Buckets and Beards - S3 Ep11 - Race to the MVP

0:00James, for three. Saturday at the Pfizer. Yeah! Go back! Oh, God! Give him a lift. Give him a lift. It is possible. Everything's fucking wrong! We're talking about practice. Welcome to another episode of the Buckets and Beards podcast where we're talking everything NBA and it has been an interesting fortnight with lots of stuff to get through. But how's your last fortnight been over there, George? It is certainly getting to the pointy end of the season and lots of intrigue around the next couple of weeks. Look, we do have something to talk about, which I don't think I was ever going to see again in our lifetime. But it is something interesting and one of our listeners, Ned, has been asking for us to talk about this on the old Spotify verse. So, let's get into your segment

1:00and then we'll have a chat about it. Let's do it. If you want to refresh your drink, I'll tell you, drink it. No matter what that cue call says. Promise? No. Alright, the brand is not telling us to drink it, but what is our extremely unofficial drink sponsor for our episode 11 of season 3? Our extremely unofficial drink sponsor today. We've had the brand before, but I don't believe we've had the flavor. So, we've got Canada Dry Ginger Ale since 1904. But a fruit splash variation today. So, it's a fruit splash. Cherry Ginger Ale. I think we just had the straight ginger ale before, but fruit splash bit a cherry in the ginger. Caffeine free. I'm going to run with this tasting like medicine again. We have had a few recently that have tasted like this. We're going to need to get something else it doesn't taste like cough syrup. Let's crack them. Solid cracks. Good crack.

2:00Cheers. Yep, fizzy medicine. It's a cherry flavor. It's a cherry flavor that makes it taste like medicine. It's very artificial cherry flavor. A little bit of medicine aftertaste coming through now. I get what you said. That's from that fake cherry taste. It's very very artificial that American, Canadian, artificial, just... No, that's exactly what we're doing today. Is down in South Beach. Miami. Bam out of bio. Breaking Kobe's 81 point game record to score 83 points. Now, I have a lot of feelings on this, but we'll give some background first, and then we can dig into it a little bit. Bam recorded the second highest scoring game with 83 points in a 150 to 129 win. So, some stats for your boss. He was 20 of 43 from the field, and 7 of 22 from the 3 point line.

3:0236 of 43 from the free throw line. So, 83 points in 42 minutes. Nine boards, three assists, two steals, two blocks, five turnovers to go. Yeah. Alright, so, here are some milestones for you that were achieved by Bam. So, as you just mentioned, second highest point scored. So, passing Kobe's 81, and only Wilts, one high. Only Wilton. He scored 43 points in the first half, which is a heat record. 31 points in the first quarter, also a heat record. And 40 points, obviously, in the second half, another heat record. And he's the first player in NBA history to score at least 70 points while shooting below 50% from the field. And it just came out of nowhere. Absolutely. It came out of, yes, it was against the Washington Wizards. Yes.

4:02Who are arguably having, if not, there were season in a long time, but one of the were seasons to NBA history. Agreed. It doesn't sit well with me because, obviously, we don't have the late great Kobe anymore. And I just find it's that little bit disrespectful, especially because of the tactics that they were employing at the end of the game to try and get him more shots. It was. And like, I remember Kobe's 81 point game. And at that, that season, the Lakers weren't good. And Kobe needed to score 81 points for them to have a chance of winning. Correct. And it didn't look unnatural for him to be doing that. Yes, he forced a lot of shots. Oh, well, there's famously one I remember from the corner. He got trapped, turned right. There were two players there. So he just spanned back over his left shoulder

5:03and shot a three from the corner. And he was standing there with him at net in Jalen Rose's face. And like, it's a core memory, basketball memory for me saying that short. But I, I, I, I, I'll admit, I haven't watched the full game. Neither have I watched the mini- I've seen the highlights. Yeah, I've seen the highlights. And it seems to me that without Tyler Hiro and Norman Powell playing those games, and Huckett's Jr. most of the season like they were missing a lot of their core players and the wizards I don't think really had a plan to for for BAM no they literally just left Alex ours who on the other end had quite a reasonable game he did like he finished with like 32 points like 15 rebounds one of his better one of his better games for the season but they left him on an island they were he was garden BAM at the three point line and then BAM would do his thing get by him or shoot the three

6:06and then BAM was literally dunking the ball with four wizard players just standing there just watching him do it and I was just like play some help defense do something like BAM is their only decent scoring option at the moment there's like play some team defense like show some pride in what you're doing out there there was no rotation there was no rotation they would literally just like I will let BAM do what he wants like after he scored 31 points in the first quarter I would have been like we need to be helping on this guy we need to be shutting him down because you do see teams and I can somewhat understand Miami's mentality of well what is let BAM get what he wants and we'll shut down everybody else and we've got a good chance to win this game when you're dealing with teams with a genuine superstar which BAM may or may not be that tactic can be effective sometimes yeah you know but 31 points in a quarter surely at that point you go we need to tweak some things here which is is that a breakdown on the coaching staff or is that a breakdown on the

