The Lowdown with Lowetide - Declanations - Hart and NBA MVP Ballots

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1:04and this political moment. We'll have daily newsletters throughout the tournament, reporters on the ground with all the big teams, and the legendary football weekly podcast. The Guardian bringing you the whole picture on soccer, search Guardian Soccer for more. Top five NHL heart trophy for top five NBA ladies and gentlemen, it's Declan Josh and Declanations. Yeah. So I think I'll give my top five heart ballot here five through one, then I'll let Josh go. Then maybe he can start NBA time permitting, and then I'll go ahead and give mine. So yeah, coming in at number five for me, I want a David Pasternak. Really good season, man. Solid season. Well done by you. I left him off. The one that I sent you, but I wanted to put him on. Oh, listen, yeah, 100 point player in 77 games. The plus minus isn't great. That'll happen on a team like that. The biggest thing for me, first of all, is five on five numbers were very good. He was pretty much top seven, top five across the board and a lot of different categories. The big thing for me that pushed him over the edge was his next leading score on that

2:06team, Morgan Geeky, was 55th in the league, and kind of fell off a little bit, and quite bluntly, no one thought the the Bruins were going to be a playoff team. Obviously, we all ran back our picks from earlier in the season, and they got to out there. There were 100 point teams. So I wanted to show him some love. I had him number five. Okay. I'm Maclin at number four. I'm never big on giving a guy on a team that misses the playoffs a heart spot, because my thing's always kind of been like, you know what? If you miss it at 16 spot with 50 points, or you miss it at 11 spot with 86, 4.86 points, like you still miss it. You're still at home on the couch watching when it matters most, but his season was just so undeniable. We're putting him in grisky conversations when it comes to a teenager, 45 goals, 70 points. He's not going to win it, but I wanted to recognize his season and show him some love, so I put Maclin number four. I think that's fair. I didn't have him on mine for the reasons that you mentioned, but honestly, if you're going to put somebody like that on the list, he'd be the guy because he had such a splendid season.

3:07And you can see what he's going to be. Yeah. Absolutely. Now, my three to one, I think it's all pretty obvious who the three players are. So I spent a lot of time going into this. I looked at 18 different semi, I'm not going to call them advanced, but maybe semi advanced statistical categories. We're talking per 60 per game, even strength, five on five, all strength, things like that. Then I actually have six more. I'll get to that as well with the goal four percentages at all strengths, expected goal four percentages. But of these 18 categories, I looked at Nathan McKinnon was first and nine of them. Nikita Kutrov was first and nine of them. Conor McDavid was first and none. Nikita Kutrov was second and eight of them. McDavid and McKinnon were second and five each. Nathan McKinnon was last of the, this is of the qualify of these three players. He was last and four of them. Kutrov was last and one of them. McDavid was last and 13 of them. So I'll go through them all here really quickly. And it is a lot of numbers. So try and keep up in my apologies in advance. Even strength points, McKinnon led the league. Kutrov was second and league. McDavid was fourth and league. Even strength assist.

4:07Kutrov led the league. McKinnon was second and league Conor was fourth and the league. Even strength goals. Kutrov led the league. Kutrov was fourth. McDavid was sixth. Five on five. Now this is different from even strength. Because that obviously also includes four on four and three on three. Nathan McKinnon led the league. And points Kutrov was second. McDavid was sixth. Even strength assist. McKinnon and Kutrov were actually tied for first. McDavid was 12th. Even strength goal or five on five goals. Excuse me. McDavid was second and league. McKinnon was second and league. Kutrov was sixth. McDavid was 11th. Now points per 60 at all strength. Kutrov led the league. McDavid was second. McKinnon was third. Goals per 60 at all strengths. Nate was third. Kutrov was sixth. Conor was 20th. Assist per 60 at all strengths. Kutrov led the league. McDavid was second. Nathan McKinnon was seventh. At even strength. Kutrov led the league. Points per 60. Nathan McKinnon was second. Conor McDavid was seventh. At goals per 60 at even strength. Nate was second. Kutrov was third. McDavid was 22nd. Assist per 60. Kutrov led the league. Wide margin by the way. Nathan McKinnon was second. McDavid was six. Five on five. And again, this is a lot of repetition.

