokich is overrated because of his stature. But first
of all, he's lost a lot of weight during this
time off. You've seen these pictures of him. He looks
looks like he looks like Porzingis now, he looks like
(17:02):
David Hasselhoff running on the beach. You just gotta get
some SloMo with Nicola Yokis now, and I think it
would be a fine time. But so here's the thing
about like these centers, I mean, basically, the center that
just stands by the basket and receives alleyops is a
thing in the past. Like Clinton Compella. They couldn't really
get rid of Clint Capella fast stuff. They the Rockets
(17:23):
decided to go with a six ft six p J Tucker,
who's basically a small forward, playing him at center instead
of playing like the old NBA's version of a center
at center. So with Anthony Davis and Nicola Yokis, you
get two guys who are not that. I mean, Anthony
Davis can be that a guy you can throw lobs to,
but he's also a really good mid range shooter. Uh
(17:45):
and he's got a three point shot to his game.
I mean, Anthony Davis took a career high three and
a half three pointers per game and no one really
noticed by the way, thirty three and a half percent
from beyond the arc. Third straight year he was over
thirty three percent from beyond the That was actually better
than Yokich twenty six point seven points per game. He's
probably the better defender of the two. The thing with
(18:07):
Yokich is, can you imagine having a team with superstars
and getting him the ball to the top of the
key and these guys are able to work themselves open
someone like Luca or James Harden or they're moving off screens.
It just would be absolutely unfair. But at the same time,
like if you have a rim protector with Anthony Davis,
with that team. That also is unfair because you're going
(18:28):
at guys like Janice and Anthony Davis who are just
not gonna let you get to the rim. So it
is a really tough decision for me just to be different.
I think I'll go Anthony Davis just because you basically
have four great passers. But it's just me building the
context of a team rather than like the context of
Anthony Davis first Nikola Yokichs season. So I just I
(18:48):
want to I want to make this point because it's fascinating.
So if you go back to the beginning of p J.
Tucker's career, he was he was drafted by Toronto in
the two thousand and six season, and then he went
to play in all these leagues that he played in Israel, Ukraine, Greece, Italy,
and Germany. So that's from two thousand and seven to
(19:10):
two thousand and twelve. He comes back to the NBA
in what position do you think he played in the
NBA in for the Phoenix Suns shooting guard? He played
seventy eight percent of his minutes at shooting guard for
that for that Phoenix Suns team. So he was playing
with Gore and d Marcin Gortat, Jared Dudley, and Louis
(19:33):
Scola starting at shooting guard for that team actually like
kind of alternating minutes with Shannon Brown. And now he
is legitimately, uh, he is the starting center for a
team that is, you know, likely going to be a
favorite to um make the like literally is is you know,
has a chance to make the NBA Finals, probably is
(19:54):
going to make the Western Conference finals. Just it just
really illustrates how much the game had has changed, you know, literally,
I mean even over the last five years, his position
changed four slots as a result of that. It's just crazy. Yeah,
just to be fair, it's really the Rockets who have
committed to this the most, Like other teams are still
trying to find big men to at least play that
(20:15):
position who can do other things. But I mean, this
is why I don't think the Rockets are a true
contender a team that's firing shots from beyond the arc.