7:08the wizard players just not giving a crap because their season sucks are they tanking that hard look it could be a bit of everything I feel like it's not that tricky to go my goodness bosses on a heater tonight let's run two players at him yeah like how tricky is that to just go all right we know that Kevin is the weakest shooter so we'll help off of him and like not that tricky it's not like he was going against like players like there he was put going up against a lot of top draft picks that the Wizards have had over the last couple of years and they've they've traded for and that sort of thing like it like Alexander's was not what number one draft pick yeah so like he's not a slaps yes he's taking a little longer to develop them probably what they expected but he was also 19 when they dropped it was also 19 yeah come and come and come out of Perth yes well France then Perth yes but like I don't know that I feel like there just needs to be an asterisk around it as well but like towards late in the game the Miami was they weren't playing

8:12basketball there wasn't any basketball being played it was literally just get banned the ball hopefully hoping he gets fouled and goes to line or does something or in the last couple of minutes Miami were fouling the Wizards to stop the clock yeah to get banned more sure and bam bam was telling them not to when he was on 79 there was actually video I saw later on which gave me a little more respect for bam I guess you could say but he was literally just like don't foul don't foul don't foul don't foul and then they did he was just like executive word but you know what at that point you just say you know what take me out I don't want it take me out we're going to win the game why was he on the court in the last three minutes of a game yeah 100% apart from to just trying there was a lot of defense playing that game by the way the score was like 150 to like 129 it was like it's a ridiculous and hard scoring game old school all start game essentially yeah 100% but look I sent you this statue in the weekend stuff and for somebody who has only ever

9:13averaged over 20 points for once in his career per for the whole season it was something like an eight like a I think it was like a five or six hundred percent increase in his scoring output for the season for that one game and in equivalent like Patrick Mahomes in the NFL would be the equivalent of him throwing 912 yards in a game which when you put it that way it is just obscene like it's just ridiculous but it's like I went Kobe he was averaging like mid 30s per game that year itself so like it was only like a bit over double what he was scoring it's it's almost it's almost the equivalent of when Derek Rose came off the bench for the T-wolves and dropped a 50 years yeah yeah that sort or Cory Brewer I think he did it if he had a standard Jennings dropping 55 but he's third game in the NBA whatever it was it's that sort of thing where it comes out of nowhere but yeah I'm with Cory Brewer dropping 50 when he was averaging

10:19eight points a game or something that one year that that was another one I think I think you're I think there needs to be an asterisk next to this too but you know I know spoke you know coach spokes command said oh we're unapologetic about getting him the record blah blah blah but I might I don't know man it just doesn't sit well with me just those tactics in the last few minutes I think it's our basketball fundamentalists a little bit the where we're a bit like questioning the ethics behind it if it was a close game and he needed to win the game no problem with it but the fact that they won that game by 20 why was he on the court in the last few minutes yeah and and I think that's where I'm sitting as well like in my gut I just don't like the fact that Bam's name's up there especially the way they did it yeah exactly that's a bit that the grinds my gears it's it's not necessarily that he is the one up there it's how they did it how they went about it and at the same time yeah if if Bam had shot 14 of 22 threes or something like

11:23that like I was having an absurd heater fair enough that can happen but to shoot 43 free throws in an NBA game but all ridiculous I'd like to see what others out there that are listening to this feel about bam drop in his 83 I might drop something on our Instagram and then we can discuss that next fortnight as well we'll have a look at what others think about it as I know Ned commented on our Spotify asking what we thought so here's our thing so I'll drop it look out for it over the next week let us know what your thoughts on Bam's game was and then we might discuss that a bit further down the line we can go from there there has been one major injury over the last couple days that I think we wanted to touch on one and another and an older reoccurring injury yeah one very significant injury and another one that's potentially going to have some ramifications down the track but yeah Cade Cunningham has is out more or less for the rest of the regular season

12:30with the class along which is not an easy thing to do but also a pretty uncomfortable thing to recover from and like it it's interesting that it happened in a game no broken rib yeah so to punch her along Detroit have come out and said that there's no rib break if there was a rib break it did it did make the recovery a lot a lot longer and a lot longer if you can but because they're saying there's no rib injury might like you don't really see injuries like that in like your NFL or even your AFL here in Australia and that sort of thing like they're a lot somehow got like an elbow under the ribs yeah up under the ribs just got under the ribs and going maybe I don't know I don't know how this one's happened how may that affect Detroit moving forward though because they are they have clinched number one spot in their conference yes and they've clinched their playoff and they've they've got their playoff spot but there are only four games clear of