5:09So I appreciate you second with me. Five on five. Points per 60. Kutrov led the league. McKinnon was second. McDavid was 16th. Goals per 60. Nate was fourth. Kutrov was fifth. Conor was 27th. Assist per 60. Kutrov led the league. Again, crazy margin. The difference between him and the guy number two, who is Nate was what the same as Nate in the guy number 10. And Conor was 26. Points per game. Kutrov led. McDavid was second. Nate was third. Goals per game. McKinnon led. McDavid was third. Kutrov was fourth in the league. Assist per game. Kutrov led. McDavid was second. Nathan McKinnon was fifth. Now, this was kind of a tell-tale sign for me that wrapped it up. The goal four percentage at all strength. Nathan McKinnon led the league. Nikita Kutrov was fifth. Conor McDavid was 29th. At even strength, Nathan McKinnon was second. Kutrov was eighth. Conor McDavid was 69th at 55.4. The five on five goal four percentage. Nathan McKinnon led the league at 70.4 to 142, by the way. Incredible stuff. Kutrov was fifth. Conor McDavid was 110th. And he was actually 3% below expected.

6:10Nathan McKinnon was 14 over. Kutrov was seventh. So my ballot went, McDavid III, McKinnon to Kutrov I. I originally had McKinnon number two. And I originally had McKinnon number three in Conor number two. I flipped them. And I almost flipped McKinnon in Kutrov. I almost put McKinnon number one and Kutrov number two. But what sold it for me was, Nathan McKinnon's teammates, Marty Naches, seventh in the league and scoring, and then kale McCart next at 29th. Conor McDavid, I know it was only 65 games of dry, but still, it's not like he played 17 and missed 65. He played 65 and missed 17. Dry was ninth, Bush was 11th. For Kutrov, he was 15th and Hagel was 37th. And then kind of a deciding factor, quite bluntly, one team was 41 and 41 playing in the Pacific. One team won the presence trophy. And the other team was a 50 win team in a tough Atlantic as well. So that's kind of how it all broke down for me. The plus minus is also overall McKinnon 57, Kutrov 43, McDavid 17. So yeah, I went McDavid number three,

7:11McKinnon number two, Kutrov number one, the power play numbers, heavily favorite, McDavid. And I want to be clear, this is a year if McDavid gets it, 1,000% get it. If Kutrov gets it, 1,000% get it. If McKinnon gets it, 1,000% get it. But I went, Nikita Kutrov one, Nathan McKinnon two, Conor McDavid three, Backland Celebrity four, David Pasternak five. Yeah, so my number five is Coln Coffield. Shout out to the guy, 50 point score on the Habs. 50 point score. 50 goal score. I mean, my apologies. Damn, I opened up, Declan had some stuff open on the laptop when I got in this morning. Super helpful when I was just like perusing. I don't have anything written down, much like John Declan over here did, because I guess my heart just wasn't as in it as he was, so I have to do better in the future of matching his freak, essentially. Led the league in goals per 60 in all situations, very fun.

8:12And he has 13 game winning or 12 game winning goals, which is first in the league, my apologies. Shout out to him. Fourth, I also have Macklin Celebrity. I think in plus eight on a team that's minus 41, absolutely unreal. Franchise is all time leading scorer now and, or for a single season. So I just think what you saw him do this year, regardless of making it to the playoffs or not, I think he at least deserves a vote. Can't be top three. If they made the playoffs, he absolutely would have been one on my ballot, but alas, here we are. Because Will Smith had 59 points and 69 games played. Macklin Celebrity has 115, know what? So just, just shy of doubling him and he doubled up or more everyone else in the sharks, shout out to Celebrity. Three for me, I have Nathan McKinnon. I know all the numbers that that Declan just listed off and everything. They shocked me while I looked them up. It was really impressive. Really good five on five. I mean, like that, again, I agree with, uh.

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10:16Penn Badgley, and so many more. So listen wherever you get your podcast, Wrong Turns, when dignity goes to die. ACAS helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere, acas.com. Declan, on the whoever wins of this top three, you can't be upset. So I just sort of ordered it off. I think we can't even had a super strong team. Obviously the president's winning trophy winning team. And he's obviously a huge part of that, my goodness. Love his game. I just think all in all, he does have a lot of help. But again, if he wins more power to him, he's unreal. Two, I have McDavid, sorry, oil fans. I think he plays with the most significantly worse team out of the top three here, just based on injuries,

11:17how slow they started, wishy washy, all the things, obviously we watched all 82 games of them this year. We very intimate in the knowledge of what a crapshoot the other season has been so far. But that stretch in December, basically from when you said he needed to start putting points on the board for, what was it, 17 straight games, tying his career high or setting the new career high for him in points in straight games, absolutely unreal. Best player on the planet, Art Ross winning player this year. However, my number one is Nikita Kutrov. I think he plays, well, I don't think. I know he plays in the East, which is the stronger conference this year. And he plays in the Atlantic, which is in my opinion, the strongest division this year, put 109 points with the lightning, put up 109 points. And Kut just like, he put up more points in like three weeks than a bunch of other NHL teams were able to put on the board