I do think you wanted an offensive rebounder, someone like
we've argued on this show before, like a Dennis Rodman
or the modern day version of Dennis Rodman, someone who
could get you those rebounds and get you those second
(20:35):
chance shots as opposed to you shooting all these lower
percentage shots with guys like James Harden. I just don't
think that's gonna work against the team like the Bucks,
who can rebound very well. The Clippers are are decent
rebounding team, obviously, Lebron James and Anthony Davis along with
you know, their centers. I think they're just gonna have
a hard time being competitive against the league's best, even
(20:56):
though they're a fun offense to watch. Yeah, I mean
I think that's probably true. So moving to our to
moving to our second team now, um, I think Damian
Lillard is a lock for second team. I mean, he
was just having uh he was having an absolutely phenomenal
season before things, you know, before things went sideways. I
think Pascal Siakam is a lock. I think Jimmy Butler
(21:20):
is a lock. And because both of us did not
put Anthony Davis on our first team, I think that
Anthony Davis is a lock. And I think this fifth spot,
I mean it could go to I mean, I think
you could literally put their twenty guys in the conversation
for second team guard and third team All NBA guard
or forward as well. Like I think there's so many
guys that fit here. Yeah, and it just depends on
(21:44):
like whether you care about their quality of team and
how committed they are to defense. It seems like a
lot of the next options are guys who you're pretty
much punting defense. If you're not going like the Lillard,
sim Butler Forsome, then you're probably you know, placing one
of them with Bradley Beale, Trade Young, potentially a Devin Booker,
(22:05):
you know, guys like those. I guess Russell Westbrook, who's
a guy who stored over twenty seven points per game
and was really good in those games that hard and missed.
But Bradley Beale over thirty points per game. Don't you
feel like he belongs on this team. It's just a
matter of that Wizard's team was so brutal, um, but
he really became like a true all around player. With
John Wall out, there was no question this was Bradley
(22:27):
Beale's team. I remember discussing in years past that like
when John Wall sits out, Bradley Beale has actually been worse.
You know, he would you know, take an uptick in
the usage, but he would shoot poorly. That was not
the case this past season almost forty percent from the
field beyond from the arc, while he was the clear
target for defense defenses, you know, with this team, like
(22:48):
they had Davis Burton's who could hit an open three,
and they had a bunch of other guys that were useful,
but Bradley Beale was their weapon and teams just couldn't
stop him. I mean, I remember there was a stretch
where you were playing Bradley be every day in daily Fantasy.
He wasn't playing much defense, but just offensively. If we're
gonna give Harden, you know, the first team, I feel
like Bill belongs on the second team. So I actually
(23:11):
agree with you that is not um, that's not the
consensus way that these things have have shaken out. Most
of the people who are voting for all the Team
NBA have put Chris Paul Russell Westbrook over those guys.
I'm with you, though, Bill, Bill, for me, deserves to
be second team or third team All NBA for sure.
(23:32):
So I think that for me, the second team All NBA,
it's got to be Beal Lillard, Sim Butler and Anthony Davis.
And I I mean maybe the the you know, the
sentimentalist in me wants to put Russell Westbrook here because
I love Russell Westbrook. I think he's so great. Uh,
And when when Harden was missing time for the Rockets,
(23:53):
it really was Westbrook and a bunch of dudes. Like,
at least when Harden is healthy, he knows that he
can go to the bench for ten minutes of game
and there's gonna be someone else who will be able
to do some scoring. But when Harden was out, it
was Westbrook and I mean just the cast of some
of the worst characters you can find in the NBA. Like,
it was a tough, tough scene for non Russell Westbrook
(24:14):
Rockheads over that point. So I I kind of, I
kind of would like to give Westbrook that spot out
of sentimentality. Wait, does that mean you're leaving Kauai off
your second team? Because I think you had You're right,
You're right, So so for me, that means siakum is
third team and Kauai second team. So I misspoke their
good ketch Ricky. Yeah, so we're putting we're putting Kauai
(24:37):
on the second team and moving Sam down to the
third team. Yeah, I think my second team is lowerd
Bill don Chich Kauai and then whichever center you didn't
choose for the first team. I think, I said, Anthony Davis,
all put Yokach here. But they're really interchangeable. Yeah, So
(24:57):
I think the consensus second team what most people end
up doing. I think a lot of people will have
Kauai on that first team. So the consensus second team
All NBA will be something like Don Chich, Lillard, either
Sam or Kauai, Jimmy Butler, and then Anthony Davis or
Yokich and and I kind of think that the positional
(25:18):
eligibilities are very friendly to the centers here because then
you know, we start talking about guys like band auto
bio is being you know, if you if you can't
Anthony Davis as a forward, and you really like Anthony Davis,
you can move him there. So through through two teams
for the All NBA, we have nominated Lebron James, James Harden,
Janice uh Kauai, Nicola Yokich, Luka, Don Chich, Damian Lillard,
(25:43):
Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, and Bradley Beale as our candidates.