13:34Boston and if Cade's out so what do they've played they've played 70 games now so they got 12 left you know they they need to go at least 500 in those games they drop a couple of games and could change their playoff position look positioning and and what they're looking at they're doing they're eight games ahead of Cleveland in fourth so they're not going to drop that far even I think dropping below New York or five and a half games behind them at the moment the nicks would have to win almost all of their games like we've always talked about health and how it's important that sort of thing but their offense revolves around Cade and Jiren so you take one of those guys out who's going to be the next guy to step up that's that's going to drop drop 20 points a game from that's the 52 million dollar question at the moment isn't it because we talked about this last fortnight about how their third option isn't really secure at the moment

14:34no you've either got like Duncan Robinson um can't remember anybody else off the top of my head at the moment but they've they've got a few guys that may come out and get that 15 to 20 points for you on a night but it's never the same person like Tobias Harris as well is it who's been there bounce around the league stealing money so today they knocked off the Warriors by 14 but the Warriors are going through injuries that they're not too surprised there no no no but but to your point Tobias Harris 13 points Duncan Robinson 11 Jalen during 23 a men Thompson had 8 Paul read 15 off the bench Rodden hole in 11 off the bench and a guy that they signed you know on a two way two way deal who they've now converted Danis Jenkins had 22 starting for Cade yeah right so it is going to take a group effort to to get this and that Jenkins that might be his opportunity the NBA that he

15:37needs yeah exactly because I've I've no I talk about it with a lot of people that the NBA is a lot about opportunity if you get the opportunity you need to grab with both hands and run with it yeah and then you that's where you're going to get your contracts that's where you're going to make your money but sometimes it's just hard to break in oh a thousand percent because you've got these good players are the legit good players that are riding the bench just because they can't get that back spot yeah you've got to get that going it's tough um and Yannis has heard his calf again Yannis is hyper extended his knee his knee this year so he the box of said dude shut it down and he said no I don't want to do that which which is a very Yannis thing to do it is a key wants to be out on that floor he wants to be winning he wants to be dominating yes um but this late in the season with where they're sitting because they're just out of the plane or they're just in the plane no I think they're just sitting outside just one yeah they're they're 11 they're 11 so they're out of the

16:41plane they're not going to make a decent run at it especially with their roster the way it is to be they're not going to make the plane they are seven and a half games behind Charlotte for that tenth spot so they're not going to make it well statistically they have a chance but we all know that 47% of statistics are made up on the spot with it it's highly unlike with it without Yannis though they're they're not going to be winning many games oh no they're really not they're cooked they're cooked and so yeah they've shut him down is there any other injuries that you think of top yet no look they're the big ones we talked about like Tatum coming back you just mentioned that the Warriors can't seem to get healthy at the moment they will probably still squeak into the plane and and look if if they can get healthy maybe they can cause someone some trouble but again I would have thought it's highly unlikely other than that it's more you're like Indiana just shut down Zubuck for the season you know Dallas and our Skyreys not coming back

17:48it's more that sort of stuff we're seeing but the Cade one is the impactful one for the playoffs and the Yannis one is perhaps impactful for next season and this might lead us into what we're going to be talking about next which is the playoff pitcher so we're looking looking at the playoff pitcher which I have up in front of me here at the moment in the west we have the play-in which is currently sitting the Warriors at 10 I'm going to play the Clippers at 9 so there's a game between them the trailblazers and the suns will be facing off in 7th and 8th for those last couple of seats so obviously the winners of those games will play against each other but we have a few teams so the Spurs recently when we hit a game winner the other day over the suns to clinch their playoff birth did you see them get around him when he used that first time that they have made

18:53the playoffs since 2019 yes and they're sitting second in the west it's crazy crazy how how good they are playing at the moment they're on a four game tear but it just goes to show it as we always bang on about is health when B is healthy this season and look what they're doing yeah but current teams that have clinched their playoff birth we've got Oklahoma City who are winning their northwest division and they're going to be top of that they've already won that division the Spurs is second they as I said clinch theirs the Lakers rockets nuggets Timberwolves and Suns have all secured them so the Suns will be sitting in the play in though and probably aren't going to be coming out of that as they have four games behind Minnesota yep so I'm not seeing them coming out of that play in tournaments so I reckon you've got top six teams there may be a little shuffling but it's going to be minimal really like at this

