October 6, 2025 • 44 mins
Mort has Stephen Noh of The Sporting News back on the show, as per tradition, to predict this year's field of NBA awards!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Hi, and welcome to the NBA Podcast. My name is
Morton Jensen, and today we'll be doing our NBA twenty
twenty five twenty twenty six Awards predictions, and as is tradition,
I have senior MPa writer from the Sporting News, Stephano
at hands to give us his picks for this award.
(00:38):
I have my handy as well, Steph. How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I'm doing great. I am so thankful that we have
this tradition every year of me and you making terrible picks,
never mentioning them again, and then doing it all over
again next year. Right exactly?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I did Wait a second, Wait a second, didn't we
actually do an episode where we left our our I
think we did.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Hey, Taylor Jackets can still win that Coach of the
Year many maybe not last year, but it's coming some year.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
In the regol. Well, so we're only keeping it to
six awards. We're going MVP, DPOY, Rookie of the Year,
six Man, Most Improved, and Coach of the Year, because
that feels like those are the awards that most people
care about. Sure, yeah, so I have a feeling I
(01:27):
know where you're going with MVP. But I don't want
to steal the words out of your mouth. And let
me see if I can get a little bit surprised here.
Who do you have at MVP?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Same guy had last year, same guy had the year before,
Same guy who should have won it the last five years,
Nikola Jokic. I think that there's pretty much little argument
that he's the best player in the league. So I
don't understand why he doesn't just win every year.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's a fair argument. I'm going in a different direction,
but I want to stay with Djokis just for a
brief moment, because I agree he should have won it.
He had a near thirty point triple double average that
last year on a true shooting percentage was sixty six,
which is so latly ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, he he doesn't play for stats too. That's the
crazy thing. You know, if you took out his heaves,
he would be shooting, you know, another two percentage points
better on three pointers. He just doesn't care.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
No, he he is the type of guy where I
want to say, he's just kind of voting himself into
like the fabric of a game, and just by playing
the way that he does and applying his skill set,
he just automatically comes out with furry fifteen and ten
every night, which is preposterous. I agree with you that
(02:42):
he's the best player in the league. I don't think
it's even remotely close. But I do think that because
the door opened last season that Shay got it, that
for some reason, voters are looking elsewhere for this award,
And that's why I'm going in a different direction, even
though I do think we're gonna end up having the
same discussion at the end of next season as well,
where we're gonna like sit and look each other in
(03:04):
the eye. Got yeah, it should have been it should
have been joker. I'm actually going in a direction where
Derek Rose's Youngest MVP award is no longer gonna be
a thing. I'm going Wempy. I'm going for MVP. He
is going to be the youngest MVP in Leak history
(03:24):
because he has to do it this year. If he
doesn't do it this year, then he won't ever have
that mantle. So I do think the Spurs are a
little bit better than most people like give them credit for.
But I'm also acknowledging they will have to win at
least fifty games, and that's that can be tough like's
Deer and Fox is gonna be ready for the season.
(03:44):
Are the kids going to be, you know, influential in
terms of winning. Istefon Castle going to be better in
year two? Is Devin Vessel gonna have a bounce back here?
There are a lot of aspects like to pull into
that context within Wempy, but also year three of Wempy's
something inside of me just goes, oh boy, that could
be terrifying, absolutely terrifying.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, I have him down for some other awards. I
do not have him for MVP. I agree with you
that shay is probably gonna have a tough time repeating
just because of voter fatigue. And I don't want to say,
like I did have Jokic as my pick and I
deserve it winner last year. But that's not to discount
anything that shaded. I mean, shay Al said obviously an
(04:27):
incredible year. I think the thunder are going to be
the number one seed in the West again, like pretty handling.
It's definitely not a hot take. I mean everybody thinks that,
but I do think that, you know, the Nuggets, they
have a better team than last year. They get the
number two seed. I think that he's got a good
shot to go to your point, the Spurs, I'm not
as high on their team success. I'm not the first
(04:50):
person to say this either, but you know, their lack
of shooting kind of concerns me. I think that you know, Castle,
he was obviously good, he won the Rookie Year Award,
but I don't know, like if he's a super high
impact player quite yet. His efficiency was pretty rough. And
then you know they got a carve up minutes for
Dylan Harper. He's probably going to struggle as a rookie too.
(05:11):
It's really really rare for rookies again to have positive impact.
So that's kind of why I'm a little bit leery
on that fifty wins prediction.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
But what do you think? No, I agree with those concerns.
I wrote about this over at Forbes. He'll be up. Yeah, no,
it should be up now, And it's it basically, it's
it's the same points like the shooting, especially in the
year twenty twenty five and soon twenty twenty six, it's
just so utterly crucial. I mean, we've seen in close
hands with so many players who are you know, fair
(05:45):
enough open white like white open three point shooters, but
as soon as things begin to get a little bit serious,
as soon as defenses starts a key in on them,
they just become completely, you know, useless. And the Spurs
do have a handful of those guys where I'm like,
there are certain players you just can't play at the
same time, Like, do I trust a back court minutes
(06:08):
of Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle right off the bat,
I don't, I really don't. And even Fox himself is
not a natural three point shooter. There are a lot
of these elements that will play in so we'll see.
I also think that Wemby has to basically go as
nuclear as humanly possible in order to drag their asses
(06:30):
to fifty wins. And if he does that, then I
think the MVP conversation is going to be super interesting
because then it's gonna have some level of legs.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Do you want to hit on the other two guys
that everybody's gonna be talking about real quick? You like
either Giannis or Luca to finished above each other.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So that's the thing about the records, So I mean,
I don't trust the Bucks, but I do trust Giannis Luca.
Just man, everyone was skeptical when the initial reports came
out like that, oh he lost weight, he looks good.
Then he played at europe Basket and was like, oh,
the leak is in trouble. Now he's actually looking feisty.
(07:05):
He was playing great defense too, So I think Luca
has a pretty solid chance of getting into that conversation
as well, Like where do you rank the Bucks, because
like you have to have a winning product to be
among those names, Like if the Bucks are just playing
like five hundred ball, do you think Gianni's even has
(07:25):
a chance. I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I mean, I think that the bar is just so
so high, especially when you're talking about Jokic and some
of these other guys, And I think you're honest. If
he was on a better team, he could definitely win it.
I just I'm lower, much lower than consensus on the box.
I think their guards are terrible. I don't think you're
gonna be very good.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Well, I'm glad you said that, because I've been taking
it on the chin when I've criticized the Bucks. A
lot of people seem to believe that they're right into
the thick of things, where I'm like, oh, I can't
get there. I just can't get there. It feels like
there's sort of like a plane, they're hovering around the
plane area. I could be wrong about that, but I
would be very surprised if they if they finished higher.
(08:09):
But Luca feels like that this could be a good
year for him too, assuming the Lakers get off to
a good start.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think the problem with him winning
the award is that, you know, you need a lot
of clutch, signature shots, and it's kind of going to
be divvied up between him and Lebron. That's not to say,
of course, that you know, he's not going to be
an amazing player. He's not gonna have a great year.
It's just like I guess, at the bar is so high,
you got to be the best guy on a team
(08:37):
that's just kind of like so so talent around you,
which is why I like Yokis for that award.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yep, So let's move down to Defensive Player of the Year. Obviously,
when I have Wempy as the MVP, it's kind of
unavoidable to go with him for the Defensive Player of
the Year award as well. He should have won it
in his rookie season. In my opinion, so he's the
best defender in the league. I think he's proven that
two years in a row. Like granted, he didn't play
(09:04):
a whole lot of games last year. I think it
was forty six, so he didn't even make the threshold there.
But in my estimation, he's been been the league's best
defender for two years. If he strings together a season
where he plays, you know, over sixty five games and
preferably seventy plus the depths of an argument you have
to go to to argue someone above him will have
(09:25):
to be grotesquely efficient for me to buy into that.
He just he's that good of a defensive player. So
I think it's his.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
So I think the next award we're going to talk
about is Rookie of the Year? Are you also gonna
pick Wemby for that one?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
If I could, I would no, But like, do you
have someone else at the at the DPOY?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I do have Wemby, But and I had him, I
agree with you he should have won as a rookie.
He was probably gonna win it last year if he
made the sixty five games requirement. But the one thing
that I will push back on, yes, is a lot
a lot of voters for this award are not very
good at evaluating defense. What they do is they take
(10:08):
the best defensive team or one of the top five
defensive teams, pick the best defender on that team, and
that's who gets their vote. And they've I'm not going
to name names, but these people have outlined this process
and they defend it and they think it's a good one.
I think it's a terrible process. I think you should
actually be able to identify what makes a good defender
and just pick that guy. But going back to that point,
(10:31):
you know, the Spurs were not a good defense in
Wemby's rookie year. They were not a good defense last year.