And when we get back from break, we will start
diving into some of the other NBA teams will talk
about the rookies. We will go through our third Team
All NBA, look at our defensive Player of the r
I think we'll have some really interesting conversations with third
(26:03):
Team All NBA because they're just way less answers here,
and it becomes more about what do you value? You know,
do you value a guy who puts up crazy numbers
on a bad team. Do you value a guy who's
part of one of the winningest teams in the NBA. So,
you know, we start looking at some of the Bucks
terchiary players, some of the Boston Celtics. But we're gonna
go ahead and head into our break here on the
(26:23):
Daily Road to hour on sports Grade TV. When we return,
we will continue with our discussion of the All NBA team.
Sport sports Grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment at
your fingertips seven as our team covers the most important
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
(26:43):
expert picks and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot com m This is sports
Tree get one. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the
(27:09):
daily rot of our here on Sportscrade TV on Davis Mannock,
joined by Ricky Sanders continuing our countdown of the All
NBA teams in getting to h the getting to the
fund stuff. Now, Ricky getting to the point where we
can argue about guys we are to the third team
of the All n B A. I think the only
(27:31):
guy that we've discussed thus far that is now on
our third team is Pascal Siakam. But we went ahead
and put Bradley Beal on our second team All NBA.
Again not not a popular consensus selection. So we're sitting
here looking at at third team All NBA. What are
some of the names that come to your mind for
(27:51):
third Team All NBA guards. I think Trey Young has
to be up there. I mean, Trey Young just took
his game to another level. Without John Hollins, he was
the only show in town. And it was not great
team by any means. It was a team that was
playing in fast paced games. And Trey Young is not
known as a defender. But nine and a half threes
per game over thirty three point percentage from a guy
(28:14):
who was launching literally from half court at times, I mean,
Trey Young was just ridiculous where he would spot up
from and he almost averaged thirty points per game, so
I think, you know, he's not a first or second
teamer because of his deficiencies, But in terms of third team,
I think we've got to put him here. Other guards,
it depends on where you classify some of these guys.
I mean, Devin Booker is excellent another guy who's defensively
(28:37):
void enough that I think we could probably leave him
off this team if we start talking about other guys.
But Devin Booker, you know, just another guy. You know,
if you think Devin Booker, you don't think like a
pure point guard. But he had six point six assists
per game this year with Ricky Rubio there, so he
was able to, you know, kind of take that to
(28:58):
the next level. But I think forwards easier to talk
about because there are some guys who are clearly deserving
here you mentioned Sakum. I think brandon Ingram, Jason Tatum,
and Chris Middleton are the three forwards that deserved that
other spot, and I'm not exactly sure how to rank
them because I think for future value, Jayson Tatum is
(29:19):
clearly the guy who was ascending the most. Brandon Ingram
had his day in the sun until Zion Williamson returned
and then he kind of struggled to figure out how
to do it with him, and the team became, I
think a better overall team. But Brandon Ingram's performance went down,
and then Chris Middleton is just part of one of
the best teams in the entire league. I mean, he
(29:41):
held his own without y honest, we saw his numbers increase.
He was just ridiculous. So I think it's that Trio
and my gut says Tatum, even just for this year,
just because of what he was turning into as the
season was was going on. He was turning into like
their true number one score. So I think the the
only locks for me on third team All NBA are
(30:04):
Chris Middleton and Jayson Tatum. So I am definitely a
Tatum believer. I think that he will, with a little
bit more seasoning, turn into pretty much one of the
five best players in the NBA. He's got to work
on his uh three point shooting, obviously, you know, he
is a decent three point shooter, but not a great one,
and he needs to get to the free throw line,
(30:25):
you know, just a little bit more, something that he has,
you know, talked about publicly, right, He's been like, you
know that that's something that the coaches want me to
work on. That's something that I want to work on.