19:54point of the season where teams have somewhere between 10 and 12 games to go you know Denver Minnesota are all on the same essentially the same win lost percentage so that's where it could shuffle but yeah you're not going to see you know the Lakers are not going to catch San Antonio for the second seed that sort of things not going to happen yeah so at the moment you got thunder who will be playing the eighth seed which will be the winner out of the play in tournament you have the Lakers in Minnesota who will be squaring off in round one and the rockets and the nuggets and then the Spurs will play the seventh seed as well to give me some great playoff series there there will be some good playoff series it'll be interesting to see which we'll talk a little bit more about the Lakers and how good Luca Dontic is playing at the moment but we might touch on that a bit more but if we move over to the east we basically as I said technically

20:59Chicago and Milwaukee have an opportunity to make the playoffs but it is slim to not look like I said Milwaukee and Chicago would have to essentially win every one of their remaining games and Charlotte and Philly would have to like just completely trip over themselves where it's gonna be it's gonna be hard like because Charlotte is playing really good basketball at the moment it's surprisingly entertaining to watch it's so good to see them above 500 with a winning record and looking like they're going to tell you what though if you if you're Detroit and you do finish number one in Cades not 100% and you come up against Charlotte in that first round you're not going to be loving that matchup yeah but up the top we've got the teams that have clinched their playoff worth there's less of them in the east so we've got Detroit Boston New York and Cleveland yep have all clinched their playoff birth so you've got Toronto and Orlando who

22:06are sitting fifth and sixth could drop down to that play in because Orlando is only up on percentage over the horse at the moment and then Toronto is only a game ahead of them as well again there's that little bit of room for shuffling but the east is where the interest is especially now with Cade's injury and Boston and back to full health the east last year was so tight that we had some really good playoff series that went deep in the number of games like there wasn't many sweeps or just teams that just ran over the top of others like it is very tight from one to 10 it really is but at the moment you got the play in so we've got the hornets and the 76 is playing off in the play entornament and the heat and the hawks you like the heat and the hawks have played each other in the playing in some capacity for like the last three seasons in a row yeah but that was like the Jimmy Bully or down in Miami where they just cruise through the season

23:06and then all of a sudden they were like oh playing let's let's play off let's go it's also because they're two mediocre teams at the moment like there was a statistic going around a week or two ago where I don't remember the exact numbers but it was like over the last 60 games the hawks were 30 and 30 and over their last 84 games so 42 and 42 blah blah you know they are a 500 team yeah but I think the hawks and hornets have been playing really well at the moment and I don't think you can really count the 76s out no you can't like I'm bead hasn't been in the lineup for a lot of this season but Maxi's having a absolute balt over season like this is almost he's coming out party it's it's like everything it's just health but hornets are informing the hawks since the trade deadline have been gone from strength to strength Jalen Johnson is looking really good there at the hawks deserved his all-star nod and that sort of thing but I think those teams could be trouble

24:10coming out of that playing as I said if there's an unamanned pistons team like you could be could be looking at an upset there you know you're absolutely right like I don't think even in current form I don't think an Atlanta are going to trouble Boston but if Boston can get up to that number one a Detroit a second and Cade's not a hundred percent that that could be a series but no so pistons are first and they'll be playing the eight seed you got the Celtics sitting in second they'll be playing the seventh seed and at the moment as it lines up you've got the calves raptors yep which I think would be a really I think those teams match up pretty well against each other to be awfully honest I think they'll be good and then it would be a fossil versatile longtime friend Jakey Marshall the next magic which I'm sure would be having a few coffee bets on the out out better outcome of that game the sledgeing on that one will be so much fun our group chat will

25:12just be going off we'll speak into those games Jake Jakey does owe me a coffee for the Hawks getting the the win over the the magic during the week we have been keeping track of coffee bets of what we have we have and I believe me and you are one and one over our last two and we have paid we have paid up our bets we do we do but how good is player basketball it's it's like we say it's an 82 game preseason 82 game preseason 100 percent but moving on we are getting to so there's about that 10 to 12 games left for teams so we're moving into the business end of the season where there's some hand out awards yeah we thought we'd just do a little rapid fire here's what we think with the awards coming up and like we just mentioned Cade's injury is likely to preclude him from winning awards I think Joker can miss one or two more games she's getting pretty close yeah

26:18she's one or two more games and Wembee I think also he's only a hand you know maybe two three like there's only a few more games that those guys could miss and they would miss eligibility for for the postseason awards and it comes down to that like wanting to see the stars on the floor and stuff like I see why the NBA brought in that rule yeah to have the limited number of games and I think like this point of the season this is where you know as a franchise you want everyone on the court because you want to build that momentum leading into the playoffs so this is where teams like Detroit are at a disadvantage gold and state are at a disadvantage as opposed to Boston who just got Tade and back and are going to start to ramp and if OKC can get Jada back same thing like whilst they're playing amazing basketball without him but you add him to that that team and that rotation it only strengths and strengthens them further yeah 100% but I think number one in the MVP race has to be SGA again I think so