They finished twenty fifth last year. Some of that was
because he got hurt. They were twentieth before he ended
his season with this blood cloth thing, though, So if
they finish fifteenth again, I mean even if they rise
five places, I still think a lot of voters are
(10:52):
not going to vote for him. And I don't know
if they're even going to get better next year, because
you know, they have stuff Castle, who is a very
gritty perimeter defender. Still not I would say amazing at
you know, knowing where he's supposed to be, but he
certainly has the potential to be a good defender. Fox
(11:13):
He's okay, he gets a lot of steels. He was
really bad as a young player, but he improved. Harrison
Barnes totally washed. I mean, like, I think his reputation
is as a good defender, and he was a good
defender in his days with the Warriors, but he's not
that guy anymore. Vaselle. I mean, I think he's good
in theory, but not great in practice. Like he's just
(11:34):
not consistent enough on the defensive end, even though he
has really good tools. Kelvin Johnson is totally awful. He's
going to play less. But like my point is that
you look at the Spurs roster and they just don't
have a lot of good defenders. Like Cornett's good, he's
gonna help. That's also going to hurt Wemby's on off
numbers though, which is one of the big arguments for
him winning this award. It's just his backups were so
(11:56):
terrible every single year that you look at, you know,
his off difference and it's like ninety nine percent every year.
So I don't know, what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Mark? That's an interesting perspective. I hate that voting process
with a passion of a thousand sons because that just
kind of defeats the purpose. It's it's a cop out
in my opinion. It's your point about the on off
numbers is super interesting. I hadn't even considered that now
that Cordnet is there and he's gonna like really protect
the rim, he's going to be this huge presence, you know,
(12:28):
near the basket for the stretches that Wenby isn't in there.
That's actually interesting. I hadn't even considered that there could
be you know, quote unquote a statistical argument against him
based on the acquisition of Cornet. That's interesting. That's something
I'm going to take in the back of my mind
a little bit. But yes, no, that the major issue
here has been a lack of defensive versatility for the Spurs.
(12:52):
And again, it's funny how the Spurs are basically lacking
in two of the most crucial areas right now around
it at the three and d's, I mean, god are
they They should be in the market for that big
time going into the trade.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Patrick Williams is out there.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
All right, so we're both going went beyond this one
in theory, but like you're saying that the voter pattern,
the pattern of the voters might discourage him from winning it.
So if it's not him Evan Motley, who we're looking at.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, Mobile, I don't think it's gonna win because of
voter For take again, I think a men's got a shot.
You know, it's going to be same kind of logic
that I outlined before. You know, these guys take a
top five defense best defensive player, so that's a man.
And also, I mean he'd be very deserving because you know,
most of the time it's going to be a big
man that wins this.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Award, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Shanoun I think he's an okay rim protective, but certainly
nowhere close to the best defender on the rockets, right,
I think the best defender is probably a man just
insane point of the point of attack. Defender can switch
on a bigger guys in a pinch. She's so so athletic,
and he's gonna make a ton of highlight plays and
big plays in the most important, you know, defensive situations.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
It's interesting if he wins, I don't think any one
of us would have sat there and said, oh, the
first player to win a dp o Y from the
Wemby draft class. Wouldn't be Wimby.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That would be funny.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, that wouldn't be That would be pretty funny.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
You always got a hetch to against Wemby's games played, right,
I mean, just looking at the size of him, where
I can't say with certainly they're gonna play sixty five games.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
No. I mean again, I think he's held up pretty well.
I mean, the Bluff Club was such a freak thing,
you know, so I don't think we've seen any pattern
materialize yet where we can justifiably say, oh, he's like
thrown to missing games. We'll see I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean with any of these guys, though, just the
six the five games requirement has really screwed up a
lot of these voting results. So you can never say
for certainty that any of these guys are going to
win this award.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
No, no, no, like, and that that is something that
I keep having in the back of my mind as well. Like,
let's assume the five best players in the league fail
to make that criteria of the of the games played,
and you're you have to go down like two or
three levels to find your MVP. The league is not
gonna love that either, Like at some point there's going
(15:28):
to have to be a conversation about we're we're a
little bit too aggressive on that.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah aside, Uh do you think they were, because I
think they I think sixty five games is too high.
I think that having a minimum games requirement is okay,
but it should probably be like sixty.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, I mean something along those areas where it's a
little further down. I wouldn't mind. It's just for me,
it's all about trying to find a balance, right, because
you just don't want to end up like giving the
MVP to you know, Jalen Brown or something that'd be
such of you know, it just be such a black
(16:02):
eye on the league. And if you're looking at the
edit through like, Okay, we want to have a game's requirement,
but you're also trying to avoid the evidence of players,
you know, burning out earlier and earlier because of all
the games. I don't know, you just have to figure
something out. I don't know the answer. Sixty games I
could go be, I could go behind that. That's fine.
I think that's that's reasonable. That's how how many games?
(16:23):
Then that's twenty two year allowed to miss.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, I love your podcast more because you're the only
podcast out there that hypes up trendon Watford for awards
and s. That's going to be criminal of Jalen Brown
wins one.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I'll take it. Let's move on to Rookie of the Year.
I think we're both pretty much on the Cooper flag train.
I'm assuming or.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, you know, he's going to have a huge role
on the maps. They don't have good shot creations, so
he's going to get the ball a lot. He's gonna
have to play all over the floor. Yeah. I think
I saw in the they had this GM survey that
they do every year, and nineteen out of twenty picked Cooper.
One guy picked con So okay, Yeah, I think I
(17:08):
think Cooper's like, I don't know what the odds are,
He's got to be an overwhelming favorite though.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah. Again, it always feels like it's the player who
gets to do the most that wins this award, right,
And I would just be flabbercasted if somehow, some way
that wasn't him, Like who else should it be?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, I mean Canippolo is gonna get a lot of
stats on the Hornets and he seems pretty NBA ready,
but I think Cooper's still gonna clips him. Yeah, pretty Italy.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
That was That was a quick one six Man of
the Year.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Do you want to give your pick for six Man first?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
So you want me to go now? I mean, look,
I actually I want to go first on this one
because all right, I'm gonna have to sell you on
it first, and you're gonna have to react. I have
ties Jones, tires.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Jones not gonna win the award man.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Look for the all right, So first thing is first,
the magic got better in terms of finding guards. They
needed guards. But when you look at it like the
at the overall starting lineup of things, like they're going
to start Desmond Bain and Jalen Suggs as the two
main guards. They're going to run their offers primarily through
Paolo and Franz. That's all fine and well. At the
(18:24):
end of the day, I still think you need someone
who can come in and just set the table, run
this show, call shit out. Tis Jones does that. I
think he's rock solid. I think he's been underappreciated for
a while, especially as a shooter. We know he's a
low turnover guy. We know he's not necessarily high volume,
(18:44):
but he's so efficient us also in terms of like
passing the ball, and he just he's so mistake three
free now on a team that is still going to
need like real genuine point guard production and who are
still a little short on shooting. I feel like, you know,
in totality, I wouldn't be surprised if he has an
(19:04):
increased offensive role from what he had in Phoenix and
Washington over the past two years. So I'm banking on Tis.
There's also the prime of his career right now to
come out this year, get more shots, have a bigger
role for the Magic and become like the six man
and at least the six man candidate. But I'm calling
him right now because I want someone who's multifaceted, and
(19:27):
I think he is, even if he's small man.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'm looking at his basketball reference page right now. I
did not realize he shot forty one percent from three
last year and also forty one percent the previous year
for the Wizards. So yeah, you're you're kind of selling
me on this. You know, he might start too many
games because we know that Suggs is perpetually hurt, just
like the insane Alex Caruso style defense that he plays.
(19:54):
But uh yeah, I mean you you kind of sold
me on this.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Mort I appreciate it. This so this wasn't Trenton Watford nonsense.
This is at least something that I it has, it
has some chance in hell at least. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
You know, the problem is, I think that he might
have a good case, but the way this award is
always given is just the guy that scores the most
points off the bench, right, and it's probably not gonna
be him.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, I hate that, by the way, So who do
you got.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I have the guy that's gonna score the most points
off the bench. I picked Dante DiVincenzo on the Wolves.
He's gonna have a much bigger opportunity with Nikhil Alexander
Walker going to the Hawks and Mike Conley getting super old. Yeah,
he was supposed to have this huge role. He was
(20:43):
supposed to be like the centerpiece of that trade for
the NBA Nerds because he was having this massive breakout
with the Knicks during the playoffs. Looked like he wasn't
afraid of taking any shot. But it just didn't happen.
He had a very slow start adjusting but if you
look at the season in two parts pre All Star,
post All Star, he was a lot better post All Star.
(21:04):
He couldn't really, I mean, his problem was he just
wasn't hitting shots for the most part in the first
half of the year. After the All Star break, he
hit forty four point seven percent of his threes. We
know this guy's a good shooter, so I mean he's
going to get a lot of opportunities. Julius Randall has
improved as a playmaker. We saw in the playoffs and
towards the later end of the season that Chris Finch
(21:25):
was using him. It's kind of like a point forward role.