I want to be better at at at getting to
the free throw. And you know, I think the fact
that he plays on a team where so many guys
have the same job. So you know, basically, he, Jalen Brown,
Marcus Smart, and Gordon Ayward pretty much all play the
(30:47):
same position. And you know, some they play with Kemba
Walker and they play with Edith Cantor or Daniel Thice
and like the those three guys rotate positions. Sometimes the
Celtics play a line up with all four of them
and they play Jalen or Hayward as the the quote
unquote point guard in those lineups. And I I, Ricky,
(31:07):
I wonder, you know, if we put Tatum on the
rockets and we had him play Harden's job. I mean,
how good do we think that he would be? Like
we think he would be pretty phenomenal. Right now, maybe
he would not shoot as many three pointers and he
he would be shooting more you know, twenty footers or whatever,
and that would that would make him you know, not
an m D P. Cannon or whatever. But I mean,
(31:28):
do you think the fact that there are so many
overlapping skill sets on that Celtics team, do you think that, uh,
you know, harms him. I mean if you asked me
at the beginning of the year, I would have said yes,
But watching how his performance progressed, I don't think so.
I think, you know, even with so many similar skill sets,
by the time the NBA season had gone to pass,
(31:51):
this was Jason Tatum's team. I mean, Kemba Walker was
the guy you thought was gonna step in and kind
of be that guy. And all of a sudden, we
were talking about Jason Tatum over twenty points per game.
Mind you Kemba Walker, Gordon Hayward, Remember he had the
lower body issue that cost him some time. I mean
there was there was times where Jayson Tatum had to
(32:12):
act as the guy. But even when everyone returned, Jayson Tatum,
you know, taking a majority of the shots, I mean,
improving that three point shot, which I mean it still
could use approvement, but he was almost last year, so
that was really impressive to me. And like you said,
I think he has the ability looking at this, you know,
all of a sudden, like elite scoring set up for him.
(32:33):
He has the ability to be a top five player
in the NBA. So, yes, the skill sets are similar.
And yes, at the beginning of the year it looked
like no one was going to separate. But you took
Gordon Hayward out for a while and Jayson Tatum became
the number one Jaylen Brown became like the secondary guy
if they needed him, who could attack the basket, and
Gordon Hayward was like the all around players. So I
(32:53):
think the roles developed where Tatum actually was the number
one guy. Yeah, I I think it is. I think
that's probably true. So Middleton Tatum, no arguments there. Uh
these are the guards. I think that are candidates Russell Westbrook,
Chris Paul Kemba Walker, Kyle Lowry, Donovan Mitchell, and Ben Simmons.
(33:14):
Lets let us not forget that Ben Simmons is actually
a point guard, even if he doesn't shoot. For me,
Trey Young not gonna make it. The Hawks are too bad.
Trey Young is too bad on defense. Um. I Trey
Young's time will come. He will make an All NBA
team in his career. I I agree with you that
he is a phenomenal Uh. You know offensive player, right,
(33:35):
he is one of the driving forces of unfortunately bad team.
And and you know, just like it took John Wall
and Bradley Beale and and Devin Booker time for uh,
you know, the NBA to recognize how great they are,
it's going to take a little bit of time for
Tray Young as well. I mean, just comparing guys on
bad teams who are good offensive guards, I mean I
would go I would go Devin Booker over Trey Young
(33:59):
as productive guard on a bad team. Do you do
you agree or disagree with that take? I would go
Trey Young from this year only. And I'm like a
Devin Booker fanboy, but I just think the way Trey
Young kept that team in games. Uh, they did lose
some games horribly, but the fact that you look at
the supporting cast around Trey Young, it was a bunch
(34:21):
of rookies. When John Collins was out, it was a
bunch of nobodies. It was Jabari Parker who didn't play
any defense. It was a grouping of centers who you
would never have any faith in. And Trey Young was
able to score enough in games where they had no
business being in that that he could keep a group
of basically subpar NBA players competitive at all. The fact
(34:42):
that they didn't lose every single game was was impressive
enough to me. Um. But I think Jimmy Butler, who
we left off the other teams, I think I kind
of overlooked him. He probably we we put him on
the second team. Okay, we officially did that. That I
don't feel as bad. Um Okay, then yeah, Then Trey
Young I do think belongs here. But you know there,
there's no one in their right mind that would call
(35:02):
Trey Young like an all around player. It's just because
of his elite offensive skill set cancels out is the
defensive flaws to a degree. If you had the guess
right now, where do you think Trey Young stands in
usage rate amongst all NBA players? He was way up there.