27:27with his almost 32 points of game shy under five rebounds and a little bit under seven assists he hasn't slowed down since last year like he won it last year putting up similar numbers here's the best player on the best team like it's unfortunate like a his style of play might be the best to watch some some games no I know that's based on him being dubbed the free throw merchant and you're saying this down but as I said to you before he's only third in the league for free throw attempts per game but I think it's the way that he flails around yeah I mean that's sort of stuff like it's not not pretty basketball no I don't I don't disagree with him he also has some excellent plays no no no but there's a lot of players from like come on man just be strong I don't disagree with you at all I really don't like yeah he he does throw his arms in the air and carry on a little bit but he's also a little guy but he he has has missed some games through injury but he has coming back strength like he had a 40 point game against Orlando a couple of

28:29nights ago and then another 35 and 15 assist 9 rebounds game against Denver to knock them off he holds the record for consecutive 20 plus point games like outright yeah all-time leader of that which is an incredibly difficult thing to do it's it's more than 120 games so he is has been in an incredible form as you say best player on the best team we had dinner during the weekend you know we were just talking nonsense and I said to you you know expansion franchise you give him the keys to a team who do you build around and you can pick any player in the league SGA's got to be one of those players he has to he has to be in that conversation he absolutely whether he's your pick or not is you know we can argue that to the cows come home but he has to be in that conversation the second player I reckon this one is a toss up between two go I'm going to put him out there so after the second half season for this guy second half of the season they are sitting

29:33currently third in the west you got to put Luca don to each other again he is leading the league in points per game and free throw attempts free throw attempts per game eight rebounds eight and a half assists like he's filling out the stat sheet and has his names in bright lights there in L.A. now that is that is his team the only all it took for him was to do is to get a divorce there's yeah we'll leave that alone the only knock on Luca is his defense he is defending better but lakers of late MVP is an defense no no I know but but late so Luca will give you the most points he also gives you more rebounds and assists than sga does but sga can defend and often is one of the league leaders in steals and he'd be there are thereabouts in this season that being the difference yeah wins and losses as we've said in the past do definitely factor into these conversations but your dead right Luca has to be in that conversation but in this span they've knocked off teams

30:35like the nicks and nuggets tumbles the heats the rockets twice like knocking off some big teams and in that span he's dropped a 60 point game a 50 point game a 41 point game a 31 point game and then he's also had three 30 point triple doubles in that time it's almost and he's knocked down big shots to win win 11 or last 12 lakers games it's almost as though LeBron's athletic feet have finally realized that this is genuinely Luca's I think I think now he's healthy because he's looking fit he is trying a bit harder on that defensive it because that I think when he was injured he'd be like I'm just gonna focus my energy on offense I don't worry about defense I think he's actually realized that he needs to be efficient and that he doesn't need to be the player to drop 30 or 40 or 90 if he comes out and gives them some of between 15 and 25 but shooting 10 of 12

31:37from the field and defending and as big perks as sliding those puppies that's where he can give the most benefit to that team you listen NBA to today too much I just love this in a big perk he makes me so happy um and the player I would put up there with him at the moment would be Victor Wemmyama Victor Wemmyama try again trying to like I got a second time I messed up the first time but they are currently sitting second in the west break out season first playoff run or playoff birth since 2019 and it was to put them get him that playoff birth he had a massive game over the suns hit the game winner he's averaging 24 11 and three blocks like I said for a bloke that 7 foot 11 rebounds does seem to live on the light side of things but the thing that can't be looked over

32:38with Victor is how many shots he alters with his yes it's not it's not on the stat sheet it's not a deflection it's not like there's there's that little bit of um fundamental basketball and old school basketball mentality that is like what he brings to the table like he makes everyone around him better oh you look at someone like I think it's SGA you look at his stats against every other team in the league and his shooting percentage within sort of mid-range and to the basket is elite up against the spurs it's like half because of Victor and that presence and that length and he just keeps on going from strengths to strengths as well obviously he's stayed relatively healthy this year has been on the court more they haven't shut him down like he he's worked hard to get his body right so he can be on the floor for his team like we keep saying with Victor he wants to win every but he's he's had plays for a double doubles in the last five games including a 39

33:44of 38 and a 34 point game double double like he's he wants to win he's you see you see it you see it in his thing and the celebration after hitting that game winner against the sun how his whole team got around him if you haven't watched it goes to watch the video of it and stuff like he was pumped I can't remember which game it was it was in the last fortnight where they got a close for win and he was in tears after the game basically like he he just all he wants to do is win this kid and it's it is it is going to change the league for the better what we've talked about in the last episode with the all-star game and and and Victor just wanting to win in that passion and drive to win it is going to change the NBA and I think we will be talking about him in some of the other award categories as well but number four I reckon you have to put Joker up there in that race for MVP because like he's just doing Joker things like 28 points bit under 13 rebounds and a bit under 11 sister game so he's averaging a triple double