He's gonna draw a lot of doubles kick out to
Dante's going to be wide open at too. Like ant
Ant's evolution is so crazy. You see him evolving, like
from the start of the playoffs to the end of
the playoffs every year, and as team started throwing more
double teams at him, he just figured out how to
(21:46):
make every pass, which was kind of cool to see
in real time. And again, Dante's just going to feast
off these wide open, catching shoot threes. He's also an
excellent movement shooter, can do a bunch of other stuff. Yeah,
so I think he's going to be on a good team,
score a lot of points. Voters are going to give
it to him.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I like that. That's a good one. I'm a big
Dante guy as well. I love that. Like, you know,
for us to go out of this podcast with Tias
and Dante as our two candidates for six men, I'm
satisfied here. I mean, look, I'm about to smoke a cigarette.
That's how Steph. I love that. I think that's a
really really good pick. The off ball gravity in particular,
(22:27):
I think is a really good point. It's going to
be interesting to see how and you know, takes that
next sleep. You know, we heard about him spending the
summer trying to establish more of a post game, and that,
in theory, is such a strong place to play make
out of a lot of people focus on the scoring
aspect of post play. I think that's just an excellent
(22:51):
placement to become a more of a passing hub. And
Dante his ability, as you said, like the movement shooting
him just moving off the ball, finding the right spots.
I think that's that's that's a really good shot. I
like that. I could definitely see it working out like that.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Did you hear how aunts learn from Michael Jordan that
you should not use your butt in the postage? Is
your upper back?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
No? I did not hear that. All right, give it
to me, what like what it's supposed to be? Like?
What the shoulders? The shoulder?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I guess so, I I mean that was basically like
the whole aggregated quote that I saw. I don't know
if it's super accurate, but yeah, Michael Jordan is not
a fan of the butt post ups.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Fair enough, And with that, we're moving on to most
improved player, and that's always a tough one. I think
I've been pretty fortunate in picking guys who I think
actually ended up having a real shot. And then last
year I went with threatened Watford, and all the goodwill
that I spent years building up just kind of crumpled
(23:55):
on top of me. I'm going in a different direction
this time around. I'm still going to go with a
young player's deff and I'm gonna go with a guy
who's found a new team and who cost absolutely nothing
for the Wizards to get Cam Whitmore. Okay, and I'll
(24:16):
I'll also tell you right off the bat how I
painted myself into a corner because two days before he
was traded to the Wizards, I was doing a Danish
pod and the guest I had on and I were
talking about the Wizards and we actually just said, oh,
they should go out and get Cam Whitmore because that
would be such a nice fit. And I stupid enough
(24:38):
went out and said, if they got Cam Whitmore, he's
gonna average twenty three right off the bat. Two days later,
it freaking happened. So now I can't back down I
said it, So I have to stand pad.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
So, I mean, they really need scoring. They have a
bunch of guys Ball can't score, Sar can't score. So
he's gonna get a lot of opportunities for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah yea, So like yeah, or maybe Bub Carrington becomes
the guy we'll see. But Cam Whitmore, if he's gonna
average twenty three points this season, it's almost impossible for
me to say he won't win MIP as well. So
Cam Witmore MIP. He also fits my personal criteria. He's
not a second here guy, he's not a former lottery pick.
(25:21):
Everything aligns. The stars have aligned Cam Witmore for MIP, so.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I'll tell you what I see when I watch Cam
Whitmore play and the rare times that Udoka does play him,
and why Udoka does not play him more is like
when you watch him very oftentimes he is in the
wrong position on offense, specifically, like he does not know
what plays his team's trying to run, and you can
(25:47):
see his teammates like constantly signaling to him, telling him
where he's supposed to be standing and stuff. Now is
that important on the Wizards, who are not going to
be a good team. That's also going to hurt your
case by the way, like these awards, as you know,
like they go to usually people on good teams. But
is that gonna matter on the Wizards? Probably not. He's
probably gonna have more of like a freelance style to
(26:09):
just do whatever he wants. And he is an absolutely
electric scorer. I mean, there's no doubt about that. He
is a super super talented score. I think he's like
there's a lot of similarities between him and Jonathan Kaminga
who also has some feel issues. But you know, he
has his fans in the league because if you give
him the ball and you tell him to get downhill,
people cannot stop him. Yeah, so, yeah, I think that's
(26:32):
an interesting pick. I think he's definitely gonna get more
playing time, which is like the big impediment for him
in Houston. Yes, I could get behind that.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I do agree with your points though, and I'm banking
on the concept of internal improvements. He was very young
when he came into the league. He just turned twenty
one this July. I'm banking on maturity development to come
in and you know, I feel I don't know if
he's ever gonna be necessary a high field player, but maybe,
(27:03):
like you said, that doesn't really matter initially, at least
not this year or next year, where the Wizards are
just trying to find something and see what sticks. Like
they're just throwing shit at the wall at this point,
which I think they should. I love their process. Yeah,
I don't know if the results are going to come,
which is fair enough, but like the way they've gone
about this entire rebuilding process, I'm a fan.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah sure, And also like honest feel, I don't mean
to be too hard because a lot of players are
like that as young players, and it is normal to
get a lot better. I don't think he's ever going
to be a high field player, but average, feel sure,
and there are a lot of good to great players
that are just average field players. Yeah, so I think
that is a reasonable path to success for him.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
So who do you get?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I got two players, one that could actually win the
award and one that has a mort Hipster pick. So
which one do you want first? Let's go with the
mort Hipster pick first and then wrap up with something.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Okay, so this guy's not gonna win. But Colin Gillespie,
what do you think about that name? Oh?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That's interesting? Okay, that is that is really hipster? How
many is he even gonna play? Well?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I mean, the Suns do not have great point guard depth.
They are gonna probably play Devin Booker there. Gillespie is
one of the only guys that actually plays like well
next to Devin Booker out of their guard lineup. I
didn't realize I was doing a little bit of research
for this, I didn't realize how good of a rebounder
he is. He averaged eleven Is that right? No? He
everaged eight rebounds in the G League. He had. This
(28:35):
guy's like six foot one. Yeah, I think he had
like a thirteen rebound game in college. He had a
game during the regular season. Last year we had twenty two,
ten and five. So you know, his big thing is like,
it's just hard to compete when you're six foot one defensively. Yeah,
so that's what's really limiting him in his minutes. But
you know, you talked about the need for a pure
(28:56):
point guard at times for teams. Gillespie is the guy
on the team that can that, right, Like he's a
very smart passer, good three point shooter. Yeah, I could
spread the floor. Well, he got just like a tiny
bit of opportunity and ran with it last year. You know,
he's earning the praises of people like Kevin Durant for
it's like being able to fit a role on the team.
(29:17):
So yeah, definitely not like a super high upside player,
I would say, but he should get a few more chances,
and I think he's I mean, I think he's already
kind of a fan favorite in Phoenix, but I think
it's only going to grow this year.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So we just went with former Villanova teammates.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yeah, there you go. Ryan Archidiacino is my other pick
for this award. Now, the other the real pick that
I have.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Oh, actually, by the way, I had to correct myself,
they weren't. They missed each other by year. My bad.
Yeah calling this already twenty six. Yeah, all right, he's old.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I mean, yeah, this is this is it for him.
He's gotta make a mark of year.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
But my the guy who I think is actually gonna
win or has a chance to win, is Asar Thompson O. Yep, yeah,
I think he's going to be a pretty popular pick.
He's really close to him then. I mean, like when
you look at I watched these guys at Ota at
Ote sorry in Atlanta when they were coming coming up,
and yeah, especially like defensively, they were very similar. I
(30:19):
would say a Star was actually like kind of a
better player defensively before he got into the league. And
you've seen signs of that. I mean he's already really
good on the ball, especially like we saw that in
the playoffs. He I think he's going to be an
all defensive type of guy. I mean, a man already
made it. I think a Sar is going to be
right there too. The problem with him is his offense sucks.
(30:42):
Can't shoot at all either kind of men. But a
man has shown the blueprint for how to make that work.
If these guys are just they're probably the best athletes
in the league. So they just put their heads down
and drive that people are not gonna be able to
stop him, which he can do. He's also a fantastic
offensive rebounder. That's something that he can contribute right away.
(31:03):
And you know, the Pistons are probably going to be
like a top four, top five team in the East,
so that also helps us case.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I like it. Yeah, I like it. The Thompson Tweens
twins generally speaking, I think are in for one hell
of a year. It feels like they have improved like
from year one a year or two and like the shooting, Yeah,
it's been like modest improvement. But now here's here are
two players who understand to how like they have the
(31:33):
field that we talked about before, Like they understand exactly
where to be. They understand how to integrate themselves, knowing
which weaknesses they have, knowing where they they how they
basically align themselves with the with the players on the
floor to avoid being an issue. Like there's a level
(31:53):
of insight into their own game, which I greatly appreciate.
I think this is a really really good chat. I
like it. There you go, Yeah, that's a good one.