I would say third, fourth. Uh So Janice at thirty
(35:27):
seven percent, thirty thirty seven point for Don at thirty
seven hard and thirty six point for Trey Young thirty
four point nine. Uh there are fourteen guys who are
above Trey Young. Is Trey Young is one of them?
And you know what's you know what's interesting, Rick, We've
been having this whole conversation, we have yet to mention.
(35:50):
I mean we just mentioned Ben Simmons, but we haven't
mentioned Joel Embiid. We have not mentioned you know, just
gave a small mention there to uh, to our boy Ben.
Haven't Talkedford and haven't talked to Bias Harris. And you know,
theoretically the seventies sixers are supposed to be one of
the five or six best teams in the NBA. They're
supposed to have all these duds. I mean, Joel Embiide
has a thirty two pent usage rate. Uh. He has
(36:13):
five point six wind shares this year. That is the
same as Trey Young. Uh. And that is you know,
that is with less game time, right, that is with
only playing in forty four games. His wind shares per
forty eight for Embiid is really high, right. He is
you know, more than Chris Paul, more than you know,
(36:33):
a lot of these other guys. And we also have
not mentioned Karl Anthony Towns. Like. It seems crazy to
have gone through all this conversation and not mentioned either
of those guys. And I have um, I have a
I always do this with third team all NBA. I
actually always when I when I do this. I put
Rudy Gobert out as my third team All NBA center
(36:55):
because the only reason the center position still exists in
the NBHA pretty much is d offense. Like the guys
who are incredible defenders are the centers that you would
want on your team. And I don't think there is
a I don't think there's been a better defensive player
in the NBA in the last five years than Gobert.
Teams do not make buckets at the rim against Utah.
(37:16):
They just don't. It just does not happen. Yeah, So
I think the media might be hard pressed to vote
Gilbert because they any awards this year. They kind of
feel like he caused the coronavirus, like it would actually
came from him rubbing the mic and that was what
ended the NBA season, even though that's obviously not what happened,
(37:37):
and he apologized for what he did. But I actually
think bam Oto Bio is in that conversation as well.
I mean, Joel Embiid is like the flashy option who
gives you the points. Uh, Rudy Gobert is the guy
who is absolutely elite defensively, but you look at the
wind share numbers, bam Autobio not that far behind Rudy
Gobert in terms of defensive wind cheers or wind cheers
(37:59):
in total. And he gives you the offense as well.
He's a good path or he's not quite Nickel Yokich,
but he's a guy twenty three point six percent as
sist right last year. By the comparison, Rudy Gobert six
point five. I mean, bam mot of Bio over a
seventeen percent rebound rate. That wasn't, you know, quite the
same as Rudy Gobert, who was at two percent. But
(38:19):
bamat of Bio was like your other all around center
who could get it done at the rim, who could
pass if you know he was caught at the top
of the key, and he actually could hit a mid
range shot as well. A true shooting percentage of sixty
six percent for bam mate Bio pretty pretty good. I
would argue that it's a three man race for center
(38:39):
for the third team between him and beating Gobert, and
I just I'm mad at Gobert for what he did.
It's I don't think he caused the whole thing, but
because of that, mentally, I can't vote for him, So
I think I would go bamat of Baio here. Yeah,
I think that's fair. So so my my third team
is gonna be uh Russell Westbrook. It's gonna be Devin Booker,
(39:01):
controversial or not, Chris Middleton, Jason. Actually, you know what
I'm gonna rescind that, I'm going off the board. I'm
going my boy, Marcus Smart third team All NBA. I
love Marcus Smart, It's my TV show. I get to
do what I want, Middleton, Tatum, and Uh I am
gonna give it to Bam Auto Bio as as our
third team center. We're gonna go ahead and head into
our last break. Now. When we return, we're gonna talk
(39:23):
one of the most disappointing All Rookie teams of all time.