34:49for another season we're talking about a guy averaging a triple double and we're saying he's going to finish fourth in the MVP race yeah crazy it's crazy isn't it but like I feel like we have Joker blindness now because this is just his every day I think too with Joker though since he's come back from his knee injury he's not being as efficient and the nuggets just aren't and playing as well as they have him I was gonna I was gonna say that that lately his turnovers have been a bit problematic like you sent me something during the week and it's like Joker almost had a quadruple double with 10 turnovers yeah that made me giggle he had nine assists in that game so he just missed out on the quality but yeah that's and they they dropped one to the gris who aren't a good team at the moment and you when with the West being so tight you can't drop those games you can't and you can see the frustration on Joker's face but you watched Dan for play at the moment Joker's not healthy he's not a hundred percent there's a wrist issue going on his shots not as

35:53efficient as it normally is I wouldn't be surprised if they're bundled out relatively early in in the playoffs and and Joker goes home and plays with his horses for the summer and just gets healthy gets his body right he just the nuggets as a as a team this season just have not been healthy the NBA is a grind though it is and you can you've seen that with teams like okay see who have just been struggling with injury this year after winning it last year like that took their toll on their young bodies like they were not ready to play that extra two months after the season oh the you know that will give fat boy a cheeky little shout out here because the worry is their whole season has been decimated by injuries Steph can't get on the court they've lost Jimmy Buckerts Horford's playing great for a dude that's 73 years old they traded Kamingo for Pozinga's now we can get into that another day but Pozinga's wasn't healthy when they

36:54traded for him either so and he's been in and out of their lineup with little niggles here and there I think pretty sure I just read today that he he left the game with backs honest today Moody didn't play with a wrist injury today so you know they're really tapping into their bench but then as you say you take an okay see who are arguably the deepest team in the league they can do that because you got someone like you know AJ Mitchell Jared McCain who they traded for for it will be interesting to see if they if there is an expansion draft who they hold onto that well I think that's going to have to be an episode itself yeah probably but I think some honorable mentions after those top four because I think those four are the wives that are in the race like you can't really put anyone else in there but honorable mentions that are having great seasons and could sneak a few couple of MP MPP votes would be Kate Cunningham your Jalen Brown your Jalen Johnson your Anthony Edwards yeah 100% and out of that maybe like a

37:58a Brunson a choir Lannard to Donovan Mitchell yeah I think so I think like you know those those young guys that you just mentioned they're the future of the league for sure and yeah they're all going to pulse and votes but I dare say at this point it's it's SGA's award to lose what do we want to go to a year let's just do a really quick stop at defensive player in the defensive player it's Victor's award let's move on it's Victor's award who else can you put up exactly who else like maybe like year reigning defensive player in Evan Mogli no it hasn't played enough games hasn't played enough games I don't think so well that was quick like I think like he'll he'll qualify for the awards I don't mean it in that regard I just don't think he's done enough this season I haven't noticed him at all you know SGA's you're Dyson Daniels these guys that lead the league in steals perennially and not the unfortunately they just don't really rate him into it's a big man award essentially yeah um I actually had something up for this I'm

39:03I know you did but I just I'm just like nah it's it's a Victor award like really go bearable poll votes because he does every year but Victor's just been ridiculous and like we said it's his ability to alter the play in older shots so having a look at NBA.com for their defensive player of the year they've got go bear and hold them up there but hold them I think might have missed too many games possibly possibly and I'm in Thompson as well up there as well because he's having a great year any years that the Thompson boys are underrated players but I I feel like you've hit the nail in the head Victor could honestly walk away with three awards this year if everything goes his way you look and if he doesn't this year if he did that in the next two or three seasons if he can stay healthy no one's going to be surprised yeah um so six man of the year well this is

40:05the one that we sort of really struggled with to be honest um I think um you have to go down to Orlando um and Anthony Black yeah um who has missed some time but I think he has played enough games um Nicola Alexander Walker for the Hawks but the Hawks but he might start too many games yeah potentially so AJ Mitchell for Oklahoma City Thunder like he's he's got his opportunity and is averaging close to 14 points a game um so coming off their bench so many people are going to go who yeah um but he's got his opportunity through all those injuries and as I literally said like 20 minutes ago like take take this opportunity to go with both hands and people take notice another like he's good enough to be in the NBA yeah just wasn't getting his spot because he was on a stacked lineup but again pain-priced Boston what are your favorites it's that Tayden goes out he's got that opportunity now they trade away Drew Holiday they trade away