That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, and I think he uh, I mean, I think
one of the main reasons why he isn't on the
same platform as a Men is just because, like he
had this weird blood cloth thing. It's totally over it now,
So the talent is certainly there. I think his health
stuff has been pretty freakish, so he should play a
full season this season.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, And like are they even? That's far away from
each other, Like when you adjust to a on a
per minute basis, it doesn't even feel like it, Like
they're pretty even. It's just one has a bigger platform
and a bigger role, And I think that's pretty normal
that that's the guy you pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, I mean, a Men was more of the point
guard growing up, so I think he has better ball skills,
which he's gonna be able to show on the rockets
this year for sure. Yeah, Sorrow is more of a
wing growing up all the time. But Yeah, I think
they're I think they're much closer than people realize. Yeah,
because and then I mean a Man gets like ninety
(32:59):
percent the coverage.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Right, he's featured, Yeah, where I think Yeah also is
kind of flying on the radar a little.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Bit, right, So I think that'll balance out this year.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Then let's wrap up with Coach of the Year and Steph,
you go first.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I'm gonna have to be a hometown homer. I live
in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I got a chance to listen to Quinn Snyder spout
cliches for forty five minutes yesterday at Hawks media Day.
He is not a coach that likes to give away
strategy during his pressers, but that's because he has very
innovative strategies. I think he's a super smart coach. He's
(33:42):
changed the way that the league has played, going five
out way before anyone else did with the Jazz, and
he's evolved with the times too. If you watch the
way the Hawks played and the way the Celtics played,
they both used their centers in this really strange alignment.
Where normally, you know, in these five outsets, we are
used to seeing this delay action where the center gets
(34:04):
the ball in the middle of the floor, does these
dribble handoffs stuff like that. Quinn puts these guys in
the slot, which is j J. Reddick talked about this
a little bit last year. It's like opens up the
floor quite a bit. It changes the defensive rotations and
it makes things a lot harder to guard. And the
guy that he has in that spot this year is
Christaps Porzingis, who has practiced. Like I said, the Celtics
(34:26):
were the other team that used this orientation a lot,
so Porzingis is already used to this. We've seen it
work in Boston with him. So I think they're going
to have an awesome offense just the personnel that they've
added Nikole Alexander Walker. They need that type of defender
to play next to Trey and Quinn talked about this
yesterday at the Hawks media day. Is they know that
(34:49):
every single night, every team is going to go at
Trey Young every time down the floor, so they need
these bigger guards that can help him out. So that's
going to be helpful. And you know, a team that
has been kind of around five hundred for every year
the Quinn's been there, I think he hasn't had very
good personnel to fit a style. Jalen Johnson's back, which
(35:12):
is huge, huge for them. He was so important for
them last year. Yeah, so I think everything is just
set up for Quinn to have a good narrative. He
has finished second and third in this award previously, but
he's never won it. So that's also like a nice
little narrative piece for a coach who has the respect
of everybody around the league but has not gotten quite
to that pinnacle yet.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Love it. I have two candidates, and the first is
out of necessity tied to my MVP depot. Why selection
of Wimby because if the Spurs do end up winning
fifty plus games, obviously there's going to be some chatter
about Mitch Johnson as an Coach of the Year candidate.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
What do you What do you think of Mitch by
the way, I think he's like a I don't know,
just like kind of just a guy.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
So I do think he did something extremely impressive last
year because obviously none of us knew that pop suddenly,
you know, had the whole thing, and him getting that
job that way was such a mind fuck for him.
I interviewed him in Paris as well, and for him
(36:22):
to come in and sort of apply his own way
of doing things and not just going off the traditional
Popovich blueprint. You know, he started, or at least he
tried to open up the floor way more, try to
put more emphasis on inside outside offense instead of you know,
with Pop it was very mid range oriented and like
(36:43):
paint touches first and then that would open up. He
sort of went the other direction, and for him to
just have the balls to do that in a year
where you didn't really know if Pop was kind of
gone back, but he had the balls to apply his
own set. Obviously, we know that the Pop and the
entire organization was behind him and supported him in doing so,
(37:03):
but I think it's takes some of Kahonas to actually
do it. I think that was interesting. I think now
we're going to enter a season where he's going to
have a full training camp under his belt. He's going
to have a whole summer to just look at stuff,
analyze stuff. So I I don't know if he's just
a guy, to be honest with you, I'm open to
the idea that he's more. We'll see, but I just
(37:26):
can't rule it out. If the Spurs do end up,
you know, winning a ton of games. The other name
I have is Tylu, and I understand that there would
be some saying, hey, you know what, it's tough to
give him that award since the Clippers are so deep
right now, but we have no idea what they're going
to go into, Like what is that Gawai situation going
(37:49):
to you know, ultimately lead into like is he going
to miss time because of that? What about the injury history?
It's a lot of them are old as fuck, Like
what are we looking at here? Are they going to
miss time? I just think Ty has his ability of
constantly coaching above his means, Like last season is a
perfect example. Rather because not a lot of people expected
(38:13):
the Clippers to be that good. He came in. He
set the tone like, we want to be one of
the best defenses in the league, and I didn't think
they had the personnel to do that, and they ended
up third that. That is just him putting in the schemes.
I love it. Yes, he did have Chris done at
the point. Chris will is one in one hell of
(38:34):
a point of attack defender, sooper much super underrated rim
protector by the way, So he did have some personnel.
But for him to constantly coach above his means is
something that I think will eventually lead to a Coach
of the Year award. And I wouldn't be shocked if
this was the year.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
So we're doing audio only listeners can't see Mort's background,
and he's got a Mercedes Bens in the background. He's
wearing a bunch of playing and it's pretty obvious that
Steve Walmer's gotten to you more.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I wish hey, Steve hit me up man, I would
god by the way that situation. I love how Kawhi
at media day went like, oh yeah, I don't pay
attention to clickbait, which is just like sir, the evidence
is beginning to mound up. I don't think there's a
(39:27):
lot of clickbait about it.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, Kawhi is one of one for sure. I like that,
uh tilupik though, you know, I think that he's pretty
good at creating a system that best fits his personnel.
He can go a ton of different ways, and he
has weird pieces, very weird pieces, I would say, so
it's gonna be a tricky coaching job. And I think
he's also like a very good motivator, which obviously is
(39:51):
gonna be important this year with how many distractions they
have around the team. So yeah, I could see him winning.
I can also see it going the complete obst ditrection though,
because like I said, yeah, a lot of tough pieces
to fit so I mean, really, the Clippers could be terrible.
They could be the number two team in the West,
and I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
There is a name that I want to ask you
about because I don't have him up in that echelon.
But I'm always open to coaches also improving. I think
it's a preposterous notion that the only players improve. We've
seen Jamal mostly in Orlando, you know, continuously double down
on defense to a point where it became a little ridiculous,
like where he needed offensive production, you know, and then
(40:31):
he just blatantly refused to play a guy like Cole
Anthony for example. I know he's not a high end
offensive player, but they needed point production quite a few
times last year where he shied away from that. If
he comes back this year and it's far more inclined
to go, okay, you know, we can't just play defense.
(40:52):
We actually need to play both sides of the ball.
I need to as a coach, put a little more
emphasis on the offensive side of the ball. Is there
a case to be made for him down the line,
because I feel like that's what he needs, just a
little bit more offensive creatativity, and then he's right up there.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I think I'll get a lot of votes if the
Magic are really good, which is quite possible. You know, Mosley,
if you have listened to me before read my stuff,
I'm very, very rarely critical of coaching, just because I
have a lot of respect for what those guys do.
I know that they know a lot more than I do,
and it's a super tough job. Actually, Moseley was a
guy that I did not like the way he was
(41:36):
coaching in previous years. I thought that when I watched
the Magic, they're very sloppy, very disorganized, look like he
just was not communicating his message well. But last year
I thought he was awesome. He'd like totally totally proved
me wrong. Yeah, but you know, he did do some
things that were not great, right, Like, I think he
(41:58):
still has not figured out the best way to utilize
Pella and France together, which, in fairness, I mean that
is a very difficult problem to solve. I think a
lot of coaches would struggle with that. So if you
can figure that out, I think that's going to be
the key to unlocking the Magic. And if he does
figure that out, yeah, he definitely deserves consideration for the award.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Stephano off the Sporting News. Tell the good people where
they can find your work, sir, and what you're working
on currently.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yeah, I mean I am writing stuff for Sporting News.
I am not tweeting nearly as much as I used to.
I don't want to give Elon that free money anymore.
But you can find me. Yeah, you find me at
on Twitter at steph no blue Sky at stephano bskwid
do app or whatever.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
Social yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah. And the things I'm working on are I just
put out a top one hundred and fifty starters list.
You can see where all five of your favorite teams
starters rank on this list. I'm doing my tope hundred defenders.
I'm the only person, i think, in a major media
outlet that ranks defenders up to one hundred, so that's
kind of fun. I've seen a lot of copycat lists too,
(43:09):
which is really fun. I'm glad that people are embracing
this idea and actually caring about the defensive side of
the ball.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining in on doing
the Awards Prediction Pod, Steph. I'll be talking to you
later in the year, probably after the awards have been
given out. Or we're closing in on the end of
the regular season and then we can make fun of
ourselves for being super wrong. As per Usue, I'm looking
forward to it.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
We'll see we should make a prediction on which is
going to be our most wrong?