A lot of bad players are going to get All
Rookie this year. See you guys on the other side
of break. Sports grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
(39:44):
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Hello, everyone, and welcome
back from break here on the daily Road to hour
on Sports Greed TV on Davis Maddock going today by
Ricky Sanders going through all of our NBA awards. Before
we dive into a disgusting all rookie team, let's go
(40:08):
ahead and nominate are all defensive player. I don't I
don't care that Rudy Gobert is the cause of everything
bad in the world, in the universe that he is.
Rudy Gobert is the super spreader of the coronavirus. He's
the reason that we don't have pro sports in America. Ricky,
I am going with my boy, Rudy Gobert. He's that good.
He he caused a global pandemic and he's still so
(40:29):
good that I'm voting for him for NBA Defensive Player
of the Year. Donovan Mitchell has not forgiven in but
Davis Maddock has. I'm going to chalk up led the
league in defensivelyn shares, he led the league in defensive
box plus minus, and he's probably the m v P.
So what the hell give him the defensive player too? Uh?
(40:50):
Do you do you really like? Do you think that's fair? I?
I don't know. I don't. I do not know if
that's fair. I think there there is a chance that
Janice is a good defensive player, but not defensive player
of the year worthy. So one thing I noticed with
the Bucks all year long is they were able to
funnel teams. They literally forced the most three point shots
(41:10):
against them, and we're just dominant defensively in the paint.
And I think that was a cooperative effort the guards
forcing him inside, then Brook Lopez and Janna's protecting the rim,
and Janna's being basically able to guard five positions. So
from a defensive scheme, the way they guarded actually was
was very poor for for players against them. Like obviously
(41:32):
every once in a while you get an outlier shooting performance,
but it was low percentage shots against them, So it
was partially the scheme, but I think you needed Jannas
to be part of that scheme to force people away
from the basket. So, like, from that perspective, I do
think it's warranted. Yeah, I mean, I'm not arguing against it,
like Janna is clearly just by the factor of being
that big in that athletic it's it's hard to uh,
(41:56):
It's just it's hard to argue against him being a
really impactful defensive player all so um, I have heard
it argued that Anthony Davis should be on that list.
You know, I I don't really know if uh, I
don't really know. I I guess my first team All
NBA would my my first team All Defense would probably
be like Chris Paul, Marcus Smart, Janice, Anthony Davis, and
(42:23):
uh Rudy Gobert. I think that would probably be my
first team All Defense might be might be getting there
on I might be getting there on reputation for Chris Paul,
But that was just off the top of my head,
who I thought was probably the most impactful. Yeah, I'd
want to play a two center set because those are
the ones who always put up the like defensive wind
share numbers, which makes sense because they're the last line
of defense. But if you can play Anthony Davis the
(42:46):
power forward, it makes it easier. I think it's Janice,
Anthony Davis, go bear. I think you still probably have
to put Lebron there, who was way up there in
defensive wind shares seven then defensive wind shares. Yeah, then
it's you know, pick your guard. We can play. You
can play Lebron at point guard in the death lineup.
(43:07):
That's true, way still up there. I think I'd probably
have him, you know, if it's one game, I think
why Leonard would be excellent defending to where am I.
I'm be honest, Davis Gobert, I think I have a
full team Hawai and Lebron James. Yeah, I think that's um.
I think that's probably fair. All right, we've been we've
been putting it off literally to the end of the show.
(43:28):
Let's just let's just do it. Let's just get done
with our our first team all rookie. So there are
three locks, which are John Morant at point guard, Zion
at power forward or center, whichever way you you want
to do that. And then I think I think Brandon
Clark as well should should probably be should probably be
(43:48):
in there. I mean he was part of a team
that is right now sitting in a playoff spot. No
one expected them to make the playoffs. A lot of
people probably expected they were gonna be really bad. So
I think I think those three guys are in there
for sure. And uh, you know the last two spots.