41:09Pozinga's he's had a fantastic season yeah 100% um I think Naz Reid has to be up there coming off the bench for Minnesota he always will he won it last year um got paid for it my boy Josh Hart will rate a minute Josh Hart again he might start too many games Reed Shepherd maybe out in Houston has shown why they draft they picked him like he had a rough rookie season but I think has matured into his body and as well and I think shoots like 45% from the field or something I tell you what most of them are three pointers if Luke Knad had been at the Lakers the entire season he'd probably be in that conversation too he's been playing fantastic ball off the bench yeah um most improved player Jalen Johnson yeah Jalen Johnson yeah um all star this year I think I honestly I can't think of anything else I don't think he will get it because his stats yes although they have improved every year there hasn't been a massive jump who do you who do you

42:12think Denny Adria he'd be the other one for sure Denny Adria because coming from the Gabbage Washington Wizards to Portland to being an all star yeah like he's he's just gone from straight to strength he was the number well number nine overall pick yeah so you have to do exactly um so I think Jalen Durin as well another one who got an all star node he's had a great so he's had a great season up there in Detroit um Kionte George although with the U-Tajas sucking at the moment like he has been a bright spark for them you and I could suit up for the U-Tajas and then Ryan Rollins as well in Milwaukee like all these players have had excellent seasons and have seen jumps in their minutes and all of their stats who's the dude who plays for Cleveland there's come out of nowhere oh I sent Jalen Tyson he'd be another one that might get some both yeah 100% yeah because again just come out of nowhere and just had a phenomenal season yeah fun

43:15fact about Jalen Tyson he was the top running back for his class and always went to the NFL he was I feel like he was running back or was it was it was something I feel like he's got a tight end I think by a tight end I think he's got a brother in the NFL yeah feel like he was but he chose basketball and it's worked out for him yeah um I think it's a probably three-horse race for coach of the year so between big star Mitch Johnson and Joe Mizzoula I reckon you're absolutely right I think Joe Joe Mizzoula deserves his chocolates for this season because everyone thought that oh everyone had written boss yeah everyone was like bossen's done and again a lot of credit to the players there too obviously but he he's done a phenomenal job Mitch Johnson for those who don't know he coaches the Spurs he does he is the Spurs he took over when pop had his stroke yep now the year um but once again he worked behind pop for a very long time and you know the the Spurs organization just turned out phenomenally good coaches and he's done

44:16an amazing job and as you say J J B biggest staff can't be overlooked either for the turn around that that um he's orchestrated in Detroit yeah um but is there anything else any awards that I'm missing there's other awards like the Clutch player and all this sort of stuff Clutch player doesn't mean anything probably like I wouldn't miss prizes if Ant Ed would after yeah Luca getting that one um but I think that that's pretty much it might be his end um did we want to do a player spotlight let's do a quick one we did talk about this downstairs and oh we didn't do we didn't we haven't done rookie the year rookie of the year that's what's leading into our player profile it will lead into our profile so we will we will quickly go this we did forget about this I need to get this up on my phone nope I don't know it's it's a it's a two-horse race at this point I did have this up go away there we go Cooper Flagg con Caniple yes it is a two like the dark horses you got your VJ Ed comb um Dylan Harper and probably um who's the big fella plays

45:19for Kwingon uh no he's not a rookie is he a rookie I don't know um but down the pelicans queen queen queen but I don't think Queen's played enough um to really warrant it and that sort of stuff um but no two-horse race so Cooper Flagg has been the number one leader most the uh and has been the chosen one average in 20 points game a bit under seven rebounds and a bit under five assists a game um I feel like his downfall at the moment is the Dallas suck well well the fact they suck because they have to play him at point guard playing him out of position he has never played point guard a day in his life and now he they're wanting him to run an NBA team at 18 years up you could see how he struggled early on with this he did and he's has found his feet you can pair the statistics to con-kenneple 19 points five rebounds three and a half assists and shooting

46:24just a smidge under 50% from the field he is just off the um what is it 50 40 90 so 49 48.9 from the field 43.7 from three and 87.7% from the free throw line like for a rookie to come in he and have that high of a clip it's incredible it's incredible he owns the record for most three is by a rookie in their rookie season he does um and we talked about it hornets they're playing good ball playing good ball at the moment it is very interesting they have that young core there um I don't think this is a bit off topic I don't think anyone's going to take Lamello ball serious the way that he plays but it is fun to watch and he he's me making these shots um but back to con um and his brothers yeah but I think this might be another one from like 2004 was it 2003 2004 the O304 season where you had you you're two horse race it was