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Are most wrong? Feels like six Man is such a yeah,
like that could be one. Yeah, it my piece.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Also, I think I'm gonna go with that MP.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
I think.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I mean a star seems like a reasonable pick. But yeah,
that award Oasis goes in a one hundred different directions exactly.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
All right, thank you for everyone for listening in, and
until we talk again, stay safe everyone,
Hi, and welcome to the NBA Podcast. My name is
Morton Jensen, and today we'll be doing our NBA twenty
twenty five twenty twenty six Awards predictions, and as is tradition,
I have senior MPa writer from the Sporting News, Stephano
at hands to give us his picks for this award.
(00:38):
I have my handy as well, Steph. How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I'm doing great. I am so thankful that we have
this tradition every year of me and you making terrible picks,
never mentioning them again, and then doing it all over
again next year. Right exactly?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I did Wait a second, Wait a second, didn't we
actually do an episode where we left our our I
think we did.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Hey, Taylor Jackets can still win that Coach of the
Year many maybe not last year, but it's coming some year.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
In the regol. Well, so we're only keeping it to
six awards. We're going MVP, DPOY, Rookie of the Year,
six Man, Most Improved, and Coach of the Year, because
that feels like those are the awards that most people
care about. Sure, yeah, so I have a feeling I
(01:27):
know where you're going with MVP. But I don't want
to steal the words out of your mouth. And let
me see if I can get a little bit surprised here.
Who do you have at MVP?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Same guy had last year, same guy had the year before,
Same guy who should have won it the last five years,
Nikola Jokic. I think that there's pretty much little argument
that he's the best player in the league. So I
don't understand why he doesn't just win every year.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's a fair argument. I'm going in a different direction,
but I want to stay with Djokis just for a
brief moment, because I agree he should have won it.
He had a near thirty point triple double average that
last year on a true shooting percentage was sixty six,
which is so latly ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, he he doesn't play for stats too. That's the
crazy thing. You know, if you took out his heaves,
he would be shooting, you know, another two percentage points
better on three pointers. He just doesn't care.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
No, he he is the type of guy where I
want to say, he's just kind of voting himself into
like the fabric of a game, and just by playing
the way that he does and applying his skill set,
he just automatically comes out with furry fifteen and ten
every night, which is preposterous. I agree with you that
(02:42):
he's the best player in the league. I don't think
it's even remotely close. But I do think that because
the door opened last season that Shay got it, that
for some reason, voters are looking elsewhere for this award,
And that's why I'm going in a different direction, even
though I do think we're gonna end up having the
same discussion at the end of next season as well,
where we're gonna like sit and look each other in
(03:04):
the eye. Got yeah, it should have been it should
have been joker. I'm actually going in a direction where
Derek Rose's Youngest MVP award is no longer gonna be
a thing. I'm going Wempy. I'm going for MVP. He
is going to be the youngest MVP in Leak history
(03:24):
because he has to do it this year. If he
doesn't do it this year, then he won't ever have
that mantle. So I do think the Spurs are a
little bit better than most people like give them credit for.
But I'm also acknowledging they will have to win at
least fifty games, and that's that can be tough like's
Deer and Fox is gonna be ready for the season.
(03:44):
Are the kids going to be, you know, influential in
terms of winning. Istefon Castle going to be better in
year two? Is Devin Vessel gonna have a bounce back here?
There are a lot of aspects like to pull into
that context within Wempy, but also year three of Wempy's
something inside of me just goes, oh boy, that could
be terrifying, absolutely terrifying.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, I have him down for some other awards. I
do not have him for MVP. I agree with you
that shay is probably gonna have a tough time repeating
just because of voter fatigue. And I don't want to say,
like I did have Jokic as my pick and I
deserve it winner last year. But that's not to discount
anything that shaded. I mean, shay Al said obviously an
(04:27):
incredible year. I think the thunder are going to be
the number one seed in the West again, like pretty handling.
It's definitely not a hot take. I mean everybody thinks that,
but I do think that, you know, the Nuggets, they
have a better team than last year. They get the
number two seed. I think that he's got a good
shot to go to your point, the Spurs, I'm not
as high on their team success. I'm not the first
(04:50):
person to say this either, but you know, their lack
of shooting kind of concerns me. I think that you know, Castle,
he was obviously good, he won the Rookie Year Award,
but I don't know, like if he's a super high
impact player quite yet. His efficiency was pretty rough. And
then you know they got a carve up minutes for
Dylan Harper. He's probably going to struggle as a rookie too.
(05:11):
It's really really rare for rookies again to have positive impact.
So that's kind of why I'm a little bit leery
on that fifty wins prediction.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
But what do you think? No, I agree with those concerns.
I wrote about this over at Forbes. He'll be up. Yeah, no,
it should be up now, And it's it basically, it's
it's the same points like the shooting, especially in the
year twenty twenty five and soon twenty twenty six, it's
just so utterly crucial. I mean, we've seen in close
hands with so many players who are you know, fair
(05:45):
enough open white like white open three point shooters, but
as soon as things begin to get a little bit serious,
as soon as defenses starts a key in on them,
they just become completely, you know, useless. And the Spurs
do have a handful of those guys where I'm like,
there are certain players you just can't play at the
same time, Like, do I trust a back court minutes
(06:08):
of Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle right off the bat,
I don't, I really don't. And even Fox himself is
not a natural three point shooter. There are a lot
of these elements that will play in so we'll see.
I also think that Wemby has to basically go as
nuclear as humanly possible in order to drag their asses
(06:30):
to fifty wins. And if he does that, then I
think the MVP conversation is going to be super interesting
because then it's gonna have some level of legs.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Do you want to hit on the other two guys
that everybody's gonna be talking about real quick? You like
either Giannis or Luca to finished above each other.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So that's the thing about the records, So I mean,
I don't trust the Bucks, but I do trust Giannis Luca.
Just man, everyone was skeptical when the initial reports came
out like that, oh he lost weight, he looks good.
Then he played at europe Basket and was like, oh,
the leak is in trouble. Now he's actually looking feisty.
(07:05):
He was playing great defense too, So I think Luca
has a pretty solid chance of getting into that conversation
as well, Like where do you rank the Bucks, because
like you have to have a winning product to be
among those names, Like if the Bucks are just playing
like five hundred ball, do you think Gianni's even has
(07:25):
a chance. I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I mean, I think that the bar is just so
so high, especially when you're talking about Jokic and some
of these other guys, And I think you're honest. If
he was on a better team, he could definitely win it.
I just I'm lower, much lower than consensus on the box.
I think their guards are terrible. I don't think you're
gonna be very good.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Well, I'm glad you said that, because I've been taking
it on the chin when I've criticized the Bucks. A
lot of people seem to believe that they're right into
the thick of things, where I'm like, oh, I can't
get there. I just can't get there. It feels like
there's sort of like a plane, they're hovering around the
plane area. I could be wrong about that, but I
would be very surprised if they if they finished higher.
(08:09):
But Luca feels like that this could be a good
year for him too, assuming the Lakers get off to
a good start.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think the problem with him winning
the award is that, you know, you need a lot
of clutch, signature shots, and it's kind of going to
be divvied up between him and Lebron. That's not to say,
of course, that you know, he's not going to be
an amazing player. He's not gonna have a great year.
It's just like I guess, at the bar is so high,
you got to be the best guy on a team
(08:37):
that's just kind of like so so talent around you,
which is why I like Yokis for that award.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yep, So let's move down to Defensive Player of the Year. Obviously,
when I have Wempy as the MVP, it's kind of
unavoidable to go with him for the Defensive Player of
the Year award as well. He should have won it
in his rookie season. In my opinion, so he's the
best defender in the league. I think he's proven that
two years in a row. Like granted, he didn't play
(09:04):
a whole lot of games last year. I think it
was forty six, so he didn't even make the threshold there.
But in my estimation, he's been been the league's best
defender for two years. If he strings together a season
where he plays, you know, over sixty five games and
preferably seventy plus the depths of an argument you have
to go to to argue someone above him will have
(09:25):
to be grotesquely efficient for me to buy into that.
He just he's that good of a defensive player. So
I think it's his.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
So I think the next award we're going to talk
about is Rookie of the Year? Are you also gonna
pick Wemby for that one?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
If I could, I would no, But like, do you
have someone else at the at the DPOY?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I do have Wemby, But and I had him, I
agree with you he should have won as a rookie.
He was probably gonna win it last year if he
made the sixty five games requirement. But the one thing
that I will push back on, yes, is a lot
a lot of voters for this award are not very
good at evaluating defense. What they do is they take
(10:08):
the best defensive team or one of the top five
defensive teams, pick the best defender on that team, and
that's who gets their vote. And they've I'm not going
to name names, but these people have outlined this process
and they defend it and they think it's a good one.
I think it's a terrible process. I think you should
actually be able to identify what makes a good defender
and just pick that guy. But going back to that point,
(10:31):
you know, the Spurs were not a good defense in
Wemby's rookie year. They were not a good defense last year.