I mean, it can go in any direction. Yeah, I mean,
(44:08):
Brandon Clark was just awesome by the way, he developed
a shot which we didn't really see coming. We thought
coming out of the draft he was a guy who
would be great in the role and the pick and roll.
True shooting rank ninth in the NBA with Brandon Clark,
So he was just I mean, he was a guy
who got a lot of his work done down by
the basket. But if you watched him, he was shooting
threes with a pretty smooth motion that he developed in
(44:30):
the off season. I thought he was really impressive. But
then rounding it out, it gets difficult and it depends
what you prioritize. Kendrick Nunn started the season looking like
he was going to end up on this list basically
by default, and I don't think he was able to
keep the moment of going um. I mean, thirty six
percent from behind the arc was was very nice. But
(44:54):
it's like Cody Kobe White was kind of ascending as
the season ended. The Fine know nine games of Kobe
White season, Davis twenty four points per game over five
assists per game. He had a forty six thirty nine
nineties shooting UH slash line, so forty six from the field,
thirty nine from behind the art nine from free throw
(45:16):
during that nine game stretch, And I know nine games
doesn't make a season, but he was becoming one of
the Bull's top two options on offense, where I think
Ken Nunne was kind of just whatever was happening that
night was where he fell. And I think there's a
case to be made that Kobe White is the next
guard on this rookie team. I don't hate the idea
(45:36):
of Kobe White just because, like sure, reward reward the
performances that you think are outstanding. You know, he was
on a bad team, was playing off the bench for
a ton of it. But you know, did he play
better at least for at least for stretches than Kendrick Nunn,
then Terrence Davis, then Michael Porter Jr. Sure, Yeah, yeah,
(45:58):
I think I think he probably. I think he probably did.
My the guys that I would fill that out with
would be Tyler hierro Um. I think I think none.
And here were the guys they played. They were rookies
who were forced to play meaningful minutes for a team
that what I think their third in the East as
it sits right now. Now, Maybe they aren't, Maybe they aren't,
(46:21):
you know, actually the third best team in the East
for a lot of different reasons. But I mean those
guys were super good. I mean, Tyler hero Is gonna
have like a career as a three point shooter for
a long time. But Kendrick Nunne, I mean he just
straight up came into the NBA and was giving like
thirty minutes a night, fifteen points a game, three assists
(46:43):
a game, was shooting good from the field, you from three,
uh effective field go percentage. I mean that like that guy,
he could be the fourth best player on any team
in the n b A. And uh he was, you know,
not not like a highly touted player coming out of
college or anything like that. No, he was undrafted because
(47:05):
he had some character issues, so we call it coming
out of Illinois. Uh he was. I think he was
arrested on a domestic battery charge and then Illinois taught him.
He went to Oakland, I think the University of Oakland,
and then was undrafted out of there. But clearly he
was a Division one quality player. It was just teams
(47:26):
weren't willing to take a shot on all the rest
of the package. But he turned out to be someone
that the Miami Heat took a shot on ended up
starting him, and the rest is history, shall we say,
But I think you can't leave Michael Porter Jr. Out
of this Like, Look, his performances were inconsistent, to say
in the least, but that was because of the role
that they were affording him. Basically towards the end of
(47:49):
the year, when he started getting twenty plus minutes a game,
we started to see why NBA scouts thought that this
was like an elite score in the long term in
the NBA. I think, you know, just for the this year,
certainly you can make the case to leave him off,
but including future value in it, I think Michael Porter Jr.
Has the chance to be the third best player from
this draft. And I just saw sparks of Michael Porter Jr.