47:33come L.O. Anthony and LeBron James now I'll let you go here because I know you wanted to have a little bit of a rant no I don't want to rant but basically the gist was LeBron had a great season he did but his team sucked and uh Mello came into a team that did better and he averaged more points more rebounds and more assists then LeBron so statistically had a better and his team was better and finished higher and yet was given to LeBron because of who he was he was the chosen one so this is where we had this exact I at the moment just because they are doing better and finishing higher I would nudge it towards con but but I have a feeling like people are going to be blinded by Cooper flag and the things that he does because he has improved throughout the year and has shown that his basketball argue is very high and he is learning every day and he's putting things in

48:34the practice like he's seeing people do things I mean like I could probably do that and just goes out and does it yeah and add the highest level possible yes um but then I think con is still on the same thing yeah like especially mate hidden big shots like his teammates to talk to be out con and they're just kind of like whenever it's going up I don't even bother trying to rebound I'll just run back because because we know it's going it which is amazing voter confidence but it would be has there ever been a a dual rookie of the year look not that comes to mind immediately and look I was going to say same thing with most improved you could see a most improved with Danny Adveo and Jayla Johnson too you could one so time will tell but that does lead us into our final segment of today which is our player profile we are going to do a pro for player profile on con knipples or knuckle well it is the most unique surname it is very very n u e p p e l but no so

49:35he is 20 years old and he was born in milleworky west kansen USA he is 198 centimetres tall six six in the old language yeah um and yeah he was educated at west kansen lutheran high school and he joined the child at hornets last year's number four overall pick um and he wears number seven and he went to do he went to do he was teammates with coopaflake he was teammates he was um roommates with coopaflake they were um and hit some big shots and then say uh double a you know they did get knocked out they did and and look he is having one of the most incredible rookie seasons to be honest let's let's i feel i feel like it hasn't been talked about enough he's so he's played 69 games for charlotte which i believe is every game they've played he may maybe he's missed one or two he started in 68 of those games and as we say played 66 was started 68

50:43played 69 okay so started 68 so my my mistake i don't know if i got that wrong but played yeah 69 games started in 68 of them has made 242 threes which is yeah just phenomenal um and it's he's had 1329 points in his rookie season it's up there like i've seen some crazy wild stats like his rookie season is compared to some of the best players to ever play the game it's better than stefs yeah and stefs is by far and away the best shooter the leagues ever seen this guy when people like i'd seen a little bit of jute play last season big mostly because of like much madness and and the the hyper and coopaflake but when cannibal went for i was a little bit like well this is just charlotte doing charlotte things anybody that watched mba our college basketball or and was looking at that draft was like what yeah because you probably

51:47could have picked him up late first round all right at least late in the lottery at least but he's come out and yeah he must have had an absolute killer workout with the horns look you mentioned lamello and we know he's a unique specimen and they've got bridges on their roster who's had his only issues the new one is shipping charlotte maybe they just wanted to try and take you know build a different culture and he's your perfect glue guy yeah and he's shown that already like he's he's average like we said 44% just a smidge under 44% on three point shooting is a elite and he's almost shooting 50% from the field like here's an elite like three level score he's not just a one level score he's a three level score and you look at as we keep talking about charlotte and how well they're playing you have you have someone like mellow who has that ability to penetrate

52:49you can then spread the floor with con shooting and they have to respect that shot no question about bridges is the same he's a little bit streaky but you have to respect his three point shot so then you can have and miller brand of miller there has has been shooting better he has but it also just offers up so much more room than four brand and miller to operate in the like yeah and brand of miller will get a couple more seconds on his shot if cons on the floor because they're going to be worrying about con and not not miller and which gives him more time and like at that NBA level a couple of seconds is is like a whole day just to get your shot going it absolutely makes a difference doesn't it yeah um but i think i've put this out there before but i think we've got a list i think we've got a list of players that people want us to the spotlight even though we're not doing brony james no we're not i know he doesn't listen to this but dean that was a stupid suggestion stupid we're not doing that but i might put that out on the social media as well if there's anybody that you want us to play a profile can be a big name can

53:54be a small name but someone that we would do a deeper dive in and how they're doing um and we know i love my white boy role players um so we might be bringing some of them in over the next couple of weeks but um yeah i'm excited for the playoffs to begin um so we've got a probably another two weeks of of games April 18 three weeks of games and then we've got the long stretch that is the playoffs well presumably the playoffs or the seasons can you finish around like the 10th or 12th because then you've got the play in 20 games true um but yeah so two and a half more weeks maybe a break of the season and then then the real stuff the fun stuff starts yeah so we were almost through the 82 game preseason and then we then we're into what matters and it all comes down to this some teams we'll be going to cancun early and they'll be going fishing and the others will be putting in the work to all chasing that glory of being as the american say world champion world

54:56champions that's right all right well uh if you made it this far uh we appreciate you make sure you support us um and jump on the social media uh as i said leave us comments i'll be putting up some polls over the next little bit um but if you made it this far thanks again peace peace catch you guys on the flip it if look