12:19all season, like it was unreal what this guy was doing. To me, I think the lightning are much less without Nikita Kutrov playing on their team than the Oilers or Avalanche are playing with McKinnon and McDavid. No disrespect to either of those guys, but I think Kutrov this year has been absolutely unreal. All right, it's 1250, low down with low tide. We're in declinations. Do we have time for the NBA MVPs? Yeah, I think we rattle them off really, or we had a more in-depth conversation last year. So I think last week we'll be able to rattle these off pretty quickly. All right. My number five, Kate Cunningham, only played 64 games was relatively inefficient in those 64 games he played. However, best player on the best team in the East without a doubt. He had a great season. Absolutely deserves to be in the top five. My number four, I'm under rating him. He should be number one on my ballot, probably the greatest player in the world, Nikola Yokich. But to me, I dropped him out of the top three.

13:20And honestly, looking at it, I hate myself every day because of it. But alas, this is my bed. I must lie in it. This is where I had him ranked. I can't change it now. So number four, Nikola Yokich leading the league in rebounds and assists as a center. It's very harsh to hate yourself every day though. Because I'm putting Yokich at number four. His greatest player on the planet, he honestly, he should win the MVP this year. And I am now showing media, not media bias. What's the one where media fatigue or voters fatigue, right there with Nikola Yokich. Sorry, Nikola Yokich. Number three, I have Luca Dongec. I think clearly we have seen. He played 64 games again this year. But how much lesser the lakers are without him? I would say Luca Dongec. Absolutely deserves to be in the top three there. Number two, SGA, best player on the best team. The pinnacle of consistency, super efficient. I mean, he's averaging almost 30 points per game on 50, 40, 90 splits. He shoots the two ball incredibly well.

14:21Like if he's going to win this year, and I'm not going to be upset about it, because I think he is the second best player on the third best player on the planet, because the second best player on the planet is number one of my ballot, Victor Wimbanyama. The spurs are nowhere close to what they are this year without Victor Wimbanyama. Maybe 54 win pace without him in 15 games, both. In 15 get, come on, man. Like it's actually more, I think. I honestly, I could give a rip. I could give a rip. One of the teams they played in those 15 games. Like, Wembee is absolutely unreal. So impactful in the defensive end of the ball, which he was very right about. We underrate the defensive side of the ball in the MVP conversations. Does it have to be 50-50? No, but I think his gravity, to me, I put him number one. All right, Declan. OK, I also have Cade Cunningham. Number five, great season by Cade. Couldn't be higher than number five. Unfortunately, I think everyone who watches basketball knows that. Number four, I actually last minute change.

15:24I'm putting Wembee. So I looked it up, it's actually, and this is kind of crazy. I'm not going to lie to you. It's actually a 55 win pace without him. I outlined the numbers, barely top 15 in scoring. He's not top 15 in field goal percentage as a 7 foot 5 center among players who take 10 or more shots of game. He's not top 25 in true shooting. His defensive gravity is amazing. I also think he's the second best player in the world, by the way. I have him number four. Number three, I have Luca. I wanted to put up number one. So badly, I was basically on my knees pleading and crying with you guys to agree with me that he's number one. Unfortunately, as the season unfolded, I can only put him number three. Number two, I have SGA, most consistent player, and he's the best player on the best team. And he's going to win it and he will to a large degree deserve it. I wouldn't fully give it to him, but he's going to deserve it. And number one, this is what sold it for me. First of all, he led the league and rebounding and assists as a center. By the, Deandre Jordan led the league and rebounds, Chris Paul led the league and assists. Think about how different those two players are. Nikola Yokich did both of it, both of it, first player in NBA history. And someone said, if you memory wipe the last five years with the men in black rays and just gave us this season, Nikola Yokich would be MVP without a shadow of a doubt.

16:27I agree with that. He's my number one. All right. Great shout. That was interesting. He is the MVP. I, I sold quite frankly. I, I enjoyed that. That was good. I'm just sad Joel and B can't be there. Well, he's got one already played more games. Maybe he would be. I don't know. I think he's, he's a little bit toast from what he was. You know, it happens. There are players who lose a lot of their career in engineering. He is certainly one of them. All right. I enjoyed that, man. Thank you. I think I, I narrowly disagree with the, the, a hard trophy. I believe I had McKinnon number one. And then make David and then Couture out. But I agree with both of you. And you said, I think Declan used percentageing correctly instead of thousand, but the point is that any of those three winning it, I think you'd have to say, you know, yeah, immersing yourself in all things soccer ahead of this summer's World Cup.

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