(48:14):
You played in twelve minutes, you could get twenty points
out of him in the game. So it makes me
wonder what a full time Michael Porter Jr. Could look
like as soon as next year. I know that's kind
of some foreshadowing to award a guy a team, but
I think just because of this rookie class, he had
to be a top five guy anyways, So what the hell? Yeah,
I mean, I I don't have I don't have a
real problem with that. I mean, Michael Porter Jr. So
(48:38):
his per thirty six numbers pretty incredible. Per thirty six,
nineteen points, uh ten rebounds, were shooting fifty from two point,
shooting from three on five point five attempts per thirty
six minutes. Now, the issue you run into is he
started one game, played four team minutes per game, and
(49:00):
only played six hundred and seventy minutes in a forty
eight games total. So not, uh you know, not a
superstar studded record in terms of uh you know, actually
playing minutes. Some of the other guys that deserve consideration
for me, very similar to the arguments for Kendrick Nunn
and Hierro matthist Thible just because he was either a
(49:23):
starter or a sixth or seventh man for a team
that we expect to be really good, a team that
won a ton of games. Bible not a good offensive
player by in the stretch of the imagination basically, but
was a very solid defensive player. I mean one of
like I wink he made a second team All Defense
or whatever this year. I don't think that we should
(49:43):
be surprised. I also think There is another name that
we have neglected to mention yet, which is Eric Pascal
for the Golden State Warriors twenty seven minutes a night,
started twenty six games. Now, he played on a really
bad team, but he was fourteen points, five rebounds to assist,
you know, and was able to you know, was able
(50:05):
to be a presence out there. And just in terms
of like a a bad rookie class, I mean, why
why does Eric Pascal not deserve to be second team
All Rookie? Yeah? I remember the fantasy community calling him
Draymond Pascal during his starts when everyone was injured, just
because he had to do everything by default. Um, he
was more of a score and less of a passer,
(50:25):
you know, during that time, and it was just from
fantasy numbers. He wasn't actually anywhere near as good, but
you know, he he ended up being the number one
scoring option when they needed him to be, which was
weird from a jump shooting power forward, but hey, very weird.
He got the he got the job done. Some other
names I think we need to mention PJ. Washington, you know,
just just you know, solid all around player, good shooter. Um.
(50:49):
But these are the names that I think had a
shot to said if the season went on. Jackson hayes
Um was a guy who I thought brought the energy
off the bench. Maybe maybe he isn't quite in the
same tier as like. As the season went on, I
think we were gonna see more good things from these players,
just because his opportunity was probably weaning with Derrick Favors back.
(51:10):
But Ruey Hocchi Mora and Kevin Porter Jr. Were guys
I think we clearly we're going to see a lot
more of if that season went on and we were
just able to see them progress. Ruey Hocchi Mora, I
think there's a chance to be a really good player
for a really long time. I think he's just a
solid power forward. He has He's great by the basket,
seventy one percent shooting inside three feet in the basket. Uh,
(51:32):
he's solid on mid range jumpers. But Kevin Porter Jr.
Was a guy who looked like he could have sent
to like the second scoring option on Cleveland. We saw
it a few times. He dropped thirty points on the
heat in the game in February. I think Kevin Porter Jr.
Was a guy who they were going to start playing
more minutes than Jetty Osman, and we were just going
to see what he could do, and he looked like
he could be real life good. It's just the fact
(51:55):
that he was kind of an afterthought for so much
of the season and he had just started to get
it going that I don't think you can put them
in the same combo, But I think if we played
eighty two games consecutively, all of a sudden, Kevin Porter Jr.
Might Be Top ten. Some of the names we haven't
discussed who people are probably yelling at thera at their screens.
R J Barrett, PJ. Washington, Um Cam Reddish, Jared Culver.
(52:17):
I mean, there were some people arguing I'm sure for
DeAndre Hunter or Darius Garland, but not not quite making
our list. So everyone, thank you very much for watching
and listening to the Daily Road to Hour here on
sports Crid TV. Hope you are feeling entertained and informed
about all of the various NBA awards voting. Don't think
we'll see too much change here as we head into
(52:39):
the final eight games of the regular season. Once everyone
gets down to Orlando, we will see you back tomorrow
with more educational and entertaining content. Sports Cried dot Com
Betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips seven as our
team covers the most important topics in sports, waging, real
time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want
(53:02):
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