They finished twenty fifth last year. Some of that was
because he got hurt. They were twentieth before he ended
his season with this blood cloth thing, though, So if
they finish fifteenth again, I mean even if they rise
five places, I still think a lot of voters are
(10:52):
not going to vote for him. And I don't know
if they're even going to get better next year, because
you know, they have stuff Castle, who is a very
gritty perimeter defender. Still not I would say amazing at
you know, knowing where he's supposed to be, but he
certainly has the potential to be a good defender. Fox
(11:13):
He's okay, he gets a lot of steels. He was
really bad as a young player, but he improved. Harrison
Barnes totally washed. I mean, like, I think his reputation
is as a good defender, and he was a good
defender in his days with the Warriors, but he's not
that guy anymore. Vaselle. I mean, I think he's good
in theory, but not great in practice. Like he's just
(11:34):
not consistent enough on the defensive end, even though he
has really good tools. Kelvin Johnson is totally awful. He's
going to play less. But like my point is that
you look at the Spurs roster and they just don't
have a lot of good defenders. Like Cornett's good, he's
gonna help. That's also going to hurt Wemby's on off
numbers though, which is one of the big arguments for
him winning this award. It's just his backups were so
(11:56):
terrible every single year that you look at, you know,
his off difference and it's like ninety nine percent every year.
So I don't know, what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Mark? That's an interesting perspective. I hate that voting process
with a passion of a thousand sons because that just
kind of defeats the purpose. It's it's a cop out
in my opinion. It's your point about the on off
numbers is super interesting. I hadn't even considered that now
that Cordnet is there and he's gonna like really protect
the rim, he's going to be this huge presence, you know,
(12:28):
near the basket for the stretches that Wenby isn't in there.
That's actually interesting. I hadn't even considered that there could
be you know, quote unquote a statistical argument against him
based on the acquisition of Cornet. That's interesting. That's something
I'm going to take in the back of my mind
a little bit. But yes, no, that the major issue
here has been a lack of defensive versatility for the Spurs.
(12:52):
And again, it's funny how the Spurs are basically lacking
in two of the most crucial areas right now around
it at the three and d's, I mean, god are
they They should be in the market for that big
time going into the trade.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Patrick Williams is out there.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
All right, so we're both going went beyond this one
in theory, but like you're saying that the voter pattern,
the pattern of the voters might discourage him from winning it.
So if it's not him Evan Motley, who we're looking at.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, Mobile, I don't think it's gonna win because of
voter For take again, I think a men's got a shot.
You know, it's going to be same kind of logic
that I outlined before. You know, these guys take a
top five defense best defensive player, so that's a man.
And also, I mean he'd be very deserving because you know,
most of the time it's going to be a big
man that wins this.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Award, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Shanoun I think he's an okay rim protective, but certainly
nowhere close to the best defender on the rockets, right,
I think the best defender is probably a man just
insane point of the point of attack. Defender can switch
on a bigger guys in a pinch. She's so so athletic,
and he's gonna make a ton of highlight plays and
big plays in the most important, you know, defensive situations.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
It's interesting if he wins, I don't think any one
of us would have sat there and said, oh, the
first player to win a dp o Y from the
Wemby draft class. Wouldn't be Wimby.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That would be funny.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, that wouldn't be That would be pretty funny.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
You always got a hetch to against Wemby's games played, right,
I mean, just looking at the size of him, where
I can't say with certainly they're gonna play sixty five games.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
No. I mean again, I think he's held up pretty well.
I mean, the Bluff Club was such a freak thing,
you know, so I don't think we've seen any pattern
materialize yet where we can justifiably say, oh, he's like
thrown to missing games. We'll see I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean with any of these guys, though, just the
six the five games requirement has really screwed up a
lot of these voting results. So you can never say
for certainty that any of these guys are going to
win this award.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
No, no, no, like, and that that is something that
I keep having in the back of my mind as well. Like,
let's assume the five best players in the league fail
to make that criteria of the of the games played,
and you're you have to go down like two or
three levels to find your MVP. The league is not
gonna love that either, Like at some point there's going
(15:28):
to have to be a conversation about we're we're a
little bit too aggressive on that.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah aside, Uh do you think they were, because I
think they I think sixty five games is too high.
I think that having a minimum games requirement is okay,
but it should probably be like sixty.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, I mean something along those areas where it's a
little further down. I wouldn't mind. It's just for me,
it's all about trying to find a balance, right, because
you just don't want to end up like giving the
MVP to you know, Jalen Brown or something that'd be
such of you know, it just be such a black
(16:02):
eye on the league. And if you're looking at the
edit through like, Okay, we want to have a game's requirement,
but you're also trying to avoid the evidence of players,
you know, burning out earlier and earlier because of all
the games. I don't know, you just have to figure
something out. I don't know the answer. Sixty games I
could go be, I could go behind that. That's fine.
I think that's that's reasonable. That's how how many games?
(16:23):
Then that's twenty two year allowed to miss.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, I love your podcast more because you're the only
podcast out there that hypes up trendon Watford for awards
and s. That's going to be criminal of Jalen Brown
wins one.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I'll take it. Let's move on to Rookie of the Year.
I think we're both pretty much on the Cooper flag train.
I'm assuming or.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, you know, he's going to have a huge role
on the maps. They don't have good shot creations, so
he's going to get the ball a lot. He's gonna
have to play all over the floor. Yeah. I think
I saw in the they had this GM survey that
they do every year, and nineteen out of twenty picked Cooper.
One guy picked con So okay, Yeah, I think I
(17:08):
think Cooper's like, I don't know what the odds are,
He's got to be an overwhelming favorite though.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah. Again, it always feels like it's the player who
gets to do the most that wins this award, right,
And I would just be flabbercasted if somehow, some way
that wasn't him, Like who else should it be?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, I mean Canippolo is gonna get a lot of
stats on the Hornets and he seems pretty NBA ready,
but I think Cooper's still gonna clips him. Yeah, pretty Italy.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
That was That was a quick one six Man of
the Year.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Do you want to give your pick for six Man first?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
So you want me to go now? I mean, look,
I actually I want to go first on this one
because all right, I'm gonna have to sell you on
it first, and you're gonna have to react. I have
ties Jones, tires.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Jones not gonna win the award man.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Look for the all right, So first thing is first,
the magic got better in terms of finding guards. They
needed guards. But when you look at it like the
at the overall starting lineup of things, like they're going
to start Desmond Bain and Jalen Suggs as the two
main guards. They're going to run their offers primarily through
Paolo and Franz. That's all fine and well. At the
(18:24):
end of the day, I still think you need someone
who can come in and just set the table, run
this show, call shit out. Tis Jones does that. I
think he's rock solid. I think he's been underappreciated for
a while, especially as a shooter. We know he's a
low turnover guy. We know he's not necessarily high volume,
(18:44):
but he's so efficient us also in terms of like
passing the ball, and he just he's so mistake three
free now on a team that is still going to
need like real genuine point guard production and who are
still a little short on shooting. I feel like, you know,
in totality, I wouldn't be surprised if he has an
(19:04):
increased offensive role from what he had in Phoenix and
Washington over the past two years. So I'm banking on Tis.
There's also the prime of his career right now to
come out this year, get more shots, have a bigger
role for the Magic and become like the six man
and at least the six man candidate. But I'm calling
him right now because I want someone who's multifaceted, and
(19:27):
I think he is, even if he's small man.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'm looking at his basketball reference page right now. I
did not realize he shot forty one percent from three
last year and also forty one percent the previous year
for the Wizards. So yeah, you're you're kind of selling
me on this. You know, he might start too many
games because we know that Suggs is perpetually hurt, just
like the insane Alex Caruso style defense that he plays.
(19:54):
But uh yeah, I mean you you kind of sold
me on this.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Mort I appreciate it. This so this wasn't Trenton Watford nonsense.
This is at least something that I it has, it
has some chance in hell at least. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
You know, the problem is, I think that he might
have a good case, but the way this award is
always given is just the guy that scores the most
points off the bench, right, and it's probably not gonna
be him.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, I hate that, by the way, So who do
you got.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I have the guy that's gonna score the most points
off the bench. I picked Dante DiVincenzo on the Wolves.
He's gonna have a much bigger opportunity with Nikhil Alexander
Walker going to the Hawks and Mike Conley getting super old. Yeah,
he was supposed to have this huge role. He was
(20:43):
supposed to be like the centerpiece of that trade for
the NBA Nerds because he was having this massive breakout
with the Knicks during the playoffs. Looked like he wasn't
afraid of taking any shot. But it just didn't happen.
He had a very slow start adjusting but if you
look at the season in two parts pre All Star,
post All Star, he was a lot better post All Star.
(21:04):
He couldn't really, I mean, his problem was he just
wasn't hitting shots for the most part in the first
half of the year. After the All Star break, he
hit forty four point seven percent of his threes. We
know this guy's a good shooter, so I mean he's
going to get a lot of opportunities. Julius Randall has
improved as a playmaker. We saw in the playoffs and
towards the later end of the season that Chris Finch
(21:25):
was using him. It's kind of like a point forward role.
He's gonna draw a lot of doubles kick out to
Dante's going to be wide open at too. Like ant
Ant's evolution is so crazy. You see him evolving, like
from the start of the playoffs to the end of
the playoffs every year, and as team started throwing more
double teams at him, he just figured out how to
(21:46):
make every pass, which was kind of cool to see
in real time. And again, Dante's just going to feast
off these wide open, catching shoot threes. He's also an
excellent movement shooter, can do a bunch of other stuff. Yeah,
so I think he's going to be on a good team,
score a lot of points. Voters are going to give
it to him.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I like that. That's a good one. I'm a big
Dante guy as well. I love that. Like, you know,
for us to go out of this podcast with Tias
and Dante as our two candidates for six men, I'm
satisfied here. I mean, look, I'm about to smoke a cigarette.
That's how Steph. I love that. I think that's a
really really good pick. The off ball gravity in particular,
(22:27):
I think is a really good point. It's going to
be interesting to see how and you know, takes that
next sleep. You know, we heard about him spending the
summer trying to establish more of a post game, and that,
in theory, is such a strong place to play make
out of a lot of people focus on the scoring
aspect of post play. I think that's just an excellent
(22:51):
placement to become a more of a passing hub. And
Dante his ability, as you said, like the movement shooting
him just moving off the ball, finding the right spots.
I think that's that's that's a really good shot. I
like that. I could definitely see it working out like that.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Did you hear how aunts learn from Michael Jordan that
you should not use your butt in the postage? Is
your upper back?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
No? I did not hear that. All right, give it
to me, what like what it's supposed to be? Like?
What the shoulders? The shoulder?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I guess so, I I mean that was basically like
the whole aggregated quote that I saw. I don't know
if it's super accurate, but yeah, Michael Jordan is not
a fan of the butt post ups.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Fair enough, And with that, we're moving on to most
improved player, and that's always a tough one. I think
I've been pretty fortunate in picking guys who I think
actually ended up having a real shot. And then last
year I went with threatened Watford, and all the goodwill
that I spent years building up just kind of crumpled
(23:55):
on top of me. I'm going in a different direction
this time around. I'm still going to go with a
young player's deff and I'm gonna go with a guy
who's found a new team and who cost absolutely nothing
for the Wizards to get Cam Whitmore. Okay, and I'll
(24:16):
I'll also tell you right off the bat how I
painted myself into a corner because two days before he
was traded to the Wizards, I was doing a Danish
pod and the guest I had on and I were
talking about the Wizards and we actually just said, oh,
they should go out and get Cam Whitmore because that
would be such a nice fit. And I stupid enough
(24:38):
went out and said, if they got Cam Whitmore, he's
gonna average twenty three right off the bat. Two days later,
it freaking happened. So now I can't back down I
said it, So I have to stand pad.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
So, I mean, they really need scoring. They have a
bunch of guys Ball can't score, Sar can't score. So
he's gonna get a lot of opportunities for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah yea, So like yeah, or maybe Bub Carrington becomes
the guy we'll see. But Cam Whitmore, if he's gonna
average twenty three points this season, it's almost impossible for
me to say he won't win MIP as well. So
Cam Witmore MIP. He also fits my personal criteria. He's
not a second here guy, he's not a former lottery pick.
(25:21):
Everything aligns. The stars have aligned Cam Witmore for MIP, so.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I'll tell you what I see when I watch Cam
Whitmore play and the rare times that Udoka does play him,
and why Udoka does not play him more is like
when you watch him very oftentimes he is in the
wrong position on offense, specifically, like he does not know
what plays his team's trying to run, and you can
(25:47):
see his teammates like constantly signaling to him, telling him
where he's supposed to be standing and stuff. Now is
that important on the Wizards, who are not going to
be a good team. That's also going to hurt your
case by the way, like these awards, as you know,
like they go to usually people on good teams. But
is that gonna matter on the Wizards? Probably not. He's
probably gonna have more of like a freelance style to
(26:09):
just do whatever he wants. And he is an absolutely
electric scorer. I mean, there's no doubt about that. He
is a super super talented score. I think he's like
there's a lot of similarities between him and Jonathan Kaminga
who also has some feel issues. But you know, he
has his fans in the league because if you give
him the ball and you tell him to get downhill,
people cannot stop him. Yeah, so, yeah, I think that's
(26:32):
an interesting pick. I think he's definitely gonna get more
playing time, which is like the big impediment for him
in Houston. Yes, I could get behind that.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I do agree with your points though, and I'm banking
on the concept of internal improvements. He was very young
when he came into the league. He just turned twenty
one this July. I'm banking on maturity development to come
in and you know, I feel I don't know if
he's ever gonna be necessary a high field player, but maybe,
(27:03):
like you said, that doesn't really matter initially, at least
not this year or next year, where the Wizards are
just trying to find something and see what sticks. Like
they're just throwing shit at the wall at this point,
which I think they should. I love their process. Yeah,
I don't know if the results are going to come,
which is fair enough, but like the way they've gone
about this entire rebuilding process, I'm a fan.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah sure, And also like honest feel, I don't mean
to be too hard because a lot of players are
like that as young players, and it is normal to
get a lot better. I don't think he's ever going
to be a high field player, but average, feel sure,
and there are a lot of good to great players
that are just average field players. Yeah, so I think
that is a reasonable path to success for him.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
So who do you get?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I got two players, one that could actually win the
award and one that has a mort Hipster pick. So
which one do you want first? Let's go with the
mort Hipster pick first and then wrap up with something.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Okay, so this guy's not gonna win. But Colin Gillespie,
what do you think about that name? Oh?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That's interesting? Okay, that is that is really hipster? How
many is he even gonna play? Well?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I mean, the Suns do not have great point guard depth.
They are gonna probably play Devin Booker there. Gillespie is
one of the only guys that actually plays like well
next to Devin Booker out of their guard lineup. I
didn't realize I was doing a little bit of research
for this, I didn't realize how good of a rebounder
he is. He averaged eleven Is that right? No? He
everaged eight rebounds in the G League. He had. This
(28:35):
guy's like six foot one. Yeah, I think he had
like a thirteen rebound game in college. He had a
game during the regular season. Last year we had twenty two,
ten and five. So you know, his big thing is like,
it's just hard to compete when you're six foot one defensively. Yeah,
so that's what's really limiting him in his minutes. But
you know, you talked about the need for a pure
(28:56):
point guard at times for teams. Gillespie is the guy
on the team that can that, right, Like he's a
very smart passer, good three point shooter. Yeah, I could
spread the floor. Well, he got just like a tiny
bit of opportunity and ran with it last year. You know,
he's earning the praises of people like Kevin Durant for
it's like being able to fit a role on the team.
(29:17):
So yeah, definitely not like a super high upside player,
I would say, but he should get a few more chances,
and I think he's I mean, I think he's already
kind of a fan favorite in Phoenix, but I think
it's only going to grow this year.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So we just went with former Villanova teammates.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yeah, there you go. Ryan Archidiacino is my other pick
for this award. Now, the other the real pick that
I have.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Oh, actually, by the way, I had to correct myself,
they weren't. They missed each other by year. My bad.
Yeah calling this already twenty six. Yeah, all right, he's old.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I mean, yeah, this is this is it for him.
He's gotta make a mark of year.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
But my the guy who I think is actually gonna
win or has a chance to win, is Asar Thompson O. Yep, yeah,
I think he's going to be a pretty popular pick.
He's really close to him then. I mean, like when
you look at I watched these guys at Ota at
Ote sorry in Atlanta when they were coming coming up,
and yeah, especially like defensively, they were very similar. I
(30:19):
would say a Star was actually like kind of a
better player defensively before he got into the league. And
you've seen signs of that. I mean he's already really
good on the ball, especially like we saw that in
the playoffs. He I think he's going to be an
all defensive type of guy. I mean, a man already
made it. I think a Sar is going to be
right there too. The problem with him is his offense sucks.
(30:42):
Can't shoot at all either kind of men. But a
man has shown the blueprint for how to make that work.
If these guys are just they're probably the best athletes
in the league. So they just put their heads down
and drive that people are not gonna be able to
stop him, which he can do. He's also a fantastic
offensive rebounder. That's something that he can contribute right away.
(31:03):
And you know, the Pistons are probably going to be
like a top four, top five team in the East,
so that also helps us case.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I like it. Yeah, I like it. The Thompson Tweens
twins generally speaking, I think are in for one hell
of a year. It feels like they have improved like
from year one a year or two and like the shooting, Yeah,
it's been like modest improvement. But now here's here are
two players who understand to how like they have the
(31:33):
field that we talked about before, Like they understand exactly
where to be. They understand how to integrate themselves, knowing
which weaknesses they have, knowing where they they how they
basically align themselves with the with the players on the
floor to avoid being an issue. Like there's a level
(31:53):
of insight into their own game, which I greatly appreciate.
I think this is a really really good chat. I
like it. There you go, Yeah, that's a good one.
That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, and I think he uh, I mean, I think
one of the main reasons why he isn't on the
same platform as a Men is just because, like he
had this weird blood cloth thing. It's totally over it now,
So the talent is certainly there. I think his health
stuff has been pretty freakish, so he should play a
full season this season.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, And like are they even? That's far away from
each other, Like when you adjust to a on a
per minute basis, it doesn't even feel like it, Like
they're pretty even. It's just one has a bigger platform
and a bigger role, And I think that's pretty normal
that that's the guy you pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, I mean, a Men was more of the point
guard growing up, so I think he has better ball skills,
which he's gonna be able to show on the rockets
this year for sure. Yeah, Sorrow is more of a
wing growing up all the time. But Yeah, I think
they're I think they're much closer than people realize. Yeah,
because and then I mean a Man gets like ninety
(32:59):
percent the coverage.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Right, he's featured, Yeah, where I think Yeah also is
kind of flying on the radar a little.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Bit, right, So I think that'll balance out this year.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Then let's wrap up with Coach of the Year and Steph,
you go first.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I'm gonna have to be a hometown homer. I live
in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I got a chance to listen to Quinn Snyder spout
cliches for forty five minutes yesterday at Hawks media Day.
He is not a coach that likes to give away
strategy during his pressers, but that's because he has very
innovative strategies. I think he's a super smart coach. He's
(33:42):
changed the way that the league has played, going five
out way before anyone else did with the Jazz, and
he's evolved with the times too. If you watch the
way the Hawks played and the way the Celtics played,
they both used their centers in this really strange alignment.
Where normally, you know, in these five outsets, we are
used to seeing this delay action where the center gets
(34:04):
the ball in the middle of the floor, does these
dribble handoffs stuff like that. Quinn puts these guys in
the slot, which is j J. Reddick talked about this
a little bit last year. It's like opens up the
floor quite a bit. It changes the defensive rotations and
it makes things a lot harder to guard. And the
guy that he has in that spot this year is
Christaps Porzingis, who has practiced. Like I said, the Celtics
(34:26):
were the other team that used this orientation a lot,
so Porzingis is already used to this. We've seen it
work in Boston with him. So I think they're going
to have an awesome offense just the personnel that they've
added Nikole Alexander Walker. They need that type of defender
to play next to Trey and Quinn talked about this
yesterday at the Hawks media day. Is they know that
(34:49):
every single night, every team is going to go at
Trey Young every time down the floor, so they need
these bigger guards that can help him out. So that's
going to be helpful. And you know, a team that
has been kind of around five hundred for every year
the Quinn's been there, I think he hasn't had very
good personnel to fit a style. Jalen Johnson's back, which
(35:12):
is huge, huge for them. He was so important for
them last year. Yeah, so I think everything is just
set up for Quinn to have a good narrative. He
has finished second and third in this award previously, but
he's never won it. So that's also like a nice
little narrative piece for a coach who has the respect
of everybody around the league but has not gotten quite
to that pinnacle yet.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Love it. I have two candidates, and the first is
out of necessity tied to my MVP depot. Why selection
of Wimby because if the Spurs do end up winning
fifty plus games, obviously there's going to be some chatter
about Mitch Johnson as an Coach of the Year candidate.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
What do you What do you think of Mitch by
the way, I think he's like a I don't know,
just like kind of just a guy.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
So I do think he did something extremely impressive last
year because obviously none of us knew that pop suddenly,
you know, had the whole thing, and him getting that
job that way was such a mind fuck for him.
I interviewed him in Paris as well, and for him
(36:22):
to come in and sort of apply his own way
of doing things and not just going off the traditional
Popovich blueprint. You know, he started, or at least he
tried to open up the floor way more, try to
put more emphasis on inside outside offense instead of you know,
with Pop it was very mid range oriented and like
(36:43):
paint touches first and then that would open up. He
sort of went the other direction, and for him to
just have the balls to do that in a year
where you didn't really know if Pop was kind of
gone back, but he had the balls to apply his
own set. Obviously, we know that the Pop and the
entire organization was behind him and supported him in doing so,
(37:03):
but I think it's takes some of Kahonas to actually
do it. I think that was interesting. I think now
we're going to enter a season where he's going to
have a full training camp under his belt. He's going
to have a whole summer to just look at stuff,
analyze stuff. So I I don't know if he's just
a guy, to be honest with you, I'm open to
the idea that he's more. We'll see, but I just
(37:26):
can't rule it out. If the Spurs do end up,
you know, winning a ton of games. The other name
I have is Tylu, and I understand that there would
be some saying, hey, you know what, it's tough to
give him that award since the Clippers are so deep
right now, but we have no idea what they're going
to go into, Like what is that Gawai situation going
(37:49):
to you know, ultimately lead into like is he going
to miss time because of that? What about the injury history?
It's a lot of them are old as fuck, Like
what are we looking at here? Are they going to
miss time? I just think Ty has his ability of
constantly coaching above his means, Like last season is a
perfect example. Rather because not a lot of people expected
(38:13):
the Clippers to be that good. He came in. He
set the tone like, we want to be one of
the best defenses in the league, and I didn't think
they had the personnel to do that, and they ended
up third that. That is just him putting in the schemes.
I love it. Yes, he did have Chris done at
the point. Chris will is one in one hell of
(38:34):
a point of attack defender, sooper much super underrated rim
protector by the way, So he did have some personnel.
But for him to constantly coach above his means is
something that I think will eventually lead to a Coach
of the Year award. And I wouldn't be shocked if
this was the year.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
So we're doing audio only listeners can't see Mort's background,
and he's got a Mercedes Bens in the background. He's
wearing a bunch of playing and it's pretty obvious that
Steve Walmer's gotten to you more.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I wish hey, Steve hit me up man, I would
god by the way that situation. I love how Kawhi
at media day went like, oh yeah, I don't pay
attention to clickbait, which is just like sir, the evidence
is beginning to mound up. I don't think there's a
(39:27):
lot of clickbait about it.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, Kawhi is one of one for sure. I like that,
uh tilupik though, you know, I think that he's pretty
good at creating a system that best fits his personnel.
He can go a ton of different ways, and he
has weird pieces, very weird pieces, I would say, so
it's gonna be a tricky coaching job. And I think
he's also like a very good motivator, which obviously is
(39:51):
gonna be important this year with how many distractions they
have around the team. So yeah, I could see him winning.
I can also see it going the complete obst ditrection though,
because like I said, yeah, a lot of tough pieces
to fit so I mean, really, the Clippers could be terrible.
They could be the number two team in the West,
and I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
There is a name that I want to ask you
about because I don't have him up in that echelon.
But I'm always open to coaches also improving. I think
it's a preposterous notion that the only players improve. We've
seen Jamal mostly in Orlando, you know, continuously double down
on defense to a point where it became a little ridiculous,
like where he needed offensive production, you know, and then
(40:31):
he just blatantly refused to play a guy like Cole
Anthony for example. I know he's not a high end
offensive player, but they needed point production quite a few
times last year where he shied away from that. If
he comes back this year and it's far more inclined
to go, okay, you know, we can't just play defense.
(40:52):
We actually need to play both sides of the ball.
I need to as a coach, put a little more
emphasis on the offensive side of the ball. Is there
a case to be made for him down the line,
because I feel like that's what he needs, just a
little bit more offensive creatativity, and then he's right up there.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I think I'll get a lot of votes if the
Magic are really good, which is quite possible. You know, Mosley,
if you have listened to me before read my stuff,
I'm very, very rarely critical of coaching, just because I
have a lot of respect for what those guys do.
I know that they know a lot more than I do,
and it's a super tough job. Actually, Moseley was a
guy that I did not like the way he was
(41:36):
coaching in previous years. I thought that when I watched
the Magic, they're very sloppy, very disorganized, look like he
just was not communicating his message well. But last year
I thought he was awesome. He'd like totally totally proved
me wrong. Yeah, but you know, he did do some
things that were not great, right, Like, I think he
(41:58):
still has not figured out the best way to utilize
Pella and France together, which, in fairness, I mean that
is a very difficult problem to solve. I think a
lot of coaches would struggle with that. So if you
can figure that out, I think that's going to be
the key to unlocking the Magic. And if he does
figure that out, yeah, he definitely deserves consideration for the award.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Stephano off the Sporting News. Tell the good people where
they can find your work, sir, and what you're working
on currently.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yeah, I mean I am writing stuff for Sporting News.
I am not tweeting nearly as much as I used to.
I don't want to give Elon that free money anymore.
But you can find me. Yeah, you find me at
on Twitter at steph no blue Sky at stephano bskwid
do app or whatever.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
Social yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah. And the things I'm working on are I just
put out a top one hundred and fifty starters list.
You can see where all five of your favorite teams
starters rank on this list. I'm doing my tope hundred defenders.
I'm the only person, i think, in a major media
outlet that ranks defenders up to one hundred, so that's
kind of fun. I've seen a lot of copycat lists too,
(43:09):
which is really fun. I'm glad that people are embracing
this idea and actually caring about the defensive side of
the ball.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining in on doing
the Awards Prediction Pod, Steph. I'll be talking to you
later in the year, probably after the awards have been
given out. Or we're closing in on the end of
the regular season and then we can make fun of
ourselves for being super wrong. As per Usue, I'm looking
forward to it.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
We'll see we should make a prediction on which is
going to be our most wrong?
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Are most wrong? Feels like six Man is such a yeah,
like that could be one. Yeah, it my piece.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Also, I think I'm gonna go with that MP.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
I think.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I mean a star seems like a reasonable pick. But yeah,
that award Oasis goes in a one hundred different directions exactly.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
All right, thank you for everyone for listening in, and
until we talk again, stay safe everyone,
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